Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-03-01
I116a Panlshment to breeding Afro
clous Crimes.

" Il favorlte theory Of the optimists
aNrsJ1he world is steadily improving.
J This 4 undoubtedly the case, outside of
( Russia, with regard to cruel and unusu-
y punishments for crime. Courts no
1 longer put prisoners to the rack Or on
4 tbs wheel The Scottish punishment of
( tho boot, which James H., Of England,
- delighted to infict upon the Pres
byterisns Of Scotland, Is as obsolete as
~ punishment Of the Persian boot,
which Is so minutely described by Plu-
tarch. But 1t really looks as If, just in
proportion as punishment for crime is
bscoming mild. the character Of the out
RACES on law aud lecency are increasing
IN atrocity. They are also becoming
much more eccentric and complex than
In the old days. 1t would seem as il the
criminals had entered into sort of game
z which, in arithmetic, is known as the
& process of allegation, with courts and
rulers, TO keep the annals of the worlds
doings as bloody and revolving as ever.
Crime is not only more frequent than in
the old merciless days Of judicial rigors,
but it is positively interesting from its
complexity and determined ierocity. To
illustrate our meaning we will take
two cases in point The first occurred in
this State, in Sacramento county. Mr..
Troy DyE had been elected Public Ad-
ministrator OF that county. Under the
law of California the Public Ad-
ininistrator has very peculiar ju-
risdiction. In wealthy communities,
where rich citizens die intesiate, that
officer has capital chance OF being
enriched. No sooner was MIR. Troy
DYE firmly seated in the office to which
he had been elected by the people than
he set about making lucrative business.
Selecting wealthy ranchero, who pre-
sumably had made no will, he engaged
confederltes aud murdered him III cold
blood, with the view OF administering
upon his assets. Here was u phase Of
crime specially unique and calculating,
and which dwarfed even the intricate
mental and morbid processes which
Shakespeare has developed in his master
ly portrayal OF Iago. 1t is true that
Mr.. Taoy Dye had an opportunity of
noting, in his own career, the truth OF
the aphorisn of Burns that "Ihe best
laid plans of mice and men gang aft
aglee;" and, as result OF his Machia.
vellian programme this enterprising
official was hanged by the neck until
he was doad.
The next eccentric development oc-
Cured near Cincinnati, the other day,
where a negro family, consisting OF three
persons, were knocked on the head in
order that their bodies might be sold to a
Medical College for dissection. A year
ago single persoa wa9 murdered in a
New England village for the same pur-
pose, but that cline, being isolated,
lacked the picturesque and Wholesale
attendants of the later atrocity. Proba-
bly, in the whole annals OF crime two
such instances of the idea We are seeking
Ito convey could not be found "a those we
lhaye recitsd.
Our brief review oil the eccentric fea-
tures of modern crime can be greatly
heightened by reference to two epi.
sodes in which fanaticism entered. One
was the case of Freeman, OF Pocasset,
and the other that of Smith, of the
southern portion OF Los Angeles county.
Both of these wrctches killed one Of
their own children, alleging divine in
spiration, of the Abraham variety, for
the act Freeman was sent TO an Insane
/. Asylum and was released the other day,
'le Smith threw himself under the