The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1871-07-21
GheGttstIf9sueer.
The Phenomena of Crime.

of their commission. Only few days
ago it seemed as il murder following upon
illicit intercourse between the sexes was
becoming epidemic, To-day mania tor
poisoning appears TO DO the fashionable
form Of crime, of which the sherman case
in Connecticut, the Ruth case in Kansas,
the Warrior case in Baltimore, anu one or
two others that have recently come 10
light, are the most conspicuous examples
In reality, there is no cause for surprise IN
this occurrence Of similar instances OF
homicide. 1t cannot be called a colnci-
dence, History so abOunds with cases of
this character that we are justified in sus-
pecting that they follow general law,
and that perhaps in the progress OF social
science we may learn to combat them as
ehectually as we oppose the cOntagion Of
cholera or yellow fever. The tendency Of
crime to become epidemic is pretty gene
rally admitted. Incendlarism, suicide,
inianticide, and murder by poison are Of
lenses which experience shows to be
specially liable to propagate themselves
by infection. About the middle OF the
nth century there was q iTightiul cpl
demic Of poisoning in Italy, and a society
of Young wives was discovered who met
at the house OF an old woman called La
Spara TO devise means for getting rid OF
their husbands. Fourteen were hanged,
and great number Of others, Including
young and beautiful girls, were whipped
half naked through the streets Of Rome.
The notorious T0ianla, who carried on
the poisoning trade for so years, tlourished
about the same time; and almost simulta-
nGOusly the crimes and execution Of
Madame dc BrinvilliCrs gave rise to q
mania for poisoning in France which
lasted until more than hundred persons
had been executed. A celebrated poison
Ing case in England in 1916 was followed
by an extraordinary increase Of the same
form Of crime, especially among the poor
in the agricultural counties: one woman
killed eight OF her children by putting ar
seniC on her breasts. After the execution
OF the English poisoner Palmer, about If
teen years ago, for killing his wife with
stryChnine, an English gentleman named
Dove got rid Of his wife In precisely the
same way, and acknowledged that read
ing about the Palmer case induced him 10
do il. De Quincy mentions the lrequen.
Cy Of the assassination Of prominent his.
t0riCal characters between 1858 and 1885,
that short period of forty.seven years wit
Messing the murder Of William Of Orange,
the Duke Of Guise, Henri ILL.,, Henri w.,
the Duke of Buckingham, Wallenstein,
and perhaps Gustavus Adolphus, whose
fate is surrounded with mystery. Suicide
by drowning was once so prevalent
among the women Of Lyons that 10 check
II the authorities ordered the bodies of all
the victims to DO publicly exposed In the
market place. At Versailles, toward the
close of the last century, there were 1900
suicides in single year, Several cases
Of epidemic incendiarism have occurred
in this country; and we have no doubt
that II would be found, If the necessary
statistics were accessible, that other forms
Of crime have prevailed here from time to
time with the same symptoms OF cOnta-
giOn. ... ........ ..........,.
This transitOry popularity Of certain
horrible otIenses can DO In part, but not
wholly, accounted for by mans well.
known pronOnCss to imitation. Every
community Is thlckly sown with the seeds
oil evil, The germs OF violence md lust,
all then prOtean shapes, are hidden
under the surface of society, and nothing
Is wanting for their development but n
concurrence OF favorable external Circum-
stanccs-an exceptional social disturb.
ancc unduly rousing the passions and I'm
settling the balance Of the mind, nm out
break OF pOltical or commercial excite
ment, anything in fact which Affects the
normal condition Of mental health, and
iayors the predominanCe Of appetite aud
impulse over reason and judgment. Then
the instinct of imitation comes into play,
and we see the result in M appalling ST.
rles of alultcries, polsonings, slloOtings
child.murders, lorgeries, and suicides.
Perhaps we may go further yet Strictly
speaking, every criminal Is insane, md II
Is possible that moral disorders are In
part explainable not only by the same
method Of reasoning which we apply to
the investigation Of bodily diseases, but
by the same physical causes where.
BY those diseases arc produced. Bodi.
y disease, mental disease, and criminal
nropensities are correlatives, interchange.
able with one another, as heat may be
changed into electricity, electricity into
chemical action, chemical action into
magnetism, and 30 on with all the i'm.
pohderable forces, either being exchange.
able for any oil the others, The morbid
organization which shows Itself In one
generation by epilepsy or consumption
may be inherited In the next as chronic
alcoholism, in the next rs physical dc.
lormity, or hypochondrlasiS, or moral
depraVity, or homicldal mania. who
shall say then that the external influences
which induce disordered action Of the
system and arrest the natural develope.
ment Of the body arc not capable OF To-
vOring both endemic and epidemic mani
Iestations ofinsanity and crimeH In 9th
or words, trace q murder back far enough
and you may find Its origin IN u mlAsma
Study all the facts, and you may discover
that certain forms of violence are endemic
In ireland, robbery In Italy, infanticide II
China, suicide in India md Japan, because
physical influences in those cOuntiiei
induce peculiar morbid changes In the
nervous Centers; and that poisoning onCt
RACED in Italy and France, sell. destruction
in Lyons, wltchcrait in both Europe ant
America, because climatic, social, o
other disturbances facilitated tho devel
opement Of certain pathological cohdl
lions.
or we do not imply that becaus
crime is o symptom Of mental disease,
criminal Is therefore Irresponsible. TIL
precise degree OF disorder which destroy
iree.will Is all inquiry which often battle
the best experts; but there lies on eacl
side Of the dividing line wide region 0
disease in which Il will not be difficult 4
decide the patients accountability. Mr.
Sherman may have been impelled
poison three husbands and eight children
and Mrs. Wharton to kill half q doze
people with artar.emetic, in consequence
If some hereditary defect Of organization