THE OPUNAKE MURDER.

Southland Times, Issue 3886, 3 December 1880, Page 3

THE OPUNAKE MURDER.

The Wellington Post has the following just and trenchant remarks on the murder of Miss Dobie and the fate appropriate to the perpetrators of crim s of that order : — It is hard to conceive a crime more atrocious in all its circumstances, ancl the public mind will not be at rest until it has been clearly proved that such horrors are not to be perpetrated in our midst with impunity. And this brings us to another aspect of the case, which cannot rightly be ignored. We allude to the absolute necessity of crushing out, if not such crimes, at least such criminals as these, by the summary process of capital punishment. It is not a question as to its general expediency or inexpediency, or whether it tends either to deter criminals or decrease crime. The practical and sensible view which presents itself in regard to such human fiends as Miss Dobie'a murderer and Ned Kelly is that they are noxious vermin, scourges of the human race, and, in the interests of humanity, ought to be extirpated with ( all possible despatch. When a man has been clearly and conclusively proved guilty of such crimes as the Opunake tragedy or the Kelly murders, the sooner he is swept off the face of the earth the better, not only for society, but even for himself, because then his career of crime is definitely terminated, instead of being allowed to extend indefinitely. No doubt there will always be some weak-minded people who entertain maudlin sympathy with crime and utter shrill protests against tbe hanging of murdererß, not, perhaps, from that "fellow-feeling" which '• makes us wondrous kind," but from a sort of mere mawkish sentimentality, bred of mental incapacity and ill-regulated judgment. It was amazing to find some thousands of people in Melbourne sympathising with Ned Kelly, glorifying him as a hero and martyr, and protesting violently against his well-deserved execution. This, as we remarked some time ago, afforded a lamentable illustration of the prevalence of criminal instincts in Victoria, but for which, indeed, Kelly could not so long have pursued unchecked his career of blood. But we do not put down all those people as knaves, for it is quite likely that many were simply fools. Nevertheless, fools often may do as much mischief as knaves, and if knaves and fools are allowed to continue successfully to oopose justice being meted out to such bloodthirsty ruffians as Ned Kelly and Miss Dobie's assassin neither life nor property will be safe. It behoves the public, therefore, to take up a firm stand against this sickly sentimentality and its fatuous encouragement of crime. Public propriety has already once been offended, by discovering a Kelly sympathiser in a preacher of the gospel, whose head probably was at fault rather than bis heart. Only these doubtless well-meaning, but weak-minded, people may do infinite harm by their misdirected exertions, if they create a widespread idea that such deeds of horror as those committed by the Kelly gang in Victoria and by an unknown murderer at Opunake stand a chance of going comparatively unpunished. The Kelly sympathy in Victoria cost many lives. It encouraged other men to emulate the unpunished deeds of Kelly, and some of these -misguided imitators perished by the hangman's hands before the man whom they took as their model paid ihe penalty of his crimes. Nothing can be more conducive to the spread of crime than such misplaced sympathy with criminals, and it cannot, therefore, be too strenuously deprecated. Let it be understood that if men do not desire to be hanged they must not commit murders ; or as the late French Emperor once so aptly said when he was prayed to commute a death sentence : — -■ If the infliction of death is to be abolished Messieurs lea assassins must set the example," — but that if tbey commit murders tbey will assuredly also be put to death as wild beasts or noxious reptiles, dangerous to tbe safety of the public. We urge, therefore, that no exertion, trouble, or expense should be spared to discover, capture, and convict the murderer of Miss Dobie, and that, when convicted, nothing should be allowed to save him from his well-deserved fate ; he should be put to an ignominious death, without pity and without compunction.