Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-07-30
THE FIRST DIGIT.
What Use a Pretended Lunatic Made
Of it.
SimulatiOns Of Madness by Petty Of.
fenders at the County Jail
and WOrk-hOuse.

The plea of insanity is a notorious sub
teTfuge for great criminals. II is not as
generally known that the same is frequent
ly the game of petty malefactOrs. Yet
such is often the case, especially with col
ored prisoners, in this locality, as one must
know By observations around the Davidson
county Jail. A negro engages in petit lar
ceny as a business, looking upon it as legit-
imate-Only it must be carried on private
". His cautiOusness never relaxes, but in
the course Of a few months (reckoning by
nights Instead Of days. he leaves q few
tracks which he cannot cover, and in day
or two finds himself touched on the arm by
an officer, who says, "YOu'Ye got to 60 with
me-" After the first confusion, evinced by
stare and gasp, or a choking in the Jug
Ular canal, the prisoner remembers him,
how even murdeTers have escaped the laws
vengeance through the pretense Of crai-
ness, and thinks it best not to recover from
the first shock, but to continue its effects in
symptoms of q shattered mind. He goes
TO Jail, doing his best to counterfeit the
truly witleSs, and listens every moment to
hear the cry from indignant spectators,
"LOOk at them carrying a veritable non
cCmpOs nleBtiS to prison. Out upon such
guardians Of the peaceg'
II is interesting TO observe how different
ly the stimulation is practiced By different
culprits Of this class. RaVing is incOnve-
nient and not readily undertaken. The
most natural way is TO stare vacantly at
distant and elevated objects and neglect to
answer questions, as if not heard, all of
which are the ordinary indications ofabsent
mindednCsS, only exaggerated a thing
easier to counterfeit than true insanity but
not wholly unlike it. A singular case Of
this kind Of fraud was seen a few days ago.
a negro got in custody for some offense
and to all sorts of questions would only re-
ply, "One," He vOcalized this monosylla-
bic with a vim. When he went to the
county work-hOuse he acted so as to be
thought fit subject for medical treatment.
"What is the matter with yOu?" said the
Jail Physician. "OneI" was the ready
answer. GLOW old are you?" "One!''
"HOw long have you been in here?" Cone"
"Let me see your tongue" "Onern
81 can bring him straight said DR.. Nc
Murray TO Superintendent Marshal; II have
cured many such cases. Just give him a
tablespoonful Of castor oil and ten drops
Of tuTpentine about every three or four
hours" The prescription was enforced, as
directed, and before the expiration Of three
days that negro admitted that he was once
more in possession Of his wits and no
longer stood in need of medicine. He was
sent TO the country TO work upon the new
county asylum, but picked an early oppOr-
tunity and lit out, and he is now probably
at large. After the first dose had been ad-
miniStered to him, he treated it as he had
each dose Of interrogation before, calling
the name of the FIST digit with lUdicrOus
emphasis. So, after the second dose, and
the third, never making the least progress,
as he did not get as far as 1.-TWO" or even
"One and half"