The Caucasian. (Shreveport, La.) 1900-192?, 1907-07-04
1.-THE UNWRITTEN LAW"
Was Not Applied in the Case of Mrs
Birdsong.

IL is SIMPLY anOtner case OF POtl
phars wife, except that in this nstanc
Mrs. Birdsong. instead Of h,ving Joscpl
sent to prison by her husbaH, o. a falls
charge because he did not r.c..procat
her unlawful attentions and passion:
shot him to death with her own hands
This is the statement made here to
day by Joseph II. Dale of Monticello, il
discussing the determined fight he will
make tomorrow before Governor Varda
man against the pardon of Mrs Angi
Fox Birdsong, convicted of manslaugh
ter for killing her family physician, DR.
Thomas Fl. Butler, and sentenced to fv,
years in the penitentiary.
"Mr. Dale, who is editor of the Law
renee County Press, will head a delega
ton of nearly one undred women from
the old home of Mrs. Birdsong, who
will visit the capitol and present the balt
facts to Governor Vardaman 1t is un
derstood that sentiment will have nc
paw III th>h
'The opponents of the pardon poin,
out that the affirmative opinion of the
Supreme Court and will remind the
Governor that the unwrittcn law was moi
pleaded before the jury that convicted
the woman. This sentiment. they de-
clare. crept in after the verdict had been
returned. They say there has been much
shallow and sentimental gush over this
case, worked up and given publicity for
a purpose.
Whether DIR. Butler deserved killing
for firing of the connection, which the
State at the trial claimed was the point
at issue, is question, according to the
pardon opponents, that the jury settled
when it returned the verdict of guilty. =
In its comments editorially the Plea
yune of July 3 says
Mrs. Birdsong slew her family physi-
clan upon the charge that he had taken
advantage of his professional opportuni-
ties to traduce her character The man
who was killed was socially prominent
and connected with powerful families in
the State She was tried and convicted
and sentenced to the penitentiary. The
Supreme Court Of Mississippi confirmed
sentence against her, and her only pos
sibility of mercy will be in the clemency
of the Governor.
Since Mrs. Birdsong's case came into
prominence there have been two in
stances in Virginia where the slayers Of
men in defense of the honor and reputa-
tion of the women of their families have
been acquitted by juries. In one of those
cases two brothers avenged a wronged
sister; in the other a father slew the
man who had ruined his daughter. They
all went free by the verdicts of men. In
the period mentioned grand jury in
Louisiana failed to find any. crime in the
Staying by husband of the traducer of
his wife. while in New York, in the
famous Thaw case, jury failed to find
guilty husband who killed the seducer
Of his wife. He did not go free, but he
has not been pronounced guilty.
About the same time this Mississippi
wife and mother, having no other de-
fender, shot the man whom she charged
as her traducer. In her defense the uil-
written law, which, as has been shown,
has proved so efficacious when invoked
in behalf of men when they have avenged
the honor of wronged female relatives,
proved wholly worthless and abortive, as
is commonly true when pleaded in be-
half of woman who defended herself.
The case is out of the courts now !;
all the disgrace the law can put upon
the woman has been imposed. When a
woman has been deceived and ruined by
a man she falls into the lowest depths
of social contempt There is no forgive
ness and pity for her. She is condemne !
socially to everlasting disgrace, but the
man who is responsible for her down.
fall is not only not punished or punish
able by law, but he loses nothing of his
social caste II there be any change in
social circles Of the feeling towards him,
it is rather to make him a hero than
otherwise.
For these reasons, in default of any
effective punishment for the male Sc
ducer, it has become the rule for male
relatives Of the wronged woman to
shoot him to death, and they are justi-
fed. But when the ruined woman, lack
ing any other champion, seeks to avenge
her own wrongs. she must go to the gal
lows or at least to the penitentiary AS
the Picayune has often shown, there is
no unwritten law for the wronged wom-
ai. II is for men only