, 1873-07-07
H0ME ENIGMA1 OF DEATH.


presented all appalling catalogue Of murders,
suicides. cnsuaItios, and otlor violent forms Of
donth. In ono day, twonty-ono porsonB wero
drowned, two wero killed by accidental Shoot
ing, ono by runaway horac, two by railroad
accidonts two wo1e cnrricd over Niagara Falls,
two committed Bnioido ono wns burned to doath
with coal oil, threo woro killed by lightning, ono
by tho explosion Of q cannon, and two committed
suicide. largo as this number aooms at tho
first glanco, it docs not probably represent
tttho Of those who wore suddenly hurled out Of
lifo by tho almoBt iun,lmorablo forms Of acci-
dent which lio in whit in every ono'a pathway,
sco1dng to entrap tho unwary traveller, on Tho
oarth, In tho air, tho fire, and tho watcr. Some
Of theBo were undoubtedly tho result Of caro]ess-
ness, but tho most Of thom must DO o'assod
nmong those calamitiea which no ordinary human
foresight can guard against. Tho catalogue Of
doath, however, is not confined to theao. It
contains fearful List Of murders which may
well challenge tho attention Of tho social phil
osophers, md demand Of them solution OF
tho problem Of tho chcapness Of human nfo,
ties to guarantee ite protection. brief ganco ut
theeo murders will show how diverse they wcro
in character and motive. Tho days rcd record
was Us follows: l. William Dodds, Canadian,
who had boon to logging.boe with his brother
iu-law, Richard Forbes, murdered him whilo
they wero returning homo. Tho CAUSE Ia not
givon, but may in all probability havo grown out
Of liquor. e. Thomaa Moran, an Englishman,
stabbed John Borgmann, Bwcdo, In q drunken
fight. 8. Albert Gilpatrick bent hia vito to
William A. Oderho1dor SHOT his brothor-in-law,
George Loauro while hunting togothor. This
murder was tho result OF q family feud Of rnnny
years standing. 8. In quarrel betweon Thomas
Burgess and his vito, Mt Brooklyn, N. Y, tho
vito killed her husband with an a1. 9. John
Dennis, q farulor, at Jarnaica, Long Island, WAS
found dead in hiu wagon by tho roadside, having
boon robbed and thon murdered by two negroes.
=. 4 dosporado at Lawrencoburg, Ind, attacked
"a Deputy Sheriff, and got killed by pistol-shot
/; for his trouble. 8. Martin G. Evans. Of Cincin-
nati, in o flt Of jealousy, went to Wheeling, ".
w., with tho ayo1sed intontion Of killing Mrs.
Dunlap whom he wished to marry, and Mr..
Flanagan of whom ho WIS jenlous, proposing to
indup the tragedy by killing himself Itrcaulted,
however, that ho killed neither tho woman whom
ho wished to marry nor tho man of whom ho
WIS jealous, but got killed himself, and thus
the fool died Of his own folly. 0. Tho laat and
most terriblo murder Of NIL reveals case Of
Juvenile dopravity al1nost too ahocktng for bo-
lief at South Acton, Mass., George Curtis,
laa but yearu Of ago, took q little boy named
Lano, yoare If ago, out into tho woods aud
beat him to death with club. Tho ohild-mur-
doror then fed, but WAS subsequently arrcstcd
in Cambridge, mnny miles away from tho scono
Of tho murder. Tlis Ia the third case Of dolib-
which has boon announced within the past few
days, tho other two eases occurring in Ten
nesscc.
This foarful record, which is hardly above tho
average reported in every days paper, shows
that, among all cheap things, nothing ia cloapor
than human lifo, and TINT the sauotity of Life,
about which 80 much has been wrltton, Is
scarcely more real than pootical myth. Crirni-
nal atatistics ehow TINT crimes travel in regular
cycles, and TINT the disturbances in tho moral
atmosphere, which engondor murders and other
forms Of violcnco. arc just as markod
aB the disturbances in the physical at-
moBphore, Which produce cholera and
other forms OF rostienco. Social eeionco
Inns determined this fact beyond ill cayi, but as
get is utterly ba11lod in stating any sufficient
reason why it should be go, and suggests no
remedy for tho fearful discaae which is no ro-
spoctor OF PERSONS but attacks rich md poor,
ignorant and ronngd, brutal mon, delicate
womon and tondor children aliko. Tho CAUSES
Of murder It is not difficult to find. In nine
casos out Of ten, thoy grow ont Of an inordinata
usc Of Intoxicating liquors or from martial jcal
ousies and outbroaks Of amorouB passion. The
ono can bo regulated to certiE oxtont by legal
provisions and Legislative enaetmeuts. The
othor has to bo met with mora! weapons purely.
a sober man stops to think and reckon conso-
| qlencos. A drunken mnn has no more reason
In his blind fury than beast. How far tho uae
| Of intoxicating lquora may DO controlled bo-
longs TO Courts aud Legtsaturos to determine.
| How far tho equally blind fury OF & joaloua wlfo
or domentod lover mny bo restrained, tho
moral teaclera Of tho people must dotcl1nine II
| they eau and tho ono quoaton Ia about rs difli-
cult OF solution 10 tho othor. Whoeyor ap-
plies hfmoolf to suggest d remedy in other
case han two conditions to study. Ono Of those
is, TINT crimo advances with civilization, not
withasandlng tho efforts OF tho Church aud tho
varIous schoosa Of morals to prevent 1t ; aud that
civilization Affords now ,noaus and appliances
for tho commission Of crime. In this country,
our life grows faster and fnutor with tho prog
ronH Of tImo. There can DO no doubt that thoro
III worry goneral broak'ng up Of the old
| fashioned moratlee, Tho headlong ctaan to1