The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1883-05-10

son shot DAVIS the other day, II what IS
alleged by tho former In true OF the latter
I there Is one institution on earth which
is without price for It's purity to civilized
man. IL Is the marital relation. And he
who invades the sanctity of the home and
saps the affairs Of conjugal fidelity iorieits
his right to live in the society whose wit
ten laws protect it, and whose unwrilien
laws is greater defender still
In the THoMrsoH-DAvls case we lind that
Mr.. THOMPSON started Tor Washington ac-
companed by his wife as far as Cincinnati;
he babe her goodbye and continued his
Journey, expecting her to return to,Harrods-
burg that same evening; instead of doing
this she went to another hotel where she
registered and was assigned room. Next
day DAVIS appeared in Cincinnati lie
meets Mrs. THOMPSON, how or where 1t
matters not, and they spend the afternoon
and evening together. They return
to the hotel about 0 O'Clock at night
il a state of intoxcation. He does
not conduct her TO her room, or the
apartment of her kinswoman, whose pres
ence furnished a pretext for her solourn;
he thrusts her into his own room.and they
remain there an hour or more. AS to these
points there is no denial. Upon investlga-
ton of further facts, Mr.. Thompson became
assured of the suspected guilt, and, obeying
the instincts of humanity, he levelled his
pistol at the eveller of his peace, and was
as emphatic in his work as the criminal
was in his. We are opposed to blood
spilling and prefer to have the legal RENE
dies pursued, but in provocation like this
we apologize for the passion that overleaps
the cooler reason. If there be
case where the old Mosaic rule
of IAN eye for an eye, and Il
tooth for tooth" might be !ustifiably OBJ
served despite the Christian dispensation,
it is like the one at bar. And il any mis-
chief follow, then thou shalt take life for
life" And we care not whether the mar
rage relation be holy sacrament ordained
by God, or purely civil institution. 1t Is
the oldest social one known, with its toun-
dation in the constitution OF our nature
sacredly sanctioned by all religion, elevated
by Christianity, and protected in It's lnteg-
rity with all brave men by that higher law
that assesses and records the damages fer
its violation in the blood of the violator.
From the heights of Si1ai, away back
in the dawn of history, the death of the
betrayer of virtue was decreed from
Heavens high court. And it is recorded
that the daughter of JACOB, seduced by
prince of one of the tribes, was fearfully
avenged by her brothers, SIMEON and LEVI,
who slew the man, and exterminated the
people that produced him. What chivalry
is there that has not glorified BRuTUs who
slew the lewd TARQUIN, and applauded
VrRG1NIUs who stihed to death the lasciv-
ions decemvir who placed, or sought to
place the leper's faint on purity? What
the ancient spirit did in this regard, the
modern sanctions and adopts. We are
permitted to take the life of a burglar that
enters our home and steals, or even seeks
to steal, our assessable goods. why should
we not be alike allowed to exact his life
who enters our households, poisons the
cup of existence, and disturbs
the sweet sleep OF deity, in nocturnal
freak? II the serpeL was cursed above all
crawling things for wrong done, and made
to creep upon its belly, why should not
similar penalty be visited upon the in
sidious serpent that creeps in to assail the
sacredness and purity of our Eden? If the
two men were stretched upon the cross
for being thieves of their neighbors' prop
critics, why should not an equal punishment
be melted out to the fiendish robber thai
preys on virtue TO make it a plaything
tor lust, and sports with innocence
to poison it with base debauchery?
Crime of this sort is beyond the reach of
adequate expression and its pardon should
be beyond the hope of EXTREMIST mercy.
Il tolls the ruin and the requiem OF the
victim and the victims hearthstone. To
the one it brings maelstTom of misery,
engulphing her in the blackness Of mid
night, and leaves her to the winds OF winter
evermore, an outcast from all, shrouded in
social oblivion. as she lives on fallen and
undone, broken and disgraced, environed
by a funereal pail forever shadowing
her sorrow-haunted breast. To the other it
brings the direst calamity that can befall TO
blast and blacken all that was beautiful
and bright upon the Bridal night and prom
Using ia the SKY when love leaned on conf
dence, The wre,ched husband or farther
with such disaster is bound on a wheel OF
fire. For him there is henceforth no Ca
naan; nothing but a bleak and barren.
Sahara of despair and desolation as be
dreams forevermore of the skeleton in the
closet. Hope dies, wretchedness reigns,
and no argosies of gain can alleviate the
hideous bereavement, Who then shall say
that the base trafiicer in virtue shall not be
scourged from the face Of the earth and
meet in the banquet Of blood the
fate he courts and deserves at the hands Of
a natural protector?