The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-04-25

Science versus Law-H0W Criminals
are Whitewashed - Crown Hill
The " enknOWR."
INDIANAPOLIS, April %.

etropolis of our great and fourishlns
State calculated to excite spirit o.
Jealousy among the residents of less
favored localities.
1t is not in the elements of mate
rial prosperity alone that this city
claims pre-eminence. Equally grea
is she in the more important field o.
moral and intellectual attainment
/ do not purpose here to give bill o.
items on which these claims are
founded. They are selfevident and
undisputed.
But there is one feature of our In,
telleetnal supremacy, or professional
profundity, which seems worthy oi
special mention. It may be safely
asserted that no other city insthe State
will attempt to compete with lsis. in
that department of metaphysical re-
search which treats of mental diseases
and the predisposipg causes of in
sanity. sAiAc NNAsa ;. f>a "
Ihthis, line we defy composition.
having attained an eminence that
places us above the fear of rivalry
We have established a bureau for the
discoverysof scveryspecies of mania.
The chief of this bureau. a man of
international reputation as brilliant
~ scintillating genius, man who is
universally regarded as a humanita-
rian without peer, is prepared to
furnish, on the shortest notice, such a
diagnosis as will outweigh any
amount of positive testimony, and
bring any man-slayer scot-free from
the grasp of the law.
When anybody, in any part of the
State. finds the continued existence of
a neighbor unpleasant or inconven-
lent, he need not be deferred by fears
of the penitentiary or .hangman from
sending the offensive party across the
Styx. Our sdvan has blotted murder out
of the lexicon except in cases of poor
culpfits.s The desire to kill a fellow
man Is a disease of the mind. y It's
impulsive homocidal monomania /"
The word larceny is obsolete One
takes another'sSeash sor goods under
the Influence of 6 impulsive acquisi-
toriaE monomania. y The victim of
this disease. is more to be pitied than
the man who loses the stamps or mer-1
chandise. The man who writes an-I
others name on note of hand is not
guilty of a felony in these enlightened
daysaoiiO urmosdvan Twill CONVINCE
twelve disfnterested men that this
error In penmanship is the result of
an affective dispensation of Prov.
dence in the shape of a disease. 1t
is : impulsive chirographical mono
mania
A loving pair have dwelt together
In conjugal bliss for half score of
years, The husband, while exercising
but little care to keep his own feet on
the rounds of virtue s ladder, has be-
lieyed his wife to be, like Calphurnia,
above suspicion, as well as guilt
In some twilight hour, in tender, SEN
timentabmood, she confessesTto him
that she has not been all that his
fancy has painted her; she hal, often
found the path of virtue too narrow
Tor her cratic pedals. She men,
tions the name of the part
ner~Df her illicit Joys. The hus-
band provides himself with six
shooter and takes convenient OPP
portunity to send the unshrined soul
of the poorwretch " on the prisn-rose
way to the everlasting bonfire" "A 4
dozen old fogies conspire against
the abused husband, and find a bill of
Indictment for murder. Our "ex-
pert " throws himself between. the un-
fortunate man and the penitentiary.
He makes a diagnosis of the case
"impulsive, homicidal monOmania."
snatches the homicide from the
clutches of the law, and returns him
in triumph to his home and friends.
These diagnoses are said to be ex-
pensive luxuries, beyond the reach of
the vulgar. A liberal cataplasmatic
application of greenbacks is required
on the part of the expert to insure
that delicacy of touch and keenhess of
vision necessary to the discovery of
the particular monomania with which
the applicant is afflicted. Wealth
would seem to be condition prece-
dent to the contraction of these dis
eases. Poverty insures exemption
from these different classes of mono
mania, and permits acquaintance with
turkeys and hemp. qmagg saelao ~
But there Is a serious side 10 this,
matter. and one may be -pardoned for
suggesting ythat-weHrr social. structure
stands on an uncertain basis when the
purchased "opinion of an s. expert T"
is permitted to shield any criminal
who has fundssto bny that opinion y
from sthe legitimate consequence of
his crime. a-A-3 4 L - = a = - ~
The action of juries, in many in
stancesshas estabfishedEa sortof COM
mon law that any man may be killed
with impunity whom any woman ac-,
cuses of seduction. I speak in gene
raj terms, without reference to any
particular case. We are carrying our
L. e