The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-20
ODDITIES OF CRIMINALS.
THEY ARE PULLING TO THE
COURTS OF JUSTICE.

From the Cincinnati Enquirer.
During the last congress Of the Interna-
tional Peace Society an American delegate
expressed the belief than wantOn instiga-
tors Of war would even now be execrated
as enemies Of the human race If We
could only agree upon few simple rules
concerning the question Of responsibility.
That question, however, viii always vary
with individual notions Of an adequate
casus belli, and our common law courts
often find its solution the most puzzing
Of moral problems. What is the differ
ence between emotional insanity ana
reckless violence, and what constitutes
| an "intolerable provocation?" The proof
Of tendency to transient fits Of mental
alteration has acquitted more than one
murderer, if previous paroxysms of SINH
lar kind happened to have resulted in the
commission OF evident absurdities; but in
1868, when Gen. Weitzels army corps was
stationed on the Rio Grande. court-mar-
tial, convened at Fort Brown, Tex, passed
sentence of death upon Robert Rodgers,
private soldier of the Ohio veterans.
for having killed military surgeon in a
fit of passion.
1t was proved that Rodgers had been
on the sick list in consequence Of a sun
stroke, and had always been subject to
fits OF vindictive rage, but thus far his
manifestations of III temper had been
limited to verbal extravaganzes, and there
was nothing to establish the judge advo-
Gates theory that the prisoners foibie
might have been incontrollably aggra-
waited by brain affection. The provo
cation had been ridiculously small, but
that circumstance was only held to ex-
cluQe the plea of mitigating circumstances
ana Rodgers was executed as a dangerous
ruftian. only month before the commits
sion OF the fatal act he had been reckless
enough TO insult that dispenser of IN
terinttent beatttude, the post sutler, ana
mad been made to swallow his own
Wofds. II, at the same time, he had hap
pened TO swallow a dram Of turpentine,
he would probably have been acquitted.
me traveller Kohl, in his Scandinavian
Highlands, mentions a emming, or Nor
way gopher, which, under the impulse of
It's migratory instinct. had gnaWed its way
through half-inch plank and rsked its
ne Dy attacking a cat that barred the
way 10 freedom. Is II not possible that the
power OF similar impulse might explain
many otherwise ineXphcabIe cases of
chronic Vagrancy and desertion? Rus
sian recruit who had been calaboosed for
absence without leave was seen pacing his
the day suspected the sanity of his pris-
oner: viii you promise to behave your
SSiI II 1 VIII get you released?'' he asked.
The prisoner hesitated, while his eve was
riVeted at the half-Open door and the drill
ground beyond, where a pulk of lancers
were performing their evoutions at fun
tilt. say, for the Lords sake keep me
locked up" he howled Il could not helm
running away, l surely could not help IL
know and l might get recaptured ana
Would it have been fair to send him
across the Ural for twenty years if he
had yielded to his irresistible penchant?
our own country furnishes abundant IL
Illustrations of the fact that i'm MANY
cases the dread of trouble and misery
aVails nothing whatever against the
might of the wander instinct. tranoDe
apparently reclaimed and Installed in
comfortable homes. have renowned the
prospect OF comfortable existence to
resume their roaming life, which to them
had become a second nature" quite as
argument-proof as inconsistencies
1t might be said that no man has right
! to develop habits at variance with fhe
interests of civilization; but what If such
habits are the results of systematf tic
training, as in the case of msers who
have have been indoctrinated with the wor-
snip OF Mammon till they have come to
regard money as their only friend, and its
acquisition as the only safeguard against
the infamies of world filled with cyclists
and hypocrites.
Or in what form could a fair-minded
| jury convict a defendant who has caused
the death of a fellow-being by his firm
| adherence to irrational dogmas which to
/ him appeared the quintessence of wis
! dOmI only few weeks ago the papers
or Richmond, Va, discussed the case of
/
to the doctrine of Christian Science alias.
| the Faith Cure theory, and whose wife
/ mad died Of typhus under circumstances
| winch would have puzzled any coroner's
/ jury of Chrlstendom. A prominent physi-
/ clan had warned the patients husban
/ that he was trifing with a case of life
/ ana death, and that persistence in the
! let-alone plan of treatment would gravely
PfeJuulce ms wires chances of recovery.
An Intelligent nurse had pRtested in even
/ stronger terms, but had Been DISCHARGED
/ the moment her remarks reached the ear
/ of her employer. Sympathizing neighbors
had called again and again, but were re-
! FUSED admittance, or assured that all was
| being done that true science could do nm
der the circumstances.
There were those who acquiesced in the
| IDEA that the man knew what he was
| talking about. He was not only a scholar.
| IN the ordinary sense of the word but
had devoted much attention to the study
| OF christian Science" was a leader of
| a reform movement, and had founded
| a local mission and supported il with
| liberal donations. To refute the ''let-
| alone charge, a noted New York faith
| curist was sent for and conducted serV-
/ ices in the sick room. Nothing else was
done to sileneethe comments of the neigh
| bors; the patient got weaker from day 70
| dav and at last died, to the boundless
| establishment of the pious husband The
anima5dversions of the neighborhood then
! tient of medicine and the services of a
! competent nurse, the fatal termination
/ of her disease, ii was said, had been
brought about as systematically as If she
| had been locked up without food or drink.
and a eoroner's jury should formulate
its verdict accordingly. The sympathizers
! of the bereaved husband. on the other
hand, could say that the case had All
/ along been beyond the reach of medical
| skill, and that the patients relatives
should not be held responsible for the con-
sequences of their persistence in preferring
divine to human Instructions. Frederick
the Great once advised a Berlin police
court to discharge a prisoner who had
found pocketbook on the street and APP
| propriated the contents under the i'm
preston that the treasure trove was the
result of a prayer to a saint, whose prom
Use of specify relief had been comrnuni-
Gated in dream Let him go this time -
said the Prussian Solomon. "All we can
do about it Is to warn him not to accent
any more presents from his patron saint .
But the Sage of Sans Sousi himself
might have been nonpulsed by a case
which recently occupied the law courts of
Valcarcel. in Western Bolivia. A woman
had been arrested on a charge of sorcery
and Islander, but the prosecuting attor-
ney, after getting her fined a few reals
L for defamation of character, had con-
scented to a nolle prosequl of the much
graver indictment. The neighbors of the
reputed witch then convened an indig-
nation meeting. To their mind the weight
of evidence in the one case seemed as
damaging as in the other.
The state attorney was considered the
most learned individual of the district
h11f wa No haf he bn~l