American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-11-23
Breach of Promise Cases.

Il y REPORT is current Of case where
bachelor brought suit for damages aeains
a young lady who had trifled with his al
fectiOns. But the hard-hearted jury ha,
no sympathy for him. and they decided
against him, while all the hangers-Ol
about the courtroom jeered him for pre-
firing such charge against woman
! The world entertains some curious no
| TONS Why the feelings of men should
not be treated with some little considera
ton is difficult to understand. Men low,
as passiOnately as women love. At least
| we are to infer this from the fact that they
go wild over female charms, and in theil
| wild moments are guilty of all manner o
| rashness. They squander fortunes, stooI
TO things that a gentleman in his SOUND
senses would not touch with the toe of his
boot, are Indifferent to the stain brough,
| upon an honorable name. and even com.
init suicide. And Vet. when n man com
plains that coquette has trifled with the
most sacred feelings OF his heart, the
world breaks forth with a derisive laugh.
But when a woman comes into the august
presence of Judge and jury, swearing
that some wretch of q man made himself
agreeable to her only for the purpose OF
describing her-that she was taught to
love. and now nurses broken heart. SYM
pathy flows in torrents, and a verdict is
given at once, compelling the unhappy
defendant to pay over to the fair prOsecu-
tor the most eXtravagant damages in the
shape of filthy cash. When Il woman
brings suit for breach OF promise, the
multitude does not jeer at her. but let a
man sue as the woman has sued, and the
public will laugh him out of coun-
tenance. If there is reason in this,
we confess that we are not
able to see just where the reason
crops out. Why, there are thousands OF
thOughtless creatures in the world ar
rayed in all their glory of pannier and
high heeled boots, who boast OF the con-
quests they make, of the number of men
they compel to kneel at their feet. Ask
one of these butterflies if she does not
think that she is doing wrong. and if she
is not the agent of much suffering, and
with a petulant shrug of the shoulders
she will frankly inform you that she
neither knows nor cares. She, by the sim
pie virtue other wOmanhOod, is privileged
TO trifle as much as she pleascs, but let
her be caught in the coils and ut once the
sympathy of the world is given to sustain
her i'll the hour of affiictiOn. Now, we
respect woman as much rs any one can.
and it must not be understood that we
champion the cause of the vile seducer, of
the heartless wretch who wins the love of
the conffding girl only to betray it; but
we claim that there are as many women
who wrong men as there are men who
wrong women. There are vast numbers
of fair-faced, oily-tongued vultures in the
country, who make their living by entrap-
ping men. With the cunning of the spi-
der they weave their silken nets, and
when the victim trips into the coils. they
bleed him as numerically as they would
bleed a turnip. These vultures fiatter as
only those can flatter who make flattery
a trade, and when the point aimed at has
been gained. and the turnip has been
squeezed dry, they let the poor victim go.
They have no further use for him. and
now the tongue which flattered is equally
busy in coming scandal. There is nothing
more loathsome on this green
earth than one of these vultures. and ii
man who has been trifled with is weak
enough to bring suit for Il breach of pIom-
se against one of them, we cannot COM
prehend why the world should look upon
him as a base and mercenary wretch.
There are two sides to all questions. but
somehow the public blindly persists in
seeing only one side of those who make Il
business playing with the affections of the |
human heart. For the sake of Justice and
reason, let us hope that the public will
not always be blind in this PARTICULAR
Turf Field and Farm.