Morbid Curiosity and Public Executions
By Editor
IT is astonishing to what lengths men will go to satisfy a morbid curiosity. The day before the hanging of Leroy in San Francisco last week, the sheriff was so besieged by those desiring invitation cards to the hanging, that he was compelled to lock himself up to escape the crowd that thronged his office. Man has descended to a low level indeed, when he will clamor for the privilege of seeing a fellow mortal strangled to death. It were well could we hope that no professed Christian was among this crowd of diseased minds. One man, more bold than others, sent a note to the sheriff offering to perform the execution of the criminal for a moderate consideration. What a comment on the boasted civilization of enlightened America. Would it not be well for the American Board of Missions to recall some of their most efficient missionaries to do needed work in their own country?