The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1881-04-29
PRECAUTIONS AGAINST ASSASSlNA.
TlON.
tFrom the London Spectator. |

There is, so far as we can see, NJ
possible method OF preventing !, repeti
ton ofsuch a crime short of locking VI
the sovereign in Il wcli-Guarded prison
The bowling has permanently beate,
the battins% Modern science has ap
piled itself to the work of destruction,
and there is no longer any possibility y
OF protecting life for which 4 resolute
enemyis willing to give his own. The
use of the knife can be prevented for it
presuppOSes contact and what with
guards, rapid driving, and inccssaut
watchfulncss, contact between Il sover-
eign and :en enemy eau be rendered
nearly, If not quite, impossible. The
sovereign can be armed, too, and can
make as good fight for his life against
the dagger as any other soldier. Even
the use OF the rifle can be prevented,
partly by the constant interposition of
attendants between the sovereign and
any. point from which he could be
threatened. 1t used to be said of Ma
polcon, as he drove up the Champs
Eiysccs, that it was impossible to
! "covcr" him with q stick, and that
was very nearly, though not literally
true. No man along the line could
Corsican seeing him. The movements
of guards distract the marksman, who.
| though he docs not care whether he
kills the innocent Or not, does exceed
! ingly care not to miss his aim.
But neither these precautions nor
any other are Of avail against ono or
two men throwing in succession bombs
powerful enough to blow up carriage
or shatter Il crowd. There are always
points at which a cavaleadc really en-
tefs 4 pass, or approaches some fore
seen angle, and asSassins stationed at
the side nave only, as it were, to pitch
a cricket ball tolerably straight to
change the succession to a throne. If
the murderer knows how to measure
distance, the speed Of the carriage is
useless, the iron plates give way, the
guards are destroyed like him they
guard, and the sovereign is slain as he
would be slain if a shell reached him
III the midst OF armies. OF course, if
by any chance he leaves the carriage.
the chances arc increased by his imnlo-
bllity. The only conditions required
arc that the assassins shall be careless
OF escape, that they shall have bombs,
and that they shall just have nerve
enough at the moment to pitch straight:
and none of these conditions can be alb
solutely prevented. True courage is
hardly required, only Il kind of resigna-
ton, very common in some races, cape-
ciaily among women.
Few OF the asSasSinS of recent davs
nave cared to escape. Hodel made no
effort, nor did SolovieT, nor, till her
acquittal, Vera Sassulitsch, nor is there
any method of shaking their nerve.
They risk always one of the most hor-
| riblc Of fatcs-lynching by an excited
mob, which breaks their bones. Hor-
rible punishments, even if modern feel
ing would allow them, would not do
it, for you coald not go beyond break
! ing on the wheel or burning alive, both
of which have been tried, the one in
France, the other in the S;oul hern
States of America, and both have fail
ed. The modern flnatical assassin is
| always ready to commit suicide, and
on man raised or lowered to the sui
eide temper, threats of intiicting tor
| turc have no effect. He will only kill
himself, and so battle inquiry into his
motives and resources. Nor is it posi-
| ibie to confine tho use Of explosives to
| known PERSONS. Laws to that effect
only drive the criminals to learn chem
| iStry for thcmSclvcS-thatis is, invest
| them with new power of keeping
their own secrets. Any student Of
chemistry can make gun cotton or
nitro-glycerine, and powder is an article
which must be manufactured, and, ir
| manufactured, can be stolen.
Granted q few rcsOlutc conspirators
with one man of education among
them, and some little command of
| money, and no conceivable laws or
| rules of Police or detective arrangeme-
mcnts can prevent their making and
carrying and throwing bombs, which
are as dangerous to the victims as hos
tile batteries only fifty yards of, Science
has armed the assassin, and Govern
mcnts, with all their endless resources
in men and material. are almost as
powerlcss as if their opponents could
WELD tho lightning or direct the course
of earthquakes.
The President of the Carrulton, an, \
Telephone Exchange Of this city, ran a
line in tho Presbyterian church, con-
Meeting it with q Blake transmittcr
placed ut the right OF the speaker in
the pulpit, and yesterday morning the
citizens at 4 dozen residences and busi-
ness places, some of them half a mile
distant, listened to the sermons by the
pastor. Every word of the two dis.
| courses was hoard ~ ,liStipotl,, -,