New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1870-12-22
TUE CHILD MURDER At SYRACUSE. .


ally met, very likely, with but chary welcome
for his ungracious burden. We do not look
for thanks, especially from fathcrs anu
mothers, in this Christmas time, which seems
especially set apart for happy childhood, when
gwarming radiant little faces mako fairy land
out of the busy street if We repeat the story
Of tho child who died last week in Syracusc-
one of those children born inhcritOrs of life
from which the darkest, dampest grave Is n
pleasant refuge.
The little girl and her mother not having
left their room for some days, the door was
forced open, and both were found nearly
naked and dead. "The evidence" we are told,
"shows that the woman first poisoned her
"child and thnH committed suicide. Tho
"cause which impelled her to tho unnatural
"crime is the ordinary one of drunkenness,
(which had brought on extreme poverty. The
"lttle girl lay crosSwise on the bed, her feet
"amost touching the wall, her head resting on
"hor mothers breast and against her face"
The story goes on-.be old, old story of drank
cnntss-to tell of the passionate love OF the
mother for her child when sober, and her
cruelty when mad with liquor; of the
childs pitiful little efforts to keep the
whisky away from her. Last Monday night
when, doubtless, the fatal act was committed,
The people living overhead were awakened by
q terrible noise down stairs Tho child was
screaming in agony ooh, Gear ma don't do
" SOL do MT do sol" :" She screamed twice, AMI
" The man was on the poEt of running down
stairs but his wife would not let him. Tie
screams were quieted sObbins was heard
n .i,,t, oil
"Doubtlcss the poison had done its work" The
man who sold the drug to an irresponsible
person il ccnsurcd. Every precautiOn," we
ore assured, ais taken by law to prevent the
" sale of poison to such purchasers, but fatal
accidents will occur" We are quite sure of
tho truth of this; the law is strict in defend
ing human life from the pcrils Of arsenic and
prussic acid.
The druggist, no doubt exercises rigorous
care while in every street and alley OF every
town and village the gin-shops are flung open,
that swarms of men and women may freely
buy death for themselves and disease for their
| children, and the great disillcrics are counted
on rs n sure source of revenue, and their own
crs bear no incOnsiderable part in Che Gov
| eTnmcnt, rs we all know
| ntigated bore to many men of culture and
refinement Tragedies such as that IN SYRIA
cusc may very properly serve, they think, as q
! text for needed and beneficial sermons to the
| lower classes, but, their conscience being clean,
there is no reason why these unhandsome
| colpscs should be brought between the wind
| and their moro delicate senses. But ii Is to
these very men we wish TO say n few practical
words. They would be prompt to remove a
| stagnant pool if the wind carried its masma
into tho windows Of their own costly dwell
ings as well as into tho novels where it orig
| mated. Putting oil questions of morality
aside, drunkenness, as our physicians and
tho statistics of every State prove, is tho
pregnant, death breeding influence which is the
cause of half the physical disease and cerebral
weakness in America to-day. Climatic inilu-
| ence has its share in this but temperament
has more. We arc too bilious and nervous a
| people to bear the use of liquor with immunity;
| and the more cultured the man, the more accus-
toned TO brain rather than manual labor he is,
! the less is he able TO bear it; the moro sure
and rapid is its effect, not only upon himself
| but upon his children and his Children's chill
drcn. The bottle of champagne on his dinner
table, to the cool-hcaded man of business is,
he holds, necessary, harmless stimulant after
his days work; only vulgar fanatic would
protest against it. He keeps it there, there
fore, and passes with q smile of indifference
| the vile grog-shOps where the dangerous classes
| find their necessary stimulant. They are not
of his kin or kind either in their temptation
or their downfall. In few years he wonders
| why his son, under the influence 81 champagne
and highly seasoned food, should become
hopeless debauchec and libcrtnc, and is still
more puzzled as to where his daughters could
| have inherited their weak bodies and weaker
minds. Let any man consult his family ply
sician and he will learn the old, hackncyed
fact in science, that the use of liquor entails
upon offspring a greater or less degree of
imbecility and disease.
We cOntinc ourselves to the purely physical
view of this matter. The statistics, with
| which We all are familiar, leave none of us ig
nOrant of tho fact that drunkenness has
dragged into our penitentiaries and jails two
birds of their inmates. Looking round
through what is called society, we see but few
families out of which some gallant, generous
boy, tho one usually most loved and most
worthy of love, has not gone down that sud
den path into the outer darkness, cursing God
and his own life Ii this to have an end
Shall we act as reasonable men, and grapple
with drunkenness as we would with cholera or
any other pestilencei Or shall we fathers and
mothe.s go on year after year building our
hopes on our boy, teaching him Christ's love
with our lips, and with our hands putting sure
death III his graspf Is there no child murder
in New-York as well as in Syracusei The
poor wretch who ended her child's life with
one draught to save her from the curse of
many which she herself had found intolerable