The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-05

On the last day OF the year when mas roiled
by since Fisk fell MORALLY wounded on the
stairs of the Grand Central Hotel we are called
upon to announce that the law has adjudged
Edward s. Stokes guilty of the murder charged
upon him. Yesterday the able defence said
its last word, the prosecution uttered its last
appeal, the impartial Judge charged with
clearness. and the jury retired. Those
who have felt the solemnity of the
moments that follow at such times
who have traced upon the prisoners
face the torturing alienation of hope and fear
that lifts by turns its bright-browed spirit or
its affrighting ghost, will need no picture
here of the three hours that preceded the
whisper running round the court room of the
jury having agreed. The heart-broken sobs OF
a sister, stabbed with the bitterest grief that
the world can bring, would alone have told
last night that the verdict of the jury doomed
the guilty one to degrading, infamous death.
Society that shrinks from murder, that cries
aloud for justice or for vengeance before the
victims blood has dried. softens its heart in
pity before such sorrow The crowd dis
perses; the patient jury scatter; even
the sad grief of the hapless sister must
flow in the sacred privacy of home
All that remains before us is the
doomed man sitting alone in his iron-gated
CELL with his crime and its consequences
swimming before his eyes. A pitiful moving
sight Retribution, with cold eye and i'm
movable face will show you the further hor-
rors that she demands before she can be salts
fed. Mercy will plead to be spared the sight,
but Time will move on, and only reveal as he
goes which spirit will prevail Viewing the
matter thus, we go no further now. Twelve
men have indelibly fixed upon Stokes the
I awful crime of murder; the law and its
executives will determine the rest.
We are not surprised at the verdict. A year
ago all but a day Fisk, bold, reckless in
triguer as he was, died by the hand Of
Stokes, man with whom he had
long been engaged in bitter quarrel
1t would be fruitless just now to enter into the
details Of that quarrel, which covered all
within its range with such leprosy of vice.
The shameless face of fallen womanhood, that
blasts with its pernicious beauty so many
hearts and homes, worked it's share Of the sin
which eliminated in the murder of one
man and now cries for the blood Of
another When once the mind falls from
its self-respect in one particular, who
can tell to what depth Of moral depravity the
descending steps will lead? The twelve patient
jurors of yesterday have fearfully answered
that question in the case of Stokes. Another
voice of the law will still more tearfully tell
tomorrow at what cost
Though we have said above that Fisk was q
bold and reckless intriguer, we do not wish it
for a moment to be understood that these traits
of character were at all to be considered as
arguments for or against the conviction of his
murderer. Counsel for the prosecution thought
Unnecessary to call to the minds Of the jury the
fact that crime in New York needed to be met
sternly Just now, and counsel for the defence
limited that there were bad men who, once
dead, no honest man would care to call to life
again. Both these propositions may be true,
but strict justice should regard neither one
nor the other in a trial The lives Of men OF
questionable character are just as sacred in the
eye of the law as those of the apparently best
and purest, for none but the Almighty
Judge can draw the line which separates the
good from the bad. When it was known that
Fisk died for his share of the SHINING people
forgot his failings awhile in the tragedy that
ended so strange career. Now, when the
shadow of the gibbet falls over the few steps
of his slayer, the people will not raise Sc
| I. =. T.. II
soothes the sternest sorrow, effaces also in some
measure the deepest hate. 1t is only Justic'
in this case which is proved to be eternal
From all these grave thoughts We are Ger
tain that when the world learns this Sabbatl
morning of the conviction of murdere
among the ranks of the rich there will b
little triumphant feeling even among the rank
of the poor. Wewould earnestly wish insteat
that the grim lessons of the story staine'
with mans blood and womans tear
could sink deeply into the hearts 0
all. The young, the giddy and tn
vain who were led by the life of Fisk into
vicious love for display and disregard of tn
means by which it might be attained shoul
have learned sharp lesson in the circum
stance of his death. From the gloomy re
cesses Of the doomed mans heart in tn
Tombs to-day let them learn more terribl
chapter of that lesson still. The pride, tn
jealousy, the lapse Of moral ties, the growth Q
evil passions till they leaped beyond control
that made these men similar in spite of thei
dissimilarities, and ending for both so tragi
cally are burning warnings, like lights upol
o rock-bound coast, telling men and womel
not to trust themselves too near the point
where ''bad begins and worse remains be
hind" Men under the influence of evil pas
sions will murder other men in spite of al
examples while humanity remains as il is