Year: 1875

Seven months after the shooting of Mr.. Car
ruth, the editor of the Vineland Independent
by Mr.. Lands, his death revives all the in
terest in that singular case. When Mr.. Car
ruth was shot no one expected him to re-
cover, for though men have been known to
live with bullets in their brains instances of
such vitality are rare. But as day after day
passed and he rapidly rallied from the shock
there were feeble hopes that he might alto
gether recover. Mr. Carruth was shot
with pistol ball, nearly half an inch in
diameter, in the back Of the head. On
March 90 the day after the shooting, DR.. S. S.
Gross, one of the ablest surgeons, probed
the wound, removed several pieces of bone,
and declared it impossible to reach
the bullet. Here the surgical treat
ment ended, but that it was complete the
medical testimony Of DR.. Tuller shows, as
mot single piece of bone or any other
foreign substance which could have been
removed by the surgeon was discharged
The patient was thenceforth treated
homoopathically. On June 2 Mr.. Landis
appeared before the Supreme Court of
New Jersey and applied to be released
from Jail at Bridgeton, setting forth that
MIR. Carruth had been out Of danger for
week. He was released, and bail was fixed
at fifty thousand dollars. MIR. Carruth con-
timed to grow better, sold his paper to Mr.
Teall and visited his relatives in New
York. This recovery must have given
Mr.. Lands great satisfaction ; for under
the New Jersey laws he is subject to trial for
murder in the first degree in the event of
Carruth's death within year and day after
the shooting. But within few weeks Mr..
Carruth began to fail, and yesterday morning
he was seized with commissions and after
ward fell into stupor which ended only in
death. The wonder is not that this man,
who carried q bullet in his brain, died, but
that he lived SO long. The post-mortem will
be made to-day, and the results will probably
be important. The case is not less interest
ing in its social and moral aspects. Both of
these men were prominent members of
respectable community. One of them was the
founder of tho town Of Vineland, the other
one Of its leading journalists Carruth had
made a series of attacks upon Landis,
not by name, but in manner which
made it impossible to mistake their
object. These assaults were unjustifable,
and We believe that the public of Vineland
is generally Of that opinion. But Mr..
lands was still moro culpable when no
avenged himself by shooting his enemy.
That he repented of his terrible crime hiss
subsequent course has proved. He ordered
the best surgical aid for his victim and sub
mitted to his imprisonment with patience.
But he could not atone for the evil deed,
though he sought to, and now he is again in
Jail, and liable to 'be tried and punished for
murder, unless the post-mortem examination
shows that Mr.. Carruth did not die from the
effects of the wound, but from other and
distinct causes. Upon that point it is use
less to make any conjecture justice requires
that we shall wait until the surgeons have
reported upon the facts.


Two great evils arc brought into strong
prominence by this sad termination of the
case. The first is the terrible evil that NAV
be done by the false journalism which makes
the power Of the press the instrument of per-
sonal hate. Lands was goaded to the crime
he committed by attacks from which he had
no protection. He reyengcd himself upon
the pen with the pistol But his offence
cannot be extenuated, Ho dafed tbA laws