Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-08-08
EVENING STAR.
Conviction Of Dove.

The English papers announce the conviction
Of William Dove, at York, England, for the
murder of his wife with strychnine. The only
question for the jury was how far the unhap-
py man was answerable for his acts Though
refusing to acquit on the grounds of insanity,
there was still enough in the life, habits, and
demeanor of the prisoner, both before and
since his committal, to warrant a recommen-
dation on the grounds Of defective intellect.
The plea of insanity was strongly pressed in
his defence. The press are clamorous for his
execution. William Dove" says the Lon
don Daily News, "has been convicted Of poi
soning his wife by strychnine. In that YER
dict We cordially concur, but we do not con-
cur In the recommendation to mercy which
accompanied it. more cold -blooded crime
never was committed. The murdered woman
was the murderer's wife-married so late as
1852-poisoned by him in 1856. The vile mo-
tive which urged the fellow was the wish to
save her doctors bill, and perhaps-to marry
another woman. The intention to commit the
act was almost proclaimed to his friends and
neighbors-to the doctor, the clergyman, and
the poor woman herself Certainly the hour
Of death was foretold. All this, of course.
done with a view of disarming suspicion-of
playing the villain SO thoroughly as to make
the very existence of human creature capa-
bic of such things seem q sheer impossibility.
But William Dove, like William Palmer, his
master in the art of murder, was no timid ar
tist. His design was fixed; he held right on
his course. For a whole week he watched the
agonies Of his delicate wife under the inlu-
e1ce Of strychnine-he wept over her, lament
ed her certain death. Five different times
did he administer the subtle drug; on the
sixth occasion il proved fatal. I"
The Times is equally decided that the
wretch must be hanged "Here" it says,
"is man who gets drunk, abuses, threatens,
and beats his wife, and finally takes advan-
tage Of her feeble health and the knowledge
he has obtained of a deadly drug to destroy
her, with a cruelty and hypocrisy unsurpassed
in the annals of wickedness. The defence is
that he is insane. What evidence is pro
duoed' No one had ever heard that William
Dove was mad. His neighbors, before be
committed his crime, and his jailors after
wards, can depose to no acts Of insanity He
married, was a candidate for a parochial Of
fee, and lived like the rest of the world.
But the history of his life is ransacked for evil
dence; and we have schoolmasters and far
mers coming forward to prove-what W might
easily have guessed-that he was always bru-
tai. mischievous, and malignant He be-
lieved in fortune-telling; in infancy he fright
ened his nurse; in b0yhooi he 1as stupid,
obstinate, got a pistol, with which be talked
of shooting his father, and was expelled from
school. When growing up to manhood he tor
tuIeu animals, put Vltrlol on cows, holsted
their legs over beams, burN ~ fence, blinded
a cat, told lies about his exploits in Can
ada, and wantonly pointed guns at people
On these grounds an acquittal was demand
ed. With our experience Of modern trials,
we must award some praise TO the jury who
rejected such miserable plea. II ever there
was crime perpetrsted with circumstances
indicative of the most perfect sanity, it is
that Of William Dove Acts of brutality
and wanton mischief, an incorrigible tenn
per, perverseness, maudliu fits in the inter-
walls of drunkenness, superstition, and stupid
ity might, if necessary, be proved of halt the
rufians who cut the throats and break the
ribs Of their wives in Whitechapel The jury,
however, recommended the prisoner to mercy
on the ground Of defective intellect. 1t is
this distinction, involving a kind of modi.
fed responsibility, against which we must
protest.