Idaho County free press. [volume] (Grangeville, Idaho Territory) 1886-current, 1888-11-09
ERRONEOUS IDEAS.
Wise Mans Opinion of What the Re-
morse of Criminals Means.

a Wise Mans Opinion of What the RE
morse of Criminals leans.
Il am glad I'm copied, said Mr.
Jackson when he fell into the hands O
the myrmidons of the lasv. Upo,
which text several lay-sermons hav,
been delivered on the effect OF remors,
upon gentlemen of his class. In IN,
opinion, this now historic phrase
should not have been quoted withou
its context: II have had hard time
Of it lately" This latter reflection.
believe. is what most persons in Mr.
Jackson's position mean by their re-
morse; their sorrow is not for the crime,
| but for its consequences. In the case
OF offenses that fall short of murder,
though they are often infinitely more
disastrous. and sometimes morally
worse. it is certainly 50. The swindling
banker comfortably located at Stock
HOLM in asociety of his fellow-country-
men, the grades of which, am told,
are peculiar-the highest circles have
gone in for upwards of El00,00O and
the lowest being more pilferers of f1O,-
900 odds not disturbed by widows
moans and orphans groans; but if he
is where extradition is possible, he is
full of regret and pity-for his own
perilous position. The idea of dis
covcry and arrest is never absent from
his mind. He hears ''the voice we can
not hear (saying II arrest you for
forgery he '.sees the hand we can
not see" (taking hold of his shoulder)
every hour in the day; but it is not the
voice or the hand of conscience but of
personal apprehension LITERALLY appre-
honsion). He is glad to be "copped''
though it is noticeable that he very
rarely anticipates that pleasure by
giving himself up-because he has
such bad time of it, and not at all be-
cause he has initiated another gentle
mans handwriting. Yet if some
habitual criminal who has been beas-
ing his fello'v-creatures within an inca
OF their live, ever since he could hun
die Il bluuseon, goes beyond the inch
and kills the fellow-creature, we i'm
aglne him FRUSTRATED with remorse. A
more absurd idea was mover entertained
than that this sort of creature appre-
olates in the least degree "the sacred
ness of human life" The case of a
sentimental person, like Eugene Aram,
for example, who thinks he can com
NIT murder and "have done with it,"
is wholly different; the deed itself
haunts him, and gives him bad nights;
though it is to be observed that if he
murders one or two more people his
Insomnia disappears, and he RECEIVERS
his appetite. AS for Mr.. William
Sykes being troubled by Nancy's eyes,
| never believed one word of it, If you
had put the question to him, could
anticipate his contemptuous reply
though | decline to write it
down. The opponents of capital pun
ishment are such excellent people
themselves that they can not under
stand the feelings of Messieurs les
assassins. Ask any prison warder how
many days purchase he thinks his life
would be worth if ''lifer'' could not
be hung for taking it; for what is very
your rutfian is sensitive
about the sacredness of human life
when it is his own. but in no other
case, believe me. Mr.. jackson. of
course, may not be found guilty of
murder; but object to any person of his
class being represented as Influenced
by the sentimental emotions because
he sings The Thorn and the '.Pil- !
grim of Love- so touchingly. Gifted
with such AN ''organ, if he had only
thought of backing his face and assum-
ing the guise of IA niger minstrel, he
would not have been ''languishing in
chains. '-London Ne,OS.