Why Some Men Kill

A. Thacher George

Description

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. I did not feel confident that the list was entirely accurate, but I realized that every day association with the prisoners prob ably made the designation of defective by these men worthy of thoughtful consideration at least. In jotting down the names of these prisoners I asked what offenses they had committed. In this list approximating 70 defective prisoners 36 were serving sentences for rape and of the 36 there were 13 who had raped their own daughters. One prisoner was serving his third term for this same offense. Seventeen of these prisoners were guilty of the offense which has made ancient Sodom a byword through the centuries. Six of these men had committed murder and all of the six were sex perverts. Naturally these defective beings often have a defective moral sense. My observation has often confirmed that fact. Kraft Ebing remarks that this psychic degeneration, however, has a more profound pathological foundation, because often it can be referred to distinct cerebro-pathologic conditions, and often enough is associated with anatomic signs of degeneration.

Sujets

• Droit et juridique

Informations

• Publié par: Forgotten Books
• Date de parution: 27 novembre 2019
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780243785056
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

CONT E NTS

by Dr H Chapter The Delinquent Moron Chapter II Psychology of Confessions of Crime Chapter The Mur er of William Booth and the Convi tion of William Branson and Mrs Booth Chapter IV Willi m iggin Shows Warden Murphy Where He Concealed the Revolver Chapter Appe l to the Public for the Release of Wil liam Branson and Mrs Booth Chapter VI The Murder of Mrs Daisy Wehrm n Child Ch pter The Crime Indicates the Criminal Chapter III The Hair Found in Mrs Hands Chapter John Sierks Letters About the Murder Chapter Confirmation of John Sierks Confession of Murder Chapter Circumstantial E vidence upplement to Chapter Containing Judge Pipes Brief Chapter Characteristics of Sadism Chapter III Personal Character of Mr Pend r Chapter The Sadistic Murder of the Hill Family Chapter XV William iggins Confessio Chapter XVI The Murder of Mary Spina Chapter II Conclusion

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m ed i um gra de H mo ron co n fe ss ed to ki l l i n g Mr s W eh rm n a nd he r c h i l d C ol umb i a C ou n t y O re go n i n e pt e mb er a nd t he n r e pu d i t ed h i s co n fe ss i o n C h ap t er s

A who w a rons w g f u l l co nv i ct ed t h e mur der o f W eh r ma n a nd her c h i l d M hr Pender a s b ee n i n d i ffe r en t a i l s a nd t he p en i t en si n c e e pt e mb e r

P E FAC E

Some years ago I spent a Sunday afternoon at the Oregon tate Penitent ary in Salem with one of the officers of the insti and a trusty The latter was a very intelligent man who had received a college education The conversation turned to the quest on of mental defect among the inmates of the insti who at that time numbered about Neither of my companions was an alienist nor a psychologist but they both knew the men in the institution and referring to the prison records they named about men who were in their opinion defective The deputy warden to whom I mentioned the sub of our conversation said Yes and I could add some to your list I did not feel confident that the list was entirely accurate but I the prisoners probrealized that every day association with bly made the designation of defective by these men worthy of thoughtful consi dera ion at least In j otting do n the na es of these prisoners I Inasked what offenses they had committed this list appro x imating defective serprisoners were i ng entences for rape and of the there were who had raped their own daughters One prisoner was serving h i s th i rd te m for this same offense Seventeen of these prisoners were guilt the offense wh i made ancient Sodom a b ord throughch has the centuries Six of these men had committed murder and all the six were se x per v erts Naturally t ese defec i ings often have a defective moralve b sense My obser v ation has often confirmed that fact raft E that this psychic degeneratbing remarks i aon however has more pr found p athological foundation because often it can be referred to dist nct cerebro pathologic con di oftentions and enough is associated with anatom c signs of degeneration The se x ual instinct in particular is very frequently abnor al It i s my purpose in presenting the facts contained in this hor volume to bring the matter before the people o f the nat i on or at least before those interested i n criminal problems and in social serv i ce wor k I also wish to point out the vagaries of the average trial jury in the matter of called ci cumstant al evidence in cases where some terr i ble crime has b evidencen committed and where

i i f aga i nst the accused per on i s purely i nferent i usel or to legal term circumstanti The investigat i on o f to me as presthese cases has come i dent of the Oregon Prisoners Ai d ociet I have also had a commis sion as Special Agent of the tate of Oregon for the p st four years hough serv i Governorng without salary J ames Withycom e who appointed me as pecial Agent had taken a great i nterest in thethe Wehrman murder H ill sadist i c murder and the Booth murder He furnished me e x pense money i n the Wehrman murder case and the H ill murder case to the amount of approx i mately and the vouchers for the itemized expense of my investigations are on file at the tate House Governor Withycombe also pai d a former newspaper man Mr Richard C Lee to make an independent investigation of the Wehrman murder He also directed Warden Murphy to make an investigation of Willi am ggin s confession in the Booth murder case which was paid for by the state I have iven a great deal of my time for several years without any charge as a m atter of duty because I was pres i dent of the Oregon Prisoners Aid Society to the invest i ga ions of the Wehr man murder the Hill murder and the ooth murder and I have contributed about towards the expenses of these investiga tions The Oregon Prisoners Aid Society has also contributed over to these investigations because of the importance of the issues involved The District Attorney of Multnomah County Hon Walter H E about to the latest phasevans contributed of the investigation of the Hill murder case involv i ng the sion of William Riggin Attorney General Brown has given sev eral days of his time to the consideration of the confessions of William Riggin in the Booth murder case and the Hill murder These three murders involved the killing of seven persons and the mysterious circumstances connected with all three cases aroused state wide interest In my personal investigations the results of which are given in this volume I have had the advantage of the valuable advice and assistance of W G general superintendent of the Pacific Coast Rescue and Protective Society with headquart ers at Burnside street Portland Oregon I have been so fortunate as to find many prominent citizens of the state interested in these murder cases and men of the highest prof ssional and business standing have taken the time to read carefully the detailed report of the investigation of the

f i i i Wehrman murder and to author i of their n mze use secure the p rdon of John Arthur Pe der ong th se are Mo t Reverend Ale x ander C h i st i e Arc ishop of Oregon H on e ing f of the House oormer peaker f Representa Dr John H Boyd pastor of the First Presbyterian C hurch o f ofCon ress pre ident of the Oregon l e Portland Sc others C Henri Labbe lawyer H onorable Mart i n L Pipes l awyer H E Coolidge banker Grande Willof La H Daly e x City Com issioner of Portland M i lo C i ng la ye Gresham Oregon Mark Woo druff j ournalist Portland J D Bro n president Oregon Farmers U on E ugene E mith for esi dent of labor organizat i ons in Portland and a n mber of others Judge Pipes as he is a iliarly known voluntarily prepare d brief for subm i sion to the Governor concerning a pardon for Pender Upon my solicitation he consented to its being rinted in this volu e and i t is to be found in a supplement to hapter XI Quite a large number of public spir i ted citizens have also tudied the report of the invest i gation of the Booth murder and ave authorized the use of their na es to secure the pardon of illi m Branson and Anna Booth William D Wheelwr i ght president of the Pacific Ex port Lumber Company with offices in the Chamber of Commerce taken a very keen interest in secu ing pardons for John rthur Pender also for Will am Branson and Anna Booth In company with Judge P i pes Mr Wheelwr i ght vi sited the pen i with the Governor s consent and held long inter iews with Pender William Branson Boo h and W i l am Riggin after studying the briefs of the testimony in the urder trials and the reports of the i nvestigations Hon Frank Grant formerly City Attorney of Portland has ade a study of all the evidence iven in the trials of Mr Pender of Mr Branson and Mrs Booth and also has examined the ports of the investigations in both cases and expresses his c on that Mr Pender Mr Branson and Mrs Booth are i nnocent the crimes for which they are spend i theng their lives in regon Penitent ary I am indebted to Mr A H Harr i s for reading the manuscript and m aking valuable suggest ons also Mr Thomas A Hayes There are such important issues involved in these murder c ases touch i minded men for committingng the capacity of feeble

i v f cr i in spite of their apparently harmless natures mina acts that I su mitted the material to Dr Henry H Goddard who is recog as t h ity on feeble most autho e for inmind dn s United States Dr Goddard was for years director of rese rch at the inst tu ion for the feeble m i nded at Vineland Jersey pre ent t me he is d i rector of the Bureau of Juvenile Research under the Ohio Board of Administra ion at Columbus Ohio Dr Goddard has published several books on the s bject Feeble M i ndedness Its Causes and Consequences The likak F ily an account of feeble minded and normal heredit for six generations beginning with a young man in the army who had a child by a feeble minded girl who later married a normal woman and left many distinguished descendants Their histories are compared with his descendants by feeble minded girl He also publ shed The Criminal Imbecile desc ibing three feeble minded murderers one of whom by the way is serving a l fe sentence in the Oregon Peni at Salem Dr Goddard writes My Dear Mr Thacher I have read your manuscript very carefully and have been inten ely interested in it I have prepared the enclosed intro duct i you are entif it is of any service to you on which i rely welcome to use The introduc ion follows Portland Oregon March GE O RG E A T H A CH E R

INTRODU CTION

The subj ect matter contained th s book constitutes an portant human document Society has had three st ges i n attitude toward crime The earliest stage was that of nge an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth ve y p i ti e view seemingly based upon the concept on that the c ime injury were atoned for if the perpetrator was made to ffer in an equal degree While there are still some peop maintain t s primitive way of thinking of crime soc i et y long since p ssed into the second stage which was the i dea punishment order to deter others from committing similar imes Th i w is still held by many althoughs i i t is recognized the most thoughtful that both in theory and in fact this is wrong att i tud It has been proved beyond question that ver y if any of our crimes are of such character that the fear of un i from committingshment however deter other great would t em The third stage wh ch has grown out of more hum t rian attitude toward our fellowmen is expressed in the dec that all punish ent should be designed to reform the riminal And we have been busy i most enlightenedn the enters of evolving methods for such reform E ven th e names of penal institutions have i n many instances bee hanged from prison to reformatory We are now beginning to glimpse a fourth stage wh ch is th at of a prevention In other words we are awakening to the f act the b tter plan is not to wait until a person has committed rime and then reform him but to ant i dcipate the crime an revent its b ing committed The social value of such a pro can not be quest i oned The possibilit of success how ever has been quest i oned and is st i ll denied by many persons I t is st i ll declar d to be too i deal for practical purposes Never it is a proposition that all must admit that if we do not st ive for the i e al we will m e no progress The wise pro i s obv i ously to keep the ideal before us and proceed as fast as we may to ascertain what are the necessary conditions for obtaining i deal Let us then face the question frankly Can crime be pre vented Log cally the answer is clear It can if we can deter i therefore comene the causes and then remove them at once to fu damental ques ion hat are the causes of ime ome will an wer vaguely human frailty and con