The morning call., 1892-09-15
MORE MURDERS.

The train-robbers, Evans and Sontag. are
evidently destined to bring the business Of
road agency to close. The killing of Will
son and MeGinnis and the wounding of
Witty ought to extingnish any remaining
sympathy for the robbers, aud should unite
the entire population of the San Joaquin
Valley in a determination to hunt them
down. Pursued as they are by swarm OF
detectives and Sheriff. officers they cannot
escape capture If the chase is kept up yigor-
ouslv and relentlessly. It's stated, probably
with truth. that they have not been roaming
the country in search of an exit, but have
been lying hid in the houses of few friends.
What kind of people must they be who
give shelter to such bandits?
1t is stated that the rewards offered by the
railroad and the express companies are con-
ditional upon the capture of the robbers alive,
and that no reward Will be paid if they are
killed by their puTsuers. 1t is hard to be-
lieve this. No detective will waste time in
irving to capture an outlaw who is well
armed and is prepared TO shoot at sight. BE
viii try TO get the drop en- him, and to shoot
first. If by so doing he forfeits the reward
for which he risks his life, ne will not be
very ardent in the chase. He puts his life
at stake for no chance of gain. A reward
to be effective should be paid for the pro-
duetion of the bandits body. dead or alive.
The detectives would have a stimulus TO
do good work.
There is another reason why the rewards
offered should not be conditional on the
arrest of the living bandits. II they are
caught they will have to be tried, and tried
by juries selected out of people some of
hos bo1. to d do
is DO certainty that they would be convicted.
A robber, caught redhanded, was lately at
Quilted by a sympathetic jury; that was
the reason why the people of Redding took
the law into their own hands in the case Of
their road agents. Society, in the case of
such pests, is net so much concerned about
the orderly administration of instice as it is
for the extirpation of highway robbery;
and though the spectacle of the execution OF
a rObber by the Sheriff is more impressive
than the shooting Of the same rObber in the
act Of adding another TO his list OF murders,
yet still a dead man is a dead man however
he dies, and his corpse teaches the lesson
that the path of the bandit leads but to the
grave.
The career of Sontag aad Evans has
reached stage which involves the eharae-
ter Of the State. Every incident in their
crime has been duly transmitted TO the East
and has been the subject of comment in the
daily press, The comment has been such
that Californians cannot enjoy it. High
way robberies and murders occur in every
State, and in every State robbers and mur-
derers sometimes escape justice for time.
But both crimes and escapes are becoming
unpleaSanty frequent in parts OF this
State. 1t is only a few days since a Fresno
jury found that rising lawyer in that city,
who was murdered in his own back yard.
came to his death at the hands of persons
unknown. 1t is only few weeks since
highway robber who had killed an express
messenger was lynched in Shasta County.
because the people felt that If he were held
for trial be would cheat the gallows. Cali
fornia cannot afford TO let this sort Of thing
90 on. Governor Markham should consider
whether the last murder committed by
Evans does not impose some duties on him.
The end, as it appears to THE CALL, will
be .hat the Tobber murderers will be
located and will probably be killed by their
pursuers. 1t is hardly possible that they
can get out Of the State. II will be for
Others, who are like-mindsd to them, to
consider whether the robbery of any sum
of money can compensate for the agony
they have undergone since the bloodhounds
of the law we're first set on their track, and
for the wretched ending OF their lives. The
lesson Will hardly be thrown away. Death
Will come to Sontag and Evans as it comes
to wild beasts-in ugly shape; and the pie
ture Of it will sink into the minds Of those
who are hesitating on the brink Of crime
| just as in the old days the execution Of a
murderer by a Vigilance Committee taught
spectators that the Indulgence Of passion
comes high.