The San Francisco call., 1897-11-28

OF his address,:
sI must tell you that the denominations
which l have seen going on before my
ewes in the insane asylum at Dole have ac-
centuated my insanity, or rather my rage.
| baLieve also that the weak world will
revenge my faults OH my poor parents.
They have had TO suffer so much from
silence similar TO my own since nave
been traversing France ike one enraged,
with no other guide than the sun. Let
those who think they should weep over
me weep for themselves. 1t would be bet
ter perhaps for them 10 be IN my place
The last word is an appeal to God.
And degenerate is the only word per-
Missile in his physologic description
DR.. Jules Voisin the Celebrated Parlsian
expert on mania, idiocy and epilepsy, says:
II have not examined Vacher, bat from
my knowledge OF the criminal cleaned
from the press, it would seem, from the
horror and multiplicity OF the crimes COM
mitted. from the absence OF remorse and
the impressions of relief which he says he
EXPERIENCED after the accomplishment OF
each act, that the monster must be mad.
"But here" so far as scientific research
enlighters US, we fail to note relations or
similarities. Morel and Legrand have re-
ported their observations of an indlvid-
ual who had killed seven persons in an
excess of epileptic fury, but the insane
man, after these acts, had no recollection
Of them, either as 10 manner or conSe'
ouence. 1t was an hailucination, OF
which he was afterward unconscious,
that impelled him to murder.
"In the case OF Vacher it is entirely diff
ferent. Here a man at Irregular inter-
walls disembowels young girls and boys
subjects their bodies TO outrages, care
fully disposes of the objects or clothing
that afford a clew to his identity. and feels
relieved.
Then the word of God, the word OF
duty, appear.
"These are the deeds Of a degenerate,
of brain dominated, possessed by un-
healthy thoughts.
He resembles those kleptomaniacs who
steal and yagabonds who wander tor the
mere pleasure OF stealing and tramplng.
lis it mystery? l think not The
diagnosis should be, mental degenera-
ton
"Tnis question, however, experts viii DE
REQUIRED TO examine and elucidate.
'Whatever the result of that inquiry
NAV be, these multiplied horrors which
have excited the public mind should es-
pecialy arouse legislators. For several
wears the Medico- Psychologist society has
demanded q law providing for an estab-
hshment of permanent confinement Tor
deranged criminals.
"The time has come to respond to this
Low nF force
and under which Vacher was released,
prohibits doctor from OBTAINING III any
establishment for the insane patient
who has recovered, even when the insane
trait is homicidal.
Now. under the influence of isolation
criminal insanity is ameliorated, the de-
hrium disappears. Family. friends, pro-
tectors, the press even, here intervene to
restore the incurable to liberty. notwith-
standing that he is always dangerous.
| They demand release arbitrarily, they in
woke the dungeons of the Bastlle, and the
doctors, constrained to obey the letter OF
the law, o2en the doors of the asylums for
the escape of their most harmful inmates.
"If we had institution laws similar to
those OF England and the United States
who had committed or attempted m urder
| would be confined the remainder OF their
| lives"
When the homicide is attacked by the
frenzy Of murder it is convulslon impos-
| sibIe of mastery. All the energies of the
deranged person arc excited by an inde-
| scribablv morbid feeling. Without know
ing what he does, the insane kills
friend, enemy, stranger-it matters not /;
not, in reality, from passion, from venge-
ance or from hatred Of any sort, but
simply from the imperative necessity OF
| the terrible emotion which oppresses him.
| This fit may return at any time. 1t Goes
not lie within the power of the will to
overcome such form of insanity. Murder
or violence resulting from these fits are to
the perpetrator as if they had never oc-
CURED; that Is TO say, the memory has no
| connection with them. 1t is as if the
| memory went into hiding place of the
brain when the frenzy approached the
will. and only returned after the destruc-
tive impulse exhausted itself.
| Vacher's arrangement is not of such an
| order. We find him self-conscious, deliD-
crate throughout. He seeks his prey in
ont. .of-the-way places. He attacks the
comparatively weak and helpless, taking
them unawares. Approaching the trust
| ful linpocents along the country highways,
! in the cattle fields, in the sheepfolds and
pastoral pathways with alluring smile
and a pleasant word, he clutches them by
! the throat and plunges knife into the
! iugular vein. A gasp, and his victim
| sinks to the ground, to be denuded, dis
| emboweed and mutilated at the fend' s
leisure. This method he varies by grasp
ing the child around the forehead or
mouth and cutting the throat
But watch him! He is ever on the
| alert. His ears are strained for the foot
fall of oetection. His gentle brown
ewes. now ablaze with animal passion
and perception, scan the shrubbery at
hand and the surrounding vista for the
silhouette of spy or the form of way
farer who might interrupt his blood feast.
| He is Quick 10 realize the proximity oi
danger, as he is keen to appreciate the
criminal security there is in audacity OF
execution, for the moment he became
conscious of another's presence when he
assailed the Derouet child he made good