Murder. Yes, a brutal murder. It comes upon us with a sickening shock. But I said in my first chapter that I proposed to defend those whom God and man condemn, and to demand justice for those whom God and man have wronged. I have to plead for the bottom dog: the lowest, the most detested, the worst.
The tramp has committed a murder. Man would loathe him, revile him, hang him: God would cast him into outer darkness.
"Not," cries the pious Christian, "if he repent."
I make a note of the repentance and pass on.
The tramp has committed a murder. It was a cowardly and cruel murder, and the motive was robbery.
But I have proved that all motives and all powers; all knowledge and capacity, all acts and all words, are caused by heredity and environment.
I have proved that a man can only be good or bad as heredity and environment cause him to be good or bad; and I have proved these things because I have to claim that all punishments and rewards, all praise and blame, are undeserved.
And now, let us try this miserable tramp—our brother.
GUILTY OR NOT GUILTY?
The tramp has murdered a child for her money. What is his defence?