New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1873-06-04
dangerous symptoms of deep-seatOd political
disorder.
YESrERnAYS MURDER.


Our city seems destined to complete the
cycle of criminal horrors. The homlcldai pas
sion breaks out alike in high places ana In
low, and murderers and murdered nre iouhd
equally among the cultivated and the coarse
The last frightfu report of fatal violence
reached us from the slums Of Thompson-st',
the actors being among the most degradeu OF
mankind and of womankind Yesterday, all
things were made morally even, when gen
tleman of aristocratc blood, not unknown IN
literary circles, in respectable Dro"uMhy
hotel. encountered death Mt the hands Oh nis
own son. OF course, behind such dcnoue-
ment, there must be long series OF scshual-
GUS and painful incdents-Of those family
tronbles and ouarrels which are the least
easily abated-Of the domestic uhappiness
which 80 often changes paternal ana niia'
love into the bittcrest hatrod.
The moral of such crime ~ this is pretty
much upon the surface. We have driiteu
naturally here 10 New-York into social con-
dition which renders atrocities IKE TINS pos
sible We have permitted murdererS 10 piedu
in their defense passions, hatreds, private III
jures, real or supposed; we have recOShiZou
TO a certain extent the night Of private ven
geance; and we have thus encouraged mdui-
gence in rage, and taught men to regard sell
control as a quality incompatible with the
proper standard of manly courage and per
sonal honor. When clear cases of murder, IN
which no characteristic, no condition OF
that felony was wanting, have, aIter
demOralizng delay, reached our tribunals, we
have had the spectacle of shallow ana extern
porized schemes of defense treated respect
fully sometimes even by the bench and often
by the jury; and although disagreement OF
that jury or acquittal might be avoided we
have over and over again seen execution
postponed upon the most frivolous pretexts,
until it was felt to be q shame to hang, ana
communication naturally followed. The cOnse-
auence of this has been that life, held to be
so costly in the condemned cell, has become
the cheapest possible thing in our highways
and our houses Murder has been degraded
from its bad prominence almost to the rank
of misdemeanOr. Men kill without thinking,
or if they think at all, it is with u
more and more resOlute determination still
to kill. Any minor motive Is great enough to
nerve tho slaughterer. Of certain class OF
injuries even murder seems TO be an insult
ficient retribution. Those who have pistols
put them in their pOckets-those who have
not such weapons make haste to purchase
them. All control of temper is abandoned.
All deliberate estimate of the weight and
quality of an injury is thought to be unneces-
sary. Homicide ceases to be luxury re-
served for great occasions and purposes; it
has taken the place of the ready and harm
less blow winch was once deemed sufficient to
heal the wounds of personal honor. For this
fearful state of things we are indebted to the
inefficency Of our courts of justice, to the
cowardly imbecllity of our juries, and to the
occasional timidity of the Executive.
The lesson of yesterday is q painful one, but
never was great public lesson more impera-
lively demanded. Well will it be for us if we
take it to heart, and for once reach some
faint conception of the judicial energy and
firmness which we 80 sOrely need. Laws with
which we merely play the fool are worse in
finitey than no laws at all. As we consider
it, we see plainly the course which may and
probably will be pursued in this Walworth
matter. A son avenges the wrongs of an in
iured mother-that will be the keynote of the
defense when the prisoner is brought to bar.
We protest in advance against such resort to
maudlin acknowledgements this utter con-
fusion of the mOralities and of the good and
bad motives which excite human action.
Never so sorely as to-day has the sacredness
of law pleaded vindication. Never have we
so clearly seen it our duty to say of Capital
Punishment-give us its abolition or its en-
forcamant