Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1921-12-06

Washington. Dec. b---one evening
about eight o'clock three women sat
chnttering In the parlor If o house ~
spriueficid. Massachusetts,, when =
man entered fiie room by q rear win
dow and. without any preliTinaries,
demanded money. lie wore black
slouch hat, black handkerchief over
| the lower part Of his face and a re-
voiver Ia q holster st his side.
The terrified woman screamed. lie
told them 10 be quiet or he would kjll
them. One of them screamed again,
whercnpon he shot her through the
heart. killing her instantly. Then,
after some more flourishes Of his
1 weapon. and without having taken
lnny booty. hc went away.
This astonishing crime led, after "a
llonr search, 20 the arrest Of ono Bert
ram q. Spencer, who confessed not
only 10 this murder but also 10 "a long
series of mysterious burglarios which
hnsl terrified Springfield. They were
most peculiar bureiaries. They wcre
committed usually early in tho even
/. ing when detection would seem almost
certain. In some cases nothing was
taken and in most cases only articles
, Of little or no value.
Spencer was tried. and after Ions
s wrankle among specialists as e
whether he was sane, he was con
demned to death and eiectrocuted.
b ono man nt least was not satisiie'
b with this trial. He rs j.. Vernon
y Briggs. 70 well known specialist il
@ mental disease. He was convinced, b.
b what he had seen Of Spencer and wha
= he had heard at tho trial, that Spence
y was a defective. lie further believe
" that Spencer had been n defective al
Of his life. that any competent special
y ist I'm mental disease could have dag
nosed him as a man who was danger
. Gus ut large. Furthermore, he rcali7
ed that this country must contai
:. many thousands Of men like Spence
{, who are defective, who are n menec
4 10 other persons and TO thenselve
and yet are allowed to run at larg
In these opinions he has tho suppo
Of many other psychiatrists.
Life Story of Killer.
In order 20 prove his Gaze. u
Briggs made an elaborate study Of u
history Of Spencer. and also Of tho
ny Of two other convicted murderer
~ Czolgosz, the man who murder
T. President Mckinley. and Of oi
n Richeson. These three studies he h
'is embodied in book entitled "'rhe Ma
x ner OF Man That Kills" This boo
m we and especially the part of il that dea
70 with Spencer. is an absolutely 60
MI vincing demonstration of tho doctol
theory that most men who kill a
q. defective men. that If studied
r. specialists when in school. they coJ
o. nearly all be recognized as defectiy
90 and handled in such n way that tn
nd would not he O menace TO society a
ne, 10 themselves. and that a large 20
ed OF the enormous expense Of our cour
SO police systems. and penal institutio
ia could thus be saved in addition 10 (
great saving in life and property.
We Or. Briggs shows that Spencer v
D defective In intelligence from chi
Of hood. that almost all Of his immedi:
M relations on both sides showed sol
ne signs of mental defect. many Of tn
en- having been downright insane.
further shows that Spencer was 10
he k..own 60 many Of his daily associa
q. as n queer" man. and that It y
'h- well recognized by them that he Y
subject 10 outbursts Of temper aim
"a without cause. in which he could
a. control himself. In one Of these o
@ bursts he almost killed boy witt
hammer.
- Yet this man Spencer. who was 4
"a ~ ognized By ordinary laymen as a d
. gerous man. and could have been i'd
-@ died by scientists at any time a.
his seventh year as a potential n
derer. was not only allowed 10 ruT
" large. but to marry and propa gate
". taint which had come down to
-. through the generations. Had ne
- been convicted Of the murder wi
-, ended his career, he would almost
rs tainiy have been set free to mul
W again and TO continue propagating
kind. And the United States Of An
- "a is full OF men like Spencer.
Having demonstrated what mar
o. man IL is who kills, and how
It generally is to identify the murd
- before he murders, DR.. Briggs
- ceeds to give information as to 9
our system of leaving detectives
large costs the taxpayer He st
the -, -
1927 was spent for the care OF
~