Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1875-10-13
The Prevalence Of Crime.

count Of eight murders; Of four highway
robberies accompanied with violence that
resulted in the severe injury Of two persons,
and the probable death Of two more Of six
violent outrages upon females, four Of which
were upon young girls Of less than ten years
of age Of several burglaries, three Of dos
perate character; of a large catalogue Of
lesser crimes against person or property, at
tempted or partially executed. For quite
number Of days past the same paper, not
cleaning the entire country by a large ex
tent, has given us a morning meal Of equal
or greater horrors. Some Of the crimes
against women have been Of terrible atrocity,
adding murder in its most fearful form to
outrage in its most appalling brutality. 1t
would seem asif no house no person, no child,
no woman was safe, from the assault of the
omnipresent criminal Aud sometimes the
crimes are perpetrated with so great cruelty
and malrnity A. to curdle the hloodof all
who may hear Of them and arouse the thirst
for redress, and condigu and instant punish
ment The Pembroke tragedy is enough to
stir the wrath OF every true man the world
over There should be no place ON the earth
where the wretch who committed it should
find shelter from Justice.
II cannot be doubted that there has been
large and disproportiohate increase Of
violent and horrible crimes in the country.
The war turned adrift a large number Of
men who had no social affiliations, no homes
to 20 to. no business to resume or take up;
educated to violence. insensible to suffering,
and careless Of blood To most Of the men,
who hal been separated from their homes
and communities Of good principle and
training, the war was not demoralizing.
But to those who followed it as a trade, who
delighted in its scenes Of violence, aud be-
came Injured TO its crimes and bloody con
hicts. !, wa, q school Of cruelty, Of vice, Of
r-ckl.ssness, and Of the very insensibility Of
wickedness. Such persons, discharged from
service, without home, without friends, re-
lease from the restraints Of discipline, and
with taste nnrtured for outrage, violence
and blood. have doubtless been rowing more
or less over the country since the war. The
hbors Of honest industry are distasteful to
them, the habits of patient toll, if they had
them. have been cast aside, the taste for row
ing and tramping has been cultivated and
confirmed and many Of them are now
marching back and forth through the coun-
try. ready for any violence or outrage OF
crime. and glad to avail themselves of all
opportunities for Inducing their cultivated
and desperate propensities.
And this class is increased by still another
class Of men. equally reckless Every yea
graduates from the iails, prisons and peni
t,ntiaries of the country hundreds Of person
who have abandoned all character and al
hope. The stigma of infamy is blazoned OF
their foreheads, as they come forth from
their confinement. Society gives them nc
welcome to its labors. its employinents. it,
rewards. or its honors The period of theii
IMPRISONMENT has thrown them into associa
ton with all kinds of skilful and hardened
criminals. and they come forth, at the expir
alton of their sentence. learned in all Ia,
lore of crime. conversant with every form OF
evil, and armed both with intelligent wicked
ness and with an insatiate hatred of society
IN T.. - - H.. -. = III