The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1903-11-10
. VARIETY OF 1bLE COMMENT.
The. o'.ervant Citizen Does Not
Believe That q Man Ever
from the Eftects of killing An
other Man-dThe Two Kinds of
Men Who Make Successful Gam
blers.

"OI4ONE IlO" IL 1CSIS 70 Kill q
man. said the o~bservant resident. L
wonder if one man who has killed an
!other car cease from thinking about
his victim. Homicide is often justifia-
bic. Some men deserve to be slain for
the things they do: and for certain
icauSeS l can see how one man would
kill another with no more compunC-
ton than he would kill a mad-dOg.
Yet l think the slayer, whether his
faction was right or wrong, never re-
covers from thu effects of his act.
You will notice that men of the right
sort who have taken human life al
Ways avoid discussing the subject;
yet a few such men have talked free
Ily TO me, and [ have found that they
were unhappy. \ friend of mine kill
led a man because there was nothing
else to do. The man was a low char
Iacter; he had injured my friend in
several ways, and finally he made a
bloodthirsty attack la forced the
taking of, his own life. Here was a
clear case not only of great prOvoca-
ton. but of Self-defence; yet this
friend of mine was continually haunt
ed by what he had one He could
never remove the vision of the stumb-
ling. helpless, inert body that gasped
and lay still. His reason told him
he had done no wrong, and yet he
tortured himself by thinking the kill
ing might have been avoided. He had
Iblotted out the earthly career of q
human soul, to use his own express
sion, and this kind of awed him. But
for him the dead man would have
lived on: the good in him might have
conquered, and he might have blessed
Iother lives by upright living. Men,
lory Of the lead weighed upon my
friend. I crept into his business life,
land even in me quiet home circle he
would have to pull himself together
Ito keep from morbidly wondering if
the dead man was In hell and if he
suffered very much down there.
80 much for the worry Of a man
who is all man and has a sensible and
mot too sensitive temperament. How
Iabout these fellows who take life care
IlesslV or in malice and find. after
death, a pretext for the deed? hey
lgo free-of course they go free if they
have any money or position; but to
SAY that they escape punishment is a
lmockery. They know nc peace; not a
one of them who is not a brute, ever
knows any peace. Take this fellow
l'Silver Creek Sam Pearson, who was
Ishot down the other day in Morgan
ton. When he was very young he
Icut a mans thrOat-Walker was his
name and killed him. The law let
Pearson go. but 40 devils got into him
and nagged him ceaselessly. There
was 4 restless screaming something in
him all the time. He used to wake in
the middle of the night and say he
Icouldn't forget how Walker looked
iWhen he fell dow there at his feet,
bleeding so. He fought to get away
from the spectacle and he couldn't.
He was a big, brawny man with the
Iappetlte of a horse, yet recollection
10 ,AnI Iir, - tho last
IT tell you. there IS something
lghastly in the thought of killing a
Thing that can think and talk and
love, and yet has such a little while
in which to shape the destiny of an
immortal soul. For a mere man to
take the prerogatives of Diety and
fix the time When that Thing shall
float out into the Unknown-ah, that
lis awful! What room for ~brOOding!
I am eternally prodding myself by
ipuZZllng over what the other fellow
might have done if he had been allow
led to live was the remark made to
Ime by a man who had happened to
fire first
Observation-Disclosures. Oh, the
Icyn1cal jest! The judge and jury fade
away, but it is a poor triumphant fig
lure who stalks away into White
MIG lIS-l1llO Dldch Idlu o. fleIlIOISe-
He lies when he says he finds ease
lment. He is so branded and scared
within himself that his brain, Stung
beyond hope of cure, will agonize him
It'll ne dies.
"A mans wrestle over his own soul
is the most stupendous tragedy. What
added and terrible burend there must
lbe in being forever Shrouded with the
Igrave clothes Of another man-in con-
lJuring visions of staring eyes and
dark hair and in specializing about
the soul that rudely found unripe
freedom. Such poor leavings are these
when full passion has been gratified."
Only very rich men and professional
gamblers can gamble with safety.
THESE two classes hold cards up their
sleeves and control the big gambling
IgarneS and the little gambling games
that ruin the other men who dabble
therein. The ordinary business man
who is ruined either becomes rich
and refuses to stay rich. or else he is
iapt to drop business and become a
professional gambler. no matter what
he may call himself In courtesy. a
poker game is a good enough illuStra-
Ition. 1t has never been undestanda-
BILE, but the beginner usually wins
wins stupidity and easily at first. and
after that he is part and parcel Of a
scheme hat rObs and shoves away
, the men with the smallest amount of
money. They provide the eagerness,
the the sleepless nights
land the wrecks. and the profits COme
to the careless rich or the sure pro-
I~fessiOnalS. There is n Ovariation to this
!, rule. a gentleman must always be a
loser by poker. because he throws
AWAY his winnings and pays his los
Iings: and in the long run he is vic
Itimized by folk who lave an entirely
different system. In the higher gamh
Ting. or speculation. you a on
the fingers of one hand the men IN
this section Of the country who have
Ibeen successful. Eac man knows q
5 few people who have been on the
f right side Of the cotton market; and
Everybody knows scores and scores OF
, men who are on the wrong side. Tho
> Irich win and the poor lose. and one
: notices as an exception to the rule
+, THAT a few milliOnaires OCCASIONALLY &c
- ibrOkp No man has mnch faith i'm the