Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1896-12-25

Medical Men Defisro the Practice 10 Due
ts Unhcaithfui Mental Conditions

Medical Men Eefisro the Practice IL Due
ts Unheaithfui Mental Conditions
The weight OF high medical opinion
IN 70 the effect THAI kleptomania is n
form Of mental unsoundness that docs
i'm some essscs actually exist Abou.
six years ago man wns arrested in the
act Of stealing a pocket handkerchief
from n lady in Vienna In his sane
days he had been q prosperous baker
but n mania for the acquisition of cam
brio pocket handkerchiefs seized upon
him and proved his ruin 1t first il was
his habit 10 occost ladies IL the street
and offer to buy their pocket handber-
chiefs. III they refused he used to get
angry and offer them higher and higher
prices. until n bargain was struck
Many women traded upon his madness,
until at last all his money was spent
and he became bankrupt. Then. No
longer having money to buy pocket
hnndkerchiefs. he took to stealing them
aad Was soon sent to prison. 1t was
thought that his imprisonment wouli
cure him. But when he was again
Jaurat in the act. in 1900, hundreds of
eambric handkerchiefs were found con-
cealed in the room where lie lodged. As
ne had never been known to steal any
thing else. the court before which he
was brought promptly adjudged him
insane and sent him to a madhouse.
This is only one OF many cases that arc
to hc found in the medico-legal books.
In the city of Newark, n. J.. recently,
8 lady was arrested for shoplifting, and,
vcryhelmed with shame, refused to-
give her name. When she was arraigned
many respectable citizens. including
clergy man. appeared to vouch for the
fact tliat she was q woman of good fam
lily in prosperous circumstances, we'll
able to buy anything she needed, and
having no need whatever for the arti-
cies she had stolen. She wns stubborn
T., determined to conceal her name. even
though she were sent to prison. and the
respectable citizens sustained her in
that resolution, obviously for the sake
of shielding her family. The court inn
posed fine Of SIS upon her. which was
many times the value of the goods
taken. The fine was promptly paid by
the highly respectable lawyer who APP
reared for her. and she left the court
room with her identity undiscovered.
Again. in dry goods store on Sixth
avenue. New York. 81 woman was ar
rested on similar charge, and it. APP
reared that she was visitor TO the
metropolis from the town of Port
chester. Residents OF that town were
ready TO testify in large numbers that
she had heen stealing things from the
local stores for three years past. al
ways taking articles of small value, and
Tor which she had TO need. She wa>.
moreover, n wcll-to-do person, owning
considerable property, and the Port
chester tradesmen, IL seemed, had all
'acitly agreed 10 regard her rs n de-
mcnted woman, whom 1t would be u
shame TO prosecute. She, too. Will prob
ably lie discharged with a cantionary
fine.
The whole problem OF lSieptomania
i'm the courts resolves itself into QucS-
ton that must he answered according
TO the proved facts i'm each case us 10
arises. Whenever it appears clearly
that there was no motive for theft, no
object in il, and that the accused per-
son has shown signs of unmistakablc
mental arrangement, the case is prop
crly one for the lunatic asylum and not
Tor the prison.-Raltimore Sun.