The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1851-11-19
INTERFERENCE AND CRIME.

INTEMPERANCE AND CRIME.
Our columns, this morning. contain the
impressive records Of the condemnation of
three murderers TO death by the galIows.
The terrible crime Of murder has feariully
sbounded in our city of late. AT the pres
n term Of the Court Of Oyer and Termi-
ner, no less than eight persons have been
s~rrsigned for murder, and five Of these
have been convicted. But a few days
since we recorded the execution scene of
Stokley; and Carmel remains in prison un-
'&der sentence of death. beware ofRum"
-"Rum has been my ruin" were among
the words addressed by Stookey, as he
stood under the gallows, to those who had
congregated to witness his ignominous
death. And in the case Of the men who
on Saturday, were condemned to death as
a punishment for their crime, we find that
Rum, drunkness, is set down as the main
cause OF their infamous deeds. In your
drunken Madness" said the Judge to
Clark, "you slew a public officer, who had
given you no offence,"-to Mulvey, he
said, "All this you owe to your criminal
and pernicious habit Of carrying concealed
weapons, and using intoxicating drinks"
and OF Sullivan, like Clark, he said-"ln
your fit of intoxication and anger, you per-
p%etrated the brutal deed"
The history of the crime Of murder will
show that in ninety-nine cases out Of a
hundred, the use of Intoxicating drinks had
characterized murderers. Even when re-
venge has been the primary impelling mo-
tive of the murderer, we find that hateful
passion Of the human mind has often prov
ed too weak to urge to the taking of its
victims life until it strengthened itself with
intoxicating drink. How seldom we find
a man of unbroken temperate habits ar
raigned at the bar OF justice as a murderer?
Bad and depraved as is the human heart,
strong as are some of its worst passions,
these are but comparatively weak and
cowardly until the unnatural demon of in
toxication obtains the control of all the
faculties and sensibilities of the mind
Then the bosom of the possessed becomes
a little hell. Neither the law Of man nor
OF God are regarded or feared. In the
glow of Economical ferocity every feeling
of compassion is consumed, every moral
and legal restraint trampled under foot,
and the delight of the moment is the &C.
complishment of some fiendish purpose.
We do not overdraw the picture. We
even find an original for it in the murder
er Of the kind-hearted officer Gillespie. In
drunken Madness the murderer des-
troyed his life. In perpetrating the deed
he exhibited the most revolving cruelty,
dealing repeated blows on the PROSTATE
body of his unoffending victim. then left
the l~ifeless form weltering in blood, and
made a boast Of what he had done.
Now, surely something can be done be-
yond moral means, temperance lecturers,
and temperance organizations, to restrain
the flood Of evil that is continually break
ing over society from the great fountain of
intemperance. Are there no means that
can be used to drain off its waters. lessen
its destructive force, and diminish the
number of its victims. Cannot something
be done more than has yet been done by
the authorities of this city, to lessen the
number Of licensed and unlicensed sinks
Of intemperance in our midst, from which
crime and vice break forth to afhict and
destroy the peace and happiness of So
ciety! And cannot something more be
done to deter persons from INDUCING in
practices and habits which bring ruin not
merely upon them themselves but upon
others?
1t is not true, as q contemporary lately
argued in opposition to some views Of
ours, that the inebriate only Injuries him
self. The cases Of the three men sem
fenced on Saturday are strong illustra-
tons that no one is safe who lives in the
house with, or comes in contact in the
street with an infuriate drunkard. Aman
who destroys his reason by voluntary in
toxication is, for the time dangerous TO the
peace Of society. and society violates none
Of its proper rights by taking measures to
protect itself, as well as reform him, by
some adequate punishment.
An honest Irishman, fresh from IIiber.
MIA, caught a humble bee in his hand. sup
.