Page:The Great Harry Thaw Case.djvu/238



"Better that his ears had never been opened that he could not have heard the words of anguish of the victim.

"For what had he—a man whose hair was already gray—what had he done? He had perpetrated the most horrible crime that can deface the human heart. He had lured the poor, innocent flower that was struggling forth to life. He had committed a crime which is a felony—which the President of this republic in his last message to Congress said should be punished by death.

"He who had erected altars and sanctuaries and churches crowned with the emblem of the Redemption—had he forgotten the words.

"'Who so receiveth such a little child in my name receiveth me, but whosoever offendeth such a little one, it were better that a millstone were tied around his neck and he were cast into the sea.'

"Oh, ye who have erected temples to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, have ye forgotten the words of Jehovah, when upon the return from Egypt He said:

"'Ye shall not afflict a fatherless child. I will surely hear that cry, and I will kill you with the sword and your wives shall be widows and your children fatherless.'

"Oh, Stanford White, in the entirety of your hardened heart, you imagined that the cry of the fatherless child which that night was heard in the darkness of the great city, where good citizens were at rest, the child without a father, the child deserted by her mother, the child left alone in this city of millions, would not be heard.

"Did your hardened heart imagine that God would not hear that cry? Did you imagine that He had forgotten the promise He made—that any one who afflicted a fatherless child would surely die?

"Did you believe that the retribution would be omitted?

"Better had it been for him had he died before that day,