The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-08-05
The Concealed Weapon Evil


The Baker-AnGerson shooting ARRAY az
Crotou Landing, New York, last Saturday
furnishes the New York papers with SUD-
ject for editorial articles condemnlng tne
abominable practices of carrying concealed
weapons The practice cannot be coldetiliieu
too strongly. Nearly all the homlcides IN
all parts of the country are the result u IT,
The Baker-A nderson tragedy has brought
trouble and suffering into two iahliies'
and there was no real excuse for tue shoot-
inc Newton Baker, man 90 years OF
&C. ard nrivate secretary Of Col Robert
Tngarsoll lived with his wife IN house
with Orville VI. Anderson aud his mother
and sisters. The portion Of the house which
Ral,ar occup;ed was rented from Anderson +,
,ybo Is a Young maa about 81 years Of age.
Mrs Baker and Mrs. Anderson did not
agree abouta good many things, and Mrs.
Raker's complaints to her husband and Mrs.
Anderson's to her son brought about a
rather uufriendly feeling between And er-
son and Baker.
They met on Saturday afternoon TO talk
over their troubles, and perhaps they would
have settled their differences without blood
shed if neither had been armed. They
both had pistols, however. and when Mrs.
Baker appeared upon the scene and de-
clared that Anderson had insulted her by
laughing in q sneering manner when she
had met him in the hall Of the house few
hours before, Baker drew his pistol imme-
diately, and Anderson followed his example.
The pistols were used without delay. Ba-
ker was severely and perhaps fatally
wounded, and Anderson occupies cell in
the county Jail. And are the principals
or their families any better satisfied than
they would have been had there been no re-
sort to deadly weapons. Subsequent de-
velopmeuts show that Anderson had no in
tention of insulting Mrs. Baker, and if
neither be nor Mr.. Baker had been armed
with deadly weapon Anderson would have
offered satisfactory explanation, doubtless,
and the differences between the two families
would have been adjusted
The concealed weapon evil appears to be
growing greater instead of less. Is 1t be-
cause the laws against it are not enforced
as vigorously as they should bef 1t GER
tainly cannot be said that the people are
DetOuDluB LuuIc DlOOIbul SbS dLlNA Iuab WIS
desire for revenge is so great that when
man has difference with Il neighbor moth
ing will satisfy him but the taking of that
neighbours life. To assume that such is the
case would be to assert that civilization is
receding instead of advancing.
The concealed weapon evil is confined to
no section of the country. 1t exists in all
the states. The assertion Of some of the
northern papers that it is almost wholly
confined to the south is not true. There
are as many victims of it in the north as in
the south, if not more, and it appears to be
growing in the north faster than in the
south.
The press and the pulpit should take a
very firm stand against it, and the courts
should show 10 mercy to those who per-
sist in the dangerous and abominable
practice. 1t is the duty of all good citi-
zens to discourage the evil by every means
in their power. The aim should be to Gre
ate public sentiment against it SO strong
that men would feel ashamed to carry re-
volvers concealed in their pockets.