The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1908-07-18
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O3O3O9O4OHO|OT
A street demonstration in Paris al
ways means so much more than it
does anywhere else, and for this rea-
son We must give peculiar signii-
canoe to the infuriated crowd that
filled the Place de Ia Republique
the other day and demanded venge-
ance upon Soleillant, who murdered
a twelve-year-old girl. Paris crowds
are apt to do something quite differ
ent from their original intent. be-
cause the government Is always con-
sidered as the fons ct origO Of all
calamities, from a foreign war clear
down the scale to crop failure. For
that reason the police look with sus-
picion upon the two or three gath
cred together" and persuade them to
move on before they get to the voci-
ferrous stage. which is an early one.
But this particular crowd was NOV
ed by a worthy sentiment. A little
girl had been horribly murdered and
the death sentence upon the murderer
had been committed. The atrocity
which so excited the good people OF
the Faubourgs was not an isolated
one There had been series of these
horrors comparable only with those
that have disgraced New York. I'm
til the arrest of Soleillant the police
had been helpless. Children had been
c%r off niohfSo1v
from fear of a fiend who might well
have been the incarnated lust and
cruelty of the age. Paris was SUI
fering from one of those epidemics
of abnormal and purposeless crime
which form the night side of civiliza-
ton.
No one knows for how many Of
these tragedies Soleillant was respon-
sible, but every one knows that he
certainly killed little Martha Erberd-
ing. There is no manner of doubt
about that, and there is no need to
enlarge upon the accompanying atroc-
tiles, of which even a man eating
tiger would be ashamed. II he had
been promptly decapitated, as would
have been done year or two ago. the
agonized motherhood of Paris would
have been appeased, for after all you
can do no more to man than Kill
him. But Soleiliant was reprieved
by President Fallieres and his sent
ence COMMITTED to one of penal servi-
tude for life. Then Paris protested,
without, we may suppose, any due
realization that penal servitude in
France is a fate which only the ex-
IRENE of human depravity could pos
sibly deserve.
The demonstrations began in
small way and at several different
points. But the sections soon con-
verged and a vast crowd moved to-
ward the Place de la Republique.
There were cries of death to Soleil-
lant!" and then some ingenious per-
son shouted Down with Fallieres."
and of course the police began to
get busy. Far smaller crowds have
put up barbados and for less rea-
son. The c0ncourse was led by
woman who had little girl upon her
shoulders, and such leadership ap.
pealed to the crowd as being in the
eternal fitness of things. Appearances
began to be ugly, and although the
rapidly arriving police reserves broke
up the crowd again and again, it was
continually reforming until its energy
was finally exhausted. Then every
one went homo.
Capital punishment is. of course,
at an end in France, and no number
of demonstrations can re-establish 1t.
Evolution does not move backward
and it is the general opinion that
the guillotine will never again be
seen on the Place de Ia Roquette
or anywhere else. 1t will be no loss.
Its spectre threw a shadow over the
city, while 80 1nr from being a warn.
ing to the evil-disposed. the ill-ome1ed
Place became . gathering ground for
the human ofPal that floats to and fro
in the social sewers Of the French
capital and that esteems every man
in proportion to hts criminality and
his bravado. II executions had been
In private, 1t may be that Paris
would not have siekened Of them 10
soon. Here in France every one who
has eyes to see knows exactly what
capital punishment means. and now
that the satanic thing has been done
away with there is little likelihood Of
its revival.
The whole question of criminality
must come to the front in Paris very
Soon-perhaps elsewhere also. The
police can NO longer stamp 1t out
of sight or pen 1t up In the dark