The Waco daily examiner. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 187?-1888, 1885-08-06
The Dreadful Pistol.

there is nothing so hurtfui to Texas
now as the deadly anu dastardly habit
Of shooting on every occasion, great
or small. We have made u grand |
crop, the health of the country is ex.
csllent, money is plentiful, we have
schools, colleges and universities. In
deed we are christian people. with
churches and affairs erected every
where. In every direction on Sunday
morning, church bells mellowly ring
ing, summon the people to worship
according to the tenets of that
gospel of peace which is so widely re.
moved from the gospel of blood.
Yet all this is lost and non-operative
10y the dreadful instinct OF blood pos
sesscd by SO many men. Take up al
most any newspaper you will, any day
in the year in Texas, and the chances
are that you will be RECALLED by At least
one tale of BLOOD, and very often IN
deed by more than one. This Is not
the case In other lands other; frontier
countries do not present this round,
UNMARRIED record of murder. The
mind naturally turns to the inquiry:
Why is this? Why is it that all per-
sonal differences, even the smallest,
must be settled by the shedding Of
blood. We know to certainty that
at least for seventeen years, long
sustained and determined effort has
been made to break up this most I'M
fortunate habit. to correct this
vast evil. And yet what an insigniti-
cant progress has been madel To
day we kill men as we did then.
Where is the evil located? What OPP
crates to put the fiend of murder into
the hearts OF Texans2
In the days of the early settlement
of this state, there was little or no law
Each settler was law unto himself
and the executor Of law was the dead,
rifle Or the more convenient pistol
The bad men of the world came to oul
frontier for that immunity denies
them at home. This put the crimina
element in the majority. The luxur!
of blood could be INDUCED in will
but little risk, and bad men safe,
their hellish passions in the crimson
tide yelling up from the bosom o
some less fortunate, but equal.
wicked and guilty neighbor. Thu
was the insiinct upbuilt. II got int
the blood, and like other traits it ha
been transmitted. Then too, Their
has been all along, apparently, tn
most perfect immunity for Grim,
Men could, and still can, commit mui
der, and yet escape any sort of dan
gerous or inconvenient consequence
therefor. We have no liberation TO
thieving aud dishonest people. Let
man steal a horse, COW or anythin
like that, and swift aud sure punish
ment overtakes him. But man ca
kill II dozen others, and unless he is
very sad fool, he need he
be apprchended Tor the erin,
; and if apprehended at all, he Is total
; ly neglected. of his own interesis,if h
Is punished, even by fine and impri
onmcnt. If he is executed, he mui
I build his own scaflold, place the noos
around his own neck and spring III
q trap himself, or else he walks oil I
Q the broad, open sunlight as free as Ii
gentle breeze which fans his cheek |
night. This must all be correcte
either by more vigorous enforc,
: ment of the law, or by educating
sentiment which makes murder
crime of as hideous mien as horse {
cattle stealing. This we apprehend
about the only remedy at once comp,
tent and at all applicable.
Something must be done, and dor
: quickly. Murder will ruin any coul
try. The evils of intemperance Al
great; the evils of the general gan
bling mania are very great, but tt
evils attending these old feuds au
: their iDvariable bloody endings, al
: far graver than all others combine
Many millions OF money and hundre,
of thousands of good people have bee
turned aside from Texas simply b
cause of the bad odium resting on Il
state by reason of this killing reput
=. ton.
One of the problems presented
: the sta tesmanship of the futul
is how to deal wit
this evil so that it may be represse'
g or better still, stamped out altogethe