Reason First: LeBlanc’s Menace to the Mind

In a case where someone sought a better life in the New World, 31-year-old Antoine Leblanc saw little prospects in America. He found employment tending to hogs and chopping wood for zilch. Disturbed by his circumstances, LeBlanc murdered his employer Judge Samuel Sayre, his wife and a servant of the Morristown, New Jersey home in 1833.

As is the truth in most of these situations, LeBlanc then ransacked the house in search of valuables. He got sloppy. He packed a satchel with the judge’s belongings like a piece of silver which featured his monogram. The satchel came loose on his horseback ride and some of the items made a trail right up to where LeBlanc hid. In time, he saw capture and received a trial. After being found guilty, the officials hanged and strung him up instead of dropping him. Additionally, his body became dissected and made into wallets, purses and fashioners crafted his face into a death mask.

Now, this whole affair concerns the irrationality and criminality of one man. LeBlanc never used his apparatus to think. A true monster, he forewent the responsibility of reasoning. Scores of people had reached America’s shores during this time. In search of improved conditions, people would suffer under dire circumstances so that they or their descendants could live the good life in the United States of America. Everyone from stable boys to bricklayers, they wanted to see their own lives enriched or pass down their work ethic to bankers, artists, and scientists.

What LeBlanc did still remains to be one of the most heinous crimes in American history. His bitter actions account for a warped sense of values, ethics, and morals. He had enough gumption to travel from France to the US but threw away his mind. He served no purpose in life other than to be a murderous brute. Every avenue opened to him. The pursuits of reason, purpose, and self-esteem issued from the hands of Lady Liberty. His choice to snuff out the lives of three people who trusted him not to hurt or harm them broke that sacred bond.

As macabre as his final days became, they shadowed his mental state. The epistemological-ethical stance that he gave up led LeBlanc to commit his atrocities. Without recognizing morality, this beast perpetrated some of the worst slayings to date. It was not a deafness but refusal to hear the voice of reason. Rather than create, build, and make, LeBlanc tore down, destroyed, and exploded any chances to live a virtuous life. Had he continued to work as a lowly servant, he could have climbed the ladder of success and turned his life into a success story.

By throwing out all morals and murdering people who could’ve helped him on his journey, LeBlanc chose to dispose of rationality and selfishness. His self-destructive nature fueled his rage and his irrationalism brought him to the level of a brute. LeBlanc didn’t for a moment think. He may have felt or emoted but he did not use the full capacity of his brain. To deny the right to life to any human being who is not an enemy is vicious. To stab and bludgeon and throw manure on the bodies and expect to get away seems like the ultimate foray into immorality.

To establish order in the mind regarding a case like this, it’s important to remember that evil can lurk within one’s own property. The ones closest who seem to be assets could turn out to be murderous miscreants waiting for the moment to strike. Thankfully, the law captured and dissected LeBlanc’s body. He could’ve been a businessman in a few years instead of being hanged and having portions of his skin used as a bag to place spare change.