Publication information
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Source: Lucifer, the Light-Bearer
Source type: magazine
Document type: article
Document title: “Queries”
Author(s): Harman, Moses
Date of publication: 16 October 1901
Volume number: 5
Issue number: 40
Series: third series
Pagination: 323

 
Citation
Harman, Moses. “Queries.” Lucifer, the Light-Bearer 16 Oct. 1901 v5n40 (3rd series): p. 323.
 
Transcription
full text
 
Keywords
Leon Czolgosz (execution: personal response); McKinley assassination (religious response); Leon Czolgosz (execution: impact on society); assassinations (comparison); assassins (mental health); anarchism (dealing with); criminals (dealing with); Leon Czolgosz (religion).
 
Named persons
Leon Czolgosz; Ehud; Charles J. Guiteau; Jael; Jesus Christ; Judith; William McKinley.
 
Notes
The identity of Freeman (below) cannot be determined. Possibly it is a reference to Charles F. Freeman.

The date of publication provided by the magazine is October 16, E. M. 301.

Whole No. 887.

Alternate magazine title: Lucifer, the Lightbearer.
 
Document

 

Queries

     “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord.” Is it not then an act of impiety in man to take vengeance upon Czolgosz, thereby usurping the Lord’s prerogative?

*     *     *

     If McKinley was right when he said, “It is God’s way—his will be done,” why should Czolgosz be punished for doing God’s will?

*     *     *

     If this is a Christian nation, as decided by the Supreme Court, is it right and proper for this nation to kill Czolgosz for killing McKinley when it is remembered that Jesus, the founder of Christianity, abolished the law of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, a life for a life? and substituted the law of forgiveness and love?

*     *     *

     If Czolgosz believed it to be his “duty,” to kill McKinley, will not his electrocution make him a martyr in the eyes of all who believe as he does? And will not his death produce more assassinations of rulers, in accord with the well known principle that the “blood of its martyrs is the seed of the church?”

*     *     *

     Was not the late queen of England more wise than our rulers when she requested that all her would be assassins should be treated as lunatics and not as criminals?

*     *     *

     If all Anarchists ought to be banished or deported because one man calling himself an Anarchist commits murder, why should not all Christians be banished when one of their number commits murder? as in the cases of Guiteau, of Freeman and hundreds of other yearly occurring instances?

*     *     *

     As Czolgosz was born of and educated by Christians, would it not be well to look into Christian sacred literature to see whether there are not instances in which assassination is commended and sanctified? Take the case of Ehud—Judges, third chapter; of Jael, fourth chapter of same book; of Judith, book of Judith and others that might be named, as samples of the glorification and canonization of treacherous assassination. Since our early impressions are most powerful and lasting, is it not more than probable that Czolgosz got his inspiration from the teachings of his church, and not from the text books [sic] of Anarchism?

 

 


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