The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1870-12-01
CRIME.
From the Milwaukee Sentinel.


may arise in some measure from the great
fidelity and minuteness with which the
newspapers of the day chronicle current
events under startling and imaginative
head lines, but we are not prepared 10
say that it is altogether groundless.
True, if we were to rely wholly on prison
satisfies, We should conclude that the
ratio of criminals to the whole popula-
ton was no greater now than twenty
years ago; but it must be observed that
the statistics of prisons are not the stats
tics of crime. There may be ten crimes
committed to-day, where there was but
one a quarter o., a century ago, and yet the
prisons may be relatively NO fuller.
That there is relative as we'll as an
actual increase we cannot help thinking,
when We consider as we'll the great nrm-
Der of crimes the perpetrators whereof are
never brought to justice. as the special
reasons in the recent history and present
condition of the country which would
lead US to expect at Cnce more lawless-
ness, and less sternness in the punish
ment OF offenders. -
Making due allowance for the latter
day demand for sensation, and the readi-
ness OF newspapersto supply that demand,
II must, we think, be admitted that theft.
robbery, incendiarism and murder are
more common and less frequently pun
ished than they once were, and that too
in spite of our telegraphs and other supe
rior detective facilities We can scarcely
take up a paper from any part of the
country without finding the record of
some local offense against the laws. and
unless the offense is very great one.
involving the loss Of life, or consider.
able amount of property, we rarely hear
of the offenders arrest We freely admit
that there is very far from being mathe-
NAUTICAL certainty about conclusions drawn
from wholesome comparison of the
newspaper accounts CT the past with
those of the present, and yet we think
they are to some extent reliable, when
the comparison reveals as marked con.
trast as it does in this matter of crime.
Not only does there seem to be greater
success in avoiding arrest .adays,
but greater immunity from punishment
after arrest, even in cases where there is
not the slightest doubt OF the prisoner
guilt TO omit the minor offences which
are far too often winked at, consider for
d moment the grave offence OF homicide.
Repeatedly have men been acquitted for
killing the supposed seducers of their
wives, and women for killing their own
seducers, until now it may be set down as
practically established for he guidance
of all concerned that shooting for seduc-
ton or martial infidelity is not criminal
offence, even in cases where the provoca
ton is not so much as proved. In the
case of Mcfarland, tor example, it was
clearly shown that the homicide was a
brutal, drunken husband; it was shown
that his wife procured divorce from
him, and it was not shown there had
ever been any improper intimacy between
her and Richardson, or that he WAS at all
instrumental in bringing about the sep
aration. And yet Mcfarland, the con
fessed murderer of Richardson was &C
quilted, and ladies made haste to bestow
kisses on his ruff1anly counsel. But Sc
duction is not the only provocation that
IN the eyes OF modern Jurors and women
justlfies the taking of human life. Last
August lad in New Jersey smashed a
play-fellow's head with ball club, and a
few days ago he was acquitted on the
ground that he was not old enough to
know better According to one account
he was ten, and according to another he
was twelve years old. At all events he
was old enough to play base ball, if he
was not old enough to know whether
u club was harder than ahead. By virtue
If this verdict the young man is apthor-
'zed to go on smashing heads for an in
definite number of years, or until in the
opinion of a New Jersey jury he arrives
at years of discretion and moral response,
bility.
We have already adyerted to the fact
that the ladies share in and contribute to
the public sentiment which encourages
crime by granting it immunity for
trihing or insufficient provocation or
cause. Michigan has just furnished
another ex implication of thai fact In
the case of Vanderpool, just tired at
Kalamazoo, for the second time, for the
murder of Field, the jury was unable to
gree, standing seven for conviction and
five for acquittal Forthwith the fair
danes of Kalamozoo singled out the five
who voted for acquittal, and rewarded
them with kisses. 1t is not stated that
they visited bot water or broom sticks or
other marks of female disapprobation
upon the other seven, but they certainly
bestowed their smiles and kisses upon
the five, and SO threw the weight of their
personal favor into the scales, to- act as a
bride to the jury on the next trial.
Vanderpool may be innocent, OF he may
be guilty. That is question for new
jury to determine upon the evidence. tt
is not question for ladies to influence
by Establishment.
We might indicate many other proofs
Of increasing laxity in the public sense of
justice, which is itself an Indirect proof
of the increase of crime, but we will