Democrat and sentinel. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1853-1866, 1859-11-30
Sympathy for a Murderer.

sympathy for "a Murderer.
Next Friday is the day appointed for the
execution of John Brown the aoould Je whole
ssle murderer. We can not after calmnly
reviewing the facts connected with the Har-
per's Ferry insurrection, coincide in opinion
with those who contend that he should not
be hanged. We think that outraged justice
and the safety of society demands the sacri-
fce If such guilty wretch is treated with
compassion aid leLity, and allowed to 90 un-
whipt Of justice, where will be the security
for the lives and property of the citizens of
the Southern States ? Is he not traitor and
murderer Is he any better than NJ Kim,
MConaghy, Jacoby or the thousands of
murderers who have died on the scaffold :;
or rather, Is he not Infinitely worse We
firmly believe that since Judas Iscariot who
betrayed his God to his enimies, the earth
has never been polluted by wretch more
deeply immersed in guilt than John Brown.
In the full possession of all his mental facul-
ties he deliberately planned tue most extern
sive scheme of murder and robbery, that
can anywhere be found in the history of the
world. But be was not content with devIs-
ing IN the guilty recesses of his soul, this
plan for numbering in the most cruel manner
his unohending fellow countrymen He had
the heart and the will to attempt to carry
his plan into execution. He collected his
''warIike stores aud his nyrmidons around
him Hear HarpeE's Ferry, and at the hour of
midnight, took possession of the town aud
U. Arsenal 4 number of unofepdinp
citizens were murdered. and the slaves were
encouraged to rebel against and murder their
masters II the instruction was failure if
1t did not result in general insurr ection Of
the slaves in the Southern States it was not
the fault of old John Brown. He confident
ly believed that the slaves would respond TO
his call to arms as promptly as the Scottish
Highlanders did to the whistle of their Chief
tain. In this he was disappointed. and consc
quently his enterprise resulted in di sprace-
full failure. If Browns hopes had been real
lied; If serviie insurrection of the slaves in
Maryland, Virgin ia. Kentucky, North Caro-
lima, &c, had Immediately followed the ia
King OF the L. S. Arsenal at Harpers Ferry.
would not in all probability, those States ere
this have been converted into desert IF |.
the insurrection had once fairly commenced
1t would have been war OF determination.
The land now as bright and smiling as the |
garden of Eden would have been turned into /
a reeklng wilderness, aud not only stalwart |
men but weak women and helpless children
would have been brutally murdered or ex-
posed to insults thousand times worse than (
death. No one who has perused the history
of the Negro insurrection in ST. DOMINGO
will contend that the foregoing picture is
overdrawn. Is it not therefore STRANGE
that any portion of the American peonIe
can sympathize with, and even idoiize as
a hero the wretch who planned and attem Mt
ed to carry out the system of wholesale mur-
der we have described As soon would We
with wretch standing before us
with his hands crimsoued with the blood of our
brother. The Abolitionists deeply commits
crate the desolation which this unfortunate
event has brought to toe hearth stone of John
Browns home but where is their svmnatbv
or pity for the families of the men that he
and his myrmidons murdered at Harnar's
ferry we hear Of no subscriptions for their
relief
But We have been told that Brown is :
brave man, and that he looks death in the
lace without shrinking. This surely does
not ent'tie him to sympathy. 1t only shows .
that he was fully aware Of the bazardons ~. {
'ure of the enterprize he had embarked in {
before he attacked Harper's Ferry. He know
The stake which he risked. ..Havipp ,,aved
ne game boldly, he is determined that the for.
eIt shall be paid manfulIy" He is not tho
1rst instance of murderer facing death
without shrinking Heroism dispIayed in
guilty and reasonable enterprise is certainIu
lot entitled to admiration. brave hrt ,,J
nan IS the worst enemy of society that can
'e imagined. He has the courage to eva
ute whatever guilty scheme lis mind ..f,,.,-
bent on mischief dovises. Is it noss;ble
human mind to imagine more in
than that for which Brown
0! d"stL in Viz i
I'D, we think s.