The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-10-20
A PUBLIC SHAME.

1t is difficult to exercise enough patience
to deal calmly with the way certain class
of people persist in visiting and lionizlng dis
gushing criminals. 1t has come 20 such q
pass that any loathsome, contemplate crea-
ture can lift himself into notoriety and make
himself an object to be sought, by the COM
mission of some atrocity that would appall
a creature with any conscience or sensibility.
The way in which some of the people of La
fayette, notably women, are represented as
murderer Melting would be incredible had
not similar exhibitions of morbid curiosity
been matters of common occurrence in all
places in the country. indianapolis has
seen the same shameful exhibitions. A
month ago this degraded and brutalized
creature would have attracted no considera-
ton beyond contempt. Nobody would have
turned the head to take a second look at
him. Now, however it is different He has
suddenly grown famous so that even
ladies ~ wish to see him. A stranger, I'M,
used to such ex hibitions, might ask what
noble deed he had done that made him
so suddenly popular. 1t might with reason
be surmised that he had jeoparded his own
life to go to the aid of others. On the con-
trary, he had taken life in the cruelest, most
inhuman manner. He had literally butch
cred defenseless, innocent girl, cut and
slashed the quivering body in way that
would make the deeds of savages respectable
For this is he honored C) with calls and
solicitations for interviews On this account
he has been permitted to sit for his picture,
so that the curiosity of the public may be
gratified The spectacle of women making
their way to the Jail and soliciting a sight of
this moral monster is one to call the blush
of shame to the cheek of every self-respect-
ing person. No true woman will be guilty
of such breach OF decency, and if any La
fayette females have done as represented it is
source of shame and humiliation to ali
who are too respectable to so far forget them
selves.
If crime is to be rebuked and repressed,
some measure must be taken whereby muir
derers and thugs may not be made
heroic by these disgraceful attentions
The business of Iavishing fayors upon
imprisoned brutes should be stopped and if
women are too silly to respect their own
good names, they should be prevented from
parading their shame before the world. The
Lafayette jailer should lock Melting in cell
where he could see and be seen by nobody
not legally entitled to see him. Let him be
again after sentence. only to emerge to walk
to the scaffold.
The object OF law is defeated and vice is
generated and nurtured by the way the worst
criminals are treated in prison. Muir
derers who happen to get their just deserts
and the number is all too small-are fire.
quently led to the gallows literally over
pathway strewn with flowers. Their cells
are made as fine as a boudoir. Pictures and
papers and books of every description and
without stint are thrust upon them. The
ualDCIeSL loOu Is SenC III ny WOmeni WHO make
themselves of questionable reputation by
their criminal idiocy. The convicted MUIR
derers are pitied and petted until others in
sheer envy rush off and cut, stab and shoot
in order to become famous themselves. The
whole tendency is to encourage crime and
outrage. By aistrange perversity, women
seem to lavish their attentions most freely