The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-09-24
The Alarming Feature Of the Presi-
dents Assas sination.

To the Editor: No one could
have more respect foc Presil mt !. X n
ley than l had. No ono coul,.
feel more horror at his foul ta,5irr
off than j did. But to my mind tho
alarming thing is rot the reconstruction
or even the fact that we have in our
midst a band OF anarchists every ono OF
them potential CZolgosz. 1t was the
dangerous hystera which it mas Dtoyci,
the American people, capable Of !. avs
terra which in one instance has rot.
only set back the clock for three centu-
ries, but tends to prove that the tense and
unwholesome life we lead is impairing
our sturdy racial fibre faster than ever
pessimism has dared believe.
Looking back across the centuries we
shudder at the thoughts of Spanish
Inquisition and our faces whiten at the
name of Torquemada. Yet what did Tor
qucmada monster that he was. or the
inquisition, engine of nell that it was, to
thus draw on themselves eternal exc
Grafton. They simply inflicted pain to cx-
fcrt confession. Human hearts were stout
and human endurance great in those DAYS
ard it required refinement of torture to
open the mouths of all whom church or
State would have speak. That was the
object and end of the torture then in
hicted. But man passed onward by such
practices setting upon them the seal of
his curse. AS soon as he reached the
stage of calm reflection he found in them
not only the sum of all cruelty but of all
unwisdcm For 1t was seen that while
they degraded and hardened all con-
cerned they were worse than useless in
extorting truth.
How remote all those things seem How
far from and above it all we have been
pluming ourselves that we are. How
incredible. how impossible it seems that
in this year of grace 1901, on which beats
all the light of all the ages, we
apostles of humanity and common sense
as applied to ethics as we claim to be,
should hear unmoved if not with appro-
baton, that the nqusition had been re-
incarnated at Buffalo.
Although it has been publicly announc-
ed that Czolgosz has been subjected to
torture to extort the names of his ac-
completes, the public hysteria is so great
that no word of dcnunciation has as far as
| have heard been raised. Now no matter
what the form of torture may be- it is a
most dangerous and insidious innovation.
That the people in any mood should sane
ton or suffer it denotes dangerous de-
parture from. the wholesome and saving
principles that above all things have
made our race what it is. The nature Of
the tortures to which the assassin was
subjected is nothing. The principle is
everything.
We not only haye a right but it is our
duty to exclude and eXpel all rabid enc
mics to social and political order as we
see it, The Pree'aort ~ that he is called
upon to take extraordinary risks of as
sassination. should be given extraordin-
airy protection. 1t may possibly be neces-
sary to make an assault upon him with
murdcrous intent a capital offense Still
it is very doubtful that such a law could
deter anarchists who seek martyrdom in
such acts.
The discharge of Government employees
for hasty and silly words of
as to the assassination is lese majesty
with vengeance and should not be toll
Grated The tongue is an unruly. member
VIGOROUSLY, and it's nero idle wagging
should in this land of forbearance work
no mans undoing No one man in ten
meant what he said. If he did even the
contempt of his auditors is punishment
enough.
repeat that the IN American, I'm
Saxon mood into which he have fallen in
our attitude to the assassin is start
ling thing to rejecting people. After all
what is a dispicable wretch like Czolgosz
but the extreme product of such life of
hysteria as we now as a people lead. But
what else could all this fast eating, ice
water. hemlock potions, coca, cola and our
life of stress and drinking end in. The
sage who when railroads were first i'm
vented declared that a speed of beyond
ter miles an hour would be destructive
to mankind was wiser than he got credit
for being.
Q. w. BLACKNALL.
Kittrell. n. G. -, IL,