TRUE CRIME

"For violence and hurt tangle every man in their toils, and for the most part fall on thehead of him from whom they had their rise; nor is it easy for one who by his act breaks the common pact of peace to lead a calm and quiet life."

A Book of Remarkable Criminals

By H.B. Irving

'A Historical TRUE CRIME Book that belongs on every bookshelf.'

'Remarkable.'

'Excellent accounts of Crime and Criminals.'

Brand New Edition

The Greatest Crimes on Record

"The silent workings, and still more the explosions, of human passion which bring to light the darker elements of man's nature present to the philosophical observer considerations of intrinsic interest; while to the jurist, the study of human nature and human character with its infinite varieties, especially as affecting the connection between motive and action, between irregular desire or evil disposition and crime itself, is equally indispensable and difficult."--Wills on Circumstantial Evidence.

A certain English judge, asked as to the general characteristics of the prisoners tried before him, said: "They are just like other people; in fact, I often think that, but for different opportunities and other accidents, the prisoner and I might very well be in one another's places." "Greed, love of pleasure," writes a French judge, "lust, idleness, anger, hatred, revenge, these are the chief causes of crime. These passions and desires are shared by rich and poor alike, by the educated and uneducated. They are inherent in human nature; the germ is in every man."

Convicts represent those wrong-doers who have taken to a particular form of wrong-doing punishable by law. Of the larger army of bad men they represent a minority, who have been found out in a peculiarly unsatisfactory kind of misconduct. There are many men, some lying, unscrupulous, dishonest, others cruel, selfish, vicious, who go through life without ever doing anything that brings them within the scope of the criminal code, for whose offences the laws of society provide no punishment. And so it is with some of those heroes of history who have been made the theme of fine writing by gifted historians.

Includes:

The Life of Charles Peace

The Career of Robert Butler

M. Derues

Dr. Castaing

Professor Webster

The Mysterious Mr. Holmes

The Widow Gras

Vitalis and Marie Boyer

The Fenayrou Case

Eyraud and Bompard