The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1905-05-12
The PATTERSON SPASM.
Disgusting DriveI, Morbid Non
sense, Yellow Vulgar
ity, Etc.

In the volume of disgusting drivel
morbid nonsense, yellow vulgarity
historical rot and journalistic eplleps,
it provoked. the case OF the Patterson
woman In New York has not beer
exceeded by any other on the crimina
records of recent years. One woulC
judge from the tone of certain news.
papers that she was paragon of limo
cence and exalted womanhoOd and the
trial court a maletactor, prosecutor,
an engine of constituencies tyranny.
At any rate. person totally ignorant OF
the affair would not understand from
them how low and degraded a creature
she was and how I1gnt the court was
in merely performing its duty. The
woman was once chorus girl, but
from that occr patton. which is nc
stigma, sac descended to a common
wanton; she became the intimate of
one Caesar Young; a married man
after a night of carousing she took a
carriage tide with him; later his BODY
was found in the carriage; he had
been shot; the woman was arrested,
as she should have been, and law I'M
deItook to ascertain whether sne killed
the man. as it ought to have done.
| Why should this cause all the ado?
Why should it drive all the reporters of
New York to examining their dIction-
aries with microscopes In the hunt for
mawkish adjectives? Why should it
give rise to stories on man Patterson
at Church, I" MAN, Patterson Eat a
Sandwich, - man Patterson Drinks a
Glass of WaterY" Why shouli any one
care more about her than ether prison
err Why should not sane sympathy
for her. because she was a human be-
ing, suffice? Why should not everybody
hope to see the law indicated and
crime expiated?
There were not in the case the spec
taculaI elements of mystery usually re-
QuITed to attract to u crime the atten-
tion of large public. There were no
fascinating questions to enlist the IN
terest of those who delight in subtle
reasoning. There were no problems of
hair-splittlng argument and deduction
such as one found In the tales of Edgar
Allen Poe, OF as engaged the attention
OF that weaker figure of fiction, Sher-
lock Holmes The whole affair was
just scandal.
And yet, though scandal, we find
stuff like this. from Harold McGrath,
IN one of the New York newspapers:
The wonder of it all is what the
accused woman, Nan Patterson,
must see What must be the angle of
her vision as she views the scene about
her? Sometimes 1t must occur to her
that she is the victim of some mad
dream; again that she is spectacular
always unreal From face TO face
her glance travels, alightlng momen-
tarily here, then there. But she rarely
sees anything but patches of white,
perhaps feather. now end then dash
of color In some woman's &c wn.
Isolation. 1t is terribly pathetic.
From the gay, false life of night
Broadway From champagne. sup
peIs and follicklng comrades TO the
Iombs. What transition Folly ever
demands her tithe, and in this case of
Nan Patterson the t1the is frightful
Her nerve is marvellous.
Suddenly Rand Will lean forward
and stare at her, but the cola. re-
pellant, slate colored eyes break his
glance. Once she noticed Rand S
glance travel above her head and she
followed the glance to find herself
confronted with the picture of the
Three Fates. There was not the slight
est vince. 1t is difficult not to admire
her courage
"What secret lies behind this
woman S slate colored eyes? The eyes
may be the windows of the soul, hut
in this case the soul is elusive. Whether |
Nan Patterson IS proved guilty or
innocent. only Nan Patterson will |
know how Caesar Young met his
death.''
From the pen of Richard LIE Gal.
lienne comes this:
"a woman on trial-and particu-
larly, need | say, in America, Las
usuallysa strong case for the defense In
her mere womanhood. II she is pretty
and smart, she is already long way
toward acquittal. For woman on
trial for her life 1t is more important
to be stunning than to Ee innocent.
Miss Ann Allza Patterson is unfortu-
nate IN this respect, and her very
womanhood Is more likely than not to
go against her-for it is anything but
a persuasive wonanhood. Hell com
sullen, self contained fea-
lures ale by no means without char
acteT, but the character is certainly
not of the kind that provokes sympathy.
Looking at hard eyes, the blunt,
unreined nose. the pudgy. common
contour of face and body, one IS con-
scious OF certain animal force, but il
is the force of feline pIedaclty without
any of the feline fascination.
IAN Englishman, accustomed to the
Impressive ritual of the English court,
cannot fail to be struck by the almost
cynical lack of anything suggesting
the august on the surface of an Ameri
can criminal trial. Can this very in
oImal not to say casual assemhlage.
really be here on matter of life and
death?
"This woman sitting there with the
rest of the spectators-is 1t really she
over whose head hangs so terrible
doom?"
Another goes into an analysis:
"Let us consider Nan Patterson for
q while as the victim of an inevitable
tate-marked out by her nature to
tread the downward road to her present
peIIlous position at the bar OF Justice,
charged with murder. Nature made
her weak, helpless creature-yain,
selfish. frivilous, warped in her moral