The Morning herald., 1878-12-09
ONE !, I CENT.


inanslaughter. But you are not bound to
believe that statement, though you must
consider it always with what he said
against himself. as,xss,-..s, =
(The Chief Justice then spoke of the plea
of insanity as brought up by the counsel
for the defence.) This is the nature of his
plea for the prisoner: That he was at tic
time when George Babes was slain, and
the preparation for the catastrophe near
Claymont was made, person not only
of unsoand mind, but that his surround.
ings were of that extent or completes
ness that made him, as to the act commit,
ted, an unaccountable being. If this be
true in point of fact, and you are the sole
Judges Of that, then you should render
verdict of not guilty in this case. 1t would
be an effaceable stain upon the reputation
this State is entitled to for the tender re-
gard. Her laws have Of human life and
lasting reproach to you as jurors, if an ir>
rispoble being should be punished for THAT
he did not and could not know was crime
that at all. In all Jurisdictions everywhere
and among all people, civilized and saw
age, defeat of reason that renders our un>
accountable for his acts, is received with
commiseration, and the subject of it shield
ed from thessleast reproach even 1t is one
of those visitations Of the Creator which
all humanity respects, and which confers
immudity from punishment upon him so
unfortunate as to be the victim of it, if
may use an expression Of seeming irrever'
ence. = But until this
is shown to exist another rule of law, of
equal force prevails, which is this: That
every man is presumed to be sane until the
contrary is shown by him or III his behalf
\ s.yss*p a, /, Harley G.. Brown
was sane man in the eye of The law, anc
as such you are bound by your oaths so t,
regard him, unless he has shown to you
by proof, that, at the time he placed thaj
fatal crosstie on the track of the Philadel
phia, Wilmington & Baltimore Railroad,
he had not sufficient mind or reason, l.,
understand that he was doing an unlawful
act. X Insanity is inability t,
distinguish between right and wrong i
reference to the act itself, andthe want /
power in the actor to choose whether j.,
will do it or rot. Again it, is a state q
mind in which pei son is incapable Of tb
wrong as applied to the act he is about I,
commit, and he has not the ability throu,l
want Of consciousness to choose by an "a
fort of the will, whether he will do t.
deed or not. These definitions or descri =
tions of insanity were made by this coz,
long since, and have ever been approx Il
for their com prehensiveness. They me
that one 80 destitute of reason as not o
know at the time he does an act that he is
doing wrong, is not responsible for SUI \
acts. While we shall OF
as we have not the right to do, exprtss
any opinion upon the nature of the l.
dence, as itstrikes our minds, it is our d'iy
to warn you to be very careful before YOU
ALLOW it to controly our minds. The n, 1T
that was proved with reference to this lbs
ject anterior to the commission of the ct
was that the prisoner was subject to s'a>
sons, or periods of low spirits. We 4 ed
not remind you that great many pers' ns,
perfectly responsible, criminally as vel as
civilly, for all their acts, or conduct, sre
subject to low spirits. Nay, it would be
hard to point out any who are entirely rec
from them, unless they are of that BIZ, II
class of inaccountsble beings who are I'll
to be incapable of enumerating any br q
roseate view of life.
There must be something more,i in our in
ion than this, there must be superadd to
mere low spirits, a natural weakness of
mind or acquired insanity, that rendei Its
possessor incapable of determining, hen
he Is about do thing, ,Whetherit is rig. t or
wrong to do that act. ~
have said there il no evidence what, YER
before you that the prisoner at the bar vas
anything but low spiriJed before the time
he caused the death Of George Babe, and
| the three other victims of his conduct. and
there is none, It is true that an accidt Is
proved to have happened to him In 1868,
| that he fell from exhaustion In 1878 al res
ceiyed blow from the falling limb of a
| Tree In 1878 but none of the witnesses, who
proved these circumstances, proved that
| his mind or power to distinguish bet Seeu
right or wrong was affected more than
| for q, very few weeks, at most and curing
that time it is not avered by. the witnesses
that there was an unusual appearance of
mental affection. This, as reeollect seems
| TO the be substance of the testimony as 20 the
| The first evidence you have, having any
tendency to show want of responsibility,
| points to period subsequent to the trags
edy and Is mainly that of persons who serv-
ed upon the Coroner's jury. ~,
They have expressed their opinions with
respect to the state of the prisoners mind,
as shown, as they consider, byhis conduct
at the time the inquest was upon It's trav~
els to ascertain the facts about the killing
of the four men who met their uptimely
death upon that fatal train and passed with
out the least warning into that dread here
after for which the best among US are 10
need of some preparation. Those opinions
If we give all Of them at least as much, if,
not more force than they all expressed,
amount to opinions only of men, certainly
not any better qualified than yourselves to
draw conclusions from facts. They are
not experts, that is persons Of scientific
skill or experience SO far as you or we
know, in passing upon the mental status of
men; they have, therefore no special qualif>