The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1873-12-05
MILTON MALONE.
He Cheats the Gallows by Committing
s, Suicide.

H /.
Milton Malone was to be hung last Friday in
Atlanta, but With a firmnesst and obduracy that
battles description, he ended his own life, in the
prison cell, by taking morphine, which he had
saved along as The doctors gave it 10 him aud
which he eifectually concealed in the collar
hem of his iindervshift. He took the fatal dose
of morphine about = O'clock Friday morning
and livei until IL o'clock the same morning
when he gasped his last breath and left his
skeleton frame in tue hands of a violated but
cheated law He informed the guards'thst lie
had taken the poison, and then stroked his1ong
beard and laughed ds6antly in defeating
Judge Hopkins and his blood hound clan" as
he called them. He resisted the effotls of the
physicians to use a stomach-pum and when
he fell into :. stupor, the administering OF anti
dotes failed to retain tho "tleeting breath
Apparently, he took his own life, with more
qualification and less concern than when he
murdered young Phillips in q "bawdy house"
among the sirens who lursd him and others by
drceitfll charms to the chambers Of hell" To
false happiness and TO destruction. His writ
ten confession Of his religious belief or creed, is
y sad commentary upon his skeptieal lite aud
in keeping with his maynard acts aud nolhil
better could have been expected OF a man who
repudiatel religion and feared neither God nor
man, and his wicked career but illustrated that
a glitter fountain cannot send forth sweet wa
ter" He said he believed the Bible was false,
that there was no Christ, no Saviour, aud no
hell and that he believed only in one God who
punished sin on earth, or who folgave 1t when
asked to do so by an humble, contrite heart
His body was oofiined and turned over to his
father and mother, who carried it to Columbus
tar iniepmentt %@
And thus ends the tragic drama, the eventual
life of Milton Malone. With the hnlnan gore
of three others, of whom he killed. upon him,
he has passed from time into eternity, to stand
before an Infinite and Unerring Judge, ofinfnite
scrutiny and justice, from whose decisions there
can be no appeals, as it is Divine Tribunal
that ada,its af nc higher Jurisdiction, aud from
whose sentences of punishment no rasptt to de-
vice, cunning or fraud, can thwart, the inflin-
ton of which cannot be escaped by numbering
the soul, as was murdered the body.
The only child and son of rich parents, Che
was raised by pious parsnts,) his dainty,
should have pressed the plow handle or engag-
ed in some useful employment The strange
fances fthe brain, that is conscious that work
is not necessity, while an opulent hthep holds
q full purse, deadens the energies and sensibi-
ties of noble manhood and the bright future
that such prosperous circumstances and oppor-
tunites opens up, becomes the dead weight
that wrecks many life barque upon the sea of
life, as evidently demonstrated, in this particu-
lar case. Floating upon the surface Of society
with money to buy every pleasure and to graf
ify every desire, he was soon engulfed in the
vortex of dissipation, reeklessly disregarding
things sacred as well as profane, and he would
shoot man with as little concern, as you
would sxtinguish lighted lamp before retiring
at night. But lie sowed the wind and reaped
the whirlwind, and while he met death with a
heroism born of despair, knowing the last ling
eling hope of life expired with Gov. Smiths re-
fusal to exercise the invested powers of execu'
tive clemsncy, the additional crime of suicide
showed no remorss o conscience and relieved
his soul of no former guilt, if it did the hang
man of an unpleasant duty, which added,
doubtless, 10 the anguish and unhappiness of an
aged father and mother, whose gray lairs will
go down in sorrow to the grave over the mel
anchoIy life and death of a beloved but unditi-
full son.
Let not the youth of the land think that q
beginning of small crimes, will not, if persisted
in, eventuate in the same dishonorable career
and disastrous termination. Stop and ponder,
fofit is delusive mistake. Vice is fatal Vir-
tue is sure of reward. Beware Tor surely the
net is spread in the sight ofany bird. The law
makes crime odious, and if you do not wish to
fall under its curse, do not 60 in forbidden
paths, adhere to correct principles, and lead
useful and upright life.