The Hartford republican. (Hartford, Ky.) 18??-1926, 1912-06-14
Violence in a New York Court.

Ne" iorh lily ~ proDsiDly Tile dnOSt
lawless territory in America. 1t is
the mecca, no doubt, of the men of
violence of all nations. 1t is burdened
by an official neutrality-suspicious..
trative and judicial-so cumbersome,
40 costly and so inefficient that law
protects only the lawless, and justice
is obtained only through individual in
itiative. Elsewhere the Mob sometimes
arises to temper crime and to re-es-
tablish a semblance Of justice, but I'm
New York the Mob is reduced to one
man or small conspiracy of assassins
Take the scene described in the New
York newspapers of Monday as somewh
out of the ordinary. but in no way in
dicative of social anarchy. Selig had
been arraigned on a criminal charge and
released on bail; then follows this short
narrative:
Selig and his lawyer. Louis Spiegel,
walked down the steps of the Centre
SWIVEL ~ lHc Sfliiiiildi SOuTto
building and went across the street, in
tending to go TO Spiegel's office. Just as
the building in which Spiegel's office Is
located was reached, a man known as
Torti pulled a revolver and fired three
times at Selg. One of the shots struck
Selig the back of the head, the other
two going wild. The man who had done
the shooting flung the revolver Mt Big
Jack and then turned to run, but he was
caught by the police.
John Bull and Victor Mareno. pals of
the man who shot Selig. tried to rescue
him and were themselves arrested.
They got me-" said Selig TO Doctor
Mcclure, the TOmbs' physician.
That certainly is a more serious out
break than the oft-described scene in a
Virginia courthouse. when the frieIas
Of an accused man shot up the court for
the New York scene reveals, as If in
flash of lightning, the existence Of
Pa~N~Sohy 6UhS Va ot6 tAhLCu sA<oooSihc
living by plunder. operating through vio-
lence as a system, and using blaclQmaA
as device. In Virginia it was one
family against the whole community.
The machinery of the law for a moment
was shattered. but in little while it
was RECONSTRUCTED and was in full opera
ton. and in full control.
In New York the police Is a standing
army, disolyal to the authorities en-
a.sculated by greed and corruption. owing
to political organization a higher al
legiance than the State; sharer in the
spoils of crime and corruption, yet reg
ularly officered, even To having chap
lains in a city of a thousand churches.
This force of the law is a menace 70
justice.
The condition of Now York is worse
gions of PENNSYLVANIA and the South;
worse than the conditions existing In
the mining regions of the West. because
in New York the evils are those of an
effete, of a decaying, civilization; be-
cause In New York the evils now man
ifesting themselves are ahe evils under
which civilization crumpled in the mid
die ages whereas in Virginia. Tennessee.
Kentucky. North Carolina, Colorado.
Arizona and Nevada. the evils are those
that characterize the early life of a
people; evils that arise In the process
Of progress from an unsettled to a settle
order.
A great people, made up Of varied com
munhies, sometimes arouses itself and
radeems itself. hut no oity-.nOt SodOm
nor Gomorrah. nor Ninevah nor Baby
Ion. nor Jerusalem nor Carthage. nor
Rome-has ever accomplished its own
louisville Herald.