The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1873-09-11
MURDER WILL OUT.

MOI mean, HloHct lnht tiic Icipti"t'i VI
every murder will be, at some time, dis
covered, but it is expressing in homely
way, that which God said to Cain, in con-
ncction with what followed, in reply to his
contcmptuous question: ".im | my broth
er's keeper" The reply was Numbered
forth, "What hast thou done? the voice of
thy brothers blood cricth unto me from the
ground" We all remember what followed,
until Cain was compelled to exclam ''my
punishment is greater than | can bear" In
these two expressions, we may find the full
Interpretation and meaning of the saying
that "murlcr will out" The blood of the
murdered man, fguratiyely speaking. cries
from the ground the people are aroused,
the officers Of the law are set to work, and
every means resortcd to for the detection
of the guilty party. The sworn officer, the
press and the whole body of the people
work, or should work, in unison and har-
mony, each perhaps in Il different way but
all to one end and for one purpose. Thread
after thread in the chain is gathered up
circumstance after circumstance is invcst-
gated, preserved for future use. or thrown
aside as useless; the net work draws
around the violator of the law-both of
God and man-and then comes in the sec
ond part. 'My punishment is greater than
can bear is brought home forcibly to the
murderer, and, sometimes consciously and
at other times unwittngly, the missing link
is furnished by him; the chain is complete;
the "murder is out" Thus does conscience
make towards of us ALL
1t is an old familiar rule of some of the
grammars of the classics that exceptions
only prove the rule. This may be taken as
true in regard to the general acceptance of
the proposition that "murder will out"
even when taken in its literal significance.
Right here we may say, that this adage is
among the earliest of our recolections, that
we, then, placed the most implicit reliance
upon its truth, and in the certainty of the
fullilments of its literal words, and we still
believe that, as a general proposition, it
'iciN' 5'Ob' ohf bCit anu tlSlt,
an exception. There may be some muir
ders, wrapped in such impenetrable mys-
terry, the perpetrators of which will never
be discovered, but they are very few in
number probably less in number than can
be shown as arguments against any general
truth or proposition. Take the history of
crime, particularly of murders, from the
days of Cain down TO the present day. and
it will be seen that detection is almost inev-
table. Let us look at the case of Cain
for moment. Never was crime commit.
ted under more favorable auspices-if we
may use such an expression, in such con
nection--no one was near, there seemed to
be no possibility of discovery the human
family was too small and their relations too
first of the kind in the worlds history. and
Cain was safe Detection and punishment.
however, followed almost nstantaneously.
We are aware that it may be objected that
the murderer was discovered and punished
by God, Himself, and not by human law,
and that a similar state of facts cannot
again exist. We grant it, and use the in
stance only as in Illustration or prchgura-
ton of that which was to follow. The
blood of a murdered man cries from the
| ground to-day, as much as it did nearly six
thousand years ago. a murderer, in his
own heart, feels to-day, as much as he did
then, that he is "a fugitive and a vagabond
in the Garth" and that he is mark for
every man. Herein is one of the greatest
aids in the detection Of manslayers 4
mark is set upon them by their own CON
sciences, and they know it full well. They
know and feel their own guilt. and act as
if every other person knew and felt it..
They, by their own conduct-if not by
their own confessions-supply the missing
link in the chain of circumstances the
evidence is complete the murder is out.
Passing all along down the annals of
crime, let us come to time within the
memory of the most Of us. The case of
John w. Webster will, at once, attract at
tcntion. A man seemingly sans peur et
sans reproehf, he cody and deliberately
murdered DR.. Parkman. There was moth
ing TO excite suspicion against him, and he
was apparently the last man to be suspect
ed, yet he left his tracks uncovered; his
own actions furnished the clue; his own
room furnished the evidence, and he died
upon the gallows a self-confessed murder
er Come down later No crime, proba-
bly,, ever produced so much comnlotiOn in
New England as the murder of the cashier
of the Maiden, Massachusetts,, bank at
noon-day, less than ten years ago. The
crime was complete and seemed wrapped
in impenetrable mystery, and so, in fact,
would have been, save for the truth OF
Cams exclamation "My punishment Is
greater than can bear" The actual muir
derer was above suspicion; not the rcmot-
est circumstance pointed to him as the
guilty man there was not the slightest
possibility--as man reasons-of connecting
him herewith, and he was not thought of
in its connection but conscience makes
towards of us ALL In attempting to avert
suspicion, which did not and could NOT
exist, he betrayed himself, and expiated his
crime, as the law fixed the penalty. We
need not run through the history of the
female prisoners who, having committed
their damnable deeds for years, without