The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1876-02-02
"Ths Insanity Dodge

Gray, of Utica, made an examiI alton
Of Scannell, who was recently committed
TO the Utica insane asylum, and fled their
certificate in the county court of Oneida
county, day or two since, that Scannell
was not insane This will of course secure
Scannells release, inasmuch as only the
order Of judge OF the supreme court is
necessary to put into effect the decision of
these experts. District-Attorney Phelps,
who is in the city to- night says he is not
in tle least surprised at this issue of the
case. 1t was to have been foreseen. and
he is, of course, entirely powerless 10 the
matter" ].
This very appropriate conclusion to one
of the greatest burlesques upon law and
justice ever perpetrated in civilized coun-
try ought not, says the st. Louis RepubH-
can, to pass without brief notice.
Florence Scannell, New York rough
politician, was shot in an affray in Thomas
Donohue's saloon in 1870. Some suspicion
attached to Donohue, though number of
persons were engaged in the ARRAY; but
legal Investigation failed to find any proof
against him, and he was discharged &C
cordingly. John Scanneli, however, firmly
believed Donohue was the murderer of his
brother, and made a solemn VOW of VEN
geance, which he most religiously kept.
Twice he attempted TO kill Donohue, but
failed; the third time--in November, 1872
I-he succeeded in shooting his man to
death in a pool-room on Broadway. In
January, 1878, he was brought to trial,
pleaded insanity, and the jury disagreed
His second trial, on one excuse and anoth-
err, was postponed until November, 1875,
when the same plea was offered, and the
Jury agreed to acquit him. He was soon
after transferred to the insane asylum at
Utica, and the telegram given above tells
the rest Of the story.
John Scannell was no more of lunatic
when he killed Thomas Donohue, in No
vember, 1872, than he is now, when a
committee of experts have pronounced him
of sound mind, and an order from court is
about setting him at liberty. He is cold
blooded, cowardly assassin, who has saved
his worthless neck by playing the insanity
dodge" In Chicago the other day mar
was tried for murder in the first degree
pleaded insanity, and bamboozled the jury
into disagreement. Then he immediatel,
became sane enough to plead guilty to tht
charge Of murder in the second degree
and 50 went to the penitentiary instead o
the gallows, where he belonged. Ant
here is another of the same sort:
Gen. George W, Cole who made himself widel
known by killing l.. ii. HiscoCk, in Albany, in 1867
is dead. After his acqultal he enlisted in the army
, tice as a physician in New Mexico. The insanit
which the jury decided was the cause of his Grim
never showed itself afterward.n
And now we are about to repeat the fare
in Rock Island county The woman, Brit;
, Nielsen, now in Jail in this city for com
hitting one Of the most deliberate an,
cold blooded murders on record ha
already had her mouth sealed by lawyer
and they will attempt to get her acquitte
on the insanity dodge So deliberate an,
) premeditated was her crime that she ha
E not the poor excuse Of anger or exaspera
ton. Her husband lay on the bed, asleep
She says she married him for home, bu
bad become tired of him, and she locke
at him where he had lain, asleep,for hour
and then, with no provocation whateve
took an axe and deliberately chopped hi
to death and dragged his body out into tt
road and left it there to be found by SON
;. passer-by in the morning, and went bac
to the house and went to bed And 81
= admitted all this before the coroner's jur
n A more brutal, cold blooded, premeditate
). unprovoked and heartless murder WI
never committed
And there IS no country on earth whe
:. the average juryman is such a coward
~ skulker as in the United States of Ameri
le no country where the insanity dodge C;
y be played with such absolute IMMUNITY al
III almost uniform success; no country whe
jurymen have so little regard for the
ID duties to the people and to good goyer
is ment And we shall soon see whether
e Rock island county jury is any excerpts
TO the average American juryman v
wonder how long the American peoI
will submit to this monstrous lie about
sane murderers2