The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1878-02-16
For The Cecil WhIG
BROADBRIM'S NEW YORK LETTER.

THE MADNESS OF LUNATICs AND TIE
LuNACY OF MADMEN-wHAT Is MADNESS
THE YOUNG HUSBANDS MADNESS
A WONDERFUL LUNATIC-THE HAMMILL
MURDER PEARsALL' DIsCovERY-BANK
DEFALCATIoN, &C.
am but mad nor NOR west:
When the wind is southeriy,
know hawk from a hand saw.
Hamlet. How came he mad /?
Grace digger.-Faith, cen by losing his wits.
SHAKESPEARE.
An eminent English divine whose orthor-
doxy impressed it's stamp upon the age and
body of his time, left a very learned work
lind him to prove that all mankind were
,,,,;oss-, Two hundred wears of scholastic
,o,o,,,, .,.cossr,1tz shaken the arguments
:, '"'o srsgelatious of these
there adduced. aud tbe'rS-sa.
latter days rather seem to fufSsa.
sive evidence that the learned hisSazl
not so far astray. Plato think it is, ~
describes lunatics as the wards or cnil->
dren of the gods and another philosopher,
equally eminent. looks upon madness as
the highest form of spiritualized mind or
soul. A couple of cases have occurred in
our courts during the past week which have
set us all to iuquiring. what is madness? Are
the witnesses mad? Is the criminal mad?
Is the jury mad? Is the judge lunatic?
And are we mad also, who sit quietly by
while atrocities are perpetrated under the
sacred shadow of the justice seat and in
the name of the law, which make hollow
mockery of that which mankind in all
ages have regarded as their ark, their
security and shield, when every other
refuge was denied?
1t is only few weeks ago since savage
brute tried to assassinate his young wife in
the city of Brook lyn. In open day he
entered her fathers house, to which she
had fled with her little infant. seeking pro-
open day. under the shadow of her fathers
roof, with her little, innocent infant in her
arms, this savage tried to assassinate her.
That he did not murder her and her child
is not his fault. He empted his revolver
purchased for the purpose, and left her, as
he thought. dying on the floor, weltering
in pool of blood. On his way to the
police Office he expressed good deal of
satisfaction at what he had DONE and
when he heard she was likely to recover,
seemed sorry that he had not killed her.
And. now | understand, he is to be sent to
lunatic asylum! If ever a man deserved
halter, it was this young brutal rutlian.
He was the pampered son of wealthy
who had allowed him to grow up as fast
young man about town, without any train
ing or restraint. How any father, who
really loved his daughter, coIld have calmly
committed her to the charge Of such
worthless vagabond, merely because his
father was rich. is one of those Ipcompre
hensble things which it is impossible to
find out. He would have denied the
suit of an honest mechanic, though lie had
The genius of Franklin or Watt; yet he
could give his child to this young aristo-
cratic brute, who beat her and abused her
till, finding her new married life horror
no longer to be endured, she fled for
shelter to her fathers home. Well, lie
goes to a lunatic asylum. In few weeks
the excitement will be past, and he will
come out, sane enough, perhaps, TO con-
summate his murderous purpose, which
failed through the mischance of an I'M
steady aim.
In the case of Mrs. Marrigan she was ac-
cused of numbering her dearest and most in
innate friend Margaret HaUmill. The
case has all the color of romance. They
were girls at school together, brought up
in an eminent Catholic institution. and
filled with religious ardor and reverence:
they Joined the Sisters of Mercy, and took
all the initial steps to qualify them per-
manently for the order. Margaret Ham,
mill finally concluded to withdraw, and as
the death of some relatives had secured her
some property, she dissolved all connection
with the sisterhood, and began to look
around for a husband. Though against
the expr- IS rules of the order, she contin-
ued to CORE spond with her old schoolmate,
a d eventually she, who was afterward
Mrs. Marri. an, concluded also to leave the
CONTINUED ON FOURTH PAGE.]