The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1876-05-19

Our readers well remember the case OF
Thomas A. Piper, of Boston, who is now
under sentence of death for the murder
of Mabel Young in the belfry OF the
church of which he was sexton. Piper
has all along asserted his innocence, and
a good deal of public sympathy has been
awakened in his behalf. On Sunday he
surprised his counsel, who was In con-
sultation with him concerning new
trial, by admitting the murder not only
of Mabel Young but of Bridget Land
regin at Dorchester in 1873, and OF Mary
Tyner, girl of the town in Boston,
about two years ago. We have only the
confession of the murder OF the child IN
an authentic form at present /; but SO
great has been the impression made
upon Piper's lawyer by this statement of
his client that the application for new
trial has been formally abandoned.
The case is very peculiar one. Piper
seems to have had no motive for murder,
at least in the instance of the killing of
the child. If SO, he killed merely for
the sake of killing, and is himself the
victim of homicidal mania which he
did not choose to control. But we are
inclined to accept excavations like this
with no little caution, partly because we
believe that a propensity to murder
merely for the love of it is of very rare
occurrence, unless accompanied by a
well-marked arrangement of the intel
lect, which in Piper's case is wanting.
That he may have had no motive which
to the majority of men would have been
an adequate one we are willing to admit,
but not that he acted altogether without
motive. He is great liar, and has been
coming falsehoods ever since he was
locked up. Men of such ingrained falsity
are apt to lie on to the end. His con.
fession is valuable, because it is corrobo-
rated by circumstances. Otherwise it
might be said that he made it with a
sinister motive.
At first glance, the fact that MUIR
derer really in love with killing for its
own sake may 60 about maintaining for
years a decent position, is sufficiently
appalling. We feel that we might at
any time be thrown into the company of
such a monster to our great peril, and
that our children are no longer safe,
since Mabel Young died a death SO
dreadful. But it requires only little
reflection to convince us that the num-
Der of these wild beasts in human form
must be limited. Civilization has re-
duced the homicidal propensity to a mini
mum. Instances of it pure and simple
are by no means frequent. If it were
otherwise the world would find out the
fact to its sorrow and dismay.
Hardly any man with the gallows in
prospect is ever very candid. Under
the influence of an overmastering appre-
hension he is constantly devising some
expedient by which he may escape. 1t
is terribly hard for him to tell the whole
truth, and he is especially wary in con-
cealing the real motive of his crime.
Piper probably killed the little girl for a
reason. 1t may have been no more than
the impulse of uncomfortable anger
which stimulated the deadly deed. But
if we admit in its full force the truth of
an abnormal homicidal propensity, it by
no means follows that the murderer is
morally irresponsible. Piper at this
very time is suffering greatly from re-
morse. If he is now truly penitent, it is
for an act which he must have felt was
criminal at the time of its commission.
All crime comes of insufficient self
restraint and, if the whole truth could
be known, we should probably find that
Piper was in rage when he so cruelty
slaughtered the little girl.-Neo0 YORK
Tribune.