The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1901-09-20
THIRST FUR NOTARIETY.
One of the Things thst an Assassin lives
on .-.Roo Is Admirable Request.

on .-.RoO s Admirable Request.
st. Paul Globe:
The order of Secretary Root, forbid
ding access to Czolgosz by newspaper
reporters and the public generally, is
of the greatest Importance. As a gen
eral rule, assassins draw their inspira-
ton for their dastardly deeds from the
anticipation of the notoriety which
they will receive. They may be
anarchists, they may have private
grievance to adjust, or they may deem
themselves the avengers of party
wrongs, yet the sustaining considera-
ton, at last, is the worldwide COM
ment which their act will excite. To
be regarded as hero even by small
class and a monster by the balance of
the world is, in the minds of such, to
have lived and not in vain
To prevent the publication of sensa-
tional stories about the personal attrl-
butes of the wretch; to keep his name
as much as possible from the lips of
the curious; to reduce the Importance
of the acU to the low level of the COM
monplace, is to rob the act of the set
tings which so strongly appeal to these
morbid natures.
This principle was recognized by the
Italian government when it concluded
to imprison the assassin of King Hum
bert for life, rather than to allow him
t. pose as a martyr on the scatfold.
This was a stroke of policy justified
by keen knowledge of human nature
John Wilkes Booth surrounded the
murder of Lincoln with all the dra-
matte settings OF the stage. He not
only choose Ford's theatre in which to
do the deed, but all the accessories
were in keeping with the desire of the
man for dramatic effect. The leap
from the box where the deed was done,
to the stage; the flourish of the bloody
knife with which he had stabbed
Major Rathbone as he exclaimed to
the audience in his most tragic tones
"Sic Semper tyrannis, showed
clearly that although Booth was ORR
ginally inspired by hatred of the cause
of which Lincoln was the great ex-
ponent, he was sustained by the fact
that the opportunity was pregnant
with great dramatic posi- Utilities.
Previous to the assassination, in
conversation with a friend regarding
the possible assassination of the presi-
dent, owing to the then infamed
Southern sentiment, Booth remarked
that 1.-THE aspiring youth who fired
the Epheslan dome, outlived in fame
the pious fool who raised it,. Booth
knew that his name would go down
in history coupled everlastingly with
the greatest name Of the age He
cared not whether his act brought
fame or infamy-he would become i'm
mortal.
How much of that sentiment entered
into the consideration of Guiteau and
Czolgosz does not SO clearly appear,
but it no doubt served to sustain their
courage and nerve their arms. The
public trial of such men is an unfor-
tunate necessity in our civilization. 1t
gives them the opportunity they de-
sire. Swift punishment at the stake
should be their portion. 1t is here
where mob law should be supreme.
Civil Justice should not be called upon
to reward crime; for public trial
in such cases becomes a reward. Phys
icial torture under the most ignomin-
GUS circumstances should be certain.
Nothing else will reach such degener
ates and stay their murderous arm.
This may sound brutal, but it is not.
1t is the only human means of reach
ing such cases.
The reports show that Czolgosz is a
physical and moral coward. 1t is the
wrath of the mob he fears not pub
lie trial and a public execution. To
convict him in open court, sentence,
and hang him would be like placing a
wreath upon his brow and registering
his name among the immortals.