North Carolina Newspapers

IUX ORGAN OF TEE NORTH CAROLINA BAPTISTS DEVOTED TO BIBLE RELIGION, EDUCATION, LITERATURE AND GENERAL INTELLIGENCE ' Volume 58. $-4 RALEIGH. Nl C. WEDNESDAY' JANUARYS Iftfla.', Number 20. The Biblical Kecorcjer. PUBLISHED EVERY WEDNESDAY. ; 113 (up stairs) FayetterUle 8treet, Raleigh, N. 0. ' .Terms o Bubscbiptiow: .' ' i Om copy, one) year. .", . .... . . ... '. t 8.00 Onoopr, six months.. .............. ,...,- 1.00 Club of ten (copy extra to sender) .......... 30.00 " Anonymous communication! will always' find iheir way to the waste basket. No exceptions. , In sending letters of business, It is absolutely neo Mary that you give your poetoffloe address In fulL DO WW in-Mi-im.iii Jiiur limn when your subscription expires, and also serves as a receipt for your money. , .v ; i ,;x ,; Obituaries, sixty words long, are inserted free of barge. . When they exceed this length, one cent for each word must pe paid in advance. . When writing to hare your paper changed, please state the poetoffloe at which you receive the paper, as well as the one to which you wish It changed..;. u.rtffln. rWvlw Puital Nnt TTi nimi mm -rttwft - payable to the order of the Publisher. Do not send tamps. .Talks About Law-No. 0. BT JUDGK B. W. WINSTON. TBI UW OF BELF-DtriNCI. - - la oar State, whenever a person admits that he has killed another with a deadly weapon, the law supplies malice : and, if nothing else appear, he is guilty of mur der. Facts in mitigation or justification of his conduct must appear in evidence, otherwise he pays ' the capital penalty. As is well known, in all criminal cases, the State must satisfy the : jury, beyond all reasonable doubt, of the guilt of the accused. J. But this rale has no applica tion when one admits that he has slain another. . For when he makes this admis sion there is an end to all reasonable doubt, and ttiA rWanriiint baa thfl hnrdnn mat tinnn himself to show facta and circumstances Every killing Is a homicide. But, of When no particle of blame attaches to one ....... . . - . in kuiing anotner, tne law says mac ne 19 justified in the act The familiar illustra tion of this is when the sheriff does execu tion upon one by hanging him. t Then we have the general classification called excusable homicide. This may arise in several ways. If a person be doing lawful act and accidentally kill another, this is excusable homicide through misadven ture. Or if one is set upon by another, and being "pressed to the wall," slay his assail ant to save his own life or his person from treat bodily harm, this Is called excusable homicide in self-defence. It is of this that we propose, in part, to write in this article. Before doing so, however, we will explain that there is another and deeper grade of homicide called felonious homicide. If the felonious killing be with malice, and this malice may be express or implied, we have the crime at which human nature shudders, called murder. -Bat if the felonious slaying be without malice, we have manslaughter. Let us consider, therefore, what are the excusesthat the law adjudges sufficient to redace the grade of the killing from murder to excusable homicide or to manslaughter. In the first place, let it be borne in mind that words, however grievous, will not jus tify a blow, or excuse, or indeed even miti gate a killing.; That is to say, if one use the most opprobrious epithet to your very face and, in consequence of the same, you strike him, you are guilty of a battery; or, if you kill him, you are guilty of i murder. True, in the former case the party who used the words would be indictable for an anray, but you would not be excusable.! Generally speaking, the party who provokes the diffi culty is the more guilty of the two, and is so treated by the courts. .What will excuse a blowl and what will excuse a killing t Now quite a variety of facts and circum stances will mitigate a killing from murder to manslaughter, but what will absolutely excuse the fact t . ' If one strikeand slay another to save his own life or his person from great bodily harm, which the assailant is about to and would ififlict but for the disabling blow, the slaying is excusable. So if one kill another to prevent a felony threatened and begun, and which if committed would be punish- uia wun aeaiu, ne is wtuusauio.? w ; For example, if a man were breaking into your dwelling in the night time and you were to shoot and kill him to prevent the crime, you would be excused. ' So if one make a criminal assault on a female andjs killed to prevent it, it would be excusable homicide. But after the assault was con summated if the assailant were killed, not 4. . 1.1. 1 l i it,, kmii nf nan. v yie vtm met escape, uui iu uo um v i , sion, this would be murder. v ' r Even if one kill the violator of the sanc tity of home in flagranti delicto it is not ex cusable homicide, but manslaughter The famous Daniel Sickles trial for the slaying of Philip Barton Key in Washington City many years ago illustrated this point: and in the trial, the opinions of our North Caro lina Judges were often quoted. "VA K If one, arrested by an officer for a felony, Is making his escape and it become neces sary to shoot ic order to hold the prisoner; this is excusable homicide, perhaps. Cer tain it is, If the offender is resisting arrest. So it Is apprehended that if a private citizen arrest one who has committed a capital fel ony, and the offender endeavors to escape, and it becomes necessary to shoot and kin in order to hold the prisoner, this would be excusable. Many years ago a man shot and killed another who was walking in his front yafd in the night time. '.The party was not committing any offence. Our courts held that to kill a man to prevent a bare civil trespass was murder. -, : Our statute ' provides that ' every person present at any breach of the peace shall en deavor to suppress the same, and if neces sary may arrest the offenders. A case occurred in the county of Wayne in 1870 which is interesting. Barney Bry7 ant had a hog stolen. He suspected a fel low named Cogdell. Armed himself and wenttoCfcgdelrs houserrCogdell,-being ac cused ; by Bryant of the theft, ran away. Bryant ordered him four times to stop, and then shot and hit him. - For this Bryant was tried and convicted. "Had he killed when he shot it would have been manslaughter at the least, say the court. It will be ob served that this stealing did not occur in the presence of Bryant; nor did he say that he came to arrest Cogdell; nor was It shown that the shooting was necessary to prevent his escape; nor did he have a warrant In , this case the court clearly intimate that one is not to be excused who slays another not arrested, but fleeing from arrest for; a minor felony, such as theft "and the like. ".'.v-is,; .; 1 rr- '--'V . , But it would seem that it the offence com mitted be capital, and a person present makes known bis intention to arrest, and the felon flee he may be killed-if it be nec essary to kill to prevent his escape. v i Therefore, in these latter days of bur glary, we may take courage, for if the burg- lar is fleeing from our house in the dark and we command him to halt and be under ar rest, and he fail to do so, but continues his flight, and we shoot and kill him, and the shot be necessary to prevent his escape, this would be excusable on our part. .We have seen that words will not excuse a blow or mitigate a killing. But a blow will often reduce the grade of homicide from murder to manslaughter. r For example, if two men meet and fight willingly, and in the heat of passion one slay the other, this is but manslaughter. The law has regard for the weakness of mankind. "' Sometimes one man will have a grudge against another, malice the law calls it, and he will provoke that other to strike, and after, the first blow is stricken, the party as saulted will draw his weapon and take hu man life. If the jury find such facts as these it would make a case of murder. We do not have malice if the crime be man slaughter, "Malice, prepense", and the V furor brevis" do not go together. Mal ice excludes passion ; passion presupposes the absence of malice." This doctrine was laid down in Madison Johnson's: case, in the first volume of Iredell's Law. And while it has not been changed to this day, still our court, in a case in the 80 N O. R. against one Barnwell, say that if there be malice, and a reconciliation take place, and then a killing, on a first provocation,-the law will refer the motive to the latest, provocation, and not to the old grudge. Generally speaking, therefore, we may say that a killingupon provocation is not murder but manslaughter. But in a crie against one Curry, in the first of Joo.es, we find three exceptions to this rule as follows : 1. When there is. provocation, no matter how strong, if the killing is done in an un usual manner, evincing thereby deliberate wickedness of heart; it Is murder. 2. Where there is but slight provocation, if the killing is done with an excess of vio lence out of all proportion to the provoca tion, it ia''murder.':--" -.- 8. Where the right to chastise is abused, if the measure ' of - chastisement, . or the weapons used, be likely to kill, it is murder. B- A drunken fellow caught hold of. the bridle rein of a man's horse and wouldn't let the rider i proceed on bis journey. His journey was delayed about ; ten minutes. The men were somewhat related, and had j ust been drinking together Finally the man on the horse dismounted, knocked the offender down with a jug, filled, with molasses, and,, after felling him to the ground, crushed in his skull with the stone Jug, adding, 4D-a you, lie there.". This was held only manslaughter; and was not embraced in the second exception abovebe cause the provocation was not very slight, and there was no malice, and the weapon was not prepared to kill. This case is re ported in the fifth of Jones.' We often hear of one "retreating to the wall.' ?t mmvt mMit - What does it mean 1 Certainly not that he shall actually go back until he come to an obstruction - which prevents further re treat. It means simply that the party as saulted must flee as far as he conveniently can either by reason of some wall, ditch or other impediment, or as far as the fierceness of the assault will permit him; v ; ; f j If one is defending his. habitation, and Is without fault himself, he is hot compelled to retreat' Vs"-t'i--f? ' w- V;' " So if a person Unlawfully and feloniously assault one, retreat is not necessary. Nor does an officer, lawfully arresting one, have to retreat to the wall. ' - " But if the assault is without any felonious Intent,' the" person assaulted may not stand his ground and kill , his adversary, if there be any way of escape open to him. -a,- So, even if one enter into a fight willingly and in the progress of the fight be be put to the wall, and it become , necessary,, in order to save his own life or his person from great harm that he kill his adversary, this is ex cusable homicide. - ! , It would not be proper to conclude this paper without stating that if a. person is as saulted in such a way as to induce in him a reasonable belief that he is in actual danger of losing his life, he will be justified in de fending himself, even if the danger prove to be apparent only and not real. , For exam ple, if one draw and present a gun or pistol at another, and that other reasonably fear ing his life to be in danger, shoot and kill first, this will Jbe1 excusable; although the dead man's weapon should be found after; wards to be not loaded. , ; t t , , : TStTlSGtSTlONr -to? In North' Carolina, at the present time', we have three verdicts in cases of homicide: (1) guilty, (generally); (2) guilty of man slaughter; (3) not guilty. ' Our. Judges now, often, are compelled to charge the jury that the prisoner is guilty of murder or of nothing. The law has no grade between, the .two... .In. other words, cases arise in which there is no element of manslaughter. It is, hence,' guilty' or not guilty.- ' " ?; ' ' 1 ' ! Juries are human, and are loth to take human fife: hence the guilty sometimes es cape entirely; whereas, -if there were an in termediate grade of crime of -less gravity than murder, it wonlj rarely occur that there would be a' miscarriage Of justice, 't I New York State; and Texas and Tennes see, and many others, have changed the law of homicide very materially and with satis factory results. . ' ? " ; T i There they have murder in the first de gree and murder in the second degree. f All murders which are perrjetrated by means of poi&aing or lying in wait or which are committed in the perpetration or attempt to perpetrate any arson, rape, rob bery, mayhem or burglary. and all other kinds of wilful, deliberate and premeditated killings, are murder of the first degree. . Murder in the second degree includes all other kinds of killing not embraced iff the definition of murder in the first degree. So that when the unlawful killing of a human being is the result of malice, suddenly pro duced at the time the'fatal blow is struck; and the killing is without premeditation or deliberation, it is murder in the second de gree. -' " t Our law givers now, about convening," 'will find it interesting to see If the change is desirable and necessary. ,t , The Hymn-Books I Like Best I tan't sing a hymn. I have never written one. I do not . claim to be a judge of the S'ood points of one. Nor do I claim excel ence in hymn reading an accomplishment never attained by many preachers. Yet, I love to read hymns that express the varied experiences of the Lord's people and their outgoings after God, holiness ana heaven..':,, - -. .. : , " I have a few old hymn books, one com mendable feature of which is the absence of the iig musio that mars so many of our mod era books. " . . v ' ' T- - The first book I'll speak of is the VOlney Hymns, by Rev. John Newton, Rector of St Mary, Woolnoth, London." The preface bears date Feb. 15, 1779. ' My copy is an American reprint of a somewhat later date. Although only the name of Newton appears on the title page, the book is the product of the joint labors of John Newton and William Cowper. The former says, in the preface, that the work "was intended as a monument to perpetuate the remembrance of an inti mate and endeared friendship. With this pleasing view, I entered upon my part, which would have been smaller - than It is, and ' the book would !: have , appeared much sooner and in a very different form, if the wise, though mysterious, providence of Ood had not seen fit to cross my wishes. We had . not proceeded far upon our pro posed plan before my dear friend (Cowper) was prevented by a long and afflicting indis position from, affording me any farther as- All the hymns in the book were composed by Newton and Cowper, the former having written nearly three hundred, while the lat ter wrote about sixty of them in consequence of his "indisposition." ' " Perhat)8 -some t account of - the r au ut&Hs4 would enhance the reader's Interest in their hymn-book. ' - William Cowper was born at Berkham stead,in Hertfordshire, England, in the year 1731. At a very early age, he evinced that morbid tendency to diffidence,' melancholy and despair which, in later years, led to mental derangement and withdrawal from the stern duties of public life. . Educated at Westminster, he entered the legal profession, from which he retired at the age of thirty three. , VI rambled,t said he, ," from , the thorny road of my austere patroness, juris prudence, into' the primrose paths of litera ture and poetry." Vr'-V Lindley Murray says that Cowper was ap pointed Clerk of the Journals of the Honse of Lords; and, a parliamentary dispute mak ing it necessary for him to appear at the bar of the House, his terrors on this occasion rose to so astonishing a height that they overwhelmed his reason; and he was obliged to relinquish a station so formidable to his singular, sensibility. , Soon afterwards his mind became clear and tranquil, and he set tled in the town of Huntingdon in the year During his lucid intervals he wrote with a masterful hand, the works that have justly placed his name among the literary celebri ties' of Great- Britein.. Mri- s I have seen'somewhere the statement that at one time, while laboring under great de pression and, the feeling that he had been shut out from the mercy of God, he procured a bottle of poison with suicidal intent, and having reached his room, he discovered that the bottle bad been broken and the poison spilled. The. discovery of the accident be interpreted as a token of the "Divine favor, and in grateful acknowledgment of the same; he sat down and wrote the hymn be ginning: TM 1 ' . - "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform,1 &c. Many of hia hymns are - found in-all the popular hymn-books of the present day. I am sorry that many of them are not printed as he wrote them. For instance, in that beautiful hymn wbo?e first stanza begins " There is a fountain filled witJh blood," &c; v i , Cowper wrote ' The dying thief rejoiced to see .' ' ' That fountain in his day 'r r 1 And there hate , as vile as he, , ;' Washed all my gins away" ' ; expressing an accomplished fact, a blessed personal experience already attained. ; The hymn,aa now printed in most of the books, expresses a hope that may be ful filled or an experience that may be attained. Besides, I fail to find the sixth and seventh stanzas in any book that I can lay my hand upon. "f 1 'i I'-'s - In addition to the many hymns he wrote, he composed many pathetic and descriptive poems, evincing the exquisite delicacy of his feelings and the goodness of his heart ' His "Task," which placed him in the front rank of English poets, was published in 1785, and his "Translation of the Iliad and Odyssey of Homer in Blank Verse" appeared in 1791. t The inquietude and darkness of the poet's latter years were terminated by a gentle and -tranquil dissolution in the year 1800, at the l . :- ..: :l ... ........ ,.- . I cannot forbear transcribing a few lines from that excellent poem "Cowper's Grave," by Elizabeth Barrett Browning - ; "Jt b a place where poete .crowned may ieel the heart's decaying, ! " ; - It is A place where- Mppy saints may eep amid thttir praying ; ' Yet let the grief and humbleness as low as silence languish I Earth surely now may give her calm to whom she gave her anguish, " O poeto t from a maniac's tongue was poured the . deathless singing I i O christians I at your croes of hope a hopeless , hand was clinging I - J , O men I this man in brotherhood yourf weary paths beguiling, . -1 Groaned inly while he taught yon peace, and died while ye were smiling I" John Newton was born in England July 24. 1725. His pious mother early taught him the Scriptures and commended him to God in her prayers. Says he, in his autobi ography, " though in process of time I sinned away all the advantages of these early im pressions, yet they were for a great while a restraint upon me; they returned again and again, and it was very long before I. could wholly shake them off;" and when the Lord at length opened my eyes, I found a great benefit from the recollection of them. Far ther, my dear mother, besides the pains she took with me, often commended me with many prayers and tears to God ; and I doubt not but I reap the fruits of these prayers to this hour." . His mother died July 11th, 1732, or before he had completed his seventh year. His father, a sea going man, afterwards married again, and young Newton went to sea, and for many years was engaged in the African slave trade.:4'':;;;'r;.-v , He became sceptical, wicked and disgust ingly profane, shocking even his wicked fel low seamen by his horrid blasphemy. - He tells us himself : . "I know not that I have ever since met so daring a blasphemer : not content with common oaths and impreca tions, I daily invented new ones i so that I was often seriously reproved by the captain who" was himself a very passionate man and not at all circumspect in his expressions. When we met with many distasters, he often would tell me that, to his great grief, he had a Jonah on board ; that a curse at- tended me-fvnerever 1 went ; anu mat au me 4iubleX h met with In the voyage were owing'to his having taken me into the yes- - ubl BeL-?; I' His many perils and hair-breadth escapes from death, on land and sea, seem to have made but little impression upon him. " The Lord had now," he continues, "to appear ance given me up to judicial hardness; I was capable of anything. I had not the least fear of God before my eyes, nor (so far as I remember) the least; sensibility of con science." ,, 1 i , ". ' ' f Two instances of great suffering and hu miliation I cannot forbear to mention : While on the western coast of Africa, the captain of the vessel having died, and New ton not being on good terms with the mate, and fearing that be would be transferred to a man of-war, he determined to remain in Africa. On an island near the western coast, he was taken sick and committed to the care of a negro woman, who soon manifested great dislike towards him. But I will let him tell the story himself: "I had some times not a little difficulty to prcc-ra a draught of cold water whtn turtkj v, iih fever. My bed was a mat spread upon a board or chest, and a log of wood my pil low. "When my fever left me and my appe tite returned, I would gladly have eaten, but there was no one gave unto me. the lived in plenty , herself, but hardly allowed me sufficient to sustain life, except now and then, when in the highest good humor, she would seEd me victuals in her own plate after she had dined ; and this (so greatly was my pride humbled) I received with thanks and eagerness, as the most eager beggar does an alms. ? When I was very slowly recovering, this woman would some times pay me a visit, not to pity or relieve, but to insult me. She would call me worth less and indolent, arid compel me to walk, which when I could hardly do,r sho ould set her attendants to mimic my motion, to clap their handa, hbgb, throw limes at me. ' Nor did I suffer less from the inclem encyt)f the weather and the want of clothes- ue rainy season was now advancing ; my whole suit was a shirt, a pair of trowsers, a cotton handkerchief instead of a cap, and a cotton cloth about two yards long to supply the want of upper garments; and, thus ac coutred, I ' have been exposed for twenty, thirty, perhsps near forty hours together, in incessant rains accompanied with strong gales of wind, without the least shelter, when my master was on shore. I feel to this day some faint returns of the violent pains I then contracted. The excessive cold and wet I endured in that voyage, and so soon after I had recovered from a long sickness,, quite broke my constitution and my spirits The latter were soon restored ; but the ef fects of the former still remain with me as a needful memento of the service and wages oBln,M;;:3'--'.vtT':vr' ;v r-;. - - The second instance. Newton had, while his ship was lying at Plymouth, deserted his post, was caught and carried back to Ply mouth. "I walked," says he, "throcghthe streets guarded like a felon, ily heart was full of indignation, fear and fchame. I was confined two days in the guard-house, then sent on board my ship, kept awhile in irons, then publicly 'stripped and whipped; after which I was degraded from my oface, and all my former companions were forbidden, to 6how me the least favor or even to tyea.lc t6maT;v--i-;vT;-;l'v--;.'?''-V;j' ' Many other instances of suffering and nar row escape might be related ; but these most suffice. John Newton's conversion was a inlrach .. of ffrace? Let no poor prodigal, who may chance to read this, despair of God's mercy or his own salvation. 1 v" - ; - , It was Newton who said, "When I get to heaven, I shall see three wonders there: the first wonder will be to see many people there whom I did not expect to see ; the second wonder will be, to mi6s many people whom I did expect to see; and the thiid and great est wonder of all will be, to find myself there.'? -V7;v;'i i A short time before he "died, his sight having failed him, he would offer comments. On Scripture passages read at family wor ship and lead in prayer. On one of these occasions the lesson was that portion of Scripture in which Paul says, "By the grace of God, I am what I am." Newton's a act ing comment followed; " I am not what D nno-ht to be. i Ah! how imperfect and defi cient 1 I am notwhat I Uriah to be. -I abhor that which is evil, and I would cleave to that which is good. lam cot what I hope to be.' Soon, soon, I shall put oil mortality, and. with mortality, all sin and imperfection l: Yet, though I am not what I ought to be, nor what I wish to be,or what I hope to be,. I can truly say I am not what I once was, a slave to sin and Satan and I can heartily join with the Apostle and acknowledge, 'By the grace of God, I am what I am 1' Let us prayl" I believe It is not generally known that Newton once visited the United States. It was during his last voyage before his mar rage, which latter event took place Feb. 1st, . 1750. ne sailed from Antiqua, one of the-' West India islands, to Charleston, S. C. "In this place," he continues,, "there are many serious people ; but I knew not where to find them out; indeed I was not aware of a differ ence, but supposed that all who attended publio worship were good christians."' I was . as much in the dark about preaching, not doubting but whatever came from the pul pit must be very good. I had two or threa opportunities of hearing a dissenting minis ter named Smith, who, by what ! Lave known since, I believe to have been an ex cellent and powerful preacher of the gorj 1; and there was something in bis manner tL t struck mebut I did not rightly under: ??" I him. The best words that men can i are ineffectual till explained and apt I'd 1 7 the Spirit of God who alone can open t' heart1' , ... :: '- N- " ' ' ' A few years after his marria -9 1 os' -doned his seafaring life and entire J r 1 career of great usefulness as author t .:. i ; ' ister of the gospel. Through his instrumentality, C: Buchanan was, converted, ent i s J r istry and went to the East Ind: -1. I an's " Star in the East " led A J son to enter the foreign ( ! '. I instrumental in the coavtr .'. Scott from the dirk rrrr: i r f i the belief, practice and rror T gelical truth, tcottf' commentary oa t!. 3 1 . , that Newton; v. itLi I mental in tlia cc n v : cONTisr: ) '