Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1874-03-12
state Of Wisconsin VS.. Robert Turner.

4 4uG Gd5C bttlN0 go 1o0'~ 49, $500
before Judge Mills on Monday last
District Attorney Geo. B. Garter ap-
pearing for the prosecution and Mr.
| A. w. Bell for the defendant, Turner,
The important testimony in the case
was as follows by Newton Turner, a
brother of the defendant, and who
was at work with him in the mines al
the time of the murder of the brother
| Albert:
| Newton Turner being duly sworn, on oatf
| says, that he and his brother Albert we're al
their diggings on the morning of November
| 29, 1878. was down in the hole; heard some
person talking to Albert; asked him if that
was Robert, he said it was; called him to the
hole and asked him how he thought the crev
ice would run, then went to drifting in the
hole. | then told Albert to cut some sticks
to cover the hole ad joining to stop the draft;
| soon after that heard Albert call to Robert
| and tell him not to cover the hole as there was
| some tools in it; then heard nothing more until
| | heard something fall in the hole. The holes
are about twenty five feet apart. Robert then
| came 10 the hole and said should come up, as
1 he. Robert had cut Albert; asked him ii he
| had hurt him bad. | was part way up the hole
! while talking to Robert; when came 10 with
in four or five feet OF the top, Robert stopped
me and said would have to make some kind
of a bargain with him before l should coAe
out. | talked with HIM, shook hands and told
| him to throw the axe away he threw away
the axe; then came to the top of the hole.--
| Robert wanted ME to fill up the hole my broth
er Albert was in; told him that would not do
| as we would be hung for it; told Robert we
| would go home and say Albert had fell in the
| hole and would get him out; Robert said that
| would not do as he had cut him pretty bad
Robert then went with me about halt way
home and stopped OH dirt pile and would not
go any farther. | went home and got assist
ance and went back TO the dlggings; placed the
Wiudlass ON the hole where Al bert was. Rob
ert told me when coming FROM the dggngs
that one Of US had to be killed and it had bet
| ter be Albert than me; that there was too
many OF us ] saw some blood on the axe.
The following is Judge Mil 8 charge
TO the jury:
The information in this case charges the de-
PENDANT with the crime of murder in taking the
lite of his brother Albert Turner in the town
If Potusi, in this county, on or about the 2Qth
o. November, 1873.
The homicide IS admitted--the defense is
that of insanity.
Ii appears + ON the evidence that the de-
fendant ONE four years ago, appeared TO be
afraid Of persons and classes, from whom he
stood in no danger. lie tanced that the
Dutch or the Free Masons intended 70 take
his hte or burn hin up; he was afraid Of be-
ing poisoned at home and sometimes would
throw out the coffee that his mother handed
him: complained OF pain in the head When
taken first to the pour house in 1874, he was
locked up and he tore the bed to pieces, sup
posing he was to be burned alive. Mr. Hal
bert succeeded in soothing him. He worked
on the poor farm some months; would talk ra-
tionally on most subjects, but would often ask
Mr. II. what they would do with him; seemed
10 be cowardly and afraid Of some attempt on
his life. In the summer of last year, while at
h ONE, he made an attack on his brother Newton
whle he was asleep; struck him with ham
mer, perhaps intending to kill him; he was
kept in confinement that night and denied he
struck Newton, and said it was some other per.
son whom he saw running out of the house -
| He was taken to the poor house by his broth err
! the next day, and in yindication, he said the
| family had spent all his money, Newton had
| threatened to kill him and he had to do some
thing. A few days before taking the life of
his brother he was engaged by Mr.. Bailey in
the town of Ellenboro in cutting hoop poles
on Tuesday the boy Medley was killed--he re-
turned to his mothers in Potos his face was
haggard and his eyes wild so as to cause ap-
prehension at his home, his two brothers, on
the morning OF the goth, went ont to the Dig
gings; he followed them with an axe. While
Albert was looking down in a shaft connected
by drift with the one where Newton was at
work, he struck Albert with his axe, entirely
severlng the spine, causing instant death. AL
4 N = a., g ~, II
brother heard him fall. The defendant said
he had cut his brother, and Newton climbed
out OF the shaft as he got near the ton, the
defendant told Newton TO stop; that lie must
consent to ill up the hole where Albert was,
and then say that he Albert, had gone away.
Newton told him he might say, if he chose,
that his brother had fallen into the shaft
Newton came up, found what done and
Immediately went to Potosi for help. The de-
PENDANT followed him part Of the way, trying
TO persuade him to stop, the defendant finally
left Newton, who went to the village and got
assistance te remove his brothers body
Mr.. Davies says he gave more trouble to his
own family than to his neighbors. Mr.. Stewart
and Mr.. Austin, for whom the defendant did
farm work, the summer previous 10 the HON
icide, both testify they observed nothing in his
conduct or conversation that led them to sus-
pect his sanity.
On the morning the boy Neeley was killed,
Mrs Bailey SAYS the defendant appeared ex
cited, was Wakeful the preceding night, she
supposed he had fit; asked for dinner; crowd
ed his food into his mouth appeared frighten
ed and inquired the distance TO Platteville -
He left his employment and came back to the
house once or twice before he finally left -
This was the ne week that his brother was
killed
The distinction and classification OF mental
incapacity made by medical writer's, are often
10 Intangible that they confuse, rather than
aid Jury. There s, however, an appreciabe
distinction between .iocy and insanity krcm
some constitutional detect disease or injury to
the brain, some unfortunate persons become
demented he memory is feeble or vanshes;
the faculty of Judgment and reason Is almost
extinct SccA persons we rank with idiots,
and il incapable Of Distinguishing right from
wrong, they are not punishable tor their acts
~ criminals. Dementia or idlocy may be IL
born, or produced by some injury to the brain,
or ,ntemperance or other outrage upon the
laws of health and the physical system.
But Insanity may co-cxlst with the highest
mental ac'ivlty, talent ana genius. And we
sh, dder to hnd Horace Greeley and Gerrit
smith, the foremost intellectual lights of their
dav, humbled by imprisonment in iunatic assy-
uania, may exist, and yet the patient may be
perfectly sane on most, or all subjects, except
upon the particular matter Of his delusion.
delusiun may exist where a disordered
fancy overcomes the reason, the senses and
Judgment. The victim OF the delusion is inca
nabte of taking a correct view Of the world
around him: OF the motives Of others; of the
relation existing between him and them. He
sometimes imagncs himself to be a President,
King. This simple fancy is rot dangerous to
Others. He may suppose that his mother in
tends to poison him; that other persons are
bent on taking his life. Moved by sense OF
danger or hostility for imagined wrongs, he
aims the fatal blow at supposed enemy, and
takes the life of his best friend
There is another abnormal condition of the
human mind, well established, that is an un
| comfortable impulse to do certain acts innocent
or criminal in their nature. 1t is said that
| some persons, when an opportunity offers, are
| IL. Of an irraSisfahi in1Dulsa n cfa.l