The Caucasian., 1913-11-23
No,aea kiI,inO slegG

It could seem as if the Sauntea
s,hiyalry of men tOTard@ Wolfen ls
= misnomer and that there has been
seached in the progress os evolutlon
Abe pitiable condition wheG men
snust be protected frora deadlg as
smllts by women
Pm thase reflections t2lerw .l1oa1ld
Pc considered the sace thae exceDte
fals ip Se1y remote cases, ehe WonseG
and the men become entangled in
aIliaaces which ere woletise Gd
GOOD morals and good conduce.
N sill noe be disputed that sucas
misregarH o. morale hase prevalled
serhape beyond the reckoning Of
Zine. bus the deliberate killing OF
AMEN by comes 10 onlg of recent
departure.
M 10 conce6ea tbat o womsn msy
1be justified in ayenglng ans IRE
parable insult or wrong sufferee
from a man, if she has no father or
Oroter. but we hold that no woman
Who has transcended the inexorable
mctates of virtue can be justified
IA tslxing q life, except in self
defense.
Hhere have been women @ho
Aase escaped justice through Q SEN
timentality which has encourages
lAstead of checked the tendency OF
ahsmicide by women on the least OF
pretexts, as has been eXempllfie0
ttia instance in Caddo Parish.
We may recall the case of Mrs.
Naynie, who deliberately killed h@
parmour at the Y. S. & P. freight
depot. She was acquitted by the
1riaY jury. Her justification was i'll
treatment by the. man with Vhom
sac has lived as in the legal marital
state.
And there is Ars. stroua, wAo
shot and killed her husband whes
On the public road near vivia6
In the case of Mrs. Lizzie Leop-
ard, who shot and killed her hus-
band as he ascended the steps %
her home holding a beefsteak in one
hand and cigarette in the other,
there is the plea of justification
from maltreatment which led the
Grand Jury to ignore the case, but
notwithstanding, the man is dead
and being dead can not explain or
speak in his own defense.
There was the case of Mrs. Bailey
who deliberately poisoned her hus-
band in order to be free to live with
her paramour, recently hanged in
Ihe penitentiary at Baton Rouge.
This crime was deliberate and dia-
bolical. Mrs. Bailey escaped the ex-
4reme penalty simply because she
is woman, but her defense was
promotive of the most arrant OF
maudlin sentimentality.
And there have been instances
which could be recalled of women
shooting their paramours who re-
covered from their wounds, but
such reference is not here neces-
sary.
The recent killing of Van Cleve is
one of the most startling on the
criminal records of Caddo Parish.
From every view of the case the
crime was premeditated It is more
than probable that Van Cleve would
be alive today if Mrs. Little had not
provoked her husband to the fatal
act. In extenuation of this murder
the plea is that Van Cleve had Of
fered a serious insult to Mrs. Little.
The plea may be accepted with some
degree of reservation, since as ad-
mitted Mrs. Little had been an init
mate friend of Van Cleye before she
married Little.
The all-important question for
impartial consideration is: How
long shall maudlin sentiment as ap-
piled to women who murder men
be permitted to jeopardize or defeat
the ends of justice?
Because a woman is not a man
but a woman, should not deter the
full and impartial consideration of
her offending, especially when she
has killed a man and the homicide
can not be justified except on the
ridiculous and senseless plea that
she is a woman.
The Spirit of Discord.
There has been announced in the