Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1890-03-04
VICTIMS oE ALCOHOL.
The Identity Existing Between insanity
and Chronic Insbriety.

The Identity Existing Between insanity
and Chronic Insbriety.
What Is called the Jurisprudence of inc
briefly is "A new department Of medico- legal
science that offers material for entertain
ing speculation, and develops a new and
interesting phase of the much-dscussed
liquor question. DR.. T. d. Crothers, editor
Of the Journal of lnebriety, has attempted
10 establish an identity between insanity
and alcoholism Of sufficiently close char
acter to warrant radical departure from
existing judicial methods in the treatment
II criminals whose lawlessness Is mani
tested under the influence of liquor. Enough
jisputation over such criminals has oc-
cured recently, says the Boston Herald,
o give DR.. Crother's views the merit at
east of timeliness, aud 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 as
prevailing in the treatment of alcoholic
criminals arc these: The ethical and moral
view, which holds that drunkenness is an
indication of personal depravity, that it de-
velo 8 along the line of animal qualification,
Ind that it should receive the most positive
censure and punishment of ecclesiastical
and lay power The legal view was next
sited, as that which assumes that Inebriety
is the manifestation of a lawless instinct
that Is essentially hostile to the spirit of law
and order, and that as such it ought to be
severely punished. The next theory, which
is the one that elicits DR.. Gro hers appro.
baton and support, is the scientific and
medical view which considers the appetite
for intoxlcants 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. 1t
may be a symptom or coincideut of insanity,
or insanity in turn may be a symptom of in
ebriety. Medico-legally this theory would
regard the drunkard as incapacitated for
action involving consecutive conscious
effort of reasoning and reasonable nature.
rhe acceptance of this view would estab-
lish new method of judicial treatment
for drunken criminals or criminals with de-
fined alcoholic taste and tendency. II
would practically abolish the penal judg-
ment, which is often o hard on the victim
of alcohol, and the alcoholic maniac, as he
oeutic grounds by sympathetic scientists.
rhe fundamental spirit of this theory is that
lhysical causes are accountable for the al
;oholic habit, and that only by treat
nent based on physical principles
,an the dread malady be eradicat-
d. The insanity of the victim
If drink must be assumed, and the 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 drunkard is q lunatic is it.
Sc If evidence of the kind that lawyers call
)rima facie. Nevertheless, the sentiment
# the judicial powers is frequently mani
.ested in contradiction of this idea, and one
lotable instance where an alleged inebriate
vas hanged was cited by DR.. Crothers to il
ustrate the impression, erroneous he
laimed, that criminal under alcoholic in
lUence is cognizant of and responsible for
lis misdeeds.
John ii. Swift shot his wife July Z, 1887
It Hartford, Conn. In December of the
Iame year ne was Urled ana sentenced TO be
langed a year later, April 5, 1889 The
legislature was appealed to to commute his
entence to life Imprisonment. TIE Judi
iary Committee made an exhaustive cX
.mnation of all evidence and new testlmc
~ offered, and reported in favor of commu
alton. Both houses of the Legislature
7oted to sustain the report, and connut
he sentence TO life imprisonment. An ad
yerse wLve of public sentiment caused tho
Governor to veto the action OF tho Legisla
5ure, 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 chronic inebriate, and had
been drinking to great excess for weeks be-
9ore the murder. The defense claimed that
swift was incapable of deliberation and pre-
meditation at the time of the crime, from
he effect of continuous intoxication. No
medical testimony was called. The prose
,ution claimed premeditation, malice and
full comprehension Of what ne was doing.
DR.. Crothers cited this case as an in
Itance of hereditary alcoholism. Swift's
'ather, who was an erratic man, had an
lpoplectic seizure at rwenty-four years of
lge. Swift's grandfather on his mothers
side was drinking man. His only son was
chronic inehrate; the other four children,
pf which Swifts mother was one, were all
, xceedingly nervous and some of them
lystercal Swift himself was always a
weak child; had BRAN fever in infancy,
scarlatina and violent nasal hemorrhages
n youth. He had been in the reform school
~ Mariday1 NOnn and in manhood XVaa an