Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-03-08

full business. Recently this Judge has had
before him number Of wife. murderers, all
of whom appeared from the evidence to
have been goaded to desperation by the
drunken and dissolute habits of their bet.
ter halves. In summing up a case in
which the man was charged only with at
tempt to murder, Justice Hawkins gave
utserance to some remarks which, as they
express the
OPINION OF AN EXPERT
On very important subject, will no doubt
be as interesting on your side as they have
proven to be on this. The Judge observed
that these cases in which the husband had
been driven almost to desperation by the
misconduct of his wife were painfully fro /.
quent He was sorry to say that within
the past two or three weeks it had been
his sad duty to pass sentence OF death upon
three men who had murdered their wives
| under circumstances of this kind. In nine
cases out of ten this state of things was
produced by drink. He had formerly, he
said, expressed an opinion that three.
fourths of the cases OF violence disposed of
in that Court were the results of drink,
and although attempts had been made to
to diminish the evil, his own experience
led him to the conclusion that the vice of
drinking was on the increase, and that the
homes of the poorer classes were, in many
instances, rendered wretched in conse-
quence, and causes like the present had
become lamentabiy frequent. He felt,
therefore, that the time had come when 1t
was absolutely necessary that something
should be done to put stop to such a
state of things, and his opinion was that
the legislature should endeavor to DO
this by
ENFORCING MORE STRINGENT REGULATIONS
Upon those who supplied drink to the
working classes or that, if necessary, the
police should have the power to keep a
watch over such places, and prevent women
from squsndering their husbands money il
drink, and husbands from doing the same
thing to the detriment of their wives and
families. Apropos of this subject, Cor
oner in the north of England has an
nounced that out of 253 inquests in one
year in manufacturing town, 62 were on
children under year, who died through
the absence of their mothers at drinking
saloons. The lowest death-rate, he said,
was on Fridays, when the wages were
spent, and the highest on Sunday, in conse-
quence OF Saturdays drunkenness. Thus
there is plenty of work over here for the
temperance people to do.
SEVERE REFLECTION UPON SONS OF ERIN.
To deliver themselves of little speeches
on general topics in presenting and sum
ming up cases, is quite weakness with
English judges, and the observations made
are not always as seasonable as those of
Justice Hawkins, nor as discreet. WHAT
my fellow citizens of Irish descent will do
to Justice Butt when they read what he
said this week at the Liverpool Assizes, l
cannot tell, but | am sure they will feel
like making him the Butt of something, If
it be only of a few uncomplimentary re-
marks. In charging the good jury, this
rash dispenser OF the laws penalties said
he could not help being struck with the
fact that great number of prisoners
charged with crimes of ferocious violence
bore Irish names. When he sat in the
House OF Commons, opposite the Home
Rule party, scarcely night passed dnrip 6
the discussion of events in Ireland in
which they were not solemnly assured by
some of the members of that party that the
Irish were the most peaceable and law
abiding race in the world. Whatever
might be the case in their own country, it
was said that when removed from
the sphere of agricultural agita.
ton they were respectable and
wel.behaved people. That, he said, was
not consistent with his experience and OBJ
servation on both sides of the Atlantic.
The present calendar was singular com.
mentary on such homily as that. No
doubt the Irish population in Liverpool
was large, but the namber of prisoners
bearing Irish names was out of all proper.
ton.
have given Justice Bats exact words.
and my hope is that some one will take up
the matter, and be abl triumphantly
refute this damaging charge. H. I.