New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1872-02-06
MrPnER IND INSANITY.

On SATURDAY. last, Oskins, whom our reaueis
will remember was on trial in Phlladelphla
| for the murder of his wife, was acquitted
tho defense being vague mixed plea OF IN
sanity, which it was very difficult to distln-
| guish from manid-G- potu But the truth Is, the
| community is so sickened with this perpetual
| legal blood-letting that any pretepse Is wei
| coined which will save criminal from the
| galows. In England the popular temper is so
| different that two murderers are now lying
under sentence Of death, whom the highest
medical authority Of the kingdom has pro-
nOuncCd insane.
Ono, Of these, Christiana Edmunds, to throw
suspicion from herself in the first case of muir
| der, proceeded to poison wholesale lots of
chocolate creams in confectionery, enough
to cause the death of sixty persons if her ef-
fort had been successful. Insanity and idiocy
wero proved in hor family; she herself had
been almost imbecile at one period from cpl
| leptic attacks and, lastly, DR.. Maudsley. the
eminent mad doctor" pronounced her ode
| fcient 10 moral sense" The other case,
that Of tho Rev. Selby Watson, appeals,
uuduly, perhaps, to our sympathies, as the
prisoner was proved 20 DO formerly man OF
culture, high moral character, "smpe, kind
"Lcarted, and unworldly," but cursed with
a fretful vito whose violent temper rendered
| it almost impossible to live with her. During
the absence of tho servant he beat her to
| death; concealed the murder for two or three
days providing packing case for the pur-
pose of hiding tho body. In his confession
be stated that he had often been provoked by
her, and borne it, but "this time rage
a. -, of fnry
"ho killed her" On the strength of
this five of the most eminent phys-
ciaus Of the insane have sent n memorial
10 tho Home Secretary stating that he was
of unsound mind ut tho time Of the act;
"unablo 10 comprehend the nature and quality
" OF the act he vas committing" Now we DO
not woo Ter such testimony as this brings the
skill Of "mad doctors" into as much I1dicule
in England as the evidence in the case of the
woman Wharton did that of the chemists.
Hereafter, if this rule obtains, n criminal has
but TO prove himself " deficient in moral
sense,r or provoked beyond endurance
'into fury by fictful wife" to escape
fCot-free DR.. uaudslcy, in both cases, reasons
not from tic established law of the land, but
from Bis own individual theory, that no man
/, responsible or should De punished for here
0itary taints or tbat temporary mental dis
tuIbanoo produced by circumstances which
narrows responsible crime down 10 very
small limit. Tho majority Of thieves. we sur
mi,o. wero born with very loose ideas con-
corning meu;n and tum, and there is not
man in Sing Sing who il moral sense is alto
getber sane.
So long as tho law of punishment for muir
der remains what it is, DR.. Mauds!eys
hypothesis cannot DO brought to bear on 1t
but we acknowledge that in that hypothesis
lies tho most powerful objection to the law.
Tie insane nan from disease is irresponsible
and that "stepchild Of Nature" who has been
rendered by the vices of his parents unable
10 comDrehend right and wrong. 10 just as
diseased as if hts brain had been injured by
epilepsy OF hydl pcophalus. Can we do nothing
better with lin than murder him Bat who
is to decide whether tho ma1 who beats out
tho brains of a disagreeable wife, or women
who have pS.,UnanC for strychnine
and tartp--ometiC, ere pitiable stepchil-
dren OF Nature. or willful, rational muir
dorcrs7 Not the doctors, certainly. That
inry must be exceptionally confiding
nowadays who would hang or acQlit upon
tho testimony Of any medical expert The
only safety lies in abolition OF capital pun
ishment, aud inexOrable confinement for life
Of tho murderer, sane or insane. We all have
hereditary taints, pleads Dr. Mnudsey; but
it is equally. truo that we oil bear their pun
ishment. Physical and social laws bring ven
geance swift and sure upon the liar, the
drunkard, the impure or dishonest man or
woman and common sense dictates that the
human being who kills liko q wild beast
should be Gagged like one. In Pennsylvania,
imprisonment follows acquittal on the plea of
insanity, but this is not the case elsewhere.
The piftsbiy0h G1sette SAW: