The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1857-02-03
The Murder In Bond Street.

The Murder In Bond Street.
The public will find elsewhere the latest deve-
Opponents in regard to this horrible affair. 1t is
impossible even to hazard conjecture, where
error might be 80 cruel and unjust; bat the more
one sees of the evidence, the clearer does it ap-
pear that the victim was not assassinated by COM
mon professional robbers. A thousand indica-
tions point to quarters far higher. But we must
not invade the province of the Coroner and his
jury
It is not correct, as certain Of cur cotempOra-
res seem to desire to do, to instance tAis murder
az an evidence of the looseness with which jus
tce is administered and the police authority en-
forced in the city. There is no reason to believe
that million of policemen, trained to the per-
lection of efficiency, would have saved DR.. Bur
delrs life. Nor in all probability would that
life have been saved had the murderer possessed
far stronger conviction in the justice of our law
courts than their recent practice permits any one
to entertain. So far as the evidence already adj
duced enables one to judge, the prospect of de-
lection was calmly and deliberately viewed by
the murderer. There is no trace Of precipitation
anywhere. The victim was straDgled till death
in his throat to make matters more sure the
stab was repeated fourteen times, till the
body and even the room and the floor
were all bedabbled with blood. Then
all evidence of the crime was efaced.
True, the knife or dirk was not made away with
IN Josrovnd. Int th;c u,oS tho opIv p,;ctaka cou
mitted. In all other respects, the crime stands
as one of the most perfectly planned and success
fully executed Outrages on recOrd-as one of
those outrages which no prudential foresight, and
no official guardianship could possibly prevent.
1t may indeed serve as the text, or rather &c
the illustration to a sermon on the moral rha.ac-
ter of New York society. For, making every al
lowance for the numbers of moral and pious
families in this city, both rich and poor, from
Fifth avenue to avenue A, it is doubtful whether
any place in the world contains as many houses
where such crimes as this murder could be plan
ned, and executed, as this metropolis Of ours.
Whether any other city contains an equal num-
Der of women, in what is called society, with
certain kind of manners and sort of education,
but utterly devoid of principle and virtue.
Whether any other city, large or small, is ruled
socially by amore wretched and vile clque-in
the shape Of society--and more used to worship
whatever is contemplate and loathsome.
1t is hard to say what influence this general
RIGHTEOUSNESS of atmosphere may have on indi-
vidual cases; but We can quite understand that
the material out of which murderers are made
must be more plentiful in community
where principle is loose and scant
than in one where Il is strict
tory that religion has always engendered re-
spect for the moral law on the contrary in many
instances it would appear as though crime and
Christianity went apace But we do find that, in
communities whose general moral tone has been
high, remarkable diminution in crimes Of bru-
tally has taken place. And il would not seem
unreasonable to infer, according to the same rule,
that in communities whose moral tone is low,
such crimes will abound.
We have every reason to believe that no small
portion of the responsibility for the decay Of vir-
tue in New York rests upon our clergy. We
have perhaps larger nunb Der of clergy than any
other city of the same size; but when we come TO
inquire how these gentlemen occupy themselv' .,
we find that over a half find life hard enou n
to get along with over their soft coal fire, while
the remainder devote to letters and other pur-
suits the time which belongs to the people. With
the exception of their theological merits, we are
at loss to know any benefit which these gentry
are to the CITY, We never find that they are
fighting with vice where it is really dangerous
We never hear of them in Water street or Church
street. We never hear Of a clergyman getting
into any trouble in the discharge Of his duties.
What we do hear of them il that they have been
presented with so many dollars as a New Years
gift by their flock; that they have gone to Europe
for bronchitis; that they have had their portrait
done by Elliot: that the ecchymosis on the large
toe of their left foot is better aud consequently
that they may be expected to preach in about
three weeks; that they demolished the Pope of
Rome, likewise the Jesuits, in twenty minutes
sermon last Sabbath-during all which hypocrisy
and folly, our youth are learning to cheat and TO
lie, to rob and to kill.
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