The southern press., 1851-07-02
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ihte3lisSneu jiif0 Sehll6 jpnft9l never ceases,
fos ~ nou3pe II 1h2 tuexfauxtibie deprayity Of
~ knaaan aaai4 hpt Of late Il has become ps-
e.llnray. aashmd1 henibls II boils with pisensy
ana 7sets Nth blood. There is in II a rsnkness,
I viEpjsnae, mxligpity that can come only from
tn d&apeat de1d)iest fountains Of mortal wicked
nsr4 Q6spoes against property. and all the
oftef lighter trAnsgressions, have not multiplied
---on ahe contrary, by virtue of increased police
Vigilance, and the more enlightened administra-
tien ot law, they are rather diminishing. But
deep1yed atrocities--nurders diabolical in in
ception, and diab0lical in execution, cool passion
less, and almost m0tiveless, have strangly aug
mehted In number They are not confined 70
any particular locality or any particular country
the mail brings them from all quarters Of the
compass ~ it to show the unisersali,y Of the evil
elements from which they spring.
The last English journals recount the recent
confession Of murderer which has hardly
paralleiin the annals of crime. The man Lynch,
little ard weak, but always deemed respectable
and religious, began his murderous career in lre-
land, by cutting down with an axe driver in the
highway, whose dray and bullock he coveted.
Soon afterwards, he overlook an old and young
man, and killed them both, In order to obtain
possession of their horse and cart With these
u
stopping at lonely farm, managed to kill all of
the occupants, consisting Of an old man, his wife,
boy, and little girl. He took possession of the
farm, and by his ingenuity and hypocrisy escaped
suspicion, and came to be deemed most ex-
empplary character. One Of his laborers at last
began to mistrust linn, but was soon silenced
with cold steel This last murder led to Lynch's
detection and conviction. Here Were eight per-
sons deliberately butchered one after the other,
all for the sake of little bit of property that was
hardly worth twevc-month's wages. This, in
itself, is a sufficiently strange phenomenon of
moral peryersion; but, as il to make it yet the
more extraordinary, Lynch habitually wore the
sembance of piety. He prayed often, stirred
up the consciences Of his victims before des.
patching them, and showed himself anxious that
they should not go out Of the world in their sins
The case Of Count Hippolyte Viscart de Bo-
carrnc, now on trial ir Belgium, has excited at
tention through all Europe. Descended from a
noble family, well educated, accomplished in
manners, he, with the cooperation Of his wife,
distilled nicotine from tobacco leaves, invited
her rich brother to dinner at his chateau,
knocked him down, forced the poison into his
throat, and quickly destroyed life. This case
has marked resemblance to that of Professor
Webster, not only in the social position of the
parties, but in the fact that each resulted from
the pressure Of debt that originated in ruinous
osteniation and extravaganza.
The Cosden murders in Maryland, the legal
investigation of which has just terminated, dis
close an atrocity Of purpose and 4 recklessness
of action that scarcely admits Of belief. The
parties to the deed were so numerous and out
wardly respectable, and the motives which in
stigated it were 30 exceedingly disproportionate
to its tremendous awfulness, that the mind in
stinctivey quaiIs before it as some mysterious
work of the powers of darkness, rather than
subject it to cool analysis as an act Of human
volition.
So of the enormties Of the Michigan conspir-
ators as brought to light by the trials now pen
ding in Detroit. Where, in American annals of
crime, can a case ofsuch diabolical malignity be
found? The agents were many of them men of
wealth and station, the motive private grudge
against public enterprise, and the contemplated
victims perfect strangers. against whom no
malice could operate, for they were utterly un-
known, and not one, nor dozen, nor score,
but hundred in number. A scheme of more
direful malignity could scarcely be concocted in
the councils of Pandemonium.
We this morning chronicle an atrocity nearly
in our very midst, which almost curdles the
manifested no particularly bad traits of charac-
ter, deliberately slaughtered in his own house,
his wife and his mother-in-law; and instead OF
evincing remorse for the act, courts his doom
and demands 10 be hung without trial. Read
his confession as it appears in another column,
and mark bow atrihes light as are" In-y ytransform
a man into a devil.
These cases are varied in their character bat
they will show how little the malignant passions
of the human soul are effected by the merely
external influence Of modern civilization
Fiends as helsh as ever still haunt the dark
caverns of the human heart. Human science
with all Of its magic spells, cannot exercise
them, for their nature is far too subtle for the
grossness of all earthly appliances. Constitu
tional sensibties, social Establishments, or pru-
dental considerations may lull them into quiet
ness, but they cannot destroy, nor expel, MOI
securely chain them. If the doors of tempta.
ton are not habitually kept gudaded, guarded
too, under the dir, ction and with the blessing
of Heaven,--they, may at any time, when Q
combination of influences shall favor, be aroused
into irresistible energy, and riot without re-
slraint in their work of destruction. Who shall
determine the moral laws which govern theiI
activity and give them the final mastery? Who
can reveal the mysterious processes by which
they infusc their malignity into the whole being
of the man, and transforming him into then
own nature literally endcmon him
A CArAMoUNr CHoKED TO DEATH ny Mar
Quite a thrilling incident occurred few
weeks AGO eome five miles above here on the