Staunton spectator, and general advertiser. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 183?-1849, 1845-11-13
THE LATE OUTRAGE.


longer restrained by our duties and responsible
ties as an acting magistrate in the case, or the re-
spect which was due to the tribunals of justice
into whose hands it had passed, and can give ex-
preston 10 our feelings as man and citizen, We
would again advert to the horrible outrage which
has recently been perpetra,ed in our community
There are several considerations which impel
US to this step, all Of which, in our opinion, are
OF sufficient importance to demand the public at
tension. The first which we shall mention is
the thought that must have arisen in every re-
fiecting mind, how crime, embracing SO many
actors, and marked by such daring and fendish
atroc,y, could have been concocted and perpe-
trated amongst US, without some premoni,ion of
the growth OF the depravily necessary to produce
1t. Such heartless wickedness does not spring
up and riPen to maturity in day. Crime, like
every thing else, is progressive; and the public
sense might well have reeled and staggered, as
from blow inflicted by an unseen hand, under
the seeming suddenness of,s development. The
annunciation that the humble dwelling of poor
and lonely widow, amid the hitherto peaceful
hills of Augusta, had been broken into in the dead
hour of midnight by band of worse than sava-
ges, and the mother and her four little children
driven out into the darkness, shrieking as for
their lives, as they fled over the fields to distant
neighbors for protection-while the daughter, the
poor unfortunate daughter, just blooming into
womanhood, was seized and retained by the mer-
CHESS villains for fate more horrible than death
itself-mighl well have shocked the public Gre
dulity at the moment, and been regarded as a
story or a fable.
and Incredible as it may have seemed to be, legal
investigation has placed the fact beyond all
question; and now it becomes us to look well to
ourselves, and enquire how it is so, and what are
the probable causes and agencies which have
been at work to produce il!
Have our laws become more lax in their adj
ministra'ion! Are the magis,racy of the country
strict and habitual in the discharge of their du-
ties! Are our Grand Jures, those great conser.
vators OF the social interests of the community
careful in their duty Of watching over the public
morals, and of bringing TO punishment those liv-
ing in gross RIGHTEOUSNESS amongst US? And
are our Courts of Justice prompt to discharge
their obligations when crime is brought to their
notice! Ii not, reform is imperatively demand
ed at their hands, and those who are charged
with the administration of the laws may well
take blame TO themselves for the terrible calami.
ty which has befallen this poor and delenceess
family.
This is indeed painful subject, but it is one
which ought not to be allowed to die away and
be forgotten. The occasion should be improved
and we trust it will be improved, by stimulating
the officers OF the law to a more active emplov.
ment OF all those means and defences which are
placed in their hands for the preservation of the
peace and security of the community. Surely
none who know the course of immortality and in
lqulty INDUCED in for years past by the miscre-
ant Observation-Disclosures the panner, if not the
lnasterspirit of this hellish plot--can have much
reason to be surprised at his involvement in it.
Ii then, 1t is but the natural result of his lfe and
the impunity with which he has been favored has
operated as encouragement to him in his crimes,
we put 1t to the conscience of every one to say,
whether there is not responsibilities fearful
sponsibiity-resting somewhere, in regard to
it!
But there is another matter of which we deem
1t important to speak in this connection. 1t is the
familiar association OF low and unprincpled
white men with our blacks. Nothing can be
more corrnptiDg in its influences upon the slave
Tor II not the result of crime of some Sort infal-
libby leads TO it. So also the clandestine traffic
with slaves-much Of which, there is reason 10
tear, is carried on amongst US. These are evils
which the whole powers of the community ought
TO be invoked to put down, not merely for the
pecunary interests they involve, but for the safe
~ OF society, on account Of their inevitable ten
dency to prepare the way for greater offences.
SO much for the public considerations growing
out of this horrible affair which we have felt it
incumbent upon us 10 present. But we are not
at all willing 10 stop here. There is yet another
duty to perform. The poor, unfortunate orphan
girl whose innocent peace has thus been DESTROY
ed and her hopes of life blasted, ought not to be
overlooked or forgotten. An outrage like this,
committed in our midst, which for its enormity.
wickedness and cruelty is almost without par
allel in the annals of humanity, surely cannot be
sufficiently attoned for, in the estimation of our
fellow-citlzens, by the merted punishment of the
guilty perpetrators. Then, is she, the poor, I'M
happy orphan, TO be allowed to 90 back to her
now more than desolate home of want, with no
token of commiseration-no cheering voice of
encouragement still to maintain, pure and unsul-
lied, amid her overwhelming misfortunes, that
honor which she has so nobly and triumphantly
sustained through all her fiery trials No, no
we trust not We feel that some substantial ex-
preston of public sympathy is due to her from
our community; for although we may not be able