The weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1858-1860, 1859-03-15
] KlLLENG NO 1lgnDEn.


opinion ayers that there are Ger ain injuries so
aggravated in their Character that avenging
them cannot be entrusted to the Law, but the
Injured person should Kill the offender on tire
spot, although by SO doing he commits legal
murder What right has the public o-say that
| a man should commit murder? Can the public
share his guilt; shield him from the CONSEQUENCES
of his crime; stand between him and the Great
Judge OF all the earth, who prociaims that W
alone has the right to execute vcDgeances Gan
the public relieve him from the eternal preserve
of the horrible picture Of helpless, uureslstins
fellow man. pitilessly aud cowardly butchefed
by his own hand; sent without moments warn
ing TO his final account, with all his imperfec-
tons on his head? Can the public share the
remorse that even if provocation existed, will
reeult in the mental ruin Of the slayer, and fol-
low him to the grave?
What right has the public, which assumes
none of the responsibilities and consequences
Of the act. to say that an innocent man shall
commit murder-perhapsl lose bic own life in the
attempt-ruin his own happiness and peace OF
mind forever if he succeeds, because another
person has been guilty? The public in this mat
ter volunteers an oiicious opinion that might be
materially different, ii It shared the cciise-
| quences and dangers 1t the right to revenge
| the dishonor o. wife or her paramour exists,
| it is an act in which the husband assumes awful
responsibilities. The public can share, or save
| him, from none of them. Let IT keep silence.
| 1t is a question between him and his God.
/ Murder, in revenge. is sought to be justified
1 because the dishonor is SO great that the hns-
/ band cannot live under it, and is driven un-
comfortable madness that forces him to kill -
Suppose such condition OF mind possible and
| justiiiable, why should public opinion interfere
/ by its declarations of the duty of husband in
such a case, to force him to murder, whether
/ I MAJ nd fal az ist nrp M -
The public insists that this madness shall be
worked up, aud although the husband may be
conscious of circumstances to PALATE the
| offense, or make him the last person on earth
TO execute justice, yet he is driven by this pub
| lie opinion to murder or to submit to what it
calls dshonor.
The husband may have polluted his own
| riagebed with the contamination OF the brothel;
may have regarded his destruction Of the
! peace of other families as q subject for gay
jest or boast; may have depraved the pure mind
| of his wife by his own lewdness Bnd by the vi
| cious associates he has brought her among; and
| then, when she yields to temptation, this kind
of public opinion insists that he, rotten with vice
and corruption, shall have a sense OF honor SO
high, and pure, and delicate, that it must drive
him to madness and murder; that he, stepped in
guilt, is by the crime OF another, washed SO
pure that he must be the executioner of anoth-
| CT iuuoCSub, W revenge HIS OWN
dishonor.
Suppose that any injuries are above the law,
and subject to the higher law OF revenge, who
shall decide what injuries a man may avenge
with his own hand, and what he shall writhe in
agony under, for the slow process of the law?
There may be other injuries which arouse pas
sons, just as uncomfortable. Do we not open
the whole matter to the ungovernened pas
sion of each individual? Who shall say that
he may redress his own wrongs, but another
shall not redress those of different charac-
ter?
If it is the right and duty Of the husband to
kill the man who dshonors his wife, is it not his
right and duty to kill the wife when equally
guilty! Is 1t not also the ri ght and duty OF the
vile to kill her adulterous husband and his par
l'amour! TINS Is by no means an impractlcab!e
theory. An unarmed man is engaged in con
versation by third person, approached steal
thily and shot down uncesising, and enchanting,
Don't murder me-" and portion OF our most
honorable society processes the highest gratf-
cation. How Snueh more will virtue be gindi-
Gated when an injured wife plunges dagger
into her sleeping uniaithiul husband. What a
heroine she will be; and how her "honor" will
be elevated TO the stars! How society will VEN
tilate its nice sense OF the sanctity or virtue if
by the same act she can send both husband and
paramour to the bar of God How many pri-
vate crimes will be coaked by the public parade
OF an exalted nature that justifes SO much muir
der in It's vindication!
But this vrtaous public opinion anticipates no
such application OF its hsh-toned doctrine
To make killing an uniaithial husband the right
and duty of the wife, would be destructive to
society. The murderous code would lose its
most prominent advocates If husbands were sub
Ject to 1t. But Is there any moral distinction
between the criminality of husband and that
of wife? Is not her honor as pure as that
OF her husband, and entitled to revenge as
terrible.
What right has the public to say that a man
is dishonored by the criminaty of his wife p
How Can man lose lis honor except by some
act of his OWN He may be driven to agony
by the disgrace that publicity u such CRIME in
tiicts on his family, but what kind OF a relief is
that which adds a million fold to its notorety !?
Society seems 10 talk as ii man was so dis
honored by the unfahiulness OF his wife that
he must commit murder before he can rank
again with honorable men. He is innocent,
but he must load his conscience with a hor-
rible crime, or society will regard him dlshon-
! ored.
The injured husband himself might be dis
posed to treat the ruin oil his peace in chris
tan aud iorgiying sgirtt. Except in cases
where the parties taken in the act despair
, is the most natural feeling OF the husband
, when the destruction OF his domestic happiness
comes upon him, IN spite of the fury tina. spu-
rious honor insists III forcing him to feel Pity
for his helpless wife who must thencetorth be
an outcast; desire to spare their children from
a disgrace that will cling 10 them Tor lie and
haunt their childrens' children; a conscience
that warns him that he has no right to cast the
first stone; desire to escape a notoriety that
will follow him to every corner OF the word;
these and many other considerations might in
duce an honorable man to endure his distress
quietly, separate from his wife, and bury his
desolaton IN silence, rather than aid murder
to his conscience; but the public insists that
he is dshonored unless he stains his innocent
hands with blood. He is disgraced If he is
, willing to live in innocence, and must haye
, the sin of biood-gutlDess his soul, in order
, to vindlcate his honor, which he had done
nofhng to tarnsh. Thus be is forced to com
piete the destruction of his family; drive his
wife, perhaps, TO the pave; entail stigma upon
his children, and load his cons, fence with hor.
rible crime, the picture OF which will never
! more leave his menta. vision, to satisfy the
} demands of the public which assumes special
guard over his honor, while it cares nothing for
the consequences OF its verdict.
If depraved wretch, with deliberate, pre-
, meditated malice, commits cold bicoded muir
der, and, in spite of all the loop-holes OF the
I law and the morbid sympathy of society, is
, condemned, abundant time must be given him
to make his peace with Heaven, and pious cler.
gymen vie with each other to wait his soul di.
. rect from the gallows TO mansions of eternal
bliss. What is there in the crime of the adul-
terer SO much more atrocious, that he must be
sent, without moments warning, to eternal
judgment, unshrIyen aud ''in the very blossom
7 OF his sins p His offence, however destructive
in its consequences, has none OF the Gnimus, the
| lat ted ma apstif all 18Th
crimes. Often it begins with friendly intimacy,
anc goes through all stages of mutual attraction,
! admiration, affection, love and burning passion
We acknowledge no such justification as I'M
, comfortable passion. but it is offered to excuse
6 murder. Is anger the only uncomfortable pas
sion of humanity?
We have called the spurious sentiment Of hon.
or, that is so officious in these Eases and is
the principal cause OF them, public opinion but
we only mean that it Is the unwholesome froth
of public sentiment. 1t is made most promi
nent by those who would cover up the laxity Of