| ON -ſae|× |№. WILLIAM L. CLEMENTS LIBRARY University of Michigan WALDRON MURDER IN ALI, AGES MURDER IN ALL AGES BEING A History of Homicipº rºom THE EApºstºrm Es, H THE Most CELEBRATED MURDER cases L. Y. REPORTED, ARRANGE, UN ºr cont LING MOTIVES AND UTILIZED TO SUPPORT THE THEORY OF HOMICIDAL IMPULSE BY MATTHEW WORTH PINKERTON PRINCIPAL PINKERTON & Co.'s UNITED STATES DETECTIVE AGENcy WITH S/XTEAEN FO///-PAGE / / / US7RA 7TWOAVS CHICAGO A. E. PINKERTON & CO. SUITE 8o3, No. 215 DEARBORN STREET CopyRIGHT, 1898, By MATTHEW WORTH PINKERTON CONTENTS CHAPTER I.-INTRODUCTION...... ---------------------------------------- --- Many theories as to the origin of evil—Their discussion unprofit- able—Virtue and vice contending forces—All conscious of this inward conflict—The question of heredity–Demoralizing effects of many stories of crime–All fiction not of this class- Aim of the author–Plan of the present volume—Use of ficti- tious illustrations—Aristotle's views of fiction—Crime dimin- ishing—Objections to this view considered—Reasons why increase of crime is only apparent—A brighter era dawning. CHAPTER II.--THE HOMICIDAL IMPULSE............................. Enormity of the crime of murder–Noble acts of self-sacrifice— Contrast of virtue and vice—How to completely suppress crime —The first murder–Cain's motives and provocations–First instance of homicidal impulse—Milton's account of the first murder–Defenders of Cain: Lord Byron–The world growing better—Does the homicidal impulse exist?–First inquiry of the detective: the murderer's motive—Absence of reasonable motives in many cases—Impulse to kill probably universal– Cain influenced by it—Scriptural authority supporting impulse theory—Disposition to take life manifest in children—Men delight in taking animal life—Instance of Tiberius Caesar– Nero placated the people by pandering to this impulse—Uni- versal interest in murder stories–Horrible accidents repel instead of attracting—Morbid mind of Edgar Allen Poe–Poe's Murrella; a good instance of homicidal impulse—Cases of Booth and Lincoln, Guiteau and Garfield–"Jack the Ripper” and the “Nick of the Woods”—Self-justification of crime: Manfred —Malthus on “Overpopulation”—Aim of the work—Satirical criticisms on Malthus seriously taken—Evil effects of these works. iii iv. C O N T E N T S CIDAL IMPULSE PAGE CHAPTER III.-A CURIOUS INSTANCE OF THE HOMI- * * * * * * * * * * ---------------------------------------------------------- A strange story of crime—Murder of Jacques Moulin—Absence of all apparent motives—The old man with the wooden leg–His very plausible story—Murder of Auguste Vivier—A third death: the wooden-legged man again—A French police examination sixty-five years ago–Armande Geraud and his volume of Malthus—The English maid and the Prussian valet–Execution of an innocent man—Attempted assassination of Mrs. Stuart— The wooden-legged philosopher again–Armande Geraud arrested: a second fruitless examination—A mysterious meet- ing at Wittenberg–Strange murder in a café–Arrest of the tall stranger–Gottlieb Rinhalter, alias Armande Grimm— The secret of the wooden leg–History of the murderer's life—A true disciple of Malthus–Plan of the Wittenberg murder—Awful crimes committed by Croc-He experiences qualms of conscience—His opinions of great men and noted murderers—His attempt to murder his benefactress–Hoist with his own petard–Croc a victim of the homicidal impulse. CHAPTER IV.-MOTIVES FOR HOMICIDE—REVENGE: NU- MEROUS CASES.................................................................... Scope and plan of present work–Principal motives for homicide— Egotism, or the love of self—Revenge a fruitful cause of mur- der—Maximilian Wyndham, an instance of revenge—History of Maximilian's father—His death due to persecution—Fearful scourging of Maximilian's mother: her death—Sad fate of his sisters—Maximilian's vow of vengeance–The first blow struck —Many undetected murders–Wyndham's plan of vengeance– Assassination of the executioner–Methods of the band of avengers–Crucifixion of the jailer–Maximilian secretly marries —Murder of his wife’s grandfather—Maximilian's wife dies and he commits suicide—Extract from his remarkable con- fession-Hatred of vice an encouraging sign—Suggestion from a detective's standpoint–Beatrice Cenci, the “Beautiful Par- ricide”-Conflicting accounts of the celebrated murder Not the wronged and beautiful woman she has been represented— Atrocious case of Thomas Simmons—An instance of revenge and the homicidal impulse—The author's experience—Murder not the usual end of revenge—William Farmery, the matricide -The murder of Rose Weldon, a Chicago case Killed because she procured a divorce from a bigamist—A case of mistaken clemency. 43 C O N T E N T S V. PAGE CHAPTER v. - CUPIDITY –LACENAIRE – THE “THREE ITALIANS” .............................................................. --------------- 65 The right of property a paramount one–Cupidity the cause of most crimes—Murder usually the result of mixed motives—Awful prevalence of homicide in the past—The vicious as well as the virtuous associate together—“Honor among thieves,” a fallacy —Chardon, the impostor–An awful double-murder-Police examinations in France–A plan to murder for gain-A crim- inal partnership and a trap—Assault on the bank-clerk-Arrest of the murderers through lack of “honor”—Lacenaire in prison: poses as philosopher and poet—Sensational murder trials always attractive—Lacenaire's reasons for denouncing his accomplices—Lacenaire's last adieu-Awful death of the poet- assassin–Lacenaire a victim of the homicidal impulse—Case of the “Three Italians”—The awful crime discovered—A remarkable identification—The murderers' confession, their trial and execution. CHAPTER VI.-CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE–SEVERAL CASES..................................................................................... 82 Bad results of undetected murders—Case narrated by Edgar Allen Poe—A murder without an apparent clue—Logical methods of the amateur detective—Story of the crime—A genuine detective —Methods of Sherlock Holmes—The author's experience—The Bradford-Hayes case—A conviction on purely circumstantial evidence—Bradford technically innocent—Comparison with the Probst case—Remarkable case of William Shaw–Trial and execution of Shaw—Letter of Catherine Shaw—Reparation to Shaw's memory—Circumstantial evidence generally reliable— Experience of the author—The Latimer case: a most atrocious murder—Arrival and peculiar bearing of young Latimer— Damaging circumstantial evidence against him—His conduct in Detroit–Sentenced to life-imprisonment—Murders a turn- key and escapes from the penitentiary—His recapture—The crime not strictly matricide—Latimer an instance of inherited criminality. CHAPTER VII.--THE WEBSTER-PARKMAN CASE—CIRCUM- STANTIAL EVIDENCE,........................................................ IO2 Mysterious disappearance of Dr. George Parkman–Dr. Webster's statement—Opinions of experts—Discovery of human remains by the college janitor–Trial of Dr. Webster–Prominence of parties excites great interest—Remarkable array of circum- stantial evidence—Convincing evidence of the false teeth— vi C O N T E N T S PAGE Unusual actions of Dr. Webster—An attempt at suicide—The doctor confronted with the remains—Similarity of Webster case with that of Eugene Aram—Webster's misleading letters to the authorities—Testimony as to the good character of Dr. Webster—Attack made upon circumstantial evidence—Dr. Webster addresses the jury—The condemned man solemnly as- serts his innocence—In a petition for clemency he makes a full confession—Circumstantial account of the last interview—The fatal blow struck in a moment of blind rage—The disposition of the body—He acknowledges the justice of his sentence— The motive of the crime—May have been a deliberate murder. CHAPTER VIII.-TWO ATROCIOUS MURDER CASES............ II6 The famous Dearing case—The Dearing family–The arrival of Anton Probst—Discovery of the massacre—A murder that shocked the world—Movements of Probst: his arrest–Trial of Anton Probst–Only circumstantial evidence introduced— Career of Probst in this country—Probst's conviction—His con- fession in detail—Execution of the murderer–Cupidity clearly the only motive—The homicidal impulse strong in Probst— Probst an instance of extreme depravity—The homicidal impulse a dangerous possession—The Druse case—A tell-tale cloud of smoke—Arrest of mother and daughter—The daugh- ter's story of the crime–Disposition of the remains—The two convicted: the mother hanged—A case of inherited criminality and homicidal impulse. CHAPTER IX. — CUPIDITY – “BURKING” – PRELLER-MAX- WELL CASE............. ------------------------------------------------------ ........ I35 Origin of term “Burking”—Mysterious disappearance of poor per- sons—“Daft Jamie” and Mary Campbell—Scarcity of “sub- jects” for dissection—Burke and his accomplice arrested— Burke's death-trap—Story told by the Grays—The noted trial begun—Hare's story of the crime—Murder on a wholesale basis—Mrs. McDougal driven from Edinburgh—Release of Hare: his disappearance–Burke's confession: revolting dis- closures—Execution of Burke—Burking in London–Bishop and Williams—Their execution: public excitement—An Act of Parliament results from Burking–Preller-Maxwell case—Dis- appearance of Preller–Discovery of his remains in a trunk— Maxwell arrested in New Zealand—The prisoner denies his identity—His careless manner after the murder–Trial of Max- well–His testimony: an ingenious story—Similarity to the Webster-Parkman case—Experience of the author—Conviction and execution of Maxwell–Motive for the crime. CON TENTS vii CHAPTER X. —EUGENE ARAM.................................................. I49 A celebrated case—One weakness of historical novels–Sketch of Aram's life—Aram's two strange acquaintances—Remarkable scheme of Aram and Houseman—Clarke falls into the trap— Mysterious disappearance of Clarke–Aram acquitted of swin- dling: his subsequent movements—His crime seemingly safe from detection—Arrest of Houseman–His incriminating remark—Bones of Clarke discovered—Confession of Houseman —Arrest and trial of Aram–His remarkable speech in his own defense—He urges his own good character–Denies that the bones were those of Clarke–Shows that human bones were often found in Yorkshire—Strongly attacks Houseman's testi- mony—Cites instances of wrongful convictions—Pronounced effect of Aram's speech—Remarkable charge of the judge to the jury—Aram convicted and sentenced to death—He attempts to take his own life—His defense of suicide—Aram's written confession–His two writings contrasted—“The Dream of Eugene Aram.” CHAPTER XI.-JUDICIAL MURDER......................................... 171 This crime a rare one–Judicial murders during the “Reign of Terror”—The Popish Plot—Bitter religious prejudices of the time—The political situation–Titus Oates: he invents the Popish Plot—Murder of Sir Edmondsbury Godfrey—Oates supported by other perjurers–Wholesale judicial murders— Trial of Oates for perjury—His terrible punishment—Released from prison and pensioned—Judge George Jeffreys—His in- famous character—Jeffreys becomes the tool of James II.- Judicial murder of Algernon Sidney–Defeat and execution of Monmouth—Fearful murders of Colonel Percy Kirke–The “Bloody Assizes”—The first victim: Lady Alice Lisle—Seventy- four hanged in Dorsetshire—Bloody harvest in Somersetshire –Methods of the chief-justice—Fate of Abraham Holmes, the zealot—Christopher Battiscombe –The Hewling brothers— Extent of Jeffreys' crimes—Hundreds transported as slaves– Honors for Jeffreys—His miserable end. CHAPTER XII.-ASSASSINATION............................................. I94 A most detestable crime-Saul's assassination of Abner–His slay. ing of Absalom-Judith decapitates Holofernes–Assassination a most common crime—Thomas à Becket: his romantic his- tory-Becket brave and dissolute in his youth–Appointed Archbishop of Canterbury–Becket changes the whole course of his life-Quarrel of Becket and Henry II.-The Archbishop viii C O N T E N T S PAGE assassinated in Canterbury Cathedral–Catherine de Medici; a depraved woman—Her remarkable duplicity—Catherine favors the Huguenots—As regent, she rules France and corrupts her son—She plans the massacre of St. Bartholomew's day—Assas- sination of Admiral Coligny—The most awful massacre in history—Details of the horrible event—The civilized world horrified—Catherine said to have poisoned her son–Assassina- tion of the Duke of Guise—Assassination of Henry III.- Ravaillac kills Henry IV.-Terrible death of the regicide. CHAPTER XIII–Assassin ATION (continued).......................... ar, Character of William of Orange—Enormous sum offered for his assassination–First attempt upon the prince's life—Second unsuccessful attempt—Three more efforts made–Assassination of the Prince of Orange–Awful punishment of the assassin– Attempt upon the life of Napoleon Bonaparte—Damiens stabs Louis Philippe—Infernal machine of Fieschi–Charlotte Corday —She kills Murat—Her heroic death–Romantic death of Adam Lux—Attempted assassination of Louis Napoleon–Assassina- tion of President Carnot—Macari fires upon Alfonso of Spain —King John of England an assassin–He poisons “Maud the Fair”–His cruel murder of Prince Arthur—Attempt to kill George III. of England–First attempt to assassinate Queen Victoria—Other attempts upon her life—Plan to murder Sir Robert Peel—Assassination of Paul of Russia–Numerous attempts to kill Alexander II.-Killed at last by a bomb– William I. of Germany fired upon by an anarchist—Assaulted by Dr. Nobling, who commits suicide. CHAPTER XIV. — ASSASSINATION IN AMERICA – THE MAFIA........................................... ........................................ 233 Assassination of Abraham Lincoln—Lincoln's death not planned by Southern leaders—Movements of Lincoln on the fatal day— Booth shoots the President—Attempt upon the life of Wil- liam H. Seward—Flight and subsequent death of Booth–Trial of the conspirators: three executed—Trial of John H. Surratt –Assassination of James A. Garfield–Remarkable letter found upon Guiteau—Statement of Attorney Corkhill—Death of President Garfield–Trial and execution of Guiteau–Causes of the crime–Assassination of Carter H. Harrison—Similarity between Prendergast and Guiteau—Natural advantages of Sicily: a hotbed of crime–Assassination common in Sicily— The Mafia: murderous acts of the society–Denied that it is a complete organization – The modern Bravos—They terrorize society—The Malini and the Pasa-Objects of Mafia generally C O N T E N T S ix PAGE accomplished by intrigues—Difficulty of convicting criminals in Sicily—Shooting of Italian murderers in New Orleans- Statement of St. John Brenon–His account of the Mafia. CHAPTER XV.--THE ASSASSINS............................................... 252 Growth and character of Islam–Cause of its decline—The Ismael- ites—Hassan-ben-Sabbeh organizes the Assassins–Plan of the organization—Code of introduction—Ambition of Hassan-ben- Sabbeh–Systematic assassination begun—A terrible revenge —Death of Hassan-ben-Sabbeh–Methods of the Assassins: poison and the knife—Statement of Heckethorn-Rare fidelity of the Assassins—Fanaticism and clannishness the base of this—Origin of the term Assassin–Transported to Paradise: the Valley of Mulebad–Assassins commit suicide when ordered to do so—Vast power and extensive operations of the Assassins –Decline of the organization—A long list of rulers—Practical extinction of the society—The homicidal impulse strong in the Assassins—The world moving in the right direction. CHAPTER XVI.--THE THUGS OF INDIA................................. 268 Religious debasement of India–Kalee, the goddess of destruction —The patroness of the Thugs—Thuggee a religion based on murder–Origin of the terms Thug and Strangler–Efforts to suppress thuggee—Statement of a British officer—Modes of securing victims—Corruption of the young—Thugs trained from the cradle—Deception as a fine art—The Thugs arrant cowards—Methods of killing victims—Report of an English commission—Disposition of bodies by Thugs—Marked victims never allowed to escape—Simulated grief of the mourners— Organization of the Thugs—Aristocracy recognized by them— Their system of cabalistic signs—Division of plunder—Thuggee upon the water–Methods of the river-Thugs—The Sothas, or “confidence men”—Little known about the Thugs in India– How victims were killed on boats—Homicidal impulse the Thugs' ruling passion—Kalee's gifts to her votaries—The sacred pickaxe—An object of absolute reverence—Methods of educating the young—Initiation into the horrid order—Certain castes and classes exempted from murder—The Thugs' rever- ence for the sacred cow–Superstitions of the Thugs adopted by Mohammedans. CHAPTER XVII.-SECRET POISONERS................ -------------------- 290 Great prevalence of secret poisoning–Poisoning in England– Poisoning among the ancient Romans—The infamous poisoner, Locusta—The Empress Agrippina a poisoner–Fate of X C O N T E N T S PAGE Britannicus—The Greeks used poisons for executing criminals —The infamous Borgia family—Roderigo Borgia dies by his own poison–Lucretia Borgia a noted poisoner–Heironyma La Spara, poison-seller of Rome–Toffania of Naples and her “Acquetta.”—Her wholesale operations—Fear of poison the origin of covered dishes—Madame Brinvilliers, noted poisoner of Paris–She learns the art from Sainte Croix—She kills her father and two brothers—She administers poison to her hus- band—Her lover saves him with antidotes—Sainte Croix dies while compounding poisons—He leaves a remarkable document –A detective flatters Madame Brinvilliers and arrests her— Conviction and execution of the parricide–Poisoning becomes an epidemic in France—Lavigoreaux and Lavoisin, two infa- mous poisoners—Their ingenious methods and horrible death— Several noble people implicated by Lavoisin–More than two hundred poisoners executed in two years—The poisoners of India–Methods of Indian poisoners—Revival of poisoning in England during the present century. CHAPTER XVIII.-DUELING...................................................... 308 Religious or superstitious notion underlying early dueling–Wager of battle—Recent appeal to wager of battle—Origin of wager of battle—Meeting of the Horatii and the Curiatii–Dueling originated in Germany—Dueling endorsed by many kings— The practice becomes almost universal—The Christian Church opposes dueling—Henry II. of France opposes it—Religious quarrels stimulated dueling in France—Attitude of Cardinal Richelieu towards dueling—Firm stand of Louis XIV. against it—Dueling in England–Its prevalence during the reign of Charles II.-Duelist clubs in London—Meeting between Sir George Orton and Sir James Stewart—Howard-Sydney duel– The Duke of Buckingham kills the Duke of Shrewsbury—Hyde Park, London, a noted “Field of Honor”—“The Ring” in Hyde Park—The Mohun-Hamilton affair, a double duel– Several famous duels fought in “The Ring”—Sheridan- Matthews affair—A duel under difficulties—Prevalence of dueling in England a century ago–Decline of dueling in Eng- land. CHAPTER XIX. —DUELING (Continued)—NOTED AMERICAN DUELS .................................................................................... 325 Dueling in Scotland–Account of a duel by Scott—Duel between Lochiel and Pellew—Dueling in Ireland–Many leading Irish- men duelists—Joseph II. of Germany discourages dueling— C O N T E N T S xi PAGE Duels in German universities—Dueling in modern France- Noted French duelists—Peculiar duels of North American Indians–Mexican duels: sudden affrays—Fighting with knives in a dark room—Dueling on horseback—Dueling in the United States—North and South contrasted—Universal punishment of dueling—The Burr-Hamilton duel–Hamilton's letter to Burr —Burr's reply: their correspondence—The meeting: details of the duel—Death of Hamilton–His son killed in a duel—The Decatur-Barron duel–Story of the quarrel—The meeting: death of Decatur—Decatur’s career as a duelist—The Cilley- Graves duel–Action of the House of Representatives—Meeting between Andrew Jackson and Charles Dickinson–General Jackson's great provocation—Details of the affair—The Brode- rick-Terry duel—Dueling well-nigh extinct. CHAPTER XX. —THE CRON IN CASE......................................... 345 A remarkable and complex case—It causes intense and widespread excitement—Outline of Dr. Cronin's life—Strongly identified with the cause of Ireland—“The Triangle”—Cronin presses charges—Re-organization of the Clan-na-Gael–Dr. Cronin called to O'Sullivan's—The police notified of his absence— Mysterious wagon seen by two policemen—Bloody trunk found in Lake View—Systematic search for the body—Suggestions that Cronin was a traitor—Frank Woodruff makes a so-called confession—Cronin's enemies report that he is in Canada– Plan to blacken Cronin's name—Dr. Cronin's body found and identified—Discovery of cottage where Cronin was murdered —Story told by the Carlsons–Cottage rented by Frank Wil- liams—Furniture is moved in—Frank Williams writes Carlson —O'Sullivan connected with the plot—Tracing the furniture —Statement of William Mertes—Expressman who moved the furniture found–Police officer Daniel Coughlin implicated— Coughlin engages a horse and buggy–Coughlin tries to silence Dinan–His explanation to Captain Schaack—Arrest of Officer Coughlin—The mysterious Smith appears—Coughlin, O'Sulli- van and Whalen indicted—The coroner's inquest—Alexander Sullivan investigated—Finding of the jury—Alexander Sulli- van arrested and released—Suspicion falls on Martin Burke— Identified through a photograph—Burke arrested at Winnipeg —Identified and brought to Chicago–Tin box containing Cronin's clothing discovered—Indictment of the murderers— Investigation of Camp Twenty–The famous trial begins—Bold attempt to bribe the jury—Sensational testimony of Paulina Hoertel–Knives found upon Coughlin indentified as Cronin's— Verdict of the jury—Juror Culver generally denounced– xii C O N T E N T S PAGE Coughlin secures a new trial—Death of Burke and O'Sullivan —Second trial of Coughlin–Coughlin seen to enter the cottage —Sensational testimony of Frank Bardeen—Coughlin walking behind wagon containing trunk—Strong testimony of Mrs. Lizzie Foy–Plot discussed in her house—Coughlin's incrimi- nating statements—Promises Alexander Sullivan's protection— Jury acquits Coughlin—A substantial failure of justice. CHAPTER XXI.--THE “HAYMARKET MASSACRE” .............. Socialism and anarchy–The great labor strikes of 1886–Riot at McCormick works—The “Revenge” circular—Haymarket meeting called—Extract from Spies' harangue—Incendiary speeches—The police attempt to disperse the meeting—The deadly bomb is thrown–Fearful slaughter of the police—Many arrests made—Names of those indicted–Trial of the anarchists —Testimony of Gottfried Waller–Plan of the anarchists— Justice of the verdict: Judge Gary's opinion—The sentence of the court–Long speeches of the anarchists—Louis Lingg's bitter speech—Suicide of Louis Lingg–Action of the Supreme Court—Four anarchistic murderers hanged–Schwab, Fielden and Neebe pardoned—Governor Altgeld's savage assault upon Judge Gary. CHAPTER XXII.--THE PALMER POISONING CASE.............. The Old Bailey in London—William Palmer—John Parsons Cook –Palmer financially embarrassed—He resorts to forgery— Cook makes a winning—Sudden illness of Cook—What Mrs. Brooks saw–Palmer resumes active operations—Palmer's broth makes a servant sick—Palmer's visit to London—Palmer obtains strychnine—Cook taken violently ill—Palmer purchases more strychnine—Palmer administers pills to Cook—Death of John Parsons Cook–Palmer secures Cook's effects—Bamford writes certificate of death—The post-mortem examination- Palmer induces the postmaster to open a letter—Palmer sus- pected by Mr. Stephens—The poisoner's forgeries exposed- Nature of strychnine–Views of the attorney-general-Long lists of expert witnesses—Analysis of Dr. Taylor–No trace of strychnine found—Present scientific view—Dying symp- toms indicated strychnine poisoning–Palmer an expertin poison–The Palmer case still a leading precedent. 384 CHAPTER XXIII.-H. H. HOLMES, THE MULTI-MURDERER 401 Two remarkable instances of the homicidal impulse-H. H. Holmes the arch-murderer-ºddicted to a most every known C O N T E N T S xiii PAGE crime—The Pitezel case, which brought Holmes to justice— He receives a large sum for his confession—A past-master in the science of lying—A history that reads like fiction—An inventor discovers a horrible crime—The dead body and its surroundings–Decided to be a case of suicide—Insurance scheme developed—Body claimed as that of Pitezel–Holmes appears upon the scene: His ingenious letters—Two conspir- ators are introduced to each other—The body identified as that of Pitezel—The insurance policy paid–A breach of faith that led to Holmes' detection—Hedgepeth makes known the insur- ance swindle–Holmes is located and arrested in Boston–The murderer's first confession—He presents quite a plausible explanation—Mrs. Pitezel becomes communicative–Holmes finds that he has made a serious mistake—His second confes- sion—Pitezel had committed suicide—His ingenious story not believed by the authorities—The prisoner declares that the children are in London–Cipher advertisement for Minnie Williams—The Williams sisters: Holmes accuses Minnie of murder—Officers believe that Holmes has killed the children— A veteran detective starts to unravel the mystery—Locates them in Cincinnati and Indianapolis–Concluded that the boy is dead—Visits the “Castle” in Chicago–Holmes and his three parties in Detroit–The remains of the two girls discovered in Toronto–Geyer starts in quest of Howard Pitezel—A long and most discouraging search–Holmes found to have rented a cot- tage at Irvington–Discovery of the half-burnt remains of a boy—They are identified as those of Howard Pitezel—Holmes wanted in many places—Trial of Holmes for the murder of Pitezel—Unprecedented efforts to secure a continuance–Trial of the murderer–Holmes convicted and sentenced to death— Remarkable confession of H. H. Holmes–Some account of his early life: Holmes a bigamist—Affects to believe that he was assuming the form of the devil—The first of twenty-seven murders–Declares that he was a victim of the homicidal impulse—Sells “subjects” to medical colleges—An assorted lot of murders—Awful crime committed by a confederate— Holmes’ “Castle” – A veritable murder-den–His strange power of fascinating women—Secures explanatory letters from victims before killing them—Sad fate of Emeline Cigrand– Establishes a place for decoying innocent girls—Kills, and sells the body of his janitor—Confesses that he burned a man alive —Secures his money by raised checks—Two murders in which he had confederates—The Williams sisters: a horrible double murder—The famous Pitezel murders: Holmes’ statement— Murder of B. F. Pitezel the work of a fiend—Killing of How- ard Pitezel—The murderer's reflections—Murder of the Pitezel xiv. C O N T E N T S PAGE girls—Holmes becomes sentimental—Execution of Holmes: his last moments—His last confession: dies with a lie upon his lips—The Holmes case a difficult one to analyze–The homi- cidal impulse explains all his actions–Holmes almost totally depraved—The moral of his life and death. CHAPTER XXIV.-CASE OF HARRY HAYWARD.................. A brother's farewell–Discovery of Catherine Ging's remains— Startling statement of Harry Hayward–His long examination —Sensational letter of Elder Stewart–Arrest of Harry Hay- ward—Arrest and confession of Adry Hayward—Arrest and confession of Blixt—Blixt makes a second confession—Swift action of the authorities—The famous trial begun—Testimony in the case—Conviction of Harry Hayward–Hayward's attempted escape—Life imprisonment for Blixt—Harry Hay- ward curses his brother—They become reconciled—Hayward's death: “I stand pat”—Hayward makes a full confession— Sketch of his life—Money his god–Driven to crime through gambling—His first great crime—Hayward becomes a murderer —Becomes an incendiary—Plans many murders—The murder at Long Branch—Brutal murder of a Chinaman—Case of Catherine Ging—Hayward secures all her money—A scheme involving hypnotism and mystery–Harry exonerates Adry— How he hypnotized Blixt—They discuss many plans—A fellow- feeling for Durant—The ominous mole—Not sorry for his crimes—A clear subject of homicidal impulse. CHAPTER XXV.--THEODORE DURANT, THE SAN FRAN- CISCO MONSTER................................................................... A case that rivals fiction in horrors—Almost unique in the history of crime—The murderer and his habits—Two beautiful girls his victims—Some account of them—Scene of the crimes: the “Hoodoo Church”—Mysterious disappearance of Blanche Lamont–An awful discovery in the church—Fiendish methods employed by the murderer–Durant at the party–His remark- able composure—Suspicious circumstances against him—Minnie Williams' purse found in his pocket—Prediction of a news- paper—Search for the remains—Awful discovery in the church-tower–Disposition of the murdered girl's clothing— The auditorium and church-tower: a strange contrast—Durant strongly suspected—Wild excitement in the city—Durant arrested and imprisoned—A clergyman unjustly accused— Blanche Lamont's rings sent to her aunt—Action of the coroner's jury—The trial; testimony of Organist King-Du- C O N T E N T S XV. PAGE rant not at the college April third–He takes the stand—Fails to help his case—His conviction and sentence to death—The law's delays—Durant four times condemned to death—Execution of Theodore Durant—Protests his innocence from the scaffold— Opinion of Rev. William Roder—Extract from a newspaper— “Papa, give me some more of the roast”—A difficult case to classify—Durant a perverted monster. CHAPTER XXVI.--THE PEARL BRYAN MURDER............... 467 A tragedy enacted in three States—Discovery of the remains— Identification of clothing—The flower of the flock—Arrest of Scott Jackson–How he formed Pearl’s acquaintance—Wanted a woman’s head to dissect—Mutual incriminations—Circum- stantial evidence accumulates—Walling prevents Pearl from returning home—Story of Lulu May Hollingsworth–Verdict of coroner's jury—The prisoners removed to Kentucky—The authorities in a dilemma–Long-sought-for coachman found— Remarkable story of George H. Jackson–Driving at the point of a revolver—Flight of the frightened coachman–He identi- fies Walling—Discovery of the carriage—Midnight procession to scene of murder—The tell-tale railway iron—Walling's bloody overshoes found–Jackson's letters to Will Wood–Trial and conviction of the murderers—Strong efforts to secure clemency—Jackson makes and withdraws a confession— Prisoners die protesting their innocence—Probably victims of the homicidal impulse. CHAPTER XXVII. —THE GULDEN SUPPE TRAGEDY............ 481 Sensational fiction and crime—Resemblance to Webster and Cronin cases—A gruesome bit of flotsam—A horrible treasure- trove—Expert opinions of remains—An enterprising reporter— Clue to the murdered man's identity—Mrs. Augusta Nack– Her story as to Guldensuppe—The remains identified—An immoral household—Wrappings traced to Mrs. Nack—Missing legs discovered by boys—Arrest of Mrs. Nack—The cottage at Woodside—The search for Martin Thorn–Thorn's confession to Gotha-Details of a horrible crime–Disposition of the remains—Arraignment of the murderers—Mrs. Nack a witness against Thorn–The barber's version of the murder—Con- fession of Martin Thorn—Mrs. Nack committed to prison— Execution of Martin Thorn–Homicidal impulse plainly present. CHAPTER XXVIII.-LUETGERT CASE .................................... 492 Three methods of evading detection—The famous Luetgert case— The means suggested the end—Some account of A. L. Luet- xvi. C O N T E N T S PAGE gert—He meets with business reverses—His domestic relations are not happy—Disappearance of Mrs. Luetgert—Her brother's vain search for her—Luetgert faces the police—Fearful crime suggested to the officers—Frank Bialk's strange story—He is twice sent to a drug store–The famous middle vat—Various suspicious circumstances–Conclusion reached by Captain Schuettler–Police search the factory—Examine the middle vat—Discovery of Mrs. Luetgert's rings—Luetgert’s purchase of potash—Breaking up the potash–Luetgert bribes Odor- owsky to keep silent—Orders the place cleaned up—Bones and corset-steels discovered—Fatal mistake of Luetgert—He is arrested and indicted—Trial of A. L. Luetgert–Gruesome experiment at the factory—The State's difficult task—Luet- gert’s young son testifies—Important testimony of Mrs. Tosch —Luetgert visits Frank Bialk—Testimony of Mrs. Feldt– Luetgert's love-letters read in court— Mrs. Feldt identifies bloody knife—Testimony of Emma Schiemicke—Testimony of the experts—List of bones introduced—Other witnesses of the State—Great efforts of the defense—Efforts to prove Mrs. Luetgert alive—Bearing of the defendant on the trial— Testimony of William Charles–Claim that Luetgert was mak- ing soap—Weakness of this defense—Effort to prove Mrs. Luetgert insane—The jury disagrees—Again arraigned for trial–Stenographers abandon the defense –Luetgert takes the stand–Is sentenced to imprisonment for life—Luetgert an egotistical man. CHAPTER XXIX. —INFANTICIDE...................................... ------- 509 Infanticide a crime common with savages–Shame the leading cause of infanticide at present—Infants often sacrificed to heathen deities—Infanticide among the Greeks—The Romans restricted it—Exposure of infants common with the Romans— The growth of Christianity checked infanticide—Abandoned infants largely sold as slaves—Punishment of child-murder by the Romans—Abortion among the pagans—Same among the Christians—Infanticide in India and China–Modern view of the crime–Foundling hospitals—Foundling hospitals in France —The turning-wheel—Recent changes in France—Punish- ment of infanticide at present—Ancients and moderns con- trasted. - CHAPTER XXX. — SUICIDE................ --------------------------------- ------- 52I Suicide condemned by enlightened people—Forbidden by the Romans—Suicide of Samson–Only four other biblical instances —Wholesale suicide of Eleazar and his company—Josephus' C O N T E N T S xvii PAGE description of the slaughter—The great historian placed in a like predicament—Brahminism encourages suicide—Forms of death chosen by the Brahmins—Buddhism favorable to suicide –Japanese modes of death—Wonderful composure-Early Greeks opposed suicide—Philosophy changes the Greek view –Suicide among the Romans—A common death—List of dis- tinguished pagan suicides—Seneca eloquently advocates sui- cide–Slight restrictions of the Roman law–Cato's suicide— His soliloquy on immortality—Suicide of Tarquin's soldiers— Remarkable death of Petronius Arbiter–Singular end of Zeno —Many suicides due to the Oracles—Suicides in Central Asia- Suicides in Egypt—Suicide among the northern barbarians— Their fear of a death from old age—Marked contrasts of the Christian notion—Suicide among the Vikings–Among the Scandinavians—Marked influence of Christianity. CHAPTER XXXI.-SUICIDE (Continued).................. ----------------- 540 Christianity gave a new meaning to life—In two respects it dis- couraged suicide—Suicide among the early Christians–Caused by unbounded enthusiasm—The Donatists strongly advocated suicide—The Church formally condemns suicide—Suicide of women to escape defilement—St. Palagia committed suicide from this motive—Suicides in monasteries—An extraordinary suicide from fanaticism–Efforts to check suicide—Suicide from example: the women of Miletus—An epidemic of suicides at Lyons—Case of Thomas Chatterton: a remarkable boy—Sui- cides of Jews—Suicidal imitation extends to places and methods—Unique methods employed by suicides—Suicide clubs —The love of life almost universal–Savages little addicted to suicide—The love of life declines with age—Suicide among children—The instantaneous suicidal impulse—The gradually- growing suicidal impulse—Rational suicide: common with the ancients—Irrational suicide—Laws for the suppression of sui- cide—Regulations for the burial of suicides. CHAPTER XXXII.-CAPITAL PUNISHMENT......................... ... 557 Controversy over the death penalty–Capital punishment a seem- ing necessity—Executions among the ancients—Death by drowning—Burning to death—Enormous extent of this pun- ishment—Burning of Eleanor Elsom—Boiling to death— Pressing to death: a most cruel punishment—Form of sentence to be pressed to death–Description of a legal pressing– Execution by hanging—Ancient and modern modes of hanging xviii CO N T E N T S –Hanging, drawing and quartering–Gibbeting, or hanging in chains—Garroting, a Spanish punishment—Breaking on the wheel—Decapitation by the axe and sword–The “Halifax Gibbet”—The “Scottish Maiden”—The guillotine and its origin—Extravagant statement of Dr. Guillotin–Louis XVI. makes a suggestion—Description of the guillotine–Electrocu- tion—Office of public executioner—Crimes punished with death. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PortRAIt of THE AUTHOR . - - - - - - STRANGE MURDER IN A CAFE . - - - - - - Execution of LACENAIRE . - - - - - - opp. PAGE Aºrontºs/ſece DR. WEBSTER ConFRONTED witH THE REMAINs of DR. PARKMAN . THE DEARING MAssacRE; PROBst AT WoRK . - - Discovery of DANIEL CLARKE's Bones IN St. Robert's CAVE . - JEFFREys INSPECTING HIS PRESENT . - - - - JUDITH AND HER MAID DEPARTING witH THE HEAD of HoloFERNEs. Assassins DyING AT THE COMMAND of THEIR CHIEF - DUEl BETweeN ALEXANDER HAMILTON AND AARON BURR . DR. CRONIN ENTERING THE CARLSON Cottage - - H. H. Holm Es Asphyxiating THE PITEZEL GIRLs - - DiscoverING THE REMAINs of Missie WILLIAMs . - PEARL BRYAN AND HER MURDERERs - - - - - MARTIN THoRN AND MRs. NACK ON THE FERRYBOAT - ADolph LUETGERT INSTRUCTING “SMokEHouse FRANK” How THE Potash . - - - - - - - - 32 8o II 2 xix. MURDER IN ALL AGES $º $º $º CHAPTER I IN T R O DU C T ION There are as many theories explanatory of the introduction of sin into the world as there are different systems of religion and philosophy. Most of the great religious faiths, like Chris- tianity, Buddhism and Mohammedanism, account for the presence of sin, and consequent death, by insisting that man was created perfect and sinless and subsequently fell from his high estate through the influence of temptation. On the other hand, many modern schools of philosophy profess to demon- strate that our first parents were savages, and that mankind began life by advancing, instead of retrograding. A discussion of this most ancient of all questions would prove alike futile and unprofitable. Whichever theory is adopted, one fact is beyond dispute: the earliest extant his- torical writings, outside the “sacred books” of different nations, show mankind as existing in a very low state of civilization, and demonstrate that, if ‘‘Athens was but the ruins of an Eden and Aristotle but the rubbish of an Adam,” a mighty retrocession of the race had early been brought about. In the fullest sense of the term, man cannot do right unless it is possible for him to do wrong. Virtue and vice are complementary to each other, and combine to make up the moral portion of the being we call man, as he at present exists. The expansion of the former and the elimination of I 2 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S the latter is the greatest problem of life, and its final solution, perhaps ages hence, will elevate humanity to that ideal posi- tion which must be the ultimate climax of the Divine plan of creation. In the meantime, the heart of humanity may be likened to an arena, infinitely broader than the one in the Coliseum at Rome, where men and beasts fought for supremacy, in which the tendency for good—man's true spirit—contends with the inclination for evil—his perverted nature. While this struggle is confined to individual breasts, its effects are world-wide. The triumph of virtue in the heart of Marcus Aurelius gave an humane and kindly ruler to mankind, while the supremacy of vice in that of Caligula, plunged the world into misery and made Rome a vast saturnalia of crime. The same “irrepres- sible conflict” that produced Alexanders, Borgias and Jeffreys, gave to humanity its Solons, Howards and Lincolns. The history of this inward war is the history of mankind. We may not look into the hearts of our fellows and note how the battle goes; how the stealing of a penny leads one man on to the gallows, while the repression of an evil thought by another starts in motion a 11ne of action that induces him to devote his life to virtue and self-sacrifice, and merit the com- mendation of men and the approval of God, but if we intel- 1igently study their acts we can, none the less certainly, know which force is in the ascendency. It is because of this strife, which continues with greater or 1ess activity until the grave closes over us—unless, indeed, one of the combatants retires from the battle-field, leaving either a saint or a demon behind him—that accounts, whether historica1 or fictitious, of great crimes and criminals, usually possess a peculiar fascination. We are all subjected to temptation, and, whether we yield or resist, are conscious of an inward conflict. Most good men can recall crises in their lives, where the turning aside from an alluring sin has saved them from a probable career of evil, while, on the other hand, the most desperate criminals can remember yielding to some one temptation that started them upon a course of crime. It is this universal personal knowledge of ourselves that renders IN T R O DUCTION 3 attractive to many of us narratives of criminal doings, even of the most atrocious nature, like murder. By this it is not meant that a large proportion of us have been seriously tempted to take the life of a fellow creature; none the less, however, we can appreciate the struggle that engages the breast of a murderer. The man of forty who, from jealousy, cupidity, revenge or any other motive, kills another, would have recoiled in horror from a like suggestion if it had been made to him at twenty, while at ten he only decided to dis- obey his mother after the severest struggle of his life. In other words, men fall into criminal lines by gradations, which are swift or slow, according to the strength or weakness of their moral natures. In this connection the broad and many-sided question of heredity presents itself. That some are born with a predispo- sition to virtue while others possess an inherent tendency towards evil, is too well established and too generally recog- nized to admit of doubt or warrant discussion. This inherited tendency towards good and evil has been noticed from the earliest times. The prayer of an ancient Arabian thus quaintly, yet forcibly, expresses it: “Oh! God, be kind to the wicked! Thou hast been sufficiently kind to the good in making them good.” The beginnings of the human race were made under conditions of perfect equality, and, but for the introduction of sin into the world, these would doubtless have continued, and all the descendants of Adam been equal in physical make-up, intellectual strength and moral rectitude. Why some are born with an inclination to live in accordance with the laws of God, while others, from their cradles, mani- fest decided predilections for wrong-doing and crime, it is not given us to know; yet such is the undoubted psychological fact. After all, this distinction is only relative; many men have successfully fought an inherited tendency to evil, lived vir- tuous lives and died triumphant deaths; while no end of people, notably well endowed, have entered upon evil courses and gone down to destruction. It is no part of the author's plan to trace the antecedents of criminals and attempt to describe their degree of moral turpitude. But, while men must be 4. M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S taken as we find them, not as we would have them, our judg- ments as to the culpability of criminals must always be tem- pered with charity, and their antecedents and moral make-up the taken into account. The disposition on the part of humanity to find pleasure in annals and stories of crime has long been observed and taken advantage of by publishers and authors, who have literally flooded the world, more especially this country, with works of fiction in which the basest crimes are depicted and the depravity of the human heart laid bare, too frequently in a manner that casts a glamour over the most heinous offenses against society and the law. In this class of fiction the sym- pathy of the reader, particularly the young reader, is often with the criminal, whose misfortunes and trials excite feelings of fellowship and pity, and whose escapes and triumphs cause youthful hearts to glow with approval and pleasure. Such books have worked incalculable harm in thousands of Ameri- can homes. Not only do they degrade and vitiate the literary taste of youthful readers, but they raise false notions of morality, and prove the ruin of large numbers of the young of both sexes. But, under the skilful hand of an author of ability and learning, who is actuated by lofty motives, vice can be so portrayed as to become hateful, and give, by contrast, to truth, and virtue, and manhood, a brighter hue, a more exalted meaning. No person, boy or girl, man or woman, was probably ever morally injured by reading “Caleb Wil- liams,” “Waverley,” “Nicholas Nickleby,” or “Paul Clifford.” The last named is a story of highwaymen. Contrast it with “Sixteen-string Jack,” and “The James Boys,” and the dis- tinction will become apparent. It is vice as portrayed in the first-mentioned class of books that Pope had in mind when he Wrote: “Vice is a monster of so frightful mien That to be hated needs but to be seen; Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, We first endure, then pity, then embrace.” The author has set himself the task of writing what might, not inappropriately be entitled: “A History of Crime." In IN T R O DUCTION 5 so doing, he modestly hopes to be able to present a series of books that, while attractive and instructive, may prove of some practical value to those interested in the suppression of crime and the reformation of criminals. His aim is even higher than this; he hopes to aid in preventing the growth and development of criminals, by demonstrating that one false step leads to another, and that wrong-doing receives certain and adequate punishment, if not at the hand of the law, in the formation of an evil character, the possessor of which cannot hope to enjoy anything of true happiness. In the long category of crime, murder, by almost universal consent, is given the foremost place. To deprive a reasonable creature, made in the image of God, of his life, is the perfec- tion, the personification, of cruelty—“All that a man hath will he give for his life.” The perpetrator of a deliberate murder has reached the lowest abyss to which poor human nature is capable of falling; he may multiply his crimes, but can hardly become more depraved. The subject of the present volume is homicide, in all its shades of atrocity, from suicide to premeditated murder. In this offense are generally present the motives, passions and methods that characterize other and lesser crimes, and a perusal of its history will render clearer and more easily understood the volumes that are to follow. In writing this book the author becomes the chronicler of crime. He hopes to accomplish his task fairly, conscientiously, and with such detail and variety of illustration as, without being redundant and tiresome, will convey a comprehensive idea of the history of homicide, from the jealous and revenge- ful act of Cain, down to prominent cases within the present memory of the reader. In preparing this work he has spared neither pains nor expense, and has made diligent research for authentic cases illustrative of the various grades of homicide, the different modes of accomplishing it, and the manifold pas- sions and motives that lead to its commission. Within the scope of this work fall many cases attended with extenuating circumstances, and in which, touching the degree of the perpetrator's culpability, there may well be 6 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S differences of opinion. In these, as in other illustrations, the author offers nothing in justification or excuse. His aim is to present the facts and allow the reader to draw his own con- clusions. He recognizes no criminal heroes, and the gallantry and generosity of cut-throats are not put forward and balanced against their crimes. “A man must be just before he is generous,” declared one of England's greatest jurists, and this truism is sufficient to sweep aside all apologies offered by sentimentalists for criminals who, like Robin Hood and Claude Duval, seemed to possess and exercise certain chivalrous and amiable traits of character. It is no part of the design of this work to elaborate the hor- rible or encourage any morbid tastes in that direction. Dis- gusting details are omitted or treated in a manner not calculated to shock the sensibilities of the reader. At the same time, criminal pictures are not deprived of their just shades and coloring, but stand out in bold relief, contrasting strongly with the praiseworthy acts of honorable and virtuous men. Without aping the style of the novelist, it has been the author's aim to treat the subject in a manner that will render the work pleasing and entertaining, as well as instructive and elevating. In the ensuing pages will be found some illustrations of crime and the operation of the homicidal impulse that have been drawn from the works of fiction. At the first blush these might seem out of place in a volume dealing with homicide. It must be remembered, however, that the present work com- prehends something more than that; it aims to show the motives and temptations that drive men of different tempera- ments and various environments into courses of crime, and for such purposes a fictitious narrative, written by a close and conscientious investigator of human nature and human action, like De Quincey, for instance, possesses peculiar value. “Fiction,” declared Aristotle, the most scientific and accurate of all the philosophers of ancient Greece, “contains more real truth than history.” He goes on to explain this seeming para- dox by saying that many so-called historical facts are either entire fabrications or have been so distorted in the process of transmission, so often warped and twisted to establish theories, IN T R O DUCTION 7 justify parties and friends, or condemn enemies, as to be alto- gether unreliable. His definition of a novel, or tale, shows clearly and succinctly why, in his estimation, fiction, if the work of a master mind, contains much of real truth. “A novel,” he wrote, “is that department of fiction wherein the characters are represented as acting and the events as ensuing in the same manner as might reasonably be expected on the supposition that the actors had had a real existence.” He further explains that history deals with certain individual facts only, as an account of a battle, while true fiction brings together a large number of human actions and experiences, collated by the author from numerous sources, and thus pre- sents a more composite, and hence broader, and more truthful and instructive picture, than a page from history. The long experience of the author with crime and criminals and his researches among the criminal annals of the past, 1ead him to believe that, in the civilized society of our day, better impulses predominate than in the centuries gone by, and he is convinced that the present volume will establish this position. Crimes that went almost unrebuked a thousand years ago, are of comparatively rare occurrence now, and excite a thrill of universal horror and indignation. It is no doubt true that there are more arrests and convictions to-day, population being taken into account, than there were a century ago, but, so far from proving that crime is increasing, it rather argues the reverse. It shows the existence now of better laws and a higher moral standard among the mass of the people, leading to more determined and better directed efforts for the suppression of crime. A larger number of offenses are now punished as crimes than a century ago. It is true that the punishment meted out is much less severe we no longer hang a man for stealing five shillings, but strive to reform and return him to his proper position in society—but, in the aggregate, the number of punishable offenses has been considerably increased. As an instance of this, reference may be made to drunkenness and the restrictions thrown around the liquor traffic. A large proportion of the arrests made to-day are directly chargeable to this innovation. 8 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S There is another reason why the great relative prevalence of crime to-day, as contrasted with bygone years, is apparent rather than real. Railroads and telegraph lines have annihi- 1ated distance, so far as the transmission of news is con- cerned, while the multiplication of newspapers renders it possible for us to read every morning of all the unusual or atrocious crimes that were perpetrated and discovered on the preceding day, throughout the civilized world. An additional explanation of this seeming contradiction may be found in better police regulations and the improved detect- ive methods, which prevail at present. It is not meant that men are now better endowed than were their grandfathers, but rather that they possess greater advantages than did their ancestors. The improvements mentioned in the 1ast para- graph have given an enormous advantage to those whose lives and abilities are devoted to the detection of crime and the arrest and conviction of criminals. In addition to this, the occupation of the detective has been reduced to something of a scientific character. Subject to many variations, it is true, there is still a decided similarity in most crimes naturally falling into the same class. The collection, classification and comparison of a multitude of authentic cases gives the trained detective of to-day a decided advantage over his predecessor, even of a generation ago. Thanks to this, the number of undiscovered crimes is constantly diminishing, while vastly more criminals are arrested and brought to justice, thus adding to the apparent prevalence of crime. The modern detective has one other decided advantage over his predecessor of a hundred years ago: popular sentiment more strongly con- demns crime at the present day than it did then. This is due in part to an awakened public conscience, but more largely to the extravagant penalties that were then provided for viola- tors of the 1aw. In England, not much more than a century ago, one hundred and sixty different offenses were punishable with death. Such extreme measures could not fail to provoke animosity to the 1aw, and induce the great majority of the people to shield from death one who had committed only a trivial offense. This lack of coöperation with the authorities, I N T R O DUCTION 9 on the part of the class now denominated “good citizens,” was largely responsible for the comparatively few arrests and convictions at the time referred to. Another explanation of the apparent increase of crime, as shown in more frequent convictions, appears in the circum- stance that crimes are less severely punished now than formerly. Terms of imprisonment have been materially shortened dur- ing the past century, months, in many instances, taking the place of years. As the law-breaking classes largely consist of habitual criminals, fully half of whose days are spent in prison, it follows that shorter terms mean more arrests and convictions, thus, apparently, increasing the number of crim- inals. When it is remembered that many old offenders in our 1arge cities have been arrested and sent to prison scores and sometimes hundreds of times, the effect of this cause upon criminal statistics becomes evident. The author believes that a brighter era has dawned upon mankind; he sees it in more equal and humane laws, in a wider and more general dissemination of knowledge, in the awakened conscience of thousands of men and women who are forgetting something of self that they may reclaim and elevate their fellows. He hopes for more marked advancement in the immediate future than has been manifest in the recent past, and aspires to become an humble factor in the present world-wide movement in that direction. As suggested in the outset; good, in an active, positive sense, can only exist as a complement of possible evil. When better impulses and, consequently, better actions, have resulted from the conflict of sin and virtue in the universal human breast, humanity will learn that evil was not a mistake or a defeat of the plans of the Creator, but rather a manifesta- tion of His highest wisdom. All that live and err have a place in the great Universal Plan. “So man, who here seems principal alone, Perhaps acts second to some sphere unknown, Touches some wheel, or verges to some goal; 'Tis but a part we see, and not the whole.” CHAPTER II T H E HOM ICIDAL IMPULSE We are so familiar with the crime of murder, from per- sonal observations, gruesome stories and detailed accounts, with which the daily press literally teems, that we have come to regard it almost as a matter of course; a detestable and unnatural thing, surely, but something to be constantly expected. And yet, if we lay aside that indifference, born, not of sympathy, but rather of familiarity, which dulls all emo- tions, and calmly consider an isolated case of homicide, its perpetration becomes a veritable mystery that we are unable to solve. That one reasonable creature, finding pleasure in the society of his fellows and, in a certain sense at 1east, loving his neighbor, should take the life of another, appears so unreasonable that, were we not supplied with numerous well authenticated instances, we might, like the Asiatic king, when he first heard of the existence of ice, refuse to believe it possible. It is only when studied in this manner that the awful enormity of this crime, which, should it come to be universally practiced, would speedily exterminate the human race, dawns upon our minds. The careful study of almost any case of murder, and an analysis of the motives, passions and perversions that led to its commission, will broaden our conception of the character of human nature. Many men have given up their lives that others might live. Although the greatest and noblest of all human sacrifices, that of the Redeemer is far from being the only one that man has unselfishly offered to mankind. Whether we contemplate Arnold Winkelried, as, fired with patriotism, he rushed upon the spears of the advancing Aus- trian phalanx and died, that his brothers might live and IO T H E HOMIC ID A L I M P U L SE I I Switzerland be free, or listen to the rude, but none the less godlike dying words of Jim Bludsoe from the pilot-house of the burning Prairie Belle, “I’11 hold her nozzle agin the bank till the 1ast galoot's ashore,” our hearts swell and we realize, with Lord Bacon, that if man is connected with the beasts of the field by his body, he is surely joined to God by his spirit. Contrast a case like one of these with a murder committed from motives of cupidity, and we have before us the heights and depths of human nature and begin to realize something of the immense expanse that separates a truly humane man from one who is vicious and debased; catch a glimpse of the widely diverging paths of virtue and of vice. Yielding to the highest instincts and impulses with which the human race is endowed, one gives up his dearest possession, existence, that his fellow creatures may live and be happy, while the other deprives him of his life for a handful of silver with which to carry on a drunken, licentious debauch. This contrastrenders more than ever inexplicable the exist- ence of a deliberate murderer. But, if it furnishes an object- 1esson of the degradation to which man often descends, it shows the lofty elevations that he sometimes attains, and suggests the only rational method for the complete suppres- sion of crime, viz., the moral elevation of the race, which can only be attained through the aid of better physical and conse- quently higher mental conditions. By this the author does not mean that crime is not to be ferreted out and its perpetrators punished—this course is as old as the first rude, patriarchal government and will be completely abandoned only upon the materialization of the Millennium —but, that moral education will decrease wrong-doing more rapidly than dungeons, blocks and scaffolds, because it decreases the number of possible subjects upon which that highly contagious disease, crime, may feed and continue to grOW. Many writers have noted as curious the circumstance that the crime most severely punished by the criminal codes of all nations and ages, is the earliest one of which we have any I 2 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S authentic historical evidence, and that the first accusation or indictment, not counting the disobedience of our first parents, was one on the awful charge of murder—“The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.” These writers forget that in the opening chapters of Genesis are compressed facts and processes, which, if given in anything like detail, would fill volumes, yes, libraries. Accepting as true the orthodox account of the beginnings of human existence in this world, it is not difficult to find a rational explanation of the enormous crime of Cain. Although disposed of in a few lines, it must be remembered that long years elapsed between the posting of cherubim and a flaming sword to the eastward of the garden of Eden, and the day when “Cain rose up against Abel, his brother, and slew lmin.” In these years, Cain, the first-born of Adam, and of man- kind, had cultivated a character and an individuality of his own. Of these we know nothing, except by necessary infer- ence, but this renders clear the circumstance that he had developed marked tendencies to evil. This is apparent from the fact that his offering failed to find favor with the Lord, who, in the meantime, “had respect unto Abel, and to his offering.” It further appears that “Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell,” when rebuked by the Almighty. But his evil heart is most clearly shown by the words of the Lord: “If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.” The rage aroused in the heart of Cain, impotent so far as concerned his Maker, seems to have been transferred to his Brother. Combined with the jealousy that had already found a lodgment there, it started into being what may well be designated the first instance of the homicidal impulse. It would appear that this was intensified by a conversation which the soon after had with his brother. It must be remembered that Abel was born in sin and possessed, consequently, of pride and vanity. What more natural than that he should exult over the acceptance of his own offering and taunt his companion for his failure? T H E HOMIC ID AL IMPULSE I3 Something of this view is taken by Milton, who thus briefly, yet graphically, describes the first fratricide: “His offering soon propitious fire from Heaven Consumed with nimble glance and grateful steam, The other's not, for his was not sincere; Whereat he inly raged; and, as they talked, Smote him in the midriff with a stone That beat out life; he fell, and, deadly pale Groaned out his soul with gushing blood effused.” The first murderer has not wanted defenders, and many arguments have been written to justify, or at least excuse, his diabolical act. Of these, perhaps Lord Byron heads the list. In his impassioned mystery, entitled “Cain,” he ascribes the rage of the fratricide to a deep-seated feeling that he had suffered injustice at the hands of the Almighty, and puts into his mouth the following impious words: “His: His pleasure! What was his high pleasure in The fumes of scorching flesh and smoking blood, To the pain of the bleating mothers, which Still yearn for their dead offspring? or the pangs Of the sad ignorant victims underneath Thy pious knife? Give way! this bloody record Shall not stand in the sun, to shame creation!” Byron makes Cain attempt the destruction of the altar and the sacrifice that had found acceptance. Abel opposes him, and Cain seizes a brand from the embers and kills his brother by striking him on the temples. Whatever view we take of the first homicide, it is apparent that in the long ages that have elapsed since its commission, the brutal passions of man have remained without very sub- stantial changes. Such alterations as can be noted are surely in the line of advancement. In these days of ours, brother sometimes takes the life of brother, it is true, but a modern instance of a fratricide committed before an altar consecrated to the worship of God, and by one who had come there to engage in a most exalted religious ceremony, can hardly be cited. So far, it goes to establish the position of the author, I4 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S that the brutish passions and instincts of mankind are, and long have been, undergoing modifications; while, thanks to a higher civilization, the establishment of more lofty ideals and the spread of true religion, better impulses are beginning to permeate and control society. The case of Cain suggests the origin and nature of the homicidal impulse, a term somewhat vague in its meaning, and hence difficult to accurately define. Whether there is, in the normal human heart, a tendency or disposition to take the life of fellow creatures, as contra-distinguished from a tend- ency to commit crime in general, has been doubted by many. It is difficult, however, to account for many atrocious homicides on any other hypothesis. The absence of all apparent motive has caused many murder mysteries to go unsolved. Frequently, usually, in fact, the first real clue to the perpetration of a mysterious homicide is furnished by the discovery of a tangible motive. It is this matter that instantly engages the attention of the trained detective, into whose hands a murder case is placed. The first inquiries suggested to his mind are: Who would naturally profit by his death? Had the deceased enemies? Had he so-called friends who may have become estranged through real or fancied injuries? Had he a “10ve affair” that would be likely to call into play the passions of a jealous rival? Is it not possible that he had done some great wrong and refused to make reparation? Was he of a quarrelsome disposition, and if so, may not his death have resulted from a sudden and unforeseen affray? Was he slain for purposes of robbery? These, and other like ques- tions, are asked and their answers obtained as quickly and reliably as possible. Failing to discover any reasonable motive leaves the detective in a quandary, from which, usually, nothing short of a stroke of good fortune delivers him. The absence of a motive for the commission of a great crime is frequently employed to decided advantage by the defense, when the accused is brought to trial. Doubtless it often exists in cases where the prosecution is unable to show it. As a matter of fact, however, there can be no doubt that many murders are committed without any definite reason T H E HOMIC ID A L IMPULSE I5 existing in the mind of the perpetrator, unless it be an inher- ent disposition, or inclination, to take human life; the homi- cidal impulse. That actual manifestations of this impulse are rare does not argue strongly against its existence. In the introductory chapter the statement was made that few of us have ever been seriously tempted to take the life of another. It is nevertheless true that most of us have experienced a desire, momentary perhaps, but none the less real, to kill. We have not regarded this as a legitimate temptation, because, thanks to our better nature and the inherent horror with which we regard homicide, the impulse has been of short duration and has left little impression upon our minds. To one of cruel instincts, weak conscience and a predilection to crime, however, the outcome may be far different. The circumstance that murder is the first real crime recorded by authentic history goes far to establish the theory of homicidal impulse. To a certain extent it is true that the pastoral life of the beginnings of mankind reduced to a mini- mum the motives and inducements for wrong-doing; yet why should one of the foulest and most unnatural offenses which sixty centuries of sin have nurtured and matured, stand first in the order of time? Accept the suggestion that, as a portion of the dark heritage of sin that has come down to us from our first parents, is included a germ of the same horrid impulse that overpowered Cain and made him a vagabond and a wanderer on the face of the earth, and the solution is com- paratively easy. Cain knew nothing of homicide, or, indeed, of death, except that of animals, and could have had no just con- ception of the enormity and awful consequences of his offense. With little to oppose it, the impulse prevailed, and the deed was done. That this horrid impulse had thus early found a lodg- ment in the heart of man, may appear remarkable, but our wonder will disappear when we consider the murderous char- acter of the tempter of mankind, and that the first effect of his beguilements was to introduce death into the world. What more reasonable than that the impulse to slay entered the heart and brain from which all hope of earthly immortality 16 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S had been banished? In falling from his high estate, man surely inherited many of the characteristics of the tempter, and why not his murderous impulse? On this point we have the highest possible authority, that of our Divine Master. In the eighth chapter of the Gospel According to St. John the existence of the homicidal impulse appears to be distinctly stated. The Jews were seeking to kill Christ, and, in answer to his sharp reproaches, boastfully announced that they were “Abraham's children.” To which the Master most significantly replied: “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.” There are many possible interpretations and explanations of passages of Scripture, but to a layman this statement clearly points to an inheritance from the father of falsehood and murder, of a disposition to kill. This text is given addi- tional force from the circumstance that the Jews were bent upon the murder of Christ, and took up stones to accomplish their object, and that he only escaped by rendering himself invisible, “going through the midst of them, and so passed by.” Children, with little knowledge and experience, more nearly occupy the position of Cain than do persons of mature years. Who has not noticed the blind unreasoning rage of a crossed child, and heard infant lips shout aloud the awful words, “I will kill you”? There are exceptions, of course, but most children early manifest a decided disposition to destroy animal and insect life. Many a fond mother's heart has thrilled with dismay at discovering her beloved infant prodigy in the act of pulling the wings and legs off a fly, or decapitating a toad. If these early manifestations of a desire to slay are not chargeable to an inherent germ or impulse, now are we to account for them? Except in rare instances, not from observation or hearsay, surely. What explanation remains unless it be the impulse to take life? Something of the same kind is observable in matured man- hood, although here the exceptions are more numerous. A large proportion of us find a pleasure, vague and indefinable, T H E HOMIC ID AL I M P L L SE I7 but none the less actual, in the destruction of animals. It is this that imparts more than half the zest to the chase. No end of animal life has been wantonly taken, not for the pur- pose of procuring food and raiment, but for the mere pleasure of killing. What is this but a slight manifestation of that which, unrestrained, becomes the true homicidal impulse? It is recorded by Suetonius, the great Roman historian, in his “Lives of the Twelve Caesars,” that Tiberius, the second emperor, took undisguised delight in putting his fellows to death. This he did upon the slightest pretext, and in the most cruel manner. In his infancy and youth his favorite amusement was pulling flies to pieces and torturing animals. Nurtured by an ambitious, cruel, and murderous mother, the awful tendency to take life, which in our day education and good example usually eradicate, or at 1east subdue, was given full sway, became the ruling passion of his life and stamped him as a monster of iniquity. When Nero, himself one of the best of all historical instances of a man subject to this awful mania, had specially and outrageously wronged the people, how did he placate them? By presenting them with gifts? No; by inviting them to the amphitheatre to see brutish beasts and still more savage men engage in a life and death conflict; to see gladi- ator hew down brother gladiator, and lions tear the delicate limbs of Christian maidens. A homicide himself, Nero, better than good and virtuous men, understood this death- dealing impulse of the human heart, and the bloody scenes he presented to the populace never failed to make them forget his own oppressive acts and manifest the most intense satisfaction. Other rulers have followed his infamous example, and have usually found that their rude and almost conscienceless sub- jects fully appreciated the horrid entertainment. We all manifest a lively interest in occurrences in some respects similar to personal experiences of our own, and we usually excuse or condemn them according to the general rule we have adopted in dealing with like matters that have arisen in our own lives. The suggestion of the homicidal impulse appears to be the only explanation broad enough to cover the I8 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S almost universal interest which mankind takes in stories of murder, whether real or fictitious. The columns of a daily newspaper first turned to by nine out of ten, are those wherein are chronicled the homicides and other revolting crimes of the day. The most popular works of fiction have almost invariably been those where the interest hinges on a dark murder mystery. Great novelists, like Dickens, Sue, Hugo, Kingsley, Ainsworth, Dumas and Doyle, have appreciated this demand on the part of the public, and, no doubt, derived a decided personal pleasure in writing to supply it. More than that, many of the greatest works of art, both in sculp- ture and painting, deal with cases of homicide, often in its most revolting form. If it is said that this can be accounted for on the principle that there is something fascinating about the horrible and unnatural, the reply is that the horrible only attracts when connected with some form of human depravity, murder far more than any other. We turn with a shudder and a heart- ache from a hasty glance at a ten-line item telling how a poor workman has been caught in a machine and horribly mangled, or another that briefly recounts the fearful sufferings of the victim of a gasoline explosion, and eagerly read, fairly revel sometimes, in a two-column account of a double murder and suicide. The gentlemen of the press well understand this peculiarity on the part of their patrons, and an editor who gave equal prominence and space to harrowing incidents that he devoted to unnatural murders, would soon find himself, like Othello, one of the most famous uxorcides of fiction, with- out an occupation. As the author is not desirous of presenting an object- 1esson to illustrate the last sentence, he will suspend the work of attempted philosophizing, and pass on to the task he has set himself—the presentation of instances of homicide, from the great fields of fact and fiction. Among American authors, and those of the whole world might be included, for that matter, few have seemed to deſight in the recital of stories of homicide, and a dissection and discussion of the motives that lead to it, to so marked an T H E HOMIC ID A L I M P U L SE I9 extent as Edgar Allan Poe, and few have equaled his work in that direction. Of a supersensitive, morbid nature, and a victim of intemperance in many of its worst forms, he appears to have had an intense sympathy with what we have desig- nated, for lack of a clearer and more comprehensive term, the “Homicidal Impulse.” With marvelous, not to say repulsive, fidelity to the smallest and most horrible detail, he seems fairly to gloat over murder. He studied it as an art, and his conclusions, drawn as they were from instances in all ages of the world, are entitled to great consideration. In his tale of “Murello,” he gives an excellent instance of the operation of the homicidal impulse. In this work he deline- ates the desire to kill as springing into spontaneous existence in a human soul, or developing from the encysted germ we have referred to as very possibly existing in each and every breast. Motive, except from this cause, is absent, and not the slightest provocation is offered. The husband of the sad heroine of the sombre tale is represented as being seized with a burning and, apparently, uncontrollable desire for her death. In a recital of his controlling emotions, the murderer is made to say: “My wife's manner oppressed me as a spell. I could no 1onger bear the touch of her wan fingers, nor the low tone of her musical language, nor the lustre of her melancholy eyes. She knew all this, but did not upbraid; she seemed conscious of my weakness or folly, and called it fate. Yet was she woman, and pined away daily. In time the crimson spot settled steadily on the cheek, and the blue veins upon the pale forehead became prominent; and one instant my nature melted into pity, but in the next I met the glance of her mean- ing eyes, and then my soul sickened and became giddy with the giddiness of one who gazes downward into some dreary and unfathomable abyss. “Shall I then say that I longed with an earnest and con- suming desire for the moment for Murello's death? I did; but the fragile spirit clung to its tenement of clay for many days—for many weeks and irksome months—until my tortured nerves obtained the mastery over my mind, and I grew furious 2O MURDER IN ALL AGES with delay, and, with the heart of a fiend, cursed the days and the hours and the bitter moments, which seemed to lengthen and lengthen as her gentle life declined like shadows in the dyings of the day.” In the estimation of many, the utterance of such words as those quoted above, if taken as honestly expressing the real feelings and sentiments of their user, is clearly indicative of insanity. It is no part of the author's plan to enter into a dis- cussion of this question, yet it may be remarked, in passing, that true instances of homicidal mania have generally been held to be cases of insanity. Long courses of intemperance and indulgence in unnatural practices of many kinds will fre- quently dethrone the reason and leave the ruling passion in undisputed possession of the citadel. It is with the impulse to take life, as it exists in minds that still retain their balance, still understand their relations to their fellows, that we have to do. The line of demarkation is difficult to draw sometimes, and juries have disagreed in many noted cases. As all know, President Lincoln fell at the hand of an assassin who was one of a number of conspirators that had determined to accomplish that end. In this case hatred, revenge, a perverted notion of patriotism and a desire for notoriety, were undoubtedly present and united to call into activity the 1atent or only half-awakened homicidal impulse. Had this last-named and most powerful incentive to murder been absent, it may well be doubted whether Booth would have fired the bullet that removed from scenes of most useful activity one of the best and most conscientious men that ever lived, and plunged a nation into the deepest grief. The case of Charles J. Guiteau is still more nearly in line. After his cowardly assassination of President Garfield, he was arrested and brought to trial. The only defense offered was that of insanity, which did not avail to save the wretch from the scaffold. In his case the homicidal impulse was unmis- takably present; indeed, he clearly manifested it by his con- duct in court during his long protracted trial. Guiteau was an egotist of the most pronounced type; his audacious claims had not been recognized, and he, apparently, decided to teach T H E HOM ICIDAL IMPL L SE 21 the world that he was no ordinary man to be thrust carelessly aside, and to gratify his spirit of revenge and the more gen- eral impulse to take life at the same time. These cases will be treated more at 1arge in their proper place, in a chapter on assassination; they are referred to here as illustrating the operation of the homicidal impulse. Within recent years what is known as the Whitechapel dis- trict, in the city of London—one of the lowest and most degraded portions of the great metropolis—has been the scene of a long series of most brutal and, to all appearances, unpro- voked murders. The victims were always women belonging to the most abandoned class. Sometimes they were murdered in their wretched rooms, but generally they were struck down in one of the narrow streets, or courts, by which the dis- reputable district is intersected. Once or twice a half-muffled cry has attracted the police, who found a ghastly, mutilated corpse, but no trace of the murderer. Like the “Jibbenainosy” of Dr. Bird's famous American novel, “The Nick of the Woods,” “Jack the Ripper,” as the unknown assassin has come to be styled, sets a mark upon each of his victims. As the reader will remember, “The Nick of the Woods,” or “Jibbenainosy” in the Indian tongue, turned out to be a supposed peaceable and inoffensive old Quaker named Nathan, who had suffered a great wrong at the hands of a certain band of savages and had sworn to be revenged. Whenever he killed one of his enemies, he slashed a rude cross with his hunting knife upon the dead man's naked breast, as a mute notification that he had claimed another victim. “Jack the Ripper” always mutilated his victims in a most revolting manner, which was quite surprising, both from its uniformity and from the fact that it seemed to exhibit considerable knowledge of anatomy on the part of the perpetrator. Large rewards have been offered for the arrest and conviction of the monster, but, notwithstanding this, and although the police of London, the detectives of Scotland Yard, and the “Sherlock Holmeses” of the press, have long been put upon their mettle, the mystery, at the present writing, remains as dark and inscrutable as ever. In passing, the author cannot forbear 22 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S inquiring why the famous detective-novelist of England does not turn his great talent into actual use and make known the identity of “Jack the Ripper.” Very possibly it is because real detective work is more difficult than the unearthing of a criminal whom the author has himself “planted” for that very purpose. It is possible that the murderer has once, and only once, been seen by a person who has survived to report the circum- stance. This was on the night of September 30, 1888, when the bodies of two women were found in the streets. One of the two victims, a Mrs. Eddows, was seen in conversation with a man in Miter Square, Oldgate, but a few minutes before the time, and only a short distance from the spot where her mangled body was discovered. The presumption that this man was her murderer is quite strong. He was described as “aged about thirty to thirty-five; height five feet seven inches, with brown hair and 1arge moustache; dressed respectably; wore a pea-jacket, a muffler, and a cloth cap, with a peak of the same material.” In all, ten Whitechapel murders have been committed. The first mutilated body was found on the night of April 3, 1888, near Osborn and Wentworth streets, Whitechapel; the name of the victim being Emma Smith. August 7th, follow- ing, Martha Turner was killed in Commercial Street, Spittal- fields; while on the 31st of the same month the body of Mrs. Nichols was found in Bucks-ras, Whitechapel. On the 3oth of September following this crime, the murderous wretch claimed two victims; Elizabeth Strue being killed in Berner Street, Whitechapel, and Mrs. Eddows in Miter Square, Oldgate. On the night of November 9, 1888, the body of Mrs. Jane Kelley was found in Dorset Street, Spittal-fields. Whether the homicidal impulse of the wretch had become satiated with this long list of victims, is of course not known, but quite a long interval elapsed before he again set his infernal trademark on the body of another unfortunate woman, that of Alice Mackenzie, whom he murdered in Castle Alley, Whitechapel. It was not until February 13, 1891, that he claimed his ninth victim, Frances Coles, whose body T H E HOMIC ID A L IMP U L S E 23 was found in Royal Mint Street. A few days later the tenth and last body was found in the same locality, since which date no well authenticated case has come to light. Numerous atrocious murders, having points in common with the Whitechapel horrors, committed in England, on the Continent of Europe, and even in the United States, have been ascribed to “Jack the Ripper,” but it does not appear probable that he was concerned in any of these. The mutila- tions were done in a comparatively bungling manner and point to imitators of the original London assassin. The theory most generally advanced and believed, touch- ing this depraved murderer, is that he has suffered from intimacy with some abandoned woman, probably in the Whitechapel district, and, like Nathan, has sworn vengeance upon her class. Owing to the intervals that elapse between the outrages, many have surmised that “Jack” is a sailor, who makes long voyages. On account of the scientific way in which he mutilates his victims, others have suggested that he is a physician or surgeon. Although a morbid spirit of revenge probably lies at the bottom of the mystery, the operation of the homicidal impulse seems clearly present. A revenge, however deeply implanted in a depraved heart, would, apparently, be gratified in time, but the vindictiveness of this monster seems absolutely insatiable. Whatever cause lay at the beginning of his awful career, the impulse to kill, which, like jealousy, grows by what it feeds on, no doubt urges him on, and may add other chapters to his horrid work before his own death closes the bloody volume. The last suggestion receives considerable support from a story recently current in London, which made “Jack the Ripper" to be a medical man of high standing. So long as the identity of the man is withheld from the public, the report must necessarily be taken with considerable allowance. According to the story, the physician in question some years ago developed a mania for causing pain in others. After a time his wife consulted some of his medical friends, who in turn called in the detectives of Scotland Yard. Blood- 24 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S stained clothing and other evidences of murder were found in his house, and the opinion was reached that he was none other than “Jack the Ripper.” Interrogated upon the subject, he denied all knowledge of the matter, but admitted that there were frequently intervals of twenty-four hours of which he had not the slightest recollection. As a result of the investiga- tion, which was privately conducted, the doctor was confined in an asylum on a charge of insanity, after which the White- chapel murders entirely ceased. This story, which has about it a strong flavor of “Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde,” may be entirely fictitious, but it suggests a very reasonable solution of the awful mystery. Those who delight in the possession and exercise of the homicidal impulse, unless, indeed, they have passed com- pletely under its influence, seek some form of justification for the awful crime of murder; not justification to the world only should their dark deeds be discovered, but to themselves as well. Lord Byron makes that evil genius of his, “Manfred,” upon the cliff of Jungfrau, say: “ # * * * I have ceased To justify my deeds unto myself— The last infirmity of evil.” In seeming obedience to this, trifling injuries are often exaggerated and sustained until the would-be perpetrator can “screw his courage to the sticking place.” Indeed, it cannot well be doubted that many acts of revenge, where the injury has been real and great, have been ultimately consummated through the powerful stimulus of the inherent disposition to slay. Commendable, or only slightly reprehensible acts, have often been made to serve this dark purpose. In the latter class falls a curious work written by an English clergyman, named Thomas R. Malthus, about the beginning of the pres- ent century. In the judgment, or rather superheated imagination of this writer, over-population is the impending danger of the world, and vice, crime, and murder itself, are the agencies appointed by the Creator for keeping the growth of the human race within proper limits. His book produced a sensation when it T H E HOMIC ID A L I M P U L SE 25 appeared, and gave rise to not a few curious publications fol- lowing out the same line of thought. All these later books were ostensibly serious, yet, in the light of after years, some of them would seem to have been satirical, both in conception and expression. One of the professed disciples of Malthus was an anony- mous writer, whose absurd generalizations, probably written in a satirical vein, aroused the animadversion of a large class of hostile reviewers. The critics believed, or professed to believe, that one of the most extraordinary of these Malthusian volumes was an exposé of the ulterior aims of an organized clique. The criticism is, in a sense, amusing, but it is hardly worth quoting. The interest in the publication centers around its contents. The author cites the theory of Malthus as the groundwork of his argument, and follows it out to its legiti- mate conclusion. He extols slavery and infanticide as 1egiti- mate means for the achievement of a great end. In fact, he cites with approval the practice, in the 1atter regard, of the nations of antiquity, who, in consequence, suffered but little from over-population, and urges the adoption of 1egislation providing for the killing of all the children of the poor exceed- ing the limit of three in each family, except in Ireland, where the limit should be one. To carry this design into execution, he advocates the formation of an association under the legislative sanction. He also proposes State supervision of all persons who might not own property of a specified value, who should be required to surrender their children to be put to death by suffocation. To reconcile parents to this wholesale “Slaughter of the Innocents,” he would have intro- duced a virtual system of bribery, granting an income to those who voluntarily parted with their infants, especially liberal rewards being bestowed upon those who rendered themselves wholly childless. By way of defense of his position, he took the ground that parents had no natural right to rear more chil- dren than were required by the wants of society. Nor did he concede the inherent right of an infant to its own life, claim- ing that of this the State was the sole judge. He suggested that mothers might be reconciled to the murder of their babes 26 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S by presenting to their minds gay and lively images, and through being taught that it was absolutely necessary that a certain number of children be sacrificed. The massacred infants were to be interred in beautiful colonnades, to be known as “The Infant's Paradise,” to be adorned with flowers and plants, and to be enlivened by scenes of chastened recreation. Lastly, the author explained his theory of “pain- 1ess extinction.” Infants were to be asphyxiated during their first slumber, which was thus transformed into the unending sleep of death. This volume, which is in itself a curio, was published anonymously, and was probably intended as a satire. It was not so regarded, however, by the irate reviewers of the time. They called it “The Book of Murder.” One of these indig- nant gentlemen thus quaintly denounces the hideous joke: “The veil is at length rent; the curtain, behind which have hitherto lurked the most atrocious conspiracies against humanity, has at 1ength been drawn up. With a false and insidious philosophy, they have nourished the most foul and murderous sentiments in their hearts. With the fawning and hypocritical cant of seeking for the safety and peace of society, they have actually plotted and schemed and prepared the means of perpetrating the murder of more than one-half of the infants to be born into the world, the assassination of more than half of the future races of mankind.” The work of Malthus, and even that of the anonymous author referred to, made many disciples. For the most part, these were innocent “cranks,” but much evil has been done to mankind through the propagation of such monstrous doc- trines. In the ensuing chapter a remarkable instance of this will be given, as further illustrating the homicidal impulse, and showing how readily it is sometimes forced into a state of activity. CHAPTER III A CURIO U S INST A N C E OF THE HOM IC ID AL IM P U L S E Early in the present century there was committed in several of the smaller cities and towns of France and Germany a series of crimes of a revolting character. Although separate and distinct, they were so far connected that they all resulted from one single motive, and were perpetrated by the same indi- vidual, who was entirely without confederates. So far as the author knows, the principal facts were first collected in Howitt's Journal, published more than sixty years ago, and it is from that source that much of the present material has been drawn. The better to present the case to the reader, the matter has been put into the form of a connected narrative, although the salient points remain as they appear in the first published accounts. One bright morning in 1828, a laborer named Jacques Moulin set out from his home to walk to Puy St. O'Stein, a small village in the province of Languedoc, France. As he approached the quaint old town, traveling along a public and much-frequented highway, he was shot and killed from the roadside. The police were speedily notified, and at once began an investigation, which, however, led to nothing tan- gible, so far as providing a clue to the identity of the perpe- trator. The report of the magistrate who conducted the inquiry showed that the deceased was a quiet, inoffensive man, generally regarded as rather simple-minded. All the witnesses agreed that he had not an enemy in the world, being, on the contrary, a universal favorite with all who knew him. Robbery was evidently not the motive of the crime, for on the body was found a sum of money, small, it is true, but quite as much as a poor peasant could be expected to carry. 27 28 M U R D E R IN A LL AGES The magistrate's conclusion was that the unfortunate Jacques had been mistaken for another person, against whom the mur- derer had a grudge, or from whose body he expected to secure a substantial sum of money. And yet the homicide had not been committed entirely outside human sight and hearing. When the first person attracted by the shot arrived upon the scene, he found, seated beside the body, an old man with a wooden leg, who was complacently engaged in reading a well-thumbed book. Upon being brought before the magistrate, this person told quite a coherent and natural story, which failed, however, to throw the slightest light upon the mysterious murder. He deposed that, while seated upon the river bank, a short distance from Puy St. O'Stein, he was startled by a report from some sort of firearm, which seemed to proceed from the hedge behind him. Then, for the first time, he noticed Moulin, who cried out, “Eh! mon Dieu, Porquoi?” (Oh! My God! Why?), and instantly fell forward upon his face in the dust of the road. When interrogated by the magistrate as to his subsequent conduct, the old cripple explained that he had risen and approached the prostrate man as quickly as the nature of his infirmity permitted. He speedily satisfied him- self that life was extinct, after which he looked carefully in all directions in hope of espying the murderer, but was unable to see any one. His crippled condition rendered it impossible for him to raise the body, so he sat down and philosophically awaited the arrival of assistance. The occurrence excited great interest and wonder in the community, but the utter absence of any conceivable motive on the part of any one to commit the crime, rendered fruitless all efforts on the part of the authorities to discover the mur- derer. A few weeks later, at a small tavern on the road 1eading from St. Gervaise to Clermont, another mysterious and sen- sational murder was committed. The victim was a man named Auguste Vivier, a traveler, who had stopped at the tavern to procure some needed refreshment. Like the laborer of Languedoc, Vivier was killed by a gun-shot wound. INSTANCE OF HOMIC ID AL IMPULSE 29 He was found by the innkeeper and his wife, lying with his face upon the ground, where he had fallen from a bench upon which he had been sitting. It seemed rather a remarkable coincidence that the only witness should be the philosophical old man with the wooden 1eg, who, being on his way to St. Gervaise, had likewise stopped there for some refreshment. The old cripple stated that while the deceased and himself were sitting on opposite benches, somebody had fired a gun or pistol, he could not say which, from behind the garden paling, when Vivier immediately fell forward to the ground. Crippled as he was, he had been unable to pursue the assassin, or even follow quickly enough to discover his identity, but he had called loudly for help. Public excitement had barely subsided when a third mur- der, equally mysterious and seemingly as motiveless, was committed in the neighboring province of Guienne. This time the victim was a silversmith of Lausanne, who, while taking an evening's recreation in a little boat on the Garonne, was fatally shot through the body. Like poor Moulin, the silversmith was entirely alone at the time the deed was perpetrated, but, as in the former case, there had been a witness. This, as the reader will doubtless surmise, was none other than our friend with the wooden leg. The coincidence went even further, for he was reclining on the bank of the river immured in the contents of his dog-eared book. Seventy years ago, the rural police of France were undoubtedly easy-going and more interested in discussing the contents of wine cellars than in detecting crime, yet it began to dawn upon them that the literary cripple had fallen into a decided habit of being present when mysterious murders were committed, and, in what may be termed a “1ucid interval,” they took the old man into custody. The mere circumstance that he had been the sole witness to three assassinations would probably not have sufficed to arouse any special suspicion on the part of these Gallic Dogberrys, but the murdered man had not died without making an ante-mortem statement. Retain- ing his self-possession, he averred, that while pressing one 3o M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S hand to his side he had raised himself in the boat and 10oked about for the murderer. The only person to be seen was an old man lying prone on the grass engaged in reading a book. What, in those days, was termed a most rigid search, dis- closed nothing upon him but a book, a tobacco pouch, and money to the amount of two francs and five centimes—about forty-two cents—none of the articles being to the smallest extent incriminating, or even suspicious. Being interrogated, he answered without the slightest reserve, seeming rather anxious to give any information in his possession. He gave his name as Armande Geraud, and said that he had served in Marshal Soult's division throughout the campaigns in Italy and Austria. He had saved the mar- shal's life at Austerlitz, in which battle he had lost a leg. Ever since that memorable day, he had received a pension from Soult. He had a little son at school at Bordeaux, and bad been on his way to visit him when taken into custody. He gave his age as fifty-nine, and said that he was a stranger in the province. The notes of the police contained the minute that his complexion was sallow and his countenance thought- ful. His education was above the average, and the cast of his mind rather philosophic. This mental trait, in the opinion of the police, indicated a possibility for the perpetration of fraud which might have induced a disposition toward the commis- sion of a crime of violence. The book which he carried with him, a well-thumbed volume, was a French translation of an English work on “Over-population,” by a clergyman named Malthus. The police promptly investigated the man's story. Marshal Soult not only corroborated the statement of Armande Geraud, as he was supposed to be, but added that the party in question had been a brave and honest soldier, and, in the opinion of the gallant Marshal of France, he was incapable of any base or criminal act. Apparently this confirmed one part of the sup- posed culprit's story. The next point to be investigated was the parentage of the boy at Bordeaux, and the whereabouts of the latter. Inquiry was made at the latter point concerning the alleged son of Geraud. For a long time no child answering INSTANCE OF HOM ICIDAL IMPULSE 31 the description given by the prisoner could be found at any of the schools in that city. At length it was learned that a boy of thirteen years had, within a comparatively recent time, left one of the pauper schools of the municipality to secure employ- ment in a small shop of disreputable character in the suburbs. Here he acted as shoeblack and errand-boy. Upon gaining this information, the police notified the suspected murderer of what they had ascertained. The old man seemed to be com- pletely overwhelmed with grief. His acting, if acting it was, was so consummate that, joined to the reports elicited through the investigation, the police did not for a moment doubt his innocence. Accordingly he was discharged from custody, and a few francs were given him by the magistrate in order that he might be enabled more comfortably to pursue his journey toward Bordeaux, whither he went with a view of rescuing his unfortunate child from the disreputable surround- ings into which he had fallen. But the old soldier of the First Empire, with his wooden leg and precious volume of Malthus, did not here terminate his extraordinary experiences as the solitary witness of mysterious murders. For several years he disappeared from the notice of the police, but modestly presented himself again in 1836. On August 15th of that year an English family named Stuart arrived at Godesburg, a small town on the Rhine, and took up their abode at the principal hotel of the place. They were accompanied by a Prussian valet and an English maid. There had been a mutual promise of marriage between the latter, but the engagement had been broken off, in consequence of the dissatisfaction on the part of the young woman with the character of her lover. On the evening of their arrival the two left the hotel together for a walk along the road that 1ed to Rolandseck. The valet returned alone at ten o'clock, looking very pale. When interrogated concern- ing his companion by members of the Stuart family, he dis- claimed any knowledge of her whereabouts. The alarm and distress of her employers was extreme, and they were greatly horrified when, on the next morning, her corpse was found at the foot of an apple tree standing on the high road, with a 32 M U R D E R IN A LL AGES bullet wound in the right side. That the motive of the unknown assassin was not robbery was shown by the fact that several articles of jewelry and a little money was found upon her person. As a matter of course, the valet was arrested and arraigned before a magistrate, charged with the murder. His story appeared utterly preposterous. In substance it was that Jane Simpson, the maid, had urged him to throw stones into the fruit trees on the road-side, notwithstanding the fact that he had assured her that the apples were totally unfit to eat. She continued to beg him, and, complying with her request, he finally looked about for stones which he might throw into the trees, and while thus engaged, at some little distance from his sweetheart, he heard a shot which seemed to have been fired from the field beyond the trees, and the unfortunate maid fell to the ground with a shriek. He said that he perceived that his situation was a very compromising one, and he was apprehensive that he would be accused of her murder. Accordingly, he made the best of his way back to the inn and denied any knowledge of the girl's fate. This tale was not believed, and, indeed, appearances were strongly against him; he was tried, found guilty, and executed at Cologne. This succession of tragic events so seriously affected Mrs. Stuart's nervous system that her physician advised a delay of a few days at Godesburg. By September 3rd she began to convalesce, and was persuaded by her husband to take a short drive through the surrounding country. On reaching a wooded eminence, on the road leading to Rolandseck, the carriage was halted and the occupants alighted. Mrs. Stuart, not feeling equal to the exertion of climbing the hill, remained reclining on the ground in company with a German maid whom she had hired to take the place of the English maid who had been murdered. Mr. Stuart, accompanied by a favorite dog, ascended the hill. Having reached the top, he passed under a ruined arch, covered by a dense growth of shrubbery and vines, and from which an extensive view of the charming scenery peculiar to that part of Germany could be had. While thus engaged, the report of a firearm of some - STRANGE MURDER IN A CAFE. –PAGE 35. INST A N C E OF HOMIC ID A L IMPULSE 33 sort from the woods beneath, followed by a cry, startled him. The recent tragic death of Jane Simpson at once occurred to his mind, and, filled with alarm, he hurried down the hill, preceded by his dog. Here he found his wife sitting where he had left her; she had fainted, but was recovering. One side of her bonnet had been cut away by the shot and the maid had been wounded in the arm. Mr. Stuart, with his son and some of the people of the neighborhood, at once proceeded to search the woods and bushes in all directions. The instinct of the dog, however, was keener than that of the men; he made a sudden dart into the corner of the thicket, and began barking loudly at something which he seemed to have dis- covered there. Arriving upon the scene, Mr. Stuart found an old man seated upon the ground under a tree, intently engaged in read- ing a book. It was none other than Armande Geraud, the hero of Austerlitz and the protégé of Marshal Soult, who, after eight years retirement from active service as a witness in mysterious cases of assassination, had suddenly reappeared upon the scene of action. So far from being perturbed at the interruption of his literary pursuits, he placed a twig in his book to mark a striking passage of the unique statistician, Malthus, and, with a smile that would have done credit to a Socrates, looked up inquiringly at the dog and his human companions. When asked if he had seen anybody pass he glanced at the closed volume and smilingly shook his head, as if to indicate that such a thing was altogether out of the question while perusing such an absorbing book. Satisfied that he could gain no information of value from the old man, Mr. Stuart was about to hurry away to search other portions of the wood, when a peculiar expression of mingled triumph and satisfaction upon the cripple's face attracted his attention, and he decided to ask him to accompany him to the town. He followed without the smallest objection, and with as much alacrity as his wooden leg permitted. The details of the affair being communicated to the police, the old man was placed under arrest. The suspected individual said that his name was Gottlieb 34 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S Rinhalter, and that he had served through the campaigns of 1812 and 1813, having lost his leg in the battle of Leipsic. To prove his assertions, he showed a paper certifying to the fact, bearing the signature of an inferior officer who had long since died. Being asked what were his means of support, he answered that he maintained himself by rendering services as an accountant and a calculator. Being examined, he showed that he could write well and possessed some knowledge of figures, besides having an ingenious method of calculation, which he had taught himself. From the character of the book which he carried, the magistrate noted that he evidently took a decided interest in the statistical estimates with which it abounded, its dog-eared and dirty condition showing how long and how closely it had been studied. No weapons were found upon him, and as his account of himself was most satisfactory, he was discharged. For the ensuing two years the maimed old soldier seems to have confined his attention to the arguments and statistics of Malthus, relieving them, it may be, by dipping into the pages of those anonymous authors who carried his theories forward to their legitimate conclusions. At any rate, no mention of him is discovered in the criminal annals of France from the time of his discharge by the authorities at Godes- burg until the month of March, 1838, when he again presented himself to the attention of the police. One evening in that month, a man was noticed striding nurriedly along the principal street of the ancient city of Wittenberg, in Prussian Saxony—a city made famous for all time as the cradle of the great Protestant Reformation. His appearance and bearing were well calculated to attract the attention and cause him to be remembered. He was of heavy build, wore a blouse and a cap stuck well back upon his head. This personage attracted further attention by constantly glancing about, as if fearful of being observed and followed. Just as the clock in the tower of the old university where Martin Luther held a professorship, struck nine, the myste- rious personage, unknown to the honest burghers, disappeared from view. INST A N C E OF HOM ICI D A L IMP U L S E 35 Along the bank of the Elbe at Wittenberg there is an ancient dyke, and on the top of this he was seen walking alone an hour later. Presently he was joined by another stout man, attired much like himself, with whom he stood for some time engaged, apparently, in earnest conversation. At the expiration of something like half an hour, they were joined by a third party. The new-comer bore a marked contrast to his two companions. He was tall, his lank form being enveloped in a long dark cloak, and wore a high, pointed, broad-brimmed hat. People who were observing them judged from the fre- quency and vehemency of their gesticulations, that a confer- ence of decided importance was being carried on. The curiosity of several of the townspeople was not satisfied until they separated at midnight, each going in a different direction. The following morning the town fair opened, and all the hotels were busily preparing for the reception of expected guests. In a back room of one of the coffee-houses, three men were sitting talking earnestly together. Two of them were the mysterious individuals in blouses who had been seen together on the dyke the night before, their tall companion— still wearing his enormous cloak and pointed hat—standing outside the window, but near enough to hear whatever was said inside. Suddenly one of the men rose, walked to the casement, and then 1eft the room, whereupon the tall stranger moved hastily away. Almost simultaneously a shot was heard in the apartment, and when the crowd of excited men rushed through the door they were horrified to find that one of the men had received a bullet wound through his body. His companion, too startled to speak, pointed to the open window. Thereupon some of the crowd hurried to the street, where they saw a tall man covered with a cloak walking rapidly away. He was followed and taken in charge by the police. Concealed under his waistcoat, hung through one of his braces, was found a pistol. It was soon learned that he was a Tyrolesian huckster who peddled handkerchiefs, scarfs, table-cloths and other goods made from cotton and woolen fabrics. He loudly protested his innocence of any attempt upon the life of Gustav Grimm, which was the name of the 36 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S murdered man, and invoked the entire calendar of blessed saints to witness that he had never even conceived of a deed so awful. As to the pistol which had been found upon him, he told that he had purchased it at the suggestion of one Gottlieb Rinhalter, to be used for the purpose of self-defense while traveling about the country. He had known the mur- dered man personally, and had transacted some business with him and Rinhalter, but had never had any misunderstanding of any sort with Grimm, nor was there any reason why he should desire his death. The pistol which was taken from him was found not to be loaded, and he said he never had it charged since it had been in his possession, a statement which the appearance of the weapon seemingly confirmed. The only witness to the shooting was a man well advanced in years, who gave the name of Gottlieb Rinhalter. The report shows that he wore a wooden leg, but, very possibly through an oversight, makes no mention of his having been engaged in reading the book which lay upon the table before him. Notwithstanding this variation, he was none other than the gray-haired disciple of Malthus. He was at once recog- nized, for his face and appearance were well known at fairs and markets, where he occasionally obtained employment as an accountant and a go-between in bargains. Besides these occupations, he sometimes acted as interpreter, being able to speak both French and German fluently. He said that some one had fired the fatal shot through the open window; who, he did not know. He was subjected to a rigid verbal examina- tion, and his person was searched but no weapon found upon him. Nevertheless, circumstances appeared to warrant detaining him in custody, although, so far as learned, there was no proof that he had been connected with the shooting, either as a principal or an accomplice. At this juncture of affairs, Mr. Stuart and his family arrived at Wittenberg, and the gentleman immediately applied for permission to see Rinhalter, whom he at once identified. This confirmed the suspicions of the police, who had been busily inventing all sorts of theories and making no end of investigations, but without success. Rinhalter was subjected INST A N C E OF HOMIC ID A L IMPULSE 37 to a further and more rigorous examination, but nothing positively incriminating was discovered. It is likely that he would have been ultimately released had it not been for the fact that Gustav Grimm did not die immediately. He lingered for several days, and just before his death rallied sufficiently to make an ante-mortem statement, and to identify his mur- derer. The story was strange in the extreme. Left alone with Gottlieb Rinhalter in the room, they sat beside each other with a chair between them. Soon after the departure of their companion, one Nicholas Holst, the cripple slowly raised his wooden leg, and laid it horizontally across the chair which stood between Grimm and himself. As his victim looked into the assassin's face, he said he observed it was lit up by a strange smile. The next moment came a report and a bullet entered Grimm's body. Then Gottlieb instantly lowered his wooden leg, but not before the wounded man had perceived a smoke curling from its stump. Rinhalter was now searched for the third time and the mystery clearly explained. His wooden leg contained a long pistol-barrel, and attached to it was a trigger that might be worked by means of a string which passed from it into his right-hand pocket. This contrivance had enabled him, as he afterwards coolly explained, to rest his combination false-leg and horse-pistol in a horizontal position and take deliberate and quite accurate aim, without attracting the slightest atten- tion. He could discharge the improvised weapon without taking his hand from his pocket, and had thus been able to maintain the secret of his masked battery. It seems almost impossible that he could have been several times searched without his clumsy contrivance being discovered, yet the fact is very clearly established. It furnishes rather a severe com- mentary on the efficiency of the French and German police in the early part of this century. And yet we must not be too severe upon foreign methods, since one noted American burglar carried a whole kit of tools concealed in his wooden leg, and is said to have escaped from prison by their use. The long list of murders and attempted murders which had been wrapped in most profound mystery was fully explained 38 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S by this discovery. During the progress of his trial the story of his life was brought out, down to minute details. Many of the facts he supplied himself, and that with as much self- possession as if he had been recounting a career of usefulness and honor. He had been born at Tours, France, and his real name was Raoul Croc. His father had been a Frenchman and his mother a native of Germany. The former was a barber, and the latter a rope dancer; and he, himself, had early begun to lead a roving life. The amputation of his leg had been rendered necessary by the bite of a dog, and he had never received any pension from the government, nor had he ever 15een a soldier. At first the authorities were inclined to consider him insane, as no possible motive for his crimes could be conjectured. But they were not to remain long of this opinion. Once satisfied that his conviction and execution were certain, his reserved manner disappeared, and he talked freely, volubly even, and made clear the motive that had led him into a systematic course of crime. In doing this he betrayed not the slightest suggestion of remorse; on the contrary, his great regret was that he had accomplished so little in the way of taking human life. He expressed sorrow, however, for the pain he had inflicted on those individuals that he had failed to kill outright, and for the grief of the relatives of those he had slain. His criminal career had begun shortly after he had come into possession of the great work of Malthus on “Over- population,” which had ever since been his bosom companion. “It showed me the true work of my life,” he declared. “It came upon me like the flash of a flint in the night, or as the light that dazzled Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus.” He styled himself, “The apostle of a great principle; the martyr of a practical philanthropy.'" Vulgar minds, who judge everything from their own narrow, everyday standpoint, might denounce him and even call him mad, but, he assured the court, he was confident that the better intellects of France, Germany, and England would do ample justice to his memory. To all appearances he spoke candidly, and appeared to consider himself as a benefactor to mankind. INST A N C E OF HOMIC ID AL IMPULSE 39 As to his mysterious meeting with the murdered Grimm and the Tyrolesian huckster upon the dyke at Wittenberg, Croc offered no explanation; yet, in view of his previous crimes and the diabolical cunning of his character, the plot he had devised becomes apparent. The huckster, who dressed in an extravagant fashion, and was, no doubt, of an imaginative turn of mind, was made to believe that a person of his distin- guished appearance ran great risks in traveling about the country unarmed, and easily induced to purchase a pistol. He had probably made this person believe that Grimm was disposed to turn traitor to some scheme they had concocted on the dyke, and arranged to have him play the spy the follow- ing day, with the expectation that the tall huckster would be convicted and executed for the murder; thus cutting down the hated “over-population” by two, instead of one, as was his usual custom. The first victim to the cause of reducing the world’s popu- 1ation was an old soldier named Armande Geraud, who had lost a leg at Austerlitz and received a pension from Marshal Soult. Geraud had announced his intention of marrying, and this had decided Croc to take his 11 fe. While Geraud and he sat smoking together in a little garden, the deed had been com- mitted with a bludgeon. The assassin declared that at the time of the killing it had not occurred to him to impersonate his victim and draw the pension from Marshal Soult; but turn- ing the matter over in his mind and considering it in the light of a principle of action which he had determined to make the guiding rule of his life, he came, as he said, “to see the finger of Providence pointing for his good and that of mankind.” The idea seemed to him to be an inspiration, and he had subsequently passed as Armande Geraud, and had received his victim's pension from the agent of Marshal Soult. From this hour he had striven to rectify the evils of over-population so clearly shown in the “divine book” which he carried at his breast, the beneficent production of the great Englishman, Malthus. Once, indeed, he had suffered a qualm of doubt for several days, and passed many sleepless nights in consequence of some friend having sent him the roe of a herring wrapped 4o MU R D E R IN A L L A G E S in a multiplication table; but he soon came to perceive that the divinely inspired author of “Over-population” must, eventually, in the course of 10ng ages, be right, and all the produce of the sea, as well as of the land, be eaten up by the over-populated world. Henceforth he went on his way rejoic- ing, ever mindful of his high mission, ever coming in with his population-check upon all good opportunities. - He confessed that in the prosecution of his peculiar system of philanthropy he had directly killed twenty-seven indi- viduals, caused the execution of five others who had been found guilty of his murders, and wounded fourteen more, most of whom, much to his regret, had recovered. He had discharged a high duty, he maintained. He had chosen the name of “Gottlieb Rinhalter”—“Love God, The Checker,” to express a due sense of his high calling. Some of Croc's ideas about men and society are worthy of mention. For Fieschi, and other regicides, he expressed supreme contempt. They were, he said, nothing better than ignorant egotists. He agreed with Malthus that vice and misery had been the great- est benefactors of the race; things which he thought had done more than any other agency in reducing the population. Next to those, he regarded Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington as the most distinguished philanthropists of his- tory, because of their reducing the population, even though not upon any philosophic principle. Of Mr. Pitt, he spoke in terms of highest praise. He was a great man, a prime mover in the prevention of over-population. Next to the book of Malthus, Croc regarded the German work entitled “Documen- tary Exposition of Remarkable Crimes,” by Anselm Von Feurbach, Knight, State Councillor, and President of the Court of Appeals. Only authors of the keenest intellect, he thought, could do justice to the memory of great criminals. The mass of mankind do not regard them from a philosophic standpoint. Posterity would, he thought, recognize them as philanthropists. Simon Stigler, a murderer of the century preceding, he mentioned in terms of respect, although dis- criminating against what he conceived to have been certain weak points in his character. Margaret Swanziger, an expert INST A N C E OF HOM IC ID A L IMPULSE 41 poisoner through the use of oxalic acid mixed with negus and sugar of lead, he particularly admired. With the story of Solomon Scales, the wife murderer, he was thoroughly familiar. Jacob Solly, who had a habit of killing soldiers while standing solitary on sentry, and Thomas Pig of Hert- fordshire, who had with his own hands killed nine infants, he considered ideal heroes. He was familiar with the story of Nadir Slat, who had erected pyramids and columns out of human skulls, and he dwelt with peculiar interest on the principle involved in the eighty thousand executions of Henry VIII. These men, he said, were a11 great benefactors of the human race. They were superb apostles of the Malthusian doctrine, and they furnished the only effective checks and remedies that could be found. Regulation and colonization were mere temporizing. There was no remedy for it but to kill people. The day before he was to be executed Croc asked that a poor woman, a dressmaker who had befriended him, might be permitted to visit him in one of the apartments of the jail, and that he might be granted a short conversation in private. Strange to say, with the same inattentive ignorance which the police had manifested upon the occasion of his search made after the murder of Grimm, the permission was given. Shortly after her departure he became restless, but this cir- cumstance was attributed to the natural nervousness which might be expected in a man awaiting execution. In the even- ing the dressmaker returned, and once more the two were 1eft alone together. During the night he expressed the wish that the Chief Magistrate of Wittenberg and the Head Pro- fessor of the University should breakfast with him in the morning. It is hardly necessary to say that the proffer was declined. While Croc was being bound to the fatal chair, his eyes nervously wandered about, until they rested upon the dress- maker, whom he particularly enjoined to be present in order that she might witness his death. With a complacent smile he placed his right leg across his 1eft knee until it pointed, as 42 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S nearly as he was able to aim, at the heart of the dressmaker. Just as the executioner arrived behind him with the two- edged sword, Croc closed his left eye and, giving a short jerk to his right elbow, fell backward. An explosion followed. Fortunately for herself, the dressmaker was uninjured. The pistol leg had been overcharged, and had burst and blown the body of the wretch into fragments. An explanation is almost unnecessary. Croc had induced the dressmaker to bring him half a pound of gunpowder, that he might be enabled to cheat the executioner by committing suicide. He had placed the entire contents of the package in the pistol barrel. Failing in his scheme to take the lives of the two prominent men, he had determined to murder his misguided benefactress, but succeeded only in terminating his own depraved existence. The story of Raoul Croc has been given in considerable de- tail because it furnishes an admirable instance of the operation of the disposition, or in this case, more properly, passion, for taking human life. It does not appear that the murderer was of a cruel or revengeful disposition, and all his manifold crimes must be chargeable to the homicidal impulse, which had gained absolute mastery over all the better promptings of his heart. For a long time he successfully resisted the temptation, but the work of Malthus presented a line of argu- ment that quieted, or rather subdued, whatever of real con- science he possessed, and enabled him, in a manner at least, to justify his dark and cruel deeds unto himself. Judging from the boastful manner of his confession and his death, coupled with the incessant study of his “bosom companion," he probably believed the theories of Malthus and decided to carry them much farther than was contemplated by the clerical author. At the same time, the disposition to kill was the real incentive that drew, or drove, him into a course of crime almost unequaled in modern times. CHAPTER IV MOTIVES FOR HO MIC ID E – R E V E N G E —N U M E R O US CAS ES It is not the author's intention to present anything like a complete history of homicide; such a work would far transcend the limits he has set himself, and besides, would hardly prove of interest to the general reader. His object is, rather, to show the extent to which it has prevailed in different ages, how it has been regarded and treated by the law and by society, the efforts that have been made to repress it, the various motives that lead to its commission, with appropriate illustrations of each, and the modes of punishment adopted By various nations in different ages. Logically considered, such a book ought to begin with the earliest historical times and descend chronologically to the present day. Such an arrangement would, however, render it impossible to treat separately and distinctly the different pas- sions and impulses that have led to the commission of the great homicides of the world, and would render the work less interesting and instructive. In departing from the usual mode and treating the subject from the standpoint of motives rather than time, nothing is really lost, since, unlike the arts, sciences, letters, religion and civilization itself, even, homicide has been essentially the same in all ages, and is bound to con- tinue so, for the reason that once modified it ceases to be thomicide. To set forth in a categorical way the different motives of the human heart, which, given free rein, drive one on to take the life of his fellow, is an extremely difficult task, for the reason that natural impulses are manifold and that many of them, commendable in themselves, become perverted and form combinations so various that their enumeration is impos- 43 44 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S sible. It must be remembered that good and evil are relative terms, and depend for their meaning upon the education and conscience of the individual who employs them. Probably no two philosophers ever exactly agreed as to the ultimate causes of crime, and the author does not essay to answer questions that have been mooted for all time. Besides, few homicides have resulted from the operation of one single and unaided passion or motive. There is usually a leading cause, but it is often mingled, frequently obscured, by others. Thus, in the mind of a murderer, many inducements, some of them perhaps excusable, are often strangely jumbled together and mixed up with dark and evil passions. Of the passions and motives that most frequently call into activity the homicidal impulse and lead to murder, the follow- ing may safely be enumerated: Revenge, Cupidity, Jealousy, Envy, Anger, Lust, Drunkenness and Fear. To these might be added Patriotism and the Obligation of a Secret Oath. Brief as is this list, it has amply sufficed to bring to an untimely end a 1arge proportion of all born into the world, and to reflect suffering, shame and death upon an almost infinite number of others. As has been already suggested, none of these motives are new; all are as old as the existence of sinful man. Anger and envy caused Cain to slay his brother; lust induced David to put Uriah in the front rank of battle; revenge led Samson to drag down the pillars that crushed and buried his enemies and himself, while motives of mingled patriotism and fear induced the beautiful Judith to decapitate the wicked and drunken Holofernes. Of all the passions that control the actions of men, the love of self is clearly entitled to the foremost place. Of the criminal motives we have enumerated, all have their founda- tion in selfishness. The 10ve of self is deeply implanted in every human breast, and egotism may be justly termed the ruling passion of life. So far from being wrong, self-love, within reasonable limits, is clearly right. It was divinely implanted in the original human heart for the very evident purpose of furnishing man with a motive for living in the face of sorrow and pain, and for subduing the earth in spite of MOTIVES FOR HOM ICID E–RE V E N G E 45 droughts, floods, tornadoes and earthquakes. The 10ve of self, in the true sense of the term, leads men upward to true nobility and causes them to eventually sacrifice self for the benefit of others. To explain this seeming paradox: a selfish man, in the conventional and mean sense of the word, passes a beggar with a frown and possibly a muttered curse, while one endowed with a true and genuine self-love pauses and divides his few coins with the mendicant. The first refuses his contribution because to part with his money would cause him pain, while the other drops a coin, often from pure phi- lanthropy, it is true, but more frequently for the reason that the memory of the wan face and hungry eyes of the supplicant would cost him greater suffering than the lack of the trifle he contributes. The motive for murder that seems to contain the 1east element of selfishness, is revenge. Primarily, a real or sup- posed personal injury lies at its foundation, yet the remote cause, with all others that intervene, is absorbed by the whirlwind of passion that results—as the serpent of Aaron swallowed up those of the Egyptian enchanters. In almost all other moving causes of crime the perpetrator expects to reap some kind of substantial benefit, as wealth or the gratifi- cation of his passions, but in revenge he only expects to profit through a fiendish delight in the death or discomfiture of his enemy. The desire for revenge, accompanied as it always is with indignation and anger, often overrides conscience and all notions of common prudence, and furnishes some sort of palliation for resulting crime. On the other hand, revenge is one of the most brutish of all human impulses, and no just reason can be urged for its indulgence. As a motive of homi- cide, revenge is exceedingly fruitful, and, even where it is not the leading impulse, enters into combinations with others, and can be detected in a large proportion of the most atrocious instances of homicide. Revenge has furnished the theme for almost no end of poems, dramas and novels, and much of decided value to the investigator of homicide can be gleaned from the works of master minds whose writings, even when not strictly founded 46 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S on fact, are truthful, in that they epitomize the criminal experiences of generations of wrong-doers. Among the essayists and criminal writers of the first half of the present century, few have equaled and none have surpassed Thomas De Quincey. This is especially true of his analysis of human nature. Although he led a most uneventful life, and was of a retiring disposition, his great learning and logical mind enabled him to look into the very depths of the human heart and describe the processes that lead one into courses of crime. The details of homicide appear to have had for him a weird sort of fascination. No writer of modern times portrays murder in more vivid, yet truthful, colors. The history of Maximilian Wyndham, in his wonderful book, “The Avenger,” is an admirable instance of the opera- tion of revenge, long sustained, deliberately planned and artistically executed—for there is an art in crime, ghastly and repulsive, but none the 1ess art, as De Quincey himself has amply demonstrated. The vengeance Wyndham wreaked, after 10ng years of waiting, upon those who had cruelly wronged his family, suggests Byron's bitter lines: “Time at last makes all things even; If we but await the hour, There never yet was human power That could evade, if unforgiven, The patient watch and vigil long Of him who treasures up a wrong.” The narrative of the remarkable and wholesale vengeance of Maximilian Wyndham is supposed to be told by a professor in a minor university in northeastern Germany, some twenty years after the occurrence of the last events in the series of fearful tragedies. In 1815, not long after the final defeat of the French at Waterloo, this professor received a letter from a Russian nobleman asking him to receive into his family as a student, a young gentleman who stood high in the favor of the Czar, and who was possessed of a large fortune. This young man, Maximilian Wyndham by name, was the son of a distinguished officer, by birth an Italian, but claiming descent from a noble English family. As a result of the revolution in MOTIVES FOR HO MIC ID E-R E V E N G E 47 France, the elder Wyndham's property, which was of vast extent, passed under French domination, and he entered the military service of that country. Earlier in 1ife he had served with considerable distinction in the armies of several princes, and while holding a brigadier-general's commission in the Austrian service, had met and married a beautiful and highly accomplished Jewish lady, who traced her descent to the Maccabees and to the royal houses of Judea. Wyndham, thanks to his wealth, secured the place of a commissary to the French forces in Italy. Through this posi- tion he succeeded in collecting several large claims due him from some of the Italian States, remitting the money to Eng- 1and for investment. This circumstance, becoming known to his brother officers, raised a violent prejudice against him, since it indicated his intention to retire, a little later, to that country which the French so cordially hated. In the mean- time, his beautiful wife had attracted the attention of several French officers, who had annoyed and positively insulted her with their attentions. Owing to his position, Wyndham was unable to properly resent and punish the indecent proposals of his superiors, who had now become his deadly enemies. Still, his eye and bearing was sufficient warning to hold them in check, which still further inflamed their hatred. Soon the army was ordered to Germany. Wyndham well knew that under the outrageous laws and usages that still prevailed in portions of that country, his enemies would be able to perse- cute him in a manner that would not be tolerated, either in France or Italy. Accordingly, he attempted to resign his posi- tion as commissary, but was unable to obtain the favor, and was obliged to depart with the army. He left his wife, his son Maximilian and his two daughters in Venice. Although the boy was but twelve years of age, his father, thanks to former services, had secured him an appointment in the imperial service of Austria, with a high commission for one of his extreme youth. Upon his father's departure from Italy, Maximilian had necessarily been recalled to remain with his mother and sisters. In a university town of Germany, Wyndham was caught in 48 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S a snare that his enemies had artfully laid for him. This was some breach of discipline, which, though really trivial, was fearfully punished. He was thrown into prison, where he was most inhumanly treated by the local jailer. The charges were so magnified that it appeared very possible the penalty might be death. In despair he begged, as a favor, that his enemies would send for his wife and children. This was exactly what they most desired, and the request was readily granted. Arriving, they found themselves classed as Jews, then generally despised and hated in Germany, and were treated in the most arbitrary manner. They found the object of their solicitude almost at the point of death, so inhumanly had he been treated. Soon after their arrival he expired. The opportunity of the French officers had now come, and they took a fearful revenge upon the woman who had spurned their dishonorable advances. Driven to desperation, Mrs. Wyndham, publicly and in court, denounced the corrupt magistracy, taxing some of them with having made her the vilest proposals. She told them that they had been responsible for her husband's death and charged them with being in collusion with the French mili- tary oppressors of the district. For this she was arrested, charged with some form of petty treason, and sentenced to be flogged upon her bare back through the streets at noon. This punishment was to be inflicted on two separate days, professedly to relieve her torture, but really to add to her degradation. In three days this dreadful sentence was to be carried into effect. Maximilian spent the time endeavoring to secure his mother's pardon, offering to undergo the punishment ten times in her stead, but all to no purpose. As a result of the fearful scourging and the shame that accompanied it, the unfortunate lady soon died. On the heels of this Maximilian was ordered to repair to Vienna. This had been done through a friendly French officer who reported the affair to an Austrian officer. Unfortunately, the order did not include his two sisters, whom he was obliged to leave behind him in charge of a faithful servant. It was seven months before he received a leave of MOTIVES FOR HOMIC ID E_RE V E N G E 49 absence permitting him to return. He found his two sisters and the servant all dead. The eldest of the two girls had attracted the eye of the infamous jailer whose inhuman treat- ment had deprived her father of his life, and she had died in this villain's custody—what more horrible can be imagined!— while grief had cause her younger sister to soon follow her to a better world. The day his mother was flogged through the streets, Maxi- milian, as appears from a paper written by him, but not opened until after his death, had sworn a fearful vengeance against all who had a hand in her degrading punishment. These vows he repeated after learning of the sad fate of his sisters, and consecrated his life to revenge. This was the young man who became an inmate of the German professor's home, and it was in this university town that all the members of his family had perished the most miserable of deaths. The reader need not be informed that his real mission was revenge, rather than the pursuit of knowledge. In the ten years that had elapsed since the death of his parents and sisters, he had seen much of military serve ice, and had risen to considerable distinction. He had some time before transferred his services to Russia. Arriving at the university, young Wyndham was warmly welcomed; he had paid liberally in advance for all favors he was to receive, and wealth and generosity open almost all earthly doors. Besides, he was strikingly handsome, and rose at once to a high position in the society of the quaint old town. Maximilian well knew every one who had had aught to do with the persecution of his mother, and he had marked them all, including their families, for death. About two months after his arrival the first blow was struck; a man named Weishaupt, his wife and his two maiden sisters, together with a domestic, were found brutally murdered. This occurrence threw the town into a perfect fever of excitement. All sorts of investigations were made, which developed nothing, except that robbery had not been the motive for the crime. Three weeks later another blow was struck, an entire family being murdered in their own house. 5o M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S Young Wyndham now suggested the organization of a band of students to act as a street patrol to protect the town at night, and he became an active member himself. But still the murders went on, the authorities being unable to obtain the smallest clue to the identity of the perpetrators. As a matter of fact they were the work of a band that the young student had organized for that very purpose. In the midst of horrid wars, Maximilian had been obliged to postpone his deeply-cherished revenge, but at length he developed a plan and found the means of carrying it into effect. He says in the statement already referred to: “A voice ascended to me day and night, from the graves of my father and mother, calling for vengeance before it should be too late. I took my meas- ures thus: Many Jews were present at Waterloo. From amongst these, all irritated against Napoleon for the expecta- tions he had raised, only to disappoint by his great assembly of Jews at Paris, I selected eight, whom I knew familiarly as men hardened by military experience against the movements of pity. With these as my beagles, I hunted for some time in your forest before opening my regular campaign; and I am surprised that you did not hear of the death which met the executioner—him I mean who dared lift his hand against my mother. This man I met by accident in the forest; and I slew him. I talked with the wretch, as a stranger at first, upon the memorable case of the Jewish lady. Had he repented, had he expressed compunction, I might have relented. But far otherwise; the dog, not dreaming to whom he spoke, exulted; he-but why repeat the villain's words? I cut him to pieces. Next, I did this: My agents I caused to matriculate separately at the college. They assumed the col- lege dress. And now mark the solution of that mystery which caused such perplexity. Simply as students we all had an unsuspected admission at any house. Just then there was a common practice, as you will remember, amongst the younger students, of going out a-masking—that is, of entering Houses in the academic dress, and with the face masked. This practice subsisted even during the most intense alarm from the murderers; for the dress of the students was supposed to MOTIVES FOR HO MIC ID E-R E V E N G E 51 bring protection along with it. But, even after suspicion had connected itself with this dress, it was sufficient that I should appear unmasked at the head of the maskers to insure them a friendly reception. Hence the facility with which death was inflicted, and that unaccountable absence of alarms at the time the crimes were committed. I took hold of my victim, and he looked at me with smiling security. Our weapons were hid under our academic robes; and even when we drew them out, and at the moment of applying them to the throat, they still supposed our gestures to be part of the pantomime we were performing. Did I relish this abuse of personal confidence in myself? No-I loathed it, and I grieved for its necessity; but my mother, a phantom not seen with bodily eyes, but ever present to my mind, continually ascended before me; and still I shouted aloud to my astounded victim, ‘This comes from the Jewess! Hound of hounds! Do you remember the Jewess whom you dishonored, and the oaths which you broke in order that you might dis- honor her, and the righteous law which you violated, and the cry of anguish from her son which you scoffed at?' Who I was, what I avenged, and whom, I made every man aware, and every woman, before I punished them. The details of the cases I need not repeat. One or two I was obliged, at the beginning, to commit to my Jews. The suspicion was thus, from the first, turned aside by the notoriety of my presence elsewhere; but I took care that none suffered who had not either been upon the guilty list of magistrates who condemned the mother, or of those who turned away with mockery from the supplication of the son.” The jailer received the worst fate of all. He had been made a police officer since the death of the Wyndhams, and disappeared suddenly during the summer of 1816, nor could any trace of him be found. In November of that year, the 1eaves having fallen in the forest, his body was found nailed to a tree, which bore this savage inscription: “T. H., jailer at ; crucified July 1, 1816.” Touching this matter, Maxi- milian wrote as follows: “As to the jailer, he was met by a party of us. Not suspecting that any of us could be connected - 52 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S with the family, he was led to talk of the most hideous details with regard to my poor Berenice. The child had not, as had been insinuated, aided her own degradation, but had nobly sustained the dignity of her sex and her family. Such advantages as the monster pretended to have gained over her —sick, desolate, and latterly delirious—were, by his own con- fession, not obtained without violence. This was too much. Forty thousand lives, had he possessed them, could not have gratified my thirst for revenge. Yet, had be but shown courage, he should have died the death of a soldier. But the wretch showed cowardice the most abject, and—but you know 1nis fate.” A cloud, which, though silver-lined, threatened to obscure the fiery hate of the young officer and cause him to abandon his deep-laid plan for revenge, rose athwart his path. There is an old proverb to the effect that the unexpected generally happens. Probably no one could have convinced Maximilian, in advance of the event, that he was destined to fall in 10ve— yet such was the result of his becoming domiciled at the uni- versity. More than that, he fell violently in love with the granddaughter of one of the magistrates, towards whom he entertained the deepest animosity. His affection was returned, and he became a suitor for her hand. The grand- father violently opposed the union, but the young man per- sisted in his suit. After some months the old gentleman suddenly changed his ground, and evinced willingness, anxiety even, that the couple should be speedily married, a proceed- ing that caused no end of speculation among the worthy gossips of the town. In the meantime the couple had been secretly, though legally, married, of which occurrence the grandfather did not entertain the slightest suspicion. And now a condition arose that fairly wrung the heart of the Avenger. His wife's grandfather had been marked for slaughter. Maximilian attempted to defeat this end, but one of the band of assassins to whom circumstances had given momentary power, and whose heart was bitter against the old man, insisted that the programme be carried out to its legiti- mate denouement—the death of the last remaining offender. MOTIVES FOR H OMIC IDE—R E V E N G E 53 Wyndham yielded, but stipulated that the murder should be committed at a time when the young lady was expected to be absent on a visit. Again the unexpected happened; some- thing prevented the anticipated visit, and she descended the stairs just in time to see her husband in the act of seizing her grandfather. The result was absolutely appalling; the old man was slain, and the young wife, who was in a delicate condition, died as a result of the fearful shock. Maximilian's object in contracting a secret marriage was to humiliate the grandfather. Of this he wrote: “Let me add, that the sole purpose of my clandestine marriage was to sting her grand- father's mind with the belief that his family had been dis- honored, even as he had dishonored mine. He learned, as I took care he should, that his granddaughter carried about with her the promises of a mother, and did not know that she had the sanction of a wife. This discovery made him, in one day, become eager for the marriage he had previously opposed; and this discovery also embittered the misery of his death.” Even now the police did not discover the perpetrators of the numerous crimes. The secret was revealed by the Avenger himself. After the funeral of his wife he entrusted his friend, the professor, with two sealed documents; one his will, the other his dying statement, the latter of which was not to be made public for at least three years. This done, he died from the effects of self-administered poison. To understand something of the mental condition of Wyndham and appreciate the provocation that urged him on to his deep revenge, even at the expense of his own life and that of one to whom he was absolutely devoted, and also to show that hate is a stronger passion than love, one more pas- sage from his remarkable confession may be quoted. It refers to his mother's scourging and his own vow of vengeance: “The day came; I saw my mother half undressed by the base officials; I heard the prison gates expand; I heard the trumpets of the magistracy sound. She had warned me what to do; I had warned myself. Would I sacrifice a retribution sacred and comprehensive for the momentary triumph over an individual? If not, let me forbear to look out of doors; for I 54 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S felt that in the self-same moment in which I saw the dog of an executioner raise his accursed hand against my mother swifter than lightning would my dagger search his heart. When I heard the roar of the cruel mob, I paused—endured—forbore. I stole out by by-lanes of the city, from my poor exhausted sisters, whom I left sleeping in each other's innocent arms, into the forest. There I listened to the shouting populace; there even I fancied I could trace my poor mother's route by the course of the triumphant cries. There, even then, even then, I made—O, silent forest! thou heardst me when I made —a vow that I have kept too faithfully. Mother, thou art avenged; sleep, daughter of Jerusalem! for at length the oppressor sleeps with thee. And thy poor son has paid, in discharge of his vow, the forfeit of his own happiness, of a paradise opening upon earth, of a heart as innocent as thine, and a face as fair.” In this narrative the homicidal impulse is seemingly pres- ent, although the moving cause was revenge. To a certain extent, also, the secret and solemn oath of Wyndham must be reckoned as having had its influence. It was uttered at a moment when he was suffering tortures from the terrible indignities to which his mother was being subjected, and would be certain to make upon the young man an impression so profound as to be quite as enduring as the memory of the original wrong. Thus, the solemn obligations of religion itself were made to fortify the decidedly wicked passion of revenge. In reading this wonderful work of De Quincey, the sym- pathy of many readers is constantly with the deeply wronged, misguided young man. This does not indicate any sympathy with homicide, but rather a deep detestation of the cruel and unwarrantable acts of those who were made to suffer in turn. This feeling of sympathy is a form, greatly modified it is true, but still a manifestation of the passion we term revenge. The outrageous treatment of Maximilian's mother arouses within us a feeling of deep indignation; in a certain sense we make the cause of the young man our own, and ardently desire to see his enemies punished. This sympathy, not with crime, MOTIVES FOR HO MIC ID E-R E V E N G E 55 but with retribution, has been universally recognized by the authors of all ages, from Chaucer to Dickens, who have, almost invariably, provided a denouement in which vice and crime meet with adequate punishment. If it were possible to carry this principle into actual life, crime would rapidly diminish. As it is, the feeling of sympathy we have noted shows a general detestation of crime that augurs well for the future. That this sentiment has developed in modern times is evident from a close scrutiny of the literature of the world. In the wonderful poems ascribed to blind Homer, tragic acts abound, but they are treated without reference to their moral aspects, those that we would now term vicious not being dis- tinguished from others that rightly appeal to human sym- pathy. The popular fiction of two or three centuries ago did not, in this respect, rise to the high standard of that of the present day, as witness the works of Fielding and Smollett. Even Shakespeare did not always punish the wrong-doings of This characters. - From the professional standpoint of the author one point in the story of Maximilian Wyndham seems worthy of special mention: The denouement that cost the Avenger his wife and drove him to confession and suicide, might well have been avoided had he not been present at the last of the series of murders. In working out the plot as he did, De Quincey showed consummate skill and an intimate acquaintance with human nature. Those who have spent years in the systematic study of crime and the detection and conviction of criminals, well understand that continued immunity from arrest renders law-breakers careless, often reckless, and, through a sense of fancied security, leads them to commit acts and adopt methods that assure their ultimate detection and punishment. One of the most noted of all the homicides of history was the killing of Francesco Cenci, a wealthy Roman nobleman, by the contrivance of his wife and children. Although this tragedy occurred at the close of the sixteenth century, it is exceedingly difficult to write an account of it that can be vouched for as absolutely reliable. Shelley made it the sub- ject of a very powerful play, full ºf nd 56 - M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S this has had a large influence in forming the modern theory of the murder. Francesco Cenci was the son of Christopher Cenci, born out of wedlock, but legitimatized under the Roman law by the subsequent marriage of his parents. He was born during the pontificate of Clement VI. From his childhood he was brutal and vicious, having, when but eleven years old, in company with his tutor, been arrested by the Roman police for assaulting and robbing a prelate, to extricate him from which difficulty his father was obliged to pay handsomely. As he grew to manhood, his passions, never curbed, grew more violent; hatred and lust ruled supreme in his soul, and he hesitated at nothing which might gratify these dominating influences. He was twice married, three children being the issue of the first union, while his second wife, a widow named Lucretia, brought him no offspring. He was cordially detested, alike by his children, and their stepmother. Beatrice Cenci, his only daughter, is said to have been one of the handsomest women in Italy; indeed, she is still known as the “Beautiful Parricide.” Her beauty seems to have excited unnatural passions in the breast of her depraved father, who is said to have accomplished her ruin. Besides this, he is accused of having hired assassins to kill his two sons. Beatrice appealed to her friends and likewise to the Pope, Clement VII., for protection and redress, but failed to receive it. Despairing of aid and constantly persecuted by her most unnatural father, she seems to have conspired with her stepmother and her brother Giacomo to put him to death. One account makes the three the executors of their own terrible sentence of death. Another version of the tragedy informs us that the conspirators hired two assassins, one of whom was the steward of Francesco Cenci, to put him to death. The assassination took place in the castle upon one of his Neapolitan estates, where he was accustomed to spend a portion of each year. The method adopted was at once unique and horrible. One of the murderers held a sharpened nail above one of the eyes of the nobleman as he lay sound asleep, while the other drove it into his brain with a blow from MOTIVES FOR HO MIC ID E-R E V E N G E 57 a hammer. This done, the body was thrown from a window into the branches of a tree, the intention being to make it appear that he had fallen from the window and received his death—wound upon one of the many sharp points with which the tree abounded. This part of the plot miscarried; the body fell to the ground, and the murderers fled for their lives. A reward being placed upon their heads by the government of Naples, one of them was killed, while the other, being cap- tured, made a full confession. The Cenci family were arrested, and Giacomo and Beatrice were put to the torture. Giacomo confessed, but Beatrice persisted in her innocence. They were all convicted and executed in August, 1599. Historians are not wanting, however, who allege that Beatrice was entirely innocent of all complicity in the affair, but was the victim of an infernal plot. The result of the labors of the most recent investigator of this dark and myste- rious crime, Bertolotti, are far from supporting this theory. Drawing his information largely from original documents, he says that Beatrice, at the time she murdered her father—for he concluded that she was the direct cause of his death— instead of being only sixteen years of age, as has long been asserted, was really twenty-one, and possessed of a somewhat tarnished reputation. More than that, he asserts that she was far from beautiful, and that the sweet and mournful counte- nance which forms one of the chief treasures of the Barberina Palace in Rome, copies of which are to be seen all over the world, is not the portrait of Beatrice, and, moreover, was not even painted by Guido, to whom it has long been unhesi- tatingly attributed. Fiction generally proves more powerful than history, and, even if Bertolotti is right in his conclusions, the character of the “Beautiful Parricide,” as drawn by Shelley and other romantic authors, will doubtless continue to be adopted as correct. Whatever the exact facts were, it is evident that the morals of Italy three hundred years ago were exceedingly debased, and that most encouraging advancement has been made since those evil times. An instance of homicide of peculiar atrocity, from the 58 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S motive of revenge, occurred at Hoddesden, England, early in the present century. The perpetrator of the outrageous crimes —for his thirst for vengeance was not satisfied with one victim —was Thomas Simmons, a servant. He was the son of poor parents, and at an early age had been taken into the employ- ment of a Mr. Boreham, of that place. He remained with this gentleman for a number of years, but at the age of nineteen was discharged on account of his brutal disposition, of which he had given a number of exhibitions. There was in the house a servant named Elizabeth Harris, a woman many years Simmons' senior, with whom he appears to have fallen violently in love. He persisted in paying her his addresses after she, upon the advice of her mistress, had declined to have any- thing further to say to him Upon leaving his place, the villain vowed vengeance upon both mistress and maid, and, shortly afterward, on the 20th of October, 1807, he proceeded to carry his threats into execution. On that day there were present in the house Mr. and Mrs. Boreham, their four daughters, Elizabeth Harris and a Mrs. Hummerstone. Shortly after nine o'clock in the evening, the party in the parlor heard a loud altercation in the back part of the house, which proceeded from Simmons and Elizabeth Harris, the latter having refused him admission. The villain attempted to stab the woman by plunging a knife through the lattice window, but did not succeed in reaching her. Mrs. Hummerstone having in the meantime opened the rear door, the murderous wretch rushed in and stabbed her in the jugular vein, causing almost instant death. Instead of being satisfied, the revengeful rage of Simmons seems only to have been stimulated by his first deed of blood. Rushing into the parlor, he brandished his bloody knife and swore that he would have the lives of all of them. His next victim was Mrs. Warner, the eldest daughter of Mr. Boreham. Before she could rise from her chair, the wretch repeatedly stabbed her in the neck and breast, causing wounds from which she almost immediately died. The other daughters escaped by running upstairs. The scoundrel then aimed a fierce blow at the jugular vein of Mrs. Boreham, but only - MOTIVES FOR H O M I CID E-R E V E N G E 59 inflicted a severe flesh wound, which did not prove mortal. After this he made a most desperate and determined effort to slay the servant, towards whom he seemed to bear the great- est animosity, but, after being badly wounded, she succeeded in gaining the street and giving the alarm. Several people responded to her affrighted cries. Some of them turned their attention to the wounded, while the others began a search for the murderer, who was thought to be still upon the premises. After a long search he was discovered in a corn-crib in the farm-yard, and was at once apprehended. His captors bound him so tightly to prevent all chance of his escaping that the thongs stopped the circulation of his blood. He was found in the morning in an almost dying condition, but was revived by restoratives. Mr. Boreham was a Quaker of such a pronounced type that he declined to prosecute the inhuman wretch who had mur- dered his daughter, Mrs. Warner. Simmons was tried at the Hertford Assizes on March 4, 1808, for the murder of Mrs. Hummerstone. Not only were the foregoing facts proved against him, but the murderer had confessed his crime to the coroner, declaring that it had been his intention to kill Mrs. Boreham, Mrs. Warner and Elizabeth Harris. Thomas Sim- mons was hanged on March 7, 1808, and died without mani- festing the slightest indication of concern or repentance. In this case the motive was clearly revenge. At the same time, the homicidal impulse was fully developed. There was not the slightest evidence of insanity, and we can hardly con- ceive of a mere boy of nineteen years planning and deliber- ately carrying into execution a wholesale series of murders, unless the desire to kill had been present in such force as to overcome all considerations of humanity and prudence. In Thomas Simmons, the passion to kill others was stronger than the 10ve of his own 11 fe. The pages of criminal history are well filled with similar cases. What we term “love”—the highest and best impulse of the human heart—often appears to turn into its antithesis, as sweet wine becomes vinegar, and develops into the most cruel and relentless hatred, accompanied by a deep-seated 6o M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S desire for revenge. It may be remarked that this does not occur in truly humane people, however grievous their wrongs. Simmons was of a brutal disposition, and gave free swing to low passions. In the author's experience and observation, crimes of this class are always perpetrated by people pos- sessing depraved natures. Revenge is one of the deepest-seated of all human passions. In some people it seldom manifests itself, and when it does, passes away with the momentary cause that provoked it. In others, and perhaps a majority of mankind, grievances, real or imaginary, are treasured up, and the thought of vengeance constantly entertained. As a rule, however, revenge does not ordinarily take the form of murder. To deprive one of his life is, indeed, to exact the greatest possible punishment; But the revengeful heart desires to gloat over its victim, to note his sufferings and perhaps taunt and mock him. When death has stepped in, this is unattainable. Murders from the motive of revenge are very frequently to be ascribed to rage, which, though it generally subsides after a “cooling time” has intervened, is often revived by a word, a look, or some trivial circumstance, and becomes more uncontrollable than ever. Yet feelings of revenge are often long entertained, and prove, after the lapse of years, the moving cause of homicide. One of the most striking instances of this kind occurred over a hundred years ago, in England. It was a case of matricide, one of the most detestable and unnatural crimes of which the 1numan mind can conceive. The details in this case are very meagre, as they rightly should be in so revolting a crime. William Farmery, a young man not yet of age, killed his mother by stabbing her in the throat with a knife. He was at once apprehended, and made full confession. He stated that his mother had punished him some three years before, and that he had then formed the deter- mination to take her life. On the occasion of the murder she had reproved him for some trifling matter, upon which he arose and left the house. Having deliberately sharpened his knife upon a whetstone, he re-entered the house and surprised his MOTIVES FOR H O M I C ID E_RE V E N G E 61 mother in the act of making his bed. Unmindful of the fact that she was his mother, who had always loved and cherished him, and was at that moment working for his comfort, he threw her down and took her life. He was executed August 5, 1775, and manifested neither repentance nor concern. A worse instance than this case can hardly be found in the annals of crime. It shows an utterly depraved heart, bereft of those natural impulses that control even dumb brutes. It likewise discloses a disposition to slay, for the motive was too trifling to have induced him to commit such a heinous offense without the murderotis impulse being present in his heart. In the Latimer case, detailed in Chapter VI. of this volume, a young man murdered a woman whom he firmly believed to be his mother, but a stronger motive was present. He was in financial difficulty, and needed ready money to carry on his debauches. By killing his mother he expected to secure wealth. In the present instance, the motive of cupidity did not exist. Young Farmery killed his mother for revenge and to gratify the homicidal impulse, which evidently possessed him. - A homicide surrounded with unusual circumstances, though clearly chargeable to the motive of revenge, occurred in Chicago, in the year 1869. The perpetrator of this most brutal and unprovoked crime was one Daniel Walsh, the vic- tim being a very handsome girl named Rose Weldon. The facts in this interesting case, as given here, were recently obtained from Mr. Joseph H. Dixon, who at the time of the occurrence was chief of detectives of the city of Chicago. Walsh came to Chicago from Buffalo, N. Y., in 1861. Soon after he went south to St. Louis, and in 1864 enlisted in the army. He was in the battle of Wilson's Creek, and was at the side of General Nathaniel Lyon when the 1atter was shot. At the close of the war Walsh returned to Chicago, and worked as a hack-driver and 1ater as driver of a street-car. It was while in the 1atter employment that he first met Rose Weldon, whom he married and killed. Rose was well known for her beauty. She lived on the West Side, and after leaving school worked in a millinery 62 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S store at 143 Lake Street. Her people were respectable and hard-working, and she contributed to the support of the family. The acquaintance between Walsh and the young girl soon developed to an intimacy. Walsh was a constant caller, and Rose regarded the good-looking young man's attentions with favor. When marriage was suggested, however, it met with family opposition. Walsh was unknown, and there were suspicions as to his past. Opposition only threw a dash of romance into the courting, and the two were wedded at the Church of the Holy Family, February 6, 1869. After the ceremony the couple went to the bride's home, and a few hours later the husband had deserted her without giving any Ca.11Se. After a few days Rose returned to her work at the mil- linery store. She saw nothing of her husband, but learned through the Buffalo police that he had deserted a wife and child in that place. Thereupon she began a suit for divorce on the ground of desertion. When the decree was granted, Walsh's employers heard of the matter, and he was dis- charged. Then came the murder. Walsh believed Rose was respon- sible for his discharge, and, according to the evidence of the trial, threatened revenge. The day before the shooting he bought a revolver. The next day he left his boarding thouse on 22d Street, and went to the millinery establishment where Rose worked. When she came out he stepped from an adjacent doorway. She started to run, but he followed and urged her to listen to him, as he wished a reconciliation. As she reached the door of her father's house he drew his revolver and shot her in the side. As the girl fell her brother Dick rushed from the house and grappled with Walsh. He would have killed him if the 1atter had not offered to kill himself. Walsh begged for the revolver which had been wrenched from him, saying: “Don’t shoot me, Dick! Give me the gun and I'll kill myself.” But when he had gained his feet and been given the weapon he started on a run. He was caught by a policeman, who had been attracted by the shoot- ing, and was walked by the latter nearly a mile to the nearest MOTIVES FOR HO MIC ID E-R E V E N G E 63 station. All the way an angry mob had to be held at bay by the officer. For ten days Rose Weldon lingered between life and death. During all this time her afflicted father was constantly by her side, and was not known to have either eaten or slept. He survived her but one hour, and they were buried together. Mrs. Weldon was prostrated with grief, and died of a broken heart five days before Walsh was taken to the penitentiary. The murderer was tried in November, 1869. A clear case was made by the prosecution and no defense was offered. Walsh was promptly found guilty and sentenced to be hanged December Io, 1869. If ever a man should have expiated his crimes upon the scaffold, that man was Daniel Walsh. He had won the affec- tions of a mere school-girl, married her while he had a lawful wife living, deserted her almost immediately after the mar- riage ceremony, and deliberately taken her life because she had obtained a divorce from him. The wrong-doing was all his own, yet, because the publicity given to the affair had cost him his situation, he was seized with a devilish desire for revenge which he lost no time in satisfying. Every com- munity abounds with sentimental people who would stand by and see a poor woman go to jail for stealing a loaf of bread for her starving children, and then exert themselves to the utmost to save from the justly-merited fate awarded by the 1aw a self- confessed murderer. Exactly this thing happened in the present case. A number of the most prominent people of Chicago interested themselves in the cause of Walsh. Peti- tions asking for a reprieve were circulated and freely signed. The Governor refused to grant it; whereupon the man who had gone to the State Capitol to urge executive clemency sent the following dispatch to Chicago. “All right; I will return by next train.” This was on the day fixed for the execution, and was taken to indicate that a reprieve had been granted. Extra newspapers announcing a reprieve were at once issued, and Walsh was jubilant. Hearing of this, the Governor tele- graphed a reprieve of four weeks. The efforts in behalf of the condemned man were at once redoubled. The Governor 64 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S was besieged with petitions and delegations of sentimentalists, At the last moment the sentence was changed to imprison- ment for life, and the brutal wife-murderer escaped the fatal noose. He died recently in the penitentiary at Joliet, where he had been a prisoner for more than a quarter of a century. CHAPTER V CUP ID IT Y. – L A C E N AIR E —T H E “T H R E E ITALIANS” Of all the commandments in the Decalogue, “Thou shalt not steal,” is the one, probably, most frequently violated, and hence occupies a position of foremost importance. From the earliest and rudest times the right to possess and control prop- erty has been earnestly maintained. In the laws of all nations a man is justified in defending his property, even to the taking of human life. Indeed, property is often put above life. Shakespeare makes Shylock say: “You do take my life when you do take the means by which I live.” This almost uni- versal desire of possessing, or cupidity, lies at the root of a 1ong category of crimes, beginning with trifling theft and ending with murder. And yet, the desire for wealth, when restricted to proper limits and softened and controlled by justice and humanity, so far from being culpable, is to be highly commended, for without it civilization would be an impossibility. The man who fashioned the first rude spear and fishing-hook considered them his own and fought as desper- ately for their possession as the modern banker would for his well-filled vaults. This deep-seated feeling or instinct has 1eveled forests, planted vineyards, multiplied flocks and herds, builded cities and ships, discovered new continents—in a word, subdued the earth. It appears that those qualities of human nature from which the most valuable results are obtained are the most subject to perversion and provide the most numerous instances of sin and crime. Acquisitiveness furnishes no exception to this rule, and its unchecked career, as already suggested, is almost cer- tain to culminate in the commission of crime. To reap where we have not sown and gather where we have not strewn; to 65 66 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S obtain more of this world's goods than falls as the just portion of our own labor, presupposes that we benefit by the industry and thrift of others. From what is termed “shrewdness” in driving bargains to plain and simple theft, the transition is “as easy as lying.” Although a crime separate and distinct in itself, larceny can seldom be accomplished without involv. ing the perpetrator in other and frequently more heinous offenses. Of the multitude of cases of homicide in which the author has been employed, by far the great majority—nearly all of them, in fact—have had their origin in motives of cupidity. Footpads assault and kill a man; horse-thieves shoot down the pursuing owner; burglars chloroform to death the sleeping inmates of the house they design to plunder, or deliberately slay them if they chance to become aroused; coiners and “moonshiners” shoot the meddling officers of the 1aw. In all of these cases, and in many others of a similar character, the motive is unlawful gain, and the more awful crime of murder is merely an adjunct to the lesser one of theft. While cupidity lies at the root of this class of crimes, it is often mingled with other motives. Since the days of Duval and Robin Hood, highwaymen have often chosen their victims with reference to the satisfaction of some ancient grudge; house-breakers frequently select the residence of an officer who has arrested them, or a judge who has pronounced upon them the sentence of the law. Even the homicidal impulse is sometimes called into play, and people put to death when their lives might have been spared without diminishing the amount of booty or imperiling the safety of the “operators.” These facts, well understood by all who have had any experience with criminals, or who possess even a slight acquaintance with their methods, demonstrate the awful risks incurred by one who enters upon the slightest course of wrong- doing, such as petty pilfering. While murder frequently results from sudden impulses, and does not always presuppose a long course of 1esser crimes, it is, in the observation of the author, which is abundantly sustained by the criminal annals of the world, generally the result of a series of evil acts, gradually increasing in enormity until they culminate in the T H E “T H R E E IT A L I A N S ’’ 67 taking of human life. Without assuming the rôle of a moral- ist, the writer would emphasize the fact that bad always leads to worse, and that the most hardened wretch who ever paid the death-penalty on the scaffold was once an innocent, prat- tling child. - The instances of homicide as resulting from cupidity fairly punctuate with dark and forbidding blots the pages of history. From the earliest times human life has been cheaply held. For ages bloody wars and private ventures in the domain of homicide retarded the world's development. The actors in the awful tragedies knew nothing of the theories of Malthus, but they none the less successfully retarded the growth of the world's population, and its civilization and enlightenment. Celebrated cases illustrating this motive of homicide are so numerous that only a small proportion of them can be given, but those presented will be chosen with a view of illustrating its various phases, and at the same time showing something of the different modes adopted by criminals to carry into execution their murderous plans and plots. Man is a social animal, and 1ongs for the companionship of his fellows. Nor is this disposition confined to those who lead proper lives and consort with proper people. The worst of men yearn for fellowship, and are really unhappy when deprived of it. As good men form intimate friendships and pursue 1audable ends in company, so the most depraved congregate together for the purpose of having some one to confide in, with whom past successes can be discussed and gloated over, and future ex- ploits planned; and likewise that they may the better carry their perfected schemes into execution. That some benefits accrue to scoundrels from this association, is undeniable, yet it gener- ally happens that, in the long run, it leads to their detection. There is some force in the old phrase, “honor among thieves,” but it falls far short of being universal. A thorough criminal, confronted with evidences of his guilt, will usually incriminate his accomplices, if by so doing he can save his own neck from the halter. Indeed, where he does not adopt this course, it is safe to say that he is guided by policy, not “honor.” 68 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S In the year 1854 there lived in No. 271 in the Passage du Cheval, Rouge St. Martin, in the city of Paris, an impudent rascal named Chardon. He had, according to the records of the police, served a term in the prison at Poissy, from which reformatory institution he had but recently been discharged. He had been confined there for 1arceny, and, as is the almost universal practice of such characters, at once resumed his criminal career. During his incarceration, as is common with rogues, he seems to have perfected a new scheme, for he proceeded to represent himself as a member of a society known as the “Charity of St. Cecilia.” In this guise, or, more properly, disguise, he went about the city selling devo- tional articles, such as rosaries, images, etc., made of cut glass, for which he was, on the plea of charity, enabled to obtain extravagant prices. His marked success so increased nis self-importance and assurance that he had the audacity to petition Marie Amelie for a subscription to assist him in estab- lishing an almshouse. More than this, so successful was his imposture, and so persuasive his representations, that he suc- ceeded in securing from the queen a contribution of ten thou- sand francs and a promise of further assistance. Although Chardon was not one of the gregarious sort of thieves, but usually kept his own council, he had not been able to avoid all publicity in carrying through his negotiations with the Queen, and rumors of his newly acquired wealth were heard among the low resorts, where he was a familiar figure. On December 17th, of the year before mentioned, about midday, two men, one tall and strongly built, the other of small stature and possessed of a very pale face, mounted the stairs of the wretched building where the impostor's apart- ments were located, and knocked upon the door. Receiving no answer, they began descending to the street, when, on the stairway, they met the rascal, who was without his coat, and had apparently been out on some trivial errand. Informed that the two men had called to see him on business, Chardon invited them to his rooms. No sooner had the door closed behind them than one of the visitors seized the astonished promoter of almshouses by the throat, while his companion T H E “T H R E E IT A L I A N S ’’ 69 produced a sharpened three-cornered file and stabbed the struggling wretch repeatedly, both in the back and breast. The impostor fell to the floor, probably dead, but to make cer- tain and at the same time secure his just share of the horrible “sport,” the shorter of the two assassins seized an ax, which happened to be at hand, and put the matter beyond all ques- tion. In the meantime—and here appears an advantage of hunting human life, after the manner of hounds, in pairs—in the meantime, the taller villain entered the adjoining apart- ment where the mother of the murdered man lay sick in bed. Again the improvised poniard was pressed into service, and the old woman was fatally stabbed. This bloody double murder accomplished, the two scoun- drels threw a mattress over the dead woman's body and pro- ceeded to ransack the drawers of an old bureau that stood behind the bed. In them they discovered some silver dish covers, a large fur-lined cloak, a black silk cap and five hun- dred francs in gold. Hastily dividing the plunder, the two “friends in crime” hurried from the premises. On the staircase they met two persons who stopped them and inquired after Chardon. The taller of the two murderers replied that they too had been looking for him, but were told that he was absent from home. He then donned the black silk cap, while his companion enveloped his form in the stolen cloak, and the two lost no time in repairing to a notorious thieves' resort, a café in the Boulevard du Temple. It may appear strange that such minute details can be given of this most sanguinary occurrence, but it must be remembered that the police methods of Paris were in that day far in advance of those pursued in the provinces. More than that, the examining magistrates of France, even at the present day, possess powers which they freely, not to say brutally, exercise, that are altogether unknown in America or England. Instead of being regarded as innocent until proven guilty, the accused is regarded as guilty until adjudged innocent, and is examined in a manner calculated to make him incriminate himself. Thanks to accurate police records he is confronted with his past life and so badgered that he often breaks down 7o M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S upon his preliminary examination and confesses everything. If the first inquiry does not prove satisfactory, he is remanded to solitary confinement, often for many days, and is re-exam- ined as many times as may be deemed advisable. In this way, long after the occurrence, many of the gruesome details of this case were obtained. With the stolen money and the proceeds of the silver, the two thieves, for murder with them was but a necessary inci- dent of theft, proceeded to “make merry.” In the meantime they combined business with pleasure, and concocted a plan for further profitable villainy. They were “in funds” now and proposed to do something more “respectable” than vulgar house-breaking and ordinary murder. In accordance with their determination, they procured, the very next day, three small rooms on an upper floor of a large apartment house, or “hotel,” in the Rue Monteguil, where they represented themselves as law students. Their plan was to decoy bankers' clerks to their rooms, under one pretense or another, where they were to be murdered and robbed. This was to be done at a time of day when the clerks were usually entrusted with considerable sums of money; so the scheme promised 1arge returns. The plans of the wicked seem often to prosper in this world, but in this instance a temporary back-set was experienced. Immediately after their assump- tion of the dignity of law students, the shorter of the two assassins was arrested by the police on some trifling charge. His tall accomplice was not discouraged by this quite ordinary occurrence, neither does he seem to have grieved deeply for his imprisoned “friend,” for he lost no time in securing another partner in the yet untried business of murdering and robbing bank-clerks. He soon found a man in the person of a tailor, named Battou. He was a tailor in a little more than name, since he only used his trade, at which he seldom worked, as a cloak for his criminal practices. He principally devoted his time to thieving and serving at the Opera Comique as a supernumerary. Battou had taken but a few degrees in the great Parisian university of crime, and the T H E “T H R E E IT A L I A N S ’’ 7I proposal to enter into a scheme involving robbery, with the awful accompaniment of murder, was quite appalling to him. This must not be ascribed to conscience—he seemed to have had little enough of that—but he lacked the requisite courage to become a participant in anything so hazardous. He proved none the 1ess valuable, however, for he introduced the tall assassin to a man after his own heart. This was an old sol- dier, named Francois, who had served in the bloody wars in Northern Africa, and who announced himself as quite ready to kill a man for a consideration of twenty francs. The two congenial spirits were not long in reaching a mutual under- standing, and proceeded to at once put into execution the plan already formulated. - - A few days later, on December twenty-ninth, to be exact, the tall rascal sallied forth to start into motion the plot that was to terminate in robbery and murder. He repaired to the banking house of Messrs. Mallet & Co., where he presented a draft upon one Mahossier. He requested the firm to have his bill presented to the drawer for payment, and gave his resi- dence as being in the Rue Monteguil. It is almost unneces- sary to state that the number he gave corresponded with the one where the murderous den of the two assassins was located. The trap was now set, and the bait nicely adjusted. No detail had been omitted, even the name of the imaginary debtor, Mahossier, having been carefully chalked upon the door, and an arrangement made with the concierge of the building, by which any one inquiring for Mahossier should be directed to their apartments. Everything being now fully arranged, the tall man, who, like the wooden-legged Croc, whose career has been narrated in a preceding chapter, was of a literary turn of mind, com- placently lighted his pipe and proceeded to read, not the startling figures of Malthus, but a chapter from an almost equally dangerous author, Rosseau. The old African cam- paigner, who was educated in nothing except crime, and lacked the cultivated taste of his companion in crime, occupied himself in tugging at his dirty red beard. This must not be attributed to nervousness—Francois was no novice in the art 72 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S of murder—but rather to impatience and a feeling that time, and hence money, was being lost. At length the sound of a footstep fell upon the strained hear- ing of the listening wretch, and he nudged his companion to arouse him from the entertaining work that was engrossing his every attention. A moment later came the knock at the door for which the two plotters had been waiting, and which promised to be to them the “open sesame” to fortune. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon when Francois opened the door, and, with as near an approach to a smile as his hard face could be brought to assume, admitted a young man who announced that he had called to collect a draft from M. Mahossier. Whether the tall man doubted the nerve or ability of his accomplice or was unwilling to permit him to cut a distinguished figure in their first business venture, he did not wait for him to carry out his allotted part, but varied the agreed programme by producing the sharpened file with which he had already dispatched at least two victims, and ran the point of the improvised but none the less deadly weapon, into the breast of the unsuspecting boy. In spite of the awful wound, the victim was able to utter vigorous screams. Instead of grasping him by the throat, Francois attempted to close his mouth with his hand. With a blow of his elbow the struggling clerk sent him staggering back and redoubled his outcries. Something of a panic now possessed the would-be assassins, who made ready to quit the apartment, but not until they had relieved the wounded messenger of the bag which contained his afternoon's collections, amounting to twenty-four thousand francs in gold and bank- notes. - As if to furnish a striking illustration of the real nature of the “honor” that exists among thieves, the old veteran of Africa, his only thought being for himself, ran from the room, leaving his accomplice locked in. Nothing daunted, the prisoner threw himself upon the door and soon succeeded in forcing the imperfect lock and making good his escape. Left to himself, the wounded boy attempted to descend the stairs, but, faint from the loss of blood, fell forward into the T H E “T H R E E IT ALIANS” 73 arms of the concierge, who had been attracted by the outcry and was in the act of ascending to ascertain its cause. The immediate future career of the two desperadoes was never made clear, but it was ascertained that they visited Issy in company, doubtless on some criminal errand. Some time after they reappeared in Paris, where, after committing some petty thefts, they seem to have parted company. Law–breakers cannot forever avoid detection and arrest, and Francois soon found himself within the strong state prison at Poissy, but not for the crime committed in the Rue Monteguil, with which the police had not connected him. Shortly after the ‘‘retirement” of the old soldier to a place where he received no half-pay, the tall assassin was arrested at Beaure, where he had made an unsuccessful attempt to secure money by representing himself as a clerk of a noted Parisian house, giving the name of Jacob Levi. In the meantime, the police had not been idle, but their most assiduous efforts to identify and locate the murderers of the Chardons in the Cheval Rouge had been ineffectual. Not 1ong after the incarceration of Francois at Poissy, a report reached the police that the convict had revealed the name of the murderer, and that, according to his statement, the assassin was a tall man named Lacenaire, who was well known to the police authorities of Paris. The 1atter was located with- out difficulty, and placed under arrest. Upon being informed of the treachery of his “friend,” he flew into a veritable transport of rage, swore that he would have revenge in kind, and offered to make a full confession. Closely questioned by the examining magistrate, the details of the two awful crimes were 1aid bare, and the short pale-faced man who had been his accomplice in the Chardon murder, and whose name was Aveil, was apprehended. The three prisoners were speedily tried for their terrible crimes. When the prison doors closed upon Lacenaire, he evidently realized that his infamous course was almost run. Bent upon enjoying to the utmost all that could be obtained from his few remaining days of life, he proceeded to pose as a philosopher and poet, writing verses and quoting from famous authors. 74 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S In fact, he had already attained considerable notoriety as a writer of treasonable matters, and while he was in confine- ment three men were tried in Paris for publishing a volume of insurrectionary songs, a number of which were from the pen of the polished murderer. One day a favorite cat that he was allowed to keep in his cell offended him in some way, and, in a sudden burst of rage, he killed it. This done, he sat down and proceeded, for the entertainment of the guards and the gratification of his own inordinate vanity, to analyze the impulses and emotions that had led to the act. “Strange,” said this curious mixture of sentimentalist and monster, by way of conclusion, “that I regard the agony of that animal with a compassion I never felt for one of my human victims. The sight of a corpse, or a death agony, produced no effect upon me. I kill a man just as I drink a glass of water.” In one respect, however, this strange monstrosity was entirely consistent. He had confessed his crime, knowing well that the capital penalty would attach to himself in consequence of his confession, and he was willing to surrender his own 1ife in order that he might obtain revenge upon those who had betrayed him. During the whole period of his confinement he expressed, and doubtless felt, an earnest longing for the day of his trial to arrive, in order that he might have the satisfac- tion of witnessing the conviction and listening to the sentence pronounced upon his accomplice. His chief recreation while in his cell was in occupying himself as an author. A young advocate who had volunteered to defend him died suddenly while he was in prison. The last words of the law- yer were, “Alas, I shall reach there before him.” Lacenaire, on being told of this, remarked, with a real or assumed phi- 1osophy, “Eh, Bien, sooner or later it comes to that. No doubt he suffered much before he went. I shall suffer less; I know that well enough.” Although Lacenaire was primarily induced to commit mur- der through motives of cupidity, there was in his depraved heart a strong impulse of revenge. His confessing bloody deeds that might have been proved with considerable diffi- culty, in order to condemn to the guillotine the man who had T H E “T H R E E IT A L I A N S ’’ 75 betrayed him, clearly demonstrated this. He chided the 1aw's delay, and, unmindful, or rather indifferent, that each day forced him nearer and nearer to the horrid scaffold with its gleaming, death-dealing knife, eagerly counted the passing days that brought him nearer and nearer to his deeply cher- ished revenge. The time came at last, and on the 12th day of November the sensational trial began. Lacenaire wished to offer no defense, but an advocate was appointed for him by the Government. It is a somewhat singular fact that the more desperate the criminal on trial, and the more heartrending and gruesome the evidence to be offered, the more women—women of education and refine- ment, too—will crowd into a court-room. The crimes of the assassin had stirred Paris to its foundations; besides, all felt an interest in the monster who was willingly, gladly, going to the guillotine if only he could take his enemies with him, and a large number of ladies were present at the opening of the court. Lacenaire seemed to appreciate this, and to regard it as in the nature of an ovation. He was dressed with care and taste, and met each eager, curious look with a smile of mingled complacency and importance. His manners appeared so polished and his face so intelligent and refined, that the spec- tators could hardly believe him the monster he had been depicted. Francois and Aveil, who seemed vulgar brutes in comparison with him, sat sullen and despairing. Whenever the evidence told strongly against his accomplices, he looked at them with an expression of fiendish delight; at other times he read a book, glanced around the crowded court-room or conversed smilingly with his counsel. It was not found difficult to show the complicity of Francois and Aveil. One Frechard, an ex-convict of Poissy, testified that during his confinement he had once saved a turnkey from death at the hands of Aveil. After his discharge from the prison he had met Aveil in Paris, when the 1atter had told him of the plan to murder and rob the Chardons and invited him to join the “enterprise.” Battou, the pretended tailor, was also produced in court; he tremblingly admitted his guilty knowledge of the plot to murder bank-messengers, and also 76 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S that he had introduced Francois to Lacenaire, as the best man in Paris for the proposed scheme. As to the murders in the Cheval Rouge, medical experts testified that the assassin must have wounded himself from the violence of the blows, from the circumstance that the handle of the file was covered with blood. This evidence would appear to us as rather far-fetched, yet Lacenaire readily admitted it, and, in reply to a denial from Aveil, exhibited a scar upon the palm of his right hand, and with a contemptuous smile, calmly resumed the reading of his book. In giving his testimony, Lacenaire thus explained his reasons for denouncing Aveil and Francois: ‘‘Vengeance is my only motive. Life I do not want. For a long time I nave lived only in the past. For a 10mg time, every night, death has been sitting on my bed. Those who think I would receive a commutation are mistaken. A pardon you cannot give me, no, I shall not ask it of you, it would be valueless to me.” When, calm and smiling, he reseated himself, many young lawyers crowded about him to congratulate him on his Brilliant debut. “Ma foi,” he said; “life is a combat. I have played well, but I have been beaten. Society did not want me when I was good for something. Whose fault was that?’” In his turn, Francois said to the jury: “You have heard that orator.” Then turning to Lacenaire, who was regard- ing him with a sardonic smile, he shouted: “Yes, miserable scoundrel! You, who would kill every human being; it is you who drive me to the scaffold. Hear, Lacenaire; I go to death! But I shall go without fear. I shall die innocent. But you, you will turn coward at the moment of death.” “Better sooner than later,” was Lacenaire's remark when he was awakened for the last time on earth, “to-morrow, if it is to be to-morrow; now if it is to be now.” Then opening the manuscript volume of his memoirs which he had been preparing, he quietly wrote a final paragraph and committed it to his guard with the request that it should be given out at once for publication. This paragraph, written as it was by a man standing on the brink of eternity, whose eyes were T H E “T H R E E IT ALIAN S ’’ 77 already raised toward the fatal knife whose descent was to send him before his final judge, is worth repeating here. “Adieu,” he wrote, “to those who have loved me, and to those who have cursed me The latter are right. And you who read these memoirs, whose every page is steeped in blood, though you will not read them till the executioner has wiped my blood from his steel triangle, give me a place in your memory. Adieu!” The three miscreants were executed together. Contrary to the prediction of Francois, Lacenaire died without seeming fear, as he had lived without apparent conscience. In his case, the “machine” did not work properly, the grooves having become swollen from the dampness. Several times the horrid knife was released from its fastenings, but refused to fall far enough to accomplish its sanguinary task, and some minutes passed before his head finally dropped into the basket. What the mental sufferings of the wretch were during those dread- ful moments, none can even conjecture, but the people of Paris fairly gloated over the incident, and announced them- selves as satisfied with his punishment Sanson, who executed Lacenaire, denies this incident in his “Memoirs of the San- sons,” but the official report is against him. No man likes to admit that he has bungled in his work. To the average reader the character of Lacenaire is a strange mingling of contradictions. To conceive a man at once author and assassin, scholar and scoundrel, poet and murderer, is extremely difficult; yet such was the wretch, some of whose glaring crimes we have here outlined. The sympathy which he gave to cats he withheld from his own species. The coldness of his nature, which enabled him to perpetrate the basest of crimes without compunction, turned to fire when his own personal wrongs were to be avenged. If, however, we accept as true the theory that there is, dormant in most human breasts, but almost universally exist- ing, an impulse to slay, Lacenaire's character is not difficult to analyze. Possessed of a bright intellect and fruitful in resources, he could have robbed the Chardons and the bank messengers without staining his hands with blood. As a 78 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S matter of fact, he had passed the point where the perpetration of an ordinary crime satisfied the evil promptings of his depraved and perverted heart. So the boy, whose tongue is bitten by the first glass of wine he drinks, if he follows the tempter long and faithfully enough will see the day when fiery alcohol will not assuage the fiendish thirst that rages within him Crime cannot be trifled with, or be made a play- thing. It must be absolutely eschewed. Let the reader, the young reader most especially, remem- ber that Lacenaire was once as innocent and light-hearted as inimself. To further illustrate the little reliance that can be placed in the “honor” of thieves, and to show how far fellowship and friendship can be relied upon to protect one from the cupidity of the vicious and depraved, a recent Chicago case of homicide will be cited. The actors in this bloody drama, which attracted world-wide attention at the time of its enactment, were a11 Italians. For the better comprehension of the reader, the facts will be presented in a narrative form, and in the order in which they were discovered by the police. Although the crime was committed in Chicago, the first evidence of it was discovered in the city of Pittsburg. On the first day of May, 1885, the body of a man was found in a trunk at the Union Depot in that city. Before the trunk—which was a large one of the cheapest construction—was opened, it was noticed that one end was much heavier than the other. The body was doubled up, the 10wer limbs being tied together with a rope. The face was badly discolored, while a slender cord was wound about the neck and brought down to the wrists, around which it was firmly knotted. Their first awful shock of horror over, the employés who had forced open the trunk notified the police, who in turn telegraphed the partic- ulars to the authorities in Chicago, from which city the trunk appeared to have been checked. At almost the same moment the police of Chicago were placed in possession of a promising clue to the mystery. An Italian called at the police headquarters and reported that his brother, Filippo Caruso, a fruit-vender, was missing. He T H E “T H R E E IT A L I A N S ’’ 79 had left his home two days before, and had then upon his per- son some three hundred dollars in currency. Caruso had made diligent search for his brother in all sections of the city where he was known, but without obtaining the slightest information. The officers suggested that the body reported as found in Pittsburg might be that of his brother, but this the unhappy man refused to believe possible. The police at once took the case in hand. From the brother of the murdered man they learned that the latter, who was of a most amiable disposition, having saved considerable money from his business of fruit peddling, had remitted funds to Italy to bring over to America three of his boyhood friends. These three men were domiciled in Tilden Avenue, a small and, at that time, rather disreputable street, in the west division of the city, only a few doors from the house where the Carusos lived. The early friendship existing between these four Italians appeared to have been intensified by the kindness and generosity of the missing man, who was a frequent visitor at their rooms. The three men were well acquainted with the financial condition of Filippo, and knew where he carried his money. The first move of the police was an effort to 10cate these men. It was quickly learned that the entire trio had disap- peared from Tilden Avenue about the time Caruso had been missed, and careful inquiry among their acquaintances failed to discover a trace of them. In the meantime, the brother of Filippo had gone to Pittsburg to view the remains of the mur- dered man found at the Union Depot. He immediately and completely identified the body as that of his brother. The grief of the unhappy man was exaggerated by the circum- stance that he had intrusted his money to his brother, and was without the means to defray the expense of removing the remains to Chicago. The trunk had been checked from the Union Depot at Chicago, within two and one-half hours after Francesco Caruso had parted with his brother. The first step taken in the subsequent investigation looked toward the determination of the question, Who checked the trunk? The baggageman 8o M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S who had attached the check was easily found, and he said that he would be able readily to identify the person to whom he had given the corresponding check. He was able to give a good description of the man, and Chief Doyle telegraphed to Inspector Byrnes of New York to 10ok out for and arrest any Italian answering this description. It was not long before he was found and captured in a house on Wooster Street in that city, where he was temporarily stopping in company with a married Italian woman from Chicago. The husband and brother of this woman were taken into custody by the Chicago police, although there was little tangible evidence against them. The baggageman at the Union Depot, who had checked the trunk, was sent on to New York, where he fully identified the prisoner—whose name was Agostino Gelardi—as the indi- vidual who caused the trunk to be checked on the morning of Caruso's murder. A young boy whose family lived in the same house with the three men suspected of the crime, stated that he had seen a man answering the description of Gelardi carrying a large trunk up the stairs the morning of the disappearance, and that he had also seen the same man, in company with another Italian, bringing it down, some forty minutes later, when it appeared to be much heavier. The fact was especially impressed upon his memory by the circumstance that he had followed the man upstairs, prompted by a boyish curiosity to 1earn what was to be done with the trunk. Gelardi, display- ing a large knife, had ordered him away under threat of kill- ing him if he remained. Further investigation resulted in finding the expressman who had hauled the trunk from a corner, some few blocks distant, to the Union Depot. Upon seeing it at the Central Station, he fully identified it as the one which he had carried in his wagon. The other two men who had lived in the room with Gelardi were subsequently captured in Chicago. They were all much terrified, and each began to implicate the others while attempting to exonerate himself. Finally, the whole story was disclosed. Knowing that Caruso was in the habit of carrying a considerable sum of money about him, they con- GE 77. PAC EXECUTION OF LACENAIRE. T H E “T H R E E IT A L I A N S ’’ 81 ceived the idea of murdering him in order to obtain it. They resolved upon strangling him, and, in order to accomplish their purpose, devised a rather ingenious scheme. On the morning of April 30th, while Caruso was visiting them at their room, it was suggested that the four mutually shave each other. To this proposition their intended victim readily assented, and when it came his turn to occupy the extem- porized barber's chair, one of the three villains hastily threw a rope around his neck and strangled him to death. The leg of his trousers, in which he carried his money, was then ripped open, and the plunder taken out and divided among the con- spirators. After the perpetration of the crime they separated and sought safety, one in flight, the others in concealment. “The three Italians,” as they were commonly spoken of at this time, Agostino Gelardi, Aguazio Silvestri and Giovanni Azari, were found guilty of murder on July 1, 1885, and 1ater were executed together. The two other suspected Italians were tried with them and acquitted. CHAPTER VI CIR C U M STANTIAL EVIDEN C E – S E V E R AL CAS ES An almost unlimited number of cases could be cited to show the fallacy of the oft-quoted aphorism, “Murder will out.” Such cases work injury to society in many ways. In the first place, the cruel, revengeful or avaricious criminal goes unpunished, thus lessening the general respect for the law, and encouraging the perpetrator to indulge in similar crimes. Again, the public misses the salutary effects that would result from the detection and adequate punishment of the criminal, and others, who have entered courses of crime, but have hitherto halted this side the awful commandment, “Thou shalt not kill,” remarking the good fortune of the undetected wretch, may be, and no doubt often are, tempted to “push beyond the mark,” and write upon their faces the awful and ineffaceable mark of Cain. But a still greater evil remains in the wake of undetected murder. Although the perpetrator be never discovered, in the sense of being brought to justice, there are usually no end of theories advanced, involv. ing many persons, some of whom at least, in the nature of things, must be entirely innocent. Thus thousands of people annually pass under a cloud so dark and oppressive as to destroy their usefulness and embitter their lives, together with those of many others who are connected with them by blood and association. Innocent people are often suspected of crime, but when the mystery is cleared up, the dark veil lifts, and, so far from injuring them, excites the sympathy and often the aid of those who, otherwise, would have despised and denounced them. In the cases of murder that long baffle the skill of the detect- ive to unravel, the first solution is often entirely different 82 cIRCU M STANTIAL EVIDENCE 83 from any theory that has been advanced by the numerous “Hawkshaws” that exist in every community on earth. That erratic and gruesome, but at the same time highly imaginative and logical, genius, Edgar Allan Poe, to whom reference has already been made in these pages, tells a story of the unravel- ing of a murder mystery in which the denouement showed that no murder had been committed within the strict definition of the term. While possessing a basis of substantial facts, many of the details are doubtless pure inventions of the imaginative author. The writer thinks that he has demon- strated the propriety of using fictitious illustrations when they have been evolved in a mind stored with historica1 and other facts, and trained to the exercise of logical methods. It will be given here in brief outline; not only as showing how ordinary theories are often wide at sea in solving complicated riddles in crime, thus explaining in part, at 1east, why so many murders go undetected, but as showing something of the true method of ferreting out criminals and utilizing cir- cumstantial evidence. Poe published this gruesome case under the title, “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” The crime whose history makes up the tale, occurred in the city of Paris, something like half a century ago. Two ladies, Mme. L’Espagne and her unmarried daughter, lived alone in a large house situated in one of the most densely populated portions of the great city. About two o'clock one morning, the entire neighborhood was aroused from slumber by a series of piercing shrieks, proceeding, apparently, from the L’Es- pagne house. But a few minutes elapsed before an excited throng gathered in the street. Receiving no response to 10ud knockings, the front door was broken open, and a number of men, some of them armed, rushed into the house. Finding the lower floor untenanted, they at once began ascending the stairs. While thus employed, those in advance distinctly heard two voices, seemingly engaged in angry altercation. No words were distinct enough to be understood, but the voices were quite marked and peculiar; one was coarse and bass, the other pitched in a high key. As to the fact that there were two people above, no doubt could be entertained. 84 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S The band of investigators rushed on until the fourth and last floor of the house was gained. Here they found the door closed and securely locked on the inside. Without delay it was broken down, and, with becoming caution, the foremost men entered a large bed-chamber, usually occupied by the 1adies, which was entirely untenanted. Evidences of a struggle were, however, everywhere apparent. The room was in the utmost disorder; the furniture was lying promiscu- ously about, an iron safe lay overturned upon the floor, while papers, clothing and various other articles were scattered about the floor. A closer examination of the premises disclosed upon the hearth a bloody razor and a large tuft of long grey hair, bedabbled with blood, while a quantity of soot directed the attention of the searchers to the chimney. An investigation showed that the flue was entirely closed with some unknown object, to remove which required the united strength of four strong men. To the horror of the spectators, it proved to be the dead body of Mlle. L’Espagne, which had evidently been forced up the flue, feet foremost. A hurried examination of the corpse disclosed many severe contusions and abrasions, but these might have been administered in the process of concealing it from view in the chimney. The cause of death was, however, apparent. The unfortunate young lady had died from strangulation. Her eyeballs were fairly projecting from their sockets; her tongue was extended, and had been literally bitten through as though in the intense agony of an awful death-struggle, while upon her throat marks of fingers of unusual size and length, mutely though plainly, told the story of the hideous crime. No trace of the elder 1ady could be found in the house, but her body was soon after discovered in the garden, with the head almost severed; apparently the work of the bloody razor. Nothing of value seemed to have been taken, the ladies were without known enemies, and the completely baffled police speedily abandoned the case as not susceptible of solution. But as the author's scheme included the unraveling of the strange mystery, he introduced a private individual, a prede- CIR C U M S T A N TIAL EVIDEN CE 85 cessor of the Sherlock Holmes of current literature, in the realm of amateur detective work, who succeeded in working out the problem to the smallest fraction. Readers of Dr. Doyle's books may, without being themselves largely gifted with detective ability, discover in the reasoning and methods of Poe's amateur something similar to those employed by the later hero of “The Sign of the Four.” Poe’s “Vidocq'' began by making a careful and minute examination of the premises. He satisfied himself that the first persons upon the scene had found the only door to the apartment locked on the inside, the chimney had been tightly closed by the dead body of the murdered young lady, hence the perpetrator of the crime must have made his exit by way of one of the windows. These he found closed both by nails and automatic springs. The nail in the window nearest the fireplace was much rusted, and the sash might well have been raised; indeed, appearances indicated that it had been. To 1eap from the window to a trellis adjoining, he judged a pos- sible though extremely hazardous undertaking. Not far from this window, however, was a lightning-rod which a trained athlete might have climbed. With all these facts in his possession, the investigator, after the method still employed in story books, retired to the seclusion of his own room and proceeded to reason out the solution. And here he exercised rare ability, and adopted methods of thought entirely reasonable and decidedly scien- tific. His system seems to have been the elimination of all theories impossible of accomplishment, thus reducing the problem to narrow limits. In the first place, no motive could be discerned for the fearful tragedy, yet, none the less, it had taken place. This pointed to an insane or irresponsible agent. To have carried the body of Mme. L’Espagne down the slender lightning-rod he decided to be something beyond the power of a man to accomplish—yet it had been found in the garden. The fact that the united strength of four men had been necessary to dislodge the body of the younger lady from the chimney flue proved quite conclusively that no two men could have placed it there. Again, the size and length of the 86 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S marks upon the neck of the murdered young lady indicated a hand larger than that of a human being, as also did the strength that had been exerted in strangling her and in pluck. ing a large mass of hair from the head of her mother. Lastly, the overturning of a safe weighing several hundred pounds pointed in the same direction. It is impossible that a man, or even two men, could have accomplished these things, argued the investigator, yet they were done. The impossible having been eliminated, the only possible remaining explanation is that the deed was not per- petrated by a human being, hence it must be charged to some member of the ape family, many of which possess strength and agility far in excess of any man. When the amateur had reached this most 1ogical conclusion, a greasy blue ribbon which he had found on the ground at the bottom of the 1ightning-rod, assumed an importance before unthought of. This ribbon was tied into a very curious knot, which, with the almost universal knowledge attributed to the hero of the modern novel we have referred to, Poe's investigator at once knew to be peculiar to the Maltese and to sailors employed on vessels plying to and from Maltese points. He concluded that some sailor, familiar with Malta and its peculiar customs, had Brought an ourang-outang to Paris, where it had escaped from its master, climbed the lightning-rod, murdered the two ladies, thrust the body of one up the chimney and carried the other down to the garden when leaving the premises. The affair being still a very recent occurrence, the investi- gator concluded that the sailor was probably still in the city. Accordingly, he inserted in the newspapers a skilfully worded advertisement asking the owner of an ourang-outang that had recently escaped from custody, to call upon him. The next day the Maltese sailor that the detective had pictured in his mind, and of whose existence he felt morally certain, pre- sented himself. He was evidently badly frightened, but, reassured by the advertiser, was readily induced to tell his story. The deduction of the amateur proved to have been sub- stantially correct; indeed, the only thing he had not been able CIR C U M S T A N TIAL EVIDEN CE 87 to account for was the voices heard by the discoverers of the crime. The sailor had brought the animal with him to Paris, and on the night of the tragedy he had made his escape. The owner knew him to be of a most vicious disposition, and feared that he would kill some one; besides, he was of considerable value. Accordingly, he had started in hot pursuit. At 1ength he saw the brute in the act of entering the window of the chamber, whither he had apparently returned after carrying down the body of Mme. L'Espagne. He had evidently leaped to the window-sill from the trellis. The owner resolved to follow the animal, but realized that it would be impossible for him to make such a leap. For a moment he was in despair, but, espying the lightning-rod, he brought into service his sailor-like accomplishment of climbing, and soon entered the chamber. A glance told him that an awful crime had been committed, although no human being was in sight. He at once attempted to capture the ourang-outang; but the beast, as if half conscious that he had done wrong and might well expect punishment, eluded him and ran from place to place, overturning the furniture and adding to the disorder already existing in the apartment. The sailor had repeatedly cried out in heavy and threatening tones, in the hope of subduing the animal, which had answered with gibberish in its peculiar shrill voice. Finally it gained the open window, and leaping upon the trellis, hastily made its escape. At this moment the sailor heard footsteps ascending the stairs, and, realizing that his position was a most compromis- ing one and that he might be unable to establish his inno- cence, he had quickly made his escape by the lightning-rod, closing the window as he left the room. - In the “Sign of the Four,” to which reference has been made in this chapter, Dr. Doyle employs true detective methods. Without being in any just sense an imitation of the account we have outlined, it follows substantially the same general lines, and reaches positive conclusions by the very same mathematical rule of casting out, or rejecting, all theories that are clearly impossible. In this rather remarkable work, a murder had been committed in London by means of a 88 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S poisoned thorn which was found imbedded in the dead man's head. As in Poe's tale, the door of the room where the crime was committed was found securely closed, while a rope sus- pended from the window-sill told how some person had escaped after the homicide. Sherlock Holmes, the investigator, dis- covered that the fatal thorn had been shot from a small opening in the ceiling. Entering a 10w attic, he found traces of the perpetrator in the mark of a naked foot in the dust. The footprint was very small, the toes being separated in a peculiar manner. This circumstance, coupled with the short- ness of the stride in walking, convinced Holmes that the murderer was a very small man, little more than a dwarf. With a universal knowledge, which, most unfortunately, no real detective on earth ever possessed, he immediately determined that the poisoned thorn was of a species indigenous to Blair's Island, one of the Andaman Islands, and found nowhere else. The natives of the island the investigator knew to be dwarfs with spreading toes, who shot poisoned thorns from blow-guns. These deductions proved correct to the smallest detail. The motive was robbery, and the murder had not been a part of the plan, which had been concocted by an English convict who had escaped from an island criminal colony through the aid of the barefooted dwarf, who had accompanied him to England. This dwarf, as great a climber as Poe's ourang-outang, had gained the roof of the house and entered the low attic through a trap-door. He had no instruc- tions to kill the occupant of the room, toward whom the con- vict bore no malice, but had yielded to his natural homicidal impulse. After doing this, he lowered a rope he had brought with him, by means of which his master climbed into the chamber. In his professional experience the author has encountered many murder mysteries in which clues were not more definite than in this case, where correct solutions were obtained. The “fine work” in this instance is more apparent than real. While the reasoning is logical and the conclusions entirely warranted, the remarkable part of the performance consists in the marvelous knowledge of the investigator, which never C I R C U M S T ANT I AL E VI DE N C E 89 fails him, and which constitutes one of the chief fascinations of the work. In the Probst case, detailed in Chapter VIII. of this volume, a conviction founded entirely upon circumstantial evidence was secured, and its justice fully established by the confession of the condemned. Yet there was some force in the theory of the defense that Probst might possibly be innocent of the murders, though guilty of theft. As a matter of fact, many instances are on record where men convicted on circumstan- tial evidence have afterwards been proven innocent. An instance of this kind occurred in England in 1736. At that time, and for some years before, Jonathan Brad- ford kept a public inn in Oxfordshire, on the great road from London to Oxford. During that year, a gentleman named Hayes, who was traveling from London to Oxford, put up at Bradford's Inn. At supper he was joined by two travelers, like himself strangers in the house. In conversation Mr. Hayes mentioned that he was carrying quite a large sum of money with him, in consequence of which he felt somewhat timid. Early in the evening all retired. The two gentlemen, who were traveling in company, occupied a double-bedded room near the apartment assigned to Mr. Hayes. Some hours after they had retired, one of the gentlemen was awakened by an unusual noise. Listening intently, he heard groans which seemed to proceed from a room near by. Being convinced that he had made no mistake, he hastened to arouse his com- panion. Together they listened for a few minutes and became convinced that the groans proceeded from some one who was dying. Securing a candle, which they had left burning in the chimney corner, they cautiously entered the hall and made their way to the adjoining chamber, from which they had concluded the sounds proceeded. They found the door ajar and a light shining within. They entered the apartment and, to their utter consternation, perceived a person lying on the bed actually weltering in his blood; while, standing over him was a man, holding a lantern in one hand and a bloody knife in the other. The man had all the appearance of terror, but it appeared to them the terror which might well overwhelm a 90 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S murderer who had accomplished his dark design. An instant 1ater the two gentlemen perceived that the man was none other than Bradford, the landlord. Without delay they seized their host, disarmed him of his knife and charged him with being the murderer. By this time Bradford seemed to have recovered from his consternation, and vehemently asserted his innocence. He declared that, like the two gentle- men, he had been aroused by the groaning, and, seizing a knife to defend himself and a lantern to light his way, he nad made his way to Hayes' chamber, where he had been overcome with horror at the fearful spectacle he there encountered. His assertions did not receive the smallest credence; he was kept closely confined during the remainder of the night, and in the morning brought before a neighboring justice of the peace. Bradford continued to deny his guilt, but the justice, having heard the evidence, committed him to await the action of the grand jury. Such an impression had the case made upon the magistrate, that in writing out the mittimus, he remarked: “Mr. Bradford, either you or myself committed this murder.” This terrible tragedy and the arrest of Bradford became at once the subjects of general conversation for the entire county. There was not an ale-house, tavern or public place of any 1zind where the accused man was not put on trial for his life. Bradford had always borne an exceptionally good character, no charge of any kind of wrong-doing having ever been brought against him. Given full credit for this, every improvised court in Oxfordshire found the accused guilty, and decided that he would be hanged, if he ever got his deserts. But the universal court of Judge Gossip speedily gave place to the assizes at Oxford. Being arraigned, the prisoner entered a plea of not guilty, and the case was submitted to a jury. The two gentlemen who had discovered the murdered man with Bradford standing over him told their stories under oath, with decided effect; the fact that the 1andlord had heard Mr. Hayes declare that he had a large sum of money with him, and the guilty look upon his face when they discovered him with C I R C U M S T A NT I.A. L E VI DE N C E 9I the bloody knife in his hand, which was proven to be his own, being strongly brought out. The defense of Bradford was the same that he had made to the two gentlemen who had surprised and seized him. He had heard the groans, had seized a knife, lighted a lantern, and, actuated by feelings of humanity and a desire to protect his guests and preserve the good name of his house, upon which a blight had never before fallen, had rushed into the room of the murdered man. He admitted that he had been seized with consternation and had, perhaps, presented a guilty-looking countenance, but declared that this was but the natural result of the horror of the occasion, and was not incompatible with his absolute innocence. Bradford was defended by able counsel, who insisted upon the inherent weakness of circum- stantial evidence and the good character of their client. Their efforts were vain; a clearer case could hardly be imagined, and the jury returned a verdict of guilty, without finding it necessary to 1eave their box. The prisoner was promptly sentenced, and died on the scaffold three days later, protest- ing his innocence of the crime. The dying declaration of Bradford was universally disbe- 1ieved, even those who had been his staunchest friends con- sidering him clearly guilty. And yet, it ultimately turned out that he had spoken the truth. About eighteen months after the execution of the innkeeper, a man who had for some time served as his footman, fell violently ill, and being at the point of death, confessed that he, himself, had murdered Mr. Hayes. In common with his master, he had heard the traveler announce that he was carrying quite a large sum of money, and had at once conceived a plan to kill and rob him. This he had carried into execution. He had barely secured the money, gold watch and snuff-box of the murdered man, and gained his own room, when he heard Bradford approach- ing. He had secreted the stolen property and permitted the 1andlord to go to the scaffold for a crime he had not com- mitted. And yet Jonathan Bradford, though technically innocent, was none the less morally guilty. Before his execution he 92 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S confessed to a clergyman that he had gone to the room of Mr. Hayes with the intention of killing and robbing him. Arriv- ing, he found the gentleman in the last agonies of death, and was so horrified and dumfounded as to be unable to move. In his excitement he dropped his knife upon the body, where it became stained with blood, as likewise were his hands in recovering it. After the confession of the servant, the clergyman made the matter public, thus clearly establishing the truth of the transaction. The reports of this remarkable trial that have come down to us are rather meagre and do not show that any use was made by the defendant, upon his trial, of the circumstance that, though the money and valuables of Mr. Hayes were missing, they were not found upon the person of Bradford. Probably this point was made, and met with the suggestion that he had secreted the plunder and returned to make sure that his victim was dead, or to make a further search for valuables. Contrasting this case with that of Anton Probst, Bradford appears to have been condemned on quite as good and sufficient evidence as was the murderer of the Deering family. The bearing of a prisoner from the time of the commission of a crime down to and including his trial has a decided effect upon a jury. In his soul, Bradford was overcome with all the terrors of guilt. He had led a worthy life, and his natural cupidity had tempted him to commit murder. Not being a liardened criminal, his conscience doubtless caused him to look and act like a guilty man, thus aiding in his own conviction. Had he told the jury the real facts in the case, it would hardly nave availed him, since the truth would have appeared vastly more improbable than the lie he concocted, which, though highly unreasonable, carried with it something of plausibility. Another instance of conviction upon circumstantial evi- dence is that of William Shaw, who was executed in Edin- burgh, Scotland, in 1721. Shaw was an upholsterer, with one child, a daughter, named Catherine. Even at that early day, Edinburgh had anticipated the modern apartment-house, and a considerable portion of the people lived in large buildings divided into what we now term “flats,” where a single CIR C U M S T A NT I.A. L E VI DE N C E 93 entrance accommodated several different families. In apart- ments of this descrpition lived William Shaw and his daughter. Catherine had encouraged the addresses of a young man named John Lawson, a jeweler to whom the father was violently opposed. In turn he had presented a suitor for her hand in the person of the son of a friend, named Alexander. One evening, a man named Morrison, whose apartments adjoined those of the Shaws, overheard the father and daughter seemingly engaged in an angry altercation. Unable to understand the entire conversation, he distinctly heard the words “barbarity,” “cruelty,” “death,” in the voice of Catherine. These words were several times repeated. At length Shaw left his daughter, locking the door after him. For some time after the father left, absolute silence ensued, but after a time Morrison heard groans which evidently emanated from the daughter's room. Thoroughly alarmed, he summoned some neighbors. The party approached the door, and, listening intently, heard Catherine say, “Cruel father, thou art the cause of my death.” A constable was summoned and the door broken open. Catherine Shaw was found weltering in her blood, a knife in her side. She was alive, but speechless. In answer to a question whether her father was the cause of her death, she seemed to nod her head, as indicating an affirmative answer, and almost immediately expired. At this very moment Shaw entered the room. He saw his neighbors and the constable, noted his daughter dead upon the bed, and seemed ready to sink to the floor. The officers at once placed him under arrest, and found marks of blood upon his shirt front, which he claimed had come from a wound upon his own person. William Shaw was arraigned upon the charge of having murdered his daughter. The facts set forth were proven against him, and he was convicted. In November, 1721, he was executed, and his body hanged in chains at Leith Walk. Was there a person in Edinburgh who believed the father guiltless? No, not one! notwithstanding his last words at the gallows were: “I am innocent of my daughter's murder.” 94 M U R D E R IN A L L A G E S But in August, 1722, as a man, who had become the possessor of the late William Shaw's apartments, was rummaging by chance in the chamber where Catherine Shaw died, he acci- dentally perceived a paper fallen into a cavity on one side of the chimney. It was folded as a letter, which, on opening, contained the following: “Barbarous father, your cruelty in having put it out of my power ever to join my fate to that of the only man I could love, and tyrannically insisting upon my marrying one whom I always hated, has made me form a resolution to put an end to an existence which has now become a burden to me. I doubt not I shall find mercy in another world; for sure no benevolent being can require that I should any longer live in torment to myself in this! My death I lay to your charge; when you read this consider yourself as the inhuman wretch that plunged the knife into the bosom of the unhappy—Catherine Shaw.” This letter being shown, the handwriting was recognized and avowed to be Catherine Shaw's by many of her relations and friends. It became the public talk; the magistracy of Edinburgh, on a scrutiny, being convinced of its authenticity, ordered the body of William Shaw to be taken from the gibbet, and given to his family for interment; and, as the only possible reparation to his memory and the honor of his surviv- ing relations, they caused a pair of colors to be waved over his grave in token of his innocence, such being at that time the Scotch custom. The cases of Jonathan Bradford and William Shaw are well 1