The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1872-12-03
Killing no Murder,

Until a comparatively recent date, tho
deliberate shooting of one man by an
other, under circumstances showing care.
ful premeditation, involving not only a
settled purpose to take human life but
extending in forethought to thorough
provision against any chanced retaliation
in kind on the part of the victim or
friends OF the victim, was held by the
people and regarded by the courts ss
murder, and the perpetrator, when con.
victed OF the act, was punished as such.
AT least this view and practice obtained
in all parts Of the United States, save 10
some portions Of the South where, since
the suppression Of lynch law, it has been
found impossible to convict a man for
murder who publicly shoots down a fel.
low being and then surrenders to tho
officers OF the law. No matter how ruth
lessly the deed, or cowardly its manner
how influential the victim in those semi.
barbarous communities where every man
carried deadly weapons on his person and
depended upon his own prowess in their
use for immunity from insult, and for
protection to life and property, conviction
for murder was and is now, rare indeed
The verdict could safely be predicted
~ Justifiablc homicide" Il was all the
same, though the victim was shot down
by his foe lying in ambush. Fine dis.
tioctlons could not be drawn by men who
were liable themselves at any time to be
provoked into deadly affray, and so
cold-blooded murderers escaped the con.
sequences of their acts, unless indeed
themselves in turn shot down by relatives
OF their victims, practice of the border
not unusual even now. But it is only
within recent period that We have be.
held IN the metropolitan city of America
these practices OF the border usurping the
Judicial functions, overriding law and
usage with manufactured public senti.
ment, and virtually reviving the code Of
the cut-throat aud the desperate, viz:
that "killing is no murder " 1t is not
necessary to cite cases. We have only
to point to the fact that there are now in
the Prison of that city twcuty-one per.
sons confined on charges Of murder, some
OF whom have been locked up for two
years, and others only few days. Many
OF these, and notably Stokes, Scannel and
Hing, admit nay boast, of their killing.
and they expect to escape the penalty for
the crime with which they are charged.
first, because it has come to be understood
that killing Is no murder, and second,
because 1t has come to be quite as gencr-
ally understood, to use the vernacular Of
one OF their nnmher that changing Is
played out"
Between this lax administration #
crlmln, Justice and the increase of nur-
der aud n--a,sinatons all over the couu.
try, It l. not difiicut TO trace close re-
la'i9"-nip. Had Stokes been made 10
pa, TN Ie'sty of his killing, or to 20
back uuue further, had Mcfarland
received his deserts, who believes that
hlug' the latest yioiater OF the divine
law, would have have imbued his hand;
in the life blood of O'Neill? We are
told that King feels confident Of an &c.
1ulttal' having in view McFarland's es-
APE and who shall sag it was not this
fatal act which sent HTaa aithi5s sryef8g da tAa
lntimely death L? If SO, ar. not others
,onstruciively his partners in the crime2
And unless there is a speedy reversal of
practice in this particular, have we any
reasol to anticipate diminution of cap
tai offences
The plain truth is, briefly stated, that
intil the deliberate taking of life by one
nan OF another is punished as murder, no
matter what may be the provocation, can
We hope for diminution of the crime of
assassination or the complete vindcation
'f law and justice ?-BoSton Journal.