The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-08-18
THE ACT OF INSANITY.

The man who shot Canoyas has been
tried, found guilty and perhaps ere this
has been garroted in prison. That is
the method of execution in Spain.
Nothing was clearer than the fact
established of premeditated assassina-
ton. Michael Angiollilo. the prisoner
removed all doubts on this point by his
own testimony. He admitted that he
was an anarchist, but the plan of as
ssssination was his own conception. He
alone was responsible for the removal
of the premier by violence and thereby
plunging the affairs of a nation into
temporary disorder. Hence the law was
indicated by INJECTING the penalty OF
willful murder
With the laws of Spain we have
nothing to complain; they are made for
Spaniards and not for Americans. #
the assassin had been tried by jury
of his peers instead Of the court mar
tial that passed judgment. it is likely
the verdict would have been the same.
But the ends of Jurisprudence are OBJ
/ tanned only in courts Of justice where
the motive underlying criminal act
has as much weight as the evidence
establishing the fact. in order to ar
rive at the equity of punishment.
The man Angiollilo had a motive for
his crime, and in an incoherent way he
/ ventered to express it to his judges,
! but they cholled him off, These judges
were sitting as q court martial and
their business was to punish, not to
! listen to any mans motives for a crime
which was clearly established, although
the plea Of insanity was offered ~ the
prisoners defense. Thus the court be-
came anarchists themselves in wreak-
! ing vengeance on an anarchist.
Underlying the prisoners motive for
the crime was demented condition of
mind. Crimes of the character com
nitted by anarchists are not the result
Of. personal malice. Angiollilo might
! have lived and died an honest man,
! but his brain was turned by anarchistic
! literature. This is the kind that sees
| nothing in religion but priestcraft; that
! sees nothing in wealth but oppression;
! that sses nothing in virture but vice;
that delights in presenting the worst
I CdOCo vi uCpldNIly DIS lIlG DGSL 0AdHl-
pies of existing social conditions, and
that the end of government is to ere
ate two classes of hunanity-mase er
and slave. With such a presentation
of society and government, the anarch-
list believes the logical sequence lies in
! the destruction of both as the only
means of obtaining relief.
Little wonder that men who are fools
but do not know they are fools, be-
come enemies of society under such
! spell; but too true is it that so many
of the evils which infiame their i'm
aginations exist in society and govern
ment. And SO long as they exist, so
long viii society and government be
menaced by such men.
The case of Michael Angiollilo in one
/ respect is parallel with the case of
Charles Guiteau. The influences that
| blasted the minds of both men, though
| different in form, partook Of the same
nature-they were political. Guiteau
had no personal spite against Garfield
neither did the anarchist owe malice
to Canovas. Guiteau madly believed
that Garfield would wreck the Repub-
lican party. In the mind of the an
archist, Canovas was the enemy of
liberty in Cuba and the Philippines