The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-08-19
slDHs RULE.

MON RULE.
As railroads are completed over the
plains of the west. settlements follow and
villages spring up at each temporary ter
minus At first these settlements are
made by roughs and outlaws of society
with sprinkling, here and there, Of re-
spectacle men, who desire to take advant-
age of the opening up oi a new country
that they may better their condition. a
short time only elapses before the better
class obtain the ascendency, but a long
time must pass before law and order be-
comes firmly established Gambling bells
and low. vile drinking dena continue to
monopolisc large share Of the business,
and gamblers, roughs, bullies and cut
Threats stalk unmolested through the streets
a terror to all decent. wcl-disposcd persons.
At length their brutal conduct becomes
past endurance, II vigilance committee is
organized and the lynch law called into re-
QUESTION. a sudden descent on the bells
and dens. the seizure of the staggering
bully and cowardly cut-throat, n summary
trial and these miserable pests of society
are left dangling to a tree. We can under
stand all this. We can see how decent,
respectable men bulled. insulted, threat
cned and outraged beyond all endurance,
should arise in their might and take the
law in their own hands. We can under
derstand how the cOwarlly assassination of
an honorable man for daring to be true,
honest and honorable should cxaspcratc the
community and compel them, as ii were,
TO protect themselves, more especially
or officers TO guard the safety of the COM
munity. We can understand all this. we
say, and, possibly, excuse it, upon the
ground that the safety of the state is the
highest law. 1t is more than probable that
the lynch law and the sudden shift is the
only means that they have for self-protec-
ton, and their only resort for Kidding
themselves of the most dangerous class of
men that ever infested society. A few eX-
amplcs of this ''bOrder justice causes a
Wholesome terror in the minds of others,
and they quickly depart to fresh fields to
again undergo the same experience.
The telegraph, Monday morning, how
ever. told different story, and one which
cannot be palliated or excused by any
principle which governs human action.
One Peter Kessler had been arrested for
stealing mules, had been tried, found guilty
and sentenced to he confined in the peni-
Tertiary for six years. which, surely, would
seem ample penalty for mule stealing.
This, I've it remembered, was not in one of
those mushroom, frontier towns of which
we have been speaking, but in the great
state of Missouri, Il state which claims to
he as law abiding as any in the Union.
This Kessler was taken from the Jail by the
sheriff and four assistants, and was on the
way to the depot for the purpose of being
transported to states prison, there to serve
ont the term of his sentence, when the
hack. in which he was thus guarded, was
surrounded by mob and the custody OF
the prisoner demanded. Upon the refusal
of the sheriff to surrender the prisoner
several shots were fired into the hack, NOR
tally wounding the sheriff and two of his
assistants. and seriously wounding the pro.
scouting attorney Kessler being the only
one uninjured, "The prisoner" the tele-
gram concisely states. ''was then taken
outside of the town and hanged. Gala
way county, where this murder and ont
rage occurred, is not. by any means, a
newly settled region lately opened up to the
benefits of civilization. religion and schools,
hut is one of the most populous in the
state. In population and the valuation of
her property it stands among the first ten
counties, and its number of improved acres
of land is only exceeded by seven counties
This may not render the matter so surpris-
ing. when we call to mind the fact that in
Maine, hut a short time ago, two alleged
criminals were hung without court or jury
by an irresponsible mob composed of, as
the Maine press took occasion to say, "tht
most respectable citizens of the county.
If such outrages occur in New England
perhaps we ought not to be surprised al
their occurrence elsewhere. but Maine, as q
state, is no older than Missouri, and one af.
fords no justification or excuse for tho
other.
With this outrage and cowardly murder
staring us in the face, we may well ask
what is to be the end of thisY Is it moi
coming to be an established fact that, in
certain parts of the country, persons con-
vcted, or even, accused of crime, are more
apt TO be executed by mob violence than
by due process of law? In western Mis-
souri, alone, this makes, at least, fifteen
persons who have. been 'lynched" within