Daily national Republican. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1862-1866, 1865-07-13
: KIT RA
Trial of Miss Mary Harris
for the Murder of A. j.
Burroughs.
THE DEFENCE CLOSED.
REBUTTING TESTIMONY
The ASSignatiOn Letters Before The Jury.
TESTIMONY OF REV. DIR. BURROUGHS.
District Supreme COurt----Criminal Term.
REBUTTING TESTIMONY
The ASignatiOn Letters Before The Jury.
TESTIMONY OF REV. DR.. BURROUGHS,
District Supreme COurt----Criminal Term.
ASSOCIATE JUSTICE wYLIE PRESIDING.
tcontinuod from the First Edition. ]

| time of the homicide. Witness could not express
positive opinion from his own observations
alone rs TO her sanity or insanity at the time OF
| the homicide. Witness formed his opinion from
| what he had seen Of her since the homicide, and
from what he heard the other witnesses testify TO-.
The Misses Devlns testified to great and ma
| terial change in relation to her mental condition
| and health mmediately following the disap-
pointment. That change In itself Is morbid
one-a disease The character Oftho change was
| such Immediately upon its occurrence as to indi-
cate either mental disease or susceptibility Of It..
| She then exhibited from time to time what ap-
peared to be symptoms OF actual mental disease.
The symptoms to which witness referred were
| the nervousness and oxcitability, the loss Of
sleep, the loss Of appetite, the loss OF nesh, te
change in her spirits, her mental depression :
those are the principal features Of the char. e
first noticed. DR.. Fitch testihes to her suffering
| severely of dysmenorrhea shortly subsequent to
the disappointment 1t seems impossible TO
speak Of the symptoms OF the disease without
speaking Of their cause. At this stage Of her case
witness perceived from the testimony constitu-
tional susceptibility to mental disturbance from
certain causes. Evidences Of mental disturbance,
| independent Of the causes, existed the manifes-
| tations Of particular form Of insanity con-
tnued from time to time; the continued enact
| alton; the irregular and insufficient sleep
tho depression Of spirits and an occasional out
break Of insane violence of a character that har-
| monies with the disease; those instances OF the
attack upon Miss Devlin the effort to leave the
house the cutting OF the quilt was, so to speak,
very natural insane act. Her effort to leave
the house at such an unreasonable hour and In
| her state Of health, connected with the remark
| witch indicated some underlined purpose in re-
gard to her own ife-all OF these are evidences of
insanity, evinced between tho disappointment
| and the homicide. SO far as witness understood
| the circumstances of the homicide, they do not,
| of themselves, prove the existence OF insanity,
but they harmonize with what occurs when an
| insane person commits a homicide. There appears
to have been no effort to commit the act secretly
the first and best opportunity of committing tho
| act was not embraced rs Il sane person would
have done. There was no effort to escape There
was no effort to palliate the crime, by alleging
the provocation. On the contrary, she expressed
her sorrow and great distress that she had done It,
My view that this is a continuous disease aside
from witness own knowledge, was based mainly
| upon the testimony Of Mr.. Bradley, who testlhet
to 30 many incidents of nervousness and loss Of
| sleep. The words susceptibility to mental dis
turbance' werc meant to convey the existence
| Of actual disease. Witness did regard Miss llar-
| rls as actually diseased in mind since the dsap-
pointment, during the whole period. Witness
| thought during the period between the disap-
pointmcnt aud the homicide she committed acts
for which she should be held forl legal and moral
responsibility. There were other acts which
grew out Of mental disease, and for which she
should not be held responsible.
The Court hero took recess for fifteen min
utes. On re-asscmbling DR.. Nichols was re.
! called,
By Judge Hughes: Witness was Of opinion
that this act proceeded from an insane impulse
| i'he Manifestations OF insanity WOUlu mOs
likely occur on seeing the person she thought
hud disappointed her and had wrongcd her.
Witness thought for an insane person to be rc'
sponsiblc for an act the act must grow out of the
insanity; that comparatively fow persons are Sc
Insane as not to commit many acts for which
they arc responsible and for which they should
he held responsible. The condition of suscept
blity of mental disease still continues in the nc
cused. Witness had cases under his care Of Al
outbreak Of paroNysmal insanity once In
month; once in three months; once in siN
months, or once In year. From the testimony
in this ease witness concluded there were two
causes OF insanity in this case
JAMES A. CONNER
having bceu sworn, testified that he was ON
ployed In tho Treasury on the SOth of January
last At the time of tho occurrence was on th'
fourth floor Of the building. Before he reached
tno noot '"V s PM. T was I neI i' @ s"m INV NV
about eighteen inches from the clock after IN,
second nIstol was drpd saw the accused ,voIk
inG down The hall, She seemed to be undcr prea
excitement and was very pale. Her eyes lookct
} wild.
"' D'"'''' "''' "AH'1"''u ''' u'''"'' "0N''
close the case.
l MR.. n. DANENHowER
, recalled for the prosecution. Witness was cx.
amined last Saturday morning. In July, 1863
M r Ganis la, ,n ~ 'ne f, huatot M ot
ters, AS witness dictated; that was how witness
became acquainted with his hand writing.
"Nnesb was heio bhoWu tho hshi isuhlluH itt
tors, and stated he dld not beloVe them to bo th'
handwriting OF Mr.; Burroughs. He had very
peculiar way OF making a capital | no wrote q
large, bold hand. There were no letters which
resemblcd Burroughs's handwriting.
: Tho records in the Auditors 0iice show thai
1a 1uFro1gns s leave Gi absence ~ was iof twenty
tb3nrbt hc LEFT here on tho mnrping Of tho iotr
OF September. Witness was almost positive
that 1t was on the morning OF the 10Th of septem
oe,. INV NV ~ was TWO UT 'hree uays aitor lit
Cross s.oxamined Mr. Burrouybs WAS absen,
about ten days a short time before that; 1t wa,
sometime In August don remember the eSac
ronSh, hand dwr,tino in e""' . -0''' ""' 'A D"'
NJ p,od,ov hare suhnitted 10 tho iurv tho tw,
assitnatiop Ietters and tho letter Of Durroughs
,i,nod and datad tbo III, of Auyust
} Burroupbs ALWAYS made his ] below the limo
and his on tho line. Witness thought the only
J similarity In the figures Is In the dates. The
~ ho LA nt aa on :, sin'iIori,y yitL H. n ~
Tho otbor ia,tars Tho O. 81 MA" aiiLe Tbn 49,
UChica,,o; - in ,he assignation Ietters was mncL
alike Tbo Letter nf Tie iIth Of Fehrmarv ISGi
; Wa in tLe bon5wrItin,, of Uurror,,bs ''
nI. p.,, ~. ,.',.s.,t,aI ~ A.,
MI niauiey nero supmi''eu 'n'S ie"or 10 'h'
jury, with the request that they compare 1t with
tho letter Of September l2 (the assignation lot,
tori