The San Francisco call., 1898-01-17

wise not to expel Dr. Hirschfelder, who sensibly believes that diseases Of the lungs can be guarded against. The conclusion was wise, but the exclusion of pr. dEvelyn from the same club is not applicable. Dr. d'Evelyn has dis covered-or thinks he hasa method of inoculation which will destroy the love of alcoholic tranquility. If he has not, his efforts have been very dis tinctly praiseworthy. Moreover, it will not be very surprising if his theory of alcocytes turns out to be quite accu- rate. What may I ask is the ethical difference between finding a remedy for phthisis and alcoholism?
 Grover Cleveland of unhallowed memory has exhibited his lack of bal ance" again. He is now in evidence pleading to the Governor of California for mercy for Salter D. Worden. He urges it with no more reason than could have been uttered on behalf of Durrant, who, it is cheering to know, has been "heard to cease" If Worden is guilty of the crime charged, hanging is his just due. This is not an instance in which the behavior of the Southern Pacific Company can be considered in any way. That has no bearing what ever on the justice of the sentence if the man be guilty. In cases of this sort it is irrational to talk of the high ly inf1amed state of the public mind" of the suggestion that "he was the tool of others" and last, but not least, that he was drunk" when he committed the crime. These and a half dozen other halting excuses have been made in this mans behalf. Whoever removed the fish-plate which caused the derail- ing of the train which sent brave men to death chose a spot where he knew full we'll fatal results would ensue. Had the attempt to wreck that particu- lar train been made where there was at any rate a possibility of no lives be- ing lost, the action (vile though that would have been) might perhaps tenn per justice with mercy; but the spot chosen for the wreck clearly shows the mind of a fiend. Threats were freely made by the strikers that any train leaving Sacramento could never reach Oakland in safety. It is said that care was taken to have this information cir culated among the United States troops As well as due diligence being exer- cised to let each engineer and train hand know what was intended. Whether the poor fellows who met death in the wreck expected it or not it is impossible to say. but it is prac- tically certain that they knew their peril to be as great as was that of the Gordon Highlanders about whose hero ism. when in the fire zone, we have heard so much recently.
 The United States soldiers who sac rificed their lives on that occasion lie buried beneath a shaft which says Murdered by strikers" I respect the moral courage of the man who ordered the inscription, and still more do I ad- mire the determination that kept the truth on that shaft when personal vio- lence was openly threatened if the ob- noXious words were not erased.
 On Worden's behalf it has been promised again and again that he would reveal the men who were actu- ally the instigators of this crime. The promises have never been kept He stands to-day in the identical position that he did when tried. If Worden Is guilty he should hang; if he be innocent he should be freed.