Middletown transcript., 1901-08-24
SUMMARY JUSTICE

There was disturbance i'll New York
not long ago. A starved tired, sick horse
was dragging truck loaded with coping
stones along Broadway. Its strength
gave out and it dropped The driver be-
labored the wretched animal with a
heavy wlip, jerked with all his strength
upon t reins and finally pulled the
horse ~ is knees. Then he renewed his
beating.
This performance caused a crowd to
gather, and it was not long before the
temper of that crowd became warmer
than even the high temperature of an
August day would warrant. The driver
was warned to stop, and threatening
gestures were made in his direction, but
he was stubborn sort OF person, and
the more the crowd talked the more
fercely he thrashed the horse. He fin
ally succeeded in driving away, but at
the pace he was able to go the crowd
could easily keep up with him, and did
When he began to beat the horse once
more the crowd closed in on him, and a
policeman of the Broadway squad ar
rived on the scene. Then the crowd be-
gan to tell the policeman what to do.
One well dressed man said, "Arrest him,
and I'll make complaint" The driver,
his temper now up as high as that of the
crowd, declined to get off his seat, and
there was general cry Of ''Pull him off
that truckr'
1t did not take long to do it. a dozen
people hustled the man off his seat, and
some more unhitched the horse, and an
elderly man gave the prisoner a cordial
blow on the side of the face He did
not need to follow the Biblical injunction
to turn the other cheek, for there were
people on the other side of him ready to
attend to that cheek, and two or three
chorus girls hit him over the head with
their umbrellas. Altogether, he spent
the next few minutes being hustled about
and thrashed, while the horse rested and
looked on, and it is to be hoped that the
animal enjoyed it. As soon as the po-
liceman could get through the crowd he
marched his prisoner Off to Jail.
OF course, it is not to be argued that it
is always best for the public to take the
law into its own hands, but there are
times when it seems to be unavoidable.
If the man had been maltreating woman
or a small boy of Broadway at that time
Ol udy, VI dl ttHy lIillG WIlGll llleI6 was Il
crowd about, he would probably have
been made to suffer quite as severely,
and the spectators would not haye waited
for the police. The kind of rascal who is
given to pounding those who are mani
testify unable to defend themselves
against him knows perfectly well that
the public will not stand any doings of
the sort in public. He therefore confines
that sort of brutality to the privacy of
his own. He has quite enough intelli-
gence and self-control to do that There
is no reason why he should not be made
to feel the same need of self-restrain in
the case OF horse or any other dumb
animal The trouble has been hitherto
that the public conscience was not suffi-
GENTLY awake to notice whenever big,
rough bully thrashed horse. 1t is just
as proper for crowd to stop that sort of
proceeding as for the passersby to inter
fere to stop any other sort of misde-
meanor until the police arrive. One can
not feel sorry for the individual who fig
ures in this case. He was big, strong and
healthy, and he suffered for a few min
utes modified form of the misery he
had inflicted on a wretched, sick, half
starved animal whose life he had made a
perpetual calvary.