The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1889-08-17
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Oh. JEKYLL AND R, HYDE,

When Robert Louis Stevenson
wrote doctor Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde"
the world supposed the author had
been gifted with weird and won
derfnl Imagination. 1t only thrilled
and shnddered as it followed his
CHASTITY humor, and credited him
with q marvelously realistic con-
eeption of the good and evil nature
of man. Nobody, however, dreamed
that Mr.. Stevenson had been reach
ing out into hitherto unknown re-
alities; that he had been studying
human models, and that his Dr..
Jekyll and Mr.. Hyde was q real
flesh and blood possibility.
The world may never know wheth-
er Mr.. Stevenson wrote as prophet
or historian, whether as expounder
Of occult Jaw or as mere recorder
of facts as they came under his OBJ
servation. Certain it is, that within
two weeks two cases have come to
light which bear out Mr.. Steven
sons theory of a dual existence.
The first was that of young man,
Harry Munzer, of Chicago, who vol
unfairly asked protection from him
self-an intelligent gentleman, who
found himself at times mastered by
a nature not his own, and domin-
ated by wicked desires, foreign to
what he called his true self. Even
while explaining his misfortune to
the judge and jury the other evil
self seized and mastered him. This
force lasted for some minutes, when
his face changed and his real self
returned. This man, conscious Of
his condition, perfectly reasonable,
and capable of analysing his own
condition, was adjudged insane by
a stupid jury.
The next case is that mentioned
yesterday. A widow in Sedalia,
Mo-, who forgot she had been mar
ried who declared that she is sub
ject to spells" in which she does
things she cannot remember. She
would not believe that she was a
bigamist until her marriage certifi-
cate and the witnesses to the cere-
mony were produced.
Now that the dual-natured, double
souled condition may no longer be
regarded as novelist's fancy, what
may we not expect2 If q man is
liable to develop into a twin, what
are we to do with him? If John
Smith steals horse and is able to
prove the crime on the other fellow,
how is the thief to be punished
without injustice to an innocent
creature? If John Smiths evil
spirit, unknown to John, kills a
man who would dare to execute the
man who knew nothing of it7 1t
may seem cruel, but the public good
would seem to demand that these
interconvertible human machines
should be suppressed as soon as
found. If.they are fostered under
a mistaken notion of sympathy, it
will not be long until society will
be in fine state of bewilderment.
We will have eminent divines max
ing love to other mems wives, and
Sunday school superintendent lug
ging off the cash box. The evil
spirit will seize a politician and
cause him to howl, implore, pray,
plead, and even pay for votes. Then
his good angel will yank him by
the collar until he thrusts a civil
service order into the faces of his
supporters. Loving wives will lay
their husbands low by the rough on
rats" process, and there will be no
panacea for a breach of promise suit.
When a man is able to Jump out
of himself, or is so constructed that
another can jump in, things will be-
come unreliable and the. "other fell
low" will become a universal NUS
ance. Society must find an anti.
do:e to that malignant evanescent
spirit which is liable to skip into
ones body and cut its awful capers
and then fling back your shell with
fendish howl of triumph.
Society has no protection save in
the one man theory, and the sooner
1t posts its bills to that effect the
more satisfaction it is going to get
out of Furnishing it's rascals.-
Washington Post