The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-03-18

ing TO tne Jury to KNOW ii thcN were ROD
bling themselves of this money they were
paying to these companies. and whether in
ihe event of suicide they should receive that
! for which they had pad so much The
counsel would ask the Jury to decide the
| case upoh all the evidence, so that when
they should come to follow the deceased,
although not III like manner, they should
receive the rich reward of an approving
conscience.
CHARGE TO THE Jury.
Judge Wheeler then made his charge to
the jury, first referring to the fact that the
profits of the insurance were not embraced
| in the case TIC case rested upon the fact
of contract entered into between Geo. c.
( Hathaway and the life insurance company,
to the effect that the heirs or estate of the
applicant should receive $1,000 at his
| dcuh by the payment OF Il certain amount
| of money each year. These payments had
been met promptly. Tho question to be
tried was whether the company had full
| filed their part OF the contract One cX-
ception was made whereby the policy
should become void. viz il the
applicant should die by suicide
1t must be remembered that the
applicant was not insured against death by
suicide and il there was Il suicide. the adj
\ ministra,or had no claim and the plaintiff
was not entitled 10 recover. II he died by
| disease, Of which he was innocent in bring
| ing about. then the plaintiff was en-
| titled. There could be no matter of opin-
| ion in regard to The agreement. but there
was us to the cause Of death. In one sense
| he died by suicide, as one meaning of the
word was SELF E2I6G. This was done ply
sicaly and actually. But il he was not a
responsible agent of his own WILL then he
| did not die by his own means The ques-
| ton then is whether he died by his own
| free will. or whether some disease 0,ade
| him kill himself
In finding the case for the plaintiff the
| Jury must ascertain and decide that the de-
| ceased had Il disease of mind such as to
make him kill himself. Any thing short
| of that would he inadequate They may
look and see it he naturally caused this
disease that raised the question in his mind
| which was best for him to do, live or die
| If satisfactory conclusions are had that he
came to his death understanding what he
was doing the plaintiff could not recover,
| because that was suicide. 1t did not make
any difference what the reason was there
| for. On the other hand. if his mind be-
came filed with an insane idea or delusion
| which had crept into his mind and secured
4 hold upon his reason and judgment, that
his mind grew weaker while his insanity
grew stronger so that he could not resist,
| but yielded so that his own mind carried
out the means which accomplished the
end, than the plaintiff is entitled to re-
of flnGn ttxf cid fl,n.
hangs.
1t was not conclusive that he did Lot
know what he wrote, but the jury could
read the letters and they could be taken as
evidence. On the other hand, the state
ments made by DR.. Pond were evidence
That facts stated were as he said they were.
He told him how he felt from time to time
about this idea of an impulse to take his
| own lite. 1t may be considered in behalf
of the plaintiff SO far as the jury believe it
that he felt just as he told DR.. Pond, all OF
which was in favor of the administrator
1t must be considered whether he had sufll.
cient mind to prefer death rather than life
whether he so determined in his own mind
or whether, if lie had sufficient capacity tC
resist any idea he might have had that h,
must kill himself. These facts must be
weighed as circumstances with all Others
for the purpose of finding out whether hi
had will enough to kill himself The cir
cumstances must be taken, as a whole
whether he determined to kill himself, OF
whether disease made him do il.
Another fact to be considered was tn,
default whether or not he had rather suife
death than to bring himself into disgrace
and perhaps to punishment, and whether 1t
would consider a these things. These cir
cumstances and facts must be looked at ant
decided upon as to whether they would fur
nish evidence of free will in killing him
self. In the course of the evidence, too
opinions had been heard of medical men
who are supposed to have more knowledg
upon these facts than the court or jur
have, and who are called in on this case a
we would call physician when sick. Tn
, jury must consider their testimony so ia
as they have given information, not be
cause they We're to try the case, but to hel
those who are So far as their opinion
are concerned, -four have testified, two o
whom, Drs. Pond and Woodhouse, llnel
, the deceased. The latter testified as t
, their own knowledge, and to the conclu
s!ons come to, what they saw and also as t
ther experience in such cases. Drs
/ Goldsmith and Mead did not speak abou
3 this case, but the counsel supposed a cas-
and asked their opinion on the suppose
/ | case. NOW lnelr opinions are 10 nc Welgne
provided that they bear directly on thi
, case lfthe supposed case varies with thi
t case their opinions upon the supposed car
+ not be held as good, If any matter or fac
G existed in this case which was not include
. in the supposed case, then, the opinion
{ would not seem applicable and were not t
be considered in determining this case an
the same objection holding good if an
70 matter was included in the supposed cas-
which did not relate to this case. Such II
o formation as was admissible was TO /
weighed and considered, but opinions nc
), sound or conclusive but rather speculaty
). are not to be considered in the Judgment c
i the jury as evidence. The testimony
$ those who give the symptoms that the
judge from are so that the jury may judg
y right over after them, and If an opinion
n given by the witness, to weigh it for WIFI
& it is worth.
&c II was not enough to find that the min
&c Yves unsound to such an extent that
J. could not judge between right or wroni
h but it must be decided whether the disea;
. had complete control over him.
t. If the jury are evenly matched upon Il
st question the defendant has the case, as Il