The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-05-18
sro,ee,inx wives aud others.

When the Harrodsburg Jury brought IN
It's verdict Of not guilty, Mr.. Thompson
ST., father Of the man who had taken two
lives, was heard 10 exclaim, "Thank God,
Kentucky wives can now be protected
It might be inferred from this that
Kentucky wives are exposed to special
dangers, an inference which would be dis
credible to Kentucky men and might moi
leave Kentucky wives entirely, blamslesS
Kentucky is not a new State; it boasts OF iti
intelligence and its blood. What is there
in such a boast II society is at loose ends
30 that for the protection OF KENTUCKY
wives Kentucky juries must declare ina
murder is no crime2 In justice to Ken
lucky we must believe that the elder
Thompson, in a moment OF exultation, has
uttered a libel against the virtue OF Ken
lucky women and the honest gallantry o.
Kentucky e
If we apply to the Thompson case the
doctrine Of protection by murder, 1t Is
without point. Thompson killed Davis,
not as a means Of protection but as a pun
ishment for what he suspected Davis had
done. There has not appeared, either al
the trial or IL the evidence industriousIy
gathered by the newspapers, any thing to
show that Davis did more than TO invite
Mrs. Thompson out and to bring her home
drunk. This was a wretched plight for
them both, but Davis responsibility in the
matter may be much or little; 1t has not
been shown. Mrs. Thompson has been in
the habit Of drinking more than was good
for her. Without any evil intent, knowing
that Mrs Thompson drank wine, Davis may
have thought wine the proper entertain
ment. II can not be known what Davis
thought.
But there is a good deal Of social drink.
ing among men and women in good socie,
ty, and II somebody were to be murdered
every time that somebody takes too much,
there are communities that would be raked
fore and aft. In large cities it is NO uncom-
mon thing for ladies and gentlemen, moi
husbands and wives, to join in q social
glass in public places. 1t is a habit OF bad
taste which may lead to bad morals-it is
bad from whatever point OF view; but it
goes almost without comment. There is
very big screw loose when public opin-
ion is not aroused by a custom
which no observer will say is on
the decrease. In great cities where restaur
ants are numerous and richly appointed
with a view to make them attractive, young
girls are seen seated at the little tables
slipping their wine as boldly as they would
eat ice cream. Sometimes it is with them
as it is with men, the drink goes to their
thoughtless heads; and then they start
homeward, lucky ifthey escape the tbickly
planted pit falls. There is no thought Of
wrong, but sin follows hard upon the heels
OF indiscretion.
This very Thompson family may find
food for reflection in the fact that II the
murderer's wife had not been a drinking
there would have been none OF
this scandal which has filled the newspa.
pers of the land; Davis would not have
died with his blood on Phil Thompson's
hands, and his wife and little children
would not have been left alone, with a ter
rible suspicion for an epitaph on the tomb
OF the husband and father. Drink was at
the bottom OF this wretched business, as it
the moving cause Of misery and
crime that cannot be measured. In
Kentucky, where, it seems, something
heroic had t o be done for the protection OF
wives, the social glass is held in very high
regard.
There is a protection short Of murder
which has been known to produce good
results, aud it embraces husbands and
children as well as wives. And this has
nothing to do with regulation by law,
which is quite another question. Regula-
ton by individual practice and public sem
timent need not wait Tor the law; it can
work out something on its " account,
irrespective OF what the law may do or fail
to do in intent or effect.