Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-08-30
LANCASTER, PA. August 30, 1889.
Newspaper Rays.

ME. k0Dert Ray Hamliton, naVing
stabbed her Irish servant girl, has be-
come, quite legitimstely, an object of
newspaper discussion, as well as vic
! tim Of Jersey justice. Mrs. Hamilton
u locked up In the garret Of her gaoler
at Cape May court house guarded from
the newspaper reporters by special
employed Cerberus; and the newspapers,
not being able to get any news about
her ffom herself OF her friends, are doing
the best they can under the circum-
stances TO delight their readers with
well seasoned tales which are intended
TO be interesting if not true.
Mrs. Hamilton's husband happens to
be man of wealth and position
member Of an old family and Of the
New York Legislature in which he
has made the record of an honorable and
sensible man. He and his wife were
entitled to receive fairly consderate
treatment from the newspapers In their
misfortune but they have not been SO
treated. Mrs. Hamilton violated the law
In stabbing the servant girl and there
h no doubt that il was an act of passion
provoked by the servants gross abuse.
The act lacks the essential element of
murder and amounts to nothing more
than passionate assault, which will he
serious In its consequences perhaps if the
victim dies. A servant who, upon
being discharged, charges her employer
in vile terms with gross immortality,
might expect to suffer at the hands of
fiery mistress, II she was able to punish
her, however undigniiied would be such
an encounter. In such cases dignity is
apt to suffer at the command of the nat
ural woman, who is inspired, as the
sparks fly upward, TO get into the hair
of another woman who calls her vile
names.
We have not bit of sympathy for the
woman who abuses her employer and
suffers from the encounter: nor have we
any for the mistress whose passion led
her to Jail. Both were naughty and il
is fitting that both should suffer. But
we have great deal of sympathy for
Mr.. Hamilton, who seems to be standing
by his wife In very proper and manly
way, while the newspapers are actively
aiding the servant girls effort to empty
upon his wife mountain of filth ; and
are commiserating him that he is her
husband, and wondering at the men
tai imbecility which led him 10 marry
the vile adventures whom they make
her out to bc.
The newspapers know more about Mrs.
Hamilton than her husband does, and
despise while he csteems her; they pro-
nounce their verdict upon her and then
vvS,vx .lr. Ii.
though he has "a record as man of in
telligence. The probability seems to be
that Mr.. Hamilton knows what he is
about when he stands by his wife, and
that she is not 80 vile as TO cause u
husband Of fair sensibilities to abandon
her.
And Is IL not new service that the
newspapers offer to perform to hus-
bands, In thus searching out for them
the characters of their wives, and ad-
vising them what TO do about them?
It. is big field certainly, and If it is
fair one for newspaper enterprise, we
may look hereafter for an interesting
unvaliment Of family life. We sometime
since reached the point where the in
terviewer seized upon privste opin-
ions, and the engrayer upon private
portraits, female as well as male, for
unauthorized publication in the news
paper. 1t is another step to the delinea-
tion Of the private character of wives
and daughters. II seems big step, but
1t Is quite likely to be taken. We have
laws, it is true, which propose to punish
slander, and which are supposed to pro-
tect private life from unwarrantcd in
trusion but when mistress who
assaults servant girl not only goes to
Jail for the otiense, but has the flood
gates OF newspaper calumny opened
upon her and her whole life delineated
in an appetizing way, that is careless of
facts, II is clear that there Is little real
protection to her in the libel laws.
The time may not be distant when the
newspaper will undertake to regale its
readers with complete description of
the private life of the family carefully
searching out all its failings and
opening all its closets. There is plenty
Of opportunity for the eutcrprising
reporter in this field. He may hire
himself rs butler, coachmau or
cook, and in few weeks should
cram Sunday newspaper full with his
tale. And when the art becomes little
more advanced, il may be possible for
him to abandon such secret practices of
getting news, that he may suspect are
degrading TO the profession he may
visit the husband and wife. in their
home and calmly request them to save
further trouble by standing and
delivering the true tale of their
domestic upleasantnesses since the
day when they took upon them
selves the marriage VOWS that
they have since had such,a confoundedN
hard time TO fulfill. The newspaper
may be audacious enough 10 defend such
espionage and censorship upon the
ground that 1t performs high public
duty In holding husbands and wives to
their bargains but it is possible that
the restoration of the reign of the cow
hide and pistol may after awhile give
another complexion TO the publishers
idea of the size of the newspaper field.