The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-08-23
What Constitutes a sssound and DisPOs-
ing Mind9"


ments, and cuts of his or her relatives, ana
leaves a competency for dogs, oats, or CANA
ries, there at once arises general doubt as 70
the sanity of the testator. Nor do we thinK
that the general feeling on the part OF the
community, that person who leaves all his
property to strangers and neglects his blood
relations is not of sound mind, is at all an un-
warranted or ungenerous one. When man
In the full possession of his reason sits down
to make his will, a document which he knows
will not go into effect until his soul has been
summoned into the presence Of its Maker, he
will, as a rule, act in accordance with the die
tates of natural feeling, and leave his posses
sions to those in whose veins his own blood
flows. Such is the natural conduct of
any one, and when we see gross
and glaring deviation from this, and
an action in direct opposition to
what we had right to expect, it is not unrea-
who would violate all law of human sympathy.
The most remarkable case which has lately
been brought before the public is that of
Mrs. Thwaites, of London, who died leaving an
immense estate. The will of the testatrix left
nearly all her property, amounting to E40O, 900,
or 81, 900, to persons in no way related to
her, and who were connected with her in
very anomalous relations. After leaving enOr-
nous legacies to her butcher and grocer, and
all her domestics, varying from f5OOO to
EGO, 900, she made DR.. Samuel Smith and his
brother, Mr.. Simm Smith, residuary legatees,
thus leaving them about fl80,0OO, or 5000 900.
Upon the will being brought forward for ad-
mission to probate, the sister of Mrs. Thwaites,
and her nieces, contested the document on
the ground of incapacity and undue inAu-
ence. The trial of the case developed story
of one of the strongest cases of hallucination
that has fallen under our notice. 1t seems
that in 1882 Mrs. Thwaites was sick for six or
eight weeks, and was attended by DR.. Smith.
When she recovered she was possessed of
the idea that she had been born alphabetically
newly made of real flesh and blood. From
that time she held the most astonishing
opinions, in which she was encouraged by
DR.. Smith Before her oddities, all the men
who imagined their legs made of butter or
their arms of cast iron sink into insignifcanCe.
She stated her belief freely, and, as the evil
dence shows, said to different witnesses 'that
she had communication with the Creator, that
she was the Holy Ghost, the third person in the
Trinity, and Mr.. Simm Smith was the Father;
that she was above God seven degrees; that
| she sent the cholera or influenza through all
creation, and that it had to go through her
first; that if the Almighty lost her everything
would go to chaos; that she was about to bring
forth the Saviour of the World; that she held
direct communication with the Father that
the judgment of the world was to take place in
her drawing room in Hyde Park; that DR.. Smith
knew everything she did; that she was the
first great cause and the pivot on which the
whole world hung that at one stage of the
work the Doctor required large sums to carry it
on; that it seemed foolish for her to make
will, as she was immortal, but she must act in
nature that she had head-dress of hair and
a coronal of diamonds made expressly for the
judgment day; that Mrs. Curtis was child of
God and was obliged to fall on her knees and
worship her, for she knew she was the Holy
Ghost that when the work was finished they
would have Buckingham Palace and Windsor
| VaoIAoi IhdL ouo anu Luo DOCIOI Hdu0 Lue
thunder and the lightning, and were in their
glory in good thunderstorm; that they were
the supreme beings and communicated to-
gether, though they were absent from one
another, and that the judgment was to take
place in her drawing-room, and she was to
take part in it with the Lord Jesus Christ, in
connection with DIR. Smith,"
These views, openly espoused, must we
think, indicate that the old lady was little
affected in the region of the cerebellum. But
having immense wealth, she lavished it il
furtherance of her views. She gave as much
as $4,000 at one time to DR.. Smith for 'tht
work" ~, and spent a fortune in fitting uI
her drawing-room for the sound of the las
trump. Her London drawing-room was fur
nished at an expense Of about ELS, 900, fol
no other occasion than the day of judgment
never brought into use on any one single occa
sion, never dismantled, never forgotten, alwayi
prepared, and for years persistently spoken o
by the testatrix as dedicated to that event
''Mr. Clarke, who, as foreman to Messrs
Gillow, had these decorations in hand
is sent for by the testatrix, and
without apparent reason or motive-fol
he needed no charitable help-is told tina
he is to receive ESQ year. This annuity h'
received for many years, during which he wai
constantly sent for by Mrs. Thwaites, for nc