The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1904-12-28

Taken in 1889 in Toledo, when she
was known as Lydia Devere.
| WERE ELDERLY MEN OR THOSE
| WHO WE'RE NOT TOO DISCRIMI-
| MATING.
A great deal OF rubbish has been
woman's power, and the susceptible
| gentleman who is a member of the
Ohio board Of pardons, who de-
! scribed the sensation of gazing into
the orbe Of Madame De We're" as
| like looking into a furnace when
| the molten metal was swirling
around" is naively eloquent. There
is something touching in the state
| ment that he "felt dizzy under the
| spell, but rallied and was able to
return her gaze for brief intervals,
only to experience like recurring
| effect" This gentleman saved him
selk by the conclusion that it was
| only a STUDIED attainment" on her
part, and that despite her lisp, which
was that of an innocent school girl"
her voice Of magnetic sweetness"
| which does not seem to have been
| recognized by others, he came to the
| conclusion that he was too old to
be hooked" although he had been
caught once or twice before by "hyp-
motto people,"
! No Suggestion Of Insanity.
1T IS DIFFICULT TO FIND IN
HER CONDUCT ANY SUGGESTION
OF INSANITY OR ANY MENTAL
| STATE THAT WOULD BRING
WITH IT VISIBILITY.
Even in the first trial d. L. H. Swami
testified that he believed her to be
| insane from her conduct in court,
but 1t does not appear that any other
examination was made. and no
specific evidences are mentioned that
would show that even then she was
Of unsound mind. The subsequent
alleged eccentricities. which were
chiefly manifestations of extravi-
| gance of behavior, watched by clerks
| and others, that would attract no at
| tention elsewhere, are beneath criti-
cism. Even for that small class of
critics who today believe that innate
badness constitutes moral insanity,
| there Is little satisfaction to be de-
| rived from a study Of her case. There
Is the absence Of irresistible impulse.
which is sometimes found in "klep-
tomania," and her fraud bears no re-
semblance to that which Is occa-
sionally present in general paresis.
so that it is difficult to see how any
defense Of this kind could be sue
cessfully urged.
| 1t is quite probable that she Is an
instructive criminal, and that her
| vicious career has been one of her
own volition, so that she. like the
| professional thief, has come to re-
gard all property as legitimate
| spoil" Her weakness Is certainly
| not due to education or example,
| for her environment was good ex-
cept so far as the dangerous ten
dency of the age. the necessity of
luxury an dthe growing laxity of
| commercial methods are concerned.
MRS CHADWICK IS A MAGNIFI-
CENT CONFIDENCE WOMAN AND
| THE PRODUCT OF THE DAY.
| Until a few years ago the motor
ious Sophy Lyons, whose greatest
theft was $4,000, was considered an
| interesting case for criminologists,
but in these days of large transac-
tions the career of Sophy was one
| Of comparative probity.
| Easy to Find Suckers.
| To some Of us there is nothing
astonishing in the success of Mrs.
| Chadwick, who is probably as famil-
| lar as any one else with the easy
way in which money Is made and is
| to be made and the vulgar. yet perth
nent, aphorism that "a new sucker
Is born every day"
| When novels and plays strive to
make robbery attractive and excusa-
bit, when newspapers lightly talf of
the facility with which public Of
ficers may be bribed, when aggrega-
lions Of men initiate rotten property.
| or over capitalize questionable con-
Germs. when beggars ride on horse
back and people live on the interest
of their debts" there Is nothing
startling about that kind OF smart
ness which Is the apotheosis OF the
cultivated and generally extending
weakness of the age, which leads to
the development of Chadwicks and
others of her kind. and which has
overthrown other nations and bids
fair to ruin our own.