Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1879-11-06
THE MURDER CRAZE.

The murder epidemic has again broken
out IN the Territory. in a malignant form.
Within the past week, no less than three
apparently deliberate and cola-blooded
murders. and one homicide. have been
committed Almost simultaneously with
the killing of John DEM, in Helena, and
John McAuley, in Butte, we are called
upon to record a double murder, or rather,
murder and homicide, in our own town.
The bic ,d-thirs.y demon appears to be
turned loose. and no one can predict with
any degree of certainty when or where il
will stop its mad career. Like an epidemic
or contagious disease. il will no doubt
run its full and tiireful course, unless il
shall be checked by prompt and efficient
measures. What those measures should
he we are. perhaps. not fully prepared to
say, except so far as 10 coincide with the
old maxim that desperate diseases require
desperate remedies"
We are among those who believe tat.
there are moral as well rs physical cpl
denies. and that a strong analogy exists
between the cause that produces an Cpl
demic disease and tho malarial atmosphere
that produces Il moral pcstlencc. Consid-
rring the fact that the salutary and purify
ing influences Of well-regllated home-life
are, and have been for years. denied to so
many men on The frontier, il is not a mat !
ter of great surprise that so many give way
to habits of dissipation and lead irrespon-
sIbe ami reckless lives. But il is not alorc
the absence of the social and domestic in |
fluences that will accornt for the utter |
abandonment Of all wholesome restraint, !
and sHperindncc 10 m abandoned life. Slan /
IL said to be creature Of circumstances. /
In stricter and higher sense, perhaps. he
Is a creature Of necessity. AS a general I
rule, he runs an honorable career and
achieves distinction only when his intellect
has to bs brought into healthy exercise to
MD his hands in acquiring what are consid-
cred the necessalies and comforts Of life.
In the western Territories. the cOmpcn-
sstion for labor requiring but small de-
gree of intelligence. is often not only out
of all proportion 10 the services rendered.
hut far beyond tho real necessities and
proper appreciation OF the laborer. In
other wor,k, money Is so easily earned or
obtained. that many are at loss to know
what to do with it. They become highly
elatcd with temporary prosperity, and
never rest satisfied until their Surplus carn-
ings are spent in acts OF dissipation and
folly. 1t takes a high degree OF intelli-
cence TO make proper use Of that Which Is
IN nf I'M liat |
Unusual prosperity is attended with great
er danger to most persons than pecllniary
adversely or stern poverty. Hence, any
whose members generally are
kept constantly and intclligenily employed ;
from stern eccssity, is usually pcaccable I
md comparatively happy; while. on the
other hand, experience and observation
has taught us that. where money was easi- {
~ earned and wealth suddenly acquired. \
there was generally found low degree OF !
morals and, as . consequence, frequent
-epetitions of APPALLING crimes. 9
We do not, by any means, intend TO say i,
hat crime follows sudden prosperity, rs Il /
natural and necessary consequence, but
such seem to he the tendency under the
present social arrangement. Very few are
10 naturally vicious or british as to DELHI
,rately or willfully enter upon a career OF u
awlessness. Many offenders are no doubt I
81 astriy step by step. almost unconscious
= to themselves. acquiring such habits as 2
cad them 70 utter ruin. Such men, drawn u
ogeti,er by real or imaginary wants and 0
forming social circles of their s
,wn. devoid alike OF intellectual thought
nd moral principles, inevitably tall into =
labits OF dissipation and become the y
.ictims of the islser passions until they 4
re the terror or scora Of the community i
n which they live. Il is under such cir a
that the ge,,ns Of moral cor r.
upton are generated. seriously affecting u
be very atmosphere in nhiei, ,ucn live.
nd producing pestilential influence that I
90 often crashes both the gully and inno- q
ent in its deathly grasp. &c
in some very important respects. the o.
ecJ fabric OF modern society is exceei- u
Ugly defectivc. notwithstanding the MI .
,erous and. in many instances, aeaioas ~
nd well-infenticncd efforts OF men to bring p'
TO high degree of beauty and l,ettec- r
on. The sinks aud cess-poels Of corinp- &C
OF are real and numerous, and their fatal
arg living veritics, while the -
roposed reSea1es or coante.actiSg influ- &c
ices are too often only theoretical or "
No moral plan that utterly "
.nores the existing necessity Of men for ce
,l.seincut and pleasas,bc !eereatic., can, 70
The nature Of things. succeed. Tx ex-