The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1871-08-15

ssTHn.XdH .Dp URfx6.@Iiet any5':05ii any :05nts;, as
we do daily. read the papers from oil
sections Of the country-North. South.
East and West=-and. ii he doea not be-
come luaGseatea with tie sfokehing list
of crimes, of all sorts;sand OF the still
more sickeningtdetailsS he has a!stouter
stomach for tho horrible than We have.
The Northern press particularly seems
to revel in just THAT sort Of thing. It
not ouly must 90 into the whole minutip,
but carries the joke still far.her-they
describe the prisoners to a hair, whnt
kind OF clothes they wear, their COM
plexion, color 1of their eyes, hair, boar
ing in court, 60, .but also, ,as. it these
were not enough, and to keep, the public
mind on prisoners whose cases would be
entirely forgotten, they interpie,o them.
Interview! Is not that thing being run
in the ground2 It was bad enough to
interview politicians, and publish their
sayings to the world, for politicians are
generally considered gentlemen, but to
interview felonl Heaven help usl
Has the human heart grown 80 despe-
rately wicked and the human mind 30
utterly depraved: that nothing less than
the reading Of crime. with all its har-
rowing details, will satisfy its cravings?
Or has the love of money 30 rooted it.
self in the minds Of these newspaper
men that they must foster crime for the
sake Of the chink that it may put in
their pockets? Money makes the mare
go.5 and these take this -reprellensible
method OF replenishing their already
overstocked. e1chequer. Look, for in.
stance.; at: the illustrated papers pub
lishedin New York CITY. We remember
being in. New York at the time Mrs. Sur
ratt was hung. and the illustrated papers
had large picture representing her and
her fellow-suGe not only an the drop,
but also with the rope around their
necks nnd the cap drawn over their faces
waiting for the drop to fall. Later still,
within the past few months, o man was
hqng, and these same. papers had to O
dot not only how he looked and whit he
said. but q picture Of him, too, with the
noosb around his neck. Last Friday,
another man was hung in New York for
vile murder, and next week. we shall
have the same revolving exhibition pa
raded before the public eye. Look,
also. at the New York Herald sending O
reporter all the way to California to in
terOie,o Laura Fair, the letter describing
her looks and what she said, spread out
IN full in the columns of that deleotable
sheet. for the edifcation of it's numerous
readersl Look. too, at the case of Mrs.
Wharton. in Baltimore, ut whose door
the papers are laying all the crimes pos
sible to conceive of, how she poisoned
General Ketchum, and at the same time
young gentleman of Baltimore under
her roof; how che borrowed money aud
then poisoned the parties she borrowed
it from to get rid Of their opportunities
Tor repayment; they even go further,
and so strenuously charged that she poi
soned her son, who has been dead for
years, that the remains of that son were
at last exhumed, and the stomach taken
out for analyzation in order to satisfy
these drawers after money in this woman s
blood. In fact, some Of these papers
have. gone 80 far in their denomination
OF this unfortunate woman that, CON
science stricken, one of them took it all
| back ind apologized to it's readers for
the injustice it had done her. Now we
charge that this sort Of dealing with cri-
minals,, vitiates the public taste, famil.
1arIzes the people to- and is ono of the
grand. fomenters of. crime. It does
harm in another way. Every newspa-
per possesses some influence with the
public, and instead of merely stating
That crime has been committed, with
The name or,nannes of the parties ar
rested charged with the commission of
it, and waiting for the law to take it's
course, they must, forsooth, forestall the
courts of the country and condemn the
parties to the punishment they think
they deserve. Juries. courts and judges
| are of no use. for in the estimation of
these wise-acres, their Judgment must
prevail. This is all wrong. This IS sup.
posed to be country Of law, and the
newspapers are certainly not the np-
pointed administrators Of it, ind hence
their silence would prove more adyan-
tageous to the country and more benefi :
ciai to the prisoner than their eternal
largon is. s.-Saoannah Republican.
GAMBLING AGAINST DEATH.
Messner was executed in the Jail yard Of
Rochester County, on the afternoon of
the l1th, for the murder of Ills wife in
1868. He died with scafcely struggle.
he made full confession of guilt.