St. Charles Republican intelligencer. (St. Charles [Charles City], Iowa) 1856-1857, 1857-05-28

BosroS, May IL, 1857.
MEssRs. EDITORS Since last wrote
you, our courts of justice have reveal
ed state of society that ought to make
every son and daughter of New Eng
land blush for their birth place.
Twenty years ago, had any one been
bold enough to predict such a result,
he would have been considered insane,
or scoffed at, as libeller Of the good
morals and religious education Of our
people. McGee and Cater have been
tried and convicted of wilful murder,
and sentenced according to law. The
Reverend Kalloch has been arraigned
for a crime against the laws of God
and man, and awaits the will and
plesure of the District Attorney. The
Dalton case has been in Court, and
it's filthy details scattered daily
through the length and breadth of
the land by the press. There is law
forbidding the vending Of licentious
publications, and now and then some
poor wretch is arrested, and sentenced
to Jail for having in his possession
plaster-paris models of the Greek
Slave. The works of Fielding, Smol-
let and Byron have been " tabooed" "
in most respectable families, as con-
tanning sentiments unfit to be read by
pure and uncontaminated minds !;
Boccacio's Decameron, Rabelais' works
are known only as relics of barbara
an age and yet, in none of these is
there a word, sentence or idea that
can begin to compare in vileness or
low, filthy, beastly description of the
passions, with the reports of the
Kalloch, and Dalton cases, as publish
ed in the daily papers, and spread out
before every man, woman and child of
the community. AS long as such a
state of society exists, and crime and
immortality stalk through the land,
courts of justice must take cognizance
Of them but the ends of justice do
not require that these disgusting de-
tails should be made public. And we
must expect that such state of So
ciety will exist so long as ministers
instead OF preaching the doctrines OF
the Bible, and inculcating the princi-
Piles of truth and morality, descend il
the arena of politics, and encourage
their followers te break the laws of
the land SO long as spirit rappers,
speaking mediums, and free love So
cieties are openly countenanced and
encouraged /; so long as the sickly
sentimentality of the present day
pervades the community. During the
last week attempts have been made
both in the State Prison and in
the House Of Correction to murder of
fcers of these institutions, but happily,
in both cases, they were unsuccessful
The conviction of McGee and Cater
does not seem to have had, as yet,
the salutary effect upon the minds OF
the convicts that it should The
question arises to the mind of every
thinking man, whether justice and the
public safety does not demand that
the law which requires persons SEN
fenced to death to be incarcerated in
jail a year previous to the sentence
being executed, should not be repeal
ed. If McGee and Cater had been
hung in the jail-yard, Immediately up.
on their conviction, l imagine good
many cases Of insanity would have
speedily recovered.
The new Collector wields sharp
knife, and some twenty heads fell las,
Saturday. Who the lucky ones are
that fill their places, has not yet trans
pired.
Yours, truly, A. CHlEL.