Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1875-10-23
Weeklg gntelliaenem.
A JUST SENTENCE.

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> Hon. n. NJ. Hubbard, District
Judge ofihe eighth judicialdistrict of
Iowa, in passing sentence upon some
liuuor dealers for violation of the
p~roEibitory law of the state, said:
"While there are greater crimes
knows the law, and which are pun
isheu with gretter severity, there are
mons Which involve more of those
qualities known as despicable mean
ness and audacity, thai selling intoX-
icating liquors.
.sf.lere Is something in the taking
of human life by violence, so instan-
tanc0Hs that it shocks aud territies
the minds of all, and yet we look up
OH the man who takes human life, as
surely, but by a slow lingering pro-
cess, if not without condemnation,
at least without horror. You who
stand before the court for sentence,
are in every moral sense murderers,
and YOU are within the spirit, if not
the letter, guilty of manslaughtcr;
for the law says that whoever accel-
crates the death of a human being
unlawfuhy Is guilty of the crime.
Your bloated victims stood upon the
witness stand, and who undoubtedly
committed perjury to screen you
from the law abuudantiy testify that
Won are not only a~ccelerating death,
but that you are inducing men TO
commit still greater crimes than your
own.
"You still maintain the appearance
of responsibility, but how morally
leprous and scrofulous you are in
wardly ; the ruin, poverty and idle
,-hinh ofn InHI0fInH IInrl
this community, declare as from the
ness and eating the bread of orphans,
are stealthily killing your victims,
and numbering the peace and industry
of tie CT immunity, and thereby con-
v.,tng happy, industrious homes
In,o misery, lhrif'Iess poverty and
,.y-. Y"u nre sowing the seeds OF
l.u"Ium c, II;ene-s and want among
l. e ee serarions To come.
"Anx.uus waves and mothers watch
ana pray in e,rs nightly with desc
Ia e e ,rts, for The coming III OF
your victims, whom you are Turing
with tie wiIes and smiles of the uevIl
into midnight drbauchery.
s.Iu Fl e, ole eau have no adequate
conception OF b cataract until lie has
seen Niagara, nor of the terrible
turore anu grandeur of a storm i'll
mid.ore II until he has witnessed one;
soeuo one can know the utter degru-
dation and total %depravity to which
his species eau be brought, until he
looks upon the desolate ruin caused
by your hellish traffic.
"You are persistent, defiant law
breakers, and shamelessly boast that
III defiance of the law andsthe moral
sense Of the community, yon will
continue in your wicked and criminal
practices.
''It has, therefore, now become the
Imperative duty of this CT urt to let
fall upon you so heavily the arm of
the law that you shall be driven from
your nefarious traffic or ruined In
your fortunes or wicked prosperity.
You nave become a stencil to tiIc
nostrils of the community, and all
good men arc praying that You be
speedily reformed or summarily de-
stroyed. By the providence of God
aud the favor of this court these
prayers shall be speedily answered
by signal and exact justice for your
crimes. This court will feel a proud
satisfaction in taking from you by
law your ill-gotten gains, and giving
it to the common school funds of this
county, where, let us hope, it will
assist in educating the rising youth t
shuu your vices and wicked practices.
"And finally, let me entreat you, if
you are not lost to every sentiment
Of humanity, to desist from your
criminal, vagabond traffic, and betakc
yourselves to some honest calling for
q livelihood and you may yet be-
come virtuous, useful citizens, and
entitled to the respect of a Christian
community while if you persist in
this way, your W ruin is certain,
and you will receive, as you deserve,
the eXecration of mankind.
"You may think that the ser
of the court is harsh and ,uius a
severe, but the court y nn1
that, compared with W. ,r crime and
the desolation Yor, 49, air.ad.
brought upon tb> law .ha;
il is mild III the oman qua