This is from a newspaper (The Daily Iowa Capital) in 1899:

In the South "the average man will classify the population as whites, dagoes, and negroes. This is the explanation of the lynching of Italians in Louisiana... The unwritten law of the state is that a white man shall not be lynched. No matter what his crime, he is entitled to trial by law and a legal execution. The only exception is the Italian, who in this respect has been placed on terms of equality with the negro.