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About The Oregon daily journal. (Portland, Or.) 1902-1972 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 18, 1908)
THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY KORNING, OCTOBER, 18, 1903 PM) D T n It: 4 A f rfepr 7drfs2esr, Mot, V' l r I Ml til t ; i it , v ar . a i. . .er vn m-- . . a-- T WW . V r. f; Men Given Law a Who Have Vti v . jT ' the Unwritten Vogue O?. joot wr Europe has been re- " gar ding the United States with hor ror depicted upon its highly con- serxative countenance. ,, Its shocked attention has been riveted ' upon the bizarre civilization beyond the At- lantic by a fusillade of revolver shots, mag nified by the enthralled European imagination into the idea that the majority of American husbands were firing by platoons into the rest of the male population in vindication of their ' sacred honor. The injured husband and his ready gun, together with his reliance upon "the unwritten law," receive little or no sympathy from Europe, largely because Europe considers the swora infinitely more polite, and largely be cause it is so experienced in marital infidelity that the invader of the home possesses there a distinct status as a gentleman invariably en titled to the honors of the duello. So long as any courteous blackguard is " ready to back up his blackguardism with his courage, any husband is in duty bound to offer 'him an even chance to add murder to his other crimes. In the United States the only course which public opinion can unqualifiedly commend is the gentle, innocuous divorce. So the American practice of shooting the expo nent of immorality with as little considera tion as one would shoot a burglar remains, in European eyes, eminently de trop. traight back to Congress, bare. Pickles was too powerful a oharacter to be crushed or even daunted by any force of popular repugnance. His gallant aervlce In the Civil War, the fortitude with which he sustained his loss of limb at Gettys burg, his perpetually Indomitable spirit later, maimed - as he was, foroed the nation to accede to him re newed respect. , The Thaw case, in Its trial, differed in no wise from the Sickles trial in Washington, either In na tional notoriety or in averment of Justification for the deed and in the loophole of insanity claimed by the defense. But the careers of the two men had been so radically different that the law provided an insane asylum for the more modern exponent of aboriginal marital rights when marital affairs appear to go wrong. The Thaw case, however, has been- neither the beginning nor the end of the now scandalous Ameri can cult of the ready revolver. And the law has proved as erratic as were some of the homicides. As far back as 1892 Edward Farker Deacon,- of Boston, who had married the girlishly beautiful daughter of Rear Admiral Baldwin and taken her to Paris, where she instantly became a belle, returned from a Journey, found a French clubman named Abellle visiting Ais wife, at Cannes, and shot him dead. DEACON DRIVEN MAD Deacon was tried, at Nice, for murder, amid a world-wide sensation that rivaled the Sickles trial In Washington and the Thaw affair. Convicted, ha was nevertheless released, because of the clroumstances attending the shooting, after a comparatively brief Imprisonment. His mind, never very strong, rapidly gave way, and he became an asylum Inmate, at W verly, in Massachusetts, hopelessly mad. Death finally cleared his account on earth. Nine years later the quiet little town of Arling ton, in New Jersey, witnessed the shooting of the Rev. John Keller, a highly respected clergyman, by Thomas O. Barker, whose wife had been one of his parishioners. The shooting was calmly deliberate, and the clergyman, one eye shot out and the other almost useless for sight, lingered on, praying that his assailant might be forgiven, until the physicians agreed he would recover. Barker averred that his wife, who had long been known to be in an exceedingly nervous condition, had declared to him that, nearly a year earlier, she was assaulted by the clergyman. The case presented such conflicting aspects, and the circumstances seemed to so condone the husband's deed on the score of an uncontrollable rage, that he was sentenced to only five years' imprisonment. Yet, only a couple of years ago, in Baton Rouge, in Louisiana, the law harked back to the unequivocal condonement of homicide by an injured husband 'jj' k -i aw . 2r v x which the original Sickles verdict practically amount ed to. ' - George K. Favrot, having served with distinction in the capacity of district Judge, was elected to Con gress in November, 1906. His wife was famed as one of the loveliest women in Louisiana. In the same city lived Dr. R. H. Aldrich, who was highly respected. It was said that Dr. Aldrich circulated reports about Judge Favrot's wife that were so slanderous as to warrant some action by her or her husband, whose college mate and chum he had been as a young man. The people of Baton Rouge expected that the trou- . sle must come to a head, and believed, that Dr. Aldrich knew he must reckon with the husband of the woman ha had talked about. On the day after his election to Congress, Judge Favrot, seeing Dr. Aldrich come out from his office, in the Raymond Building, stepped Inside the swjnglng doors as he approached the street and shot him thrioe. Aldrich fell dead. Judge Favrot, emerging, -told in quirers: "I have killed Dr. Aldrich for sufficient cause." He resigned from the bench while In Jail. Among his counsel was Colonel Thomas J. Kernan, who, be fore the American Bar Association, had presented a paper on "The Unwritten Daw of the Land" which created national comment. The Jury aqqultted Favrot as summarily as be naa sn.oi Aiancn. It was in Philadelphia, About this time last that Andrew J. Detach, with ths confession of wife thrilling in his brain, awaited one night the coming of Harry Ferree, a fellow-lodger, whom her confession implicated. year, at his FerrSe knookeeTat the bedroom door. The husband raised his revolver, remarked it must be- a burglar and fired through the door. Ferree fell, a corpse. Thel prosecution waa as half-hearted as had been that against Sickles. Even the commonwealth could not bring itself to try to hang the husband who slew the destroyer of his happiness in the act of invading the sanctity of his home. Detsch was acquitted. The Hains-Annls tragedy, with all its connection of charges, is too recent to call for lengthy review. But, like most sensational renewals of the ready gun's activity, It had Its sequel within a short time. Captain Peter C. Halns, Jr., of the United States Army, promptly pleaded justification after he shot William E. Annls to death at the Bayside Yacht Club wharf, New York. In the tragedy he had been aided and abetted, apparently, by his brother, T. Jenkins Halns, a magazine writer. At any rate, the law so re garded the latter's conduct, and held him for trial with his brother. Few slaylngs, other than that of Stanford White by Harry K. Thaw, have excited such widespread inter est, have created such a tar-reacblng wave of sensa tion and discussion. This is, perhaps, largely because of publlo Interest in recent private "executions of the unwritten law." Only of recent years has the unwritten law made it self so conspicuous, and one or two sensational ap peals to it have been sufficient to set almost the civ ilised world by the ears. Even the case of Judge Lorlng. in Virginia, who slew in cold blood a young man whom he accused of having made his daughter drunk in order to dishonor her. attained a much wider celebrity because of sev eral other notorious cases in the recent Dust. In Bordentown, N. J., Joseph Hoover shot anJ -iviiieu jxtuwnru f oru, n neignuor, whqbb sianaing in the community was so high that every one was aston ished by Hoover'a charges against his wife and his victim. Few expert observers of crime waves believe that these are the final episodes, even In the current chap ter of the continuous novel In real life, dealing with the injured husband and the ready gun. Meanwhile few, both here and abroad, have any nope that the American utilisation of the revolver has In the least restricted the offense which most commonly leaak to its emDlovment. iam presc For present, Europe laughs. T IHB world-audience that has been listening to the squalid sequels of the tumultuous Thaw case, with ths protests echoing from New York's Insane asylum punctuated with fresh - revolver shots as another injured husband or two reached for the ready gun, has forgotten, perhaps, that the first injured husband to raise the modern ' - plea of emotional insanity aad brainstorms growing nut f thn Anminiti of tho unwritten law General Daniel S. Sickles was. with them, also listening to the revolver shots, and in memory, no doubt, was harking back to that eventful day in Washington when the hot he fired rang throughout the country. It was in Buchanan's administration. Sickles waa a Democratic member of Congress from New York . city, only si years old. extremely nanasome, ana a favorite with the President, whose secretary of lega tion he had been while Buchanan was minister to . London. His wife was reckoned one of the most beauti- fSl women in the capital, with a dark splendor about her charm which was immensely fascinating. A ROMANTIC LOVER Philip Barton Key, son of Francis Scott Key, author Of "The Star-Fpangled Banner," was past 40 at the time, a widower, and as handsome as either Sickles or - his wife, but in a slender, pensive, romantic fashion. - Mnch rosalp sprang up over Key's attentions to young Mrs. Sickles. Tt.e husband showed no Jealousy, permitting his friend Key to act as her escort to numerous halls and parties. But, as time passed. Ms suspicions were awakened, and an anonymous letter stung him Into direct accu sation to his beautiful wife. He declared that, break- ins; down in ber denials, she finally confessed to him, with the admission that next morning Sunday Key . was to pass through Lafayette scuare. opposite the White House, and receive a signal from her. Sickles resolved to kill Key, who was the district attorney at the time, if he should respond to the signal, taking his response as complete confirma tion f his guilt. Sickles carried oat the deed precisely as be had planned it. Key fell, begging him not to shoot again, while ths husband gave him three mortal wounds from his ready revolver. "lie sishonorea me. He denied my home. We could sot livs together, on the same planet Tboss were the uncompromising terms In which Key's sisvrer assumed the full responsibility for his set. All official Washington supported him. He had i,J wlo H. Manton as chief of bis counsel la defeos iMcklee himself made not the slightest endeavor st any time, is evade fcls responsibility for Uie horol d: his sols contention was that It was his right. as a ihuiw wuwu4o, . uj ci tne te trsyer. tmt aim lawyers aia insist tnsiructlns tr ;ury tnat to te . elf ber In refers ncs tne aueaiinta oc in aTenoants saaity, usy sooald giie a verdtct f scsa'tLal." "The eou rt pncli rveiy declined ts admit that the law moid abeoivs front murdsr a bosbaa who eoma-Utted it beeaues ef ths wife's rain; feat srfcsestts was ad-r- )--4 . tended ts shw tft Sstnsstie troutj e ru3 Inranfty, snd. siee, that ths Inaaetty r tt tost B an Inetsst ltrer than wsJs sutSee Ic-r - enfnitMt'oi as ths homicidal svrt. Tbe Jury, avirs- tHl est. waik4 rirtt t agar i verr of s-wlrty." fnantna l-rs away Ms t : ."-4 c:at amid tares cheers, aad itsUs vast SUPPOSE WEPUS! deQJQIfo c mjw ui i x e te- Id Insist on the trial Judge "if they had any doubt ss re nee ts the homicide cr 1IARLIE oh, Charlie! Get up its half -past 6 o clock, and you"! be lata for work." She descended in raisinir his sleepy Kfad a few inches from the blissful pillow; but he fell bsck asin with a resoluteness that jarred the ledetpad. "You Charlie do you hear me f It's half-psst 6. Look st the dock." Ilalf lifted, he stared at the insolent dial. Yea; it was half -past 6. lie leaped out, and drew the window curtain. The night buns; black as Erebus. It was the beginning of the terrific war on clocks, the war which had been imported from England, where they didn't like the new time ar rangement any better than here. rcrly u h-t aad early rta. BlaSos a bu bMJtar C4 waeJIky end H VtiM trr Sum Aadeat Crimfnal AVCIFCL? A rse jorm by Edwts hlarkfcam. tired laser's sssst elaagorsas . ehaapissf 2et In tbs least. Only ths asraaea sketch f what. may be ara!ag la call: lea hemes hers, if Us ragliah ssvscale sf p-ashley ths aisca a hear ahead should ultlralately gala their goal, and America should s-eek to profit by tbelr esampls. Ths movement has had many and most ear est adh-erents ia Knglaad. . . , . It had Its origin la eoadltlons which all Englas rscvgnlsed and deplored. Ts serin with, evary ladlralisa BKHsted ts tbs fast that EFt'SB was Ur4 tirsd with that fas sf s-rer-, werk seder wbich a tnaa. fross absar tralniag la habits sf ladastry aad tram sheer feres tf wia dnvlag ths wornout bodily energy, roes to bis Job svsry day, at ths regular hour, and then lies up against It, dolag so, lit tie that he might as wsll be loafing. For years tbsrs had been lamentation svsr ths decadence of ths erstwhile mighty British meshanlo, accusing him of Idling whenever he was not directly under tbs "master's- sys and, when bs was. ahowlas a truly nefarious artfulness rn accomplishing nothing, whlls hs appeared to be working steadily. i But, a fsw years aaro, ths very classes whs war In ths habit of heaving bricks of admsnttlaa st ths British working maa themselves save disconcerting evtdencs of tbe' sans disorder. Among ths well-ts-do, wkoas brains wers very srrentlr seeded In the man agement sf their various baslneeaea and enterprises, or la ths eonntry"s politics, tbe -week-end spread ts such a csnsumlng sxtent that ths working week, nor many a full sl days, with Pnaday for normal, ficfin tnraf rest, was eared down ts four days aad a halt kCWTnstt Kss down ts a cetsntry bones far a ator-da-p half bosVisy. sol rssh back Is tbs sma.l hoars. Mottday msrslsgT M'sbt ss well star ta tswa svST Condsy and bora yourself ts death. No; better knock oft work sensibly Friday evening, enjoy a dscent rest, and be full of vim by Monday. But this business of using a week-end Saturday morn ingwhy. you might as wsll lsave town Saturday afternoon. Better quit work early Friday say, about noon travsl comfortably,, and havs all day Saturday for satisfying relaxation. Then cams ths bank clerks, and other polite em ployes, whose firms perceived they would bs all the better for a break in ths working afternoon Just a few minutes, you know, whlls tea could bs served sort of a pick-me-up, to Increase ths efficiency of the office fores. At that agrseable stage of the paring-down process on ths working day. Great Britain suddenly awoke to ths appalling fact that Germany, where everybody manufactured and clerked and sawed wood as long as anybody w,as able, was Invading the world's markets llks an irresistibls avalanche. Worse Germany was actually capturing England's own home market with almost anything she choss to export to Great Britain. Ths searching of hearts and the searing of con sciences followed. But loafing on the Job, week-ends, and afternoon tea, and all ths othsr handicaps of a nation overwearied with generations of work and nights devoted to pleasures mors or less exhausting, were too strongly entrenched, each in its conceded privileges, to be dons away with. Xt was then that ths proposal ran like wlldflrs. all over Great Britain, to push the dock an hour ahead. Everybody would have to get up an hour earlier, by ths clock; and everybody would, by ths same eld clock, stop work an hour earlier. It looked llks tweedledum vs. tweedlsdes, so far as ths actual- working tlms goes that can bs chiseled out of twenty-four hours. But ths adherents of ths movement contended that the early hours of ths day possssa a vitalising powar which would assurs ths early-rising nation mors snsrgy in its labors; that ths day's rest would corns at an earlier tftur, and as ' bs lsss profllgatsly enjoyed; in short, that ths hour ahead rasa would bs a wholesale trick on humanity to make It healthy, and so. prsspsrous. Now, whsn an Englishman wants anything, from a porous plaster to a miracle by Joshua, hs proposes aa act sf Parliament. The daylight bUL as It la kaowa. has already won ths favor sf ths select com mittee ths House of Commons, and no ens la Eng. land win bs surprised If It bs la active operation by April asst. Tbs world ts sweh a tight littls ball ef mad now. adays that ns natlss, like Great Britain, can so trs- ing dSBslr alter its activities wltbest directly affect- the Unites states in seias measure as. rer ex- Ptock E senna re dealings, whsra. svsa now. imnlL la Ptt snly tws tssurs am svailabls for ail transactions bs- iSrea America ana narena. Indlrectly, by ths fores sf einrerle. It may lead ts a similar snovemsnt hers; sr. shsnld It Improve threat Britain's poeHton In ber esmpetittosi witn Oermany and fort-s Oermaay ts sash Its eiscks sn hear sheas, tbs failed atesj snirbt tbsa bs Utsraliy csmpaUsd ts sta ths sari y -rising mevexsenL
