贝壳电子书 > 英文原著电子书 > she stands accused(她是被告) >

第5章

she stands accused(她是被告)-第5章

小说: she stands accused(她是被告) 字数: 每页4000字

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!




called saturation…point wherever inflicted。             And as regards the invention 

of   sickening     punishment      we    need   go   no   farther   afield   in  search    for 



                                                13 


… Page 14…

                                 SHE STANDS ACCUSED 



ingenuity     than   the   list  of  English    kings。    Dirty    Jamie    the  Sixth   of 

Scotland   and   First   of   England;   under   mask   of   retributive   justice;   could 

exercise a vein of cruelty that might have turned a Red Indian green with 

envy。     Moreover;   doesn't   our   word   expressing   cruelty   for   cruelty's   sake 

derive from the name of a manthe Marquis de Sade? 

     I am persuaded that the reason why so many women murderers have 

made use of poison in their killings is primarily a simple one; a matter of 

physique。      The average murderess; determined on the elimination of; for 

example; a husband; must be aware that in physical encounter she would 

have    no   chance。     Then;    again;   there   is  in  women      an  almost    inborn 

aversion to the use of weapons。          Once in a way; where the murderess was 

of Amazonian type; physical means have been employed for the slaying。 

     In this regard Kate Webster; who in 1879 at Richmond murdered and 

dismembered   Mrs   Julia   Thomas;   springs   to   mind。         She   was;   from   all 

accounts; an exceedingly virile young woman; strong as a pony; and with a 

devil of a temper。       Mr Elliot O'Donnell; dealing with her in his essay in 

the    ‘‘Notable    British    Trials''  series;   seems    to   be   rather   at  a  loss; 

considering her lack of physical beauty; to account for her attractiveness to 

men and to her own sex。          But there is no need to account for it。          Such a 

thing is no phenomenon。 

     I myself; sitting in a taberna in a small Spanish port; was once pestered 

by a couple of British seamen to interpret for them in their approaches to 

the daughter of the house。          This woman; who had a voice like a raven; 

seemed able to give quick and snappy answers to the chaff by frequenters 

of the taberna。      Few people in the day…time; either men or women; would 

pass the house if 'Fina happened to be showing without stopping to have a 

word with her。       She was not at all gentle in manner; but children ran to 

her。    And   yet;   without   being   enormously   fat;   'Fina   must   have   weighed 

close on fifteen stone。       She had forearms and biceps like a coal…heaver's。 

She   was   black…haired;   heavy…browed;   squish…nosed;   moled;   and   swarthy; 

and   she   had   a   beard   and   moustache   far   beyond   the   stage   of   incipiency。 

Yet those two British seamen; fairly decent men; neither drunk nor brutish; 

could not have been more attracted had 'Fina had the beauty of the Mona 

Lisa herself。     I may add that there were other women handy and that the 



                                               14 


… Page 15…

                                 SHE STANDS ACCUSED 



seamen knew of them。 

     This in parenthesis; I hope not inappropriately。 

     Where the selected victim; or victims; is; or are; feeble…bodied you will 

frequently   find   the   murderess   using   physical   means   to   her   end。   Sarah 

Malcolm; whose case will form one of the chief features of this volume; is 

an instance in point。      Marguerite Diblanc; who strangled Mme Reil in the 

latter's   house in   Park   Lane on   a  day  in April   1871;  is   another。   Amelia 

Dyer; the baby…farmer; also strangled her charges。              Elizabeth Brownrigg 

(1767) beat the feeble Mary Clifford to death。              I do not know that great 

physical difference existed to the advantage of the murderess between her 

and her older victim; Mrs Phoebe Hogg; who; with her baby; was done to 

death by Mrs Pearcy in October 1890; but the fact that Mrs Hogg had been 

battered about the head; and that the head had been almost severed from 

the body; would seem to indicate that the murderess was the stronger of 

the   two   women。      The    case   of  Belle   Gunness     (treated  by   Mr   George 

Dilnot in his Rogues March'1') might be cited。                Fat; gross…featured; far 

from attractive though she was; her victims were all men who had married 

or   had   wanted    to  marry    her。   Mr    Dilnot   says   these   victims   ‘‘almost 

certainly   numbered   more   than       a   hundred。''  She   murdered   for   money; 

using   chloral   to   stupefy;   and   an   axe   for   the   actual   killing。 She   herself 

was slain and burned; with her three children; by a male accomplice whom 

she was planning to dispose of; he having arrived at the point of knowing 

too much。      1907 was the date of her death at La Porte; U。S。A。 

       '1' Bles; 1934。 



     It occurs when the female killer happens to be dramatical…minded that 

she    will   use   a  pistol。   Mme      Weissmann…Bessarabo;          who;    with   her 

daughter; shot her husband in Paris (August 1920); is of this kind。                  She 

and   the   daughter;   Paule…Jacques;   seem  to   have   seen   themselves   as   wild; 

wild women from the Mexico where they had sometime lived; and were 

always flourishing revolvers。 

     I would say that the use of poison so much by women murderers has 

reason; first; in the lack of physique for violent methods; but I would put 

alongside that reason this other; that women poisoners usually have had a 



                                              15 


… Page 16…

                                 SHE STANDS ACCUSED 



handy     proximity     to  their  victims。    They     have    had   contact   with   their 

victims   in   an   attendant   capacity。    I   have   a   suspicion;   moreover;   that   a 

good   number   of   women   poisoners   actually   chose   the   medium   as   THE 

KINDEST WAY。            Women; and I might add not a few men; who would be 

terribly    shocked    by   sight   or  news    of  a  quick    but  violent   death;    can 

contemplate   with   relative   placidity   a   lingering   and   painful   fatal   illness。 

Propose      to  a  woman     the   destruction    of  a   mangy     stray  cat  or   of  an 

incurably   diseased   dog   by   means   of   a   clean;   well…placed   shot;   and   the 

chances      are   that  she    will  shudder。      Butno      lethal   chamber     being 

availablesuggest   poison;   albeit   unspecified;   and   the   method   will   more 

readily commend itself。         This among women with no murderous instincts 

whatever。 

     I have a fancy also that in some cases of murder by poison; not only by 

women; the murderer has been able to dramatize herself or himself ahead 

as   a   tender;   noble;   and   self…sacrificing   attendant   upon   the   victim。   No 

need     here;   I  think;  to  number      the  cases   where     the  ministrations     of 

murderers to their victims have   aroused the almost tearful admiration of 

beholders。 

     I shall say nothing of the secrecy of the poison method; of the chance 

which still exists; in spite of modern diagnosis; that the illness induced by 

it will pass for one arising from natural causes。             This is ground traversed 

so often that its features are as familiar as those of one's own house door。 

Nor shall I say anything of the ease with which; even in these days; the 

favourite poison of the woman murderer; arsenic; can be obtained in one 

form or another。 

     One hears and reads; however; a great deal about the sense of power 

which gradually steals upon the poisoner。             It is a speculation upon which 

I am not ready to argue。        There is; indeed; chapter and verse for believing 

that   poisoners    have    arrived   at  a  sense   of  omnipotence。       But    if  Anna 

Zwanziger (here I quote from Mr Ph

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 1 1

你可能喜欢的