Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1871-04-05
SAN FRANCISCO, April 8, 1871.

I'M
RICAL ROMANCE FOUNDED
ON FACT.
SAN FRANCISCO, April 8, 1871.
The very ingenious plea of menstrual
insanity, set up by the counsel Of the
unhappy woman now on trial for her
life, was a genuine surprise, not only
to the public at large, but to the prose-
cution as we'll. 1t was thought that
the deliberate REORGANIZATION shown
by the prisoner would have sffectually
barred this line Of defense, but 1t is
evident, on reflection, that 1t wa the
only one that offered any chance Of
success, and certainly the only one
that was likely to make any impression
upon the jury. The defense Of
Menstrual Insanity,
though not entirely new in the annals
of medical Jurisprudence, is so uncom-
non that the evidence to sustain 1t will
be read with the deepest interest by the
legal and medical profession all the
world over. The first to classify this
peculiar kind of insanity was DR.. Ray,
a Boston physician, who In 1888 pub
lIshed a work on the Medical Jurispru-
dence Of Insanity, which is still regarded
as a standard authority on the subject.
Under the heading, partial Moral
Mania" he says: "Another curious
form Of homicidal insanity occurs In
women, and seems to be connected
with those changes in the system pro-
duced by parturition, m~enstruation and
lactation." After citing several In
stances Of insanity resulting from the
first cause, he mentions the following
as two we'll attested cases where 1t was
produced by catamenial disorders:
"Almira Brixey was a maid-servant
in a respectable English family, and
one day In the spring of 1885, while
the nurse was out of the room, she OBJ
tanned n knife from the kitchen and
cut the throat Of her masters infant
| child. She then went down stairs and
told what she had done. No decisions
were detected, nor had she manifested
any other mental popularity except
some violence Of temper about trivial
matters a short time before. There
was some proof, though not very defi-
mite, that she had labored under men
strual disorders. She was acquitted
and Sent to Bethlehem Hospital"
"Gall says he knew q woman, then
twenty-six years old, who had expert
enced, especially at the menstrual pc
RODS, ineXpressible torture, and the
fearful temptation to destroy herself
and to kill her husband and children.
She shuddered with terror rs h de-
scribed the struggle that took place
within her between her ssnse OF duty
and of religion and the impulse that
urged her to this atrocious act"
These and other similar instances
will no doubt be quoted by the defense,
and backed up by an array of medical
testimony sufficient at any rate to pro-
duce serious doubts OH the mind Of the
Jury as to the prisoners moral respon-
sibility. DR.. tyford has already fired
the first shot rs All expert. In his
evidence to-day, after describing Mrs.
Fairs condition of health some time
before the shooting. he said: "Her
system at that unfortunate period 1.-THE
day of the tragedy was suffering not
only from scanty, but retarded, NELL
situation. She was conscious, but not
In a thorough state of mind. Retarded
me~nstruati0n might, and frequently
does, produce absolute MANIA" with
the knowledge that fifteen or twenty
| medical witnesses will testify to the
same effect, and the result Of the
Richardson Mcfarland case still In
recollection, 1t would be rash now to
predict n conviction. On Thursday a
conviction appeared to be q foregone
conclusion. To-day opinions yeer be-
tween acquittal on the grounds OF In
sanity or a disagreement.
Il is rather remarkable that another
case, in which the defense will be
%puerperal insanity, produced necessa-
rily from the first Of the causes men,
toned by DIR. Ray in the extract above,
Is to DO tried In one Of our Courts In a
week or two. The prisoner Is IN In
dian woman, who cut of her child's
head a few days after its birth, and
threw the body down a water closet.
She was obviously insane at the time,
but showed no symptoms of 1t before,
and Is now quite in her right mind.
This defense was not suggested by the
Fair trial, as 1t was made at the time
of the Coroner's inquest. 1t really
seems that It would be n saving of time
and money to adopt the maxim that
all crime Is insanity. That Is appa-
rently the tendency Of the most ad-
vanced thinkers and writers, anu II
our juries properly represent popular
intelligence, their verdicts would ndi-
tcate a leaning to the same opinion.
| So It Is that a theory originally spun
to save worthless necks from the gal
lows Is gradually being accepted as a
revelation in moral science. 1t Is
noteworthy, however, that Vigilance
Committees are wonderful preventives
Of such madness.
Oar Annual Earthquake.
We had a lively earthquake, OF some
ten or twelve seconds duration, about
halfpast seven last night. Old resi-
dents are now so accustomed to these
slight vibrations that they take little
notice of them, consequently there was
no alarm except among q few ex-
tremely worshipers In the
churches. 1t Is strange, but true, that
We sinner will sit In a whisky saloon
through a goodly shock and never
think of running, while ye pious in
church, who have just been telling the
Almighty that they have the greatest
confidence In his supreme direction OF
affair, will stampede for the door as II
1t was a certainty that the devil would
get the hindmost. 1t can hardly be q
Coincidence that for three years In sue
cession we have had sharp earthquakes
on the 1st or I'd Of April. In 1869
there was a rough shake at 9 p. n. on
April LIST. Last year there was n at
noon on the 4st and yesterday, rs mar
rated, at 1880 p. N. The Alta, follow
-. "a k.oJ;kto,ol oompnorrio NIL.