Urbana union. [volume] (Urbana, Ohio) 1862-1872, 1869-12-22
For the URBANA USIONf
HEART MURDERS.
nv lady GAY.
"a MAN MURDEREnn.

Not sixty years ago, if the above an
Houneement had appeared, a thrill Of
horror would have been felt through the
whole community. But now, how is it?
Why, if for ten days cOnsecUtively the
newspapers were issued without con-
tanning paragraphs headed, ''DiabOlicaI
Murder ~ "AtrOciOus Homicide 20 ''Ter-
ribIe Afair-A Man Shoots His Wife
through the Heart, Strangles Two of
His Children and then Cuts His Own
Throat % ''Night before last man
named Jones was taken from his bed by
some unknown persons, and hung in
sight of his own dwelling! Phere is
great excitement" >" &C., &c. 1.-TWO Men
BrutaIly Murdered and -Four Others
AIOrtaIIy Wounded p'-I say if there
should be q cessation of such news in the
public prints, half the people in the
country would throw the papers down
with an air Of disappointment, and ex-
claim, "Pshaw there isn't anything in
the paper! no murders, no nothing %
Murder has become such an everyday
transaction that we all look for it as reg
uIarly as we expect the sun to rise
and set, and Ito the shame Of the age, be
it said), feel disappointed if we do not
see it, or hear of it. The people have
smelt blood so long, that like the wild
beasts of the forest, they delight in the
scent!
Taken in any sense, viewed in any
light, murder is q sad and fearful sub
ject.
A truly virtuous man, when forced by
.seIfrdefeDse to take the life of a fellow
creature, turns from the deed he has
committed with siclzening regret.
The crimes we read of daily shock us
(fOr the time), because they are undeni-
ably set forth before the eye when the
murdered stare as in the face, when the
tangible blood flows to our view. But
sensible reader, did you ever reflect,
while deplOring that such things exist,
upon a system of murder, or murders,
that is going on now in this bright
world of ours, silently, but surely, and
In a manner unheeded, because not so
gIarlngly peTpetrated? These murders
are not the result of impulse or passion,
but are done cOOIly and deliberately.
Not stabs in the mortal body, but stabs
which rive the heart and pierce the soul
while the accomplishing victims
move about in the world, performing
the duties devolving upon them, devoid
of life-I mean life in its strict sense.
fTis true, a transient smile occasionally
fits across their placid features, but
within there is nought but desolation.
For them there is no hope but the bles-
sed consolation of the Gospel. Away
down I'm the innermOst they look and
long for the day Of immortality, when,
freed from their prosecutors. they may,
enter the promised haven,
'rWhere the wicked cease to trouble, and the
weary are at rest"
It is not necessary for me, intelligent
reader, to classify these silent murders.
Wherever operatives are found, in man
ufactories, shops, mines, in every con-
ceivable trade or profession on land or
sea, and even down to the circumscribed
family circle, victims to this tOrturing
system of murder can be seen dying by
inches.
The prating AbOlitiOnists, who ranted
and snOrted about ''the poor dOwn-trod-
den slaves of the South, )" would have
been more righteously employed had
they exposed the murderers nearer
home, for in ferreting them out and
bringing them to justice, they would
have had their hands too full to find
moments time to cry down "nigger Kill
leFs." By this I do not want to be un-
derstOOd as wishing to convey the idea
that the kind Of murder to which al |
Iude is confined to any particular secr
tiOn or people. Would to heaven !
could point to place where it does not
exist within the range of civilization. I
will cite few instances that have come |
under my own observation.
The first which occurs to me is one Of
a young girl. Her destroyer took delib-
crate aim, just as a warrior would point
a bayonet at the heart of an antagonist. |
No stratagem was left untried until he
won her confding heart. Soon as the
hellish purpose was accomplished the
poor betrayed victim was abandoned, |
and the gay LOthariO turned his force Of
arms and art toward another, and
another. The body of the artless vic
tim, too weak to sustain the pressure Of
the mind, was consigned by stranger
hands to an untimely grave. Her msu-
derer occupies an exalted place among
the savans of the country. The court |
room rings with his eloquence. But
where will he stand at the tribunal of
Almighty God2
There are deeper-dyed murders yet.
The sordidly avaricious man wants no