The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-07-18
Bride Killed in Auto Crash-Death as a Feature in the News W hy Cert a in Items Get on First Page-The Mechan- ics of Sex Murder Crime Often Means Mental Machine Is Out of Order.

tain thing. It is strictly speaking, l of all events, the least pregnant with | news. News is mainly the record of the novel, the unusual, the unexpect- ed It was the famous Charles A. Dana, editor of The Sun. who said: If a well known citizen walks down street wearing whiskers, that is not news But if he walks down street with his whiskers tied with baby blue ribbons, that is news
 
 Death items are good news, by the circumstances which surround the de- parture He is important in the com munity, or has a large circle Of friends, or dies in some unexpected manner, or at a period when life seems rich with happiness This is why the death of the bride is fea- tured. It is removal, when skies are blue and life is rosy and all things make life more worth the living. It is the tragedy of such a taking off, which holds the mind of the newspa- per reader.
  < The ordinary death, those that take place in the natural course of events, by sickness, by ordinary accident un- attended by novel circumstances, in side the paper. The public isn't much interested But grief is as great in the circle of which the departed were members. Another first page item Is headed ''Baby is sole survivor of Seven in auto crash.'' There Is a peculiar interest in the only survivor of a group tragedy. All are taken save one. Why did the chance fall thus Especially when the survivor is the tenderest, has ordinarily the most fragile hold on life. is the survival filled with interest. This hope bol- sters courage In forIorn situations each expects that he will be the one who will survive.
 s"s-s Parents and child killed at cross ing" First page again. Here the in- terest is in the extinction of the members of the same family. The item is brief. mother. father and their ten years daughter. Are there other children? A peculiar melan- choly attaches to the extinction of an entire family. It represents to the ina agfration the extinction of a null titude. From those who came on the Mayf1ower many thousands have descended What tragedy, If the ship had gone down. What a trag- edy when any great ship goes down with all on board So much of the future ls cut off
 
 News tells of powdered glass, found in mashed potatoes, given to three children Vexed servant fill ed salt cellar with the glass Dur ing the war powdered glass got into many articles of food In the me nloirs of Benvenuto CelIini, the great medieval sculptor and artist, there is chapter in which he learnedly dis cusses the advantages of ground glass and ground diamonds as a means of Homicide. deciding for the ground diamond. Times improve Those N things may be done, but they are not publicly discussed The ground glass in this case did not harm.
 
 rhe woman who beat to death with hammer the rival for her husba nd,s affections was mad with jealousy. Her methods were brutal. but jealousy is brute instinct. It exists strongly in cats and dogs, and is not a lofty sentiment at all. Women seem to be going through phase from which men are emerging. OtheIIo Fgtin TsPEsSentT tba the .n man m of yesterday not kill the woman he has loved merely because she loves somebody else
 Revenge Is not for the individual; not when it leads to murder. Some suppose that even the state has no right. to kill. The sex instinct is closely connected with the killing in s<lnct, and sex killings are common. Witness the case, just described in the newspapers. where the uncle kill ed his youthful niece and himself rather than they should not marry. 5dois6 5a IHfh caTe 9s~t the eaon1o mind probably is there" as the saying is:
 The soul functions through the brain. The brain is scientifically Ssf+h aeternined: E6a ;IIate The soul @ rests upon tions. speech in one center. spoken language in another center. and writ which represents the higher facul- ties. love. hope, generosity, the abil- ity to think accurately and finely are last built up. They are the first tc be destroyed, by disease intemper- ance or injury It is often the case that the so-called criminal is merely q mental cripple. The injury is just as real, as short leg. but not SC visible.
 Legal insanity Is not the same as this mental inability. In law. if the criminal knows that the thing he doe. is wrong, he is responsible for wha he does Creatures with distorted and broken brains, often are keenly conscious that a thing is wrong bu lack the will necessary to refrair from doing the wrong. Some per sons destroy themselves out of shee inability to resist the tempta ton, sucl as jumping from high place, ol casting themselves into swiftly run ming water. IJ sas&