Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1901-10-04

There Are Others.

The prison doors have closed upon
David Henry Lewis, a man long en-
trusted with the money and the con-
fidence of some of the best known and
most influential men of the state. But
there is something to be said for him,
something that Justly should be said
for him, yet. David Henry Lewis is
no criminal degenerate. A man of
amiable, genial disposition, of unset
fish instincts, animated by an intense
desire to be good fellow" a jealous
worker for his friends and ambitious
for himself, he yielded to temptation
in an evil hour and betrayed his trust.
The Messenger finds it difficult to be-
lieve that his offence was inspired by
the sordid impulse of theft for the
mere sake of personal gain. 1t be-
lieves that in all probability there were
circumstances accompanying his
wrongful acts that bore directly upon
his peculiar weakness and lured him
into technical crime before he was
even designing to enrich himself by
the doing of it. Lewis fell by his own
negative weakness and not because he
was a positive criminal. He is en-
titled to a large measure of sympathy,
although he richly deserves to be
punished. He is entitled to more than
that. When he at last emerges from
prison, If he evinces a disposition to
begin life again and live up to the
best and highest standards of Vermont
citizenship, every man who now ap-
proves his sentence should extend him
a helping hand.-[St. Albans Messen-
ger.
The Messenger is a paper which in
spires respect and admiration by its
fairness and candor, but its heart gets
away with it's head in this case. The
Phoenix has no wish to throw rocks
at a man who is down, but it fails to
see where mitigating circumstances
come in for D. H. Lewis. He attempt
ed to shine in politics and society on
a comparatively small salary, and find
ing his income insufficient, falsified the
accounts of the bank of which he
was a trusted official. He was not
tempted by the greed of gain, to be
sure. he was simply lying to keep up
course for years, and maintained a
| bold front when confronted with evi
dences of his wrong doing. His down
| fall is in many respects like that OF
| Mcclure of Rutland, now serving q
sentence of seven years in the house
of correction. Both were gifted with
! personal graces which made them
genial and attractive. The descrip
ton of Lewis as king of hosts and q
prince of good fellows" would apply
also to Mcclure. Because these mer
possessed charming social qualities
and won the friendship of honest meI
is not a reason for throwing around
them a rosy veil of charity. The verI
fact that they were honored and es
teemed ought to have acted as a de
terrent from wrong doing. They dC
not appear to have been grievously
| tempted as many poor wretch ha:
been. They simply went astray o
their own volition in order to lead {
life of appearance Beyond their means
No one will say that either has re
ceived a sentence incommensuratt
with his guilt. 1t would have beer
well for these men if they had simply
lived up to the adage "it is better t
be just than to be generous"
1t is well enough to sympathize will
these charming rascals, but when We
do so we ought not to forget that ou
prisons are filled with hundreds o
poor wretches who never had half thu
chance these men had, and who, friend
less and forlorn, gave way to tempta
tion. We have only to look behint
the bars at Rutland and Windsor tt
find men more entitled to our pity thai
Lewis and Mcclure.