The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-15
THE FAscINATI0Ns or CRIME.
Personal Gain or Advantage Is by no
Means the End Aimed At.
From the Hartford Times.

From the Hartford Times.
To many persons the above heading
may appear somewhat strange, because
pronounced crimnality of any sort is
generally held to imply in the criminal
essentially vicious inclinations, to
gether with an utter disregard of all hui
man responsibilities. No doubt this is cor
rect with regard to the bulk of social back
sliders, but nevertheless. the curious and
proved fact remains. that. for people of
certain temperaments. crime possesses
a distinct. morbid fascination, which, it
would appear, is often too strong to be re-
sisted And very startling are the results
that now and then come to light in con-
nection with this fascination.
Such persons are not necessarily of
vicious turn Of mind, but yet are actually
impeued to lend themselves to crime for
crimes sake alone. In fact they are
known to struggle against such danger
Gus attraction. and to be genuinely aghast
from time to time at their own weakness
in succumbing, while making all sorts Of
efforts to escape possible temptation ana
avoid the scene of former outbreaks But
the fascinauon-or the dlsease-espec
when once welded to, has a magnetic
power not easily withstood. IT is presum-
ably with such persons as II is with the
opium or alcoholic slave: the unnatural
presented for some act Of more or less
iawless character, and as likely as not
the world is startled at hearing or crime
which hOrrifes no one more than the GRIM
1t might be thought that this fascina-
tiOn is merely a form OF Such iecOSulleU
diseases as kleptOmania, but the diner
ence is strongly marked. Personal gam
OF. advantage is by no means always the
end aimed at: facts which from tlme 10
time transpire go to show that TINS class
,fr nj, a l--lICIqitV persons OF q nlOfDHt
restless disposition-is prompted solely by
an unaccountab BILE hankerlng TO run IN
the face of the law no matter at what
This fact has borne investigation, ana
was instanced quite recently in LONDON
police court, when man OF respectable
burglary, or rather, one OF having ehtereu
a house for presumably telom0uS puF-
noses He had been tried for and convict
ed of the same offense repeatedly, ana on
each occasion the most faVorably testi-.
monv as to his character otherwise had
been forthcoming. Moreover the per
enhanced by the fact that on this and on
another occasion he had broken into
houses that we're empty aEd on oIn ltt
had voluntarily returned stolen property
10 its owners within day OF the theft.
ITS no use" ne startled the court by
remarking, in answer 10 d t questi On !
can honestly promise it shall never occur
again if you let me off easily. l nave
never gained a penny Dy burglary anu
have lost my character and prospects
through it, It's a disease; l feel it come
over me. ] knew the house was empty,
but there was sort of fascination about
breakin. into it under the policeman's
very ewes that 1 couldn't resist" And he
Maid the penalty for his weakness. Crime
had for this man a fascination which, in
his case, developed into burglarious pro-
one of the most striking cases in point
of which the writer has heard saw the
Iipht of publicity some years back, and
created considerable discussion in psyche
logical circles as to how far s1ch a. alb
sence of design or responsibility should
weigh in the criminals favor
FOR years two men had worked side by
side in a smelling factory, whore they
were employed TO tend a vat in which ore
was always undergoing the refining pro-
cess. They occupied a room TO them
selves. and were known to be on the best
Of terms Suddenly one disappeared in a
manner which left small room for doubt
as to his having met with foul play, but
close investigation, lasting over several
months failed TO bring home the crime to
any one. one day, however the missing
mans old workmate walked into the local
police station and made a confession which
cleared uD the mystery.
The facts were terrible enough. and yet
Il was simply a case where crime had
exercised fascination. There had never