Daily Republican., 1878-12-09

Tor crime Is insanity or inability to dis
tinguish between right and wrong, VI
reference to the act itself, and the wan
OF power In the action to choose vheth
or he will do II or not; again 1t Is q
state Of mind in which person is inca
pable Of the perception or consciousness
OF right and wrong as applied to the
act he is about to commit, and
has not the ability, through want
OF that consciousness to choose by an
effort Of the will whether he will
do the deed or net. These definitions
or description Of insanity were made by
this Court long since ard have ever
been approved for their comprelen
sivsness. They mean that one SO dss-
titate of reason as not to know at the
time he does an act that he is doing
wrong, is not responsible for such act.
Now gentlemen that we have given
you TO understand the state Of weakness
or deraEgsinsnt Of intellect that will ex-
cuse crime, you may lay such informa-
tion along side, as it were, of the testi-
mony of the witnesses produced by .he
prisoner, and determine whether that
testimony is sufficient to protect the
prisoner against an adverse verdict.
And while we shall not, as we have not
the right to do so, express any opinion
upon the value of that evidence as it
strikes our minds, it is our duty to
warn you to be very careful before you
allow it to control your minds. The
most that was proved with reference to
this subject anterior to the commission
of the act was that the prisoner was
subject to seasons or periods of low
spirits. We need not remind you tho
it is right we should doit, as a fact of
common experience of which you have
the right to take notice without any
proof that a great many people, per-
fectly responsible criminally as well
as civilly for all their acts, or conduct,
are subject to low spirits. Nay, 1T would
be hard to point out any who are
entirely free from them, unless they are
of that small class of accoun. liable human
beings who seem to be incapable
of ever taking any but a roseate view
Of life. 1t is true that some are very
much more under the, influence of low
state of feeling than others; and not
few Of our fellow creatures are at times
hypochondric, but even that is not
any evidence, without other facts, of
want Of knowledge as the right or
wrong ofan act. There must be some
thing more, in our opinion, than this;
there must be, superadded to mere low
spirits,a natural weakness of mind, or
acquired insanity, that renders its pos
SCISSOR incapable of determining when
he is about to do thing whether it is
right or wrong to do that act. He must be,
in fact, in the same stage or condition of
incapacity to distinguish between
wrong and right act that is babe in its
mothers arms, and as the law will not,
because it has no means to do it, meas
ure the capacities of men, where there
is any to be- measured; so it holds every
person reponsible for the natural and
probable consequences of his acts, or
who has any capacity to dis
tiuguish between their rightfulness or
Without some such
capacity there can be no will, for there
Is no mind and without will or mind to
10 an act, no intent to do it can be pre-
Heated or assumed of any mans con.
luct.
lhave said there is no evidence what
,ver before you that the prisoner at the
BAR was anything but low spirited be-
Ore the time he caused the death of
ieorge Babes and the three other vic
inns of his misconduct; and there
$ none. 1t is true an accident
$ proved to have happened to MIN
n the year 1868, that he fell from ex-
laustion, or from what is kown as sun
troke in 1873, and received a blow from
| falling limb of a Frustrated tree in
.o75; but none of the witnesses who
proved these circumstances, prove that
lis mind or power to distinguish be-
ween right and wrong was affected, +
more than a very few weeks at most
nd during that time it is not avsrred
" the witnesses that there was an un-
Isual appearance of mental affection.
his, as | recollect seems to be the sub
tance of The testimony as to the pris-
ner's mind before the act was commit
ed. The first evidence you have, hav-
ng any tendency to show want of re-
points to a period subse-
uent to the tragedy, and is mainly
hat of persons who served upon the
oroner's jury. They have expressed
heir opinions with respect to the state
t the prison RS mind as shown, they
,nsider by his conduct at the time the {
lquest was upon its travels to ascer-
lin the facts about the killing of the
'ur men who met their untimely death |
pom that fatal train and passed with Z
ut the least warning into that dread !
GREATER for which the best among us t
re- in need of some preparations. These
1inions if we give all of them at, least J.
. much, if not more force than they all I
ipressed amount to opinions only l
men, certainly not any better quail
led than yourselves to draw conclu- |
ons from facts. They are not ErpertS,
lat is persons of scientific skill 40" o
experience so far as you or We know, $
passing upon the mental status of
en-. They have therefore no special "
affiliations to enlighten your minds u
pom subject that has oftentimrs baf, o
ID the scrutiny Of the specialist, or Il
arson whe has made study or special
Of the subject of insanity. But they c'
, give you facts, and it is for you o'
one to Judge whether in your con. D
fences you believe them to be such as &C
lould acquit this prisoner. 1t seems W
ON the testimony of these jurymen
at when the coroner took the prison 81
to the scene of the wreck, he gave to 81
EN- the same account of his perform IN