The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1881-11-22
hyde AND McNALLY.
Rev. A. J. Van Wagner on a Few
Live Questions.

the little church were jammed full with
interested and expectant people. The
choir was unusually hne, solos by Miss
Kimball and Mrs. J. Il. Wilcox exciting
much admiration and praise. Mr. Fred.
Van Camps cornet playing filled the house
with thrilling melody.
Only an outline OF the sermon, which
was in Mr. Van Wagner's best style, can be
given here He said that life
was precious to all, 10 the old and
Young alike When Senator Foote
was dying he said, Take me to the window
that | may look out on the beautiful
world once more" When Webst<r's last
hours came he asked that he, too, might
| be wheeled to the window III order that he
might look out upon the hills of his beau-
| tiiul state and familiar face Of the old ocean
again When beautiful and fashionable
woman Of Washington was dying she said,
"Ah, this world is beautiful and hate TO
leave it," To sill life Is sweet, from the
great statesman, orator, soldier, To the
Young lovers walking In the moonlight
who look upon the trees. the flowers and
the singing birds and saw, Life is beauti-
full" Men cling TO life TO the last, and il
| is because existence is sweet. Life is pre-
ttSus aho II NV w ~ NenN"t SANN
under certain circumstances.
Ne man has rig hit To take
life save in defense of his own. Ii
a man attempts your life, il you have
reason 10 believe, and do believe, that he
is about 10 do you great bodily harm, then
YOU have a right TO fire away at him and
Kill him. Also If you see man about to
kill another, or one OF your family, you
have a right 10 take his life. When the
burglar breaks into your house, with the
object of robbery, and possibly murder,
YOU cannot he blamed for shooting him
down. Under such circumstances, ii would
he better, perhaps, TO tre with the intent
not To kill, but To disable or seriously
wound him. But know that under the
excitement of such an occasion, a man
cannot be expected to pick out the
exact spot where his bullet will
strike. And there are also circumstances
under which a man is justified in taking
his own life. An illustration is that of
the brave engineer who went down To his
death ut the Usage bridge disaster. He
could have saved himself, but he knew that
If he deserted his post many lives would
be sacrificed He saw his duty and he
turned ON the air brake, reversed his en-
CINE and heroically died. Suicide in such
case is not only UNSUITABLE, but brave,
heroic and noble and the people OF Soda
| liza should never forget the name OF this
brave man.
wi.h To say lew words OH the subject
OF carrying concealed weapons. Though
there is law against it, the practice is SO
prevalent that those whom you
would not suspect of such q thing,
some of our best citizens, are IN the habit
| of CARRYING arms There Is no necessity
| for this, and the mere fact OF 4 mans
being armed often leads TO his getting Tito
trouble-often leads TO killing which
would not have taken place had the person
killed not been armed. 4 quarrel arises
4 man shows his weapon and threatens an
other; whereupon the other draws his
pistol and In q moment dead body Is
lying upon the pavement.
Officers of the law, the police, have the
right To carry concealed weapons. But
they should be cool and brave men, frm
but not hasty. No man OF quick and
excitable temper should be allowed for j
moment to handle firearms. Only cool,
courageous men should have this priv
Lilege.
Then, too, our laws are lax, and we are
every day becoming more noted as nation
of law breakers. In this respect We COM
pare very favorably with the countries OF
the old world, and especially do we suffer
in this regard when compared with Eng
land. III man has money In this country,
he can get clear of almost any crime. Only
few DAYS ago, over in Ohio, Il man who
had been governor OF North Carolina, was,
because he was an ex-governor and q rich
man, acquitted of the crime OF killing All
inollrnSive and worthy young man who
WAS only endervoring To shield the COVER
nor's son from disgrace and was trying To
get him sober enough to take
him home The courts and lawyers
are too technical. Through these tCchni-
caliti,s criminals escape just punishment
The lawyers themselves are not 10 blame
for this Ii / was lawyer | should Ger
tainly endeavOr To- clear INV client, AMI /
| would leave no stone unturned Ia do IL.
But at the same time these technicalitieS
are wrong. The plea OF insanity Is nova
DAYS resCrted tO in most Of the murder
cases tried by our courts. All they have
10 do is To GO back till they find some one
of the prisoners ancestors who was insane.
and then they 60 To work and prove that
the prisoner must be also insane. They
are trying now to show that all the an
cestors of Guiteau have been crazy Tor the
last hundred years. and will DC for the
next hundred years to come. The plea OF
insanity should only be allowed to prevail
when the fact has been proven ON the ;esti-
mony of medical experts.
Let Us sympathize with the
bcreaved brother and family Of Wash.
Hyde tonight. Ii the dead man could
have stood here on this platform by nv
side YOU would have said that his chances
al long lie were much greater than
mine. Yet in a moment, unprepared Tor
death, he i struck down In tine very
flower of manhood, in health and power
and strength. His death teaches the great
lesson that we should always Dc prepared
for death. And let Us have also charity
Tor the man behind the bars. Let US re-
gard him with that spirit with which