The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-06-21

speaker of the assembly of the state of
New York. Like Mrs. Sickles, Mrs.
Cole confessed her guilt to her hus-
band. A few days after this-not i'm
mediataly after the confession, not I'M
mediately upon learning of the Of
Tense, but a few days thereafter-CoIe
met Hiscock upon the street and shot
and killed him; and the defense was
that Cole was so frenzied at the time
that he was not responsible for his
act and the jury found verdict of
not guilty.
Again, 1 saw mentioned in the New
York World last evening the case OF
Mcfarland, who killed Richardson
who was an editorial writer at the
time for the New York Tribune. Rich
ardson wrote about the time Of the
war, book that had some notoriety,
called To the Mississippi and Beyond
You may have seen it. Richardson
seduced McFarland's wife. Mcfarland
shot and killed him The defense was
insanity, caused by the seduction Of
his wife. He was charged with murder
in the first degree and the jury found
a verdict of not guilty.
In Indiana, in 1885, DR.. Newland
shot and killed one Professor Evans,
brilliant man, for the seduction of
his daughter. He was placed upon
trial The defense was insanity and
the jury returned verdict of not
guilty.
In Tennessee, Captain Edwin John
son, at about the same time, was in
formed by his wife through her con-
fession, that she had been illicitly in
innate with one Major Henry. She
confessed, as said, and after her con-
fession committed suicide. The hus-
band took a double barreled shotgun
and went to the place of the destroyer
of his happiness, shot him down dead
and kissed the barrel of the gun. The
defense was insane frenzy, and the
jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
KILLING ONE WHO DESECRATES
THE HOME IS JUSTIFIED.
There was the Mary Harris case in
Washington, the case of Mrs. Beechler
in Omaha, and other cases that might
be cited. | refer to them because they
show that you if you pile your statutes
as high as the top of this court house,
even above the head of the blind god
deSS who stands thereon, you never
can obliterate from the human heart
the thought that every man has the
right to defend his home and the vir-
tue of his wife, his daughter, his sister;
every woman has the right to defend
her virtue Notwithstanding the law
says 1T is manslaughter. Why shouldn't
it be so? Our law says that if you
kill another when he is committing a
felony, you are justified. 1t is felony
to steal calf from your lot. If you
see a man taking it from the lot, for
chilly taking it, you can shoot him
down. 1t is a felony to steal the mar
riage ring from the finger of the wife.
Though in dollars and cents it may
be of little value. yet if you see a man
slip it from her finger In the night,
you can shoot him down and you
would be justified. If man
lifts your window and seeks to
crawl through in the darkness of
the night, you may shoot him down,
and you are justified. Which is the
greater criminal? The one that takes
the calf from the lot, the one that
steals the marriage ring from the fin
ger, the one who lifts up the little fas-
tening from the window, or the man
who, in the absence of the husband, in
the darkness of the night, steals in and
poilutes the marriage bed? Which
does the greater wrong to society?
When laws are made fer the peace OF
society and the upbuilding OF the state,
wherein has the state the greatest in
terest? Is it in preventing the taking
of the ring, the stealing of the calf
the protection of the sanctity of the
home, of the firesides of the land,
of the virtue of the wife, of the daugh-
ter, or the sister? He who enters an
either mans home under circumstances
such as have been disclosed in this
case, though he may plead, as Adam
did, that 1T was the woman thou CAV
est me that did it, knows better than
TO go there; knows that he takes his
e L i i l.
society.
When war is declared, and armies
are marching back and forth, though
it be over a bare strip of land, of no
value to any power on earth, whose
ever is called upon to go to war, and
who kills another in that state of war,
kills him justifably. Armies may take
your land, and take your property, you
rally to the defense; you ire-you kill
you are justified. The man who
breaks down the barriers OF society,
the barriers of the home, who seeks the
virtue of the wife, the sister, the
daughter, that man wars upon society,"
and whether written laws say it or not,
all humanity feels and knows that that
man takes his life in his hand!
THE HISTORY OF OUR LAW JUS
Trying A KILLING UNDER
THE FACTS IN THIS CASE.
1t has been suggested here that the
| law written UPON our statute book is
monstrous. 1t has been said that no
lawyer would uphoid IT. l claim not,
then, to be a lawyer; but do claim to
be a, man, and I stand here to defend
| that law which was enacted for the
| purity Of the home and the fireside.
am willing that it shall be said of me
| that l am no lawyer. l prefer to be
! known, first of all, as a man with a
! human heart and human sympathies.
At the very first session of the very
/ first legislature of the territory of
Utah, there was passed an act in rela-
! ton to crimes and punishment, and on
| the 9th day of March, 1852, that act
| was approved by Brigham Young.
However we may have differed, any
| person who can read history Alright,
any man who will impartially judge
! another, must confess that Brigham
| Young was a man great mentally, and
| wise in his day and generation. He
placed upon the statute book by his
signature, not a new law, not some
thing that wars against the interests
of the state but he placed there the
law that is planted in every mans
heart, the law of the English speak
ing race until the case of John Man
ming, who was tried in England 200
/ years ago. The act had eleven titles
! Title II was headed, Unsuitable kill
] ing, and Prosecution of Public Of
lenses Mind you, this was one of the
first laws passed by the new common
wealth.; it was the very first Legislature
that had met here Section H. of that
title read as follows:
IF any person shall kill another in
/ his own defense, as above provided
or in sudden heat of passion caused
by the attempt of any such offender
to commit a rape upon the wife, sister
/ da11ochta1. 1,n0ttor. cr. OF hon, fam L. r.