The farmers' union. (Memphis, Mo.) 1891-1895, 1891-09-03
DESERVING OF DEATH.
BUT BEFRIENDED BY ROMAN
TIC SENTIMENT.
The CoNardlr Slayer of Christie War
den-A Tragedy Which Horrible, New
Hampshirc-Hevcnsc Was Almy's Only
Motive - His Crime Alarmns:y Fre-
Revence of Il Coward.

Revenge of u Coward.
The staid old State of New Hamp-
shire has added Il chapter TO the records
of crime in this country which hard Y
can be surpassed for the grim background
of the murder itself and tic eXtraor-
binary details which have followed its
comm SIS on. The crime of which Frank
c. Amy is guilty was marhel by the
most revolving cruelty and barbarty as
we'll as by rank Cowardicc. Six weeks
ago the wretch, angcrcd because his
sweetheart, christie Warden, rejected
his advances, sprang from his place of
conccaimcnt on Il lonely ROAD, dragged her
away from her mother AMI sister into
the woods, and not on.y shot h"r! down Ill
cold blool but even mutlatcd ler alter
death. He escaped. Boosting 20 h r ter
riiicd companions that now he had had
revenge. The horror OF the crime
aroused the entire county. Large re-
wards, aggregating 81 ,ooh, were Oh rcd,
and hundreds Of pcop.c as well as ponce
and detectives from various G ties hunted
for him OF only all over the New lamp
shire hi Is but til oughout New Eng aud.
Other part, Of the country We're ran
sacked, bat 10 10 purpose. aud at last
the theory was a 'rcptcd that IL hal
gone to Europe, and all Lo. e OF his cap
ture was 10 /.
1t now appears, howe or, that he
never left the farm OF the Warden fami-
~. With that fascination which some
times sciMs upon crimina t. remain
upon the scene Of their crimes he con
cnaed himself in the barn. From his
hiding place he saw the funeral of Il 8
victim. In dark nights he >,o'c up to
~. !, ,tr
on within. lie saw detectives an re
pnrtcr> within a few feet Of him and
heard tn. m discuss plans and rrobabi!i-
ties for his capture Ii" even took food
from the house in the night an / Wis ted
ChriStj"'s grave III til" cemetery Erat hE.
All these weeks it never occurred IL The
astute detectives to s'arch I'll" War
den premises, and had it not
ben for the Academia disc ry t
some cans taken from the hoHsc, which
| raised a su picion in the mothers mind
that he was somewhere on the rc!niSe :,
he might still have been at liberty She
mentioned her suspi.'i ions to the sheriff,
and that functiDnary with Il cumIa..ioI.
kept Il nightly vigil about the barn. At
| :1>t they were rewarded by 4 $ An Of
the lean and haggard murderer cm"rS-
! ing from his hiding place to obtain fool
! He was entirely unpreparcd for re t
| ancc but for some mysterious reason
| the two armed men made no at ci pt
| arrest him. Instead of that they raised
! hue and cry and the next day the barn
| was hcsiegcd by no less than 800 poop @,
| who procer cd to lombard their victim
| When he had be w JIndcd two or three
times AM it became apparent to him
! that fur h"r attempt was useless he
| agr c to s rrender and even dictated
rms 30 far as per onal s curty was
| concerned. VIII II the terms were ac-
| copied Hc added crime to crime by S 90
| ing one Of his capto!s. That he was not
! lied on the spot speaks well OF the
| New Eng aud sense of Justice. Thu
| Sheriff who had bc"n 30 reluctant to per.
| form his duty promptly and energetic ally
| saved him fro:n ly. ching by appealing T.
| the crow tn let the law take its 90 rsc.
| III V d., itied to 90 81 and the brutal
| wretch was rc owed TO jail. If the
court are as fearless AID the law IS a
perfc as the Sheriff boa ted it will not
! b. long before Amy will cypiate his hor
| ri lc Ct. III on the gallows.
| 1t is not so certain, however. that this
| wretch viii meet the fate he deserves
| A ready there is a certain halo of ro
| nance gathering about him, His visits
I
lett re- and souvenirs she had given him,
his r ,claratiAn that he loved her all the
. time, and that he shot her by accident
and then shot her over and over again
| becanse he could not bear to see he1
| suffer, have had Il certain effect upon
the maud4in and morbid t. asses OF S0cl
| ETY. who ar ready to declare that he was
! insane with love. Hcop'c of this kind
are ma<in- Il Non Of him, and there il
danger that they may bring sufficiently
| strong pressure to bear 10 save him from
hanging. With all It's conservatism nnt
love for Justice, scntim nta!ity is {
| strong clement In the New i.nglant
composition, a. has been shown even i
the Jesse Pomeroy case and In man!
another c,nally brutal and revolving
! The prosecuting officials. therefore. vii
| have q hard task before them, though
| every circumstance Of the murder ca:
be easily established. Should any con
tingancy. however, save this n.unste'
from the galIowS it will, b. a public
calamity. The practice OF girl KILN:
has become alarmingly common. and i
Is time that the courts should adop
heroic measures to suppress 1t Their
is no better case to begin with than tina
of Amy If all reports are true this
not the first girl he has killed. There /
| no romance about his crime. Their
was no love in his feelings towart
Christie Warden. His act was dictates
| by revenge. either because Christi
Warden had wounded his pride hy he
| rcic"tion Of his suit or because Of lows,
and more revolving motives. In eithe
| case he richly deserves death, and la
barred himself from the sympathy O
any right-mindcd person. Grimes Xix
his are becoming aarmingly frequent
and it is time that III law should SIC
in and protect helpless women from be
lug slaughtered merely because they cN
crciSc the right Of rejecting til" ne
vanccs Of men who may have conceive
Il sudden and reyuiting passion for til c /
Inrcc Irxincs ~ lii age