Evening Republican, Volume 17, Number 60, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 11 March 1913 — WAS WITHIN PALE OF LAW [ARTICLE]

WAS WITHIN PALE OF LAW

Unfeeling Father Buried Child as One Might a, Dog, but He Could Not Be Punished. Can m, man be punished for failing to provide a Christian burial for his deceased infant child? In the recent case of Seaton vs. commonwealth, 149 Southwestern Reporter, 871, "defendant was convicted on such a charge, and appeals to the court of appeals of Kentucky, the docket states. A child of the defendant having died, he set about to bury it Taking some piece of rough board, he made a rude box to serve as a coffin. Although he had good lumber out of which he could have made a better and more presentable box, he said that he did not propose using his good lumber for this purpose.. This box “was taken to a point in the woodß lot and a grave dug by two neighbors about two feet deep. Defendant brought the corpse from the house in a 'small paper box to where the grave was being dug, placed it upon the ground and assisted in digging the grave. When completed, the paper box with the corpse was placed in the wooden box and lowered. The grave was then filled to a level With the' surrounding ground, defendant assisting by tramping the dirt as it was being put back into the grave. No-services of any kind were heard at the grave. Do these facts constitute a crime? The court holds that it was the right of the defendant to select the place where hiß child should be buried, and he violated no law or duty in selecting a spot in the woods rather than In a cemetery. There is no rule of law defining how a corpse shall be dressed for burial, or the character of coffin or casket in which it should be incased, or the material out of which the box in which the coffin is to be placed shall be made, nor the depth of the grave; nor is it an offense not to notify relatives and friends so that they may be present at the interment, for they have no legal right to be present. There is no law imposing upon those having in charge the burial of the dead any duty to have the interment accompanied with religious ceremony. The court concludes with the following: “It was no doubt the extremely miserly and niggardly disposition manifested by appellant that aroused the indignation of his neighbors, causing the indictment, and ultimately induced the jury to assess the fine against him wh*icb it did. While, by the facts in the record, appellant is shown to be a - man utterly lacked in parental Instinct, he has kept himself within the pale of the law. At the conclusion of the evidence the trial judge should have directed a verdict in his favor.” 1 h

Public Men and Sleep. The declaration of Doctor Foertmoyer of Cincinnati, that seven hours ol sleep are enough for any man, and that the fellow who indulges hiniself in the arms of Morpheus for a longer period every night Is in danger of injuring himself, comes so closely upon the, heels of President Wilson's flal that he must have nine hours that it is certain to start a controversy almost to end nowhere, for if there is one thing in which every man is a law unto himself, it is in the matter of sleep.

Ex-President Taft, normal man In every respect, enjoys as much sleep as President Wilson needs. Apparently there is no reason why President Wilson should not sleep as long as he likes, for Mr. Taft does. He retires at midnight usually, and arises only In time for a nine o’clock breakfast; so it will he seen that the rputine of a president’s day is not incompatible with feather bed indulgence. McKinley was a light sleeper, being;' a night owl and an early riser, while Grover Cleveland dearly loved to sit up until a late hour with a few cronies, evidently being of the opinion, as the poet has it, that the best way to lengthen one’s days is to steal a few hours from the night.