St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-04-24


extraordinary spectacle Friday last, the
like Of which has seldom been Witnessed
IN court Of law. A woman on the wit
ness stand under oath deliberately and
frankly told the story OF her own shame
with fullest details. in a suit brought by
her husband to recover money damages
for the dshonOr OF his home. The law
undertakes TO give a man remedy for
this kind OF wrong, rs it does for every
other one. if he cares TO seek it through
Ibis channel; but the instances are ex-
1remely rare in these days when snch
suits ever actually come to trial. The
public exploiting OF his own humiIIa-
stOn and sorrow is an experience from
(which the Vlctlm usually shrinkS with
distinctive disgust and when he does
not the guilty party is apt to comply
with his demands rather than have his
conduct paraded before the ears Of
Jury. Such cases. however, are some
Hines tried, as the present one proves.
hut it may be Questioned If in one out
OF a thousand Instances the wife is
relied on to establish by her testimony,
Jim whole or in part, the charges Of de-
bauchery.
5 The GLOBE takes no interest in the
outcome of the IlOYT suit, and neither
has nor EXPRESSES an opinion as to the
merits Of the plaintiffs claim. But Mrs.
IMCCLELLAN'S share in the proceedings
up TO this point suggests line of
, thought which it seems public service
to comment on. This wOman's uncOr
roborated evidence would not, it is true,
'be sufficient to give her husband YER
dict in Il tribunal of justice: but. as pop
Mar feeling and prejudice work, it
LWould be sufficient to blast the reputa-
ton Of the man she accuses IN the minds
of his fellows who heard it. That is to
say, it is possible for any creature
whose life has moi been notorious, by
/ placing one Of the opposite sex in an
apparently compromising position, to
expose him 10 the terrorS of disgrace,
however guIltless he may be, by threats
of circulating stories of his miScOn-
duct with her. In the prevailing habits
tof thought the blackmailer's craft is
kihe easiest one Imaginable, and prom
kises profit to the person equipped for
its prosecution greater than all income
from gold mine.
All this is not only true, but it is also
true that the more spotless mans
career and the higher his standing in
the community the more open he is to
attacks from this source. There is not
a decent physician, who has private
Office where he receives his patients,
who Is not liable to admit among them
any day an adventures who will there
after prey upon him. In fact, there IS
not a pure and faithful husband whose
household is not liable to be polluted by
the presence of such vampire plotting
in servants garb. If the full record
OI the stories OF wiekednesS and eXtor-
ton which come 10 the average lawyers
ears should be told the world,
could it be made to believe the
truth, would be overwhelmed by
The revelations. Hundreds of inno-
cent men, from whose thoughts sin was
utterly absent, have submitted and paid
the female blackmaileTs tribute, and
continued to pay it over and over again
rather than have their names furnished
and suffer the sting of their friends in
credulity and suspicion. There are
many wrongeG women in the world
worthy subjects of pity and sympathy.
But there are also thousands of men
who are denied the qualifications of
domestic and social happiness because
they have dared resist schemes for their
ruin wickedly concocted by designing
harpies, who feed upon human sonls
and characters.