The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1869-07-15

arm and said, 30 with me if you please, that
man will meet me and asssssifate me: "
| you go along with me you viii at least see
! it done; / went home it'll him. aud stayed
/ with him two or three hours; he never al
/ luded to it. and never has since; consider
this as rather extraordinary conduct ~
made an impression on my mind, and in
duced me to believe there was certainly
some defect in his mind
There was another occurrence at that very
I time which was singular, and carried out
my pIeconceived opinion of his physiologi-
cal condition; he asked me next day ii
would take a communication to the Appeal
and the Avalanche. two papers published in
/ Memphis; told him certainly | would; he
said would like you when you go TO Mem
+, phis, to see Gen. Pike and Col. Galloway,
| the editors of these two papers; | promi ed
. 70 do that; | said, | am going home this
( evening, and if YOU want to send a eommH-
nlcatlon, You must go at once and write II;
ne went OFF hastily, and IN the evening when
| met him. lac had q communication, num-
Der OF sheets written on one side only. in
the usual way for publication; | went OF
up 70 Memphis but missed the connection,
| and having these papers, thought ] would
carry out my promise and see Gen. Pike
and Col. Galloway, with whom was quite
I intimate; | thought as l Was staying there
| would look at the communication and see
| what il was; it was intended to be editorial.
! and 1 believe his request to- me was that
they should publish it as editorial; il stated
that a number, do not pretend To give the
! exact language, but can give the leading
ideaS-of persons in North Mississippi had
! called at our Sanctum recently, all express
| ing the unanimous sentiment in favor of
the Hon. +. Nj. 1erger for Governor, and in
| addition to that great number of papers.
mentioning them, 1 forget what they were,
had announced Themselves In favor of him.
and in addition 10 all that gentleman of
some political position and standing in the
State had recently come up from Jackson,
| and stated that he had met citizens at the
al
OF the State, and that the masses had led
him to change his views, everybody had
changed their views in Mississippi, and the
whole sentiment of the State was for the
| Hon. T.. Nj. Nerger for Governor; thought
it was very extraordinary. and so absurd
communication, L did not give it to Gen.
Pike and Col. Galloway; / put it in my
pocket and carried it home; it was pure
fiction as far as l knew; never had heard
| his name mentioned; MIR. erger had been
an editor in the State, and was known as
politician, but his politics aud mine differed
all the time, and the night previous to that
on which he gave me this communication,
| we had some contest in our views; he said
in this communication | had changed my
opinion; these papers had changed their
| opinions, and that everybody was in favor
of him for Governor; this was purely
fiction; there was not a word of fact in it,
so far as l knew, for L never have heard his
name mentioned in connection with the
Governorship of the State, aud so far L
| knew, 1t had never beeu broached; / think
| it was clearly an hallucination of mind; in
connection with these other circumstances
l believed that he TO some extent in
sane. and so said to my wife only, for it was
a subject did not talk about generally.
There was another circumstance just pre-
vious to the Memphis Commercial Conven-
ton received IDunlcatlon IN an en-
velope probably foot long, immensely large,
with a very small letter in it. urging me to
meet him in Memphis. that he wished to see
me on important business, in which was
much Interested as he, that promised great
Il results to both Of us, and must under no
circumstances fail to meet him; | had
promised myself good deal OF pleasure in
attending that Conventions; | expected to
meet nv friends from every section OF the
country, but when got that communication
| determined not to go, for Mr. \ ergpr was
an unsafe man to travel with, and to be
with, and knew would be with him, and
probably that | should get into some diff
Guilty; | feared him so much and believed
him to be unsound in mind, so unsafe to
be with, that L absolutely refused to go to
the Convention, and did not 20; that letter
was from Mr.. 1eTger.
Predicating an opinion on these facts, l
would say chat he was an insane man
if the facts were true that his ancestors had
manifested distinct traits of insanity, 1
, | should say that it was an hereditary faint
running through the family, and manilestlng
! itself in him; from my reading / believe
that insanity is most usually hereditary
. | there may be causes to produce it, but the
authorities concur IN the statement. that in
sanity is usually produced from hereditary
faint; | said i'll my family, as soon AZ heard
of the killing of Col. Crane, ''that is the act
| of an insane man." | expressed rs much to
Judge VIM. Yerger in a letter; | would say
in this connection, that my conviction OF
, / mind was clear. 1t was delicate subject OF
which | didn't talk, but when | heard of this
, occurrence. | felt it my duty TO inform
Judge Yerger of the fact. | never had heard
one word about insanity in the family be-
! fore, and these conclusions were drawn from
our own personal intercourse and from the
circumstances here detailed | could not re-
fer the behavior of the accused to mania a
potu, that is sickness, disease; person
under its influence Is absolutely sick; the
, | accused during my intercourse with him
was in good health, SO far as his physical
system was concerned he was up and about
i and seemingly well.
, BY Judge Advocate:
/ have resided in Jackson during the sessions
! of the Legislature of 65-61, probably about
three months in all. | probably saw Mr.
: Yerger every day, some days many times in
1 the day: have only seen him n few times
l since; | do not know what had been the pris-
: oner habits previous TO our meeting IN
: Memphis | do not think thai the manifesto
(; tons | observed in Memphis could have been
the result Of delerium tremons, because he dad
: not have the appearance of man who had
! been excessively Incorporate. Previous tC
that time on the occasion of the occurrence al
the influence of delerum tremens, he would
Y have run out at the other door; | have never
n made the subject of insanity special study
q | did not think when were in Memphis tha
y. ! Mr. Yerger was a mailman but that hc was O.
; | unsound mind; have not seen cases of maniG
. a potu where the patient was not Frustrated
= Mr.. Yerger appeared to be serious at the time
| he made this additional demand; there was M
foundation for such demand, we had never
= had any transactions of any kind.
: TESTIMONY OF J. S. sIZER.
2 L reside in Jackson,and am acquainted will
! the prisoner. Within the last twelve
months, there have been occasional inCer
o views between the prisoner and myself
G these interviews have always, with rare Elk
Y ceptions, been on the subject of money; TIN
e first one that struck me as rather remarka
r BILE on the part OF the accused, he insiste'
: that had really more money than though
r he had occasion to believe, and endeavore,
lt to disabuse his mind from such an impress
e sion he still insisted that | had plenty o
k money, and seemed very anxious TO procuI
It from me a larger sum ofmOney, than coul
re at that time have controlled; while conYers
a ing upon that subject, he casually remarked
d that If he could control my capital with hi
: brain, that he would accomplish grea
v deal and insisted that the field was a yer
;: large one and that it was the time for heav
II and safe operations; / disagreed with hiI
a and closed the conversation at that tim'
If with the jocular remark on my part,-tha
If if my capital was as small as his brains
st thought we were In very bad condition
n that remark was entirely iocular on IN
is part, and the conversation ceased with tha
ID remark; l passed on and saw nothing NOR
sr of him on that occasion; a day or two ate
/ this conversation, he came 10 me again;
he | was walking up the street going home al
l. he met me between the two corners opposii
10 the State House; he placed his hands upO
e my shoulders very quietly and earnestly AN
Id remarked: ''SiZer,you gave me your draft O
he New Orleans for tW enty-eight thousan
~ 4 ~.