The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1873-02-13

anu killed Unem IN my frenzy, III the hope
to exhaust it on them. 1t is no use. l
must have human life.'
"' Any human life?' | inquired, cor
some one in particular?
g. Why. do you ask this, Doctorg he
cried, getting suddenly excited.
"'No matter; go on
sometimes he resumed, it seems
that any life would do; and sometimes
Doctor, four days before saw you met,
upon New Jersey ferry-boat, young
girl. SO pretty, so .refined and nice! l
followed her to her home-the devil, that
has taken possession of me, led me. She
went in and soon came out again into her
| little garden, and tended her flowers
poor child! Doctor, if had had q pistol
with me | should have shot her. You
may smile; but some day soon / shall
take pistol on purpose, and shoot her.
"lt was clearly no use arguing with him.
The best way with such people is to adj
init their facts and try to work round
them.
"'Then,' said the only thing you can
do is to submit to the restriction of an
asylum, till this feeling has passed.
"'It will not pass. If were to go to a
madhouse | should sham sane. Sooner or
later their vigilance over me would be re-
laXed. Then [ should murder my keeper,
and go straight for that innocent girl
"'Then leave the country
"'Well, that would save her; but,
Doctor, one life is as dear to its holder as
another. If | don't kill her, l shall kill
| some one else.'
"'My dear fellow l replied, in as light
a tone as 1 could assume, these fancies are
durable. Put yourself under skilled med
ical treatment. You are all to bits physi-
cally. Get sound in body, and you'll get
| all right in your mind
"'On the contrary, am all to bits, as
you say, mentally, and my body suffers
through my mind. Medical treatment
have consulted every practitioner of note
here and IN Europe. Some think Pm
fooling them, some look wise, and talk
as you do about "treatment." All have
failed. Doctors are no use to me-
"' Then may ask why you have come
hereT
"'To ask your advice as friend,' he
answered, drawing his chair nearer to
me; and lowering his voice, 'to ask
you one'question as a friend and God
fearing man, and to which l pray you to
give me plain yes or no.
"'Go on
"'Feeling as l feel, shall be justified
before God in taking my own life? viii
it be deadly sin for me to do for myself
what would do to mad dog?'
"'I repeat his words almost as he spoke
them. | cannot give you the faintest idea
of the solemn delberation with which he
put this awful question. For some mo-
ments | could not say word. Then /
started up and told him that would not
answer him yes or no-that it was not
! fair to ask me to take such a responsible
ty. Then he rose too, and said that he
must resolve it for himself, and l saw
plainly which way it would go. Give
, | mo fill tp- to tbinly o;J
OBTAINING him.
"' Tomorrow may be too late,' he re-
piled. The fit may come upon me to.
night for all know
-" Come home with me; I'm not afraid
you won't hurt me- said.
"'I would try very hard not to do So
butt know myself. | cannot trust my.
self. Don't you trust me-
81 ,oiU trust you; but I'll do more
You are not armed, | supposeT
"'No,' he replied with shudder, mo-
: now.'
, "'I'll take care that you shalt rot be
and I'll carry my Derringer in my pocket
? On the first indication of homicidal mania
| give you my word I'll shoot-and III
: shoot straight | said this to satisfy him
poor fellow. In his weak state l coulC
have laid him down like a child. 1t die
7 satisfy him, and we went home together
| led him to talk of our old soldering days
e and gradually got him back to his wound
| made him describe the first sensations o
t pain in his head, and repeat all that hi!
e different advisers had said. | happened
e to have a strong preparation of hashee>l
, By me. gave him dose, and whilst un
der its influence | carefully examined hi
head. Now the head, you must know
does not tatten or waste away in proper
/. ton to other parts of the body. Still hi
s had become mere skin and bone; and thi
/, state, perhaps, gave me an advantage owe
; Others who had made the same eXamina
3. ton. At last | felt, or thought | felt,
i faint twitching-a sort of abnormal pulsa
! tion-abOut two inches above the left ear
S 1t might be merely nervous, but Hmight b
t caused By the ball. e
= IL then set my mind to work, an
, thought the whole case over steadily. Il
: the first place was that impulse to tax
n human life, of which my poor friend ha
S spoken, really uncomfortable. For eS
= ample, suppose that one day he did tax
!, pistol 'on purpose and go to tina
d young lady's garden-would he shoe
# her? To suppose that the insane min
| never changes its purpose, or turns iron
n the fell completion of its purpose, is t
v say in other words that the insane min,
is stronger than the sane mind. If a maj
{ he was going to run a foot-race, yo
t would not believe him, because you
e common sense revolts against the idea @
e his running with leg disabled. But
s one with his brain disabled declares tina
e he is going to do something dependen
f dpon the action of his mind, commo
e sense does not always argue so well.
v SIN the second place, did my poo
a friend, with his impaired means of judg
S ment, believe that the impulse was uncor
o trollable? Because if he did the end woul
l. be the same, so far as he was concerned
S He would sacrifice his own life to protec
d that of others, though they were in n
IS actual danger.
d "In the third place, might not thi
n story of the impulse be mere precens
Y to excuse the commission of suicide
e Now there are no forms of madness NOR
n obscure in their origin, more difficult
n detect, more persistent, and more fat
n than suicidal mania and as there hay
is been numerous cases in which person
y who have destroyed themselves have car
d fully prepared evidence tending to sho
/. that their death was accidental, why shou
u there not be one in which the fatal act W;
st to be (so far as possble) justified?
l. "In the fourth place, granting thi
n there was either real hOmicidal mania
fancied homicidal mania tending to 81
2 cidal, or simply the latter-was there
possibility of cure?
te 'As the three first questions rested f
r. their solution on one set of facts, and Il
deductions to be drawn therefrom, l co
ut sidered them together. a victim of 81