law has not confined the offense to any particular circumstances or manner of killing; but there are as many ways to commit murder as there are to destroy a man, provided the act be done with malice, express or implied."200 There are many cases in the reports in which a man has been held responsible for a homicide caused by unusual means,-as, for example, by communicating a venereal disease to a woman in committing rape;201 by forcibly confining a person, against his will, in an unwholesome and dangerous room;202 or exposing a helpless person to a contagious dis203 inclement weather,204 or other dangers. There is no good reason to doubt

case,

205

200 Rex. v. Huggins, 2 Ld. Raym. 1574, 1578, 2 Strange, 882. See, also, 1 East, P. C. c. 5 § 13; 1 Hale, P. C. 425, Beale's Cas. 418; Nixon v. People, 2 Scam. (Ill.) 267, 269.

"The killing," says Blackstone, "may be by poisoning, striking, starving, drowning, and a thousand other forms of death, by which human nature may be overcome." 4 Bl. Comm. 196.

201 Reg. v. Greenwood, 7 Cox, C. C. 404, Beale's Cas. 424.

202 Rex v. Huggins, 2 Ld. Raym. 1574.

203 Castill v. Bambridge, 2 Strange, 854, Beale's Cas. 420.

204 Pult. de Pace, 122, Beale's Cas. 420; Reg.

that a man would be guilty of murder if he should falsely and maliciously accuse another of a capital offense, and by false testimony procure his conviction and execution.206

It

(b) Omission to Act.-The death need not necessarily be caused by a positive act. may be caused by an omission to act at all, when one is under a legal duty to act. Thus, it is murder or manslaughter, according to the circumstances, if a man causes the death of his helpless wife or child by inexcusable failure to furnish shelter, food, or medical attendance;207 if a switchman causes the death of

v. Martin, 11 Cox, C. C. 136; Reg. v. Walters, Car. & M. 164; Nixon v. People, 2 Scam. (Ill.) 267.

205 In U. S. v. Freeman, 4 Mason, 505, Fed. Cas. No. 15,162, the captain of a vessel compelled a seaman to go aloft, when, by reason of debility and exhaustion, he was unable to do so safely, and he fell, and was drowned. It was held that he was responsible for the death, and was guilty of felonious homicide.

In Rex v. Carr, 8 Car. & P. 163, an iron founder who had repaired a cannon with lead in a dangerous manner, so that it burst and killed another, was held responsible for the death.

206 Reg. v. Macdaniel, 1 Leach, C. C. 44, 1 East, P. C. 333, Beale's Cas. 421.

207 Reg. v. Conde, 10 Cox, C. C. 547, Beale's

a person on a railroad train by inexcusable failure to adjust a switch;208 or if an employe in a mine causes the death of a fellow miner by neglecting to ventilate the mine, when he is charged with this duty.209

(c) Working upon the Feelings—Fright, Grief, etc.-It has been said that one cannot commit a homicide by working on the feelings of another,—that there must be "some physical or corporeal injury, negative or positive, as a blow, deprivation of necessaries, and the like. "210 But this statement is apt to mislead, unless properly limited. It is no doubt very true that the law cannot undertake to punish as for homicide, when it is claimed that the death was caused solely by grief or terror, for the death could not be traced to

Cas. 424; Reg. v. Plummer, 1 Car. & K. 600, 8 Jur. 921; Rex. v. Friend, Russ. & R. 20, Beale's Cas. 190; post, §§ 247, 265 d.

208 State v. O'Brien, 32 N. J. Law, 169.

209 Reg. v. Haines, 2 Car. & K. 368, Beale's Cas. 170. See, also, U. S. v. Knowles, 4 Sawy. 517, Fed. Cas. No. 15,540, where the captain of a vessel neglected to rescue a seaman who had fallen overboard. And see post, §§ 247, 265.

210 Per Byles, J., in Reg. v. Murton, 3 Fost. & F. 492, Beale's Cas. 426, note.

such causes with any degree of certainty.211 Working upon the feelings and fears of another, however, may be the direct cause of physical or corporeal injury resulting in death, and in such a case the person causing the injury may be as clearly responsible for the death as if he had used a knife. In an English case a man struck a woman while she was nursing a child, and the child became frightened, and went into convulsions and died. It was held that if the assault upon the mother caused the child's fright, and this caused the convulsions, and they caused the death, the accused was responsible, and was

211 Reg. v. Murton, 3 Fost. & F. 492, Beale's Cas. 426, note; Rex v. Hickman, 5 Car. & P. 151; Com. v. Webster, 5 Cush. (Mass.) 295, 52 Am. Dec. 711.

"Working

In East, P. C. c. 5, § 13, it is said: upon the fancy of another, or treating him harshly or unkindly, by which he dies of grief or fear, is not such a killing as the law takes notice of." See, also, 1 Hale, P. C. 425, Beale's Cas. 418.

In Reg. v. Murton, supra, it was held that unkind treatment, not amounting to physical injury, by a husband of his wife, as the use of harsh language, turning her out of her home, etc., whereby it was charged that her spirit and heart were broken, and she died, did not render the husband responsible as for homicide.

guilty of manslaughter at least.212 Many other cases are to be found in the reports. 213 In all such cases the fear must be well grounded and reasonable under the circumstances.2 214

212 Reg. v. Towers, 12 Cox, C. C. 530, Beale's Cas. 425. See, also, Cox v. People, 80 N. Y. 500. 213 Reg. v. Halliday, 61 L. T. (N. S.) 701, Beale's Cas. 427; Reg. v. Pitts, Car. & M. 284; Reg. v. Williamson, 1 Cox, C. C. 97; Hendrickson Com., 85 Ky. 281, Beale's Cas. 430; Blackburn v. State, 23 Ohio St. 146; Adams v. People, 109 Ill. 444, 50 Am. Rep. 617.

V.

A man is guilty of homicide if he intentionally causes a panic in a crowded theater or other building by a false alarm of fire, and people are, as a natural consequence, crushed to death in trying to escape. Reg. v. Martin, 14 Cox, C. C.

633, 8 Q. B. Div. 54.

A man is responsible for the death of one who jumps from a window, or into the water, from a well-grounded apprehension of violence, threatened by him, which will endanger life. Rex v. Evans, 1 Russ. Crimes, 656; Reg. v. Pitts, Car. & M. 284; Reg. v. Halliday, 61 L. T. (N. S.) 701, Beale's Cas. 427.

In Rex v. Hickman, 5 Car. & P. 151, a man was held guilty of manslaughter where he had charged another person on horseback, and SO frightened him that he spurred his horse, and, in consequence, the horse fell, and caused his death.

214 In Hendrickson v. Com., 85 Ky. 281, Beale's