OCR Text |
Show CRIME INCREASING. The United States is a vast and well populated country, and under such circumstances there is bound to be more or less crime. It is becoming evident, however, that the percentage is much too high. Scarcely a day passes without an atrocious murder being be-ing committed somewhere in the country coun-try some of the most awful crimes committed being due to degeneracy. Perhaps some allowance should be made for a man who slays a fellow creature in the heat of passion, but he should be punished nevertheless. For the man who commits murder while in the act of robbing a house or holding up a citizen upon the highway there should be a swift and certain application applica-tion of the law. The liberation of Harry K. Thaw from the New York asylum for the criminal insane has been followed by orgies similar to those which led up to tho killing of Stanford 'White on the roof garden ten or more years ago. After spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to liberate him from Matte-awan, Matte-awan, the members of the Thaw family have .become convinced that he is a menace to society, and through counsel have allowed it to be become known that the3' are now willing he should be placed under restraint before he has another opportunity to offend society so-ciety by following what seems to be his natural bent. Dislike upon the part of the rank and file of the American people peo-ple for the relentless conduct 'of District Attornej- Jerome awakened sympathy for Thaw and had much to do with his being turned loose. It is needless to say, however, that if he is shut up in an asylum a second time he will remain under lock and key. The killing of the Colbert girl in Philadelphia, followed by the suicide of her alleged slayer- the murder of the Simon girl at Columbus, Ohio, followed by confession upon the part of the man who mutilated her body; the most recent tragedy in Denver, resulting in the shooting of one Smith by his wife, are all crimes of the last week or two. Ordinary murders have been numerous, but receive little attention on account of the sensational stories sent out about the killings that are regarded as horrible, hor-rible, anil it may be said of the latter that the half has never been told on account of the revolting features. It is high time for the people of the United States to insist upon the stern and rigid application of the law without with-out fear or favor. It is high time that police officials who are bribed to wink at crime should wear the stripes of infamy, in-famy, and the big cities purged of the criminal classes. It is high time also that measures be taken to prevent imbeciles im-beciles from acting as jurors. The American people in their haste to get rich do notseem to have time to interest inter-est themselves in the general welfare of the country, and the result is weak and inefficient service upon the part of officials. of-ficials. Along with our other records, we hold the championship of the world in the number of crimes committed and the number of criminals who escape punishment for one reason or an another, anoth-er, but in very many cases on account of the presence of weak-minded men in the jury box. Utah and . Salt Lake have not .been immune, and it can truthfully be said that the erimo of murder has not always been followed by well-merited punishment of the murderers. mur-derers. There should be a tightening up all over the United States. |