Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-03-27
THE RUTLAND HERALD.
FRIDAY, MARCH 81, 1878.
all Laws.

Al noon TODAY the life of William
Foster will pay the forfeit of his crimes.
His case. his crime and his ter
riblr end carry with them a fear
fnI lesson and warning We have no
desire to- enlarge upon the enormity of
his crime or the Justice of his fate This
we have already done. We think, as
we have had occasion heretofore to say,
that be- was justly convicted and that
his execution was demanded not only as
vindication Of violated laws, but rs an
example to the people throughout the /
country. The act OF Governor Dix, in |
refusing to commute his sentence, was /
one of the grandest of his life, although !
bn The simple discharge of his own duty |
This discretion. however, which he was |
authorized to exercise in favor Of human (
life. taken i'm connection with the cN- /
troriiuary pressure brought to bear,
made fts exercise a fearful responsibility /
WHAT WAS the rausc of Fosters crime /
n W, may believe the venerable Rev /
Stephen II. Tying, than whom n more /
consistent christian or more pure and de- /
voted clergyman does not live, and who /
had known him from his birth up, 'he /
was always a quiet, orderly and good /
boy-hc grew up an industrious and /
wcll-behavcd young mamie has never |
been r bad man or a drunkard The /
family physician Of Foster. man Of /
ability, reputation, integrity and stand (
ing in his profession, says that ''he is /
one of the last persons in the world of |
whom one might even expect an act of !
lawlcss violence. His temper is natur-
ally patient. forbcaring and kind. Heis /
an affectionate husband and a loving /
father. Those who knew him cannot |
imagine how William Foster could so I
far change his nature as to strike another I
with an instrument which might pro
dace serious injury even without the in
tent to kill this is and must in truth I
ever remain an impregnable mystery to
those acquainted with his character. I
This then being his character-and there /
+, no doubt that it is correctly portrayed |
where shall we look for an eXplana- /
uon of his act, for the causes which led /
to his fatal and terrible crime? Why Is /
is. that with all our churches and school
houses. and with the means for diffusing |
intelligence. morality and christianity in
creased almost beyond compute, we
have. day by day and year after year,
such unusual and appalling records OF |
L I.,E
we hear of repeated and constantly re-
curing instances Of murder, arson, en- |
bezZcment, frauds and burglaries, to
say nothing Of lesser crimes? There is
no Disgusting the fact that as the prin-
ciples of morality and christianity are
becoming more and more widely dis
seminated and higher and better and |
more thorough education is being attain
ed by the people generally and the world
as q whole, growing better as it adj
yauces, individual cases of crime are
multiplying or seem to multiply. 1t may
be- and we trust il is, but a seeming in
crease The fact that the means of diff
fusing intelligence are so widely increas-
does, have something if not everything TO
do with the fact Of this seeming increase.
We presume that actual statistics would
show that, proportionately, crime was
no greater and, perhaps, less now than
formerly. We believe this to be the
fact. There should be constant dimi-
mutton of crime. AS we, as a people,
grow older and better and wiser there
should be a less and less tendency to
commit crime on the part of individu-
ais. There is reason to believe that this
is So That this reason is founded on
tenable grounds is found in the fact,
among Others, of the public sentiment
demanding the punishment of criminals,
and the passing away of that false and
dangerous glamour which has sometimes
enveloped the deeds and persons of ex-
traordinary criminals But there is one
thing that we can all dO-that we must
all do-if we wish to stay the tide of
crime In crime, as in everything
stationary There must be a constant
advance or retrogression. With human
ity as it is, we never expect that there
win be time when the world will be
free from crime. Wrong doing is an in
cident Of human nature, and was entail
ed upon man by the sin of Adam. We
are told, in that best and wisest of all
books, that the human heart is deceitful
above all things and desperately wicked
While we all know and feel this in our
innermost consciences, yet we are told
by the same inspiration-a we know
and feel it too--that we can regulate
and control, in a measure, our proneness
to sin. The work must begin early to
be sure and e4feetnal The great Stun
bling block in the way of criminals, as
in that of children and young men, is a
wast OF due respect for the law. Due
respect for and obedience of all law is
the very foepdation of civil government.
Without it there can be no peace, order
or security. All will be chaos where
this is wanting. We are too much In
the habit of being law unto ourselves.
II has been considered somewhat degrad-
ing to apply to the law and the courts