San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1891-06-19
Price SIS a Year
Murder one OF the Fine AIRS.


| traitor of q recent homicide, has six
scalps pendent from his belt and has
himself never received q scratch in
these six fatal affairs. AS he seems
already to have killed his full COM
plement of men and as there are
probably 10000 men In Texas who
have not yet killed and sailed down
| q single man; and 10000 more who
piece, and 100. 900 who have not killed
over two each, it is very wrong TO
allow few favored persons monop-
Texas has q right to kill six men,
then the same right ought to be &C
corded to every other citizen. AS
part of this right of killing six men,
is also the right of being acquitted
quittals almost follow, as q matter of
course. Nearly every jury contains a.
half dozen men, who have slain
from two to four men, and, of course,
"a fellow feeling makes US wondr0us
kind" None of us care to hurt
man, who has done no more
than we ourselves have done. Con-
victing man of murder is one of the
"last acts" and has gone clean out Of
fashion. The man who has killed the
greatest number of men, becomes q
first class hero, and it Is impossible to
convict such man. The Indian hav-
ing the most scalps is the biggest
man. Murder has become one bf the
"fne arts,n and should be taught in
our schools and colleges. The art
consists in getting the drop" on
fol hain0-fhnf a ahnnfinO
him whilst asleep, unarmed, walking
off from us, in entire ignorance Of
being in any danger, or in catching,
him off his guard, and unprepared.
This is very great art. We must
wait for opportunities of drawing our
pistol, first, and getting in the first
deadly shot, chivalry, courage and
equality in the terms of combat, are
out of date, the only thing is, to go ar
range our campaign, as to kill our man,
without danger to ourselves-to kill
our man. without giving him any
chance, what soever, of defending his
life against an unforeseen attack.
The prime object is to kill your man,
| without endangering your own life,
| and, to do this, demands the greatest
courage, vigilance, GOODNESS and tact.
No tyro in the homicide business
can shoot down an unarmed or de-
| fenceless mamie will have
over some foolish gualms about fair
| play, and give his adversary chance
of slipping in shot. This very
| wrong. tits very unprofessiODal. 10
is mere bHngling over q nice job. The
professional killer throws away no
chances and incurs no risks-he Ii
master Of the wonderful art of "get-
ting the drop" on a man-which
means shooting him in the back
whilst unarmed, or when he Is wholly
off his guard. There is nothing more
dangerous than an unarmed person,
except man whose back happens to
be turned to you, and the only way
of dealing with such dangerous people
is to shoot them unawares.
Dead men are not dangerous,
Juries think only of the tremendous
peril that besets the murderer, and o z
the injustice Of Furnishing him for an
act which every juror has committed,
or is ready to commit. No thought
is given to the wrong that has been.
done the dead man. He should have
"kept his eyes skinned" and have
gotten the drop" on his slayer, and Q
filled his body with bullets. He was
too slow.
The plea of self.defence comes in
very ht ndy; and fits in nicely. All
murder ed men were blood thirsty
demons, and were in the act of killing
Their slayers, when death overlook
them. The juries kindly take
this view OF the matter
and give the murderer, not merely
discharge from past offences, but q
license to slay fresh victims. You see
| q new era has dawned upon us. "Old,
| things are done away and all things
have become new" Whatever smells
of antiquity, is foolishness, and a
| fraud. All the men, who lived before
us, were idiots. The Bible has been
exploded, riddled and blown to at
oms. 1t was mere fable. OF course,
| the commandment, "thou shalt not
| kill,u must share the fate Of the
| Bible. There is no prohibition placed
| on the killing of men. A future exis-
tence is pure humbug q scarecrow TO
| frighten men. If there should be .
future life, all men will enter into it,
as they would do, at a free lunch, or
| an auction, without ticket, or an
| examination. Where then Is the harm
done in killing man? Advanced
thinkers have exploded and expunged"
the past and its foolish creeds, and
| emancipated our minds from super
stition aud prejudice. Man is the ar
bitter of his own fate, and the sole
Judge of his own acts, and no appeal
lies from his decisions. Murder was
a crime according to the old, exploded
creeds, now it is on par with the
killing of a snake, or a gnat. By all
means, the art of killing, without
endangering our lives, should be
L., nrnr rnhnnln and nnllnnna