The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-03-24
PLACE OF THE BURDICKS.
They Did Not Represent People Fash
iOnabIe I'm Buffalo.
Buffalo Express.

Buffalo Express
The Brooklyn Eagle is not yellow jour-
nal, but apparently it pays some heed to the
raries across the bridge. The Eagle re-
marks:
The state of affairs thus revealed as ex-
listing in the fashionable set In which Bur-
dick moved is not peculiar to Buffalo. The
morals of that indefinite something called
society in that city are neither worse nor
better than the morals of society in other
places, where inclination and opportunity
combine to put premium on vicious indul-
gence. Whether the police investigation
leads to the conviction of any one or not,
it will have the salutary effect of holding up
to the condemnation of decent people the
moral turpitude of certain scallywags, male
and female, who ought to have known bet
ter. Murder Is high price TO pay for the
exposure of scandal. but there are some
cost. Besides, the real society OF Buffalo,
like the real article in New York, is decent.
The other sort, spelled with a big s. or put
between quotation marks, or called or call
ing itself, the Smart Set,' Is of no conse-
quence anywhere except to the yellows or
to the police"
mixed. The Burdicks and their friends were
neither rich nor fashionable. They belonged
to the middle classes" In every sense of
that imported term. They have only been in
Society with cap since the Lady Report
er and the Staff Artist and the Chief of the
(newspaper) Detective Bureau discovered
the Elmwood district and this murder mys-
terry The possession of couple of golf
Set, even in benighted Buffalo.
The Eagle will probably agree with US
that the newspapers are not nice reading
for children nowadays. Everybody connect
ed with this tragedy has had his or her
"antecedents" spread open even unto the
third and fourth generation. A woman is
mentioned. Immediately We are given some
''spicy reading about her deceased father,
or 1t is insinuated that her husband may
have committed bigamy at some time or
other. As the Eagle remarks, 1t could all
be endured in a good cause. But does the
end justify the means? Listen to District
Attorney Coatsworth on that point. He is
quoted in the Buffalo Courier as saying:
do you believe that husband traced his
wife to Burdicks house and there made a
discovery which brought Burdick's death?"
NO." said Coatsworth, land along those
few facts. Who knows that Burdick was in
the habit of making engagements with
women; who knows that there was a single
blemish on his moral career?
1--WE have not been able to discover any
downfalls in his past He has been branded
as man who was constantly involved in
intrigues with women; was branded as
man of but little moral character. Let me
say TO you that we have so far been unable
to discover any foundation for such state
ments or inuendoes.
tice nowadays for many to sneeringly say,
when the name of a man who is dsliked
comes up: He's got a bad reputation
Though there have been many statements
about Burdick's alleged immortality, we
have been unable to find a stain upon his
private life. We have traced down many
of the rumors; have worked hard to estab-
lish the fact that he was in the habit of
carrying on intrigues with women, and that
he was constantly involved in such affairs.
We get nothing tangible. People say that
Burdick was notorious for his affairs. They
give US no aid in establishing the truth Of
those statements"
If this is true of the principal in the af-
fair. 1T is as likely to be true of the sus-
poets and alleged accessories and accom-
plices. 1t all goes to show that common
rumor is usually a common liar-and the
yellow journal is her handmade. And yet
we do not blame the newspapers. even the
yellowest of them. overmuch. 1t is their
boast-the yellow ones-that they give their
readers what they want, while the best
newspaper is at least as good as its best
reader. AS Mr.. Coatsworth has shown the
yellows have but unearthed rumors that
were current in this community before ever
the wise men came from Gotham. Even in
the "Burdick circle private individuals
have been found wonderfully willing to be-
tray their friends to the extent of selling
their photographs or retailing gossip about
them.
There are many moral lessons contained
in the Burdick tragedy-''but the greatest
of these is charity"