The age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1897-1902, 1897-08-29
ETCHINGS FROM
CURRENT TOPICS

There is a line at which sentiment and
justice stop, and outlawry begins; point
beyond which honor need not go, and
ruffianism should not be tolerated. It Is
time that the press and the pulpit should
speak out, in no uncertain terms, IN con-
demnation of the shot gun policy, which
has become the arbiter of real or ifnagf-
naryA wrongs in the SOUTH This is a
subject which must be approached with
great caution; for intermfngled, and en-
twined in it's various phases, are some of
the most delicate questions of social life.
No matter what is involved It must be
met and dealt with as brave msn of the
south are capable of doing.
There is an unwritten, a righteous law
that is a part OF the very foundations of
the social life Of this section-whieh de-
mands the life of man, who ruthIessly
despoils the purity and happiness of a
home. AS long as southern men live. and
southern women love- so long will the
uprightness of southern home ties be
kept inviolate. Where sin comes,
through the evil doing of any man, the
wrong Will be avenged, without the aid
OF court or jury. This unwrftten, holy
law viii stand as long as the stars shine.
But there have been murders of recent
years which claimed exception from
punishment, because of the we'll
known sentiment of the south, ON
the delicate subject of woman's purity.
There have been cold-blooded assassina-
tfons, when men were acquitted, who
should have been punished like any other
criminal and ruff1an. To defend ones
home is one thing; to shoot down-gen-
orally from the back-a man, who was
no more guilty than the woman is anoth-
er, and far different proposition.
When a man lives with his wife and
children in proximity to a woman, as was
the case with F. B. lloyd anil Gafford's
sister, there cam scarcely come the plea
OF deception from any one. The fact of a.
living wife certainly precludes all con-
sideaafion of another marriage with
honorable women If there was sin it
was equally the fault of both. The most
unsophisticaIted gHln knows the voice of
the serpent when she hears the
hiss. Wlhan a woman deliberately
listens TO the tenplter, especially If she
has years, and experiences ON her side,
what right has "a brother or any ether
relative Ito discuss with prenreditated
IN utahbty, a CDhu STuS1f 1luFuer. cLalnlIDg
deception an excuse for the crime to be
committed. The deed of a desperate CAN
nto rank with the brave act of an out
ragged man who resents an ungpeaLable
sin upon an Innocent girl.
The killing of +. Barlow Lloyd by john
A. Gafford has shocked public sentiment.
and aroused the people to the danger that
comes from the specfous reasoning of a
man who is safd TO have many murders
ON his hands and whose mind is CONSTANT
ly infiamed by the use of ssimulants. He
seems to have a most unfortunate habit
of regulating his family with the fatal
shoit gum In the murder of MIR. LLOYD he
has accomplished nothing for his people.
but the bringing of unfortunate noItoriety
upon his widowed sister His Charges
against both may be the outcome of a dis
ordered brain.
Zine awful murder committed a. few
days ago at Nashville, when a man. in
sanely jealous of good, true wife. with
his brain infiamed with stinlutants, shot
her down, rs but another phase of this
question:. IAN habitIral drunkard is in
Capable of deciding moral quest .ons. His
poor brain is in an abnormal conGk.ion
from hanitual drink. "a statement from
man nearly always Intoxicated upon
any QUESTION amounts to very little With
mankind generally. He is unfit to settle
the matter of a woTman's innocence or
guil, for he is but a degree removed
fnom al maniac, and %. is a. well-known
fact thlat hab1tual 6frunkards are suffer-
ers from the MOST peculiar Authorizations.
When the right to live Dis ito be settled by
the luminosity of a man who is dtarely
sober it is time tina: Nhe courts deal very
promptly and vigorously in the premises.
1t is we'll to teach the wide difference ex-
fsting between coId-bloodsd, premedftait-
ed murder ard assassination, and the
Iisiltdou5 acJ of "a true man who defends
l.he honor OF woman agains. the Wiles
and Vaccinations of a fascin ting de-
cSdver. I'm discussing the matter it is we'll
also to bear in mind from the first that
there oan be no deception where irsep-
arabic legal barriers block thu way 10
honorable marriage. A woman cannot
expect 20 marry "a MAN already married
unless he secures a divorce.
THE south has had a great deal TO bear
from this shotgun policy. It is time to
lc5k closely into ;tlre matter, and punFsh
according to the crime committed.
BALL.