Seduction And Crime

Our cxchanges contain particulars respectmg another of those judicial dêvelopmeots wliich occasionally give a glimpse of tho ocean of pollution and vice existing in our large cities. Amelia Norrnnn, a young woman of 19 ör 20 years of age, was trieel in the Court of Sessions, before tlie Recorder, for nn assault mul battery vvith un attempt to kül Honry S. Ballard, by stabbing him in Ihe &ic'e with a dirk knife, on the Bteps of Ihe Astor Ilouee, on the eveniijg of the lst of November lost. The case was clearly made ocit by the prosecution ns charged in the indictmenf. The. act was deliberately done, afier the prisoner had ptimied Ballard to liis store in Cedar stroet, and frem thence to the place where the atlemp!. was mnde upon bis life. The fatulity of the wound infiicted wa only prevenlnd by a lio; a surgeon tentified thot if the knife had struck the eighih ofan inch lower, it would have penetrated the hearl!Il appeared by the testimony, that she had lived ín t!ie city at service lor severnJ years - that al the age of sixteen he had seduced lier, and tnken her to a houte wheréihe visited her as Mr. Brown - snbsequently he pnssed lier as Mis Norman, and himself as Mr. Norman - again as bis niecc - ngain as Mrs. Brown his wife - then asMrs. Williame, and he as Mr. Williams her husband - that ph.e had tsvice been delivered of still born cliildren, and once of a living one, which he compelled. lier by threats to swear on to anothcr pereon I - that she was desirons of leaving her course of life, but was pursued by hini wherever she was - that ypon applying to him for aid, he told her to get her living as olhor prosütutes did - wlieretipon being stung to madness by his continued injuries, she made an attempt on his life as set forth in the inJiclmeni. The jury were ont eight minutes and returned a verdict of Not Guilty. The New York Express says in relaüon to it: "The verdict wis reccived with applnusc by the multitiide in Court: - outside of iheCourt, the avenues to the Court, and the streets resounded with cheers. She was Hended in Court by a Mrs. Hopper, a Quaker lady of some distinction in the chy, and by Mis. D. L. Child, a liierary lady of much eminnce, bolh conspicuous for a chivnlric Iiumanity, and whose presence in Court wns not without a profound cfïbct pon the jury. Two other respeclab'e ladics were present, to give her countenance and support. lier counsel were congratulaied vvhen the verdict was given in, by the crowd for tlieir zoal and ability; and she heiself fainted away - the whole 6cene presenting a picture of thrilüng interest that no pen can describe." The ground of defence by her counsel was, that the act was committed undev an excitement of feeling, which in fact amounted to a species of insanity.-Mrs. Child, with the excellence of vhose heart our readers are already ac[uainted f rom her writings, has taken her nto her family, and represents her as )roken-hearted, penitent, and ardently deirous to reform. "A woman, (says the Tribune,) who in i fit of phrenzy stabs the man who lias uined her by the basest treachery, must mswer for it to the law, though hers is nly an attempt; but for the man, whose ong carecr of perfidy and brutal lust has ffiected her ruin, and whose cowardly selfishness has several times placed her üfe in extreme jeopardyjthe law has no penalty! Such is now the Law of New ïrork! Such is Human Justice!" But such, it appears,is not the finding of a New York jury; They declare, quoting the the Tribune again, that L:the delibérate, plotting, impenitent seducer, is a wolf, svho may be shot down any how and any where, by any shepherd whose fold he has violtüed - by any suíFerer f rom his fiendish depredations." The verdict in this case was directly in the face of law, evidence and justice, and yet the press scarcely murrnurs against it. The fact that Ballard had been guilty of seduction and atrocious villainy towards her, were no sufficient reasons for murdering him. One crime cannot justify another. But the whole transaction demonslrates the necessity of effectual laws against that species of scoundrels who go prowling around the firesides of the lovely and virluous, like their great instructor the Devil, "seeking whom they may devour." The punishment of such villains should not be left nfercly to the action of a corrupt public opinión, but the oflender should find his place with those who rnake it their business to injure and destroy the happiness of society.Qr S. H. Gay has published in Ihe Libprator a leview of the Hundred Anti -Slavery Conventions held by the Garrison Abolitionists in New York, Ohio, nnd Indiana. Mr. Gay spenks well of the Liberty men of the West, nlthough he disagrees with them on poütical aclion. He found them true to.the slave in all points, and resolute in their aclion. As to the warfarc upon the clergy and churches, which forms such a large ingrediënt in the system of the Garrison abolitionists at the East, he concluded there was lessneed of such a contest at the West, because the peoplc were more independent in their hsbits of thinking, and were far lesa priest-ridden. Henee the clergy at the West, not being able to control public opinión by sustaining slavery, true to their instinctive love of power, are seeking for it by sailing loilh that antislavery current wliich they cannot etem. This allegation against Western ministers es a body, eo far as we are acqnainted, is unjust. There are all gradations of feeling and aetion among them, from the warrriest and most self-denying zeal for the slave, to the most cold-hearted, sneering, contemptuous nat red of him and ofhis rights. Ministers are like other men; and in the same circumstahces, it is to be expected they will act as olher mea do.