The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1880-04-09
A HUSBANDS WRONGS AVENGED BY A
MOB.

CHICAGO, March Pa special to the Times
from OconomOwoc, Wis, reports that Bas-
mus Larker, of Wansesha county, was tar
red and ieathered there last night by mob
of masked citizens Larker had 0een tn
lover OF Miss FORE of that county until
she married Albert Stielow of Milwaukee,
it is alleged, for his money. After her mar
rage she kept up her intimacy with Lafker
and finally deserted Stielnw and vert t.
live with Larker. This aroused the wrath OF
the citizens, which eliminated in the tarrng
and feathering last night.
We clip the above item from dispatch
to the Associated Press. Larkers crime is
not rare or peculiar one. 1t is of dali
occurrence aud it is fair to presume that
where one comes to light, hundreds are sup
pressed. As arule we are opposed to Lynch
hw,-certanly in all cases where justice
can be meted out out through the forms of
law. But this cannot always be done, and
the people, in self Defence must then take
the law into their own hands. This is par
ticularly the case on our western frontiers,
and among newly discovered gold or silver
regions. Desperadoes of all classes flock
times too weak to execute the law, and some
times judges, juries and jailors are easily
tampered with. The Vigilantes of Califor
mia did more to purify that State than the
courts, and to-day the secret citizens COM
mittee does more to suppress violence than
courts or the ballot box. True, Judge
Lynch may not always be unerring, Meth
er are the courts.
But the way to suppress crime is not only
to have the laws strictly enforced, but they
should be severe enough to deter the crimi
inal.
Now there are certain class of crimes for
which the law does not prescribe adequate
punishment, and the fact is disgrace to our
civilization. Fol instance, parents rear ten
derly and carefully daughter She is their
pride and hope. But in an evil hour the
tempter comes in human guise He may be
handsome, of pleasing address, we'll connect
ed and she listens to his honied words aud
sworn protestations. Either through devot
ed love, faith in his pledges, or hopes of es.
Gaping the common drudgeries f life for the
ease and comforts promised her, the girl
yields, and is ruined for life. The hearts of
her parents are broken She is an outcast
from society; sneered at by those of her sex
who have been more rigid or if not, have
concealed it better.
Sometimes the outraged woman, or infpri.
ated father or brother desparing of Justice
by legal methods, takes the law into his own
hands and another crime is added to the
calendar. Sometimes the victim is driven
to suicide, often 30 inianticide, aud in many
instances to life of prostitution, and an in.
nocent child, if it survives has an inheri-
tanre of shame, which noble life can hard
ly efIace.
The man, on the contrary, is the hero of
his envious set, plans new conquests and
perhaps msrrles into some respectable family,
which calls his crime Sowing little wild
oats"
But what is his punishment? A mild law
permits him. if impecunious, to become
gentleman" boarder at the county jail for
three months where he is lionized by visits
anu pltetHls IIbn Itld' Ives anu dliDTtTN
from both sexes He then goes scot free
Or, wishing to travel, he goes among distant
friends aud awaits events; perhaps settles
down, or compromises his crime Another
young man with means Of his own, or with
well-to.dO and adOring parents, who Of
course blame the girl, pays a nominal fine,
aud few dollars a month for limited
time. OF course the case is worse when the
tempter enters the family circle; when the
most sacred ties are broken, and wife, per-
haps children, are left alone in the world,
and sometimes destitute. Men may laugh
and women smile at the ruin made, but they
cannot know the evil wrought. The guilty
are seldom punished as the records of the
courts show, and no wonder an out
ragged community sometimes resort to the
mild punishment of coat of tar and
feathers.
If our Christians woul3 be half as vigor-
GUS in trying to get seyerer laws enacted and
in seeing them executed as they are in sup
pressing intemperanee, it would speak bet
ter for them, and go far to suppress the evils
complained Of But then, in too many in
stances; they would have to begin at home
Them il nuite a huzZ in franklin