Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-12-26

was committed, they not ~mfrequently
show many excellent traits of character
which might rave blossumed into better
results had they been more favorably en-
vironed. A man of the highest motives
in life, with a sense of honor and self
respect, but with an ungovernable
temper, and a distorted idea of protect
ing mis- manhood. may become a murderer
If environed by circumstances which sud
denly excite him into activity. Thu it
happens that among those who have
been ncarcerated for life are men
who have the natural qualities of good
citizenship-men who have been ruined
by unfortunate environment rather
than by instincts essentially bad. How
to protect men of this type from the
commission of crime is the problem of
the ages.
A great deal has been written relative
to the reformation of criminals of an
other class-the fellows who prey on the
chattels of their fellown,en; but the
thief, the burglar, the forger, are essen
italy bad. Such crimes are seldom
due to sudden impulses brought out by
environment, but are the indictments Of
a d~eprayity born in the blood and work.
ed out through the bones. There is
little of manhood to be looked for in such
men. The criminal instinct is seldom
eliminated from their hearts.
-
In crime, as in everything else, an
ounce of prevention is worth a pound of
cure. If safeguards should be thrown
around property to prevent the thief and
the burglar from exercising the instinct
to plumber, why hould not safeguards be
thrown II human life, to prevent
the shedding of blood? When the condi-
tions are ripe for a murder-if such an
expression may be permitted-there is
seldom anything in the way to prevent
it's accomplishment. The ever-ready re-
is drawn and the fatal shot is
fired.
The absence of facilities would pre-
vent the commission of a very large pro-
portion of crime. A bloody nose or a
black eye, at most, would serve as a
safety valve for temper, and very often
wounded dignity, if the deadly
weapon was not within easy reach.
Aside from the carefully PLANNED assas-
there are few murderers who do
regret the hasty action which placed
the brand of a felon or their brow.
There is but one way to lessen the per-
of murders growing out of tenn
per, and a hasty impulse to act when the
lot blood mounts to the excited brain.
The sale of revolvers and dirks should
,e prohibited. 1t is not enough to place
IN inhibition upon carrying concealed
Weapons. The state might as WE'LL at
empt to prevent suicide by prohibiting
he carrying of ~laudanum in ones pocket.
While permitted the unrestricted sale of
such p~oisons. Inability to secure the
fatal drug that enables the partaker to
sleep away the fancied trials of life to
awake to the lurid reality of hell, has
prevented many a would-be suicide from
acting on the impulse of the moment. 4
If the purchase of firearms was made !
am impossibility, except under the proper
restrictions, and dealers were not per-
to sell them to all who desired to
carry them, a wholesome check would
be placed Upon crime. AS a rule, re-
forms start at the wrong end of the pro-
gramme. Temperance reforners, for
instance, make war on the saloon-keeper.
of trying to undermine the in
pernal revenue law ON whiskey, where
ought to begin if they expect to
achieve substantial results. In crimi-
lal matters, they seek to protect society
~ converting the murderer, and making
feel sorry after the crime has been
committed, instead on putting a stop
% the indiscriminate sale Of deadly
apons which is responsible for nine
y-fve per cent of the crimes of that
It has been said that "a green Christ
..-. a. co. rr, ri - Ac ~