Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-08-26
VICTIMS OF ALCOHOL.

VICTIMS OF ALCOHOL. The Identity Existing Between Insanity
 and Chronic 1nebriety. What is called the Jurisprudence of inc brIety is new department of medico-legl scienco that offers material for entertain ing speculation, and develops a new and interesting phase of the much-discussed iouor question. Dr. T. D. Brothers, editor of tho Journal of Inebriety, has attempted to establish an identity between insanity and alcoholism of sufficiently close char acter to warrant radical departure from existing judicial methods in the treatment of criminals whose lawlessness is mani fested under the influence of liquor. Enough disputation over such criminals has oo- cured recently, says the Boston Herald, to give Dr. Crother's views the merit at least of .timeliness, and throughout the country there are enough cases of the char acter that he treats of pending judicial de- cision to make peculiarly interesting any suggestions in the line of a change of judi cial method.
 The three theories which the medical gentleman pointed out in his address on "Medico Legal Problems of Inebriety" be- fore the Massachusetts Medical Society az pf6V0lllQR III Cno tTcdIuCut OA 6ACOuoAAo criminals are these: The ethical and moral view, which holds that drunkenness is an indication of personal depravity, that 1t de- velops along the line of animal qualification, and that it should receive the most positive censure and punishment of ecclesiastical and lay power. The legal view was next cited, as that which assumes that inebriety is the manifestation of 8 lawless instinct that is essentially hostile to the spirit of law ~Hn k~1 1HA severely punished. The next theory, which is the one that elicits Dr. Crother's appro- bation and support, is the scientific and medical view which considers the appetite for intoxicants a manifestation of @ consti- tutional disorder, which may be due to multitude of causes for which the victim may not in any sense be responsible. It may be a symptom or coincident of insanity, or insanity in turn may be symptom of in. ebriety. Medico-legally this theory would regard tho drunkard as incapacitated for action involving consecutive conscious | effort of reasoning and reasonable nature. The acceptance of this view would estab- fish new method of judicial treatmen nt for drunken criminals or criminals with de- fined alcoholic taste and tendency. It | would practically abolish the penal judg- | ment, which is often S o hard on the victim | of alcohol, and the alcoholic maniac, as he would be called, would be treated on thera- peutic grounds by sympathetic scientists. The fundamental spirit of this theory is that physical causes arc accountable for the al- coholic habit, and that only by treat ment based on physical principles can the dread malady be eradicat- ed The, insanity of the victim | of drink must be assumed, and tho burden of proof is on the prosecution to prove that the prisoner Is sane, the natural and proper as sumption being in the opposite direction. Given facts reasonably accurate, the plain statement that q drunkard is a lunatic is it. se If evidence of the kind that lawyers call prima facie. Nevertheless, the sentiment | of the judicial powers is frequently mani l fested in contradiction of this idea, and ono notable instance where an alleged inebriate l was hanged was cited by Dr. Brothers to H. lustrate the impression, erroneous he claimed, that . criminal under alcoholic in fuence is cognizant of and responsible fol his misdeeds.
 John H. Swift shot his wife July, 1887 st Hartford, Conn. In December of the same year he was tried and sentenced to be | hanged 0 year later, April 5, 1889. The Legislature was appealed to to commute his sentence to life imprisonment. The Judi ciary Committee made an exhaustive ex animation of all evidence and new testlmo rnfo6. "boraa r01ses 6f the Legflature voted to sustain the report, and commute the sentence to life imprisonment. An ad verse wave of public sentiment caused the Governor to veto the action of the Legisla ture, and SO influenced the members of one body that they failed to sustain their former vote. Hence Smith was hanged April IS 1889. He was 8 chronic inebriate, and haG been drinking to great excess for weeks be fore the murder. The defense claimed that Swift was incapable of deliberation and pre- meditation at the ti;ne of the crime, from the effect of continuous intoxication. N medical testimony was called. The prose cution claimed reconciliation, malice ani a full comprehension of what he was doing
 Dr. Brothers cited this case as an in. stance of hereditary alcoholism. Swift's father, who was an cratic man, had ar apoplectic seizure at twenty-four years o1 age. Swift's grandfather on his mothers side was drinking man. His only son was a chronic inebriate; the other four children of which Swift's mother was one, were al exceedingly nervous and some of them hystericaL Swift himself was always weak child; had brain fever in infancy scarlatna and violent nasal hemorrhage. in youth. He had been in the reform schoo at Meriden, Conn.,, and in manhood was ar excessive drinker.
 | THE DRAGONS WIVES.
 Ono Good Anecdoto Brings Out Anoth .,