Iowa, USA
7 June 1899
WHO HANG AROUND CAGES OF CRIMINALS
Love Letters received by Murderers - One Man Averages Sixty a Month
Vacher, who was recently sentenced to death in France, has been the recipient of quite a quantity of loving messages from women of all ranks of society, and it is stated that one lady very well known in Parisian fashionable circles has indited several affectionate letters to the felon breathing pity and sympathy for him, though it is hard to understand how so callous a wretch can have excited a vestige of commiseration even in the most kind hearted, says Tid-Bits. Before the trial a young milliner wrote Vacher to the effect that she would like to become his wife should he be allowed to live, she adding that she would wait patiently for him throughout the duration of any sentence of imprisonment which he might undergo. The writer of the letter was a young and gentle girl.
Mrs. Maybrick has received innumerable letters of sympathy, and at the time of her trial was deluged with offers of marriage from all sorts and conditions of men. In her case the offers in question are perhaps not so remarkable, because a very large number of people believe her to be innocent.
A monster who had committed a series of murders in Chicago was duly sentenced to the extreme penalty of the law, and during the interval between the sentence and the execution he received daily a long letter from a young lady, who proved to be the daughter of a well known millionaire. The letters were most affectionate, and numberless kisses were conveyed to the convict by means of the time honored crosses. The prisoner received the communications with cynical contempt.