Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-07-01


ut viii always be matter of deep re-
gret to thousands that our lamentedPresi-
dent fell in the theatre; that the dastard-
ly assassin found him there. Multi
tudes of his best friends-I mean his
Christian friends-would have preferred
that he should have fallen in almost any
other place. Had he been murdered in
his bed, or in his office, or on the street,
or on the steps Of the Capitol, the tidings
of bis death would not have struck the
Christian heart of the country quite so
painfully, for the feeling of that heart is,
that the theatre is one of the last
places to which good man
shanldz zsa-as.a- -as..e-.ss-- s--ti.a--.,ss-ss last
in which his friends would wish him to
die. Little or nothing has been said
upon this subject in the pulpit, or by the
religious press; but it is one of the
cases in which, silence is more express
sive than words, and, therefore, / shall
say no more. / ask you, however, to
consider this: When q murderous
conspiracy has been formed and the
assassination of the President has been
resolved upon, and the conspirators
are looking for suitable person
to perform the dreadful deed, to
strike the fatal blow, or FIRE the fatal
shot, where do they find him2 Who
is the man they select? To whom is the
dark and hellish work committed To a
man schooled and trained an theatre
He is Just the agent suited to the oecas-
ion--just the bold, and daring, and
practiced actor, who can steal behind
his victim, skillfully lodge the fatal
bullet in his brain, bound quickly and
adroitly away, stalk de6antly across the
stage, brandish dagger, shout Sic
semper tyrdnnis,' and mysteriously dis
appear. Just what one might expect
from such character, trained in such
q place, and maddened with disloyalty,.
| heated with liquor, and used TO The es;-
citing and tragic scenes of the theatre.
"Surely a place where such men are
traiHed and fitted for such atrocious
deeds Of death, is not a proper resort for
you, my hearers, or for those you love.
For my own part, have always re-
| garded the theatre as, in the main, a
school Of vice and eorruption-the illum-
! ined and decorated gateway through
which thousands are constantly passing
into the embrace of gaiety and folly, in
temperance and lewdness, intamy and
ruin Il have always hated and avoided
it, and taught my children to avoid il,
on account of its character and infu-
| ence, its associations and accpmpani
ments, its misleading, corrupttng, and
] denoralizing tendencies, but henceforth
/ ii will be more odious to ms than ever
before May it be odious to you.
II deem This a suitable occasion to.lift
my voice against, and to exhort you to
number IT, from this day forth, among
the pollutiDg, perilous, and prohibited
places, where you, aud your children,
must never be found And as for yon-
der building, stained with the blood OF
him for whom the nation mourns to-day,
let Aceldama be written upon its walls,
aud let it stand for years to come, as il
now stands, silent, gloomy, forlorn,
more like . sepulchre than place of
amusement, saying to all the passers-by,
Here the- greatest crime was commit
ted, aud committed by one who was ad-
dieted tb0tragedy, aud had made the
stage his home