New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-08-09
vrPDERER'S COMPLAINT.

The approach of death dignifes any creature,
however wretched, and even the cohdeulheu
murderer awaiting Just doom arouses d lcei-
inc Of pitv and something like awe. let IL IS
;mnossible to repress wholly a sense OF athuse-
mont on reading the complaints OF Danny
LYONS who stands now in the very shadow oi
no oallovvs An American has no chance"
he saws. Foreigners come here ana commit
the worst crimes. but they are lrea'eu WIZ"
more lenity than have been"
This idea Of discrimination in favor OF inc
imported murderer as against the naive Is new
II has been supposed that, whatever might DC
the attitude Of our courts as between criminals
and the public, they were entirely lmparVi"
rs between criminals Of different natlohail.lcS
The most striking popularity OF our criiniii"
law appears to be the care with when IL mas
been SO arranged that nobody shall get hahgeu
if il can possibly he avoided Numerous courts
| ~ concurrent and equal jurisdiction have been
curn;nplv contrived, so that they shall dlher
with one another at the proper time, ana upset
oacb others judgments and DEGREES An almost
| endless perspective of appeals has Dcoh pro
vidcd through which the prisoner travels by
easy stages In this way he is often enapled
70 have a long series of trials, which postpone
Indefinitely his day of reckoning, and perhaps
| oman the door for him to escape atogether'
If all these chances fail him. he still has the
riobt If appeal to the Executive, who has mora
or loss of human weakness, is perhaps SOFT
hearted. and liable in any event 10 nave MS
nerves shaken by the tears OF women anu chi'-
dren and the appeals of friends; ana VINO IS
practically, responsible to no one Tor MS ac'ion'
So that when a murderer does hnally ge'
hanged. il is only after such strenuous ehor'H
on the part of all the coordinate branches ol
the Government not to do it, that IL he Is any
thing Of a philosopher, he ought to feel tha
he must richly deserve it.
) II is not inst. of course that the native muir
derer shall not have an equal enjoyment OF al
these privileges with the imported murderer
: T. oupht to be exactly as difficult to convict
Yankee as an Italian. II is not lar that al
American should be hurried to the gallo"
within eighteen months after his conVlcuo
7 whom an Enclishman is allowed to take tire
I or four wears to travel the same road. I'M
G haste is unpatriOtic rs we'll as indecent
o Poor LYONS is hardly in a situation to TAX
e accurate views of the world be Is about I
d Ioora Dut il is n question whether there
|
). tho fact that the condemned criminal from
Il foreign land il likely to stimulate or increaS
! morbid curiosity and sympathy? The case {
o Maxwell is a fair one. HIS CRIME was a
h attractions one. involving treachery, cupidit
r. and physical brutality, and comprising almo
= every mean and cowardly motive that ever 10
+ one man to murder another and biacken n
memory afterward in the hope OF saving hlr
self. Both his act and his personality we
20 repulsiye. and his guilt seemed to be esta'
o. lisbed with unmiStakable clearness. let IN
G uretched creature has received a degree of a
u tontion and sympathy, during the three yea
o. since his crime was committed, which mar
v. good men 90 through great trials without
bo citing. while the St. Louis papers have cha
i oo,oristicallv naraded him as THE Star Of d
r- JaiIu He came near fitting Charles Dudl
Of Warmers description of the murderer VINO W
he obliged to write "No Flowers" on his cal
no There seems to he no way OF fully accountl'
CO for this except by ascribing certain prop'
ial | ton of it TO the heightened interest WIN
No. Maxwelrs foreign birth and the romance OF I
he story gave him. Another case IN point "
i'm that az the Italian woman whose sentence &c
in ernor Hill has lust committed to one OF J
~ nrisonment for life. This was proper acti'
DIR for purely legal reasons which had nothing
tic do with the amazing display of sentimental
for in her case woman less entitled to sy
aa,, ra,hy than one who deliberately shot her b
me band in the bacl in order to be rid Of hi
his after having been trained in pistol practice
hos that purpose by her paramour, it would
ons hard to find. Yet apparently because she v
on of a dark complexion, was born in Italy,
Md had an unpronounceable name flowers W