Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1854-10-11
Accidental Daofb y


Accidental Death
woman, while intoxicated, fell from vim
.,s coT ~ 9flsa story iR - street. to the pave
cidental DEATH"
Accidental death Was the cause acci-
dental? Suppose man set fire to your
dwelling and it was consumed, would it be
an accidental fire No, the alarm would
be given, the cry of fire 7 would resound
through the streets, citizens would rush to
the scene of confagration men, women
and children would turn pale with appre-
hension lest the fire should communicate
with their own loved dwellings, Firemen
aud engines would hurry along, and fear
lessly, nobly engage in their terrific duty.
The police would be on hand to act in Their
official capacities. Many helping hand
would be extended to save from the devour-
ing element, and many a commisserating
/ sigh be given to the occupants of that once
beautiful building, once the pride of the
master-buildcr, the ornament of the place,
the hospitible mansion, the home of hap
py family-now smouldering in ruins.
The first excitement being over, the
question would arise, How came this
fire ? 1t is ascertained to be the work of
an incendiary. The law is put in force,
the man is arrested, tried, found guilty, is
branded a criminal, and receives the full
penalty of his crime.
Here Is woman-woman, the finished
workmanship of The great Divine Archi-
tect,' the polished casket containing an
immortal mind--a mind if rightly cultiva-
ted and directed, capable of investigating
all truth, and attaining the highest degree
of intelligence permitted to vie with an
gels in exploring che attributes of Infnity.
Yet how degraded, how fallen?
But how came she thus fallen We an-
swer, by the law Yes, by law; by the
customs of society by vitiatea appetite,
created, fostered and fed by law. But for
law that woman might have been an orna-
meut to society, blessing to her family
and to the world, and might hereafter shine
as bright star in the kingdom of Cod for
~ Think you this woman, whetnef moving
in the higher circles or in the lowest walks
of life, for alas, we have in both victims of
the inebriating cup think you she would
! have gone to an apothecary's and purchased
and drank from bottle labelled poison )
, highly dangerous ) to be given in ex-
= treme cases p But law, accommodating
! law, placed the draught within her reach,
! perhaps from a gilded saloon near by, per.
9 haps from hotel for the accommodation
= of the travelling public, perhaps from low
! groggery at her very door. No mattel
. which !; each are alike dangerous and de
4 testable, each has lis poisoned fountain, frou
. each flows a corrupting, soul destroying in
2 huence; each has its agents to deal out ruin
crime and woe and law says 1t is right
y Go on entce, enslave, destroy! If
:. drunken man falls into the canal or rive
> and browns, or across the railroad track an
- is run over, or if a woman when intoxica
- ted, falls into the fire, or from third stor
- window and breaks her neck, call it "At
i cidental Death !
u u Well may justice be called blind.
~ ~ If law is the offspring of justice, he to
+ is, in many cases, wilfully, obstiuately an
h. We might say, maliciously blind
- What is the License Law but an inh,
10 man enactment Of cruelty and oppression
10 1t sends out its hordes of bandtti to wa
70 lay the traveller 1t stations its sentine
- at every corner. 1t instructs its agents
.mos zoe lure on the young and unsuspecting, an
initiate them into every species of vic
,;s crime and wicEedness. 1t stuifies the i
~ tellect, engenders beastly and hellsh pa
~ sions, changes men into demons, and max
80 80 them fools and raving maniacs. 1t brea
1er up families and friendly circles, strikes
at the root of domestic happiness, sewers t
oI' holiest ties, and undermines the basis
.ol all our earthly hopes, ay, and even tho
nd we desire beyond the grave. And yet y
nn who sustain this law, sanction it all. Y
dip your fingers deep in human dye, q
nod trace upon our country's history page, 4
I'd right
~, o you who have right to the Elect
"a Franchise, that sacred trust confded to
I;s liz care of freemen, pause ere you deposit
~'o = mother vote in favor of license. Thir
= L.,4 perhaps, this vote will help to swell
'U' dark catalogue ofcrime throughout the la
- this vote may send fellow being to p
- -, per's grave; it may incarcerate fell
~ being in prison; it may send him to
Oy ? gallows with murderer's guilt upon
,noo soul; it may send him to a dishono
,ros ,ros grave it may break the heart of a low
trusting wife, and sadden the lives OF
and nocent children; it may send soul
tLnt the presence of its Maker contamln;
ink with the sin of drunkenness, there to st
ouid a witness against you for being acces;
to guilt and crime, wretchedness and J
and through your vote and influence at the
INV lot Box Woman's Temp Paper
my ~
tue The Crops in North CdrolinG.-A pla
'unk- writing from Edgecomd county, says the
me in that region are TWENTY-FIVE per cent. b