In the days after the lynching, newspapers fiercely condemned the event. Within a week, news of the lynching was published as far away as London. A "New York Times" editorial opined that, "in no other land even pretending to be civilized could a man be burned to death in the streets of a considerable city amid the savage exultation of its inhabitants". In the "New York Age", James Weldon Johnson described the members of the lynch mob as "lower than any other people who at present inhabit the earth". Although many southern newspapers had previously defended lynching as a defense of civilized society, after Washington's death, they did not cast the practice in such terms. The "Montgomery Advertiser" wrote that, "no savage was ever more cruel ... than the men who participated in this horrible, almost unbelievable episode". In Texas, the "Houston Chronicle" and the "Austin American" criticized the lynch mob, but spoke highly of Waco. The "Morning News" of Dallas reported the story, but did not publish an accompanying editorial. In Waco, the "Times-Herald" refrained from editorializing about the lynching. The "Waco Morning News" briefly noted disapproval of the lynching, focusing criticism on papers they felt had attacked the city unfairly. They cast the condemnatory editorials in the aftermath of the lynching as "Holier than thou" remarks. A writer for the "Waco Semi-Weekly Tribune" defended the lynching, stating that Washington deserved to die and that blacks should view Washington's death as a warning against crime. The paper later carried an editorial from the "Houston Post" condemning the lynching, characterizing the column as part of an attack on the city.