Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1881-12-21
Crime In 8t. Louis.

Crime In q. Louis. i.
az - Ut. LOUIS, Dec. 8, 1881. :
Editor efahe Transeript:-As among
the breakers Of the ocean, which slowly
but unceasingly wear away their. rocky
confines, there ID now and then Z great
tidal wsve which overwhelms everything
In ito course, and dashes itself against the
mighty mountains with irreslstible fury.
threatening to crumble their granite bases
beneath them; 30, on the ocean Of wick.
ednsss, the waves of vice, which are con
stantly eating away the foundations 81
society, are ever and anon accompanied
by huge b,llow Of crime, meuaciug eve
ry,h'ng good and pure with eternal obi
Won. Such bil!ow has struck this con
serva,lve city, and ON ,,s crest defiance
to law rides triumphant. In religion and
morality st. Louis will compare very fav
orsbly With any OF the other ms,ropol,
tan cities Of Americs; and ~ soon - thu
people recover from their parslyzina
amszement and apply the pr"per rcmed !;
she will retrieve her lost reputation fo,
peace and order.
Notwithstanding state statutes aed city
ordinances. gambling in ito most PERM.
cious and sllur,ng forms is openly carried
on. I refer not only to wheat speculation
In the beautiful room ION CHANGE" and
to csrd-playing for money aud drinks in
the numberless sal00ns, but al 20 70 the
brilliantly lighted keno room where
hundreds gamble away, some their earn.
ings, and others their s:ealiugs. Not more
empty are the pockets Of beEgars than
are those of the nicely dressed clerk and
sha billy clad laborer who emerge from
these places. The eloquent preaching Of
the christian ministers, the daily thunder
IF the fai,hfal city press, and the appeals
Of private citizens for the enforcement Of
the law have all, ~ yet, proved unavsil.
ing. The police force il neither power.
less nor inc0gnizant of the evil; there 10
simply An unwillingness TO raid the dens.
Why. respectable people do not know,
unless 1t 10 that the administration Of the
city is in the hands Of the gamblers and
their friends. Chas. Johnson, = lawyer
who secured the passage Of the Gam bling
Act and who has hitherto been the leader
Of the opposition to the gambling inter-
est, recently hsd violent cont ntion with
the Police Commissioner, and out of i.
grew heavy Islander suit. He indign ant.
" rejected all brioes and compromises,
and demanded an unconditional surren.
der. But now even this stsunch aniaeo-
nist has sheathed his sword and aban.
doned the deld. Victory crowns tho ~x-
ultan, violators OF righteous law and
and defeat unnerves the vanquishe1 for
another struggle. Public se ns,ment, how
ever, IS already pointicg to . change Of
municipal administration which will
terminate this soul destroying business {.
Were there nothing worse than gam
bling, or nothing Of more immediate in-
terest to your readers, this letter had not
been written. Murder N more dreadful.
and murder 10 here IN all its forms Few
Of its perpetrators are convicted, fewer
still punished; and yet il justice be not
cheated At last, four viii expia.e their
crime o. the gallows in this last month
Of the year. But Il 10 not Of this unwel.
come topic intended TO speak. Howev-
or bad gambling may be. and however
horrible 10 murder and ito merited pun
[shment, the judicial sanction of assassi.
nation by gross misinterpretation Of the
law is exceedingly more dangerous to
public and private safety. Maxwell
struck blow At society when he shot
man down in cold blood; the Wisconsin
people struck q blow At law when they
ynched the guilty wretch; bat Judge
Laughlip, of the 81. Louis Criminal Court,
struck blow 1t society, law, and the
most sacred If all rights, 10 his charge t.
\ jury few days ago. A briefstatement
IF the case is necessary for clear under
standing of the ruling. One Reilly twice
an away with the wife Of man named
Hatch. After Hatch had forgiven her
'dd taken her back The second time he
aid, IF Reilly does not Jet me and my
wife alone vii! kill him." Reilly, hear
Dg OF this remark, hunted up Hatch and
hot him dead. Why, from the momen,
}; the murder everything possible should
ave been done TO screen and save Reilly
. one of the ST. Louis mysteries. Reilly
9 alleged TO be = bad, dangerous man
While Hatch was peaceable and ,ndustrl'
'us. Still, Kelley was acquitted, and
apon the instruction given to the jury by
be Judge:
III Hatch gave Reilly reason 10 believe
hat he was going to kin him, Kelley, in
~, seas jastifed in hunting him up and
ti!ling Aim, because the law does not re-
luire that man should wait, for his op-
,onen, might meet him on the street with
! double barrel shot gun"
Such An Interpretation ID = disgrace to
he city the bench and bar, and 10 an out.
age upon tina, grand old Eoxlish CON-
non law which requires that man shall
lee before another shall die. The Judge
plunged himself srll deeper into the con-
empt Of bis professional brethren by snb-
repeating ha doctrine and Dc.
lariug it to b we'll founded. Without
the leading lawyers Of the city
pronounce the ruling an absurdity,