Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1882-04-22
WHOLE NO. 2,410.
Jesse James.
If,,rf,oaolNOrr, Nax.-s

No better illustration ofthe mawk-
ish sentimentality of the times
could be afforded than the manifest
sympathy which the death of Jesse
James and the incidents of his fu-
neral have excited i'm the minds Gf
many, who, facinated by the ro-
nance of crime and impressed by
| the grief of mother and wife, are
| prone to regard the outlaw as hero
and almost to excuse the atrocities
which made him the terror of the
West. 1t is only too true that
when crime assumes magnificent
proportions it attracts rather than
repels many who have indeed no
incentive nor desire to do violence
to the law and order. There is
thrown about the life and exploits
of a desperate like James glamour
of romance which tends to veil the
real turpitude of the criminal and
make hero of dastardly william.
The dime novel literature Of the day
which clothes crime in glittering
and attractive vesture of false senti-
ment and make fictitious monsters
of evil the models of chivalry and
patterns of stalwart manhood, finds
its counterpart in the sensational
history of actual crime. The petty
thief and the common murderer are
damned in paragraph, but the man
who steals millions and him, who
like Jesse James succeeds in win
ming notoriety by a series of desper-
ate deeds of unparalleled atrocity,
are held up to the public gaze dress
ed in all the tinsel of mock heroicS. !
Every incident of their lives is |
graphically detailed with view to
sensational effect. While the crimes |
of a notorious outlaw are portrayed |
in manner calculated to excite |
wonder and interest rather than in |
dignation and contempt, every COM
mendable trait in his character is |
magnified into the sublimity of vir-
tue. If a deep-dyed scoundrel have |
a sort of affection for his wife, his
love is exalted into love that is
more than love. Ii the wife, who
cOnnived at his crimes, evince Il
wifely devotion her sorrow is de-
picted as exceptional in its sublime |
and heartrending pathoS. Yet,
while this sensational method of
dealing with crime and its incidents
panders to depraved tastes, ii eXciteS
the disgust of the healthy mind.
The man who properly appreciates
the enormity of crime has no blub-
bering sentiment to waste on the
criminal. He does not qualify his
condemnation for the sake of other
hearts that ache, but he can have
a proper sympathy with all who
suffer. He is not even moved to
tears by the report of the funeral of
Jesse James with its spectacular eff
fects. He cannot fail to be impressed
with the mOurnful ludicrOusness of
that strange occurrence. fhe moth
er, whose furious denInciation made
the hardened wretch, Dick Little,
cover to the ground, doubtless
loved her son with all the fierce
affection of tigress, and her grief
compels certain respect. But one /
cannot repress a smile, when, like |
"Niobe, all tears" she decla; es that |
her boy is better off in heaven than
in this wicked world. One can re-
gard with even less complacency |
the remarkable performance of the
reverend gentleman, who. after lin
ing out the hymn, "What Friend
We Have in Jesus,' preached Jesse
James into heaven and spake words
"full of spiritual comfort to the
mourners," who not only condoned
the guilt of the outlaw, but openly
and bitterly rebel against the fate
which overlook him. 1t is bad
enough when the thoughtless public
is charmed and facinated by "A law
less life, but it is IA more serious
matter when the pulpit becomes the
apOlOgist of crime.