Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-05-17

The Crime Of Murder.

t0eBe tlUee. IL Hdo Iof buIS cause CoiuC
TO be looked upon with too much indiffer-
ence in the community. 50 tar at least as
regards its wickedness. If young men,
and old men likewise, had a proper sense
of the horrible character Of this crime,
they would not carry concealed weapons
upon their persons to make it feasible for
them to commit murder at the slightest
provocation; or seek associations and in
dulge in habits which may lead at any
time To the shedding OF another's blood.
The young man who carries pistol in his
pocket with which he proposes to resent
any affront offered him, would not thus
prepare himself to become a murderer
did he understand fully the terrible nature
Of the deed the doing Of which he antici-
pates. Murders have become frequent in
a large measure because the crime is re-
garded less lightly than formerly.
What Is this crime What is it to be
an assassin? There is no other wicked
ness on the face OF the earth so terrible.
In the beginning Of the world, according
10 the Bible. God stamped it as one Of the
greatest of crimes. When Cain slew his
brother the Lord said unto the murderer:
What hast thou done? the voice OF thy
"brother's blood crieth unto me from the
"ground. And now art thou cursed from
1.-THE earth. which hath opened her mouth
ito receive thy br ,ther's blood from thy
"hand. When thou tillest the ground. it
"shall not henceforth yield unto thee her
strength; a fugitive and vagabond
..shalt thou be in the earth" To this
divine arraignment of the criminal and the
terrible doom declared upon him Cain re-
piled: MY punishment is greater than
II can bear Behold, thou has driven
"me out this day from the face Of the
"earth and from thy face shall I be hid;
land shall be fugitive and vagabond
'.in the earth; and it shall come to pass
THAT every one that findeth me shall slay
me" This example pictures in its true
character the crime of murder. 1t is one
execrated bv God and man. The perpetra-
tor is not fit to live among men. He is
driven from the earth. His life shall be
spared but living will be worse than
death.
And so down through the history of the
ages murder is marked as the crime of all
crimes. The severest penalties known to
mankind have attached to murder. Even
among savages the life of the murderer is
the forfeit for hi. crime. the next of kin to
the person slain to be the executioner of
the guilty man whenever and wherever
he may have the opportunity to Stay him.
This is murder for murder; savage
Justice justifying the last because Of the
first.
Whoever reads or hears the tragedy of
Macbeth cannot fail to be impressed with
horror ut the crime Of murder.
How the guilty conscience of the muir
derer tortures him. causing him to quake
with dread ut every noise. and the APP
partition of his victim to appear to him
even in the banqueting room when he is
surrounded by his friends. What hor-
rible state of mind is indicated in Macbeth
when, staring at the vacant chair in which
his Imagination sees the ghost of the muir
dered Duncan. he exclaims:
Thou cans, not say III IT; never shake
Thy CORY locks at me-
Or when little later he cries:
"Prythee. see there behold look To-
how say you?-
why, what care II Ifthou eanst nod, speak too
n chsrnel houses and our graves. must send
Those that we bury back. our monuments
Shall be the maws of kites
Or when. still later. the ghost having de-
parted for moment and appeared again:
"Ava1ntl and quit my sight Let the earth
Thy bone. are marrewless. thy blood IL cold:
Thou hast no speculation In those eyes
which thou dost glare with
Equally blood-curdling is it to hear Lady
Macbeth, the guilty partner of her hus-
band in the murder of Duncan. while
vainly attempting TO wash the imaginary
blood stain from her hand cry out in hor-
ror:
Out damned spot out. say.
what. will these hands ne'er BE- clean:
Here's the smel Of the blood still all the perfumes
Of Arabia will not sweeten this little hand. Oh oh.
OH"
4 crime that is accursed of God and ex-
ecrated by man. whose horrors follow the
perpetrators everywhere and whose blood
stains no water can wash out is not one to
be spoken lightly Of. Even the convicts in
State Prison committed there for other
crimes. detest the murderers incarcerated
with them they are regarded as too wicked
for other criminals to live with. Men ac-
cused of murder should have fair trial
under the laws. every extenuating circum
stance should tell in their favor, they should
not be condemned until clearly proved
guilty: these things we are not discussing
in this article. nor the manner Of punish
ment; We are simply speaking OF the
crime in the abstract. its terrible nature.
and warning mcu to beware how they de-
preciate its enormity. and create . senti-
ment in community and the formation Of
habits and associations which may tend to
increase instead Of lessening its commits
sion.