The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-03-09
RUFFIANIsM.

RUFFIANISM.
It is not, primarily, the practice of carry
ing weapons, that causes those fire.
quent outbursts of ruffianly violence by which
our community is so often disgraced. It is
not alone the pistol in the pocket, or the knife
on the hip that makes men SO often take the
law into their own hands for the redress of
real or fancied wrongs, or faunt defiance in
the face of the law which is presumed to
afford q guarantee for the punishment of
offenders against the person.
The custom of carrying weapons, whether
concealed upon the person or exposed to the
gaze of men necessarily. has an influence
upon society, in the continued opportunity
for violence, by which it is accompanied, and
the more frequent occurrence of catastrophes
like those in which Mr.. Hardeman
lost his life. 1t is not irrational,
therefore, to attribute to this source
much of the evil Of which we complain, and
large proportion of the deadly ARRAYS by
which our community is so often disgraced.
But the true explanation lies deeper than
this. 1t is to be found in languid public
opinion, in the defective education of youth,
in false notions of personal honor and per.
sonal dignity, and in the immunity from
punishment arising out Of lax administra-
ton, and partial application of the law,
which in turn depend upon and reflect the
characteristics to which we have referred.
1t is not too much to say that there are hun
dreds of youths in New Orleans, from sixteen
to twenty years of age, who are saturated with
the notion that it would be fine thing to
shoot somebody, and who have not the faint
est idea that they would deserve punishment
for the act. A battalion might be armed in
five minutes with the weapons hidden behind
the coat tails of these young men. Are they
SO much to blame when they have before them
the example Of men Of mature years, gentlemen
of recognized position in the social world, rep
resentatives Of the great classes whose pursuits
are the pursuits of peace, and whose interests
depend upon respect for law and enforcement
of law, yet who settle their disputes at the
postols mouth, and constitute the riffs or the
shotgun the arbitrators of their differences
The Republican says that "a very large pro.
portion of those who carry arms do SO with no
intention of committing violence, but in self
protection against those who so intend"
This is true; but there must be something
radically wrong in the education and the pub
ic opinion Of community in which large
number of persons habitually carry weapons
with the purpose more or less we'll defined of
committing violence, and others carry weapons
as measure Of self-protectiou. But, as we
have said, the evil lies deeper than the mere
custom of bearing arms. That no one in
London or Boston carries concealed
weapons is not due to the law which
prohibits the habit, but rather to that state of
public opinion, which condemns and which
would assure the punish ent of the acts of
violence of which the weapon is tn symbol.
A man might convert himself into walking
arsenal in the streets of Boston, or of L IN
don, and, although he would be fined by the
magistrate, he would excite derision rather
than terror. There are many men in New
Orleans who carry no weapons, as habit,
and yet who, under the stimulus of some
fancied slight, or some real outrage. would
possess themselves Of a revolver, or Deringer,
wait for their antagonist on q street corner,
and quietly put bullet through his brain,
never dreaming that they had committed an
act, which, in most civilized communities,
would be regarded as murder, and be pun
ished as murder.
In short, as We have said, the evil reposes
upon basis of vitiated public opinion, and
injudicious education. 1t can be thoroughly
eradicated only by extirpating its causes.
But, in the meantime, much good may be
effected by rigid enforcement of the law
against offenders, by regarding murder as
murder, and Furnishing it as murder, whether
committed by an acknowledged rufian or by
. gentleman, and making it an offense against
social law as well as against statute law to
carry weapons for the purpose of committing
violence.
Prof. Tenant, mineralogist to Queen Vic
toria. has just furnished a full description of
the Imperial State Crown. He summarizes
the jewels as follows: One large ruby. irregu-
larry polished, one large broad-spread sap
phire, sixteen sapphires. eleven emeralds,
four rubies, 1868 brilliant diamonds, 1878 rose
diamonds. lat t. BILE diamonds, four drop
shaped pearls, and 273 pearls. The crown