The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1878-01-01
n0MpnunDlNG CRIME.


rime Is the ease by which lts eonse'
luenees may bopyolded The ehanooso
'soape are carefully oonslderedi tho
uncertainty Of poitlt lnrieS
ho lonienoy Of judges, the insecurity
# mils the power of money, aud the
mercy of tho injured prosecutor, are
which are all weighed when
irimo Is contemplated Perhaps no
other cause Is more fruitful than the
known indisposition on tho part Of the
injured 10 prosecute. A trusted agent
steals his employers money, Ia delectV
cd conlosses his crime and restores q
1.-THE OF the HtoNlings, and the employ
or, aoltoned by the tears and the ortlul
appeal Of his robber, cries out depart
IN peace, This Is m unmlligatod oyll,
and 80 long M the custom prevails We
must expect uniathlulnoss, The pity
excited in the breast OF the injured by
arilul appcaa N most oommondoble,
when regarded ~ mere emotion, but
when we reflect that II works an unN
diluted evil upon society, aud often to
the delinquent we should pause be-
fore surrendcring entirely to It's sway,
In many Of tho cases whore the ylc'
tim fails or refuses TO prosecute, we
find that the grand jury also fails to ms
dict "A we understand II, both are
dcrcIict in duty, If not positively yiolat
inptho law, In order 10 make Justice
effective, measures 10 punish must bo
promptly taken, because in this age OF
railroads few hours only suffice ia
place the criminal beyond the clutches
of law, except by tho costly delay OF
exlradItion, aud then only ono IN ten
are really returned TO answer Tor THEN
crimes ON the ground where the oilensC
was committed, We have Away,
been taught that to compound Il
crime, to take cognilAncc OF
IT, TO wink Mt IT., or TO asaIst in
any way TO shield the criminal 10 guilt
and only differs in degree from the or
iginal oiltnsc Each individual mons
Der of society owes to the body polite
certain duties, These he soonstraincd "a
pay because thoiptcrests oflhowhole de-
mands tho service ut his hands
he himself, equally with the others
Offences against society Oro of tive
kinds, positive andncgativc, The posi-
tive ia committed when the theft i,
made and the negative when the fall
uro to punish is completed.
If we see murder committed anC
fail to attempt to bring the murderer
before the tribunals of justice, we oiltnC
against Justice in the first instance, an,
society in the second because. who cal
say when the next victim may Gll OF
who he may be When II bank prcsi
dent detects his cashier in an embeG2le
ment and simply dismisses him withou
prosecution, or without making pubIi
. the cause in some other effective way
he not only encourages the thief by hi
course, but exposes some other bank o
community to u like wrong ~ that sui
tered by himself,
The only way to meet crime with an
hope of its final vanquishment, is t.
make its every phase odious, and ex
pose its every exhibition to tn
vengeance OF the broken law. If thi
theory were more generally followed
not 10y juries and officers alone, but b.
each and every member of society, mel
would be forced to appear and act hon
cstly no matter how corrupt thci
hearts might DO. The worst crime
against society are not always thos
: which rank highest in criminal law
The bcttayer Ola trust, the betraycr {
innocence the embeaAler, the thief, ar
all equally guilty, and yet he who ruin
and destroys the life of an innocen
girl and wrecks the happiness of Who'll
family, is never punished, and often be
comes a sort of hero in our social li(,
How shocking the reflection, and no,
low the standard of public moral
to tolerate such crime, and gram
jurcs, officers aud society are guilt
when neither move to punish. Let u
remember that to coudone crime il t
share it, and the way to drive it out on
trely is to pursue il relentleSsly.