The daily morning journal and courier., 1898-02-28
PRESS COMMENTS.
A lust Sentence.

Perhaps no Connecticut criminal has ever gone to life imprisonment or to the gallows, with as little human sym pathy attending him as the miserable | Owen Murphy, whose throwing of Vii trioI blinded and disfigured comedy girl for life. Even the Maudlin sympa- thy sometimes extended to condemned murderers as they march to the gal lows was denied Murphy as he en- tered the gates of the prison.-New London Day.
 Poverty and Crime.
 In the history of this country there | never were such years of enforced likeness among workmen as the years 1898 and 1894, and since that time high | way robbery has increased in New England until the situation in all sec tons has become alarming. It only l shows the demoralizing effect and dan ger of any policy which paralizes busi- | ness and impoverishes the people. Hard times never improve the morals of a people or the criminal record. With few years of prosperity crime | is sure to decrease.-Norwich Bulletin. Johnson vs. George.
 Representative Johnson is soundly right about some things, but not about l all things. He says that well-equipped | armies and navies lead to friction and war" That was not the opinion or George Washington, it is not! the teaching of history, common sense re- jects it, human experience disproves ] it. The solidest guarantee of peace any peace loving nation can have is known preparedness for war Its coast batteries and it's battleships as sure it's tranquility. They are preven- | tives and eguards.-Hartford Cour- ant.
 l To Help the Suffering.
 Reports from Washington are to the effect thatBthe sentiment of congress Is l favorable to giving the families of the | men lost on the Maine something be- | sides pensions. The plan seems to be l to allow the heirs of those who lost their lives sum equal to the pay the men would have received in a certain l period, the members of the committee l differing only as to the limit, winch ranged from three to twelve months. In addition the wives mothers and dependent relatives are eligible for pensions. It is probable, also, that the officers, sailors and marines who es- capped will be compensated for personal losses-Meriden Republican.
 Diverse News.
 The difficulty of really knowing any thing about what the divers have | found and what caused the Maine ex- plosion is freshly illustrated by this | mornings news. The Herald says l that the divers found that the six-inch magazine and the ten inch magazine
 situated forward, side by side accord in diametrically opposite directions
 The Sun says that the forward mag azine was not blown up at all, mean ing apparently as shown by its owr
 chart, the ten-inch magazine whicl
 the Herald says was blown in an op- posite direction from the six-inch mag
 azine. The puzzle of war map is plain sailing compared with unravel-
 ing the mystery of the conflicting sto-
 ries sent from Havana by supposedly
 reliable correspondence aterbury
 American.
 South Carolina's Crime.
 It is a henious crime to be born a ne
 gro in South Carolina, and if a persor
 down there is both black and an of
 f1ce-holder, the offence is capital one
 punishable by death. Not only that
 but his family is liable to be shot ant
 cremated too; and even an infant a
 the breast gets a bullet in the skull
 We wonder if anybody who read ii yesterday mornings papers about th'
 atrocious assassination of the coloret
 postmaster at Lake City, S. C., o1
 Washington's birthday, could well re
 strain his indignation and his shame
 The native white folks of the Palmet
 to state can condone any other offence
 but the crime of being born black ant
 the whole moral law. We should thinl that some section of South Carolina !, as shown by the unprovoked traged.
 at Lake City, are about two huckle berries less civilized than the mos , barbarous district in Darkest Africa Waterbury Republican.