Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1884-05-17
A CHAPTER ON FOOLS.

IHeN udH8eu lHlsS III SillShil''i IN
other day by due process of law. He died
disgracefully on the gallows. Yet ne only
killed his wife choked her to death, and
was of course entitled to sympathy. Why
not? For what did he marry her, if he
had not the right to correct her? That
the " fool woman" died under the process
was simply an evidence of female per-
versity. The man was three times tried,
and three separate " fool iuries " declared
that he had wantonly shed human blood.
Twice did the Courts send the case back to
the iuries, and so the mans lease of life
was spun out three years by the laws de-
lay. The &" fool taxpayers footed the
bills, or will, for the fool trials were
costly. But this is not all, that fool
murderer" reposed in Jail whole year
before lot of fool women" found him
out AT this date however, women Of the
abnormallv emotional class are indulging
generally in the new craze of weeping over
made when he was first convicted. So
soon as it was determined that he was
simon pure murderer, and likely to stretch
hemp in the course of a decade he became
an object of sympathy, an ideal being,
inspiring regard and reverence. These
fool women" with few " fool
men, sought him in his dun
geon, extended their sympathies, fawned
upon him, decorated his cell with flowers
and bric-a-brac, loaded his table with rich
viands, and were blessed if even they were
permitted to touch the hem of his garment
These fools were so numerous and so per-
sistent that even the ministers Of God
could scarce find the man alone long enough
to warn him that he must give an account
for the deeds done in the BODY, and
that it was time for him to turn his
thoughts to the possibilities of a future
state. We are told that these fool senti-
mentalists" outdid all previous fool exhi
billions Of idolizing in this line. They pro-
cured this sweet murderer the softest
raiment they put into his blood-stained
hands the choicest books; his hours were
made soft as dewy ewes by the plying
smiles of beautiful women; his mo-
ments swept by upon the zephyrs of their
rarest signs, and his soul went out on the
scaffold to the music of their deepest sobs
What is there in the female character
that renders such an exhibition possible?
What Is its root and stimulant? How is
it that the murderer of a woman finds
more sympathy flowing to him from women
than from his own sex? Is it COM
passion for, or congratulation' to the poor
thug for Kidding himself of fool wife ?"
Seriously, these emotional manifestations
testify to weakness of character, to a
species of morbid mental imbecility At
the same time, they speak of longing for
the romantic, a striving after chivalric
ideals, in which all women, to greater or
less extent, indulge in fancy In default
of these in reality, in the prosaic friction
of everyday life the murderer
Is seized upon by the abnormally emotional
of the set, who happily are, after all, few
in number compared to the mass of right
thinking womankind, to fill the void ach-
ing for an object upon which repressed
sympathy may be poured out with lavish
prodigality
The Chicago Herald has found remedy
for these people, means of checking this
maudlin sentiment 1t is entitled to full
credit for its discovery, simple as it is. 1t
proposes that murderers be hanged in due
time, since it takes two or three trials,
four or FIVE appeals, one or two reprieves,
and seven or eight sensational articles in
the daily press, to awaken the sentimental
sisterhood to a full realization of the fact
that the prisoner is a genuine murderer
one of the real, cold-blooded stripe. Hence,
if he is cut off earlier, their gushing
emotions will be spared. If the fool men"
viii hurry up things, as our contemporary
suggests, there will be fewer fool women
This is a conclusion that we honestly think
is justified by the facts. 1t is probably
true, after all, that the evolution of the
fool woman" who hangs upon the neck
of the unhanged thug, is through the
delays for which fool men" alone are
responsible.