Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1913-04-25
Is KILLING No Murder?

the Olson-Darling tragedy at st.
Paul, the shot that killed the dellV-
eryman who had wrecked the pro-
fessor's home ended worthless life.
Yet it was a life which the slayer
had no right to take, for i'll coun-
tries governed by law no man is au-
thoriZed to act as judge in his own
case and administer the death pen
atty off-hand to his enemy, no mat
ter how much the latter may have
wronged him.
The public has been made &C
quainted with one side OF the Olson
Darling story-the side which the
Olsons related to the jury. 1t may
have been accurate to a hair breadth,
and it may not, but Darling is dead
and dead men tell no tales. 1t
wrought upon sympathy Of the pub
lie and Of the twelve good men and
true" sworn in to try the case, and
the jury's verdict of acquittal has had
tiiC CI1CNt VI ~ i14Cii oiile'i ling
under wrongs, real or fancied, to the
conclusion that there are instances
in which killing is no murder-in
stances falling under a rule to be
accepted as the unwritten law" SUI
perior to the statutes
Quickly following the acquittal of
Olson has come parallel tragedy in
Milwaukee in which the principals
are colOred-and there may be 9th
ers elsewhere. 1t is highly improb
able that in all the cases of the kind
the men who assume to take the law
into their own hands will go free.
The written law does not always
wOrk-much depends on the temper
Of the jury and the resourcefulness of
ones lawyer. Even the social status
OF the parties concerned may exert
an important influence, though of
course it should not be considered at
all. There are rejecting persons Civ
en- to turning problems over in their
minds who will wonder whether Oh
son would have got off scot-free if
he had been deliveryman and the
violator of his home had been a pro-
fessor or his wife had failed to
develop ability as a star witness.
In some parts of Italy there is a
large part of the population to whom
what it regards as the unwritten law
is more binding upon conduct than
the law of the land. They hold that
the unwritten law gives every man
the right to avenge himself for any
wrong of which he considers himself
the victim. They bring this notion
across the ocean when they come to
settle in the United States. 1t will
be difficult to convince these people
of the untenability of the right of
private vengeance if they read in
the newspapers many verdlcts of &C.
quittal like that which was registered
in St Paul
Let it be understood that any in
divdual has the right to avenge his
wrongs by violence, disdaining ap-
peal to the courts, and resort to vio-
lence will become more frequent.
There will be many who will fancy
it heroic to take upon themselves
the visitation of punishment upon
those they regard as enemies of their
peace. The man who killed the King
of Greece no doubt thought himself
an administrator of heroic justice
under the sanction of unwritten law.
AS a matter of fact there is no such
a thing. There is law, and there is
Let good citizens thought
fully choose whether they will sup
port law Or anarchy by their voice
and their influence in the commun-
tiles in which they live.-Evening
Wisconsin.