The Washington times., 1922-05-21
Council of
Massachusetts Or
g. dered Release of
Jennie Zimmerman,
Held as Homicidal
Maniac for Staying
Cousin Who Wronged
Her Prominent
Women Aided I'm OBJ
tanning Her Release.
BOSTON. May 40.

A FTEH two years. oonfine-
"a ment a. . homicidal maniac,
Il - Jennie Zimmerman L. tree,
by order Of the governors council.
which has granted her an uncon-
ditionai pardon. For the first
time since she shot the cousin who
betrayed her, in August. 1919, Miss
Zimmerman knows the meaning
Of liberty.
When word came to her in the
Northampton State Asylum for the
Insane that she was released as a
normal, sane, innocent young wom-
an, Jennie stared, then smiled
softly and broke into soft laugh
the clear laugh Of happiness that
rang out incongruously in the
corridors of that institution in
which so little laughter of that ma
ture is heard.
And the girl, celebrating her lib
erty, Skipped out Of the grounds to
which sho had been % long re-
stricted and broke off Q Towering
branch from q tree, waving it Joy.
ously.
SHOWS NO ASYLUM BLIGHT. .
Fiction makes Incarceration in
an asylum for the insane . terri
BILE experience, calculated to ag-
gravate rather than remedy the
mental disorder Of the persons COM
mitted there Not so in Jennie
Zimmermans case. II this young
woman ever was actually insane,
she shows no indication Of 1t now
to the eyes Of . layman. Calm.
clear-eyed. with an actue memory
and q vivid intelligence, tho con.
trast between this girl and the girl
who shrieked and covered in
terror on tho witness stand is
startling.
Jennie Zimmerman killed her
cousin, DR.. Henry Zimmerman, be-
cause he Tilted her after he had be-
trayed her. She shot him. In wild
desperation. after she had pleaded
with him, through many weeks, to
marry her. The doctor was ambi-
tious and the pretty telephone cp-
orator had ceased to interest him.
He had matrimonial plans, but they
did not include her-and she killed
him. Tho jury declared her inno-
cent Of the crime OF murder on the
ground that sho had been driven
insane by her betrayer's conduct.
and on this verdict she was COM
mitted to the Northampton insti-
tuition.
But one argument which In
fuenced the governors council TO
authorize her release was that
while she had been insane when
she fired the shot, that act re-
stored her sanity by removing from
life the person who had driven
het mad! In short, as she pressed
the trigger Of tho pistol, sho was
insane; as tho bullet let out the
life OF tho doctor, tho girls sanity
returned!
A group Of socially prominent
women Of the State have been In.
terested in Jennie since her COM
initial. and It Is partly through
their work that the young WON.
ans release has been ordered.
They will obtain employment for
her, guard her from humiliation,
and assist her to become again a
useful member OF the community.
And Jennie-what are her
thoughts Of tho clouded years from
which she is emergtng7 What
does she think of men and women
of the outside world7 II her mind
were filled with resentment. II she
had developed Q saturnine phi
losophy OF fatalism. II she viewed
her return with fear, It would be
excusable.
WANTS TO PROVE GRATITUDE.
But this young woman's heart IL
90 filled with happiness that she
can find no bitterness there to re-
veal to the world. She is whole
somely optimistic, ard II she feels
that she has been unjustly treated
AS. indeed, she must-she docs
not let that thought interfere with
the Joy Of the present. And this Is
what she says:
so. I am free! How the words
make me want to laugh and cry
and hug the whole great world to
my heartl They mean that at last
have n chance to find happiness,
peace, rest from the heart-wrench-
ing disappointment which I have
borne through periods when every.
thing within me shivered as though
stirred by an electric current.
"A chance to help other girls 1T
means an opportunity TO lend Try.
self wherever my experience ard
the benefit Of my suffering can do
the slightest good. Ahchanca To