The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-07-25
DEATH OF AN ASSASSIN.

DEATH OF AN ASSASSIN.
Horrible beyond expression were the last mo-
ments and the death of the unhappy man Ala,
who was executed last week for tht unprovoked
murder of priest in Denver. Calling dow. male
dictions on all priests, repudiatine God denying
the existence of hereafter and shouting in Itai-
ian "Eviva Italia !-Hurrah for the Protestantsn'
he died an awful death When notified of the
hour for his execution Giuseppe Ala. murderer
and anarchist, expressed no regret for his shame
ful and cowardly deed uttertd prayer for mer-
cy. but professed to glory in his crimes. On his
way from his cell to the place of execution the
heart went out of the man. His face was tine face
81 sin and cowardice materialized, and his spoken
words were the language of the possessed, foul and
shameful. When ascending the scaffold Ala he
came frantic and rent the air with demonac cries,
yells and curses which were still echoing within
tie prison walls when the doomed man went down
TO death.
As if designed by some fiend to add to the hor-
of the gruesome scene and perpetuate its mem
cry. the drop that ought to have broken his neck
and end at once the mans life did not do so. Dan
Cling in the air. the body writhed in convulsions
and for a full quarter of an hour swayed and cir
cled till the wretched victim of the law literally.
strangled to death. And so this sinful and muir
derous man died and the law was avenged. Though
twelve intelligent citizens pronounced Ala sane
and responsible for his atrocOus crime against So
ciety, we believe the man was morally and men
tally degenerate. He was as an infant in his
mothers arms. washed in the sacramento waters Of
BAPTISM he was in his early boyhood probably in
oil ~, {, Ill.
and to himself Being an Italian he was likely
prepared for his first communion and partook cf
the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ. and mayhap
received the Sacrament of Confirmation Soon
after he chose his own life and the way he should
live it. He fed on impurity of thought and act
sought the companionship of the depraved, plotted
iniquity, and his tongue became foul and his lips
bstered with profanity and blasphemy The last
patch of his decayng faith left him. fell away
from him falls from the shoulders of the Nea-
politan beggar the remnant of motheaten cloak
and Giuseppe Ala stood III the presence of his
Creator morally naked, foul and liberated thing
made so by his own determined will Then after
years of beasts life, the fine texture of the hui
man brain began to decay, the will to weaken and
the distinction in the intellect between right and
wrong, between good and evil, to disappear, and
the man became insane with what the Holy Ghost
terms The madness of lust Sane or insane.
when these monsters do not destroy then,lelves bv
suicide or die from excess of sin before they be-
come criminaly deranged, the law must crush them
out. stamp them out, as noxious things loath-
some to the eye and dangerous to life.
1t Is noteworthy and suggestive that the insan-
ity of these sinful men always takes the complex
ion of hatred of religion and contempt for civil
Unable to destroy abstract truths they
accumulate murderous designs which by degrees
sohdify into attacks against the ministers of rel
gion or the soveregns of che state. be they kings.
emperors presidents.
When allowed 80 multiply and form oath-bound
conspiracies they become in large centers of pop
ulatlon, serious menace to society Their hatred
to established order develops into fanaticism
fierce in its design and murderous in its expres
sion. 1t is impossible to convince them tbev are
not right, and when any one of them is convicted
of murder and sentenced to be hanged or TO i'm
prisonment for life he at once becomes hero and
a martyr.
Not many years ago some of our newspapers.
when commenting on the assassination Of Euro
pean sovereigns, called these murders revolt
against despotism, but when three of our own pres
ldents III the freest land EARTH were foully done
to death by the same people, the editors began to
scratch their heads for a reason
No, it is not a revolt against despotsm 1t is
rebellion against God against religion. against
civil authority, against law and order
st. Louis preacher sent out circular letter
to lot of laborng men. asking them why they
lid not attend church. One answered the letter