Eureka weekly sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1887-1902, 1888-09-22
rag uoCK HERorsm OF cRunE.

THE MOCK HEROrsM OF CRIME-
The San Francisco Bulletin says = muir
derer was hanged to-day at the County
Jail. The crime Of which he has suffered
the penalty wss one Of the most cowardly
and brutal that have ever been commit
ted in this city. Its strocity was such
that it gave rise to a mob which deman'
ded the criminals life, and all the imme.
diately available power Of the municipal.
ity was called into play to save him from
the judgment OF the law. Since the day
on which he fed trembling with terror to
seek the protection Of the police from the
pursuers who, he imagined, sought his
death, he has kept himself before the
public by q series OF acts and utterances
which have given rise to the belief that
the prominence which they gave him was
pleasing. No act or word Of his has been
such as to awaken one spark OF pity for
him, and he dies leaving in the mind OF
the community the conviction that no
sentence was more just and no such fate
better deserved.
The life Of the murderer since his iu-
generation illustrates in a striking man.
ner a fact> which is observable in the
cases Of the worst class Of criminals-the
evident mitigation OF the severity Of i'm
prisonment and punishment by the quasi
public life which they make for them.
selves by a show Of bravado in the face
Of death. Nothing is more worthy OF
the highest honor than a mans fearless
yielding Of his life in a cause which will
benefit one Of his fellow.men or human.
ity at large. Even its sacrifice though
hcnes. Though mistaken ideas can com
mand no less. The nobility Of such lear.
~lessness the criminal under sentence OF
death seeks to attach TO his own courage
when he jokes with his %jailer on his last
day, and sneers at the hangman's moose,
with his foot upon the drop. ALI is the
atrical, and he acts for an audience, which
Is the public.
That wretched actors Of this character
have an audience is evident from the
morbid avidity with which the public
reads accounts Of the deeds and sayings
Of condemned men and the eager crowds
besiege officials for tickets for admission
to witness an execution. The more o
torious the criminal, the more brutal the
crime and the more brazen the p~retension
of a contempt OF death, the more encour.
agement is given to the actor by the
masses with whom he seeks to make him.
self q hero. Could ne be assured that
his end could be effected, there is little
doubt that death would for him lose its
sting. That much OF it is lost through
this posing before the public and the de.
terrent effect Of capital punishment in
consequence weakened, there can be little
doubt. Sentences can hardly fail to be
less feared when the criminal has il
within his power to extract from the
punishment Of his crime a certain meas.
urs Of pleasu re.
It is q kind OF contradiction that a man
whose crime has been 30 great as to re-
qnire his removal from the face Of the
earth, should for the time during which
his act has given him notoriety be snf'
fered to make so great a part of the pub
lie life. He is unworthy to live, yet he
lives more than aver before. Nothing
can emanate from the condemned brag'
CART but c~ontagion, and the danger which
is guarded against in one direction il
given full sweep in another. The law, te
be of the highest efficiency, should bt
quick, silent and sure Of action. Its ter
ror can be maintained only by hopeless
darkness extending between the bench
Of the sentencing Judge and the grave
Society needs protection against the muir
derer in Jail as well as against the GRIM
inal without its walls; but as long al
prisons are permitted to serve as a stag
on which is shown the mock heroism o
crime, they will continue to be well filled