Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-07-05
CEETN A.
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1876 plscHs, for $40.
sPECIALTIE6,
Bar Fixtures. Mirrors, etc.
ouadruple-platod Knives. castors OK
Hotel and Steamboat Ware;
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THE CRAZY DODGE.

running through the American char
acter, which is ever ready to palate,
condone or excuse the vilest of Grim
inals; no matter what the crime, there
are always persons to take the side Of
the criminal and appeal for executive
clemency. This spirit sometime
take possession Of whole communities,
and the vilest brutes that ever bore
the image of the Creator, are quite
lionized and become objects Of great
interest, if not certain kind of
admiration. This is a psychological
phenomenon which it would be
difficult to explain. Buford, of Ken
lucky, who killed a judge for not de-
Gliding case TO suit him, awakened
much sympathy, and was adjudged in
sane, and as matter of form was ac-
tually sent to the insane asylum,
where he is yet nominally confined
He was insane simply to the extent OF
bad temper and domineering dispo
sition, but not too crazy to plan and
execute an assassination. Buford has
been mistreated in being sent to the
asylum, as this is not customary il
such cases. Insane criminals usually
recover as soon as acquitted, and are
turned out to 90 crazy again
1t might be said that one who coolly
shoots down another, with almost an
absolute certainty OF punishment, is
not in his right mind, or he would
never take such a risk. But the hu
man heart is depraved and desperately
wicked. Hate, revenge, lust for pow
er or gain, or reputation, are among
some of the motives that impel men
in their full and clear intellectual
vigor, to commit the boldest and most
attrocious crimes. Murders have
been procured for the most paltry
considerations. Men have killed
their wives in order to marry again.
women have poisoned their husbands
at the instigation Of paramour, and
children have put their parents out of
the way to get possession of their
property. History, and the annals of
the courts, and the columns of the
daily newspapers abound with the
record ofsuch crimes. When a pc
culiar atrocity, however, is committed,
the plea of insanity, first discovered
by artful lawyers in desperate cases,
is set up. 1t is easy to prove that the
criminal was singular in his manners,
that received blow or had spell Of
sickness in childhood which affected
his brain, and it is no difficult matter
to produce considerable testimony that
a streak of insanity, charitably called
eccentricity Of mind, has run through
the family for generations. 1t is a
still easier matter for the criminal on
trial to look stupid, talk incoherently
and act like a candidate for the lunatic
asylum, while a shrewd lawyer can
weave up subtle web of argu-
ment to prove that his unfor-
tunate client is incontrovertibly non
compoS mentis. The prisoner, if unus-
ually sharp, adopts the insanity dodge
some time before he commits the
crime, but usually it is al after
thought. The suggestion is already
made that Gitteau, the would. be-
assassin, is crazy. If meanuess, cum
ming and the depths Of depravity make
man crazy, that claim can be set up
for him. Old John Brown, upon the
same plea, ought to have been acquit-
ted, and Wilkes Booth, with good
lawyer, might have made a strong
defense. John Browns unexpected
raid was well planed and was natu
raj out growth Of the teachings of ex.
IRENE and violent abolitionists. He
undertook to carry out what he had
been taught. Others were willing
that the deed should be done but
took care not to run any personal risk.
There is no doubt that men some
times loose their minds after a
great crime. 1t is we'll es-
tablished that the stimulation
of insanity may become real, and
that severe punishment or the dread
oft may unsettle and destroy reason.
The public feeling with regard to
Gitteau generally is that he is a hard
ened, deep dyed villain, who deserves
tie direst punishment, whether the
President RECEIVERS or not. He is an
enemy to the human race, in whom
the worst passions and most danger
Gus faculties are abnormally devel-
Oped.
THE fifth annual session of the