Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1875-09-13
For the Monitor.
ONE GREAT ENCOURAGEMENT
TO CRIME.

TO CRIME.
1t is apparent to every observing
mind that crime is rapidly increasing in
our country, not only in the transition
state of society in the South, not only on
the borders of civilization at the West,
but in our own New England, under the
shadow of our churches and colleges,
where the criminal can so easily be ar
rested and punished.
Men of social position and frequently
of prominent standing, in our churches,
become defaulters prove recreant to
important trusts; rob their employers !;
and frequently squander the hard earn
ed savings of the widow and the orphan
that have been committed to their keep
ing. Bold robberies, by day and night,
are alarmingly frequent. Thousands of
tramps infest the cities and thrOng the
highways Of the country, preying upon
their fellow men. Bank officers are fore
ed, at the peril of their lives, to open
their vaults to armed and masked rob-
bers at midnight. Men and women are
murdered on the highway, or at their
own fresides. for paltry sum, or to
CRAFTY some petty spirit of revenge.
Scarcely day passes but we hear of
some brutal murder near us and our
papers are crowded with accounts of
lesser crimes in our New England COM
munities. The cause of such condition
of society is becoming serious question
among law-abiding citizens.
There are doubtless many things that
have contributed to it. but there is one
prominent cause, generally overlooked,
which ought to be brought to the atten-
ton of the public in such manner as
to work partial cure, at least. 1t is a
notorious fact that our greatest and
worst criminals find ready advocates Of
ability to defend them. provided they
have sufficient money to pay them hber.
ally. 1t is almost impossible to secure
the conviction and punishment of the
most atrocious of criminals, provided
they or their friends possess ample
means-they find it so easy to thwar
the purposes of justice, when so many
able lawyers are ready and willing Il
prostitute their powers for gold. Is i
any wonder that crime increases whel
criminals find such protection 1t i
an astonishing truth that multitudes o
criminals are not pursued by those VIII
have suffered from them, in consequence
of the ease that they evade the law b,
the help of those that should assist Ii
protecting the public against them. Eve
when criminals are found guilty an
{ sentenced, every effort is made to pre-
l vent the execution of the law and whe
t they have at last been placed in tn
t prison cell, how often are they pardOne
at the opportunities of men, whose sol
motive is gold
Public sentiment should brand ever
lawyer as an accomplice in guilt, VIII
willingly defends man that he ha
good reason to believe guilty of Grim
g 1t is the duty of every citizen to do a
. he can to protect society against ii
4 criminal. This duty is as obligator
upon the lawyer as any other class j
community in fact, the lawyer shoul
feel 1t his duty to use every effort
have the law impartially and prompt
y enforced. The course pursued at IL
r present by portion of the legal frate
Is nifty is, without doubt, the incentive
= a great portion of the crime that prevail
ID in our community.
g If every law abiding citizen will joi
Is in excluding from good society evel
ID lawyer who thus encourages crime, v
d shall soon see better day dawning u
l. on us. Create public sentiment tn
'e will brand the man who protects Il
criminal from justice, as equally.
more guilty than the criminal and the
demand sure and prompt punishmel
for the criminal, and we shall witne
an astonishing decrease in crime.
S. H. H.