St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1880-10-01

foreign element Is very small. More
than SO per cent of the Southern popu-
latiOn are nativebOrn Americans. The
pursuits of the people are mainly agri-
cultural; there are no large interests
continually clashing, as in the mining
and manufacturing centres of the North.
The population is relatively sparse /;
there is room for all, and murder should
not be more frequent than among an
equal number of people in the rural
portions of New England" Yet if the
list of homicides were reduced to the
average rate prevailing in Vermont and
New Hampshire, there should not he
over seven or eight homicides in Ken
lucky annually, instead of the frightful
total of 2I0.
By far the greater number of these
homicides in the South are the result of
street "dificulties,n and are due to
whskey drinking, aud the almost uni
versal practice of carrying concealed
weapons. When an affray begins in the
street or bar room of Southern village
there are are dozen or n score of men
so intiamed with whiskey that they ar
ray themselves on one side or the other
and draw their pistols and knives, and
begin an indiscriminate killing. Mr..
Redtield believes that the practice of
going armed is largely the cause of
these affrays, and that it kills fifty men
where it protects one. He SAYS that lie
has travelled thousands of miles in the
Southern states, riding on horseback
through their widest and most noun
famous portions, yet he never carried q
pistol, never owned one, or saw the
time when pistol or a whole armOry
would have been of service. There are
laws in some of the Southern states
against carrying concealed weapons,
but they are openly disregarded even
by high officials, and men of all classes
in society make it q practice to go arm
ed. But besides the whiskey drinking
and this practice of carrying weapons,
crimes of violence are encouraged by
the fact that public sentiment takes
little cOgnizance of them, and juries, in
multitude of cases, acquit the mur-
derers without leaving their seats. Mr..
Redfield mentions one case where
sheriff, when murder trial was in pro-
gress, told him that the jury would ac-
quit the accused. Surprised at this
prediction in view of the clear evidence
of the crime, Mr.. Redfield asked the
sheriff how lie knew, and was told that
it was because every man on the jury
had himself at one time or another,
been in "killing scrape."
We have no disposition to comment
upon such facts as these for Il political
purpose, nor TO argue concerning the
propriety of entrusting the national
government to the control of a section
where such low type of civilization
ha fanf l. fA,
selves and require no comment. The
remedy, as Mr.. Redfield suggests, is
doubtless to be found in an Increased
respect for human life, rigid enforce
ment of law, and, as nearly as possible,
adequate punishment for every case of
unjustifiable homicide; but how easy Il
thing 1T is to say this, and how slow
and difficult thing must it be to ac-
complish these social and moral TevOlu-.
tions in the South which are required
to bring it ahout. In England and
Wales, with twenty-five millions of
population, there are not so many hon.
| icides annually as in the single State of
Texas. What is it that makes the diff
ference between the civilization of the
Southern States and the civilization of
England or of our Northern States
Why is it that there are more murders
in the State of Kentucky in a month
than in the State of Massachusetts,.
with larger population, in a year
These are grave questions; the leaders
of opinion in the South may understand
their significance and set about remov-
ing the causes which account for this
vast aggregate of homicides, or they
may deride and ignore the whole sub
ject. Upon their course, more than
upon any material conditions, depend
the welfare of the South and its devel-
Opment in civilization.