The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1870-05-11
rhr Arm1iilnl of McrnrIand.


The AcouittaI of Mcfarland.
DNStEL MCFARLAND was yesterday ac-
quilted of the charge of numbering ALBERT
ID RJcu\rpsoN. This result was not unex
pectcd, nor can Il lie disputed that II was in
accordance witt. the sentiment Of the major.
ny of cur people. Tie ground upon
which this acquittal was asked for by the
defence was insanity ut the time the homi-
,idc was committed but the verdict Of the
Jury is not to be taken as based altogether
upon lis plea. Their minds were doubt
less influenced 10 q far greater degree by
the circumstances which led MCFARLAND to
he act thnn by the reasons that were as
signed for believing him to have been crazy
when h. did it. 1t was proved that Ricn-
ARDsoN. nided by number of his friends,
had seduccd the allegiance of McFARLAND's
wife and Ia acquttng the prisoner the jury
have virtually declared it to be their opinion
that any husband is at all times justified in
Staying the uaramour of his wife.
1t may be said that the essence Of this
doctrine lies in the old principle of tie law,
that it is 10 murder 10 kill an adultrrcr
when caught in the act. THIS view is the
same M prevailed in tho case of COLE and n
that of SICKLEs. In each Of those trials us
in the present one, the defence Of insanity
was set up; and in regard 20 COLE
it was explicitly declared by the jury
that he was insane at the moment
Of the decd hut the real principle which
those verlicts affirmed is the same as that
affirmed in acquitting MCFARLAND. This
lie, that no lapse of years sulllces to protect
the scduccr from the vengeance Of the in
jured party, and that wherever or whenever
he is found he may he slain, and the slayer
be free from the guilt Of murder
The public feeling in connection with this
trial has been much intensified by the evi.
dencc brought forward to show that the theory
of free love, or Of love governed by impulse
alone and not held within the limits of any
law but its own desire, entered largely
into the causes which took Mrs. MCFARLAND
away from her husband and handed her
over TO a paramour. II is true that this
theory was not presented in so extreme a
form in the evidence. II appeared there in
the shape Of the idea that wife who dis
agrees with her husband and no longer
loves him, or who is not properly
maintained by him, has the right
10 separate from him, and TO form n
new relation with any man who is more
agreeable TO her tastes and feelings but in
the general Judgment this milder applica-
ton ofthe free love principle does not differ
essentially from the other 1t was seen that
this pernicious theory had played n great
and INSCRIPTIONS part in the early stages
Of this tragcal affair, and its ad.
vocatcs and adherents appeared in the
court room ns witnesses to justify and de
fend it, This shocking manifestation of q
deeprooted social disease was believed TO be
on trial quite rs much as the wretched pris-
oner, and the verdict of the jury is
even more condemnation of free love
than an acquittal of MCFARLAND. In
this point of view it may be regarded ms a
wholesome thing even by those persons who
without any sympathy with the poisonous
philosophy which stimulated the coadjutors
ofRIcuARpsoN in taking away MCFARLASD''
wife, are still unable to regard the killing Of
the sciucer as anything but a. Gaik and un
justilallc crime.
The public, and doubtless the Jury also
were much affected by the cons, tracy e
deprive the father of his children at the sam
time that the husband was deprived of hi
wife Indeed, this part of the drama SCENE,
10 many minds more hcarilcss and more ter
rible even than the other. 10 lose an alieuateC
and corrupted partner is certainly mucl
less calamity than TO be deprived of one
children, whose natural affections have no
yet been destroyed, and TO whom the car
and love of q parent are still entirely due
This conspiracy was clearly proved. Indeed
the evidence showed that the possession {
the children, was condition 10 the posses
sion of the wife, and that as long as the son
could be kept with the father the mothc
would not forsake her home.
Let us hope that this tragedy, with it
revelations OF social corruption, its awful
catastrophe OF death, and its prolonged exh
pitioh III thS Oouit iooiij huy hot 10 "i'h"u
good and useful effects. If ii shall avail I
fix in the popular mind clearer ideas of til
sanctions of the marriage tie, and of the dr
lies of domestic life, its darker and NOR
shocking features will not DO wholly unr'
lieved. May such wisdom be gathered fror
its teachings
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