The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1875-10-14
The BIunder OF n Mob.

The hanging Of the man Shell by .
meb at Belletontsine, u, few days
since, under the pretense thst he had
first crually treated and then killed
young woman who had been men1-
Der of his family, appears, rs we have
alread y Stated, in the light of present
facts, 10 heve been a grim and ine2 .
cusable blunder and crime.
1t will be remembered that Mr.. and
Mrs. Shell, accompanied by the young
woman whsg was afterwards found
murdered, made an excursionsinto the
country, and that the young woman
did not return with them. AIRS. Shell
alleged that she herself was too weak
kand illsto W ak, therefore she stayed
in the wagon, while herr husband and
the yeung woman rambled off togeth-
er, and that the latter did not return
with her husband. The girl being
found soon after, horribly murdered,
with her clothes nearly torn from her
body, showing that there had been q
fierce struggle Tor life, taken together
With the story Of Mrs. Shell, fixed
upon her husband Tire isuspicion that
The ~ as, guilty sei tbe erines and he was
arrested aud taken to Jail Subsequent
ly Mrs. Shell confessed" that her
husband, after having unsuccessfuily y
attempted to outrage the toung wO-
man. killed her, The. people lin, that
vicinity at ence worked themselves
inIo q frenzy of excitement, and &C
'cepting the testimony of Mrs. Shefl' 10
beitrue and conclusive again st her hus-
band, the mob brought him forth, and
DESPITE al MS, protestaiions of limo.
cence and his affirmations in the dying
moment tha. his wife was the guilty
party, they hung him up till he was
dead. ,hsii9xc
Now, by one. of those slight but
Convincing circumstantial p-oofswhich
SO frequently interpose to cehvict the
guiity, the crime is likely to be fixed
upon the woman Shell; . Clutched in
the cold and stiffened hands of the
dead girl have been found few long
hairs which correspond neither with
her own nor those of the man Shell,
but exactly with those of the woman
Shell, both i'm length and colsr-thus
clearly indicating hthat in the fierce
struggle in which the young woman's g
clothes were torn from her., she had
clutched the hair of her m urderer, and
thus, in her mental agony, snatched
from the head of the woman the proof
of her guilt. The mob, like all fren-
zied and unreasonable assemblies whe
substitute blind passion for judicial
fairness, did not stop to inquire into
the matter, but hung the man while
protesting his innocence. This blum
der, if not, according to the French
code or morals, worse than q crime,
was crime in itself, and the highest
known to the law-the crime of rnur-
der. The intimation5 may be, true or
false. that Shell was, on too intimate
terms with the girl, yet that was no
justification for the mob The idea
that the woman was the murderer, and
Mother usband, receives confirmation
in the jealousy provoked in her breast
by the husbands actual or supposed
infidelity. The mans motive for MUIR
der seems inadequate, but woman's
jealousy is confessedly the most muir
derous psychological force known to
humanity, and under its frenzy Mrs.
Shell probably clntched the threat Of
her victim, and killed her. 2ui
. This, horrible affair appeals to the
public in two ways: Te be careful
to shun those relations or appearances
of relations which violate the code Of
social morality. and provoke impurity
ouj the one hand. and Jealous hate on
the other; and, again.. wholly to alb
iure, condemn and avoid, mob law.
It is fearful thing to substitute blind
headleng passion for the deliberate,
rational and orderly. methods Of the
law in o fair trial for mans liberty
or life.-Chicdgo Journal.
g ......--s -.-s.r.4..