The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1903-03-25
THE GREAT DESTROYER
SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT
THE VICE OF INTEMPERANcE.
George NeIs. the MaiTicide-Are There
Not Some Young Men who h1ighs
Probably Read This Editorial From
the New York Evening Journal?

Probably Resd This Editorial From
the New York Evening" Journsis
Murder is almost as old az the race. but
natricide IS comparatively q rare crime.
Many are the hands that have been stained
with blood, but for the honor of humanity
be it said it il but seldom that that blood
Is the blood Of a mother.
The story of George Nelk has already
gone the length and breadth Of the land,
and millions OF hearts have been saddcncd
by the young mans Satanic brutality.
This strange monster in human form,
George Eelk, lived with his aged mother
and half.witted sister. At least, he stopped
in the same house with them when he was
not elsewhere.
George Nelk was not q model young
man. He drank, he Sambled, he kept com.
pany with bad men and worse women.
It seems that he became infatuated with
. disreputab!e woman. who had an eye for
business. and who had intinated to Nelk
that il he wished to keep her company he
would have to see 10 it that he was well
supplied with money.
The infatuation was complete. The moth
had dallied with the fame until it was too
late for it TO get away from it.
But where was the money coming from?
"Ah! / see," said the crime-crazed son.
my mother has kept q little store for
many years. She has saved up some
money. I will kill her, get hold OF her
money, and with that money I will make
my peace with this woman"
He vas as good rs his word. From :he
side OF the painted devil by whom he was
SO strangely fascinated he went to, his
mothers store, found her in the little back
room, doing in her rocker after the days
work, and dealt her the blow that killed
her!
The deed was done-and the poor cid
woman's hard-earned savings were now the
sons!
Upon a slip of paper left upon the table
he wrote these terrible words: II have
$1,000, and am going to have q good time.
Then | will kill myself."
Back to the woman he went with the
$1,000, and the rest will be known Later.
Such is the awful story, told in the plain
est possible terms.
And the question may well arise: as
there not that in the story which many
young men may ponder upon with proit!"
George Nelk murdered his poor old moth
sr by hitting her upon the head with q
Ratchet.
That Is one way to murder . mother.
But it is not the only way.
Very few young men murder their moth
crs by blows on the head with . hatchet,
but many o time they murder them in
other ways that arc just as effective and
just as cruel.
George Nelk broke his mothers head
arc there not many other sons who break
their mothers' hearts?
And between the two ways of killing .
mother it is hard to say which is the more
! criminal or cruel.
To split the mothers head with Q
Ratchet seems the more brutal, but, after
Is it not equally brutal to rend Q moth
er's heart, to keep her awake night after
night in restless ecstacy,"' wondering
when the bell will ring. and il when Il
alive? -
And what is the matter with all Of these
unnatural sons-those who murder their
mothers with hatchets, as George Nelk did,
and those who murder them with worry
and trouble?
One word tells the whole story-whisky.
Whisky is.a demoralizer. It breaks up
the foundations of character; it undoes at
one fell swoop all that the mother has been
lovingly working for for years. and out OF
the boy who might otherwise be a JOY to
his home and an honor to his race it makes
o matricide-a murderer OF his mother.
This editorial is not meant as an insult
to any young man. The writer recognizes
the fact that the most natural thing in the
world is for the. son TO love and honor his
mother, and to wish only for her peace and
happiness. And the writer of this editorial
knows that, but for the brutaliziLg, de-
moralizing influence Of whisky, mothers
would almost universally be happy In their
children. IA
And so we commend to the young men
Of this community the moral Of this story.
That moral is soon told:
>IAk whiskv a1onet IN that and The dey.
lis Of fainorse will never hold their hcllish
Orgies in your soul. Do that, and those
who shall pass through the cemetery in
which you are finally laid at rest will never
be able to point to YOUR grave aad say:
There lies q matricidc."