The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1869-07-01
Trial of E. M. Yefger
Before . REnifary CommEssEen. fsl-
the killing OF Joseph G.. Crane,
FOURTEENTH DAY-CoNcLUDED.
FRIDAY, JUNE ., 1869.


| FRIDAY, JUNE -, 1908.
TEsTIMoKT OF ". D. zTLEs-PHYsIcIAE.
| lam 81 years old my family residence is in
| LaHderdale County, Mississippi my Office and
| place of business Is IN Memphis, Tennessee
| am by profession Physician; have practiced
my profession for 81 years, with intermis-
| sion Of perhaps, two years Previous 20 re-
| moving to Memphis, 1 resided at Macon, Mis-
| less Intimately, since 1875; had known him
! casually before, and have had opportunities
| of knowing him very well | had studied on the
subject of insanity, both as student and in
have never had charge of an Insane Asylum:
As to my opinion of the mental condition OF
the accused il is one of those delicate ques-
tons which we have sometimes TO answer. have
no doubt that since 1885, the prisoner has been
subject fits of insanity-moral insanity 1
have frequently said so in private CONVERSE
ton with friends, and have thought So
spent portion of the winter Of 1850 and 20,
also 81; at this place subsequent TO 81 l was
placed in circumstances of some intimacy and
close contact with him; portion Of that time
was interested in some business relations
with Col. 1erger, and was frequently at his
were friends; think Col. 1erger one Of the
most extraordinary men l ever met with l
have so expressed myself TO his relatives and
friends He was subject TO outbursts Of pas
sion toward individuals, and, as thought, fire.
quently unnecessarily so, very unnecessarily
To me he was always respectful at least but
he seemed TO entertain particular luminosity
against individuals; for instance, a gentleman
it is not necessary to mention-who he SEEM
ed to have great hostility to; this gentleman
was a personal friend of mine, and took sew
eral occasions to say to him, you do that man
great injustice; he is no enemy of yours; l
am as intimate with him L am with any
man in the State, | never heard him say an
unkind word of yon in my life; l don think
he is very fond of you, but he does not feel I'M
kindly toward you at all. That seemed TO sat
isfy him, and a few days afterward, within a
limited period, they met, and they met very
cordially and kindly in the streets Of Vicks-
burg After we walked of, Col. Yerger said
TO me, am indebted to you for thati said he,
1--WE met very cordially" l said, no, you are
not you are not indebted 10 me for it. A few
days afterward, he INDUCED In the same line
of conversation, and l again corrected him, as
l always do when l see man laboring under
false impressions and so endeavored to keep
peace. | have seen him, on occasions, very
outrageous and outbreaking, and l have said
TO his nncle, Ned is crazy, that is what the
matter" Then again, in few days, he would
be as quiet as could be; but he is man Of
erratic temperament, exceedingly so, ana IN
his intercourse with men, (for that is what you
want to get at.1 he is the most disagreeable
man that ever saw in society; to his friends
he is polite any man l ever saw, but was
liable, at times, TO be the most disagreeable,
quarrelsome, turbulent, threatening, and ty-
ranical man TO those who would not subscribe
10 his opinion; he would not allow you to think
at all unless you thought with him. you must
mink mis- way. or not at all Judt Is uletOTyg
and that is about his character. He is gem
erous gentleman in his social relations, but in
other matters you have TO subscribe TO him or
you have disagreeable time of it. As re-
CARDS the good cause for these outbreaks, every
ma n must interpret for himself; Ihave thought
that ha We seen many improper manifestations
Of violence from such causes as would not have
excited me. | have regarded him as an exclta-
BILE, turbulent man.
would say that man who manifests
disposition to make insults and injuries out of
things that men ordinarily do not make much
of, and disposition TO exaggerate schemes
and enterprises beyond all due proportion, did
not possess perfectly balanced mind, assum-
ing the party to be moral man, that 1t was
insanity; | think the accused has been given
very much to exaggeration, especially In re-
gard to financial matters that has been the
result of my intercourse with him. Very Of
ten in the course Of our acquaintance, he has
had some scheme on hand, for the purpose of
realizing, not what ordinary men would speak
of, say a few thousand dollars but hundreds
Of thousands, millions, sc. l have regarded
il as popularity of his organization, he was
always dealing in the extravagant; one of
these enterprises was thought TO be methodiZed.
L was interested in it myself, but Col. Yerger
expected much more from it than ever | could
see in il but II turned out 10 be very badly
methodized enterprise. | thought at the time
it was pretty wen organized but he was ex-
travagant in his views and ideas as to the
results. did not agree with all its details but
looked to its general results, full of hope and
tion with him in regard to scheme of immi-
grafton. ] saw him in the city of Memphis,
probably couple of months ago, and he used
struck oil asked him what it was and he |
commenced talking about this immigration !
scheme. | said to him, | suppose it is very |
good thing, but it will end like many other |
similar things. had no faith in companies |
if people wanted to come here let them come |
and they will find plenty ofland, and plenty of |
work, but these great enterprises for popula-
ting the South think they are all erratic |
schemes of humbuggery. But he went on to |
say THAT it ,sSuld enhance the value of our |
lands, it would enable him 10 90 to hurope |
and there educate his family and live like |
prince.
He talked very extravagantlv, and really |
do not know whether he believed it or not; |
looked upon il "a vagary anything personal !
to himself. any opposition 10 his views, he was /
always ready to construe into personal 0ppo-
sition, that was the tendency Of his mind. |
do not know what was the motive but that was
always the tendency, in other words, the ac-
cused was the most intOlerant man that ] ever
saw. ! have seen him so to others, but he
never manifested 1t towards me, except per-
haps an occasional spat or two that did mt
amount to anything.
BY Judge Advocate:
| have not made the study of insanity a
special one except as a collateral branch of
my profession | have visited several lunatic
lsylums, and have had patients in private |
the Witnesses that the prisoner was laboring
under some form of mania I; delerium tremens
might possibly have manifested itself in the
ways the prisoner was affeeted at the times
except at the interview with Sorsby.
could not understand that there was mania
Dortu in that case. | have known persons to
imagine "A state of things which did not exist,
while they were under the influence Of mania
Dortu. II is not probable that the prisoner was
aboring under such influence atthe interview
with Sorsby; persons lahoring under such
4
aggressive I should say that the delusion
lnder which the prisoner was laboring on the
light testified to by Mr.. Taylor and John K.
erger was moral insanity, for the reason that
know his organization of mind to some ex-
ent; he is a sensitive man and liable to great
,utbursts of passion; ! have seen great deal
If the prisoner since 1865; | have seen him
rink, repeatedly; / have drank with him my ,
Ielf at his own house in a social way. cannot
Jay ever saw him really intoxicated, | mean
o say, never saw him making an exhibition
# himself on the streets. l have seen him
lnder the influence of liquor / considered, I
)ut although | knew him so well hardly ever
Knew whether he was drunk or sober; he is one
II those extravagant men in his conversation
nd ordinary department but L never saw him
Wagering in my life. During all the time
vas staying at his house, while he furnished
ne with wines and brandies, he would quit at
,ther times he would be ordinary drinker
ike other gentlemen / should say that he was
n the habit of taking his glass occasionally
almost every day; L can't tell how many; ,
lever saw him drunk; he may have drank
very halfzhour; ! can only judge of the
mount he took, by the effect | saw; persons !
n the habit of drinking steadily and some
ghat to excess daily would be liable TO deleri-
I'm tremens by stopping of for a short time.
In reference to this lmmi gration scheme, l ,
,nOw of it only from his speech. l read il, and
lie conversed with me about it, but regarded ,
t as so wild and visionary that it made no i'm :
'ression on my mind, because it was too gi-
.antic, and would require more money to carry
I out than he could control. or any one else. !
did not examine il particularly, but listen
d TO him as would to any gentleman on such
. subject As to the appearance of the pris-