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Show Defining Murder for Us. Mr. Brooks, of England, the father of the interesting young man now in jail in St. Louis for the murder of his traveling companion, has gone to splitting hairs on the subject of h,is son's crime. In the first place he says that his son did not kill Preller, but, that if he did, he did not do it with malice aforethought, and therefore cannot be punished for murder I JAt home," the elder Brooks observes' there is no such thing as murder unless malice prepense can be established." The legal definition of murder is about the same thing in America.' To convict a man of murder the State must show that he intended to kill his victim; that he killed him in the furtherance of an unlawful un-lawful act, or that, he was engaged in a conspiracy which resulted in the tragedy In the case of young Brooks there wili not be much difficulty in proving that the crime which he committed Vas deliberate. de-liberate. He was penniless, and his com panion . had money and jewelry,- He chloroformed Preller and then cut his throat, afterward purchasing a trunk and packing his victim away in' it. Then taking such valuables as he could find' he fled to the antipodes. ' ( They have been known to hang men j .!m,e." in England for such offenses, and if Missouri justice shall not prove equal to the occasion in this case it will be seriously at fault. Chicaao Herald |