The Morning herald., 1878-05-13

| from bad to worse, until the poor man,
through trouble, unwisely, must say,
| sought relief himself In drink, which grew
on him TO destroy his wife. The poor little
! girl, Nellie, whose testimony touched every
heart, said that home, for week, had been
| nell, had been a scene of debauch. On
/ thursday the prisoner was in bed, his
| reason disentnroned and under the domain
Of insanity, delirium tremens-no partial
insanity, mt bound hand and 1901, COM
plt tely uauer its control, maniac: On
Friday his uiind restored. The Attorney
General would have you believe that there
was the end of the disease. Little Nellie,
who knew and observed her fathers con-
dition, says on Friday at noon she saw the
same symptoms, the trembling of the hand
and the wildness of 4he eye-he was worse,
ami continued to grow worse, and was in
the same state when he went up stails on
Friday night as he was on Thursday. Now
following this poor man, delirious with the
disease, not drunk, we find him going to
work, as Nellie tells you, with trembling
hand and a wild eye. At his work his
fellow worBmen noticed him and say they
thought he was not in his right mind. Sud-
denly without any warning, he turned
around with his working apron on, sleeves
rolled up, leaving his coat, vest and hat, he
was gone, they were amazed. Nellie says
be came home shaking his head and talking
to himself. The prisoner ard victim 20 to
bed, he rises in his delirlum, Stays his wife
and cuts his own throat He doesn't con-
ceal it. Is this the act of a sane man Isn't
self-destruction an evidence of insaniys
The physicians in their opinion unanimously
agreed thut the man was insane when he
committed the act. Do need to gGdufther
to ask whether the man was In HIS right
mind. This mans life is in your hands.
You can sweep out all the evidence, and
before Jour Maker, find this man guilty DR..
West testified that he expected q return Of
the disease. IL is for you, gentlemen, guided
by the evidence, assise by the doctors testi-
mony, to say whether W. Thomas was In
his right mind when the act was committed,
and therefore not guilty on reason of in
sanity. Now, gentleman, suppose, if
can anticipate what the Attorney General
must say, that the prisoner was lot labor-
ing under disease, but was drunk. The law
will tell you delirum tremens Is q defence
to crime. The testimony of the medical
gentlemen you must take. 1t is given for
q purpose.
John B. Pennington, ESQ.,, Attorney Gems
eral, then addressed the jury. He said,
trust, gentlemen, In the short life allotted
to me shall never forget my duty so far
as to stand before jury and attempt to
establish verdict that is not right. have
great confidence in your honesty and in
tegrity, that you, with me, Will attempt to
arrive at the truth of the case. The medi4
cal gentlemen, in their opinion, say he was
insane. The killing, gentlemen, is ad-
mitted. On the 4th of April we find the
prisoner at his home, DR.. West attending
and administering remedies for delirium
tremens. Visiting him on Friday, we find
him calm and much better, so much SO that
the physician did not even try the mans
pulse or look at his tongue, and allowed the
man to go to work. Mr.. johnson says when
he saw him in the shop on Friday, the looks
of the man startled him, although he didn't
say so at the time by mentioning 1t to the
men in the shop, whose lives, if the man
was as described, were inperiled. The very
results they looked for did not take place.
Was there there a single act that would
suggest insanity? One witness noticed the
prisoner on the streat, and although his
actions were particularly noticed by him,
he never communicated the facts to single
person. Is it the result of delirium tremens
Tor man to accuse his wife of going with
another mani No, but from an intoxicated
brain. After having committed the deed,
as Nellie says, he said 81 have cut mothers
throat and my own, l will be hung anyhow"
With these facts, you are asked on your
oaths whether he is not guilty on insanity.
When the officer arrested him he was still
conscious of the guilt and consequence of
what he had done, for he tells the officer
SO, and where to get his money. I leave
the case with you.
The Chief Justice then charged the jury
and about six O'Clock they retired to their
chamber.
At about O'Clock the jury returned and
rendered verdict of "Not Guilty." ON
grounds of delirium tremens.