The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-05-18
CURIOSITIES OF CRIME.
proDlnSity Of DaStruCtiTenCSS in the
Human Race.


Have Become Epidemic.
From the Baltimore Herald
Man has been called an 'animal with
+bc privilege Of Gelf-desuuction,' - but the
cri9inal anomalies of the human mind
ave bv no means limited to penchant for
si.idc. When Il wolf rcnds Z flock of
sheep or mink Gepopulates a whole
roultrv farm in a single night their in
enirinc motive is not gratuitoUs cruelty
as much as the wish to make the best of a
Ircly chance and provide a supply of food
Fl, the need Of less pIopitious times. in
beings of our species, on the other hand,
the propensity of destructiveness has OF
zen assumed a form that appears to make
the luxury Of murder its own reward. In
6ofault of other victims the buccaneers of
the seventh century would attack one
another, and the troopers of Ghengis
Khan howled for carnage like the Roman
rahblc for the blood of the arena victims,
and the idle peladOs of Madrid for bon
fire of the holy inquisitlon.
There have been amateur assassins who
disdained to avail themselves of a chance
for plunder, but stabbed strangers in the
dark for the sole purpose of enjoying the
consequent sensation; and the mania of
Jesse Pomeroy is by no means without a
precedent. About the end of the sixteenth
century a country baron of the neighbor-
hood of Auxerre, France, was besieged in
his own chateau by a mob of peasants,
who. with more and more desperate en-
phasis, demanded the return of their chill
dren, or at least a satisfactory explana-
ton of their fate.
Monsieur lie Baron, it seems, had. under
some preteXt or other, enticed at least
twenty youngsters to his castle, and failed
to account for their disappearance till the
feudal SubmissiyeneSS of his serfs ex-
hausted its resources of appeal, and the
distracted relatives of the missing chill
dren were Joined by a vendetta mob of
several hundred armed rustics. The
magistrates of Auxerre had postponed
the proposed investigation in Difference
10 the protests Of the baron's brother. a
wealthy abbot, who denounced the whole
matter as a marotte jacquerie-a clod-
lOpper's craze; but the formidable
spread of the revolt at last obliged
the baron to surrender himself to
a rescuing party of militia, and an impair
tal trial then established the fact that
the defendant had expended a considera-
bic sum in bribing his dOmeSticS to kid
nap twenty-five children and assist
him in torturing them to death
with every refinement of cruelty
One of the few excuses that can be ad-
mitted in defense of Marat and other
leaders of the terroristS is the plea that
the zeal OF the rowing bandsof man-hunt-
ers had far exceeded their official instruc-
tons. The chronicle of the campaign
against the insurgents of the Lower
Rhone and the memoirs of Nine. de la
Rocheiaquelin mention instances where
h0rdcs of uniformed cut-throats invaded
a peaceful country town and butchered
away with beStial disregard of constant
offers Of unconditional surrender. The
CuSadeS against the AlbigenSeS and the
followers of Peter Waldus were crowded
with similar episodes and Mohammed II.
had several brigades of military amuck-
runners who were apt to take the bit in
their teeth, as during the capture of Con-
stantiuOple, when they precipitated a gen
eral massacre and drowned the shouts of
their officers in pandemonium of savage
yells.
Cen lilly, the rival of WaIlenstein,
often experienced a similar difficulty in
checking the rage of his man-bUtchers,
and after the sacking of Magdeburg salts
fed his superiOrs that the enormities of
the yictOrs had been committed in de-
1dnce of his explicit orders. I'm reply to
the charges of our adversaries, - he said,
81 assumed the sole responsibility, be-
q. a. league with Satan himself than to
have it known that / was unable to con-
tIo, nay own soldiers
Judge Armstrong of Leeds has made
study OF the arson mania, tending to
prove that in three out of five cases the
MOTIVE of the fre-bug is not revenge, but
an unexplained and apparently irresisti-
he penChdnU for mischief. The supposed
delight IN the pyrotechnic grandeur of
10 In.
That propensity, for in Northern Italy
numerous observation-disclosures boys, some
OF them-have been arrested and pun
Isneu jpr nlSchlevOuS tamDering with the
dlkes that line on the principal rivers of
L0hOdrdV. In some cases the offenders
pretended to have resisted the evil i'm
pulse for weeks, in the firm belief that
tae nstlgator of crime must be il demonio
IN person, but We're apparently unable to
resist the temptations of the fun to mum
cate whole township by a few minutes
o. midnight work with a spade.
mere are strong reasons to suspect that
toe freaks of Judge Lynch are occasion
ally due to similar motives, and it is
suggestive circumstance that the white
cap outrages are less frequent in the law
less and regulation-needed border lands
OF The southwest than in states where the
scarcity OF game and the infrequency of
social sensations deprive the natives of
times
The spice of danger incident to lawless
enterprises recruits the ranks of rowdy-
Ism IN our large cities, and in Southern
Europe the fraternity of the contraban-
ciStS-peasants turned smugglers, under
circumstances almost precluding the hope
OF large gain.
in the Pyrenees bands of rustics camp
iof weeks In the wilderness of the high
Iahd forests, living on roasted beech nuts
ana enduring untold hardships, till their
scouts at last report fair chance for run
Hlng the blockade of the frontier guards,
ana cargo. of contraband can be spirited
across the border, at a compensation of
. reals (about 70 cents, per week of dan
ger-sweetened toll. Game-stealing exer-
Uses an analogous charm on Austrian
ldrlners, abundantly able to afford the
small expenses of a hunting license;
9uJ, in recognition of the
difference between manias and
ordinary crime, the law, on
me whole, deals lengthily with such Of
lenders, though they may not he backed
OF the social influence that saved the
members of the Vienna Association of
amateur Shoplifters. Some of the fair
AepJomaniacs were girls in their searly
Gems and nearly all could plead the
uoGpttul excuse of disinterestednes from
i no and penny point of view.
lIley never patrOniZed pawnshOpS,