'LAW-ABIDINGNESS' IN THE SOUTH-WEST 233 



of the law, has of late presented itself in 

 several striking examples, of which two will 

 serve for illustration. 



During the trial of a celebrated murder 

 case in a large Western city, popular opinion 

 affirmed that no jury would dare to oppose 

 its verdict pronouncing the prisoner to be 

 guilty. True or untrue, the result was as 

 prophesied, and the prisoner was condemned, 

 though not without the bitter protests of the 

 small minority, who declared that he had not 

 received fair play. 



The other incident took place in a small 

 city of the South- West. Shorn of all voci- 

 ferous details in no manner affecting the 

 question at issue, the story was briefly this : 

 A wife, whose husband during her pro- 

 longed absence from home was faithless, 

 upon her return shot the offending woman. 

 There were, doubtless, extenuating circum- 

 stances, but with these, or the sin of the 

 guilty man and his partner in crime, we 

 have nothing to do. The striking feature in 

 the affair was the gush of sentimentality over 

 the murderess in the public prints, the rhap- 

 sodies indulged in concerning ' the little 



