St. Landry democrat., 1879-04-05
A Change is Necessary.
in. @. Uicavunc,t

The murder of Aston in Georgia the
murder OF Porter in Texas, the homicides
which have occurred during the last
few months i'll Mississippi, have a climax
III the assassination of Judge Elliott, of
the Kentucky Court of Appeals. What
do these things mean Has an epidemic
OF murder come upon the land 7 Or is
assassination endemic among US? Is
there something in our education, in
our nature that prompts us to kill ?
Calm and thoughtful observers will
come to the conclusion that something
is wrong in communities where these
things happen from month to month,
from week to week, almost from day to
day. Disguise 1t as we may, we cannot
hide it from the world that human life
is not invested among us with the sancti-
! ty with which human life is clothed in
almost all other civilized communities
We have laws defining murder, and we
have laws to punish murder but our
definitions are refined away by legal
acumen, and our laws for Furnishing
the crime of murder remain almost dead
| letters on our statute books. 1t is true,
also, that murders are committed in
other communities. Unhappiy civliz-
ed society has not yet eXtirpated either
the assissan or the desire to assassinate.
| But in other communities the murderer
is punished. IT he escapes through
some legal tcchnicality, or for want of
sufficient proof to convict him IN law,
he goes forth with the brand OF Cain
upon his brow. In those communities,
too, the murdereris very rarely IL " res
pectable man, a " refined gentleman.
He is generally q vulgar criminal.
Among us it is not only not uncommon,
but it is, on the contrary, very usual to
speak OF the actors in our bloody and
fatal a1frays as emlnently distinguished
citizens, persons OF good family, and
highly respected by their nelghbors.
The murderer of the unfortunate actor
POI ter WAS, it is true, a frontier rutfian :
but the murderer of Aston passed for q
gentleman, the murderer of Judge
Elliot belongs to one of the first families
in Kentucky, and the killer of Curtis i'll
Richn ond is a young gentleman Of high
social position. SO 1t is in almost all OF
the bloody encounters by which our
society is so often discharged. Here APP
peals to be the root of the evil. When
our typical gentlemen murder one an
other in the public streets it is plain
that there is something defective in the
social organization by which such gen
tlemen are evolved. 1t is time for the
people of these States to look at the
Consequences of tolcrating such q con-
dition OF things, and to try, if possible,
to change it. We claim to be law
abiding people, but such a claim is a
mOckery, Il deluslOn, Il snare, when the
law is set at naue'ht with impunity by
men who ought to be models and cx-
amples for their neighbors. We be-
lieve that at last public opinion on this
point has been aroused, and that it will
visit it's condemnation on the men who,
IN future, make streets and highways
arenas for gladiatorial cOmbats. Ex-
pressi0ns OF visolaus reprobation come
to us from all parts of the country in
regard to the recent terrible crimes. Let
US hope that these will be followed by
equally vigorous prosecution and pun
ishment Of the offenders. We, in this
city, aud this State, should consider
that we are no better than Kentucky or
Tennessee, Or Virginia; but we have
reason to believe that the time is pass
ing away when eminent and respectable
citizens could slaughter one another and
still be considered not assassins, but
heroes. 1t is full time for the change.
II New Orleans is to be regarded as one
of the great cities of the world ought to
be regarded, she must show that the
rights of property are protected by laws
which arc not relaxed. for the benefit of
the gentleman any more than for the
hanefit nf the rI1t4ian