Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1859-03-30
CLEARFlELD, Pa WEDNESDAY MARCH 80. 1859.

the developments Of time, usirr every pre
caution he could, to not overlook pny dis
closures which were calculated to lead tc
a discovery of the murderers. With this
view he read the reports of criminal and
| police courts, the confession of conyicts
accounts of murders and robbcries. nroc
lamations of State executives, OFFERING 70.
WARDS Tor iugltiyes from justice, published
catalogues and reports Of penitentiaries,
and, IN fine, the whole mass of those mul.
tltudinous publications of every kind
which compose the criminal literature. So
to speak, Of the country. He had full
faith in the adage, that murder will out,
and felt that the justice of Heaven itseli
was pledged for the ultimate detection
and punishment of the slayers of his faith
er And, therefore, it was he continued.
through the long years Of failure, to be.
leye and assert that he should live to see
retrlbutlon overtakc them a. last,
A. Nj was now a middle-ared
man, with sons and daughters growing M
around him. Two States had been carved
out OF the Mississippi territory, and adj
mltted into the Union. The wilderness
and the Indians had disappeared from
both. In the one, the wild moss was
waving ranS and green, over the grave of
the murdered father; in the other dwelt
the uniorgettng son, patiently awaiting
the coming Of the day ofretdbution for
the slayers, and losing mono Of his faith in
the wisdom and justice of Providence, by
the delay Of its advent.
This strong faith of A. N in ret
ributive visitation of Providence upon the
guilty, even in the present world. was not
the result OF any popularity in hi. moral
organization nor is it at all irrational in
itself All who observe and reflect much
see, and, therefore, believe, that lust Be.
ing governs the world, and rules in tho af,
fairs Of men, Reason alone would con-
duct to the conclusion that this Just Being
must so order lis moral administration,
that guilt and cXpiation, innocence and
immunity from penal in!licton, shall not
often, or even for any great length of
time, be ASSOCIATED. Aside, however
from the deductions of reason. there is
dlvlnely-given and ineradicable instinct
OF humanity which demands that crime
shall be punished, and whispers evermore
to the heart that the relributive blow,
'ho'Sil OlItIulc9 lOHg suspended, Is sure IN
the end to fall upon the guilty. Nemesis,
avenging furies, end wrathful Heaven.
what are these, and all similar arexpressions,
whether Christian OF pagan in origin, but
embodied utterances of this instinct. pro,
claiming the supremacy Of law, the divine
uperintendence, and the amenability of
guilt to punitive visitation. 1t was stri.
king illustration, however, ofthe strength
and activity Of this common attribute of
our natures, that A. M--should so
long, and under so many disoouragements.
have clung to the belief that merited pun.
ishment would overtaEe the assassin
murderers Of his father, and that he should
live TO witress, perhaps to inaict it, him,
self. ....,
The truth Of the narrative requires that
we should pass over an interval of many
years, spent by A. N in the quiet
pursuits of his planter life and the dill
gent scrutiny, in the manner already
mentioned, Of the annual criminal calen-
dar of Alabama, Mississippi, and several
of the adjoining States.
Continued ncrt rcct.