The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-12-03

THE ASSASSIN MANIA.
Epidemics Of Murder and Their Prin-
cipal Causes.

El4icIl'S OF crime can generally ne
! traced TO the perversion of a natural in
stiuct and countless murders, committed
with disregard of personal safety have
been inspired by the rage Of revenge.
The instinct of retributive self-help is the
| most effective, and often, indeed, the only
| possible check upon the abuse Of arbi-
trary power. Alp-Arslan, the founder Of
| the Turkish empire, at last made his
| caprice the only measure Of right and
! wrong, till he was slain. in the midst
| Of his guard, by a prisoner of war
| whom he had sentenced TO death for the
! obstinate defenscof a little mountain for
! tress.
The Inquisitor Arbues could silence
| critics with the authority of the supreme
! pontif, and rebels with the military
! power of Spain, but that double shield
| failed TO protect him against the risk of
! private vendetta, when his heritiC-hun-
| ters burned the brother of the hOt-hCaded
| young noblcmau.
Revenge, in a disguised form, has also
! been the inspiring motive Of mUrderous
| religious prosecutions. The neighbOrS of
the heretical AIbigenses were firmly con-
WINGED that the new schism would doom
It's converts 90 an eternity of frjghttul
| tOrmcnts, besides calling down the wrath
OF heaven in the rather indiscriminatc
form of storms and cloudbursts, and they
pursued the war of determination with
the rancOr of men ayenging private
wrongs upon the perpetrator Of some
monstrOus crime.
What influence the dread of miscreants
literally mis- believers must have had
upon the fanatics of a dark age could
have been realized in HindOstan where a
score of Mohammedan cow-killers were
last summer slain like wolves by a mob of
dOve-hearted devotees of Brahmauism, or
IN Mexico where last year a half-breed
deliberately butchered his own son for
adopting the doctrines of a foreign mis-
sionary and trying TO drag his brothers
into the abyss of his doom" The muir
derer was not a truculent COmanche, but
a market gardener descended from the
lndiOs mausOs, or tame Indians of "a
catecas and a man of more than usual be
nevolence Cand piety, according ltOrthe
ethical standards of that part of Spanish
America. Yet the trial established the
fact that the defendant had made prepa-
rations for killing al least two Of his sons.
After Cross-examining them, to estGD-
fish the extent of their guilt, he pro-
cured a coil OF rope and a number of
sacks. Whettcd his dirk-knife and ordered
his sons to follow him to the Sierra. Sus-
peCting the purpose Of the "trip the elder
Of the two intended victims tried to avert
or at least mitigate his doom by Clingiug
and again. Nc me- haces NADIA, pOr mi
amor. padreciton tUlease, do nothing to
me), repeated the poor lad, but the bigOt
trOd on i'll silence Till they reached a soil
tary glen, where he bade both his sons
meel down and pray. Stealing a last
look back, the younger of the two boys
saw knife in his fathers hands, and
with a sudden impulse sprang to his feet
and few down the mountain at break
neck speed to evoke the protection of
cattle-herder at the foot Of the Sierra.
A number of vaquerOs started for the
ridge, and after some search found a
place where fragments of Il human body
had been buried in an old bag. The muir
derer had disappeared but was arrested
on his brothers farm a week after and
did not attempt to deny his crime. That
wretched scapegrace," he said, has
dragged three innOcents into the pit of
perdition and brought curses upon a
name which I,have laborGd for a lifetime
to keep from reDroach. / would have left
retribution to the laws OF my country,
but alas, there is nowadays no legal re
medy for the worst of crimes"
With a similar logic the man-hunters of
Kaled, 1.-THE sword of Allah" defended
their butcheries, or even boosted of their
humanity, like Louis the Saint, who
held that the right answer to the argu-
ment of u skeptic is a sword thrust as far
home as the hilt Will permit
The glory Of having delivered this
planet from an enemy OF the human race
may have tempted hundreds to run the
deadly risks of tyrannicide, but no am
bition of that kind could have inspired
the murderer of Henry ", the idol of
the French nation. Most say idolatry
whetted the dagger Of the assassin, who
was thirsting to revenge the outrage to
his dOgmatic conscience upon the abettOr
! 49,. /
less skeptlcal sovereign, though he knew
that with the masses his deed would be
intensely unpopular.
If he had entertained any doubts on the
latter point his eyes must have been
opened by a mass meeting petition indoors
ing the proposal OF committee of butch
ers who offered to fay the murderer in a
manner that would prolong his agonies
for three days. A raging mob howled UNI
der the prison windows, his very guards
shook their fists under his nose, but to
all their tauntS and the appeals of his
spiritual adviser the assassin had only
one reply; "TandiS quill est mort le SuiS
content Of he is dead, and will stay
dead, am satisfed).I
He was broken on the wheel, amid
roars of applause which really served as
| warning to inspired assassins for cen
tury or two. The butcher committee
clearly went too far, but it is quite GER
tain that our other extreme of maudlin
sentimentality has not encouraged polit-
zeal murder. l was in Chicago on the DAY
after the Prendergast affair and heard
the catastrophe discussed from all posi-
| bic points of view, but / wish I could have
secured a stenographic report Of the
harangue of an indignant stump speaker
| on West Monroe street. mob law is a
disgrace to q civilized community" said
! the orator, but there is assuredly some
thing wrong with our method of dealing
with such scoundrels. Mind my words
if this bloodhound will not get off on an in
sanity plea or else get religion and be sur
fcited with postry and female love letters
before they tighten his cravat. They
viii make him believe that he is bound
for glory on a through ticket and sugar
pill his sentence and make il go down
like piece Of cream candy. Didn't they
do that very thing in the Guiteau case? l
donOt object to prison reyivals, but | am
sure of one thing that political assassi-
nations would get less frequent if it was
known that they would intallibly be fol-
lowed with cato -nine-tails soircc"
Among the voters for an international
amendment Of that sort there would be
many high born ladies', who, to use the
words Of a modern humorist, can now
scarcely witness the preparations for
Journey or "a royal parade without shud-
a.