The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1894-10-24
TOUCH THE POCKET NERVE.
A. Novel Suggestion for DiscouraGing HON.
icides.

To the Editor of the State: The ex-
ercise of the police power is the pri-
NAL, and thus far, chief end Of govern
ment, yet the frequent killing of good
and peaceable men shows the made
quacy of present laws for the protec-
tion of the lives Of citizens. And the
State should never be content with the
mere vindication of her broken laws
by the punishment of the guilty, but
should ever strive that her laws shall
need no vindication that her citizens
shall need no punishment. Lack Of
clear discrimination between right and
wrong or lack of power controlling
motives) always to refrain from the
wrong and always to do the right is
the cause of every crime. The hu-
manity that excuses the lunatic from
the penal consequences of his acts Of
violence needs only enlightened reaec-
tion to feel a kindred sympathy for
the every perpetration Of crime. The
criminal, whether respectable or de-
praved, is possessed Of deceased
mind and is the instrument Of acts
determined by conditions from which
he could not free himself. True, he
must be punished. A terror to evil
doers is a restraint wholesome to them
and necessary to the protection Of
others. But no means within reach
should be left unemployed by society
for the final prevention Of crime by
the removal of the unfortunate condi-
tions that permit and cause it. Edu-,
cation, therefore, though comparative
ly recently treated as function of
government, is duty which is the
counterpart of the right to punish.
In the discharge of this duty our State
should press forward to an ever higher
mark.
But, while waiting on the slow re-
suits Of the future development of in
dividual character, we may do much
to increase the security Of life in our
own time, or to lessen the dire conse-
quences Of unavoidable unlawful kill
ing. The recent killing of an inoffen
sive negro by drunken fool in this
city at the very time that Joyner was
being tried here for the murder Of
Branham under very similar circum-
stances, renders this peculiarly op-
perfume occasion to call the attention
of our people and especially of our
Legislature to a needed addition to
our criminal laws.
The evil to be remedied is we'll por-
trayed in your editorial Of the 7th,
headed, "Nobody's Business. - 'The
fact remains that drunken man Gn
possession of loaded pistol, was per-
mitted, for few hours at least, to
roam the streets of Columbia to the
peril of every human being with whom
he might come in contact. 1t was
nobody's business to interfere with
his movements-certainly nobody's
business to disarm him. Thus,
through somebody's thoughtlessness,
an innocent life was taken, another
wrecked, and an unspeakable burden
of anguish laid upon an innocent wo-
man. He was drunk. That is the
single explanation to be offered for his
act. There is something wrong in
conditions which render tragedy like
this possible. tits nobody's business,
perhaps, to entervene in such case,
to prevent possible bloodshed.
"There are two remedies for the
condition to which we have referred.
The one is in the more prompt inter-
vention of private citizens to avert
trouble. The other is in the exaction
of irmer, prompter and more sensi-
lie discharge of duty by the city
police. Let it be understood that
policeman should use his authority to
prevent as well as to punish breaches
of the peace"
These are the two preventive rene
dies but, hitherto ineffective, how
small they be made effective ? How
often do shooting scrapes occur that
were expected by friends of the hostile
parties, by peace officers, by bystan-
ders, by whole towns :? 1t is a dread
full thought and shows how little real
progress we have made in educating
men to higher humanity. ''It is
business cam I my
brothers keeper p
Moral suasion and Christianity in
Auence only the few; the common
herd will heed only the uplifted lash.
Unless strongly stimulated by supe-
rior power of law, the average citizen
is too selfshly Indifferent to discharge
this moral duty or to form o public
opinion that will exact of peace off,
GERS the full measure of their duty.
It may be that we cannot legislate
people into morality, but the law
should embody and teach a far higher
conception of duty than the average
citizen" has fully grasped. The strin-
gency of the law must be adapted to
the stage of development of the indi-
viduals but the law should not lag
far behind the enlightened conscien-
ces of the leaders of thought. TO the
lower nature the law is the standard
of morality-not lived up to, but look
ed up to. Its educational effect is
good or bad, according to it's elevation
above or degradation to the common
level Of human conduct.
The .Joyner trial, lust concluded,