The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-02-03
THE BROOKLYN STABBER.

rTo7H tpe ~. Il. IinleS.
When De Quincy wrote his "Murder
commonly deemed an amusing but rather
fantastic freak of imagination. This is
funny, thought many readers, but totally in
credible. 1t is magnificent, but it is not
human nature. Yet precisely such things
occur. The inexplicable is by no means
lacking in the complex elements that inspire
mems actions. An example is just now con-
spicuous which, if put in novel, would have
been ridiculed as absurd. In our neigh
Dor city of Brooklyn, an unknown
miscreant has for some time been distin-
gushing himself by indulging in a passion
as terrible as it is grotesque. Armed with
a knife, he prowls about at night
in search of young girls, selecting comely
ones for choice, and, watching his opportu-
nifty, he cuts savagely at their faces. Some
times the blow falls elsewhere, but the ruffian
obviously aims at the head. His object ap-
pears to be simply to mutilate, since he never
attempts to rob his victims. There have been
five authenticated cases of these assaults, the
first having occurred in the latter part of No
vember, and the fifth last Saturday night.
They have generally occurred in or near
Grand and Remsen streets, and the perpetra-
tor, after his attack, always makes off with
great swiftness. Quite a panic has been
created, especially among working girls
whose business keeps them out after
dark; and the Common Council of
Brooklyn has offered reward of $3.50
for the apprehension of the offender.
The popularity about this strange affair
is not only that it is unaccompanied by any
effort to steal, but that it is so deliberately
disposed over considerable intervals of time.
1t would seem that the guilty person, wishing
to enjoy his frightful pastime to the utmost,
limits himself with cautious reserve in its
indulgence. He apparently lays down for him
self regular plan of operations. Thus, on one
night, we may suppose him to reflect, he will
slash off some young woman's ear. This
being successfully accomplished, he may re-
tire and gloat for a week or two over the ex-
plot. Emerging with fresh gusto, he may de-
termine to have the pleasure of Sitting some
other poor girls cheek, and again retreat to
chuckle in his mysterious lair at comprising
so exquisite qualification. To slice off some
other victims lips may furnish, after due re-
pose, the third dish of this extraordinary
banquet-and so on. That these things, or
things very like them, have been done we
know; the motive so far is unfathomable.
The theory of insanity is suggested, and no
doubt is plausible. The old story says that
Malays sometimes "run a muck" as it is
called, hacking and manning every one they
meet; but In such cases they are, We believe,
assumed to be not only irresponsible morally,
but the subjects of sudden frenzy. While
in the paroxysm they are totally bereft of
reason. The Brooklyn assassin, on the
other hand, if really a monomaniac, has
a distinct method in his madness. He
invariably addresses the women he ap-
proaches as a civil stranger, as if to allay any
possible fears, and so get the best chance to
do his work in an artistic way. Again, his
regard for his personal safety and the artful
celebrity with which he provides for it, is a
decided point of difference. The muckrun-
ming Malay takes blows as well as gives them,
and seems as regardless of pain as most East
Indian devotees. If this Brooklyn stabber ia
indeed a maniac, his is certainly very Gu
rious kind of lunacy If he be sane, we
! remember no case in the records of crime