Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-08-06

| tors and courts and the police set for
/ public protection to be complicated with
crime. There is no other road to saliva
| ton. And on what grounds can we hest
tate to take this? Whose rights suffer
thereby? What public interest suffers
thereby? What principle of Justice is
violated thereby
a felon class has grown up among Us.
! Their criminal business j. not doubtful
| Their practice of it is in open dav. The
| felony is clear. pronounced, the most
dreadful. They are robbers and de
spoilers of innocence. Their business is
murderouS. 1t has no other quality in it,
1t threatens our homes. 1t fills our ials
and prisons and pauper asylums. 1t
creates demand for armed police. 1t fills
many of our homes with miSerieS worse
than death. 1t has not one single relief
1t Is felony of the deepest dye, pure
and simple. 1t must be treated a. such.
The felOnS dock, the felOn'S cell. and if
need be the felon'S gibbet, is the only
remedy for such crime.
\ sentiment must he vOcalized into
organic expression which will compel
legislation. The sentiment exists. 1t
must be expressed in the only etcctual
way, until a rumscller will no more dare
to open his house of death among Us than
would dealer in deadly pestilence;
until he must, like other miscreants-of
which there are none grcater-hide him
self in the dens and caverns of night from
the vengeance of hot pursuit. Brand
felon on his brow: huddle him with CO.
fellows in the criminals dock; drive him
with the gang in striped garments. The
business will then cease and the earth
will be delivered from his devliSh
sorcerieS. No man in his senses can say
that there is any other remedy, or that
this is too severe. All that is demanded
is concert of action. 1t will come. It is
at the door. There are men enough not
hopeleSsly debauched to vote such laws.
They will yet unite and rid the earth of
this foul monster. 1t lives, not because
it cannot he put To death, but because we
have not the will to Strangle it. Let
ChriStcndOm arouse, and in single day
of brave work the land will be freed of
this vilcSt gang of criminals that has ever
cursed it, and the prisons will empty, and
the SlumS will dry up, and the vicious
classes will vanish, and the miseres of
povery and wrctchedness will cease. If
Christian nation so will, it can be done
in one day. If we will not, the Moloch
will dcvOur our homes and our children.
Moderation is counsclled. Moderation
Who counSels moderation? Have we not
tried tempOrzing policies with this wild
beast of nameleSS possession long enough ?
Have we not sought to tame him with
moral SuaSiOn, to melt him with the tears
of broken-hearted womanhood and child
hood, by appeals to any latent humanity
that might yet he in him, by the homes
he has desolated, and the victims. by
millions. he has inundated: Have we
not reSorted to measures of mild repres-
sion only to see how futile they are :
Have we not bound him with the Withps
of low license and high license. and ham
pcred him with local option and obstruc-
tive legislation? Have we not worn our
selves out with cruSadeS and petitions
and rcmonStranCeS: Have we not. Dies
pairing of any success with the beast
himself. exhausted all possible methods
of reScuing his victims. only to find him.
AT the end of IL hundred year, of unsuc-
cc>>tul effort, still entrenchcd and def
amt: 1t j. seventy years since the great
BccChcr stirred Boston and the nation
with his startling appeal. For half Il
century the imprisoned Cough has gone
up and down the land. creating. by his
appeals that would move heart of stone,
moral sentiment. Thousands of others
have plead and Wcpt and prayed. For
twenty years women have knclt ON curb
stones and cntrcatcd. The State still
pampcrS the beast and turns him loose
10 raven and destroy. Where he had
novels. he has built palaces. The low
grOggery has lowered out into the gildcd
saloon The >curVy mi>Crcant. once de-
Spi>cd but patrOniIed. has become the
acknowledged gentleman of fashion. He
has moved from his obscure quarters into
the streets where decent citizens live. and
a 4 L..
and women. lie has formed an O>tenta-
tious league, and banks millions to de-
fend his diSreputable profession. He
calls conventions and sits. with parade.
in dcliberation of his rights and immuni-
ties. aud the public press bu>ieS itself
with reports of his proceedings and
speaks of him with respect. Moderation.
no. Who talks of moderation in the coils
of Il bOa-cOnStrctOr; We have tempor-
lied too long. 1t is time we talk and act
like men. \ murderer, cold, heartleSs,
cruel, is among Us. Not the assassin of
one or of a family. His victims count
by millions. His butcheries are pro-
: crossing daily and nightly within sight
of our dwellings. The screams of his
victims. if We would but listen, would
chase away sleep from our eyes. He
knows the fact: we know it. His sole
ana only business Tor winch ne lives. ana
by which he lives, is first to debauch
: youth and innocence, and then 10 hurry
: the dishonored hulk away into II drunk
ards grave. and pamper himself and his
= family upon the price of hi, villainieS.
The toe-calli of the Aztec war-god. upon
which the quivering hearts of thousands
were laid, is Il shrine of beauty compared
with the horrors of this modern demon
of destructiOn-thr rum-hole. We men
stand by and see ii and raise no hand
= nay, worse yet, vote the right and take
+ the assassin of virtue and life by the
hand and treat him aS our equal. The
? annals of human history furnish no par
alel of stupidity and monstroSity. Mod
Grafton. No, no. There i, but one way
} it is plain and simple. Treat the crimi-
nal aS he deserves; let criminal law do
: its function; put him in the culprit' :
: dock, which Is the only place to which
he is entitled; carry him from the dock,
, by sentence of law, To the felonS cell OF
, TO the gang of striped convcts. who are
his only fit associates. Let the process