Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-10-27
THE sCRIBNER TRIAL.
Fourth Day-ClOsing up of the Case.

| On the rcassembIlng OF the court oaturuay
morning, DIR. Harlow was called.
Contamination Saw prisoner in June
rs, called to inspect his state of mind, KEEP
minutes of examination; minutes mislaid
kept full minutes Of questions asked; saw
him dozen or fifteen times; after had in.
spected him expressed my opinion that he
was not insane; expressed opinion publicly
| that he was not insane. Between June and
Oct rs, inspected him a dozen times, after
| hearing the evidence, decided that he was not
insane; was unable to discover anything
about the prisoner, to satisfy me that he was
insane; l cow regard his clear case Of in
sanity; his insanity at the time of the hOmi-
eide was as clear as that of an ordinary case
when inspected him in Jail knew he had
taken the life of his child he was in good ply
steal health he told me he eat and slept well (;
consider it important to know the conditions
Of his health to decide in regard to his in
sanity he has the common kind Of insanity !;
his is mania, delusion; ir mania, the pa
tient reasons, and don't know right from
wrong; if continued for Eve years, he is
in dormant state, liable to break Out at any
time; the patient can reason, have the exer-
else of his faculties; mania often ends in loss
of reason; it does not run long; raving
maniac could not live five years delusion is
false idea, an absurd notion of the mind,
they believe they are acting rightly; if they
don't believe they are acting rightly it is not
a delusion; if Scribner had thought he was
doing right in killing his child, it was blind
impulse: if he thought 1t was right to kill his
child he was acting a mania; l regard Ray,
Brown, Randall and others good authority for
defining the various classes of insanity !;
mania, acts from blind impulse, delusion.
Last March, / decided the prisoner was la
boring under delusion, changed my opinion
since. that he is insane my opinion is not
very much different from what it was
then. He was laboring under mania
and had delusion in days prior.
NV opinion is that on the 18th of May, he was
acting under delusions and in maniacal state,
think he had been insane for considerable
time prior to the act judge from his acts and
conversation; dates back 10 years; in the
winter prior to murder, the fact of his killing
his horse, indicates it threatening his broth
er's wife, imagining hatred towards her; his
crying out at night, carrying razor, smoking
the night before, carrying the axe, smoking is
not an evidence of insanity smoking contrib
uted to the detriment Of his health; the evil
dence discloses that he was injured thereby
all smoking is injurious; intemperance debil-
itated his brain; if he suspended drink his
brain would return to its normal condition
so far as it could in the nature of the case !;
maniac has memory: person labOrng I'M
der delusion has memory; the memory is the
same in a maniac as in a deluded mind !:
maniacs remember after the act is committed,
the prisoner has memory. and knew after he
had killed his child. Insanity lasts days. weeks,
months he had reason and knowledge when
he said he must make Sarah a widow no
ah a.; m utary a N ttx-a nd cha M
to sanity the next moment; in the condition
of his mind from time of conversation with
DR.. Brickett and taking the life Of child
could see no change the nature of the crime,
the relation he bore to his family shows with
out doubt insanity the prisoner is quick
tempered man naturally, have seen no act of
insanity since first inspected him in Jail, never
have seen a single act Of the person which
proved to be insanity, insanity is often cOun-
terfeited and set up as excuse for crime.
He might be quiet and peaceable after he COM
mitted murder. If he was maniac he might
be quiet and peaceable year afterward. His
flight after the act, does not effect the theory
of insanity; takes time for insanity to come
and 90; real insanity is not necessarily real
disease of the brain; difference between in
sane state Of mind and sane leads to killing.
He was not an active maniac at the time his
brother came to the city to procure warrant
to have him taken care of; man may be or
dinarily insane for length of time, and it
takes a period of time for convalescing.
Mr.. Ti.cOmb then began his plea for the
prisoner. He said that in the examination of
this case, so far as the defendant is concerned,
we have not tried to keep out evidence of any
thing for or against the prisoner. Have CIV
en- you all the testimony. The responsibility
must rest upon the jury. There will be no
excuse for you. We have no doubt as to
the result of your Judgment. The
defendant can in no event escape the State
prison. The only difference is whether he
shall 20 as criminal or an insane
person. The attorney for the govern
ment has conducted the case ably and
for the interest of the State. We make no
excuse for the acts of the person on the plea
of insanity. No greater mistake could be
made than to adopt this view. All insane
men act from the same motives to a certain
extent There is a certain border line between
insanity and sanity. II is hard to draw the
line. That duty will probably devolve upon
you. That the peculiarly Of thought. feel
ing and acts are insanity, these should not
be taken by themselves, but taking all these
together, afford evidence Of insanity. Avery
small part Of them must satisfy you that the
man was at the time an insane man. DIR.
Harlow said all things being equal a man
having fiery temperament like this man
stands less chance for excuse than others.
That you will be satisfied from the evidence
that insanity did exist in the prisoner. as
sumo it to be true, that what is not fact in
law cannot be fact in science. When the
prisoner was confined his feelings would not
have turned against his wife and child but
against those who had confined him. Prior
to the time of his committing the crime, was
he not fit subject for the insane asylum?
The evidence goes to show that he was
If the certificate of his respectable
physicians had been given when the subject
was before us, he would have been committed
to the Insane Hospital and thereby all this
trouble and expense saved. There was a
motive for his committing the crime charged
DO you find any motive or act of his previous
to the crime, that the man did not like his
children, especially the one who died at his
hands. All goes to prove that the mans
mind was in an unsound state at the time.
In order to be responsible man must have q
sound mind, and know the difference between
right and wrong at the time of committing
the act. The burden of proof has been con-
elusive by defence, that the prisoner acted
from an insane mind. He was not naturally
an ugiv man These evidences are cOnclu.