The Lafayette advertiser. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], La.) 1865-19??, 1891-12-12
MURDERERs A PRIVILEGED CLASS
louisville Courier-,Jo,,rnal i

Murder is the crime which excit,
in the American mind the keene
sympathy for the "unfortunate Grim
nal.'
4 1t is dangerous to violate almos
any law except that against murder.
Burglary, if we catch the burgla,
is apt to be punished with some swift
ness, Ter it touches the ''pocket nerve,
and no successful plea of self-defens
has ever been made in behalf Of
burglar.
Horse-stealing, if not punished witt
death at the hands Of mob, open
wide the doors of the penitentiary.
Forgery, too, if the forger is not to-
highly distinguished in financial cir
| cles, may involve the criminal in Iega
| difficulties.
! Arson, assault, conspiracy and in
Vulnerable crimes Of every degree q
terpitude,, are punished with some
Iseverity; but it is rare that murder
lis committed in such bungling man.
ner that the murderer is punished
except III SO far as an expensive trial
Is punishment. The laws are so drawn
the trials are SO conducted, the sym.
pathy Of the people is so worked on
that conviction for murder or man.
slaughter is almost impossible in
America.
When all the resources of the law
fail, and. the criminal by an accident
finds himself in prison, he becomes a
notable character, and the recipient of
marked attention. from state officers
well as from visitors, who aim to com
Ipensate him for his enforced retire
ment, by showering flowers and sweet
meats on him in abundance.
The persons of Massachusetts, are
said to be unusually attractive. So
Thoughtful, so considerate, SO senti-
mental is society in the Bay State
that the prisons have become much
more inviting than many of the homes
Eof the private and hard-worked citi-
zens. Nothing there il allowed to Of
fend the feelings Of the most sensi-
tive, with the result that the number
Of criminals has in the past twenty
years increased far more rapidly than
the.population.
But even these model establish
ments for the amelioration of the con-
dition Of the criminal classes are not
good enough for the murderers.. Some
thing more must be done for them;
50 the governor selects murderers as
the beneiciaries Of his Thanksgiving
clemency. The story is told in q
dispatch from Boston:
"Boston, Nov. 27.-According to
custom the governor pardoned two
state prison convicts Thanksgiving
day. The fortunate men are Charles
Briggs, who was committed in 1881
for murder in the second degree, in
killing Charles Slauson. because of
jealousy on account Of Briggs wife,
and Thomas 81. McMullen, who was
sentenced for life in April, 1882, for
murder in the second degree, in kill
ing his wife"
Here are two murderers, whose
crimes must have been without rea-
son or excuse, or else no jury would
have been so heartless as to send them
to the penitentiary. At their trials
neither, aself-defense," Temporary or
emotional insanity nor provocation
availed. One man murdered another
actuated BY jealousy, while the second
killed his wife.
It's difficult to imagine any ex-
tenuating circumstances which cry
for leniency in the case Of the man
who kills his wife. Perhaps he was
drunk. Perhaps his brutality and in
difference to her happiness had so
crushed her spirit as to make it inn
possible to oppose him. Or, as he was
found guilty Of murder in the second
degree, the poor woman may have re-
sisted his blows, and tried Intellectually
to protect her own life, or that of her
child.
/ In al the prisons Of Massachusetts,
It surely might have been possible to
find some men more worthy than these
two Of; executive clemency. Their
victims have no one to plead forl
them. The dead are soon forgotten.
Charles Siauson and the wife Of Nc
Mullen had no ono to plead for them
With the governor for juitice on
Thanksgiving day. So the crime and
The victims are forgotten, and shah
low sentimentalism chooses Thanks
giving day for the pardon of these
red handed criminals without givingt
! thought to the family Of Slauson as
# kept its holiday with its spectre id
lts house, and with no consideration
Tor the children Of tie murdered
woman who are now RESTORED. per-
hape to devoted father, who un-I
fortunately took zehe. life IS theirl
mother and BIZ wife.