The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1902-12-18

l 49, N sf'"'ul ldlti uc sat QOW
again. exclaiming:
You the murderer OF Matthew Mora
Man, you are mad!"
Mr.. Mitchell sat still and said nothin,
An expression akin to pity and regrt
mtted across his countenance
Gentlemen" pursued Preacher Jim.
VIII tell you the whole story, for there
yet much that will surprise you. muc
that even you. Mr.. Mitchell do not sus
pect But nrst let me ask you-tell IN
about my mother. You were with he
while | went In search of doctor Wha
happenedY How came you to make her
promise to shield me? She did not know
She did not suspect. No. no! II was iul
possble.'
Your mother told me the story OF he
| life and of yours-that Is she told me o
your father, In whose history much tha
relates 10 yourself finds explanation-aye
palliation. Your heritage was bad"
"Ah! She told about the old man, die
she? But what about the promise?"
| She feared that some day you would
| discover who your father is and thai
| then murder might be done. She had hor-
' rible Nightmares. in which she dreamed
that you had paid the supreme penalty OF
| the law"
She was a prophet"
She argued that whichever wickedness
| existed In your nature you had inherited
| from your father. and she asked me II
| ever you should commit a crime that /
would exert my endeavors In your behalf,
| that should reveal your bad ancestry
and urge that as plea for leniency. This
l promised to do, and this l will do"
1T will be unnecessary"
Your mother intrusted TO my care q
number OF letters and papers in which
she said, would find disclosed the iden-
uty or your father. Poor soul, She must
have forgotten that In her anxiety to pre-
unff fro 1aar raf...
taken precautions which left the docu-
ments practically useless. examined
them as soon as l found an opportunity.
and wherever a name must have occurred
II had been cut out"
MY poor mother! She at least loved
me. whatever wrong she did In bringing
me into the world. But let me tell YOU OF
my crime. At the outset / will surprise
you. For years have loved Lillian
Vale"
You loved Lillian Valet" exclaimed Mr..
Mitchell. 'Extraordinaryw,
More so than you dream Yes; I have
loved her since she was little child /
loved her then, and loved her more as
she hlossomed- wemanhood. But.
though loved her faithfully, ardently,
my passion was hopeless"
Why SO? Could you not win her affec-
tions In return?"
Perhaps. I never sought TO do so. You
Forget the advice which you heard me
give TO others In my lecture-my sermon.
] might call II. Do you think that
would tell other born criminals to DENY
themselves the pleasure OF having on
spring and myself not have strength to
abide by my own doctrine? No, am a
criminal. congenitally degenerate. 1t
was crime to bring such as I am into
the world. II would be a greater sin for
me 10 become father"
You are n strange combination of GOOD
and evil. Preacher Jim
That Is true OF all men He who Is con-
sidered wholly good is merely one In
whom the good greatly preponderates.
The converse Is also true, and the worst
men have some good In their natures.
That might be their salvation were this
truth recognized and acted upon. but IL is
not. The whole world. save perhaps
very few who are regarded as fanatical
dreamers, look upon the criminals case
as hopeless. reformation impossible. He
Is merely thing to be despised, to be
bounded. 10 be imprisoned II he steals
what he cannot earn. to be slain II at
length he turn upon those who have
driven him to despair. This Is the crime
Of civilization. II is the crime of the CEN
tury."
DO you hear that Mr.. Barnes-the
crime OF the century? Preacher Jim
defines IL for you. You thought II was
aht Milling VI hdttneW mora, but Il fold
you that IL was not the crime of nny
one man. Now you learn what II Is.
IL Is the blind bigotry with which boasted
civilization tortures the degenerate prod
ucts or its own vices. making hard laws
Tor their punishment and measuring their
acts by the standards OF sound and nor
NAL manhood. That. Mr.. Barnes. is the
crime of the century, a crime which must
be eradicated In the next century. or else
a. ...ltt =
wrought ruin upon the race"
You are right, Mr. Mitchell. My own
case Is bitter example of the truth OF
the doctrine which YOU advocate. am
what you aptly called degenerate prod
uct OF vice in another. say this not as
a plea for myself. but merely as an as
sertion OF the truth. But let me con-
tnue. A l have said, have always
loved Lillian Vale. despite my recogni-
ton OF the fact that she never could be
mine. But soon man named. or,
rather. calling himself. Morton came upon
the scene. He was wealthy as well as
handsome, just the sort OF man to turn
> young girls head. lie won her heart.
At nrstc when l saw him making love
10 her, I would have strangled him but
'or the constant effort which I always
made to overcome my homicidal tenden-
lies. Later. when I discovered that
Lillian had learned TO love the man. 1
would not have harmed him for the world.
And so he found the opportunity 20
win from her all that a girl should hold
most sacred. went away for a time,
loping that absence would give me |
strength TO bear my loss. without Yield |
NIX TO the criminal proclivlties which |
merely smoldered within my bosom |
When returned. l found Lillian had |
'ocome a mother Again II was with |
ne greatest difficulty that I refrained |
rom murder. but the motive for auch |
m act was merely Jealousy IL was /
he fear OF becoming the father of a
HID OF hers. OF seeing in the beIoved
arling OF my wife a reproduction OF
ny own degenerate self. which had
pst me my Lillian. And now 10 see her
ondlng the offspring OF another was
ard indeed 10 bear But did not then
now of the degradation into which he
ad plunged her thought they were
ndeed welded. as they pretended 10
e. II had known the truth. I would
ave killed him"
Poor fellowl How you have suf-
ared,"
The weeks and the month. rolled
y. Slippery Sam one OF my truefed l