The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1883-03-26

Special TO the CoulicrJourDRi.
ATLANTA, March 10 Joseph Arundel, In RAbun
county. EUl.d Gnelghbor 70 lsi6. Al the pltuss
moved In high CIfules. The case has lntt been
Lr,uyht 10 trial, senator Barrow defending WIN
Ecluiltal the result. curious feature y 'le lAcI
that since the war twenty'EeVen hOmicides nave
bqcn committed IN lAbun and not hn4le con
victlon for any grade u lrme has been hAd.-IDu
i-rils COuriCr Journal
Garfield received two votes in Rabun
county, Hancock $50. Hancock could have
had more. The combined Democratic vote
for Governor month before was 722-but
the electoral vote Of the State was safely
and surely Democratic, and there was no
need for Democrats to bestir themselves
Garfield polled more than third oil
the States vote OF 1886. Georgia
ranks high among the illiterate States,
Ina population Of ,OG3,SiO over ten years
of age. iorty-two out OF hundred cant
read, md fifty out Of a hundred can't write
nearly half the GeOrgians come under the
head Of illiterates. 1t is reasonable to sup
pose that Isabun county takes high rank in
illiterate Georgia.
Perhaps we shall be reminded that mosI
Of the iliterates are Of African descent
That is true-23 per cent are native
whites, Of the foreign born, less than
six out Of hundred can not write. The
colored people make up the mass OF illit'
eracy. But States in which these persons
were not allowed TO learn, and in which II
was crime to teach them, eau not with
good grlcc lay any special stress on the
part that ignorant colored people may play
in lnwlessness. 1t does notappear, however,
ia these disortlerly communities, OF which
Iabun county is an example, that colored
persons are the offenders. Murder isalmost
the "National game" in that region, and in
the case referred to in the Courier JOurnoF'
dispatch, "the parties move in high circles. u
Clearly this counts the negroes ont. No.
where are they called "high circles.
Neither ia it TO be supposed that OF the
tweuty.seven unpublished killings in Ra.
bun county since tho war any large pro-
portion Inns been committed by colored
men. Indeed it would almost be safe to say
that not one OF them has been so committed,
and thatcolored men there have not benin.
d lIging in the pastimo OF law breaking,
for mot single conviction for any grade
OF crime has been had" The offenders
must have been in "high circles" all the
way through. For county polling lit
tie over seven hundred votes, twenty.sev-
en- lives unlawiully taken in less than
eighteen years, in every case without PEN
atty, is a pretty good average for murderers.
Public opinion can not DO seriously oppos-
cd TO tie sport, or there would have been
at least one conviction ont oftwenty.seven.
The truth is that the Southern people are
too handy with tue shotgun and pistol. 1t
Is the rule, not the exception, to 90 armed /;
aud in society where life is held cheap and
the primitive fist is not used in "best cir
Cles," the ready revolver 10 whipped out on
slight proyocation 10 do its bloody work.
Southern newspapers are beginning to
aptsk out about these social disorders and
to admOnish the Southern people that
it is time to mend their ways. The
New York Nation deserves some
credit for this awakening, and Southern
men have written to that paper thanking
il for kindly interest in the welfare oithe
South.
The people Of the South are going TO
work. They ure developing their States
and inviting capital and settlers. Their
recent progress is the pride Of every Amer
lean. But much remains to be desired and
to be done in n community where life is
not safe because murder is not punished.