The weekly register. [volume] (Point Pleasant, Va. [W. Va.]) 1862-1909, 1884-04-09

1 u 1@Ns e'6Atoa
The modern Republican doctrine
is, ePrayas we pray; eat and drink
what We eat and drink; conform
your morals aud amusements to
Che standard we set up, and vote
as wesote, or weEill treat you as
sinnersand outcasts and will CON.
sumo you in the fire Of Republican.
laws fed by bigotry and iniOler.
ance and famed BY hypocrisy and
cantln Reg.
Mob or lIagis,rate-The Jury
system.
The editor Of the Century, in his
@Topics of the Time,p says
"Dlring the year which has lust
closed, the telegraph has reported
fifteen hundred and seventeen mur.
dersin the United States. This
record is not supposed to be com.
plete, but II Is nearly so. The
cases ofcapiiafvriutr ur51sw wliish
tina aniorrriaiug reporter does not
drag to light and publish to the
world. The reader Of any daily
journal connected with the Associa.
ted Press is speedily informed Of
nearly all the desperate deeds that
are done in the dark OF BY daylight
upon this continent. The fGllness
with which crime is reported gives
on impression Of the increase y <
crime stronger than TX facts will
marfant; ye' the iacis are bad
enough Daring Tie year 1882
twelve hundred and sixty.six muir
uers were reported. A comparison
oftwo years is not conclusive, for
There is considerable fluctuation in
the number Of crimes; II is only
| from comparison Of periods Of Eve
or ten years that any Trustworthy
iuferences can be drawn. But there
is no dispute concerning the rapid
increase Of capital crime, and the
fact is ominons.
Over against the fifteen hundred
murders Of the last year, we have
the report Of barely ninety.three
legal executions. Many Of these
must have been cases in which the
crime had been committed in 1882,
while many Of the criminals Of
1888 had mot yet been brought to
trial. II is not, however, far from
the truth to say that, while thir.
teen or fourteen hundred murders
arecommitted in hiscountry every
year, fewer than a hundred Of the
murderers suffer the extreme pen.
atty Of the Law. When the extreme
penalty Of the law. When the
willfulslayer knows that he has
thirteen chances out Of fourteen Of
escaping the full penalty Of the
law, the deterrent infuen yes Of
punishment cannot be said TO be
7e,ry poeerful.
lninety three legal executions WHY
messed one hundred and eighteen
Ilynchings. The lawless execu
tions outnumber the lawful ones
by twenty-five per cent.
The law against murder are
strong enough; but when the peo.
pie know that not one in a dozen
ofthe willtul murderers receives
the just recompense Of his deeds,
and that technicalities and quib.
bles are constantly allowed TO shell.
I! ..::t Che worst criminals, they them.
selves become desperate; AMI, break
lng slrVugt = ine '' 'so s ds sN va,;e
tssslalnss = Jaw, lae ses 49,
geanue iisns anu s teIs III U'O0U
II cannot be too often nor too
strongly proclaimed that these
.yacltngs .nem ,,.I,t' sie crimes;
snat .hay a.e utterly wlsnout eX-
cuse; that they furnish 9 remedy
Which Is worse tnan the disease.
NeVerthe.less the failure Of
criminal justice, which makes
room Tor MODS ana lyncnlng, is q
greater disgrace than the saragery
Of the mobs, The TACT that thir-
teen out Of fourteen murderers es-
scape the gallows Is the one dam.
ming act that blackens the record
Of our criminal Jurisprudence. No
American ought toindulge in any
Boosting about his native land,
While WI The ,s EVIDENCE fr e. remains tha:
human life are thus shamelessly
trampled under foot. No occupant
Of the bench and no member Of the
bar ought to rest until those mons.
trous abuses which result in the
ntIar afast nc ;tst;n. a 1ho,o,,.l,