Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1871-01-11
THEORY OF MURDER.

Ill the tenuenCg Vi oOSiSp
nopularize murder, it unquestlonaoiy is
TO regard It as matter of course-as a
crime that can be neither prevented nor
nnnisbed There was never a conclu-
sion more fatal. Ask parley with the
highest crime known TO jurisprudence
n mankind Accept assassination as
nm element in determining the interests
M men and womenl Admit that one
man. may calculate the chances of taking
life. and take it in defiance of the pen
alty the law attaches to it! But the I'M
possibility of detection and conviction
e pleaded. A man conceals himself IN
n tb;cket by the roadside and awaits the
approach of his victim. The first man
who passes discovers. corpse IN the
highway. he informs the persons VINO
reside nearest the place. The coroner
summons a jury. They examine per-
sons as witnesses. One heard the re-
port of a gun at certain hour OF the
day in certain direction. Another saw
the deceased riding by his house. An
other swears that A and B, the deceased,
had lived on bad terms. That is all.
The Jungle in which the human tiger
concealed himself, and from which he
sued the fatal bullet, is searched, but no
trace of him appears. The verdict
Of the jury is framed. He died by the
hand of some one unknown to the jury.
The report goes abroad. 1t is announced
in the papers in capital letters. The
people read, shudder a moment, and
then forget. Another comes and still
another, and still the work goes on. The
criminal eludes justice. The measure OF
his malice is not yet full. His hands
are red. A little more blood will make no
difference. Heis now prepared totake the
life of his best friend. In the pursuit OF
others, he is overlooked by the agents OF
the law. His crimes become mere matters
ofneighborhood talk, and he isnow so Sc
cure that he may venture to join in the
discussion Of them himself
The murder of Nathan, the New York
Jew, excited an interest in every part OF
the country. The keenest detectives are
all at fault in ascertaining the murderer.
III Is said that men have become ambi-
tious to assume the crime by represent
ing themselves as the perpetrators Of IT.
Has it fascination, acquired from the
popular interest attached to it? Is 1T
thought to be glorious tolattract to one
self the fame of having committed
a crime that has shocked the worldY Is
fame so precious an aspiration that men
will climb to it upon the ladder of
false assumption Of the character of as
sassiRs2 1t is wonderful, but it is true.
The Identification of the assassin of
Nathan would thrill the country as it
trembled along the wires, and render
him an object of brief, but of universal
interest. For the time he would be
famous. Through bars that separated him
from the world, unnumbered eyes would
look. Swinging off into eternity
he would carry with him all the
consolation that the greatest of crimes
and the most terrible of punishments
could minister to a mind totally de-
PRAYED. The Indian is a stole, but the
white man has cultivated the art OF con-
cealment to perfection. Remorse for
crime is nothing. Concealment is every
thing. In vain statesmen define crime
and apportion its punishment. II pro-
crosses With strides that defy opposition.
1t appropriates the bright day as well as
the dark night Let society combat it.
But howl The instruments of justice
are only human, and can no more pene- |
trate the assassin's secret than others.
The problem for society to solve is:
Shall it remain impenetrable2