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KIDD'S OWN JOURNAL. 



placed near the criminal who was undergoing 

 punishment. They relate an anecdote of La Con- 

 damine, that, one day, making efforts to penetrate 

 the crowd assembled at the place of execution, and 

 being repulsed by the soldiers, the executioner 

 exclaimed, " Le the gentleman pass, he is an 

 amateur." M. Bruggmanns, professor at Leyden, 

 mentioned to us a Dutch clergyman, who had so 

 decided a desire for killing, and for witnessing 

 death, that he took the place of almoner of a regi- 

 ment, solely to have an opportunity of seeing a 

 great number of men destroyed. This same indi- 

 vidual raised, at his house, the females of various 

 domestic animals, and when they brought forth 

 young, his favorite occupation was to cut their 

 throats. He used to take charge of killing all the 

 animals that were to be cooked. He corresponded 

 with the executioners throughout the country, and 

 would travel several miles on foot, to be present at 

 executions ; so that the executioners always secured 

 to him the distinction of a place near them. On 

 the field of battle, we find striking examples of the 

 different degree in which this disposition exists. 

 One soldier, at the view of the blood which he 

 causes to flow, feels the intoxication of carnage ; 

 another, moved by pity, inflicts feeble blows, or at 

 least spares the conquered; turns away at the 

 sight of a child, of a woman, and of an old man, 

 and checks himself after a victory. 



The man enslaved by the cruel propensity of 

 which I here speak, still preserves the power of 

 subduing, or of giving it a direction which is not 

 injurious. But the power of subduing a vicious 

 propensity is weakened in such an individual, in 

 proportion as he has received less education, or 

 the organs of the qualities of a superior order are 

 less developed. If it happens that this propensity 

 is carried to the highest degree, the man experi- 

 ences but little opposition between his pernicious 

 propensities and his external duties ; and though 

 even in this case he is not deprived of moral 

 liberty, or the faculty of being determined by 

 motives, he still finds pleasure in homicide. I 

 shall include in this case all the robbers, who, not 

 content with plunder, have shown the sanguinary 

 inclination to torment and kill without necessity. 

 John Rosbeck was not satisfied, like his com- 

 panions, with ill-treating his victims to make them 

 confess the place where their treasures were con- 

 cealed. He invented and exercised the most atro- 

 cious cruelties, for the sole pleasure of seeing the 

 sufferings and the blood of children, women, and 

 old men. His first imprisonment continued nine- 

 teen months ; he was shut up in a subterranean 

 dungeon, so narrow that he could hardly breathe. 

 His feet were loaded with chains ; he was up to 

 the ankles in dirty water ; and when he was taken 

 from this sink, it was to undergo cruel torture. 

 Still he would confess nothing ; he was set at 

 liberty, and the first use he made of his freedom, 

 was to commit a robbery in open day. He soon 

 committed new murders, and was finally put to 

 death. At the beginning of the last century, 

 several murders were committed in Holland, on 

 the frontiers of the country of Cleves. The author 

 of these crimes was a long time unknown. Finally, 

 an old minstrel, who used to go to play the violin 

 at all the weddings in the neighborhood, was sus- 

 pected from some conversation among his children. 

 Carried before the magistrate, he confessed thirty- 



four distinct murders, and asserted that he had 

 committed them without malice, and without any 

 intention to rob, solely because he found extraor- 

 dinary pleasure in them. This fact was com- 

 municated to us by M. Serrurier, magistrate at 

 Amsterdam. 



The well-known Sabatino, condemned at Paler- 

 mo, for various crimes, at the moment he ascended 

 the scaffold, confessed that he had killed a man 

 with a musket-shot two years before. When asked 

 what could have induced him to commit such an 

 outrage, he coolly replied, that he had fired his 

 musket on the man to satisfy himself that the 

 powder was good ! 



Louis XV., says M. Lacratelle, had a well- 

 founded aversion to the brother of the Duke de 

 Bourbon Conde, the Count de Charolais, a prince 

 who would have revived all the crimes of Nero, if, 

 to the misfortune of mankind, he had been per- 

 mitted to occupy a throne. Even in the sports of 

 his childhood, he manifested an instinct of cruelty 

 which might make one shudder. He amused him- 

 self in torturing animals ; his violence to his ser- 

 vants was absolutely ferocious. They pretend that 

 he tried to mingle cruelty even with his debauch- 

 eries, and that he practised divers barbarities on 

 the very courtezans who were brought to him. The 

 popular tradition, confirmed by several records, 

 accuses him of several homicides. He committed 

 murder, as is said, without interest, resentment, or 

 anger. He used to fire at bricklayers, in order to 

 enjoy the barbarous pleasure of seeing them fall 

 from the tops of the houses on which they worked. 



These last facts, fortunately very rare, show us 

 that this detestable propensity is sometimes alto- 

 gether independent of education, of examples of 

 seduction or habit, and that it has its source solely 

 in a bad organisation. In fact, there are sometimes 

 committed crimes so barbarous, with circumstances 

 so revolting and disgusting, that it would be dif- 

 ficult to explain them in any other manner. Pro- 

 chaska relates that a woman of Milan used to lure 

 children to her house by flatteries, kill them, salt 

 their flesh, and devour them daily. He also cites 

 the example of a man, who, in the indulgence of 

 this atrocious propensity, killed a traveller and a 

 young girl to devour them. I have already men- 

 tioned the daughter of a cannibal, who, though 

 educated at a distance from him, partook, from an 

 early age, of this savage passion. 



FOND HEARTS FOR EVER ! 



Fond words do not ensure fond hearts, 



Nor glances bold prove love ; 

 The tongue that deepest truth imparts, 



May often faltering prove. 

 Love's ways, 'tis known, are different ways, 



In different tempers found ; 

 But oh ! — give me the timid gaze, ^ 



That, bashful, seeks the ground'! 



Give me the steps that softly glide, 



Lest earth their place should tell ; — 

 The feelings that 'neath blushes hide, 



As birds 'mid roses dwell; — 

 The lips that tremble lest a word 



Their secret hopes betray ; — 

 The whispers 'neath the moonlight heard, 



That shun the ruder day ! 



