The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1879-10-25
Col. Bob Ingersoll's Speech to the Jury.

The Colonel was lately employed in a
case which involved the manufacture of
ardent spirits, and in his speech to the
jury he used the following language:
Il am aware there is prejudice
against any man engaged in the manu-
facture of alcohol. | believe from the
time it issues from the coiled and poison
Gus worm in the distillery until it empties
into the hell of death. dishonor and crime
that it is demoralizing to everybody that
touches it from the source to where it
ends. | do not believe that anybody can
contemplate the subject without being
prejudiced against the crime. All we
have to do is to think of the wrecks on
either side Of the stream of death, of
suicides, of the insanity, of the poverty,
of the destruction, of the little children
tugging at the breast, of weeping and
despairing wives asking for bread, of the
man of genius it has wrecked, of the man
struggling with imaginary serpents pro-
duced 10y this deviish thing; and when
you think of the .jails, of the almshouses,
of the asylums, of the prisons, and of the
Scaffolds on either bank, | do not wonder
that every thoughtful man is prejudiced
against this vile stuff called alcohol. In
temperance cuts down youth in its vigor,
manhood III its strength, and age in its
weakness. 1t breaks the fathers heart.
bereaves the doting mother extinguishes
natural affection, grasses coniugal love,
blots out tilial attachments, and blights
parental hope, and brings premature age
in sorrow to the grave. 1t produces
weakness, not strength: sickness, not
health; death, not life. 1t makes wives
widows, children orphans, fathers fiends
and all paupers. 1t feeds rheumatism,
nurses govt, welcomes epidemics, invites
cholera, imports pestilence, and embraces
consumption, covers the land with misery
idleness and crime. 1t engendcrs contro-
verSieS. fosters quarrels and cherishes
| riots. 1t crowds your pen;t ,ntiaries and
| furnishes victims to the scallold. 1t is
the blood of the gambler, the element of
/ the burglar, the prop of the hghwayman
and the support OF the midnight incen-
diary. 1t countenances the liar, respects
the thief. esteems the blasphemer 1t
violates obligations, reverenceS fraud,
hates love, ScorneS virtue and innocence
1t incites the father to butcher his help
less offspring, and the child to grind the
parental axe. 1t burns up men, consum-
es women. deteStS life curses God and
despises heaven. 1t suborns witnesses,
nurses periidy, detiles the jury box and
stains the judicial erminc. 1t brides
voters, disqualities votes, corrupts cleo
tions pollutes our institutions. and en-
dangers the government. 1t degrades
the citizen, debases the legislator. dis
honorS the statesman and disarms the
patriot. 1t brings shame, not honor;
terror, not safety; despair, not hope:
misery, not happiness; and with the
malevolence of a tiend, calmly surveys its
frightful desolation. and unstained with
havoc, it poisons felicity. kills peace,
ruins morals, wipes out national honor,
then curses the world and laughs at its
ruin. 1t does that and more-it murders
the soul. 1t is the sum of all villainies.
the father Of crimes, the mother of all
denominations, the devils best friend, and
God worst enemy.