Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1889-08-02
QUEER PHASES OF LIFT.
Whence Como the Indifference to Deats,
slnxrn ~, Urc,~n ~, n.,aw

st Shown by brown and Dulow.
n In the face Of the almost universal fact that
d>sth has for the brayest on earth terrors strong.
or than any adversities Or fears in life; III view
of the equally universal fact that there are few
who do not prize life above all earthly possess.
Ions, the calm manner, the stelld Indifference
with which some criminals have lately marched
to The scarold and been suddenly plnngsd into
the uniathomable aid speculative eternity Of
the future must call for some explanation. In
numerous instances IN tn. past VIC have seen
condemned murdcrcrs utterly crushed and
broken down by the prospect 0! a miserable and
disgraccfnl death upon the gallows. We have
seen large, muscular, brutal men so terrified at
the idea OF death in this manner, or any manner,
that their nervous systems have utterly col.
lapscd, and, with fainting spirits and tottering
knees, they have been almost dragged to the
place of eS ecution. Until almost the fatal hour
has arrived they have net been without hope
With deep md anxious interest they have
watched the efforts of their attorneys, rs their
case was carried from court TO court and when
the last court of appeal has refused to alter the
decree Of death, they have not wavered In hope.
but have turned with equal confidence 10 the
governor, whose mercy has been appealed TO in
the Interest of the condemned No one has ever
supposed that even the most hardened criminal
would be indifferent in such an event, where his
life and death were involved. We have joinea
with Goldsmith in the idea that
:'rhe wretch, condemned with life to part,
sim. still on hope relies;
And every pahg that rends the heart
Bids expectation rise.
Hope, like the glimm'rin tapcr's light,
Adorns and cheers the way;
And still, as darker grows the night,
Emits Il brighter ray.
But in the face Of recent events, these ideas
have received rude shock. They have indeed,
been shattered to atoms by the cool, uncon-
cerned and a!mest defiant manner in which
murderers, condemned to death, have awaited
the summons to the scaffold, and knowing the
dread fate in store for them. with semi-brava-
do have tripped as lightly on the fatal trap as If
proceeding to bali or equally gay festivities
While spectators have stood shuddering is an.
ticipation of the dreadful event they have
been as unconcerned in outw ,rd appearance as
If Tor them the lamp of life were not flickering
unto total extinction and utter darkness. In
this state there has been an example of this
phenomenon during the mouth now drawing to
a close. Albert Bulow hanged blythe laws de-
cree ier a brutal murder, went to death with an
utter absence of fear, lack Of con Germ that was
startling in ITSELF Even the curious crowd that
filed III the time until the hour of execution
came with idle jest and badinage grew still and
solemn when that hour arrived. With mingled
feelings of horror and sympathy. they saw that
man violently deprived of the gift of life that is
counted dear to us all. Even the sheriff, nerved
to tho performance Of his unpleasant task by
stern sense OF duty, when the act was done and
the shrouded. black-capped victim hung lifelcss
and rigid, could not restrain the tears that
wclled to his eyes, and with bedimmed sight.
moved aimlessy about until his stronger nature
reasserted itself and duty triumphe1 once more
over human feeling. But In the midst of all
this. the man whose life was taken was unmoved
and betrayed no fear of death or the dim, I'M
certain future SO hear at hand He was youth,
but twenty five years of age Life had but fairly
begun and, doomed to die before he had Ut
tanned the zenith of his manhood, he noncha-
lantly accepted the decree. When men go forth
in defense oftheir country to face death at the
cannon's mouth, VIC justly call it bravery. The
suicide we term with equal truth coward But
in what category shall VIC place. by what al
jectires shall we describe, the condemned Grim
inai who accepts the dread sentence of the law,
ind disdaining priestly aid or spiritual comfort,
walks with assurance and unlerrihed to death
young man now lies IN the Clay county Jail
At Moorhead whose actions so far have closely
resembled those of Bulow. While his attorney
is spnrinG no effort to secure reversal of the
Judgment which condemns the criminal to exc
cution, Thomas Brown remains Indifferent
Hhen the refusal Of the supreme court 10 inter.
iere With the sentence was announced to him 4
lew days ago, he is reported to have said that the
prospects Of hanging would not take away his
spirits or his appetite Such expressions are
slfdcient to make commoner humanity shud-
der Here is a youth who has but reached his
majority. with the burden Of an awful crime
upon his soul, with the red blood Of his victim
hardly removed from The spot where his life was
suddenly checked by the asSassin's bullet, and
yet he treats with alarming unconcern the ex.
IRENE panalty of the law. If such man has no
fear Of death has he no conscience? Does not
the ghasly shadow Of his victim rise before his
eyes in the still, dark hours Of the night when
oil nat ure: sleeps and unusual noises appall the
weak and timid? In the case Of one 80 young.
surely the nature has not become so hardened
VI CAilouscu us ~ Uc uGfOll Oh IcelluSS OK re-
morse7 Surely In his case also as with his tel
lows hope springs eternal in the human breast
Yet 1t would appear not. From his narrow cell
has come forth no word of sorrow for the muir
dcrous decd, no wo I'd Of repentance nor seeking
Of forgiveness at the thro:e OF mercy. No ray of
hope has illumined the solitariness of his con-
hnemcnt. He has sought no sympathy and has
looked for no reprieve. Hope apparently died
within his breast when the trial was closed and
the twelve men returned verdict of guilty. if,
indeed, he expected any other result, From The
first from the time Of his arrest. Brown has ex-
hibited nh indifference as marked as that of
Bnlow's. and should the laws decree be carried
out the probabilities are that he will go to the
scaffold with equl unconcern. Such an anoma-
lous state Of mind demands some reason or ex.
planntion.
The weariest and most loathed worldly life
That age. 0che, penury and Imprisonment
Can lay Oh nature, is a paradise
TO what We tear Of death " F.,
So wrote the immortal Shakespeare TWAS
the condition Of humanity in the days of the
greatest Of dramatists, and it is today. But
there are exceptions to every rule. else the rule
itself would not be noticeable. VIII some PHI
losopher, who has made humanity study, a nd
who has made special Investigation of its feel
ings and sensations. explain these phenomena
in human nature manifested in such cases as
those referred to? W. T. THOMPSON.