The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1870-01-11
THE PREVALENCE OF CRIME AZ
THE NORTH.

No one can read the newspapers Of the
day without noticing the unusual preva.
lence OF crime in the North. This may
be called the era, there, of murder. Nor
is the South free from acts of violence.
But there is this difference: When out
RACES occur at the South, they are made
the pretexts for new Acts of "reconstruc.
tion," for new invasions of the constitu-
tional rights os The States. But when
these acts of violence are perpctrated at
the North, they are explained away and
attributed to prevailing epidemic. "
II Congress proposes to regulate "out-
RACES" by its enactments, let it's inter-
meddliug extend North as we'll az South.
On this subject, the Baltimore Sun re-
marks. with force:
every man of ordinary information
and candor knows that, judged by any
fair standard of comparison, the amount
OF crime committed in the South, as O
whole, is not greater than the amount
perpetrated among correspondence popu-
Iation in the North or West; and this,
Notwithstanding the disorganizing conse.
quences of an invasion, which called a
much larger proportion of the male DO.
pulation in the South to the field than in
the North, and the sudden emancipation
OF millions Of colored people, not to
speak OF the anomalous political position
OF the Southern States. The greatest
outrages perpetrated in the South have
been in connection with the sdministra.
ton OF Justice by Northern officials in
those latitudes, who have liberated crimi-
nails on some such ground as that the
magistrates who tried them could not
take the test oath. In some parts of the
South, where there has not been even q
justice OF the peace, there has been more
freedom from crime than in Boston and
New York. Yet it seems to be the policy
OF Congress to hold the whole South
responsible for the alleged acts of un-
known criminals. Why should not New
Workers be held to account for the MUIR
derous assault upon Mr.. Pullman, of
that city, not long ago, and for the Ro-
gers murder, perpetrated in broad day
light, in the most densely populated
part of the city, and which remains to
this day q mystery? Or, why is not
Indiana, where Lynch law is more COM
mon than in any portion of the South.
taken in charge? Shall we Judge New
York by the terrible tragedy which has
Just occurred in the rural district of
Iarrytown, the Sleepy Hollow of the
State, wherea bucolical monster smashed
the skull of his wife with the atock of a
gun, slaughtered one of his neighbors
outright, and shot and mutilated a third
third beyond the hope of recovery? Or
shall we go to Brooklyn, the so called
'olty OF churches where q teacher and
guide OF children is disclosed as having q
paramonr, and, instead of teaching the
Young idea to shoot. shoots the wretched
woman and himself? Shall we form our
opinion of the community of BROOKLYN
ny such specimen of its Inhabitants, or
argue from this fact that all school
masters in New York have concubines
whom they are ready to butcher upon
the slightest provocation? If q pre-
tended regard for law is to furnish ex-
oases for invading the constitutional
rights OF the Southern States, why not of
new York? Every now and then, we
near OF threats to take even some recon.
structed Southern States in hand, on
SSsfG0,9nt of 'outrages, so that those
artificial lego, ahicS sS.s De , CONSIDERED as
taken off without fnJase 9s Rssys:nR y:ap or OF:
the nation There ought, however. TO
be o more rational pretext for that pro-
cess than the occasional outbreaks Of
violent passion common to all sections
and all centuries"
Senator Stewart will introduce bill,