Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-09
A WOMAN Halter.
He Is Sentenced to Punishment for Life.
Curious Case of Gilbert Hazeltine.
He Would, without ProvocatIon, Assault the
Opposite Sex with Pistol or Knife,
but Could Not Explain WhY,
Special to the Gazette.

Special to the Gazette.
NASHVILLE, N. Y, March S.-A wo-
man hater has been banished from the
state of New York for life. 1t is a singu-
lar case, Inc the particulars as here
given were carefully acquired during a
special visit by you correspondent. The
man is Gilbert W. HazeItine, the edu-
Gated and well-reared son of DR.. G. w.
HaZeltine, who has for half a century
been a successful practitioner in Erie
county. Gilbert manifested early in life
q freakish hatred Of the opposite sex. As
q boy and as a young man he had his
fair share of sw%eethearts, and he was at
tentive to them; but in every instance
his wooing ended abruptly with more or
less Of a row and often witt q violent
outbreak on his part. Once he cuffed
the foremost belle of jamestown, and
again he kicked a young lady from Buff
falo, to whom he bad been exceedingly
polite before this odd demonstration. AS
time went on his mate hatred of women
broke out into more dangerous acts
than mere indignities, and several
times he menaced his astounded COM
panions with a knife or pistol. One
morning he turned upon a young woman
whom he was escorting from a party,
drew q revolver and fired at her as she
fed from him. That exploit mad it
necessary for him to quit his home, to
which he had only recently returned
from nnI1oOn nc q hriIljont nroHIlfn
This was about six years ago, when he
had Just gained his majority. He was
then a handsome, brainy fellow, gallant
as q rule in his demeanor to girls, but
occasionally subject to an ineXplicable
hatred of the opposite sex. He was ad-
dIcted to the use of opium and absinthe,
but not to excess, and his general habits
were good. AS soon as his influential
and devoted father could make it posi-
bic for him to come back, he reappeared
among his friends, and for a time be-
haved admirably.
The day after Gilbert HaZeltine's
twenty-frst birthday. in company with a
college friend, he started on a pleasure
trip. Two weeks later a dispatch an
nounced that he had killed Mamie Thorpe
in Baltimore and seriously wounded an
other young womsn They were per-
formers in a concert hall. He was in
dicted for murder in the first degree.
His mother, a nobl woman, and pos
sessed of considerable means, employed
the best of counsel and exhausted every
effort in his defense, with the result that
he was convicted only of murder in the
second degree and sentenced to eight
years imprisonment. This was cOnsid-
cred fortunate for Hazeltine, as the
crime was entirely unprovoked, there
having been no quarrel OF any
nature. But Mrs. Hazeltine's efforts in
behalfo Of her son unfortunately did not
end here. She continued to devote her
time and fortune to secure his release,
and, with a mothers energy and per-
slstence, she at length secured his par
don on the ground of insanity, with the
understanding thai he was to be placed
in an asylum and kept there until dis
charged by the authorities. Instead of
this tscit agreement being fulfilled the
young man returned to his home in
Jamestown, and was presented by his
father with q well established and profit
able drug store.
Within q few weeks Hazeltlne proved
that he was still a violent N hater.
Without any provocation whatever, while
calling socially on Olive Smith, he drew
a pistol from his pocket and fired in the
ulICCLuOu il Ills COLlpuulOns Liz L
struck the wall a foot above her head.
He was arrested and indicted for assault
in the first degree. The case has been
pending for a year or more, Hazeltine
being under bail TO appear for trial.. His
loving mother continued to labor indie
fatigably in his aid.
The question of Hazeltine's moral and
mental accountability was considered
carefully. Experts in medico-legal SCI
ence agreed that he was not insane, al
though his curious hatred Of women,
breaking out into murderous fury upon
no provocation at all, seemed irrational.
At the same time the public prosecutor
felt that there vas something abnormal
about him, and that he was hardly re-
sponsible for his violence. The young
man had no explanation to make. He
said that on occasions of his assaults he
felt an uncomfortable desire to kill a
woman. Why this was so he wondered
but could not understand. Ordinarily
he bad no animosity toward the other
sex, and in two of the Instances of his
attacks he had meant TO marry the girl
whose life he suddenly desired to take.
The case finally came up at the present
term Of Erie county court, Judge A. A.
Var Dusen presiding. District Attorney.
Stearns addressed the court, saying that
he had made full preparation for a trial.,
and that he believed he understood it
and the probable result If a trial was
proceeded with; blu since coming to court
he had had an interview with F. R.
Booley, the defendants counsel, in
which hat gentleman had stated that
his client could be persuaded to plead
guilty as charged In the Indictment, pro-
viding the court would suspend the exc
ution OF the judgment, that is, suspend
sentence. Mr.. Stesrns further stated to
the court that the defendant had stated
to him that if such a disposition should
he made of the case he would leave the
state and make for the people OF his
neighborhood no further trouble. The
district attorney had been assured by
Mr.. Booley, and he himself believed,
that such q course would be satisfactory
to jamestown, where the crime was COM
mitted. Therefore he would as
sumo the responsibility of adj
vising such a course in the
disposition of the case. MIR. Booley then
addressed the court to the same effect.
Tho Oriso0er then DIoad puilfv md fba