Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1880-04-25
PROHIBITION.
A Mother On the situation.

MR.. EDITOR: Permit me as woman
and mother TO cay few words
through your columns to the thought
ful Christian public, in behalf of justice
as we'll as mercy, suggested to my mind
by the Eokle trsgedy. The papers say
his friends decline to employ counsel
for him. presume he has no friends,
perhaps deserves none. He is an utter
stranger to rae, so also are his family;
bat the great principles OF justice and
equity are worth taking care of
whether dog or king be involved.
/ wish to speak of principles alone,
without any personal reflections or aps
plications. 1 would not extenuate in
any sense or degree that most heinous
and horrible of all crimes, mothers
murder, Notwithstanding, alas! 1t is
one of the most common Of our times.
Mothers are being murdered daily,
whether with broken necks or broken
hearts, 1t is all the same In the end,
with only this difference, however
that those who die by physical violence
are more fortunate than the rest, in
that they suffer less. ru
II all who have hand in the death
of their mothers-by living life of dissi
patton and wickedness were convicted
Of murder in the first degree, we should
perhaps have agallOwsalways in sight.
And vet, what man can be found on
earth, In his senses, who is really will.
ing to murder his mother? For in
stance. how far was 1t from the wish
or intention of Eckle to murder his
mother, and who in heaven or earth
to-day deprecates the deed so much as
he. however far his moral nature may
be stripped and benumbed by dissipa.
tion?
Another instance. Only brief fort
night ago, a dying mother saidto her
weeping son, For you l am dying
Your wild ways, my poor prodigal
bow. have broken my heart. / have no
disease, MY heart is crushed, bat ii
nv death can bring about your reforS
nation, 1 am a willing sacrifice. Meet
me in heaven Aud thus the poor
victim breathed her last. o, what
heart that pulsates with human blood,
could have witnessed the agony of tina
son aud not yearned with pity over
him? o, is theie no balm In Gilead ?
Is there no physician there? People
of Tennessee, is there no remedy for
this awful state of things i?
There is none in the gallows.
There is none in state prisons. Upon
the family and the ballot.box must
rest the responsibility In all It's fearful
power. II parents fall to instlll into
their children, both by precept and
example, those principles and habits
which insure temperate and upright
lives, the sad consequences must come
as their lust but awful retribution; and
where ekislation aud social tolerance
license and allow the OZARK beverage of
help to flow as free as water, they are,
to a fearful extent, responsible for the
crimes that follow in its wake. Ha-
man may build his gallows, and Plate
wash his reeking hands, but the un-
erring shaft OF justice will find it's
mark through all disguises. "Sin Is a
brat that no one Is willing TO own. u
Legislators, constituents aud officers,
government and people. parents and
children, mutually ehift the blsm u
from one to another, but the truth is,
blood stains may be found on all our
hands, and they cry to heaven for ven-
peance. The only effectual way to cure
crime is to prevent 1t. We must pray
practically, as well as vocally. LEAD
us not into temptation" Ii we would
be heard and answered. The will OF