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tion of thoughtless males is rather useful on the whole to the progress of the race.
The decisions to which this line of argument, conscious or sub-conscious, leads judges and juries, shamefully neglectful of their public trust, may be seen from the appended cases, selected haphazard from a newspaper file.
(c) Poisoning a Husband.
Mrs. Maybrick was tried at Liverpool Assizes for poisoning her husband. She read a written statement by herself (Mr. Justice Stephens ordered that she be not permitted to communicate with her lawyers before writing it) to the effect that she administered the poison to her husband at his own request. The judge and jury accepted her statement that she administered the poison, but disbelieved her statement that it was at his own request, and, wonderful to relate, she was convicted of murder. But the Home Secretary commuted her sentence; and after undergoing a few years' imprisonment she is now at large.
(d) Setting a Husband on Fire.
Mary O'Reardon, August 1st, 1894, poured oil over her husband, and deliberately set him on fire with a lighted paper. Sentenced at the Central Criminal Court to six years' penal servitude.
The offence was plainly wilful murder. The man had shortly before attempted to commit suicide—being driven to the attempt by her ill-usage.
(e) Setting a Husband on Fire.
Catherine Chilton (Durham Assizes, Nov. 24th, 1894) threw a lighted lamp at her husband. Sentenced to twelve months' hard labour for manslaughter. The judge described it as a wanton and wicked act, and said it was a mercy for the prisoner that the jury had reduced the original charge to one of manslaughter.
