The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-02-03
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY e. HOUSE
(From Philadelphia Public Ledger.)

From Philadelphia Public Ledger.l
LAS you have aired your opinion re-
garding Mrs. Roster" writes NJ. J.,
may 1 voice mine about Mr.. Roster?
He was cad not worth the bullet that
killed him. His deathbed will proves
| that"
| We do not recall having expressed
| an opinion of Mrs. Roster. That sort
of thing is not extensively done. We
| did comment in mild terms upon the
crime. AS we understand NJ. J.. she
| justifies the killing on the ground that
/ the dead man was a cad. To accept
such justification would, it seems to
US, establish a dangerous precedent If
a woman may shoot a man for being
a cad, why should she not also be per-
| mitted to shoot him for lying, for
| STAYING out late at night, for having
to wipe his shoes before coming into
| the house? The presumption that a
man is cad would annoy some wom-
en- less than evidence that he had not
been properly Numbered. In either
event, the logic of the killing IL the
same. Who shall say to what Height
the bars should be raised, or whether
they should DE put up at all?
If women are to be permitted to do
murder Unfortunately, why should
| the men be restricted in. the matter
| of target practice? We are the equol
of women in the eyes of the law. Why
1 should we be denied their pleasures
and responsibilities? We often feel
the impulse to shoot a woman. There
are times and occasions when they an
noy US vastly. If the assumption that
he is cad is sufficient excuse for
killing a>man, we can think of dozen
| equally cogent reasons for shooting
| nnfiCo a
We intend to maintain our inalienab,e
rights in the circumstance.
| OF course, we maintain the Roster
tragedy was murder and that the per-
petrator should be punished. That is
our story, and we stick to it.
Not that we believe anybody will be
punished We can visualize the trial
and its result now. Mrs. Roster will
be tried before a jury of middle-aged
| 'fdubs." The attorneys for the de-
| tense will see to that They will re-
fer frequently to that frail little wom-
an and her innocent bab-by" The
newspapers will print many columns
of hokum. After learned counsel has
| ''burbled' for hours the jury will re-
tire. 1t will be gone fifteen or twenty
minutes. When it comes in the fore
man will hand a folded paper to the
clerk, and the clerk will read: I'VE the
jury, find the defendant not guilty"
A frail little woman rs an ace in
| the hole for any criminal lawyer. A
| frail little woman and an innocent
bab-by constitute an insuperable de-
Tense.
Book Notes.
Sir-I have just finished reading
| Soil' Cor "Soiled," whichever it isl,
and while I offer no critique, being
unqualified, 1 desire to add compli-
ment to the many spoken by regular
reviewers. 1t is compliment, 1 be-
lieYe, as vet unsaid. Mr.. Hamsun con-
cluded his remarkable story at approx
iu1ately, 500 pages; q lesser light, I
fear, carried away by his subject,
might have stretched it into long,
| tiresome novel.
| An idol was shattered in a recent
perusal OF AL Jennings interesting
book, Through the Shadows With o.
| Henry" To learn that Mr.. Henry
once violated a great confidence
placed in him is to weep Having been
admitted to that sacred circle, the
| Jennings gang, he turned at a crucial
moment and refused to take part in a
| little financial deal-a mere matter of
relieving a bank OF $15,560. Will you
| believe it, he wouldn't even hold the
horses! AS Al so aptly puts it, "All of
us know that the parting had come.
If Bill would not rob with us, he could
| not settle down on the range bought
with out stolen bills" OF course, Al
| and his brother were justified in re-
tpudiating Mr.. Henry, but one is des-
olated to find that his feet were cold
and clay. D. L. F.
We haven't read Mr.. Jennings latest
book, but his physiological adven-
| lures always intrigue, and we shall
do so. Out in the great wide open
spaces of the western middle west
when an easy mark is particularly
| tinid and difficult they say 1.-The Jen-
| nings gang could have robbed him"
| AS extensively advertised we spent
| Saturday and Sunday in New York.
Nearly everybody we met tried to say
| Why do they do it? We profess to
a certain sense of humor. We are
bound to Philadelphia by no ties other
than those expressed in a lease on an
| apartment which runs to the middle Of
/ next September. But we regard the
| Philadelphia joke as one of the three
| poorest jokes in the world, and of the
lot it is the worst.
The two other? One is the joke
about mothers-in-law, the other the
one about the Irishman.
. Jimmy Cox has emerged from the
seclusion to which he retired immedi-
[ served all of the prophecies and is
entitled to be heard. But no matter
what Jimmy says, he will always be
| remembered as the candidate who
went in with a tannery and came out
with a shoestring. That is his distinc-