Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1873-04-03
THE RUTLAND HERALD
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 2, 1878.
.sNIurder VIII out

every one believed IL. w
early in youth, and religiously believed
in lis truth. We are compelled to con-
fess. that the experience OF later ana
more mature years has somewhat, but
not entirely, shaken the reasons for the
faith that was within us, on that score.
We take It that the meaning OF the old
saw was, that crime of any degree, but
more especially murder, would sooner
or later develope itself and its perpetra-
tors be discovered. 1t, certainly, does
not present any such hopeful aspects al
the present day. There seems to be
hardly grain of truth to support such
a theory, the way that the detection-or
attempt at detection-of crime is man
aged of late years. Crimes - great
crimes-excite the horror and command
the attention, of the people for the rea-
son that their perpetrators remain undls-
covered and go unwhipped OF justice.
There has been, of late, great deal said'
through the public press and on the ros-
trum, in reference to the inadequacy OF
the laws and the inefficieney OF the
courts. The intelligence of the jury
man, and the question of his competence
and intelligence, as at present selected
and under the laws or practice regulat-
ing their challenge, has, also, come In
for its share of comment, favorable or
unfavorable as the case might me. DO
not, however, criminals confess the ade-
auacy of the laws, the efficiency of the
courts and the average competency OF
Jurors by the means they take to avoid
detection and arrest -? If the half that
has been said the past six years were
true, would there be such concealment
about the committal of crime? We
have, repeatedly, expressed our opinions,
freely and at length, in reference to our
system of laws, our courts and juries,
and we see no reason to alter our opin-
ions as heretofore expressed. We have
interjected, as it were, these remarks as
having a remote bearing on the topic we
are considering. We said that, in our
youth, we religiously believed in the
truth of the saw murder will out, and
intimated that our faith in it was, now,
considerably shaken. After careful
review of the grounds thereof, we are in
clined to believe that we were right
then and are right now. We do not
propose to consider this subject at
length, or with any attempt at profund-
ity or wisdom, but simply to throw out
a suggestion or two. There is one thing
that must be apparent to any thought
full person, in looking back over the re-
cords of even our local history. Taking
into consideration our growth in popula-
ton, the multiplication of the means OF
REORGANIZATION with other States
and with large towns and cities, and the
great and improved means of travel, it
seems that there has not been more than
a proportionate increase of crime. We
do not think it is even as large, pro-
portionately, as we might have eX-
pected. We are speaking, be it un
derstood, of Rutland, its immediate vi
cinity and the larger towns and villages
on the lines of the several railroads Gen.
tering here. We have not space for fig
ures, but the recollection and reflection
western Vermont will bear US out in the
statement. When we turn to the detec-
ton of perpetrators of crimes, we find
that the proportion is the other way.
Formerly, the criminal was almost i'm
mediately detected and brought to pun
ishment. The number of mysterious
crimes" was insignificant, and we ven
ture to say that in the whole history of
the communities alluded to, prior to 1850,
there can hardly be found cases of crime
in which the criminal was not soon dis
covered and the whole plot unraveled.
Since that time, we can all readily recall
numbers of cases of arson, burglary,
DEMONSTRATING and lesser crimes, the per-
petrators of which are yet unknown,
and the circumstances attending the
committal of which are still wrapped in
impenetrable mystery. Some of these
acts were done almost in the public
street, certainly close by hordes of peo-
pie and nearly in broad daylight. In
New York city, too, we find the same
state of facts. 1t is not necessary to re-
fer to the Nathan murder, SO near the
Fifth Avenue Hotel and situated on a
busy and thronged thoroughfare. There
is another case which has recently oc-
Cured in Brooklyn, which has suggested
these comments and is now attracting
more than an ordinary degree of public
attention. We refer, of course, to the
murder of Charles Goodrich, in Brook
Ign, not quite two weeks since. During
all the time that has elapsed since the
discovery of the body, now some eleven
or twelve days, although the police and
detectives profess to have been actively
at work, not clue has been discovered,
so far as at the present writing is known,
which has tendency even to lead to
tie discovery of the murderer Theory
after theory has since been started and
abandoned, without result Our read
ers are familiar with the details Of the
crime, its apparent deliberation and
openness, so that we need not rccapitu-
late them. 1t seems nOw-although we
cannot tell what day or an hour may
bring forth-that this murder will be
added to the already long catalogue of
the undiscovered and mysterious. With
the multiplication of officers, our system
of police forces and the army of detec-
tiyes, why are these things so ? Wehave
theory in the matter-we do not pro-
pose to amplify (which if correct,
explains the difference between the past
and the present and, if continued will
increase the number of mysterious
crimes, if not the actual amount of
crime. We leave too much to the Off
GERS and detectives We do too little
ourselves. To illustrate in another d.
rection: Twenty-Five years ago every
man was fireman, and although there
were no adequate means of preventing