The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1873-01-29


Justices
2 We wish to put serious question-not q
conundrum-to that portion of the public
which is accused of thinking. It is small
portion we know; but as tall oaks from little
acorns grow, as conspiracies originate in ono
mind and revolutions are the work Of few,
perhaps tho thinking public may, in the
course of ages, impregnate the moral atmo-
sphere so efectually as to saturate the uni
versal brain with something akin to reason
We ask, then, whether the theatre shall be
brought into court to act upon the sickly SEN
timentality Of spectators hungering for morbid
sensations, or whether grand Transformation
scenes shall be confined to Niblo's Garden and
the Eighth Avenue Opera House2 In an in
satiate desire to construe murder into fine
art is it our duty to resort to every possible
dramatic effect, or shall we confine ourselves
to facts shorn of set scenes and in
teresting dramatis prson@ calculated
to draw tears from even the man
lest eye? Which shall it be, naked truth OK
dramatic fctionp The question must be
answered without delay, that murdered as well
as murderer may equally impress the moist eyes
Of snivelling court room. The great and
injured Nixon, who shot Pfeifer for auda-
ciously getting in his way, whose immortal
words, ~ just pulled out my pistol and shot
him" will be remembered as long as the
demon of murder feasts like vampire upon
humanity-this great man, we repeat, has not
posted theatrical bills in vain. They have
taught him the necessity of putting things
cunningly before the public; they have
taught him that nothing draws like sensa-
ton, and that, whether you commit crime on
the stage or off it, red lights, slow music and
feminine shrieks, artistically rendered, are in
dispensable for an effective tableau and
thunders Of applause.
So, when Nixon is examined for numbering
On honest, unofending man, Mrs. Nixon is
present This is well enough, we presume |;
but mark what follows. During the giving Of
the evidence before the jury fetires, Mrs.
Nixon withdraws, only, however, to re-enter
with beautiful little girl. No sooner does
the jury leave the room than the six-year-old
child bursts into violent sobs, which SO affect
the mother as to cause her to mingle her tears
with those of her offspring. Beholding the
grief of mother and daughter, the prisoner,
who coolly shot man without the faintest
shadow of provocation, becomes visibly
affected. Tears start unforbidden as he
extends his arms toward the little girl.
She rushes forward and presses her face to
the parental breast. The murderer and his
family form striking picture the spectators
are touched by it.; some wish to iberate
Nixon on the spot, and how the jury dares, in
the presence Of that wife and child, to declare
the husband and father guilty of murder is
most astounding. However, as Nixon is not
yet hung, that tableau in the court room will
undoubtedly be repeated and eventually re-
store valuable citizen to an admiring COM
munity.
But if this scene is to be repeated, we in
sist that two be allowed to play at a telling
game We ask fair play for Pfeifer poverty
stricken family. We demand that the body
of the murdered man be exhumed; that his
bones be brought into Court, for of course
Nixon will not be tried for several years; that
his widow, arrayed in deadliest black, sit be-
side them; that his children, too young to
realize their loss, be taught the art of aesthetic
weeping, and, if these children be not as beau
tiful as the child Of the murderer, that others
endowed by nature and skilled in deceit be
hired for the momentous occasion. It really
xxyf1 For viz To anio oil tha o1roc
and ale. Virtue must be rescued from it's
present abject condition. 1t must learn to
handle weapons now deity turned against
itself; then perhaps it will have some chance
of dying natural death. There may have
been time when ignorance was bliss, but
that time ceased shortly after Eve partook of
forbidden fruit, and Cain, out of pure brotherly
love, killed Abel To hold its own virtue must
be knowing. Innocence will answer when
we all take wings and when lying is unknown,
which Spiritualists assure us is the case in The
Summer Land, where thoughts are read in the
face and speech is useless disguise. So long
as we are good deal lower than the angels
we warn virtue Of the fearful odds to be
played against and bid it study the tactics of
triumphant vice. If Nixon, the murderer, be
surrounded by the trappings of woe, we
claim equal spectacular display for the MUIR
dered Pfeifer. What say you, thinking
public? Shall children take their first lessons
in crime on parental bosoms, amid the SYM
pathetic silence of crowded court rooms, or
shall there be societies for the prevention of
cruelty to animals that are unfortunate
enough to stand on two legs instead of four
Let this matter be settled at once, and let us
know whether, when we thirst for the sensa-
tional drama, we are to revolve Round the
Clock" or attend o court Of justice.
A CoID SNAP IDfNENT.-Again the latest
telegrnphic reports warn us of another
.oyd ccov, mn rchiu0 IN no from Tho NOrfh