The state capital., 1891-09-05
"THOU SHALT NOT KILL"
Tho Terrible Story of Goodly Man Who
Slew In Self-Defense.

Slew In Sell Defense.
A city detective shadowed a we'll
dressed, clerical-looking stranger on
State street one afternoon. About to
pass a gun store, the stranger no sooner
glanced at the firearms in the window
then he stopped suddenly, and as sud-
denly turned and retraced his steps to
Madison street.
Link one" unused the detective.
In a few minutes there came funeral
procession headed by hearse carrying
little white coffin covered with flow
ers. At first sight Of this the stranger
darted into a drug store, where he re-
mained until the procession had passed.
Link two,' thought the officer.
At the corner of Madison and Clark
streets a ragged little beggar girl said:
Gimme penny, father is dead, and
-" The stranger thrust FIVE dollar
bill into her hand and hastened to the
Grand Pacific.
Link three" said the detective, en-
tering the hotel Here he had his first
good view Of the strangers face.
well, Jim!"
''Tom."
HC OIliCCf, dSbOHlSlltu, ldu TtCUg-
nized the man as an old-time friend
from Kansas, deacon universally re-
spected, and whom he had not seen for
fifteen years. Mutually pleased at the
unexpected meeting, they were soon
talking over bygone days.
"One thing" said the officer "yVhy
act 50 strangely on the street before
coming in here?"
The deacon's face blanched. His voice
trcmbled. Not all sunshine since |
last saw you. Tom. 1t happened ten
years ago last month. He was bad
man, a desperate. The whole town
was afraid of him. He threatened nv
life. Why? | never knew. lie attacked
me on the street. Possibly I might have
escaped by running-I now believe /
could-but | had my revolver and-the
desperate is dead
'Acquittcd?'
20. no trouble about that Self-de-
fense, said the jury and popular senti-
1nent, but better prison or the gallowf
than my punishment"
''Served him right. He
There! you're like the rest, Tom.
That's the careless way people talk
about shooting in sclf-defense. Wait till
I've done. Excitement and public sym
pathy kept me from remorse during the
trial Then came reaction. Former
friends seemed distant. In society
women of refinement spoke to me, but
recoiled from taking my hand - the
hand that had held the revolver |
heard them whisper: 'Self-defensc. The
law ju6tifes him and so do we. Still it's
just awful, isn't it,
''At prayer meeting my pastor, as
formerly, asked me to pray. / knelt
and closed my eyes. Then must have
turned deadly pale, for lifting my
thoughts to the eternal world ! saw
only the man whom my pistol had sent
there, a bullet hole in his right temple.
I shuddered, stammered, stopped. Next
day my pastor said: Don't be offended
f. j, e,,e,...as a4ss asked to pray again.
While all believe the killing iustifable,
the brethren say it makes them feel
queer to hear a-to hear some people
pray in church.
"Onc day stranger, with group of
citizens, stood in front of the village
grocery. Passing them. | heard one
whisper: That's the man that killed
Ned Turner Thus was to be pointed
out to strangers
"Our six-year-old Willie was born
four years after the shooting. We
prayed that he might never hear Of it.
But the other day the little fellow came
crying from school and said to my wife:
Papa didn't kill man, did hep Then
nd 10 tn1 hn ,1D1 e4<
And I'd rather have stood the cross-ex-
animation Of a thousand lawyers than
to have explained the shooting to that
boy.
Only two weeks ago / sat up with a
sick neighbor the night he died. When
his wife sobbed | thought of Ned's wife,
who had wept like this woman. When
the little children came into the room
and cried to their dead papa to speak to
them, it came pretty close to me, Tom
/ just couldn't stay in the room, for
kept thinking of Ned's children whom
had rendered fathcrless. It's awful,
Tom. Fine theories Of self-defense,
public approval, don't help me much.
Knowing what do now would run to
the ends of the earth rather than kill a
man. however justifiably, and as for a
revolver I'd rather carry live rattle
snake in my pocket"
''And this is why you lodged the gun
store and funeral procession and threw
away the $50"
Exactly. I've finished my business
in Chicago and will 60 home tomorrow.
-
RanUi Ranpt
1t was street fight not three rods
away. One mans head was bleeding.
There it is again." shuddered the
deacon. ''Shan't sleep wink tonight.
Goodbye" and he FASTENED to his
room. Chicago Herald.
Will the Earth's Motion Cease?
Is the motion of our earth and other
planetary bodies perpetual? A super
fetal survey of the field would convey
the impression that such motion will
continue forever. The earth with its
mass of 1900, 900, 900, 600, 600 tons for a
long time defied all attempt to detect
its loss of speed. but, with the friction
of the tides continually at work it was
shown that such loss must take place,
and now it is pretty certain from calcu-
latiorrs of Prof. Adams and others that
the earth loses about an hour every
10000 years, and is slowly but surely
coming to a standstill. The expert
ments and Investigations of modern
scientists are proving what Sir Isaac
Newton believed-that the motions OF
all bodies in space are suffering retarda
tion and th at their velocity is becoming