Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1897-03-05
KLgpToMANiA is 4 DISEASE.
Medical Men Iiciiovo tho Practice lie Duo
10 UnhchIthfoj nicntai Conditions.

| Medical Men IBclicvo tho Practice L. Duo
20 UnhchIthful Mental Conditions.
The weight of high medical opinion
Is to the effect thUL kleptomania is IL
form of mental unsoundncss that does
in some cases actually exist, About
six years ago Il man was arrested in the
set of stealing pocket handkerchief
from n lady in Vienna, In his sanc
days he had been prosperous baker.
but mania for the acquisition of cam.
brio pocket handkcrchiefs seized upon
him and proved his ruin. ..tflrst it was
his habit TO occos: ladies H. THE street
and offer to buy their pocket handlscr-
chiefs. II they refused ne used TO gel
angry and offer them higher md higher
prices, until Largain YVES struck.
Many women traded upon his madness,
antil at last all his money was spent
and he became bankrupt. Then, No
longer having money TO buy pocket
handkcrchicfs. he took tn stealing them
and WAS soon sent to prison. 1t was
thought that his Imprisonment woul1
cure him. But when he was again
caught in the net. in 1890. hundreds of
cambria handlsercliefs were found con-
cealcd in the room where lie lodged. AS
lie had never been known to steal any
thing else, the court before which he
was brought promptly adjudscd him
insane and sent him to n mndhousc.
This is only one of many cnses that are
to I've found in the madico-icgal books.
In the city of Newark, II. j., recently.
lady was arrested for shoplifting, aud,
overwhelmed with shame, refused to
give her name. When she was arrnigncd
many respectable citizens, including
clergyman. appeared to vouch for the
fact that she was n woman of good fam
lily in prosperous circnmsta nccs, we'll
able to buy anything she needed, and
having no need Whatever for the nrtl-
c;es she had stolen. She WINS stubborn
u determined to conceal her name, even
though she we're cent to prison, and the
respectable citizens sustained her In
Of shielding her family. The court i'm
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
pcnrcd for her, aud she left the court
room with her identity undiscovered
Again, In dry goods store ON Sixth
avenue, New York, woman was ar
rested on similar charge, and IT. APP
pcared that she WINS Il visitor to the
metropolis from the town of Port
chester. Residents OF that town wcrc
ready TO testify in large numbers that
she had heen stealing things from the
local stores for three years past. nl-
ways taking articles of small value. and
for which she had no need. She was.
moreover, wcll-to-do person, owning
considerable property, and the Port
chester tradesmcn, 1t seemed, had al
tncitly agreed to regard her rs de-
mcnted woman, whom IT. would be II
shame toprosecu.e. She. too. will prob
ably be discharged with q cautionary
fine.
The whole problem OF kleptomnnin
in the courts resolves itself into ques-
tion that must be answered according
to the proved facts In each case as II
arisce. Whenever Il appears clcari,
that there was no motive for theft, no
object in 1t. and that the accused per-
son has shown signs of unmistakablc
mental arrangement, the case is Prop
crly one for the unatic asylum and not
tor the Observation-Disclosures Sun.