Morning appeal. [volume] (Carson City, Nev.) 1877-1906, 1882-01-10
THE GRAND ARMY OF CRANKs

An unusually large number of afro
cieus crimes have been reported of late
throughout the United States. The
"cranks" of the whole country seem te
have come to the conclusion that the
time to assert themselves has arrived
1t is useless, perhaps, to speculate upon
the causes that have led to such g de-
plorable condition of things. 1t is well
to admit that this evil-disposed class OF
people ale just now making things
lively, and then look for such repres-
sive measures as will abate the evil.
This peculisrand unnatural phase ofthe
social relations may not be susceptible
of entire eradication, but it unqestion-
ably can be rendered less hideous and
infrequent Of occurrence. The cranks
we have always had with us, from the
days of Cain down to the present time.
They have multiplied of late enor-
mously fast, and the sooner the courts
recognize their existence as class,
and treat them as dangerous class,
the sooner will this obnoxious army
begin to dwindle from the high pedes-
tails of self-opinioned Importance upon
which they delight to eXalt themselves.
Guiteau, sane enough to hoodwink pol
iticians and clearinghouse keepers out
of living for many years, preferring
to live upon the charity of others rather
than earn his bread by honest labor,
glorifes himself in his utter baseness.
The arrest of this chief of the grand
army of cranks developed, within
brief period of time no less than half a
his stamp in the city of Washington.
While it is probable that the proportion
of cranks is greater in those centers Of
population in which gather the law
givers of the land, yet we cannot shut
our eyes to the fact that they are un-
comfortably numerous elsewhere. All
trades and professions furnish their
quota to the grand army of cranks. A
strict and speedy accounting to out
ragged laws would have salutary effect
in lettering this class from giving way
to the fiendish inspirations that are
born in them and nourished by evil
habits of life and encouraged in deveI- |
opment by laxity of justice. The NOR
bid sentiment, miscalled sympathy,
that beslobbers miscreant so utterly |
lost to the decent instincts of humanity |
as Guiteau has shown himself to be |
during his trial, is but pusiIlanimous
respect for the animal that is in him |
and which is almost the whole of him.
1t is not the noble and enrolling senti-
ment of sympathy in its divine purity,
but the outflowings of the degraded
animal portion Of one nature toward a
brute. It is the recognition
by the undeveloped crank of the full
fiedged carnate fiend. The visits of
women and the hunger of
silly men for the murderer's autograph,
too, crafty his conceited brain and en-
courage the growth of all his bestial
kind who read of these things in the
We are panied at the
of the rattlesnake which we
crush to death, but we do not the less
shrink from killing ii, SO that the next
person who passes that way may not
suffer death from its poisonous bite. So
should the law strictly, quickly and re-
entlessly put it beyond the power of
The murderer who ruthlessly Stays his
iellow man, to be given the opportunity
to slay another.
The Cleveland Leader denies the
story that Mr.. Hayes refused to SUBJ
scribe to the Garfield monument fund.