Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1883-06-28
The HomicidaI Tendency.

The HomicidaI Tendency.
We are hardly willing to say that
there is groo0ing readiness in this
country to commit murder on any OF
on no provocation. And yet the cases
of homicide are far too numerous to be
viewed by the community in general
with anything other than a sense Of
insecurity. No one-no matter what
his position or haracter-knows when
mere suspicion or a slanderous tongue
may not lead to a fatal shot There
is terrible readiness to substitute
personal revenge under the passion Of
the hour for the forms of law.
The latest illustration of this has
been in the murder of one n. L.
Dukes in Pennsylvania by James Mutt.
Last winter, in an unprovoked manner,
Dukes killed James Nuts father. He
was tried for murder, but the jury, to
the establishment Of every one, &C.
quilted him. He only saved himself
from expulsion from the Legislature.
Of which he was member, by resign
ing. His fellow citizens of UniontoWn.
his home, Indignantly forced him to
keep out Of the town, at least for a
time. Now the son, in cold blood,
avenges the father. Public sympathy,
we are told, is strongly with young
Mutt 1t is evident that he had great
provocation, for Dukes was not only
the murderer of his father but the ira
ducer Of his sister. But two wrongs
do not make one right. The lawless
course of both of these men results
only in domestic misery, and in sense
Of social insecurity.
The worst of it is that the case is
an illustrative one. 1t would be bad
enough if it was single tragedy. 1t
is, however, unfortunately only some
what strong Unmarked example of what
Is occurring about us all the time. 1t
Is an example, moreover, Of what
occurs in every section of the county,
in New England and New York and
Pennsylvania, as well as In sections
we have sometimes been accustomed to
think were more lawless. The too
ready pistol takes the place of Judge
and jury; mans passions, the sudden
passionate heat perhaps of the passing
moment, pass for law.
The causes of this state of things
are not far to seek or difficult to find.
There is, first of all mans natural
depravity. That always exists and
works its baneful power But that
aside, one great reason for this state
of things as it seems to US, is lack of
reverence for law. Men are not will
ing to wait for the slow processes of
the law, or to be at the mercy of what
seem to them its uncertainties. 1t
must be confessed that there have
been of late in this country cases not a
few that tend to shake our faith in the
system Of trial BY jury. This very
case of Dukes is one of them. When
the verdict of acquittal was rendered,
the Judge said: Gentlemen Of the
jury, | suppose the verdict is one that
you thought you should render under
Your oaths, but it is one that gives
dissatisfaction to the Court, because
we thought the evidence sufficient to
Justify different verdict" There is
no justification here for the action of
young Mutt, but we can see how the
men come to think that the system is
a farce, and that the man that wants
justice must get it for himself. The
notion is terribly mistaken one, but
not unnatural under the circumstances.
Another cause of this condition of
things, as We believe, is the morbid
desire for notority that is gaining
ground among us. Anything to be
talked of seems to be ruling motive
IN the minds Of not a few, Men