] Reprint from the St. Louis Courier of Medici we, April, 1887.1 
Compliments of the 
Author. 
SOME OF THE PRACTICAL RESULTS OF OUR 
CRIMINAL LAWS FROM A SANITARY 
STANDPOINT. 
By R. Harvey Reed, M. D., MansfieLd, Ohio. Sec'y Ohio State 
Sanitary Association. 
[Read before the Fourth Annual, Meeting of the Ohio /State Sanitary Asso- 
ciation, Columbus, Ohio, Feb. 10,11,1887]. 
IT IS simply appalling to read the daily records of crimes 
committed throughout our country, and still more terrify- 
ing when we compare the convictions for crime with the whole 
number of crimes committed. 
What safety is there to the general public when men and 
women are ruthlessly murdered by desperadoes for a few dollars, 
or shot down in cold blood for only aiding in securing the in- 
tended justice of our laws ? 
When railroad cars are invaded and their passengers robbed, 
or their express messengers shot, and their valuables plundered 
and taken; when officers are mobbed and shot down by gangs 
of desperadoes for trying to do their duty, or as in the case a 
few mornings ago when a train was invaded and a captured 
pall forcibly taken from the officers in charge at the peril of hu- 2 
Original Articles. 
[ April, 1887. 
man life; when even a President's life is in danger for not com- 
plying with the desires of some crazy office seeker? 
What does all this ruthless and premature destruction of hu- 
man life mean ? 
It means that there is something wrong somewhere, and that 
the practical results of our criminal laws are not what they ought 
to be. 
Only a few days ago, I read in some paper the following pro- 
portion of arrests for assault and battery, in thirteen of our 
leading cities, to their whole number of inhabitants: 
One for every 
Cincinnati, 
4,476 
Columbus, 
2,466 
Proyidence, 
582 
Chicago, : 
504 
Philadelphia, - 
292 
Brooklyn, 
257 
Springfield, 
: . . - 228 
New York, 
, - - - - 196 
Buffalo, - 
174 
Boston, - 
133 
Albany, - - - 
116 
Baltimore, 
103 
Washington, - 
69 
It is true, the vigilance of the officers of a city, and the con- 
struction put upon the statutes as to what shall constitute "assault 
and battery, " would modify the statistics of arrests for that 
grade of crimes; yet making a liberal allowance for all these, the 
ratio of crimes to the population as shown by the arrests made, 
which does not include the large number of crimes of the most 
diabolical character that are annually committed but escape the 
action of law entirely, is such that we may well call the attention 
ot sanitarians to these facts, and inquire into at least some of 
their causes, and seek for the best remedies for their prevention. 
Crime is largely induced by two leading factors, selfishness on 
the one hand, and the possibilities of escape from justice on the 
other. 
The former may exist in a variety of forms, and be induced Reed.] Criminal Laws from a Samitary Standpoint. 
3 
by a multiplicity of circumstances; but the latter is dependent 
largely on the perfection of our criminal laws and their execution. 
The New York Independent has at different times taken strong 
grounds that "Lynch law" should be forcibly suppressed by the 
prompt and fearless executon on the scaffold of every person 
connected with its deplorable practice; but much as we despise 
the principle and practice of "Lynch law" we do not believe the 
course advised by the Independent would either be practicable 
or advisable. 
We must take humanity as it is, and not as we imagine it 
should be, and just as long as criminals who are guilty of capi- 
tal crimes are not only protected by the wily constructions placed 
on legal technicalities, and their merited punishment delayed 
for even months and years at an enormous expense to the honest 
and law-abiding taxpayer, or even acquitted through a "fixed" 
or sympathetic jury,or by the scheming shrewdness of some 
criminal lawyer, just so long may we expect prompt justice 
to be sought by an exasperated and abused community through 
the powers of the "Lynch-law. " 
Let a murder be committed in a community and at first every 
paper "in the region round about" joins in denouncing the per- 
petrator as a scoundrel and demands his prompt execution, but 
time rolls on, even if captured, and placed in the hands of the 
law, he must be given a preliminary hearing and be "bound 
over," if supposed guilty. Then he lies around in jail month in and 
month out, at public expense, (provided he is unable to procure 
bail); time after time the case is called, and continued because 
somebody who is supposed to be an important factor in the case 
is away, or sick, or a dozen other excuses are raised to delay 
prompt justice, for well do our legal brethren know the value of 
public sympathy, and the frailty of human nature and loss of 
memory, which is nourished by delay, all of which adds to the 
criminal's chances for escape. Meanwhile sympathetic interviews 
are had and published, and the once despised desperado becomes 
the hero of the hour, while all the horror of his atrocious crime 
is dimmed by time and painted with sympathy until the innocent 
blood that stained the floors of a once happy home is almost for- 
gotten and the widow and fatherless children, who appear as 4 
Original Articles. 
[April, 1887. 
prosecutors praying but for simple justice are even looked upon 
as his persecutors. 
How many murderer's can we count on our finger's ends, who 
have thus escaped their just doom, and are running at large 
to-day, or will soon have paid the paltry penalty imposed on 
them in the state prison, or be pardoned by a sympathetic gov- 
ernor, and let loose, to return as the heroes of a sensational 
tragedy ? 
Only a few days ago, I was told by a medical friend from a well- 
known city in the central part of this state of just such a case, 
where a man who had deliberately committed a prearranged,dia- 
bolical murder and accomplished his end, was tried after the usual 
delay of law, and acquitted, and is running at large to-day in de- 
fiance of our law. 
Of all the cases that have been tried in our county for murder 
only one has been foundj guilty and had justice measured 
out to him, and he was a colored man. But our county is not 
the exception. I dare say there are few counties in our state 
that cannot, if they will will, rake up similar records in their 
court proceedings in criminal cases. 
We have thus far only been discussing some of the practical 
results of our criminal laws as they affect criminals who have 
been captured, but how do they affect the criminal who is still at 
large and assist in his capture ? 
All that is necessary to prove that they are not what they 
should be, is for each of us to go back for a moment to 
our own and neighboring counties, and count again on 
our finger ends, the murderers who have committed their foul 
deeds and escaped unharmed, yea, even from suspicion or detec- 
tion. 
It is reported on good authority, and I blush to repeat it, 
that a score of murders have been committed in Richland county 
alone with but one arrest and conviction, several of which oc- 
curred within the last few years and every one without the de- 
tection or the arrest of the murderer. Yet I know Richland 
county, while bad enough, does not stand alone on the black list 
of the criminal records, of capital crimes. 
What effect have our present criminal laws on the prevention 
of abortion ? Reed.] Criminal La/ws from a Sanitary Standpoint. 
5 
What percentage of practical abortionists are ever convicted 
and found guilty of murder in the second degree when tried, of 
the number who are annually, and almost defiantly pursuing this 
foul and murderous occupation for the gain thereof? 
In an editorial by Dr. Baldwin, of Columbus, Ohio, in the 
Columbus bled. Journal, Vol. II., page 573, under the title "Is 
conviction for abortion possible in Ohio," he says: "Three 
cases which have recently occurred in this city have resulted so 
disastrously for the State, that physicians, it would seem, need 
no longer be deterred from producing abortions by any fear of 
legal processes. Moral motives may restrain them, or The fear 
of something after death,' but they need not fear the law, while 
public sentiment has long since ceased to condemn, except under 
very aggravating circumstances." 
In this same editorial the doctor goes on to say that "four 
years ago, a doctor in this city was arrested on the complaint of 
a young woman, on the charge of having produced an abortion 
on her." "The doctor lay in jail all summer, being unable to 
furnish $500 bail. At the end of this time, when his case came 
for hearing, his victim refused to appear against him, and he 
was discharged." 
"Twoyears ago," he says, "a married woman, a few hours 
before her death, made a 'dying declaration' in the presence of 
her two physicians, the prosecuting attorney, and others. She 
charged a certain doctor with having produced an abortion on her, 
and described, with the minutest detail, her visit to his office, 
which she made alone, and his method of operation, with the in- 
strument used. The autopsy, performed a few hours later, con- 
firmed her statements as to an abortion having been attempted, 
and showed that death had resulted therefrom." 
Suffice it to say the doctor who did all this for $5 was ar- 
rested, and discharged J "scot-free." A year later another young 
woman is reported, by the doctor in the same article, of having 
died from the result of an abortion. The abortionist was ar- 
rested, and notwithstanding "the chain of evidence seemed to 
be perfect; and unyielding at every point," and "the general 
reputation of the doctor for this kind of work was such that his 
attorneys made no attempt to prove his previous good charac- 
ter," and yet "the jury returned a verdict of acquittal." 6 
Original Articles. 
[April, 1887. 
Dr. Baldwin says in conclusion : "First. If the abortionist 
does his work, his victim alone being privy to it, he is safe; for 
if she lives she will not inform against him, while if she dies, her 
statements are entirely worthless as evidence. Second. If others 
are privy to the act, the prosecution must prove that the fetus 
was actually living at the time of the operation; and this, at 
least until after 'quickening,' and even then only on the testi- 
mony of an expert making an examination at the time, which 
is of course impossible." 
These cases and similar ones could be duplicated by the scores, 
if necessary, but the few we have given are certainly sufficient 
to satisfy any unprejudiced mind that our criminal laws on this 
point are also defective aud need some amendments. 
But when we know, or at least have every reason to believe, 
these cases of criminal abortion could be counted by the thou- 
sands if not tens of thousands throughout our country,that either 
go without even suspicion or detection, or, as we have seen by 
the above, when they are detected are simply winked at by the 
law-in a manner they dare not mock justice in cases of 
murder in the first degree "so-called," yet in common experi- 
ence crime does practically mock her, even with apparent impu- 
dence, more or less in all these cases-we are led as sanitarians 
to hoist the red flag of danger and call a halt long enough for 
reflection, if we can't get anything more. 
But some one says what has all this to do with sanitary work ? 
We answer, the first duty of a sanitarian is to save human life, 
and the second to prevent human suffering. 
It is certainly evident that the practical results of our present 
criminal laws are such that justice is not only delayed, but in 
many cases thwarted in the prosecution of criminals for murder 
in the first degree, and in some, yea, many instances, the mur- 
derer in reality becomes the hero of the hour, thus putting a 
premium on murder, and giving encouragement, rather than de- 
terring the vicious from their cruel purposes, which is still more 
encouraged by the multitude of chances foi their escape entirely 
without even arrest, which aids in multiplying our murders, and 
thus increasing, rather than diminishing, the loss of life from 
these causes. Reed.] Criminal Laws from a Sanitary Standpoint. 
7 
The practical results of our criminal laws are still more deficient 
in cases of infanticide and abortions than in murder of the first 
degree, which added to the former swells the mortality records 
from these sources to such alarming proportions as to call for re- 
form of the criminal laws of our state; and not until then can we 
expect to prevent "Lynch-1 aw," or secure justice in all its de- 
tails in our criminal courts. 
Let us have a law that will compel the trial of a criminal ar- 
rested for murder, within thirty days after his arrest, give it 
precedence over every thing else, try him while the deed with 
all its horrible facts is fresh in the minds of witnesses, try him 
promptly, fairly, candidly, and allow nothing to retard the 
promptest dispatch of justice, and when convicted and found 
guilty, compel him to be executed in not exceeding thirty days, 
and you will find that more murderers to the number arrested 
will be convicted, and fewer murders committed. 
Instead of waiting for the slow tardy action of county com- 
missioners or other local authorities to offer rewards for the cap- 
ture and conviction of criminals, have a standing liberal reward 
offered by and under the authority of the state for the arrest 
and conviction any murderer of the first degree committed in 
the state, and made chargeable against the county in which the 
murder was committed, and in this way you will get prompt and 
efficient service in every instance; yea,and further, if necessary, 
have a central authority in the state which shall have the power 
to employ detectives to hound down every murderer who com- 
mits such a crime in the commonwealth, and instead of depend- 
ing on the unskilled officers of a county managing the capture of 
these criminals, who, as a rule, are skilled in their part of the 
work, have at the state's command a few of the best skilled detec- 
tives money will procure, whose duty it shall be to ferret out all 
criminal cases occurring in the state, and to use every means pos- 
sible to arrest and convict these outlaws in the promptest man- 
ner possible, and thus protect and save human life in a manner 
and with a certainty which under our present unsystematized 
methods would be and is practically impossible. 
In the protection against criminal abortions, we should purge 
our present statutes of all those technicalities that now stand as 8 
Original, Articles. 
[April, 1887. 
so many open doors for the ready escape of the vilest and most 
daring criminal, regardless of overwhelming evidence as to his 
guilt, of these loathsome and pernicious practices, and instead 
close every avenue of escape, and measure out to the guilty his 
due portion of punishment without fear or favor. 
Then as sanitarians who have the protection of human life 
and the prevention of human misery at heart, let us seek to find 
a remedy for all these existing defects in our criminal laws, and 
thus prevent the practical results that now follow them as natural 
sequelae, and instead so modify our criminal code as to make it a 
real practical supporter instead of a mocker of prompt and im- 
partial justice. 
In this way, and only by such means can we expect to re- 
duce the annual number of premature deaths that now are caused 
by the red hand of the daring assassin, and at the same time put 
an end to the practice of "Lynch Law," with all its horrors and 
dangers of rash and unwarranted executions, and meanwhile 
prevent the merciless slaughter of thousands upon thousands of 
helpless infants annually by the foul hand of the abortionist. 
Then I ask you, brother sanitarians, is there not a wide field 
for you and me to join hearts and hands upon in this direction 
alone, that merits our attention and warrants our support ? 
Is not system on the part of the state as essential in the cap 
ture of criminals who are guilty of capital crimes in our midst,as 
it is in our military practice for protection against invasion from 
abroad, or the suppression of riots within our own borders ? 
The one is for the maintenance of our rights, and the protec- 
tion of life from an organized and out-and-out foe; while the 
other seeks protection from the skulking and unsuspected as- 
sassin who pretends to be our friend only that he may take our 
life and escape justice unharmed and unsuspected. 
Then, gentlemen, if our cause is just and right, why should we 
not "pool" our efforts to secure the enaction of such laws as 
will provide the best protection against that which Grod only can 
give, and no man should be allowed to take away. 
Feb. 10 1887.