The morning call., 1893-06-14
SONTAG AND EVANS.

Inc capture OF Sontag, followed Dy that
OF Evans, lifts the reproach from the San
Joaquin Valley. So long as the bandits
were at large it was impossible to counter
act the suspicion that they owed their
immunity from capture to the sympathy OF
a considerable portion of the community
in which they had lived. That suspicion
was strengthened by the general convic
tion that they had never left their State or
even their county. 1t led to an idea which
Is obviously erroneous and extremely un-
just to the people of the valley, that they
were regarded as heroes rather Than as
the miscreants and scoundrels they un-
doubtedly are.
Sympathy with criminals is mark of
undeveloped civilization. At the time that
Robin Hood and the merry men OF Sher-
wood Forest were the idols of the British
yeOmanry. the moral tone of the English
people was low and their perceptions
cloudy. They hated the priests and the
mobiles, and loved those who made war
upon them. Thus in a fight between the
officers of the law and the highwaymen,
they took the side of the latter, forgetting
that bad as the earls and abbots might be.
they could not be as bad as fellows who
lived by plunder and were ready to supple
ment robbery with murder. A similar
alteration of moral perception was wit
messed in parts of this country after the
war. The James brothers in Missouri
were benefciaries of the sentiment. They
were professional robbers and murderers.
They had the blood of many good men on
their souls. They and their kith and kin
had lived for years on the profits of high
rnhh ut fhnr nj H.,
their section who were always prompt TO
offer them aid and comfort. to hide them
from the detectives and to send the latter
off on false trails. When Jesse James was
shot by Bob Ford, all Clay County. Mo-,
turned out TO attend his funeral. This
condition of the public mind explains to
some extent why Missouri, with the finest
soil and climate in the river valleys, at
tracted little immigration, while Illinois.
Iowa. Nebraska and Kansas were fill
ing up.
California cannot afford to allow NOR
bid sympathy for criminals to grow up on
its soil. This is an orderly State. inhab-
tied by an orderly people; its prospects of
future prosperity depend on its maintain
ing reputation for order. No such repu-
tation can be maint tanned if we bestow on
robbers and murderers the signs of regard
which are due to honest. peaceful citizens.
He who admires an assassin. and is sorry
for him when he meets his doom, is next
thing to an accomplice. The interest he
takes in the fate Of scoundrel teaches the
rising generation that there are extenuat-
ing circumstances in scoundrelism.
Sontag and his accomplice were enemies
of the human race. They preyed on So
cety, as the coyote preys on hocks. There
was not redeeming feature In their COM
position 1t was said of Robin Hood
probably falsely-that he shared the spois
of his robberies with the widow and the
orphan. 1t is said of Sontag and Evans
that they never parted with a dollar to re-
lieve distress. They were simply vicious
rascals who wanted to live without work,
and who stole the proceeds of other mems
labor. standing ready in case of need to
take the lives of the guardians of that
property without the smallest compunc-
ton.
To say that they should not be denounced
now that they have met their fate is maud
lin sentimentality. Crime is always to be
denounced whether the criminal is at large
or in Jail. living or dead. 1t cannot be con-
doned at any stage with safety to society,
or with due regard for the morals OF the
young. Intelligent penology has put
stop to public executions because it was
found that the agony Of tho culprit begot
public sympathy for him. and so dulled the
edge of public antipathy for crime. On
the same principle. the prurient appetite
for gossip about the Imprisoned highway
men should be frowned upon by all who
care for the morals of the community.