The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1879-08-05
The Aristocracy OF Crime.

The times seem sadly out of joint Of
iate as regards those who have broken
the laws. There was day when pun
ishment followed swiftly upon the heels
Of transgression and was meted out TO
all by the same measure; when prison
cells and iron bars fulfilled their inten-
ton; when the sentence was carried ont
both in the letter and the spirit, and did
not mean luxury and ease and pomp,
and almost freedom, if the guilty one
had the money 10 purchase indulgence /;
when justice was more than a mere
shadow Of a name, and the wisdom (?) Of
the Bar, and looseness of legislation, did
not give the widest latitude for delay
and evasion and escape when the
masses Of mankind did not look upon
the great criminal as demi-god, and
the one who pilfered trifies as a misera-
BILE wretch for whom nothing was bad
enough.
There were severely just men in other
DAYS who would have no commerce
with vice, come in what shape it might.
The law was To them something more
than dead letteTupon the statute book /;
something more than medium for the
exercise of legal chicanery and judicial
wit something more than a decree 10
be- avoided if possible and tortured 10 q
different Interpretation 10 fit the cases of
the rich and poor. The guilty must suf-
fer alike. That was how they read and
understood the matter There was not
10 be any discrimination in crime, save
that the greater the moral turpitude the
greater and more infleXible the doom.
Pity, il at all, was with the poor wretch
who stole loaf TO keep his wife and little
ones from starving, not with him who
robbed and beggared thousands, and
Haunted his shame in purple and fine
linen. The enormity of the transgress-
ion was the basis for the sentence; the
higher the position the more the down.
fall, and the will of the majority was
not lightly 10 be set aside by the iDse
diri of the few, or the cause of justice
10 be- safely tampered with. Bribery was
thing unknown, and resort 10 il
would have been dangerous. There was
"A severe moral rectitude that frowned
down such a course, and prison bolts
and bars were not turned back with
oiled smoothness by a golden key, no
matter how massive.
But one 10y one errors crept in until
the entire fabric was changed. Prison
bars became as cobwebs; prison walls
were hung with silken curtains coarse
prison fare was improved 10 a luxurious
CUISINE, TO be eaten from costly dishes
and washed down with rosy wine; the
bread and water was dream of past
barbaric days, and the straw changed
oy the touch Of Midas wand, into the
softest Of down, and spring mattresses
and all other sybarite spells 10 induce
slumber. Gold exercised the demon of
punishment; the narrow cell widened
into parlor; solitude became peopled
with friends, the prison but an empty
name, and justice was beaten back until
her scales became an unmeaning en-
blem.
True, trifiing crimes are punished as
of yore. Poverty is dealt Just as hardly
with, and for il the law has not changed
single iota, save II may have grown
more unrelenting. Not,so with the one
who 'appropriates' stealing isan obsolete
term, an entirely too harsh an one for the
aristocacy in crime :! hundreds Of thous-
ands and causes the trusting poor of a
city To famish. The taking of a large
amount is looked upon as something
almost worthy Of praise. The one who
bankrupts bank or insurance company
or any large enterprise can hold his
nedu hlElt uhS tilt It4uiHite W 'uPioy
the best legal talent can dazzle the
eyes of the Judge, can find some loop
hole 10 creep out of, and live in luxury
the remainder of his days; can clothe
his wife and daughters in silks and
satins and laces and diamonds can ride
ia his carriage keep his box at the
opera; be courtcd by society and be
fawned upon 10y the mammon worship
ing age. But for the pauper criminal
away with him 10 the prison, and hard
labor and coarse and scanty food.
Truly the aristocracy Of crime is great,
aud TO the law il is the richest Of all
"placers."