The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1883-06-20
MUTT VS.. DUKES.

The press throughout the country is dis
cussing the case now pending in Pennsylva-
mia OF Mutt ss Dukes. Dukes is dead. That
much is settled. Dukes was a villain so
damnably infamous that it is great wonder
he was permitted to live an hour after he
murdered the elder Mutt. the sorrow-stricken
father of the girl he had ruined. The vulgar
wretch not only blasted a young life, but
boosted of the ruin he had wrought, and
then, as if to distance all competition in in
fanny, the human reptile addressed a letter
to the father of his victim, every word of
which was more agonizing than a
scorpions sting. Nor did that sat
isfy the murderer of innocence, but
being well armed. young and robust he
awaited himself of the advantages which an
alteration always secures to those who con-
template murder, and was content only
when the old father of a ruined child lay
dead at his feet. The daughter wreck, the
father dead, the widow in the agony of des-
pair. the home a scene of desolation, and yet
with all the accumulation of crime, horror
and Indebtedness a Pennsylvania Jury ac-
Quilted him, and sent him forth a free man to
ruin more daughters, kill more fathers and
desolate more homes The seducer and
murderer was a member-elect OF the
Pennsylvania Legislature. He was also a
member of the Pennsylvania Bar-a
man of education and culture. but without
honor without one redeeming trait-a
beastly cruel. murderous wretch. whom the
elder Mutt ought not to have permitted to
live an hour after his infamy became known
to him. Fortunately, By the fiat of laws
above human statutes, retributive justice did
not slumber. The girl whose life the wretch
had blasted had boy brother. This boy
had opportunities to contemplate the ruin
Dukes had wrought His sister disgraced
his mother in mourning his home deserted,
mis- father dead. These were the curses Dukes
had inflicted, and the brass-cheeked heartless
and soulless scoundrel gloried in the
atrociousness of his acts. 1t is not sur
prising that as young Mutt contemplated
the gloom, the misery, the devastation that
Dukes had brought upon his family that he
resolved to kill him. 1t was natural; it was
in obedience to the laws of his mental organ
ism-an exhibition of nobility of heart and
soul. deserving of the highest eulogy, and
yet there are newspapers which demand that
young Mutt shall be punished as a murderer
hupg by the neck until he is dead, or incsr-
cerated as dangerous boy, who has COM
mitted crime against the peace and dignity
of the Commonwealth. Such newspapers
sadly mistake public sentiment. The
people want such miscreants as Dukes
killed. Fathers and mothers broth
ers and sisters rejoice when such
despicable scamps are put out of the way,
and in every instance the verdict of the
Jury is, Served him right" There is no
hanging nor Imprisonment for young Mutt
in Pennsylvania. nor in any other State. A
Jury can not be found In the American con-
tinent that will convict him of any crime.
The verdict will be Unsuitable killing" 1t
would be as reasonable to expect verdict of
guilty of murder il man were on trial for
killing mad dog, a rattlesnske or taran-
tuls. Young Mutt killed the man who had
sedHced his sister, murdered his father, filled
his mothers heart with unutterable agony.
He had graiifed his lust and appeased
his thirst for blood. A corrupt Jury had de-
clared him innocent Taking advantage of
his liberty he sought BY means which only a
deprayed nature could practice to aggravate
the sufferings of the survivors of his crimes,
and when bis presence and his department
could no longer be endured the fateful bullet
sped its way TO his heart and justice had
done its work. Young Mutt is entitled TO
chaplets instead of felon's garb. to tiara
L - =
believe that when the Jury in his case is
ready to hand in its verdict it will be mot
guilty.