The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-11
BREACHES OF PROMISE.


Now that the telegraph tells us that the in
telligent Illinoisan jury to whom has been
submitted the case of Craig VS.. Sprague have
not only returned a verdict in favor of the
plaintiff, but have assessed her damages at
the extraordinary sum, considering the sta
ton of the parties and the circumstances of
the case, of 800, 1000, it is time to consider
the case little. These damages must be re-
garded as punitory upon Sprague rather than
as justified by the amount of injury which
Miss Craig had actually received. The folly
Of the defense in attempting to ruin the
womans reputation was the cause of
Sprague's excess of Woe Otherwise, there is
no imaginable reason why Miss Craig should
have got a hundred thousand of his hard
earned dollars.
In fact, this whole business of breach-of-
promise suits has become a ridiculous one.
Here in this case is a woman whose affections
had already been lacerated, according to the
affecting catalogue of them with which she
furnished her latest lover, by four or five per-
sons at least. 1t is not to be supposed that
her mature and callous heart could be more
deeply wounded by the infdelity of Sprague,
who happened to have money, than that organ
was, III its young and tender phase when it
was cut to the core by the perhdy of the gay
deceivers who had none. They paid in per-
son for losing the lovely Amanda. Why
should not Sprague have been suffered to do
the same? 1t does not appear that he had
done anything out of the way with regard to
her, except to discover that he had not cared
quite so much for her as in his first ardor he
thought he had; and on making this dis
covery, who shall say that the wisest thing
he could have done was not exactly what he
did do-to deprive himself of the delights of
her society, and to give her the same chance
to forget him that he had already taken to
forget her?
The idea of appraising damages to
woman S senslbilities in money is getting to
be thought an absurd one. OF course, if
man trites with woman's feelings and
makes insincere professions to her, he is de-
serving of punishment. But that is not saw
ing that she is deserving of a pecuniary re-
compense for his crimes. And it is by no
means saying that a man who honestly be-
lieves that he wishes to marry a woman. and
who afterwards finds out his mistake, is de-
serving of any punishment at all, or that the
woman who was the subject of his deluson is
deserving of any pecuniary compensation at
all. The one feature in this case which in
cIines us to be glad of the verdict against
Sprague is his attempt, apparently an entirely
causeless one, to destroy her reputation. But
the ordeal to which that reputation was sub
jected on the trial was rather to its advan-
tage than otherwise; and although Sprague
deserved to be punished for the attempt, as
he has been, Miss Craig did not deserve the
reparation which she got for an injury that
had not been inflicted.
1t is the same in most suits for slander, the
only analogous case which our law furnishes
for this action for breach of promise of mar
riage The best refutation for a slander is to
prove it untrue; but a man who is conscious
of its untruth will generally rely upon that
consciousness. A man, ON the other hand,
who is CALLED by his consciousness of its truth
will generally bluster it out by bringing suit
and endeavoring to extort little money.
And woman whose sensibilities are worth
considering will generally refrain from having
them discussed in crowded court-rooms and
talked about in newspapers. Whereas, a
woman who entered into a marriage e-contract
from motives of moneywill generally endeavor
to attain the same object by suit against the
person who refuses to be her victim.
But, in any case, how weak is Sprague not
to have fulfilled his promise of marriage In
Chicago he could at any time have got a di-
vorce for a thousand dollars at most, and
thereby have saved himself ninety and nine,
besides the modification of having his afro
cious letters read out and printed. His con-
duct in this regard, like the letters themselves,
tends to show with how little wisdom much
money can be made