Art. VI.—RECENT OCCURRENCES IN PHILADELPHIA.
The chief purpose we have in view in transferring to our pages (without, however, making ourselves at all responsible for the accuracy of the details,) the following article from a recent New York paper, is to use it as a theme for a few observations on recent occurrences in our own city.
Crime in New York City.—Fitzgerald will be hung at the Tombs to-day for shooting his wife. Neary, sentenced to the same fate, for a similar offence, is respited one week, in order that the Sheriff’s Jury may determine whether he has lost his reason. If the latter execution takes place, it will make seven in this city within the last year! In all England and Wales the whole number of executions during the year 1852, as appears by a Parliamentary report, was only nine! The population of this city is six hundred thousand; the population of England and Wales is eighteen millions. In other words, New York, with a population of only one-thirtieth as large as England and Wales, hangs seven-ninths as many in the same space of time!The little we fail in point of number, however, is more than made up in the atrocity of the offences. Of the nine hung in England one murdered his wife, one her husband, one her mother-in-law, one his employer, who had dismissed him, one his uncle, one a stranger on the highway, one his own illegitimate child, one the illegitimate child of his wife, one the illegitimate child of his paramour; but of our seven, three murdered their wives—namely, Grunzig by poison, Fitzgerald by shooting, Neary by beating the brains out with a mallet and chisel; Stookey murdered a negro, Clark murdered a police man, and Saul and Howlett a watchman. Three of the English murders were of infants, but all of the New York murders were of full grown persons, three of whom sustained the most sacred of all relations to those who deprived them of life. But, in truth, New York of right has the precedence of all England and Wales on this score even in regard to number. Doyle, who murdered the woman with whom he boarded in Pearl street, was sentenced to be hung, and ought to have been hung, and would have been hung in England, but was sent to the State prison for life. Sullivan, who killed the man in Cliff street who endeavored to prevent his beating his wife, was found guilty of murder, and ought to have been hung, and would have been hung in England, but was sent to the State prison for life. Johnson, one of the condemned with Saul and Howlett, was sent to the State prison for life. There are now at the Tombs ten men awaiting trial for murder, one of whom, Carnell, the fiendish Dey street murderer, has already been convicted once, and is now awaiting a second trial. The whole number of arrests in this city for homicide within the last year, has been, as near as we can ascertain, about thirty-five!The whole number of arrests in this city during the year 1852, was about 35,000; the whole number of commitments in England and Wales was 27,510. The whole number of arrests for offences committed upon the person in New York in 1852, was 5,468; in England and Wales the whole number of commitments for the same class of offences during the same period there has been about two thousand. In England last year there were 13 convictions for burglary: in New York 146 arrests for the same offence. During the last seven years there were 66 convictions for this offence: in New York during the same period over 1000 arrests. But this does not furnish the worst aspect of the case. The disparity between England and this city, is yearly becoming greater. While crime is increasing there slightly, it is here increasing with fearful rapidity. The whole number of convictions for murder in England in 1846, was 13; the whole number of arrests in New York for murder for the nine months preceding May 1, 1846, was 10. In England the convictions of 1847 were 19; in New York, during the year ending May 1, 1847, the arrests were 18. In 1849 the convictions in England were 19; in New York the arrests for the year ending November 1, were 13. In 1850 the convictions in England were 11; in New York during the fifteen months ending with the last of December, 1850, they were 16. In 1851 the English convictions were 16; the New York arrests 36. In 1852 the English convictions were 16; the New York arrests were 30. The total number of commitments for all kinds of offences in England and Wales during the last seven years, was 194,424; the total number of arrests in New York during the same period was over 200,000! We are not able to make an exact comparison between the absolute number of crimes perpetrated in England and in New York city, since the Parliamentary tables before us relate only to commitments in the case of offences generally, and to convictions in cases of murder, whereas our police tables only give the number of arrests. Of course many are arrested who are not committed or bound over for trial, but their number is by no means so great as to destroy the remarkable significance of the figures we have put in connection.Now, what are the causes of the remarkable difference between this city and England in extent of crime? England has its immense cities, abounding with ignorant and vicious classes of population—it has its London, its Liverpool, its Birmingham, its Manchester and its Leeds, and yet this single city of New York, if we may trust official tables, exceeds not only each of them in crime, but all put together! It cannot be ascribed to any peculiar character of our people, distinct from theirs—for it is notorious that the greater part of our criminality springs from the foreign element of our population. Of the seven murderers above specified, for instance, six of them were foreigners—one being a German, three Irish, one English, and one a Nova Scotian; and the seventh, though born in this city, was of Irish parentage. The same people that chiefly commit the crime here, are found in vast numbers in every English city. Why, then, the difference in the extent of that crime? This question does not admit of either a ready or a brief answer. The causes which produce this result are various and complex, some of which we may consider hereafter. The most important of them are, doubtless, the comparative inefficiency of our police in preventing crime, the comparative uncertainty of our courts in punishing crime, the neglect of our young vagrant population, and the vast number of disorderly groggeries, licensed and unlicensed, that have all the while, without restraint, been stimulating the passions and bad propensities of all the lower classes of our population. It is time that these matters should be seriously and earnestly looked at and cared for. Our streams of crime are increasing into torrents, and they threaten to overwhelm us. The facts we have given, startling as they are, cannot be denied. Official documents prove them. Read and ponder!
Crime in New York City.—Fitzgerald will be hung at the Tombs to-day for shooting his wife. Neary, sentenced to the same fate, for a similar offence, is respited one week, in order that the Sheriff’s Jury may determine whether he has lost his reason. If the latter execution takes place, it will make seven in this city within the last year! In all England and Wales the whole number of executions during the year 1852, as appears by a Parliamentary report, was only nine! The population of this city is six hundred thousand; the population of England and Wales is eighteen millions. In other words, New York, with a population of only one-thirtieth as large as England and Wales, hangs seven-ninths as many in the same space of time!
The little we fail in point of number, however, is more than made up in the atrocity of the offences. Of the nine hung in England one murdered his wife, one her husband, one her mother-in-law, one his employer, who had dismissed him, one his uncle, one a stranger on the highway, one his own illegitimate child, one the illegitimate child of his wife, one the illegitimate child of his paramour; but of our seven, three murdered their wives—namely, Grunzig by poison, Fitzgerald by shooting, Neary by beating the brains out with a mallet and chisel; Stookey murdered a negro, Clark murdered a police man, and Saul and Howlett a watchman. Three of the English murders were of infants, but all of the New York murders were of full grown persons, three of whom sustained the most sacred of all relations to those who deprived them of life. But, in truth, New York of right has the precedence of all England and Wales on this score even in regard to number. Doyle, who murdered the woman with whom he boarded in Pearl street, was sentenced to be hung, and ought to have been hung, and would have been hung in England, but was sent to the State prison for life. Sullivan, who killed the man in Cliff street who endeavored to prevent his beating his wife, was found guilty of murder, and ought to have been hung, and would have been hung in England, but was sent to the State prison for life. Johnson, one of the condemned with Saul and Howlett, was sent to the State prison for life. There are now at the Tombs ten men awaiting trial for murder, one of whom, Carnell, the fiendish Dey street murderer, has already been convicted once, and is now awaiting a second trial. The whole number of arrests in this city for homicide within the last year, has been, as near as we can ascertain, about thirty-five!
The whole number of arrests in this city during the year 1852, was about 35,000; the whole number of commitments in England and Wales was 27,510. The whole number of arrests for offences committed upon the person in New York in 1852, was 5,468; in England and Wales the whole number of commitments for the same class of offences during the same period there has been about two thousand. In England last year there were 13 convictions for burglary: in New York 146 arrests for the same offence. During the last seven years there were 66 convictions for this offence: in New York during the same period over 1000 arrests. But this does not furnish the worst aspect of the case. The disparity between England and this city, is yearly becoming greater. While crime is increasing there slightly, it is here increasing with fearful rapidity. The whole number of convictions for murder in England in 1846, was 13; the whole number of arrests in New York for murder for the nine months preceding May 1, 1846, was 10. In England the convictions of 1847 were 19; in New York, during the year ending May 1, 1847, the arrests were 18. In 1849 the convictions in England were 19; in New York the arrests for the year ending November 1, were 13. In 1850 the convictions in England were 11; in New York during the fifteen months ending with the last of December, 1850, they were 16. In 1851 the English convictions were 16; the New York arrests 36. In 1852 the English convictions were 16; the New York arrests were 30. The total number of commitments for all kinds of offences in England and Wales during the last seven years, was 194,424; the total number of arrests in New York during the same period was over 200,000! We are not able to make an exact comparison between the absolute number of crimes perpetrated in England and in New York city, since the Parliamentary tables before us relate only to commitments in the case of offences generally, and to convictions in cases of murder, whereas our police tables only give the number of arrests. Of course many are arrested who are not committed or bound over for trial, but their number is by no means so great as to destroy the remarkable significance of the figures we have put in connection.
Now, what are the causes of the remarkable difference between this city and England in extent of crime? England has its immense cities, abounding with ignorant and vicious classes of population—it has its London, its Liverpool, its Birmingham, its Manchester and its Leeds, and yet this single city of New York, if we may trust official tables, exceeds not only each of them in crime, but all put together! It cannot be ascribed to any peculiar character of our people, distinct from theirs—for it is notorious that the greater part of our criminality springs from the foreign element of our population. Of the seven murderers above specified, for instance, six of them were foreigners—one being a German, three Irish, one English, and one a Nova Scotian; and the seventh, though born in this city, was of Irish parentage. The same people that chiefly commit the crime here, are found in vast numbers in every English city. Why, then, the difference in the extent of that crime? This question does not admit of either a ready or a brief answer. The causes which produce this result are various and complex, some of which we may consider hereafter. The most important of them are, doubtless, the comparative inefficiency of our police in preventing crime, the comparative uncertainty of our courts in punishing crime, the neglect of our young vagrant population, and the vast number of disorderly groggeries, licensed and unlicensed, that have all the while, without restraint, been stimulating the passions and bad propensities of all the lower classes of our population. It is time that these matters should be seriously and earnestly looked at and cared for. Our streams of crime are increasing into torrents, and they threaten to overwhelm us. The facts we have given, startling as they are, cannot be denied. Official documents prove them. Read and ponder!
It will be observed that four distinct causes are here assigned for the difference in the extent of crime in New York and in English cities. Of them all, we have had something to say at various times. The first we discussed at some length in a former number,[2]and pointed out a few of the disadvantages to which the best police system must be subject under institutions like ours. Upon the second of these alleged causes we had prepared the article in our present number before seeing the observations of the New York paper. Scarcely a number of our Journal has been without some call to more concern for our vagrant juvenile population. So that our readers will not find any thing startling in the revolting statement we have copied, unless it be the striking proximity of cause and effect.
[2]See Journal for January, 1853, Art. III.
[2]See Journal for January, 1853, Art. III.
So far from feeling surprise at the frequency and boldness of crime, we rather wonder that the few checks which are imposed on it, maintain their power. No one can carefully note the manner in which crime and its perpetrators are treated, without perceiving how much is done to provoke and countenance it, in comparison with what is done to punish and suppress it. We have neither space nor inclination to enlarge on such a subject, but it is due to the cause of humanity and the welfare of society, that the plague-spots in the body politic should be plainly pointed out.
Not long since two men were together in a drinking house. A. is influenced with liquor sold to him in violation of law. He attempts to provoke a quarrel with B. B. leaves the house, and A. follows him with taunts and threats. B. is peaceable, says he does not want to quarrel, and retreats to a distance from the house. A. pursues him and deliberately, without the slightest provocation, and in spite of B.’s attempts to avoid a quarrel, stabs him to the heart! The dead man is buried—the murderer arrested and tried, and the jury find him guilty of murder in the second degree, and, moreover, recommend him to mercy! Why did he try to provoke a quarrel before he executed his murderous purpose? Why, because he had ascertained, by watching the proceedings of the courts, that the quarrel, however picked, would mitigate the offence. “Stabbinga man in a fight, gets only five years in the penitentiary.” This was his own statement.
A laborer is returning home from his daily toil on Saturday night—peaceable, if not sober—and within a few steps of his dwelling, is assaulted and murdered. After one or two false pursuits, two young men are arrested—tried and convicted of murder in the first degree. The most revolting details of the steps which immediately preceded the perpetration of the first deed are spread out before the public in the daily papers, and show a recklessness and indefinite malice which makes one’s blood run cold. Not a shadow of doubt rests on the minds of the jury. The verdict is followed by the sentence, and the time is fixed for their execution. But no—hundreds and thousands of citizens unite to arrest the arm of justice, and to screen these desperate felons from the just reward of their deeds. Can any one fail to see the influence of such a proceeding, in relaxing the authority of the government, and bringing the highest sanctions of law into popular contempt?
But another case, and a still more flagrant one, may be cited. It presents various points of interest involved in our present inquiry.
It is said that Arthur Spring, when a young man, was guilty of robbing some orphan children, by forcibly opening a trunk, in which they had a little treasure, and stealing it. He was arrested, but escaped condemnation through the influence of a relation, who held a commission of the peace, and sat upon the trial! This probably emboldened him in his career. It is needless, and would be offensive, to spread on our pages a history of his infamous deeds. Suffice it to say, that he was convicted of a penitentiary offence in this city some years since, and pardoned within 48 hours after being committed! Again, he was convicted in New York, and again pardoned!
Then follow two, if not three, successive wilful, unprovoked, deliberate murders committed with a degree of boldness and ferocity almost unprecedented. He is tried, convicted and sentenced to suffer death.
And now the scene changes. The offence of the culprit is too rank to admit of any interposition for his rescue—no call for executive clemency would be tolerated in a case of suchenormous atrocity. The death-warrant is issued, and the day for the execution is fixed. Most wisely and humanely, and in obedience to a reformed public sentiment, the law forbids this extreme penalty to be inflicted, as it once was, in presence of a gazing throng. What are its provisions?
10 April, 1834.—An Act to abolish public executions.
§ 1. Whenever hereafter any person shall be condemned to suffer death by hanging for any crime of which he or she shall have been convicted, the said punishment shall be inflicted on him or her within the wall or yard of the gaol of the county in which he or she shall have been convicted; and it shall be the duty of the Sheriff or Coroner of said county to attend, and be present at such execution, to which he shall invite the presence of a physician, the attorney general, or deputy attorney general of the county, and twelve reputable citizens, who shall be selected by the Sheriff: and the said Sheriff shall, at the request of the criminal, permit such ministers of the gospel, not exceeding two, as he or she may name, and any of his or her immediate relatives, to attend and be present at such execution, together with such officers of the prison, and such of the Sheriff’s deputies as the said Sheriff or Coroner in his discretion may think it expedient to have present; and it shall be only permitted to the persons above designated to witness the said execution: Provided, that no person under age shall be permitted, on any account, to witness the same.§ 2. After the execution, the said Sheriff or Coroner shall make oath or affirmation, in writing, that he proceeded to execute the said criminal within the walls or yard aforesaid, at the time designated by the death-warrant of the Governor, and the same shall be filed in the office of the Clerk of the Court of Oyer and Terminer of the aforesaid county, and a copy thereof published in two or more newspapers, one of which at least shall be printed in the county where the execution took place.
§ 1. Whenever hereafter any person shall be condemned to suffer death by hanging for any crime of which he or she shall have been convicted, the said punishment shall be inflicted on him or her within the wall or yard of the gaol of the county in which he or she shall have been convicted; and it shall be the duty of the Sheriff or Coroner of said county to attend, and be present at such execution, to which he shall invite the presence of a physician, the attorney general, or deputy attorney general of the county, and twelve reputable citizens, who shall be selected by the Sheriff: and the said Sheriff shall, at the request of the criminal, permit such ministers of the gospel, not exceeding two, as he or she may name, and any of his or her immediate relatives, to attend and be present at such execution, together with such officers of the prison, and such of the Sheriff’s deputies as the said Sheriff or Coroner in his discretion may think it expedient to have present; and it shall be only permitted to the persons above designated to witness the said execution: Provided, that no person under age shall be permitted, on any account, to witness the same.
§ 2. After the execution, the said Sheriff or Coroner shall make oath or affirmation, in writing, that he proceeded to execute the said criminal within the walls or yard aforesaid, at the time designated by the death-warrant of the Governor, and the same shall be filed in the office of the Clerk of the Court of Oyer and Terminer of the aforesaid county, and a copy thereof published in two or more newspapers, one of which at least shall be printed in the county where the execution took place.
Language could not make the design of the Legislature more intelligible. The walls of the prison yard effectually protect the enclosed area from being overlooked or entered without license; and it is within these walls that the extreme penalty of the law is to be inflicted. The Sheriff or Coroner to whom the warrant is addressed, is alonerequiredto be present. He is toinvitethe presence of one of the principal prosecuting officers of the government, and only one of them. He is also toinviteone physician and twelve reputable citizens of thecounty selected by himself, for the purpose. He isauthorizedto admit such ministers of the gospel as the culprit may desire and name,but never more than two, and also any of his immediate relatives, (if it were possible they could desire to witness such a scene). Besides these, no persons can be present (but in direct violation of law) except such officers of the prison, and such of his own deputies as he, the Sheriff, in his discretion may think it expedient to have present. And lest this permissive authority should be unduly stretched, it is restricted by a positive prohibition, that no other person shall witness the execution, and still farther to guard against any injurious effects from the scene, it is provided that no physician or minister, or relative, or officer of the prison, or other party, shall be admitted, if not twenty-one years of age or upwards.
The second section evidently contemplates such a record of the proceeding as shall be authentic and permanent in the absence of all personal or oral testimony—as for instance, if the Sheriff executed the warrant alone, none of the persons invited being in attendance, nor any minister or relative, nor any of the prison officers, or the Sheriff’s deputies, which, under the provision of the first section, was a supposable event. Now we maintain, that any violation of the letter or spirit of this law on the occasion of the execution ofArthur Spring, was, in the first place, in derogation of the dignity of the government—and in the second place, well fitted to bring all law into popular contempt, and to give encouragement to the perverse and disobedient to persist in their evil courses.
We avail ourselves of the columns of a highly respectable religious Journal published in Philadelphia, for a statement of the facts in respect to this particular case, rather than rely on our own information:
The recent execution of an atrocious murderer was witnessed, as all the reporters tell us, by a thousand persons. By what authority such a concourse could have been assembled, we know not: but of this there can be no doubt, it could have been only by a culpable evasion of the law. In the olden time, when any body under the impulse of curiosity or any better or worse motive, could at will form one of the crowd at an execution, the spectators were perhaps some four or five thousand in number: and now, even under the restrictions of the new law, the amateurs of the gallows—men who get the privilege of the ghastly sight by help of some official weakness or abuse—are reckoned a thousand. And such is the morbid curiosity which the law was meant to chasten and thwart, that a Grand Jury theother day is reported to have actually presented themselves in Court to inquire whether they were not officially privileged to attend the execution. We should have been glad if the dry negative which the Judge is reported to have given them had risen to the tone of rebuke. That a body of citizens charged with such high and dignified responsibilities as those of the Grand Jury should have so far forgotten their official, if not personal character, as to make this indecent application, has, we believe, excited but one sentiment—that of disgust—in this community.
The recent execution of an atrocious murderer was witnessed, as all the reporters tell us, by a thousand persons. By what authority such a concourse could have been assembled, we know not: but of this there can be no doubt, it could have been only by a culpable evasion of the law. In the olden time, when any body under the impulse of curiosity or any better or worse motive, could at will form one of the crowd at an execution, the spectators were perhaps some four or five thousand in number: and now, even under the restrictions of the new law, the amateurs of the gallows—men who get the privilege of the ghastly sight by help of some official weakness or abuse—are reckoned a thousand. And such is the morbid curiosity which the law was meant to chasten and thwart, that a Grand Jury theother day is reported to have actually presented themselves in Court to inquire whether they were not officially privileged to attend the execution. We should have been glad if the dry negative which the Judge is reported to have given them had risen to the tone of rebuke. That a body of citizens charged with such high and dignified responsibilities as those of the Grand Jury should have so far forgotten their official, if not personal character, as to make this indecent application, has, we believe, excited but one sentiment—that of disgust—in this community.
It would be unjust to leave our readers under the impression that this was an occurrence without precedent. If we do not greatly mistake, quite as disgraceful a violation of the law occurred when Langfeldt was executed. And we do not hesitate to say that, whether they mean it or not, those who have permitted or countenanced these palpable violations of law in the very act of executing its stern decree, have done quite as much to defeat as to enforce its sanctions.
But all the revolting story in Spring’s case is not yet told, and we return to our former authority for its shameful details:
The lifeless body of the vile criminal was given up to the anatomist. Of this fact alone no one need complain. But a community has a right to ask that anatomy should do its hideous work with some reserve—and instead of parading its loathsome details, should cast a veil over them. The execution was witnessed by a thousand, and the dissection by (as we may infer) some hundreds. An elaborate newspaper report informs us that the post mortem examination was made “in the anatomical theatre of the Philadelphia College of Medicine, by Professor James M‘Clintock, in the presence of a large audience of medical students, physicians, members of the press and others.” According to the report, it must have been a very theatrical sort of exhibition—the follies of phrenology contributing largely to enliven it. Science may have gained something by such a piece of work, and by the lecture that accompanied it: it is possible, we suppose, that the knowledge of the theory and practice of hanging may have been a little increased, and perhaps some small addition made to the science of anatomy: but when we are told by the reporter that the Professor who made the dissection was “pleasantly facetious,” in his performance, we must say, that if science gained any thing, it was at the expense of human feeling and of decency.Pleasantry!—facetiousness!What an occasion for the exercise of such powers! We would fain hope that the reporter used the words inconsiderately and inappropriately, and that he must have done the Professor injustice: but if not—if the man of science, standing over the ghastly carcass of the broken-necked criminal, from which an undying soul had so lately passed forth so fearfully, did accompany his explorations with any sort of facetiousness; and if his “large audience” did at all sympathize with such ill-placed levity, then—not trusting ourselves to picture what sort of a scene it was—we will only say that thus conducted, the anatomical theatre is as brutalizing and demoralizing as the public hanging ground itself. When Hogarth, with all his wondrous powers of commingling the grotesque and the ghastly, carried the vicious apprentice on to the last scene in the dissecting room, he did not venture, if we remember rightly, to picture there a facetious anatomist.
The lifeless body of the vile criminal was given up to the anatomist. Of this fact alone no one need complain. But a community has a right to ask that anatomy should do its hideous work with some reserve—and instead of parading its loathsome details, should cast a veil over them. The execution was witnessed by a thousand, and the dissection by (as we may infer) some hundreds. An elaborate newspaper report informs us that the post mortem examination was made “in the anatomical theatre of the Philadelphia College of Medicine, by Professor James M‘Clintock, in the presence of a large audience of medical students, physicians, members of the press and others.” According to the report, it must have been a very theatrical sort of exhibition—the follies of phrenology contributing largely to enliven it. Science may have gained something by such a piece of work, and by the lecture that accompanied it: it is possible, we suppose, that the knowledge of the theory and practice of hanging may have been a little increased, and perhaps some small addition made to the science of anatomy: but when we are told by the reporter that the Professor who made the dissection was “pleasantly facetious,” in his performance, we must say, that if science gained any thing, it was at the expense of human feeling and of decency.Pleasantry!—facetiousness!What an occasion for the exercise of such powers! We would fain hope that the reporter used the words inconsiderately and inappropriately, and that he must have done the Professor injustice: but if not—if the man of science, standing over the ghastly carcass of the broken-necked criminal, from which an undying soul had so lately passed forth so fearfully, did accompany his explorations with any sort of facetiousness; and if his “large audience” did at all sympathize with such ill-placed levity, then—not trusting ourselves to picture what sort of a scene it was—we will only say that thus conducted, the anatomical theatre is as brutalizing and demoralizing as the public hanging ground itself. When Hogarth, with all his wondrous powers of commingling the grotesque and the ghastly, carried the vicious apprentice on to the last scene in the dissecting room, he did not venture, if we remember rightly, to picture there a facetious anatomist.
If we had space we should be disposed to comment somewhat at length on several points here presented, and others which have come to our knowledge from parties who were present, but we can only advert for a moment to the indirect influence of the published report of the examination.
It would seem that the physicalstructureof the murderer was such as to indicate the ferocious and brutal disposition which he manifested. With such a development of brain, muscles, &c., it would have been quite a perplexing problem to scientific men, had he been less tender of the lives of his fellow-creatures. Now it occurred to us, as philanthropists, that we might perhaps do away with a great deal of crime and suffering, and almost the whole expense of the police, of criminal courts, prisons, &c., by a simple process like the following. Let a commission of discerning and judicious men of science be appointed in every county or large town, (like vaccine districts) who shall be required once a month to examine all persons within a given district, with a view to determine their developments. As soon as there is a perceptible tendency to thieving, burglary, fraud, robbery, rape, murder, or other criminal course, let it be duly recorded; and without waiting for the actual consummation of the deed, which is really the expensive feature of it, let the development suffice to put the public on its guard, and subject the party in whose unfortunate brain it is detected, to the same pains and penalties which he or she would suffer, were it to be allowed full expansion. A moment’s reflection will satisfy any one of the economy and efficiency of this plan.
The whole course of legislation, adjudication and punishment would thus be resolved into a plain matter of professional science; and all questions about the sources and preventives of crime would be brought to the surface of the cranium, and there be settled by square and compass!