The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1871-07-19
Extraordinary Crime. Of tn. Day.

Extraordinary Grimes 81 tho Day
We seem Just now to be passing through
Cycle Of criminal phenomena as peculiar a.
shocking and atrocious; and 1t is remarkable
that many Of the horrid crimes We have heard
of lately have been committed BY women-by
women, too, who have had the advantages OF
education, and In some cases Of good birth
and condition in life. There IL the recent case
Of MIRA Fair, in California, with which oil our
readers are familiar. Then came the reported
murder Of Nelson W. Sherman and his three
children by poisoning In Connecticut BY the
wife of Sherman and stepmother OF tho chill
dren, and now We have tho horrible tragedy
in Baltimore, In which IN accomplished woman,
Mrs. Wharton, moving In the best society, has
been indicted by tho Grand Jury for poisoning
General Ketchum and attempting to poison
Mr.. Van Ness, and with damaging circum-
stantial evidence that other victims have been
disposed Of In q similar manner by
this woman. These last named women
are called Borgias because their crimes
are similar In Wholesale destruction Of
life and systematic criminal action but ip the
case Of tho Infamous Italian princess there
was the motive 9l ambition o. we'll as muir
dsr0pa DISPOSITION. In the cases Of Mrs.
sh1fman and Mrs. wharton there does not
appear to DO vaulting ambition. though there
may have been cupidity. In fact with Mrs.
Wharton there seems to be, 70 far as the EVIL
denoe shows up to this time, scarcely motive
Of cupidity strong enough for the crimes she
is charged with. 1t Is dinAoult to believe such
crimes could DO committed under the circum-
stances by sane woman yet Mrs. Wharton
had lived years In refined and intelligent soci-
city without being suspected Of insanity. True,
more than twenty years ago, when girl, she
was hayward and acted In an extraordinary
manner, and was charged with being insane
by her father when she announced her ap-
preaching marriage and got ready to marry q
gentleman who knew nothing OF the matter ;
but that was long time ago. Since then she
has become woman of mature age, with .
grown up family, and has lived respected ap-
parently in community that was supposed to
know her well. She was even, 1t is said, q
consistent member Of the Church. Is it posi-
bio that with all this Mrs. Wharton
was at heart and secretly q murderer
Of the worst sort2 Or was there latent
streak Of insanity in her unseen and unsus-
pected by her friends and acquaintancesP It
is hard to decide. Then, again, admitting
even that there was touch Of insanity in this
woman, nice question arises as to how far
persistent. continued and systematic crime In
one 80 generally sane and intelligent can be
excused or be punished. Tho whole COM
munity will watch with the greatest interest
the development Of evidence In her case. It
will be one Of the most remarkable cases
In the history of criminal jurisprudence, and,
no doubt, the ablest lawyers will be employed
in it. These fearful crimes by women indicate
that there Is something wrong in our social
life. Has the effort of the so-called strong
minded women to bring their sex into the tur-
moil of ifo's arena, and by 80 doing to draw
their sisters from the sweet influences of do
mestic life aud the family, led In measure to
these crimes? This Is serious question. and
one which our mothers and sisters would do
well to ponder over. ''The times are out OF
joint" and there must be no mistaken philan-
thropy, no palliation Of crime, because the
criminals may be women. For the sake OF
society Justice must be blind and hold the
scales evenly toward women as well as toward
men.