Page:The Green Bag (1889–1914), Volume 01.pdf/24

Rh insanity. The rash and uncalculating act of the lunatic is not here. No doubt there are on record a few isolated cases of considerable caution being shown on the part of insane homicides; but we are not acquainted with any which approach to the present in display of prudence and circumspection. The craftiness of the author or authors of these deeds is astounding; and the highest tribute to it is the fact that all attempts at detection have been made in vain hitherto. There is, first, cool and deliberate preparation. There is then a careful selection of time and place, — darkness and seclusion. There is the choice of a class of victims which, of all others, can most readily and as a matter of ordinary course be decoyed away alone to a secluded place of the kind, and at such an hour. The actual execution of his foul purpose must have been swift and dexterous, and shows coolness of hand and steadiness of purpose. Then all traces of the crime must have been removed from the assassin with great skill and foresight. The perfect circumspection which has characterized his subsequent movements, and has secured complete concealment for him hitherto, has been skilful in the extreme, and must have been previously devised. Lastly, the daring shown in the repetition of the atrocities (assuming them for the moment to be the work of one hand) is only to be equalled by the caution shown in refraining from any too foolhardy attempt to repeat them where detection was imminent.

These things are all markedly in the direction of disproving insanity. Dr. Kay, in contrasting the sane criminal with the Insane, remarks : " The criminal lays plans for the execution of his designs; time, place, and weapons are all suited to his purpose; and when successful, he either flies from the scene of his enormities, or makes every effort to avoid discovery. The homicidal maniac, on the contrary, consults none of the usual conveniences of crime; he falls upon the object of his prey, oftentimes without the most proper means for accomplishing his purpose, and perhaps in the presence of a multitude, as if expressly to court observation, and then voluntarily surrenders himself to the constituted authorities."

It has been pretty generally thought that the fact that the victims were all women of loose character presents a difficulty in the case; and that this, taken along with the particulars of the mutilation, indicates the presence of an erotic element. This is open to doubt. For one thing erotic and homicidal tendency do not seem to have been found to co-exist. But the inference seems superfluous, too, in order to explain the choice of such a class as victims. The true explanation is probably that which we have indicated above; namely, that members of this class were more easily and unsuspectingly lured away to a lonely place. — Journal of Jurisprudence.


 * mansion's front has great plate glass,
 * Through which I see the people pass
 * In showy state;
 * Along the glittering avenue
 * The bright procession streams in view
 * Early and late.