Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1883-03-21
soALDINiG A IURY.
ScathiBg Comments on she Ae.
qui,tal OF uhe Miscreant
Dukes.
PhiIadelphla Pre...


Henceforth seduction Is no felony,
murder no crime. Since the primevaI
tragedy the man who corrupts Juno
cance, the villain who slaughters to
save himself from the just penalty OF
his oowsrdiee, is held eulpable Of more
than blood guiltless. Since the son Of
David took swift revenge for the rape
Of his sister the next Of kin have been
held guiltless in bringing the cor
ruptor of Innocence to vengeance.
Toe Uniontown jury reverses ell this.
Twelve men agree that the murder Of
a tamilys peace, the slaughter Of a
iamily's head, the dissertation of a
home, is no crime, and Dukes, the
Tarquin of another household, goes
forth free, unfettered, unscorched,
unRdmonished even, to invade other
homes, corrupt other daughters and
make the name of man abhorrant and
woman piteousl Ii there were ever
IN the history Of human weakness and
wickedness, u coward, repuls;ve, igno-
bic, shameless, sordid to the last
expression permissible in the
vocabulary OF public condem
n ton, it is the poltroOn
who resorts to the arts Of the culmi-
nator, the devices Of the shrew, to
excuse the crime committed in wan.
ton disregard Of all the obligations
that chiyalrous natures nold sacred.
We reverse the Christly maxim. 1t
is not he who is without sin who casts
the first stone in this modern code.
1t is the adulterer, shameless, defiant,
with the blood of the Innocent and the
agony of the hopeless on his brazen
front, that comes forth to revile the
smitten, to wither the family honor
with bastard tabricationS OF muir.
derer's invention, a traducers guiles.
The Uniontown jury tell a strange
tale-a tale that mothers will read
with terror and fathers with despair.
The social leper may in future enter
where he will, and practice what he
lists. The laws OF honor. the cOmi:ies
ofrace, the obligations OF hospitality,
the deceucies Of civilization, are a
sham, fraud "a pretense. The raven.
ing sensualist, whose law is lust and
whose methods are assimilation and
craft, may enter any family, corrupt
innocence, undermine the teachings OF
the hearth, prostitute virtue. murder
parents, and enter the court assured Of
indemnity. In the olden times, the
rights of the lord Of the village, the
great mobiles of the court, the power
ful, the rich and the great were thus
formulated, but time came when the
people revolted. 1t was on the asser
ton of this odious right the villain in
the Roman legend debauched Virginia,
that the we'll beloved Louis XIV. kept
up his doer park, that the Merry
Charles made highlands court a broth
el-but the time came when the people
made nobility pay for the usurped
right Of public debauchery.
Read the letters of Dukes; fancy
them written to yourself; fancy the
purity of your kin aud the sanctity Of
your home at stake, and then weigh
the Infamous verdict Of the Union.
town jury. What new influence
may be invoked to bring the
maefactions Of the seducer, the so
cial freebooter, the social leper. the
domestic buccaneer, to haltp Dukes.
dideverything that the malefactor does;
he invaded the sanctuary of a good
mans life; he despoiled that sanctuary
OF its vestal; he added to that mex
piable wrong the crime Of cold, cruel
premeditated murder; he exhausted
the calendar OF hideou' sin, and yet
he found twelve men debased enough
to condone his atrOcious, wanton, mis-
creant dissertation OF all that good
men cherish and even bad men respect
His miserable life is saved to him.
The earth may not deny him susten
snce, the sunshine its warmth, the
forces Of nature their protection-but,
it there be any force in prophecy or
reality 10 revelation, there must be
retrlbution for his crime. The curse
OF Cain was light in comparison to his;
the baseness Of Arnold venial to his
studied treason. @The gray hairs that
he has sent in untimely sorrow to the
grave are not the most piteous to plead
in this atrocious malefactiOn. His
crime has made the feeble faEherless,
the dependent helpless; it has shorn
innocence of its liberty and girihood
OF its crown.
For, if the Dukes of the world may
penetrate our domesticity; may put
their own vile interpretations upon
Virlish vivacities and innocent pranks.
we shall in future be compelled to
immure our daughters behind bars
and take hostage OF all who enter
Most miscreants are content with the
murder Of the body, but in this case
the soul Of the victim and
the family Of the victim have been
scourged. Most villains are content
With satiation of the lust of the mos
meot; this ruffian demands the whole
family as the holocaust Of his hideous
desire. Most scOundrels shrink from
the contemplation Of the anguish they
have wrought; this assassin, crimson
with the blood OF the parent, wreathed
in the Innocence of the innocent, ex.
acts the flesh, blood, honor, peace,
happiness AID future Of a whole fam
lily. The history of crime presents no
more revolving page; the atrocities Of
war no crime more cold blooded, cal.
culating and abhorrent. The brand
of Cain will be arose stain compared TO
the infamous stigmata upon this muir
derous misoreant, who purchases dis
honored existence by the slaughter Of
all chat good man would respect and
a merely wicked man would leave un-
molested.
In letter from Hon, Mrs Perry, Castle
Grey, Limerick, Ireland, Browns Bron-
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