, 1872-12-14
NEW PHASES OF CRIME.

assassinations burglaries and brutal ASSAULTS, |
and the long catalogue Of lesser Villanles, and
have commented upon the la1ity Of the adminls- |
tration Of Justice which permits crime to go un- |
checked. These subjects have, also, more OF
less occupied the attention of the entire press Of
the country. and have been discussed in almost |
every pulpit Of the lana. The theme has grown |
wen-nigh threadbare, and that too, without ac- |
complishing any apparent valuable or practical |
result in the suppression Of crime or the en-
forcement OF punishment. To call attention |
again, therefore, to the increase Of crime or tho
impupity with which it is committed,
would be only repetition Of what |
has already grown stale, but there are some new
features connected with it, which have recently
been developed, which deserve consideration.
Hitherto it has almost invariably been the rule
that murders have been committed either IN re-
venge for some real or fancled wrong, or 1or
the sake of obtaining valuab1es belonging to tho
victim, and they have been committed in SIM
pie, direct way. Now, however, it is well-nigh
impossible to take up paper without finding
accounts Of murders growing out of the most
''--~-'sr and diverse cauaeB, and perpetrated in
ua'n.ef ''-',..:,ing at once the most fantastic
and hidoons ideas u.~- +1a al oeeanca oe
cruelty and diaboHsm. 4 h1o ;,st,nca
Of this is tie murder perpotrated at Dovv4, TEL.
few days since. AProfesaor Of chemistry, who
had negro servant in his employ, suddenly
disappeared, leaving his laboratory in
state of complete wreck, with the corpse Of the
negro frightfu1ly mutilated among the ruins.
The hands, feet, and head Of the negro we're
missing, and the skin gone from the body. At
first it WAS supposed to be the body OF the Pro-
fesaor, who had been blown up with his own
chemicals, especially as be had given out that he
had discovered gas, one property Of which WAS
its power to. remove the skin from the body, 30
as to prevent all possible Identification It turn
ed out, however, that the Professor and the
negro had had an alteration, during which the
Professor killed him. He then cut of the
negro's head, hands, and feet, and buried them.
The idea then seized him that he might turn the
negro to advantage by making it appear that he
had been killed by an explosion Of this gas. and,
having been mntilated beyond Identification, the
body might be taken for his Own, and
his supposed widow might collect his LIFE
insurance. He thereupon hayed the
negro, and, placing gunpowder in the floor under
Meath him, blew him and the laboratory up to-
gether. The affair eventuated as he had planned
! it, The body was supposed to be that of the
Professor, and it waR the universal opinion that
y; ro,r1r.1fe.
| covered gas. The opinion might have remained
| unchanged forever had not the Professor re-
| turned the other day aud delivered himself up
to the authorities. The records Of crime in this
country do not reveal anything more grotesque-
| " horrible and diabolical. Its parallel is not
found even in the Jumpertz murder, in which,
I as will be remembered, German woman WAS
cut up and sent from Chicago to New York !;
! the Webster-Parkman murder at Boston the
recent Charles River murder; or the
phantasies of Poe himself do not excel it in the
elements of cruelty. In Cincinnati, few days
since, two butchers entered the slaughter-pen,
and, having stripped for their work, one of them
turned suddenly upon the other and plunged his
| butcher-knife into his breast, seyering his
heart in twain. On Wednesday last, a
| stranger walked into d fashionable bag
Mo in New York City, and, deliberately shoot
ing courtezan dead, coolly,, walked out,
informing her terrified companions that he
could be found at the police station. A phyHf-
cian of Brooklyn is now on trial for poisoning IN
Internal Revenue Assessor of the same city: that
he might continue criminal intimacy with the
wife Of the latter, and the guilty woman and he1
paramour attended him on his death-bed. Nov
and then, crime is invested with mys.
terious sort Of romance, hardly e7e1
to be found outside the pages
Of fiction. The Independence Belg.
contains . narrative Of murder OF this kline
which recently occurred at Brussels. Thirty
years ago, Captain Of Dragons seduced {
young girl and then deserted her. A few week.
ago, he became involved in q quarrel with {
fel1ow-oficer, challenged him, and killed him q
the first fire. The victim was his illegitimate
son, and the mother the young girl whom he hai
seduced, although he did not know him. Th'
mother called upon him one day, and, after up
braiding him for the murder, turned upon hin
and killed him and then killeaherself. Column
might be filed with these extraordinary crimeE
which have occurred Of 1ate.
It seems as if human life was never consider
. ed OF go little value as now. The slightest pre-
, text is made the occasion Of murder. Eye1
Young children, when denied the qualification o
I some passing fancy or whim, have taken reveng
, for the denial by murder or suicide. The impu
, nifty with which crime has been committe
| where there was some show Of palliation, ha
gradually emboldened every man Of brutal in
/ stincth to give way to his passion upon th
l slightest provocation, when, under other circum
stances, the fear Of punishment would have 1o
him to control his passion within boundR
With the laws delay, tue incapacit
of prosecuting attorneys, which leave
4 | omen 1Oop-ho1es for escape, and the C0nflct