Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-07-29
WAS COLUMBUS OF TNSOJ-ND
MIND?
Prof. Lombroso Essays to Prove the A!
iirml tiNn-

iroi' LomDroso Essays 10 Prove the Al
firmative.
Cesare Lombroso. the Italian alianiS1
n Z, li.hnpis II n" current Forum to prov +.
that Christopher Columbus was morally
irr"SponSihle-a plranoeic. mad vision
MI hai,, "rEnm%TaJe, Z Iiar. man utterly
beyond the average of his times. In fact
he makes such monster of the GenoeSe
as 10 lead one To believe ne got his in
SEPARATION from the Chicago Lake Front
statue rather than from The historical re-.
cords on the subject. 1t has become the
style TO say hard things about Colum-
bus. and America is now willing to admit
that 1t was discovered by pirate ana a
slave catcher, but il is hardly Yet pre-
pared to set Columbus down as n mad
man.
Professor LombroSo has ransacked the
historical records ana the writings Of 60.
lumbuS in search Of "stigmata" indca-
i've IF insanity. lie finds a surprisingly
large number Of these. Some are far
fetched and fanciful, such as the irrcg-
ularity and hourshes in Columbus hand
writing, and the fact that he Sometimes
rhymed his prose lines. Others are at
least sound enough to be Interesting 1t
Is now generally admitted that Column
bus accepted Toscanclli's theory as to the
shape Of the earth. errors and all. He
believed that India lay only short dis
lance west of the Cape Verde Islands If
the errors Of Toscanelli, he never would
have started on his voyage and would
never have stumbled upon Il new CONT
nent. The same weakness of Judgment
defeated him later. In spite Of the fact
that the Cuban aborigines declared they
lived on large island. Columbus mot
only persisted in believing it continent.
but caused his sailors and officers, under
pain of losing hand, to swear before
notary that 1t was the mainland" In
spite of his discovery of "a great river
like the Orinoco, he believed tho South
American continent to be an island.
Lombroso holds that Columbus. was
more defective in moral sense than the
average man Of his time. Ills determi-
nation to make slaves of all the natives
of Cuba was not abnormal for that age,
but preventing their baptism was a
strange act for a religious fanatic such
as he seemed to be. His order that any
have his nose and ears cut off was
scarcely normal degree of cruelty.
even from the Spanish standpoint. His
abandonment of his mistress, Beatrice
Enriquez. by whom he had his son Fer
dinand. was an offense against the re-
liSion and morality of his time. lie
never. admitted that he got his great
idea from Toscanelli. ana he seized for
himself the ten thousand lire offered as
a reward for the first man who sighted
land, though another is believed to have
deserved it. In his official correspondence
he lied continually, especially with re,
gard to the abundance of gold and spices
he claimed 10 have found.
The chief proof of an unbalanced mind
iouii' ny lOitSSpl iSDiiiblbSb Ill IiiS
obsesson concerning tine rescue of the |
tomb of Christ, which seems to have |
been the dominating idea of Columbus |
later years. This is set forth in the book |
81 Prophecies. compiled by Columbus |
In 1901 In it Columbus likens has own |
fate to that Of Christ. He saw in himself |
the man phophesed Of by God to carry |
the name and glory Of God to the ends |
Of the earth. and he collected from the |
Bible all the pretended illusions to his |
discoveries. He claimed that God had |