Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1910-12-20
PSYCHOLOGY OF CRIME.
Outward Evidences of Wronsdoing
Seldom Present.

1t Is a common superstition, revived
lat every famous trial, that the murder
er in aspect and character should con-
form accurately with a conventional
form of savagery. The public. which
takes an increasing interest in the
melodrama Of life and death, is dis
lappointed at each tragedy because the
criminal does not bear upon his fore
head the brand Of Cain. Yet little
knowledge, a more vivid memory Of
the past, might convince the least i'm
aginative that the murderer in his
hours of ease Is most often kindly,
amiable and sympathetic gentleman,
so long as his will. at once violent and
infirm, be not thwarted.
The evidence afforded by the New
gate calendar Is uniform and irresist-
ible. Turn to whatever period you
will, there is the same tale to tell.
The motive and impulse may vary.
Men kill for greed, for hate, or for
the desire to be rid Of what seems at
the moment an encumbrance. Their
| character and temperament seem
wholly detached from the crime which
brings them to the gallows. "Amia-
ble," "kind- hearted" "good-temper-
ed" zone Of the incest men I ever
knew''-these are some Of the tributes
paid to Crippen by his frinnCs, and
they may be matched over and over
again in the annals of the past.
| On December II, 1911, Mr.. MARI, a
respectable mercer in Ratcliff high
way. his wife, their infant child and
lad of IA were brutally done to death
with a carpenters hammer. There
was no possible excuse for the murder.
The miscreant who killed these four
innocent persons acted with cold pre-
meditation and. as De Quincy said,
in a spirit Of pure artistry. Nothing
but the lust of blood impelled him to
his crime. II ever there was tiger
in human shape 1t was this scoundrel
| williams. Yet he inspired even the
weakest with a sense Of trust and Sc
curity. "One gentle-mannered girl
| De Quincy tells us, whom Williams
had undoubtedly designed to murder,
stated in evidence that once. when
sitting alone with her, he had said:
Now. Miss r., supposing that should
appear about midnight at your bed
side armed with a carving knife. what
would you say? To which the con-
fding girl replied: oh. Mr.. Williams.
II 1t was anybody else I should be
frightened But as soon as l heard
your voice l should be tranquil
It would be difficult to match, even
in the drama Of the ancients, the irony
of this brief dialogue. On the one hand
was the monster, on the other the
possible victim. and perfect conf
dence. williams was a murderer by
profession and knew how to calculate
his effects. John Thurtell, who in
IlS24 killed William Weare, Of Lyons
Inn., was Of another type. Had he not
been overwhelmed by ruin and dis
sipation he might have lived out the
fulness of his days in peace and honor.
Rage and embarrassment, together
with an exaggerated sense of injustice,
deprived him Of self-control and sent
him penitent to the gallows. But he,
too. had won the trust and confidence
Of his friends. 1T have always
thought Thurtell liberal, kind and
good hearted man." said one. Il have
frequently been In mis- company. SAID
another. II always thought him a
al
posed man. yet that which marked
out the murder Of William Weare
from other crimes Of its kind was a
callous and resolute ferocity.
If other examples be asked, they are
not lacking. Who that knew him
would ever have suspected Thomas
Wainwright, the elegant James
Weathercock, the colleague of Lamb
on the London Magazine, OF heartless
and calculating cruelty? The sensi-
tive critic might have objected to his
famboyant taste; the man Of the
world might have found his affec-
tions intolerable; but none that met
him at the opera or in drawing
room could have believed that he car
ried poison In a ring, like an assas-
sin of the Italian Renaissance, and
was as quick to use it. He, too, was
kind" and "good-hearted," merciful
to the cats. who followed him IN
stinctively, and to the casual vision
bland and refined gentleman. Yet ne
never wanted an excuse for muir
der. The expectation Of money or a
thick ankle was enough to tempt him,
and once upon a time he poisoned a
stranger for no better reason than
that he had insured his life In an
office against which Wainewright had
a grudge.
And William Palmer, who gave to
Rugeley its ill-omened notoriety-was
there ever a better example or the
double life than he? A humane doc
tor. an intrepid sportsman, genlal
companion. he had so little thought
for others that he found in murder
the easiest, the only, solution OF his
difficulties. Did a relative stand be-
tween him and an inheritance, there
was no way out but poison. Did ne
owe an inconvenient sum OF money,
dose Of strychnine was enough to
rid himself of the obligation And all
the while he kept up the appearance
of a severe responsibility. He was as
siduous in his attendance at church.
On the Sunday after he had given to
Cook, his miserable victim, last dose
of poison he confided to his diary the
name of the clergyman to whose SER
mon he had listened. together with an
Intelligent and edifying criticism.
The murderer, then, exhibits no
signs by which we may know him.
And 1t would be remarkable II he did.
No man is always on parade. We go
through life wearing masks. which
conceal our real features even from
our intimates. If 1t were not so there
would be no more murderers. In pal
ace Of truth there is no place for crime.
A murderer whom we could recognize
at sight would have no chance or DO
ing his deeds of blood. But there Is
another and more subtle reason for
the fact that the ruffian so easily es-
capes notice. Very few men are bad
all through If we put aside the hu-
man tiger, we shall find that the muir
derer is often as much surprised as
his fellows at his own enormity. He
is suddenly urged by fear or rage to
the commission of a crime Of which
he believed himself incapable. May
be he has never measured the weak
ness Of his will. Maybe he is consu-
hla N understand the re- |