she stands accused(她是被告)-第5章
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called saturation…point wherever inflicted。 And as regards the invention
of sickening punishment we need go no farther afield in search for
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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
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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
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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