THE OREGON SUNDAY JOURNAL, PORTLAND, SUNDAY KORNING, OCTOBER, 18, 1903
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Men
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Who Have
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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
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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