Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1892-02-02
u - 1NsANt ?

Criminal annals do not furnish a NOR,
startling phenomenon than the murder o.
Miss Ward b. Miss Mitchell in Memphis,
II is a sort OF crime which makes on'
slaud aghest aud catch his breath with
creepy horror.
The young girls had been companions
At school They left school to be friends
still. bu the Northern girl meantims hac
conceived a strange, forceful, passionate
and abnormal madness Of ungoverusbl,
love for the gentle Southern girl whist
was unwholesome for one and has
prompted the death Of the other.
Miss Mitchell had proposed to unsex
Lerself and Be The lover Of maid She
would not brook resistencs. she hod al
lowed her Impulses ii drive her beyond
the pale Of reason and to deprive her o.
the capacity Of Thought,
Was she crazvG Not to the ordinary
observer. Did she commit. a deed Of mad
nessi Surely she did blt still she is not
mad, she Is not insane.
She is passionate, shs hiss submitted to
an unmaidenly erotleism which has in
famed her mind, and to that extent IN
settled the delicate balance which dis
tiuguishes The operations OF healthy,
sound mind from an unhealthy, u1sou d
and phenomenal Jealousy veritable
spirit Of evil. Her mlrd, perhaps never
strong, Is as capable Of the inductive pro
cess, now, as 1t ever was.
II not crazy then, what prompted Miss
Mitchell to cut The throat OF the wlnsome
and coy young girl whom she declares she
lovedi II no other motive can be proven
at the trial. which is doubtful, then we
must accept her own crazy explanation
that she offered the girl marriage. was
r. jscted sy Miss Wards family and being
unable to bear the grief Of separation,
killed her.
But why did not Miss Mitchell kill
hsrseliG Why did she pursue her shrink
Ing Young victim and cut her throat with
such revolving cruelty, such beastllke
stealth OF cunningY
Is fit OF passionate abandonment Of
selfrestraint. a tempestuous burst Of
fierce and unmaidenly eroticism really
insanity or Is it simply a
Wilful suppression Of the faculties
a conscious coma Of the conscience for
whisa shs Is as guilty as the man who
puts an enemy in his mouth to steal
away his brains. She allowed all good
emotions to collapse. she gave way to
iendishness,
Who shall decide whether -he delicate
demarkation whish fxes the sanity or
insanity Of the criminal who hacks a
young girls throat aud sees her friend
fall covered with blood at her feet was
present or not-whether the girl was mad
or badG
Nobody II eannot be determined
whether Miss Mitchell 10 sane or not.
The awful crime she has committed ia
the only evidence OF madness, AID that
was momentary She has showed no signs
ot insanity since. She is sane now Sic
was sane before she committed the deed
II Miss Mitchell - insane. then every
criminal is insane, every murderer, every
felon could be released from prison or ex
cusod from odium, on the ground that the
deed itself is an evidence Of insanity
The case Of Miss Mitchell is not much
more difficult tban the case OF any other
murderer, except that being young sir
tenderly reared, 1t attaches peculiar emo
lions by its strangeuess aud by the alb
sence Of the usual motives for murder.
Miss Mitchell will not be hung Women
are not hang ia the South aud her case Il
so doubtful that the Jury will acquiI
her