Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1863-10-26
The Bloody Ground.

The Bloody Ground.
The Territory of Nevada is establishing
a reputation for murderous ARRAYS, which
vies with that of California in that elder
day when it was looked upon as the
slaughter-hoase of the world. From ev-
cry district come with fearful frequency,
tales of blood and carnage, that horrify
all civilized communities, but have here
become so common as to be read or listen
ed to with the contemptuous apathy that
is bred of familiarity. Virginia City, from
It's greater population, is the scene of
majority of homicides, and that portion of
the city lying between Sutton avenue and
Union street, on B, is the favorite shoot
ing gallery of the town. In most of these
affrays the slayer and his victim belong
to the same class of population-a class
that exists in greater force in Virginia in
proportion to its population than perhaps
in any other place in the Union. The
business that these men pursue is of
character that tends more than any other
to engender quarrels, and to render men
vindictive and desperate; and as these
men are almost invariably armed, their
battles result in bloodshed, and generally
in death. There is class of men who,
while they choose 10 follow gambling as
pursuit, do so without becoming desper-
ADDE'S, and live in the community quietly
and unobtrusiTely, and demean themselves
respectfully as gentlemen and orderly cit
liens. With such the community have
no particular fault to find. Whatever of
evil their occupation and influence may
have upon the community, it is limited in
its effect to comparatively few; it is at
least not obruded, upon the public atten-
ton; it leads to no brawls, and does not
endanger the lives of citizens upon the
public streets, pursuing their peaceful and
legitimate occupations of everyday bust
ness or pleasure. Such men claim no af-
fnity with the brawGng, fighting, murder
ing "roughs' whose daily and nightly
n,eLees endanger life on the streets by day
and startle the nightly slumbers of our
citizens. They nevertheless come in for
full share of the obloquy, the eommu-
nifty generally making no distinction be-
tween the peaceable and well-behaved
gambler and the riotous, shooting and
stabbing ruffian who claims gambling as
his trade. So long as these desperate men
confne their slaughter to their own fra
ternity, the public at large suffer the mat
ter to pass in quiet, leaving the ministers
of the law to manage affairs, taking but
little interest in the result. They rather
incline to look upon the death of we'll
known desperate as public blessing and
the abatement of nuisance. The "Kil-
kenny cat character of these homicides
will however not endure forever. 1t will
happen, some day, that m one Of these
murderous brawls, some esteemed citizen
or the wife or daughter of citizen, while
walking the street in the broad light of
day, will be shot to death by stray bull
let fired recklessly by a rufian hand.
Then will come time of terror. Wewho
have lived through such times in Califor-
MIA, know to what fearful pitch the pop
ular frenzy can be wrought, and what
scenes are likely to be enacted when the
fierce cry of vengeance for innocent blood
comes up from the fierce threats of an in
furiated mob. God forbid that such a
state Of things should ever come to pass
among us, but the signs of the times point
ominously IN that direction. The very
class of men of whom we speak, are those
who have been the witnesses of these
things, and if their memory and expert
ence of the past teach them no lesson, they
ought to be able to see by present signs
that the camels back has received nearly
its last straw. The warning had better
be needed.