Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-01-30
MODERN INSANITY.

/ lBy sophie sparkle In New York Times
The world seems at present to be dis
tinctly divided into two classes, the
sane and insane.
And. from the way in which folly,
and madness, and crime, run riot, it
appears that philanthropists should set
about devising some scheme whereby
the sane people should be. protected
from the mahiacs.
In fact, instead Of building asylums
for the latter, why not put up a few
places of shelter where the sane NAV
hide themselves and find security from
those who are non compos Mentis2
| As for the latter class, they have be-
come so fearfully numerous oflate, that
the trouble would be, not In finding
the maniacs, but in discovering among
their ranks those who are really Of
| sound mind.
For who, in these latter days, is real
ly sane!
| A man commits a fearful crime, by
which, perhaps, a score of people are
plunged into misery and the whole
public are shocked with the enoi1mity Of
his offcnse.
Of course, the culprit is regarded
with adherence by all, and a speedy
punishment is expected to be meted
out to him by the stern fiat Of Justice
But no such "consummation devout-
ly to be wished for occurs.
Not at all. Twelve grave and digni-
fed jurymen, who sit solemn as owls
during along and extensive trial, final
ly find the criminal to be "insane."
We said "solemn as OWLS" and, we
might add, not half as wise as that
wakeful bird is repnted to be--since
how easy q task is il for keen and
able lawyer to hoodwink the ignorant
jury into bringing in an insane verdict
| of inssnity!s
They fling good deal Of profound
and abstruse medical testimony into the
eyes Of the stupids in the jury y-box, and
prate long and earnestly Of the irres-
possibility Of a man when possessed
with q fury of rage.
For, II man be possessed of devil,
how is he to be held to account for the
doings of that evil one?
We read that in olden times men
were sometimes possessed Of seven
devils at once, and that one individual
was at least relieved from his uncom-
Portable situation by the departure Of
the devils from the swine Now 1t
may be possible that, by some mysteri-
Ous Darwinian evolution, those very
swine, possessed with the evil ones as
they were, have reappeared upon the
earth in the guise of men with seven
times seven elements Of deviltry rag
ing within them. Aud man in this
condition is of course always fit for
murder or any other henious crime.
And society has to take its risks with
the presense of snch an individual in
its midst, and he may be counted lucky
who escapes.
And when at last some victim is
found upon whom this brooding spirit
OF rage wreaks its vengence, then So
ciety, or the law, seizes the culprit and
brings him before the bar, that justice
may thunder her mandate against him.
But justice does no such thing! JUS
tice has not been educated as yet to the
times, and SO she sits complacently be-
side the twelve ignorant jurymen, and
suffers them to pronounce the criminal
insane, and the jury themselves are in
sane, or all idiots, which amounts to
about the same thing.
Witnesses are summond to prove
that oil his life long, the prisoner has
evinced symptoms of insanity, that
they have seen his eyes glare with fury,
and heard him utter wild and fearful
sayings in times of excitement, and Of
course they are all quite willing to be-
lieye the man periodically insane.
But is 1t not strange that these very
people had not hadsthis dangerous crazy
man locked up and put out Of the way
of doing harm, long before he took the
opportunity to thrust some helpless vic
tim into bloody grave?
But, no the idiots never thought of
that, bus suffered the mailman to 90 on
his career nnmolested, until his crime
is committed, and then come forward
TO offer their evidence to help him to
escape the gallows.
What nice cloak this insanity has
proven for the effectual hiding Of all
sorts of villany. Rage and violence,
and evil passions OF all kinds have
hidden their detorinity and vileness
beneath 1t. "a 81,
It would naturally be supposed that
the man those twelve jurymen have
pronounced q madman, and, therefore,
to be held morally irresponsible for the
committing of fearful crime, would
be kept forever aftex safe under lock
and key, that he might not be at liber-
~ to play any more Of his mad freaks
upon the community at large.
If he does not merit extreme punish
mcnt, surely straight jacket might be
sometimes beneficial in his CAGE,
But, no! the Judge upon the bench
gravely discharges this lunatic from
custody, and he goes prowling like q
wolf at large once more. And surely
the Judge himself is not insane. For
either the criminal is lunatic, and
should therefore be safely taken care
of; or he is . cnlprit of the deepest
dye, who deserves punishment.
Something evidently is wrong, and
the cloak of insanity 10 used to hide the
truth.
1t is but short time ago since man
who for years had been guilty of ex-
cessive drunkenness, and of abusing
and maltreating his wife, committed q
murder in this very New York. And
after long trial, he was acquitted on
the ground OF insanity.
He was then allowed to go free-to
walk the streets unmolested- follow
the wife who refused to live with him,
and place her in daily fear Of her own
life, and to concoct new schemes of
vengeance against those who had
prosecuted his trial And cnly . few
nights ago this very man was seen run
ming wildly through the streets, with
q loaded revolver in his hand, looking
for an eminent man whom he hated,
but who was fortunately out of town.
In the name Of all that is good, what
are lunatic asylums for? And why
are such murderous wretches as these
allowed to go freel
Has all the world drank wolf's blood
and gone mad?
A brutal husband kicks and beats his
delicate wife until merciful death comes
to the rescue, and this diabolical wretch
also is pronounced insane!
And the worst Of it is that instead
of being locked up or otherwise pun
ished, he is at large, and It is ten to one
but that he finds AT last some foolish 0,.