Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-06-21
UNCONsIDERED MURDERERs.


The man who cuts his neighbor's
throat runs chance Of being hanged;
the man who murders him by secondary
causes is neither condemned nor sus-
pected. Yet there are crowds of these
murderers abroad, agents and effects of
our boasted civilization; and we deco
rate some of them, honor others and pay
all, Just as we pay the undertaken for
the considerate burial of our dearest.
The ordinary architect is one of these
murderers; and we question whether we
shall get rid of his bad breed until one
of them has been hanged pour encour-
ager les autres. The ordinary architect
builds handsome house, paying great
attention to the ornamentation OF the
iron-work, the right curves Of the mould
ings, and the general effect Of the facade.
The stairs are wide and what he calls
noble, the drawing.rooms perfectly pro-
portioned, and the bedrooms are.
arranged with taste and according to
superior ideas. But the drains go into
stagnant cesspool, and the waste pipe OF
the cistern leads into the drains-that
is to say, the architect has built house
which is a nest for perennial typhus and
diptheria, and has thus constituted him
self the prospective murderer OF any
number of innocent lives. Damp through
all the basement, and imperfect ventila-
ton in the sleeping rooms, are extra
Aourishes of the weapon he employs In
his trade. People take these fine artis-
tic houses, and their friends congratu-
lato them on their good fortune in hav'
ing such frst-rate architect, and make
all sorts of admiring comments on the
perfect taste with which their dwelling
is arranged. But, somehow, all sorts of
troubles and illness follow. Children
die of scarlet fever and other people
suffer from incurable neuralgia and dys.
pepsia; there are obscure cases OF
typhoid fever springing ne one knows
why or whence; and the fine house, with
its chief rooms to the east or the north,
with its defective ventilation, its pois-
oned water, and its contaminated air, is
simply a death-trap constructed by an
architect at great palms. abundantly re-
warded by applause.
The English are notorious for the pub
lie recognition of the sanctity of home.
The hsuse of an Englishman is his
castle, as we all know; and each house
holder who pays his rent and taxes is
king of his castle, and can defy the world
from the Eantage-point of his chimney
stacks He can harbor disease inside
his walls, and spread it broadcast over
the face of society at will. Smallpox,
scarlet fever, cholera, whatever he may
have most deadly and most infections,
he has liberty to dispense, like convent
aims, to all corners. 1t does not SIGNIFY
of what calling he may be. From
private gentleman sending infected linen
to a general laundry to the washer
women of that laundry who huddle it
into the same tub with an innocent
neighbor's, the charter to disseminate
disease is free to all. Cow-keepers, with
scarlet fever raging on their premises,
measure out the children's milk into
cans that are practically collins; dress
makers. with smallpox among their out
living 'hands," send home Disagreement
or death neatly wrapped in tissue paper
and stitched on with the flowers and laces
of court train; and many another trade
occasionally serves out disease IN the
same parcel with its wares, because OF
that law touching the Englishman's cas-
tie. and because illness is considered a
misfortune only-is not possibly crime
according to the manner in which 1t is
treated. But we do not know why the
people Of whom we have been speaking
should not be called murderers. During
the late outbreak of smallpox we got to
recognize in a purblind way the law OF
duty concerning the TRANSMISSION of dis
ease. so far as cabs and public vehicles
are concerned. Before the law was
passed cabmen drove a thriving trade in
unconsidered murder One case was
personally known to US where lady
died of smallpox and the cRbman hon
estly confessed how she got it-as his
next fare, not five minutes after he had
taken a smallpox patient to the hospital.
Here a valuable life was lost for eighteen
pence.
Maternal murders are numberless.
Women, the light of whose life has gone
sss With their dead child, nevertheless
have killed the creature they were told |
by NATURE 70 protect, as eifectually II
less consciously, ttGG + they had stran-
gled il with their own hands. improper /
foo5 and too much Of tive vil lot /
nook of those poor mothers who give
,6eir children too little; that is generally /
a mater Of necessity, not choice-mur-
a. bv circumstaEce, not action; insuh-
c;snt clothing. because y the vanity
-b;ch must have them fashionaoie Rrd |
. niee." late hours, theaters, crowded
halls vine snd strong soups at an age /
vhsn they should hsve only milk and /
f.r;pacso1s food; sometimes the harden
- srsfsm carried out with such Spartan 1
-@s-;tv thst Tie tender life droops under
!. "a diss cat ike . foEer in The frost
=, -. : the careful sTEieu exagger-
80 s so = po;ft that sAPs the strength !