Part 10 (1/2)

”I have made a study of criminals for years, and I think that it is safe to say that in most cases that have come under my observation there were either congenital or hereditary deformities to which the special obliquity could be traced. Such has been the history of crimes in all eras, and one only has to turn to the medical history of the world to see that scientific men have even given greater cognizance to these causes than can ever be brought before juries composed of men whose training has not been such as to enable them to appreciate how much these physical conditions have to do with the commission of crime.

”I see men every day who would be criminals if the stress of circ.u.mstances forced them to it, and they would not be entirely responsible for their action. Crime has more origin in the head than the heart, and it is in the study of phrenology that we have the fact revealed.”

A MURDERER'S MENTALITY.

Fritz Anschlag, a German Farmer in Los Angeles county, California, in 1888 murdered Charles. .h.i.tchc.o.c.k and wife, a highly respected couple living at Garden Grove in that county, to obtain possession of their farm, for which a deed had been executed to him, but not delivered, awaiting payment. He was tried, convicted, and sentenced to hang, but defeated the law by committing suicide. An interesting feature of his case was the receipt of a letter from his sister in Germany, before his trial, informing him of the fact that she, his parents and all his relatives had utterly disowned him and regarded him with no sympathy whatever. As this was done before he was proven guilty, and upon mere knowledge of the accusation, it is significant in showing that the whole family were as deficient in the social propensities as was Anschlag himself.

DOOMED ANSCHLAG.

A Phrenologist Examines the Murderer's Head.--The Brute Becomes Angry at His Visitors, But Says Nothing--A Report of the Examination.

[From the Los Angeles (Cal.) _Express_.]

This morning, through the kindness of Jailor Henry Russell, an _Express_ reporter was allowed to enter the cell of Fritz Anschlag, the condemned murderer of Charles. .h.i.tchc.o.c.k and wife, of Garden Grove, to witness an examination of Anschlag's head by Prof. William Windsor, a.s.sisted by his wife. Jailor Russell swung open the iron door of the death-watch cell and allowed the reporter and the Professor, accompanied by his wife, to enter, and then followed himself.

As the little party entered the place of confinement, Anschlag looked nervously around, and seeing the visitors, frowned and mumbled some incoherent words in German. The reporter was asked to speak to the murderer in German and make known to him the object of the morning's visit. Anschlag at first was not willing to have his head examined, but when a.s.sured it might be for his benefit, he readily consented.

Professor Windsor smoothed back Anschlag's long straight hair from his forehead and running his fingers through the murderer's hair, began to make an examination.

As the professor was going through the preliminary movements, the brute trembled and turned color several times. During the examination Professor Windsor would explain as he went along, and when finished, kindly gave the reporter the following written report:

Anschlag's head measures twenty-two inches around the base of the brain and fourteen inches across the crown. His nature is peculiar in the fact that the organs of the brain which deal with property values, and the ability to make a living by ordinary transactions, are almost entirely idiotic. He shows a fair development of memory and perception, but his ability to reason upon moral questions of right and wrong, property and the rights of others, and the consequences of his own acts, is almost absolutely wanting. He is, in all respects, a moral idiot, and it is a noteworthy fact that the most atrocious crimes are committed by this cla.s.s of criminal idiots. The great difficulty in his case is in getting the public or a jury to believe that a man may be capable of reasoning on one point and displaying absolutely no power to think correctly on the moral side of the question. The physical fact remains, however, that to give Anschlag correct judgment on any question involving property, ethics or the consequences of his own acts to himself or others, his head would have to be enlarged at least an inch in the occipital region and the posterior part of the crown.

ANSCHLAG'S MENTALITY.

A Scientific Estimate of the Murderer's Brain--What Prof.

William Windsor, LL. B., the Eminent Phrenologist, Says of his Mental Caliber--He Calls Him an Idiot--No More Moral Sense Than a Dog--The Fault His Ancestors'.

[From the Los Angeles (Cal.) _Tribune_].

Prof. William Windsor, LL. B., the phrenologist whose lectures, in Los Angeles, last January, excited such general interest, returned to the city yesterday, _en route_ for San Diego. He visited the jail yesterday and made an examination of Fritz Anschlag, the noted murderer of the Mr.

and Mrs. Hitchc.o.c.k. A representative of the _Tribune_ called on Professor Windsor at the St. Elmo and requested him to give the readers of this journal the results of his examination of the man whose atrocious crime has absorbed the attention of the public ever since its committal.

”Anschlag is a moral idiot,” said Professor Windsor, in answer to the first interrogatory of the scribe. ”He belongs to a cla.s.s of beings who, from the circ.u.mstances of birth and education, are dest.i.tute of the requisite amount of sense necessary to form a correct judgment on moral questions as well as many others.

”It is a popular error to suppose that phrenology depends upon 'b.u.mps,'

so called, or protuberances or hollows in the conformation of the skull.

The conclusions of the phrenologist are based upon estimates of brain fiber, their quality and length from a point in the base of the brain directly between the ears, to the surface. This measurement in different heads will show a comparative difference of three or four inches in many cases, though the heads may be smooth in contour and dest.i.tute of 'b.u.mps.' Just look at these two skulls, for instance,” placing two ghastly objects on the table, which, by actual measurement, differed more than three inches.

”Does Anschlag's head resemble either of these?”

”Not in all particulars. This,” holding up the broader of the two, ”is the skull of Andrew J. McCannon, executed in Mississippi, more than forty years ago, for the murder of the Adock family, two adults and three children. It is a case of moral idiocy more p.r.o.nounced than Anschlag's.”

”What distinction do you make, Professor, in the case of Anschlag or this murderer, and a case of total idiocy such as we all recognize?”

”The difference is partly in degree, and partly in the fact that a man may be idiotic in one faculty and have all or a majority of the other faculties in the mind in good working order. Cases of color-blindness furnish a familiar example. Color-blindness is not a defect of the eye, but a defect of the brain. In other words, the party is dest.i.tute of the sense of color, and it may be readily detected by a deficiency of brain just above the eye.