The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-06-13
Arc Criminals Automata

the atrocity of their deeds. They have very
sagely concluded that the piferers, the burg
lars and the murderers who infest society are
the victims OF moral or immoral hallucina-
ton, and no more accountable for their acts
of mischief than one of Maelztps automata.
The proof of this statement they find, Curl
ously enough, in the supernatural horror con-
nected with the deeds themselves
II a man who commits murder does it
as o fine art-that is, quietly thrusts his
ponard into the breast of his victim, or,
being good marksman, draws bead on
him while the mystic shadows of night are
falling and drops him in his tracks, then goes
home to weep and wall over the deed, tears
his hair in agony, clutches at imaginary
daggers in the air, talks incoherently in his
sleep and exhibits other symptoms ofremorse-
he is, according to the learned science of the
day, double-dyed demon, for whom hanging
is too good. 1t is folly to waste any commits
Grafton on man who regrets his crime and
who has moral sense enough to wiring his
hands in despair and cry out piteously for
mercy. To be sorry for murder committed is
q sure sign of moral health and puts the villain
beyond the pity of science and delivers him
up to the clutches of the law. But when
man commits murder in peculiarly brutal
fashion, when the details are such that they
must be read after and not before breakfast,
then modern science finds an interesting case
and one which multiplies pity by pity, until
one begins to feel that the surest and shortest
road to the heart of these great men is to do
something unaccountably bad. They scorn
a petty deed Of deviltry, but find plenty of
excuses for a crime whose chief peculiarly is
that it is unutterably horrible. They look
the guilty party over with scrupulous care to
find out whether his nervous and muscular
systems are in healthy condition they in
quire concerning his parentage, and, finding
some ancestor that had set barn on fire or
some relative, ever so distant, who had red hair
and hot temper, they cry Eureka with a
delight which is profoundly surprising, and in
their diagnosis of the case render a verdict of
moral unaccountabiity. They then deliver o
very interesting lecture on the automatic
mechanism Of crime, and end by recommend
ing that the patient, instead Of being hanged,
be confined in lunatic asylum and dieted
for while on oatmeal porridge.
Now, while the psychology Of criminals
may be fascinating study, this morbid and
increasing sympathy for them which has
passed the limits Of the metaphysician's
brain, and to some extent taken possession
OF the Judges bench, the jury box and the
popular heart is simply folly. 1t results in
Offering a premium on the very worst forms
of crime, while it spurns the ordinary scoun-
drel with contempt If a deed be only passa-
bly, bad 1t is punished; but if it be most hor-
ribly bad then it is not punished but phys
licked. The safest course for q murderer to
pursue is to muti.ate his victim and make
each particular hair on the head Of society
stand on end. The worse the deed the better
for the door Of it, This may be startling,
but it is nevertheless true. Simple con-
fusion is contemplate, bat confusion worse
COMPOUNDED is equivalent to o verdict of not
guilty. The motto Of Science is, prison for
the man who steals once and feels sorry for
il, and dose of paregoric for another who
steals all the time and laughs at it.
1t is absolutely necessary for the welfare Of
the community that the accountability of all
classes be emphasized. 1t must be proclaimed
in tones which know no such thing as com
promise that evil deeds Of all kinds and
grades will meet with severe and Implying
retribution; that justice holds the balances
firmly, and there is no appeal from her
decisions 1t must be remembered that
society Furnishes crime, not sin. What
sin is, what is the weight Of motive that
ishment for it, is not for us to decide A
higher power win take charge Of that matter,
and. without doubt, na&,S of the decisions
of that higher court W startle US. Con-
domination will strike in Unexpected quarters
and pity and mercy viii 60 hand in hand
along surprising paths. But what is known
as crime in political economy cannot be
tempered with with impunity. 1t will not do
for Despine to sit in the Judges chair and
treat the criminals Of great city as so many
automatons whose peculiar psychological
bias renders them amenable to no law.
such policy would disintegrate our social
system in q very short time. II is we'll
enough for the philanthropist to mix crime
and disease in such inextricable fashion that
they become inseparable, but il would be ex-
ceedingly disastrous If the so-called dangerous
class should learn that that theory prevailed
to any great extent, either among the police
who arrest, the jury who listen to the tcsh-
mony, or the judges who hear the case
Heaven help US al when we learn to pity and
fear to punish
The age is just bit softhearted and m
reliable in this respect A little more stern
ness and infexible rigidity in the execution Of
Law would do Us no harm. The best way to
subdue crime is 20 punish IL severely when it
is discovered. Let philanthropy do its utmost
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