St. Mary's beacon., 1861-01-24
SELECTED MISCELLANY.
MURDER WILL. OUT.


tsrs sevolss, and has been punished among
eivilissd na,isns almost universally with
dsath. Those who advocate cspitsl pun.
ishmept. adduoe in support of their ar-
gument the words Of the Mosaic Law, in
addition to the preeept delivered to Noah:
Whose sheddsth mans blood. by man
shall his blood bs shed:" ''Ye shall take
DO satisfaction for the life Of mur.
dercr, who 10 guilty Of death. but hs
shsll surely be pnt to death; for the land
cannot be clesnscd of the blood that ia
shed therein. but by the blood of him thst
shed it," The party. however. who
would abolish capital panishpsen,, have
this in their favor. that crime >hss de-
creased . psnishmsats have bc.o,ae less
serere. The common prsverb. Murder
will oat" no doubt originally implied
shas the criminal who hsd murderously
Shed the blood Of his fellow-cresture was
c~ertsksn. in almost every case. by re-
sributive justice. rs il the bleod cried
firm ths ground ustil punishment over
took the murderer. II was snppdsed
iade-d. BY our superstiti~us ancesters.
that q murdered body would bleed sfresh
when touched by the murderer. and to
this erd-si suspected persons were some
tisae- sabjected.
This 10 feferrsd to in sbskspeare's 5
RtcAsya W -
'Dssd Hesrys ~ssds
aOpss their csnSsaisd nouths and bieed
afrssh."
There Is story told Of certain gen.
tlsmen in Denmark, who. being togcth-
~ enc evening It an ,inn. fell out
amongst themselves and came 10 blsws.
The essdles beisg sxtinguished. in the
fray one Of the gentlemen was stabbed.
The murderer WAS unknown by reason
Of the. number. although suspicion rested
on pursaivant Of the kings. In or
der 70 discover the homicide. the king
Caused them all to come together into
sac room; and. standing round the corpse,
commsnded that they should, enc alter
another. lay their right hand On the
slain gentleman's naked breast, swear
ing they had not killed him. The gen.
tlencn did 50. and no sign whatever ap-
reared to witsess sgaihst them. The
pursaivsnt ouly remained, who 6rst Of
oil kissed the dead mans feet, aud laid
his hand on his breast; at this the blaoA
gushed forth in great abundance, both
from the wound and the nostrils, and
che eulpris. falling on bis knees, con-
fesed his crime.
The intentioa Of this ordeal, practised
Tor 20 many centuries. and received ss
evidence in our l.W Quarts % late as
the time Of Oharlra H., was that Of
direct appeal to God to testify against
the murderer. Such appeals are not free
from the charge Of profanity. and are.
of course, open to the grossest frauds
and most serious mistakes. Snck ordeals
hsve. very properly, been abolished. aud
are now, only esteemed valid by the ig-
nosant or eupeTs.itious hat the fact of
their having been appealed to in eases
Of undecided murder, shows us bow
streng ,hs feeling is in the human heart
that the nsn-slayer must not be allowed
70 s.caps jnstics-
ssif the v,le aesors sf the -hsinous deed
Near the dead body happily 10 brought,
on hath been proved the brsashisss esrpse
II may not be uniusersetin1 to lay be-
fyes opr FeaAers . few Of the most singu-
lar cases Of eoneesled murder. and come
-af tho singular means By which MUIR
ders hsve Ases disesssrsd, - these facts
lead 70 ths .eonclssieD. thas howsver long
~ srime .wss be undetect@d. tits in o.
nnk every saps. at length, bronght to