New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1870-07-10

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clue hasb@ea lond "a s4nl he faintes
.heps thet tie infant Win Be- restored to it
home; nsesAAk asyE ciicuns(ance trans
pired to throw the least light on the mys
ferryI that surrounds the whole affair
Equally fuile have been all attempts t.
guess the motives that prompted thu
author or authors of this black crime.
Little by little has the public mind
awakened to the fact that here, in a popu-
lous part of great city, which counts it,
police force for the prevention Or detec'
ton of crime By, hundreds 1here, IN the
yet full light Of day, a crime Of unsur'
passed atrocity has been committed, in
theabduction of an infant from the house
Of its parents, leaving the ruin Of utter
despair where peace and comfort had been
before, driving the unhappy father to the
verge of madness and consigning the yet
more wretched mother to an insane asy-
lum.
We are interested in the prevention, the
punishment, and the suppression of crime,
for this is necessary to each mans safety.
But here is crime committed which,
more emphatically than any other, it be-
comes the business, the personal concern,
of every man and every woman to ferret
out, to mete condign punishment, to the
offender, and, if it be yet possible, to re-
turn the innocent victim to the suffering
parents. ' 49,.
Let any parent, more especially let any
mother, make this case her own. And
why may it not be? 1t has happened to
poor Digby, and SO far the criminal has
had entire impunity. Whose turn may
come next Let any mother imagine her
infant, loved with q love that can not be
expressed by any power of language,
seldom away from her watchful sight
always present in her thoughts, its imper-
feet utterances listened to with an atten-
ton that would not be given to the most
eloquent effort Of human genius;
its toddhng steps, in the fond
mothers eye, the veriest poetry of
motion; its least action noted, its least
want attended to with care, its playful and
endearing little ways studied with pride
and JOY. For it is the source Of present
and the centre of future hope.
Let every mother, as she fondly clasps her
little one to her bosom, look into her own
heart, be surprised at the pure, unselish
love that comes from the maternal in
stinct; then let her imagine her darling
suddenly and ruthlessly torn from her,
lost, every effort for its recovery
futile and in vain! What every mother
feels for the little ones that God has given
her, the thrice wretched wife of poor
Digby has felt for the infant that she now
nouns, as did Rachel, weeping for her
and would not be comforted
because they were not
The abduction of Digbys child has put /
a responsibility upon every true man in
the city of New Orleans, a responsibility
hat can not be gainsayed, to have no
rest, to make no pause, until the mystery
S cleared up, and until the criminals are
ound and consigned to meet punishment.
The ordinary means provided by law have
allied, and it has become the business of
every man and every woman. Let every
nan and every woman see to it.
Let meetings be held; let ways and
means be brought forward and adopted.
Let committees of citizens in no stinted
number be detailed to do the work. No
,ompous representatives of circumlocu-
ion, but men alive to the necessity that
Exists. Let thorough, active, untiring
earch be made. The lost infant must be
ound, the criminals must be detected; the
afety Of every family demands it, the
,eace Of every parent makes it imperative.
Where are the police? Is it not time
hat the miserable donothingism, SO char
Of our guardians, be exchanged
or the activity that this case demands? |
We are enduring the sad consequences of
he system that has prevailed too long
hat men who are paid to do a certain
york, leave that work undone, unless |
'ropitiated with a special consideration
or every special occasion During the |
ong month of inexpressible agony to the
razed and heart-broken parents of the
tolen child, what has been done by
hese gentry? Nothing! Let the mass of
ur citizens do this work themselves, and
fter that let public opinion shape the work
f reforming system of police regula-
ions that permits crime so unutterably
einous, to 60 unwhipt Of justice.
The outrage has attracted the attention
f the State authorities, and the Governor
f Louisiana, rightfully thinking that
very means within the power of the State
overnment should be put in requisition,
ow offers reward of fac hundred dollars
Or the recovery of the child, and an ad-
itional fve hundred dollars reward for the
rrest and conviction of whoever stole it.
Ir Digby, also. offers a reward of fire