Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-09-15
Crime North ana snutn

| ut
showing the number of homicides wbich
had occurred during the past wear in III
jdlnerent States. This yyas teIeora.ts
over, the whole country, but il Was ae;
DENLY campaign trick and intended ~
prove the frightful decentralization of ~
southern States it was not publisher Lo
tne 0dzeHc. Some idea may be had of the
knaVefy OF the affair, when we state that
che homicides in the State of New W.
we're out down at 20, the Formulation ne
the State being A, 400 000, while tbosa ~
E1ulslaf were given as 1913, the ponnl..
non being 725, 600. The fact that tho =.
Ianticldes committed in the CITY of Nav
YORK alone Were at least five times as oreot
In number as the statistical homicides IN
the whole State, and more than doubla
tnose alleged to have been committed in
h IS - OF course, carefully omitted.
| The killing Of u born infant, and tba 49,
, ders of weak AMI unfortunate woman oro
not likely to affect the Presidential vote
and. therefore. do not require the intar'
ven'ion of the Ku-K TX bill.
We do not pretend to say that. in MAN.
parts OF the South, s ciety is not still in .
verv unsettled condition. 1t wouId. In
deed. be very singular if a race of brave
aud independent people were to be sud
denly changed into sat of crineinr
hounds, merely by the circumstance of
n.
military tyranny. It is not surprising that
men who are treated almost AS outcasts.
and who are denied the protection of the
law, should at all times b driven to pro-
tect themselves against assaults and out
RACES. But this by no means implies de-
mOraliz 'tion. l. shows, on the contrary.
II spirit of hone t mani pod, which is, in
Itself, the very best guard egainss demor-
aliZatlon ; and we venture 10 say that, so
long as his spirit of honest manhood is
persevered in the South, it will never
descend to the frightful aad brutal crimes
and the miserable aud unmanly acts which
now disgrace an degrade the North.
Where, for example, do we find an in
stance in tie South of such a crims as the
Parkman murder, where Mr. Park man
was assassiuated in cold blood by his CON-
panion, Prof. Webster, his body being cut
up, partly dissolved by chemicals, and
then taken out in pieces and suspended
by fish hooks in the water for the fish to
feed on ? Where have we an instance in
the South of anything so atrocious and so
foul as the Nathan murder, to which not
even clue eX St, and which, bad it hap
pened in Mississippi, would have been
sufficient TO put the whole South under
the ban And where have we to crown
al, anything SO Infamous, SO revolving, as
the Bowlsby murder ? What would nave
OCOA LAO OutSIJ IL JObtIiS BlIl uIll Doeu
assassinated in Charleston, and her bruised
and mangled body had been packed forci-
bly, in trunk and sent to Baltimore p
But the crime was perpetrated in New
York, and the body shipped to Chicago
These of course, are extenuating circum-
stances.
But there is something, in its way, which.
is worse in it's influences on the conmuni-
| ty than even these infamous cIses of aW-
! Eat kHoE Al
leading and most Influential paper of the
North-the New York HerAId-has finally
sunk into a sensational police police jour
nal, giving daily publicity to every crime
and outrage, no matter how revolving, how
atrociOus, or how obscene il may be- In
deed, the more frightfuI it is, the greater
| is the effort to mako it attractive, by dis
play, in the columns of this demoralized
and demorali2ing journal which is no
longer fit to enter into the house of any
respectable femily, or to pass into the
hands of the youth, male and female CT
this country.
The low, coarse brutality which now
disgraces New York is no logger O secret
to the world Any one that Hooks OF the
SCI sa ional headings of the Herald day
after day, aud se9s there, in largo type
awful" "Atrocity," "Frail Julia" "Plt-
iful Story" Horrible TRUTH" Love and,
Suicide, "Terrible Confession and such
trash made up to excite, and to pander TO o.
mort bid curiosity, can easily see what kind
Of reading the Herald considers the most
attractive, the most fashionable and the
most popular. Now, We ask, is there any
proof of the people of the South, even in
| their sew rest trials, ever having sunk to
such It Idalous and contemplate degree
dation as thi, ? Have we nos at least the
| tatisfacti II of knowing that an editor who
wOnld atts mpt t. conduct promiCe nt ard
inf1ential Laper in the Sou Ii, IN such O
mAun r, would at once be drummed out
of tho country, not only with kicks, but
probably with tar and feathers brsides !?
A1d while We have this regard for decency
lett and this cblvarlc sense of protection
| for the women whom we cherish, is not
I the best safeguard against tho nameless
aud degrading atrocities with which
New York and Boston and Wash
Ington are familiar We may add
New York STATE and Massachusetts
as well, for it is we'll known that the
crimes 20 which we Allude, though not so
notorious outside Of New York as in it.
are practiced in the other cities and States
we mention with equal disregard of law,
| human and divine. Indeed the corrup-
ton in the diff rent departments in Wash
ington where female clerks are employed.
is Sd bare-faced that there is no punish
mem snort OF tnat which visited SOdOm
and Gomorrah, severe enough for the men
who have brought such disgrace on the
Capital of their country, and the females,
who lend themselves as accompli,es to
sin as degraded as that which disgraced
/ R0me in the days of the Saturnaia.
Il would be well, indeed, if the radicals
! who are SO anxious about the South, and
who busy themselves with such devilish
inve ations as the ku-Kiux bill, would
turn their attention to the condition Of
thiogs in thu centres of their boosted CIV
| lization. The lesson Of the Commune Of
Paris is still fresh enough to be studied
with profit. There, decency aud respecta-
bility were banished. Generalization
spreads like a cOntagion. Power fell into
tue hands of the shameless, acd political
loafers. cashiered officers, ex-veterinary
surg ons, soldiers of fortune and released
c )nvIcts assumed the reins of govern ment
aud brought Paris TO u degr g of degrade
ton which was as painful as it was ruin
Gus. The North has the same thing before
it. It is written on the wall, and unless
some check is placed upon the march Of