The Sunday telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1914-1927, 1915-01-31

Hanging Is going out Of fashion
and penitentiaries are not the vogue.
crirninalilawyers have devised many
schemes by which they can outwit
the fury of the law and turn the
anger Of the State into pity.
It was about the time Of the Civil
4. War when the unwritten law was
invoked before a jury and q man
:. who had killed another for violating
the sanctity of the home went free.
insanity. both permanent and tenn
porary, have been invoked for thou
sands Of years. Now comes the
latest thing in the progress OF Grim
inal defense. It is the prenatal in
huence.
The other day. the Sheriff at Lit
tie Rock, Ark, arrested Jesse E.
Coggins, charged with killing his
z stepmother. The woman was the
only mother he had known. His
own mother died at the birth of
Coggins and the new mother, who
camesinto the home, treated the boy
like her own from babyhood.
cts prenatal influence" said
Coggins. II can't help it when I kill.
Tho feeling comes over me all of q
sudden and want to kill. was
born that way
The boy is only 16 years old. The
day of his arrest he asked a report
5fer to feel his head, The reporter
felt his head and discovered little
lump there about the size of hick-
DRY nut that was hard like cartilage.
THAT was there when was
born" said the boy. ut is pre-
natal defect
do I look like a criminal?" he
asked reporters. do you think l
would have killed the best friend
and the only friend had IL I had
(: been in my right mind? The thought
OF what I did makes my blood run
cold now. but at the time I enjoyed
1t. thrilled as felt my fingers
tighten around her throat and felt
her muscles tighten and pulsate as
strangled her.
The feeling OF joy at the killing
stayed with me until got out of
town. but since realize what I did
I have been suffering.
My mother died when I was born
and my relatives tell me the top of
my head was as fiat as pancake
when came into tho world. My
aunt. Mrs. Bertha E. Dowell of 500
West Second street, Pine Bluff, Ark,
frequently told me my father was
surprised when did not show signs
OF idiocy when child.
fell into bad company early and
abused myself by drinking and
smoking cigarettes to excess and In
4 other ways. In the last year this
has been especially true, and for
months I have had spells when 1
longed to kill someone. The thought
OF a weapon never entered my mind
y on these occasions. It always was
my wish to kill with my hands. I
am not trying; to make excuses for
the awful crime ! committed, but /
wreck. although my body seems
healthy enough
QUIT SCHOOL WHEN
ONLY II YEARS OLD.
.I recall being compelled to quit
school when was II years old be-
cause my father was out of work
and had to help. was in the sixth
grade when my education stopped.
THE next thing remember is
drinking my. first glass of beer. It
was at a family gathering. I can't
remember my first cigarette, be-
cause 1t seems I Always have smoked
them. The beer habit grew on me
and I frequently drank whisky.
''The first Job had was at the
wage of 81 day. was big for
my age, and when my father re-
turned to work he offered me no ops
portunity togo back to school. He
sold ] was big enough to work.
MY father, as long as can re-
member, was my enemy. He did
i try 10 break me of the cigarette
habit, hut 1t was impossible to do
30; because the habit had me. and
there was nothing that would salts
IS that desire for q cigarette.
II had no bad associates that 1
can now recall. III fact, had no
time for pleasure at all. But had
al tire bad habits boy could have,
I and they ruined me. Ny advice TO
boys who want to profit by my ex-
7 ample isstos be pure minded always,
10 refrain from cigarettes and by
MI means TO shun liquor.
My father always took my wages
and allowed me only so cents out of
- It was this that caused me to
take SO from his pocketbook and
run away from home. I wanted
money to spend when went out
With the boys.
tter my father had refused to
LET me return home I went to live
with my srandin Their. y frequently
received lotters from my stspmot11er
invidpE me to visit home during my
fathers absence. II was after re-
ceivtnS snchs an Invitation that !