The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1919-07-04
THE PSYCHOLOGY OF
ROBBERY AND MURDER

going to engage in a long and tire
some discussion of psychological |
theme, but for a moment let lis con-
slider a thing needing public thought |
leading into crystalization in the form
of law.
Crime has origin in the mind. IL |
not and comes without such origin, the !
mind element is out of it and the GRIM ;
inal is not criminal in the truest |
sense, but fit subject for an asylum
for the mentally deficient. Generally |
speaking crime is of the mind first |
and takes expression in action. How |
true it is that "As man thinketh in his |
heart, so is he." Crimes are mentally |
committed which never receive the |
physical touch.
Speaking directly to subject and
that subject robbery on the highways,
banks, railway trains or in the form
of house-breaking, there is not only
the element of theft, but the ele-
ment of murder. No man ever made
up his mind to rob, who first did not
get his consent to kill if need be. He
| is determined to carry out his pro-
gram at the peril of his life and full
ly resolved not to lose it, but rather
to take life in the defense of himself
in his unlawful purpose. Psychology
cally, we think of him as murderer
and we believe that he should be dealt
with so by organized society.
Murder gets its just reward in
death. The price Of murder is not
steam heated, electric lighted haven
isolated and apart from the world,
and yet having the beauties of the
world there in the form of athletics,
music, books and so. A well balanced
criminal code in our opinion calls for
reading the whirlwind in the sowing
of the wind.
We favor the re-enactment of the
capital punishment statute and the
application of that law to not only the
act of murder, blu to those offenses,
which must of necessity call for men
to consent to kill in carrying out the
criminal purpose if the occasion calls
for it.
A very fashionable pastime now is
robbing banks. They are insured to
be sure, but how long will society toll
crate this scale Of lawlessness? The
ring of the hangman's ak coming in
inaudible tones to the ear of the young
man who contemplates robbing a
bank would be persuasive argument.
Several splendid citizens of this
county were lined up against the wall
of the State Bank of Neelyville Fri
day, June thirteenth, at the point
of revolvers while young man pill
LACED that institution and several
times he threatened death to the party
at the slightest suspicious move out of
them. He would have killed if neces-
sary in his opinion. The party has
his word for it. He used the threat
of murder as the weapon with which
to trample under foot the sovereign
law of Missouri.
Murder itself it seems can best be
punished and certainly best curbed by
statutes which serve as representatives.
I and no cures. The gallows will pre-
vent and while a penitentiary of the
q modern sort much resembling an Ole
: lady's home, may reform the Grim.
: inal, observations are that the rea
s criminal after his first visit feels more
J. free about plying his trade at law.
= leGsness.
II All homicides are not murders
: Some are justifable, some are acct
l. dental. The one who kills a bandit in
- a hold-up, for instance, would he just
s flied. We do not want to be under
O stood as saying that all who have
killed have murdered and should have
o been hung. The mental attitude in
: these cases is as much to be considered
a as in the main subject.
: 1t is very fortunate that the Nicely
villa hnYlr rnhbor uns ga tIrnH and