Nashville union and dispatch. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1866-1868, 1868-01-08
THIEF KILLING IN TEXAS.

FROM the Houston Telegraph.
We have good reason to believe that
thieying and thief killing are going on in
Texas at a rate not appreciated by the
public. These things rarely reach the ears
of the authorities, or the columns of the
newspapers in any tangible shape. From
eralintimations we have received lately,
we are led to believe that this dreadful
work is going on to a shocking extent. 1t
is well known that the State has many
thieves, and that thieVing is rapidly on the
increase. Horses, cattle, hogs, sheep,
poultry, provisions, goods, and often money,
are stolen continually. Not a 1.-THE of these
neiarious transactions is ever known to the
conductors of the public journals But
while the details of this sort Of rascality
are not adequately appreciated, the extent
TO which fearful retribution is being melted
out to the class Of offenders above named
is not even imagined.
In many parts of the State thieves are
continually shot in the act of stealing;
and in many other cases they are pursued,
captured, tried by a selfconstituted court,
and, if found guilty, hung at once to the
most convenient limb. The truth is, the
old days of lynch law are rapidly returning
in this State. The surface of society does
not show it, but it is 30. Indeed, the gen
eral population of Texas was never more
quiet and peaceabIe than now But under
all this appearance of healthful tranquility
these dreadful facts are continually trans
piring, here and there, in all parts of the
State.
No noise is made about these things
They occur under the very noses Of good
citizens who know nothing of what is going
on. Never was lynch law executed with
such secrecy as now in Texas. The people
are losing their property, what little has
been left by the war; in some cases rob
berries are accompanied by horrid murders;
no confidence whatever is felt in the speedy
administration of Justice by the courts
the testimony sufficient to clear the thieves
is always on hand in abundance and the
sufferers and their friends are beginning in
various parts of the State TO take the law
into their own hands, and to inhict punish
ment according TO their own judgment
Even the great mass of the thieves them
selves have no conception of the certainty
and rapidity with which this rude retribn-
ton is being visited upon men of their
class. Thieves are dispatched whom they
do not know, and thieves whom they do
know disappear, and the rest do not know
what has become of them. And every
thief is spotted" and watched. No thief
can ply his profession long in Texas, az
things now stand, without losing mis- life,
either by rope or bullet. Texas is rapidly
becoming a very unhealthy country for the
light fingered gentry.
This is deplorable state Of things. 1t
greatly lessons that general respect for the
laws of the land, and that public confidence
in the speedy administration of Justice by
the courts which are the foundations of all
healthfll society and sound civilization.
Ii destroys that repose Of character conse-
quent upon n sense of personal and public
security, so necessary to make good citi-
zen in all the relations Of life. 1t eultivates
in men, who otherwise would make the
best of citizens, secrecy, cunning, and per-
sOnal familiarity with crime. Itaceustoms
them 10 look nnpityingly upon the most
horrid tragedies. 1t dries up the fountains
Of pity in the heart, aud turns ''the milk of
human kindness" TO ''the gall of bitterness"
Il makes men reckless of the shedding of
precious human blood, and of the destruc-
ton Of sacred human life. 1t engenders a
multitude Of bloody feuds, which will
plague the country, andinvolvethe families
of all concerned in troubles, oscillations,
and bloody renoonters, homicides, and as
sassinatiOns for years to come. The general
thieving is deplorable, but lynch law
simply substitutes one evil for another. IL
may, to certain extent, rid the land of
thieves, hut it fills the land with blood and
murder.