The Anarchists of Spain appear to be the fiercest on
the Continent. Two of their number on Tuesday flung two bombs from the gallery of the Lyceum Theatre at Barcelona into the stalls. One seems to have struck against a human body, and aid not explode, but the other exploded with horrible effect. Nine ladies and six gentlemen were killed on the spot, the bodies showing terrible rents and wounds, and fifteen others died shortly after admission to the hospital. A stampede of the audience, of course, followed, and in the rush many persons were injured, and one or two crushed. It does not appear that any personal malignity prompted the act, which was a mere outbreak of a half-insane malignity against persons able to pay for stalls. All Spain is said to be excited by the crime, and we regret to see suggestions afloat that the criminals when caught should receive some punishment heavier than death. We cannot believe either that Christianity sanctions torture, even in extreme cases, or that torture will avail against fanatics any more than it did three centuries ago, when assassins knew that they would be broken on.the wheel. Except, perhaps, preventive arrest, there is no remedy for Anarchy, which is a form of lunacy supplied by malignant science with great though limited powers of destruction.
