The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-06-23
DRUNKENNESS NO EXCUSE.
cdr. Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde" Cited In
Kansas Murder Case.

In November, 1886, j. H. Marlborough, a
clerk in the Santa Fe material yards at En-
poria. Kansas, shot and killed L. d. Col
lier, son of the famous preacher, the Rev.
Robert Laird Collier, and agent of the rail-
road company at that city. The fatal
shooting was the result of quarrel be-
tween the two men, Marlborough being I'M
der the influence of liquor at the time. Up
TO the day of the murder the men had been
on the most friendly terms, but the killing
was willful and premeditated. The case
came up for trial at the May, 1887, term of
the Lyons county district court, and result
ed in a verdict of murder in the first de-
gree A motion for new trial was over
ruled and the case was appealed to the SUI
preme court of Kansas the main grounds
for a reversal Of the Judgment of the lower
court being the lack of generalization on
the part of the murderer by reason of his
intoxicated condition. The supreme court
of Kansas has affirmed the Judgment of the
lower court. In summing up the evidence
and cases cited, Chief Justice Horton said:
Lord Bacon said that il a mailman COM
init felony he shall not lose his life for it
because his infrmity came by act of God /;
but if drunken man commits felony he
shall not be excused, because the imperfec-
ton came by his own default. For this
reason the courts almost unanimously hold
that if man kills another while in fit of
voluntary intoXication it is murder, and he
must suffer the penalty. OF course, drunk
enness may be considered by the jury in de-
termining whether there was that delibera-
ton, generalization and intent to kill neces-
sary to constitute the offense Charged. In
this case it is not claimed that the drinking
had created delirium tremens or that the de-
PENDANT was insensible. We think he was
not SO drunk as to have lost his understand
ing or reason. Counsel asserts that when
the defendant was only a little drunk he be-
came wild and ungovernable. 1t seems
that while he INDUCED in drinking intoxi-
eating liquor even to slight degree he be-
came second Mr.. Hyde. Upon this &C
count it is urged that he should be dealt
with more leniently. If the story of DR..
Jekyll was true rather than fanciful one,
Dr. Jekyll, according to the theory of coun-
sci, ought not to have been responsible for the
murder of Sir Danvers Carew, although he
voluntarily drank the potion that so power
fully controlled and shook the very fortress
of his identity. DIR. Jekyn, like Yarbor-
ough, when under the influence of the fatal
potion which he accustomed himself to
drink was of a very kind disposition and of
unusual amiability. After drinking the
drug or tincture he doffed at once the body
of the noted professor AMI assumed, like
thick cloak, that OF Mr.. Hyde. His pleas
ures then turned toward the monstrous, and
his whole being as Mr.. Hyde was inherently
malignant, british and wicked. At such
times the kindness and virtues of DR.. Jekyll
slumbered, but the evil of Mr.. Hyde was
alert and swift to seize the occasion. Should
it be said that DIR. Jekyl was not response
BILE, and that Mr.. Hyde, after all, and Mr..
Hyde alone, was the guilty one9
''YarbOrOuph is not to be relieved from
responsibility because he did not get drunk
with the thought of difficulty with Collier.
DIR. Jekyll did not drink the drug, chang
ing his character to one wholly evil, for the
purpose of injuring the child he cruelty
trampled upon, nor to take the life of Sir
Danvers, but in that case, as in this, a
wicked and depraved disposition was devel-
oped or produced by the voluntary act of
the party. If the indulgence in slight de-
gree awoke in the defendant the spirit of
hell, he should have refrained from touch
ing the intoxicating draught; he should
have chosen the better part and not been
found wanting in strength to keep it.
I'm the tragedy of 'Othello,' Montana. to
quiet Cassie, who has taken few cups, but
who was unfortunate in the infirmty, said:
Come, come you're drunk Cassie in re-
turn at once thrust his sword through Mo1-
tano. Soon after, in his grief and remorse
over the act, he said: 'Oh, thou invisible
spirit of wine, if thou hast no name to be
known by, let us call thee devil
what Cassie uttered Marlborough may
well repeat. He voluntarily stripped him
self of all those balancing instincts by
which even the worst of us continues to
walk with some degree of steadiness among
temptations, and in his case, to be- tempted
however slightly, was to fall Upon the
whole record the Judgment Of the district
court will be affirmed"