The Gary American

To Keep You Out Of Trouble

Persons are either living or dead, with reference to their civil rights. Ordinarily a person is entitled to exercise all civil rights secured to him by the laws under which he lives, but, when he has lost those rights, he is regarded as civilly dead, although he may be in full possession of all his natural faculties.

Outlaws and infamous persons are as a general rule regarded as being civilly dead. Thus a person convicted of felony and sentenced to the state prison for life under certain statutes in force in some states is not entitled to exercise civil rights enjoyed by other citizens.

Strictly speaking, the term outlaw, means one who is put out of the protection or aid of the law, but in a lesser sense it refers to a riotous or disorderly person who is a habitual violator of the law.

Blasphemy has long been recognized as a crime by the courts of this country. While it is true that in this country no man is branded as a criminal because he differed from the majority of mankind in his religious views or convictions on the subject of religion, yet any person maliciously reviling God or religion or doing anything calculated and intended to insult the feelings and deepest religious convictions of the great majority of the persons amongst whom we live may be found guilty of a criminal charge. We must not do things that are outrageous to the general feeling of propriety among persons amongst whom we live.

Blasphemy is not tolerated any more than any other nuisance is tolerated.