THE CODE OF HONOR.

NZ Truth, Issue 58, 28 July 1906, Page 1

THE CODE OF HONOR.

AS APPLICABLE TO THE KILLING OP STANPOip WHITE.

So far- as the British Nation is concerned the sense of honor, in itsstrict interpretation, is as dead as the tick that used to bite the Megatherium,: [ before the Pharohs were ever thought of. Prom the point of view of „the value of huma.nj; life, 't the stern urber- . L 4ictiori^ of ' duelling is ian excellent p?o---.yjision, ;biit -the void ;in the scheme of ,essstence and the missing link in the .ttjs^chinery of fixing %ings adequately . ate oft-times painfully apparehi; and' make an honest, honorable man regret the days of his great grandfat-hersY. when a slur on a man's truth or honor-, or an insult or wrong offered to his womenfolk, could be wiped out . with an exchange of shots at 12 , paces or a rattle of' rapiefcs in. the early dawn. Nowadays ilie most • heartrending, soul-searing wrongs' can bc;put ij^bn the most undeserving of such fa6a:fcment, by unscrupulous or .vicious persons, without the slightest tfeat: of personal danger. The;. Law paralyses "» tie will; and the ; wfoneed 6net-< unless driven insane- by his> wtr,Q.Dgs, $ust; either, suffer , in silence, . or >i,appeal, r . at enormous .expense and witli small, hope i ;:pt' justice,, V ito the. ciyiL coutts.. ■ iv ' ■•■ ■■■■' ..*•;," ■'. ■•.'■■: '•'■ .•' ; ' '■; • v' y '*' r : : : '" ''^""■"'"'—■K.'i A father, &oweyer-cproM*aiid ' fond; may see his : childish daughter' seduced ■ and betrayed by some heartless liber--' .tine who never ■ had' any : other intention than to betray; when he laid* hisdevilish snares for her young heart - and purity. A brother may T)ecome> aware of the ruin of Ms' favorite sister by a wretch with whom he;, has*; "been in daily consict and wiiom he'may actually, in honest friendship,, have given the opportunities for hisv; yile plots to be put into execution. 'A husband may find hisvbeloved wife's affections alienated and his and/ h^r , whole life blasted and wrecked and their children shamed before ; the= world, by the mari he trusted as a-^ friend, or by the meresfrstraager.-wfca has wormed his way into the wife's affections and confidence, to her morat; it and social ruin and the : home's^ utteri destruction. But, under Englfeli law, ; i^one of these wronged : men (^'^vjeh'ge their women's downfail oriiy/ sucK "wrongs should or- can foe Tjyj- . blood ! A brother -may: 'orfcen--! i ; deavor,.to thrash—the betrayer of > his v • sister; but he only brings cruel pub- ; licity on the family and further ac-r ; . centuates the blasting of his sister's 1 <v good name, if he succeeds ; and sup- : pose he •is physically unfit to cope with the brute ? Then he adds ridi•.cule to injury. A father may sue by, civil process, for damages ;, but it isodds against his obtaining anything, ...while his daughter will be subjected' 'to the cruel publicity of the courts and a foul, filthy, gross, wicked and ""debased cross-examination ' at the Jiands of some ruffianly counsel for ,the girl's betrayer ; s 0 that she leaves,'the court, in any event, more dish on-, ored, shamed and heartbroken/ than; before. A husband may sue for : divorce and damages ; and by so doing, successful or unsuccessful, brand himself in the eyes of all men: as a pitiful cuckold who could not ietain the aSection and fealty of the woman he had made his wife. He is a ,butt;and a laufching-stoclc to all whojknow;him and to the end^of his life tihe miserable stigma ' of physical and mental incapacity sticks to him. .These are the outcomes of wrongs >done to -men, through their women,- under English law. JThe one brave, honorable, worthy gentleman— aye, "gentleman," though he earn his and his family's bread as a wharf ' laborer— in a thousand so wronged, who kills or maims the betrayer of innocence arid trust, is seized by the Law and either hanged as a murderer, or thrown into a gaol to languish far years, as a homicidal felon. "They do these things better, in France."- There, not a jury could ever be found to convict a male relative of. a wronged woman for punishing, even by death, the man who wronged her. So far, indeed, from punishing woman's champion, are they, that frequently all France rises to applaud and heap encomium and emolument on such an one. America is less hysterical in its judgment, butits judgment is no less just and reasonable ; and rare indeed has been the killing of a seducer, by seduced, or her male relative, that has been f ol«

lowed hy capital punishment', or even imprisonment. And who shall say that this is an unhealthy state of affairs .?,, Will the priesthood? Well, they might, if they dared, for no more damnably dangerous class to the honor of women exists than the crawling, specious "physicians of the souL" They may protest and prate about the sanctity of human life, but -is it not fear for their own lives and ,'a deliberate, wicked disregard for the sanctity of female virtue and all that it9 ; weak ' sacrifice means, that spurs their tongues and 'dictates their dia.tribes; ?' What is the life, suddenly en•ded N -of a libertine who 'glories in his -crimes and makes his victims a byeVord and a jest among all his "set," ■to the soul-life of. those victims ; to the death-in-life they are made to en-. : dure by his villainy and unbridled lust? Better 'that a thousand base betrayeirs of girlish innocence should, perish eternally than that one pure soul of those, should be condemned to ■ the awful life' that so dreadfully fre- ; quently follows betrayal. As things j •are. under British law. and before pompous, bedizened Brit|sh judges and cowardly, brpw-beaten British juries,' the : man ' who avenges his sister's,' daughter's or wife's honor and his \ own, is actually more liable to hang than the brute who kicks a woman to death in the street or the thug t who •murders his victim to* escape arrest j ifor crime. *• ' : :-'.f ' * They- do .these < things better in-Am-;erica, toa ! When a sister's, wiffi's, ior daughter's honor is impugned or outraged, in that great land of free:dom r the hirother, husband or father who avenges her, has little to fear at :the hands of a jury of his country.men. This has been proved in the i past and will almost certainly be j proved in the case of Henry Thaw, tmillionaire, who, in a' New York the- ■ satre, shot to death another millionaire, Stanford White, the other day, ! ; 'The story told is that Thaw had a beautiful girl, out of .protfoundest feelings of affection and regard;, and had subsequently, discovered ttiat.' .White, a. notorious libertine, and pnawho-rhad riot the decency even >to he silent as to his "successes," ;had previously betrayed and deserted .; her. More, , the miscreant actually ■ went about in millionaire society I '^boasting that Thaw had married his i -(White's) mistress and making of , ;.Thaw^ a laughing-stock, .thereby, , What' remedy had Thaw, you who j prate of the sf r ;>tity of human life ? Was not the sanctitv of his home, ! of his wife's fair-fame and. future ! fate worth infinitely more than the j life of a hundred such licentious I ruffian cowards as White; a dog who j left behind Mm a trail of broken j hearts and wrecked lives, who used 'his millions to further his reprobate ends and who had not even the one redeeming; virtue of silence ? Can you dare answer "No " ? Thaw's remedy was the one he took. Vengeance on a traitor. • Death to a snake in the path of honest virtue. To have challenged the coward to a duel would have been to risk his ownvaluable life against the worthless ,one of' the poisonous- seducer and slanderer ; and that was the best argument against the obsolete duello. The betraver was all-too-often the better shot or the more expert swordsman. No. Thaw took the proper course, estimated White's real' value to the world he polluted by living, and avenged his wife and his own honor and did the world a service- by removing him. Now he bravely repudiates . his • scheming lawyers' snide plea of temporary insanity, refusing to rest under . the stiqma of unsound mentality, has dismissed the legal undesirables, and has determined to trust a jury of his fellow men with a plea of justifiable homicide. Mr Thaw is in the right of it. It is almost certainly safe to sav that no American -iurv will convict the man who stands before ifc as the avengrer of his wife's wrongs and the defender of his own honor. A' down South recently-deceased ho-tel-keeper has bequeathed a large sum of money to the Inebriates' Home. Evidently "Bung's" conscience pricked liim. Why aren't all brewers and publicans taxed to support homes for drur.ks, ,