Clarksville chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 186?-1872, 1871-10-14
TOLERATED RUFFIANS.
Graphic Description ola vclI-hnown
and Unpleasant Charaeter--
The Pet Assassin or the
south and West.

1t Is well known that In many
towns of the South and West there
are not unfrequently one or more
scoundrels who, starting from level
of social respectability, and keeping
themselves decent in all otherrespects
than violent deeds of blood, walk free
and unframed through the village
streets with a gang of admirers hang
ing around them to praise their /" ex-
ploits." The New Orleans Picayune
says that all such should be made to
feel the prompt, rough, stern, relent-
less hand of Justice, and it says:
There is scarcely town In Louis
lana, Mississippi, Arkansas, or Tex
as, without its pet desperate 1t Is
the same throughout the whole South.
The border States, Virginia, Ken
lucky, and Missouri, are just as bad.
The Ear West Is far worse, and the
STATES or the Northwest have their
own record also. Sometimes these
racals are described as only danger
GUS when drunk, but at ordinary
times extremely polite and pacific.
1t will be found however,, that 1t
takes about a half a gallon of spirits
to get one of them in his normal con-
dition of inebriety, and that when
he is Alphabetically made fully uncon-
scious heis more than mOnomaniac,
with diseased propensity to kill.
"Thrse young Fellows (they are
generally young, for whisky claims
its own, and kills them long before
middle age), are usually respectable
i'm parentage and kin. Sometimes
they bear professional diplomas. But
in many cases they have a throng of
admirers and followers, men who will
talk volubly, If not eloquently, of
their prowess and achievements, and
who stand ready at any time to urge
them on to acts of bloody scoundrel-
ism. They are not altogether respon-
sible for their villany; the foolish
people who tolerate them socially,
are, in part, accessories of their dia-
bolism. The writers who excuse and
eXtenuate their wickedness are also
sharers in their crimes. They nre
known to be murderers, and yet with
in a range of thirty miles around his
home each may count n hundred
companions who do not scruple of he.
ing seen on any occasion in his COM
pany. When he at last dies by viO-
lence seldom at the hands of the
law, there are mean apologists ready
to speak of some quality which would
he n merit In any other character
After he IL dead, victim to his own
viIlany, IL Is narrated that he was q
desperate character, the author of n
dozen h0micides; but his red and
brutal biography Is gilded with praise
of his daring, and touched Off with
eloquent apologies for his crimes. 1t
is told how valiantly he fought as a
soldier "a doubtful tale, for no bad man
can be a good soldierin any cause), and
the standing and merit Of his parents,
his ancestry and his kindred are dwelt
upon, even though IL may he well
known that n worthy father Is asham-
ed of the villainous, numbering, base,
and bloody young drunkard that
bears his name.
at is q plausible theory that we
have complete right to exterminate
these marauders. They are danger
Gus. They threaten the peace of So
ciety at every turn. They are spirits
of evil. They are enemies of good
order. They are corrupt and corrup-
tors. They are vile and the centers Of
villainy. They are base and make all
around them base. They are the en-
emies of order and society. There
fore we might be glad to see war OF
determination waged against them,
and a reward Of money and honor set
upon the head Of each one OF them.
The capture, trial, conviction and ex-
ecution of no more than twenty of
this claas In ench Stata (aud M Stata
is without score OF them would
restore tranquility and sense of Sc
curity. 1t might he legitimate, an
honorable and fashionable pursuit,
among gentlemen to hunt these
beasts and muderOus monsters and TO
them. And whenever a
youth of dissipated, inebriate and des-
perate habits Is found, he ought to be
watched with extreme care, adver-
tlsed, and NJ proper time incarcera-
ted.n
Mark Twain nroduces one of the