New-York tribune., 1870-11-28
JENEINS IT 4 WrRDLR TRIAL.


JENKINS IT h MTRDER TRIAL.
We thought we were acquainted with Jen-
kins In all of his doublings and devices, his
back-door gossips and keyLole peepings, the
well-worn rags of poetry and tattered quota
tons which he was wont 10 fluttcr in our eyes,
his is the best known of all the tedious familiar
figures of the newspaper world, before which
he stands, something Ike the clown in the
circus to tempt the Tabble in. We had grown
too used TO his practices lately TO heed them;
watched him. without SURPRISE dodge after
Princes and Presidents, brides and murderers,
run on the trail Of pure wOman's reputation,
and tear it to pieces rs a dog the hare. BIT
q feat Of his at the recent trial Of the barber
Tanlon, in Philadelphia, we confess has
moved us 10 wonder and admiration. He has
out-IIugoed Hugo; The powers of fine writing
can no further 60. The peculiarly sensational
facts of the case may have had their influence;
the consideration Of rape, murder, blood money
offered in open court, all 1T once seems to have
affected our reporter "a would absinthe or
hashisch. He wildly seiZcs his pen and pro-
cceds to convert the dirty courtroom into
scene in Hades, makes a demon out of the
wretchcd prisoner, and puts the respectable
merchants and CTOccrs who constitute the
jury check by jowl with the Archangel Michael.
"IntO the face Of the OmnilOtent these gen.
"tlcmcn," he tells us, "since the moment of
"thcir return to the courtroom, did not cease
"to look. The dread stiffness of the place in
"tenSifcd. bright ray of sunshine shone
"upon the face Of the prisoner. The floating
"dust rcvolvcd like a large squirrel-cage. AS
by torch lighting up o dark corner OF
"IIades, HanlOn's face was lit up. Such awai,-
cling for the verdict was never equaled out
" side the pages of the savant Walter Scott.
"Guilty said Mr.. Judah Hart, with eyes that
"streamed with tears. Guilty said Mr.. Win
"pennv, and, though God had chosen him for
"his Nemesis, Mr. Winpcnny made rendition of
"the verdict with eyes unused to public tears"
Hardly have we recovered from the shock of
considering the respectable Mr.. Winpenny in his
new role Of Nemesis, than we are called upon
to behold tho Hon. Brewster bullying an
infant and tramplng upon the excOriatcd and
still bleeding heart of a widowed mother, but
are speedily relieved by being assured that
Omnip0tence, in the shape OF Detectives
Joshua Tacglrt and George Smith, check
"mated him at every step" Phiadelphians
have a weakness for hereditary distinction,
but the family of this wretched barber one
would naturally suppose, would be occupied
at such q moment with other considerations
than horaldic pride; but We learn that they
were busy in cleaning " from their escutcheon
" the shadow of the gallows tree.' After the
verdict was rendered, the barber himself i'm
mediatcly assumed the appearance of certain
monsters known to Bunyan and Robert Dale
Owen, and "also of the Cyclops, though not
"in physique" Life, for him, had parted
:" with most of its romance" which we think
is very likely. The sun moved its sheen, con-
sideratcly, so as to deposit halo on the brow
of each individual juror as though Justice
chad placed on each O cOronal OF gold"
"The tablcau was remarkably dramatic We
are told, and we have no doubt Of it. Our
neighbors must be as successful in their court
room spectacular effects as Fisk with his
whirling legs and tulle and red lights.
! Seriously, we call attention to this petty
matter not 10 laugh at it, but because it is a
sign of great and growing evil among us.
Hanlon's trial deserved attention from all
thoughtful men. He was either an innocent
man trapped and done to death by gang of
detectives and convicts, whose price of blood
money and pardons was insured to them by
system pcCuIldIJ We nope, W InhduciP"i'
practice, CT, if guilty, his case, and that of
others similar to his, call for earnest and zeal
ous consideration of both physicians and
Christians. If guilty, he was moral maniac
a creature cast in the shape of man, but
in whose nature bcstial passions had
at birth hopelcssly overpowered any coun-
teractng clements of humanity. How far
such men are to be held responsible, whether
they are sane or insane, is a problem which
demands our attention more than any other.
But crime, instead of being regarded as the
fatal disease Of the body polite, which calls
for treatment by all the wisdom and skill
among us, is handed over now as subject ht
only for the reporter to play fantastic tricks
over, and with which he may amuse ana
debase a gaping crowd.
1t is useless, we know, to either jeer at OF 10
censure the degraded idea of Journalism
which molds and shapes many of the minor
newspapers, the most revolving expression Oh
which is the treatment by the daily reporters
of subjects both grave and terrible, which
should never reach the public eye. The men
write as Harlequin dances, because they must
live, and because the public prefer such