Prescott journal. [volume] (Prescott, Wis.) 1861-1871, 1870-05-05
THE NEW CRIME.
Insanity as Substitute Tor Murder--
How Rich Men become CraLy--How
Robbery and Adultery are Excused.

forty wears, has produced some of the
most remarkable cases of insanity OF
which there is any mention IN history
For instance, there was the Baldwin
case. in Ohio, twenty-five years ago
Baldwin, from his boyhood up, had been
of vindictive, malignant, quarrelsome
nature. He put boys eye out, once,
and never was heard upon any occasion,
uttering a regret for it. He did many
such things. But at last he did some
thing that was serious. He called at a
house lust after dark, one evening,
knocked, and when the occupant came
to the door, shot him dead and then
tried to escape, but was captured. Two
days before, he had wantonly insuIted a
helpless cripple. and the man he took
swift vengeance upon with an assassin
bullet. knocked him down. Such was
the Baldwin case. The trial was long
and exciting; the community was fear
fully wrought up. Men said this spite
full, black hearted villain had caused grief
enough in his time, and now he should
satisfy the law. But they were mistak-
en-. Baldwin was insane when he did
the deed-they had not thought of that.
By arguments of counsel it was shown
that at 80 in the morning on the day
of the murder, Baldwin became insane,
and remained SO for eleven hours and a
half exactly. This just covered the case
comfortably, and he was acquitted
Thus, if an unthinking and excited COM
muuity had been listened to instead of
the arguments of counsel, poor crazy
creature would have been held to fear
full responsibility for. mere freak of
madness. Baldwin went clear, and al
though his relatives and friends were
naturally incensed against the commune
ty for their injurious suspicious and re.
marks, they said let it go this time, and
did not prosecute. The Baldwins were
very wealthy. This Baldwin had me-
mentary fits of insanity twice afterward,
and on both occasions killed persons he
had grudges against. And on both
these occasions the circumstances of the
killing were SO aggravated, and the muir
ders so seemingly heartless and treacher-
Gus, that if Baldwin had not been insane
he would have been hanged without the
shadow of a doubt. AS it was, it re-
,,;-ad oil he political ond fon>;l,, nan
ence to get him clear in one of the cases,
and cost him not less than $4,000 to
oct clear in the other. One of these men
he had VIGOROUSLY been threatening to
kill for twelve years. The poor creature
happened. by the merest piece of ill-for-
tune, to come along a dark alley at the
very moment that Baldwin's insanity
came upon him, and so he was shot in
the back with gun loaded with slugs.
1t was exceedingly fortunate for Baldwin
that his insanity came on him just when
it did.
Take the case of Lynch Hackett, OF
Pennsylvania. Twice in public he at
tackled a German butcher by the name
of Bemis Felduer, with cane, and both
times FeIdner whipped him with his fists.
Hackett was a vain, wealthy, violent gen.
tIeman. who held his blood and family in
high esteem, and believed thata reyerent
respect was due his great riches. He
brooded over the shame of his chastise-
ment for two weeks, and then, in mo-
mentary fit of insanity, armed himself to
the teeth, rode to town, waited couple
of hours until he saw Feldner coming
down the street with his wife on bis
arm, and then, as the couple passed the
doorway in which he had partially con.
ceaIed himself, he drove knife into
Feldner's neck, killing him instantly
The widow caught the limp form and
eased it to the earth. Both were dreneh-
ed with blood. Hackett loosely re-
marked to her that as professional
butchers recent wife she could appreciate
the artistic neatness of the job that put
her in condition to marry again in case
she wanted to. This remark, and anoth-
er which he made to a friend, that his
position in society made the killing OF
an obscure citizen simply an eccentrici-
ty," instead of crime, were shown to
be e, licences of insanity, and SO Hackett
escaped punishment. The jury were
hardly inclined to accept these rs proofs
at first, inasmuch as the prisoner had
DSVor D6eu tuSdu0 D0iOF0 Tue inufd0r.
aud under the tranquilizing effect of the
butchering, had Immediately regained
his right mind-but when the defense
came 10 show that the third cousin OF
Hackett's wife's step father was insane,
and not only insane, but had nose the
very counterpart of Hackett's, it was
plain that insanity was hereditary in the
family, and Hackett had come by it by
legitimate inheritance. Of course the
jury then acquitted him. Il was mer-
cifll providence that Mrs. HIS people
had been afflicted as shown, else Hack
EFT would certainly have been hanged.
However, is it not possible to account
for all the marvellous cases of insanity
that have come under the public notice
in the last thirty or forty years. There
was the Durgin case in New Jersey three
years ago. The servant girl, Bridget
Durgin, at the dead Of night invaded
her mistress's bedroom, and carved the
lady literally to pieces with knife
Then she dragged the body to the mid
die of the floor, and beat and banged it
with chairs and such things. Next she
opened the feather beds, and strewed the
contents around, saturated everything
with kerosene, and set fire to the general
wreck. She now took up the young