The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-25
CRIMINAL PARADE.
stand by i

obdhO ny IT,
CRIMINAL PARADE.
New York city officials lead the procession
play and in fawning sycophancy. Last
week, in saloon kept by a notorious Grim
inal and frequented by others no less well
known to the police authorities two desper-
ate burglars got into a quarrel, and ended
the dispute with an impromptu duel, in
which both lost their lives. AT the wake of
one of them, named Walsh, were Castle
Garden commissioner, members of the Board
of Aldermen, and State senator from
Brooklyn They were there not to idly look
on, but in honor C) of the memory of the
dead. The deceased was eulogized, and
every possible redeeming trait was paraded
as a virtue, so that altogether the murdered
man, himself burglar and murderer, was
raised to something like heroism in the eyes
of his admirers The shame of such pro-
ceedings OH the part of men elected to sup
press and discourage crime is little less than
overwhelming, and the law-abidng and we'll
disposed may properly view with alarm such
exhibitions of respect to the basest elements
of society. When officials so far forget the dig
nifty and object of their Offices Us to
show honor to recognized criminals there is
little hope of the terrors of the law having a
wholesome restraining influence. If thieves
and sandbaggers and murderers become hon
orable and heroic after ignominious death,
there is enough in the dash and danger OF
their lives to serve as an incentive to others
who would follow in their footsteps. 1t is
shame to New York city politics that
it is possible to put such men in
Office. Their influence is dangerous
and destructive of law and order,
and their example is the source of constant
evil. Police officials come to be recognized
as belonging to the vicious class, and are ex-
pected to and do wink at crime as far as they
dare. The effect is inevitable, and the law
abiding suffer on account of the acts of the
men they are taxed to support.
Much in the same spirit is the manner in
which condemned criminals are treated. 1t
has come to such pass that when man is
hanged the execution of the law
is attended with as much ceremony
as would be observed if a foreign potentate
were welcomed to the country's hospitality.
All the pomp and circumstance of regalia
and display are brought out to their fullest
effect. Witness the hanging of the assassin
Hovey. A paragraph in the report of the
hanging says; ga few minutes after o'clock
Sheriff Davidson and Under Sheriff Stevens
arrived at the head of the Sheriff's deputies,
impaneled for the occasion, twenty-five in
number. The sheriff wore the insignia of of
flee upon his breast and bore a brass-tipped
truncheon, and the deputies wore rosettes
and carried similar truncheons" Twenty
seven police rugged up i'll state costume to
give a fitting send-off to the murderer of an
unoffending, defenseless woman. There was
grim contrast on this occasion.
The brute who so boldly shot to death his
sister-in.law was frightened nearly to faint
ing, and had TO be drugged to keep his COW.
ardly soul in his body until he could be led
to the scaffold. Here in line were the sheriff.
the under-sherif and their twenty-five depu-
ties, all in full uniform, bearing conspicu-
ously the insignia OF office, wearing rosettes,
and bearing ss-tipped truncheons, these
latter, so one account says, draped with
Grape. There was no occasion for
all this form and display. The law
contemplates nothing of the kind. and the
interests of society would be better served if
the sheriff or one of mis- deputies, assisted by
the taller, should lead the criminal out, hang
him according TO law, and let no noise be
made about it. In the ignorant mind, mar
rowed by surroundings, it is bit heroic to
die death surrounded by such display. 1t
would have been better for the peo-
pie of New York had the twenty
five deputies been about their business
in some other quarter of the city, The man
who deserves legal death does not deserve
sympathy and consideration. He should be
put out of the world as decently and speedily
as possible, and the execution of the sentence
of the law should be of a character that
would inspire terror rather than envy
When this is done we may hope for whole