Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-03-27
DELUsIONs or THE DAFT.

sDILUsIONs or THE DAFT.
Some Queer Cases Of People Cracked in. the
Upper Story.
'Illusional insanity! Why, certain
/ II there is such I thing said DR.. D.
D. Richardson yesterday. Nothing
moro certain. And no species IT in
sanity is more easily or more common
~ feigned. At the same time tie sub
jects Of that variety OF mania are often
the most difficult TO prove insane. /
remember The case Of man named
Frank Devlin who was brought to me-.
His family assured me he was insane.
/ had him in my, charge for several
days, but failed to discover his weak
point until one day his son, think it
was, came to me and told me that
Deylin had invented an internal ma
chine with which he hoped to blow
up the house in which an Objectionable
neighbor lived. -.....e
Nov, this neighbor lived in the
same house as Devlin did and was his
own ledger. questioned him about
this story. He told that the neighbor
was in conspiracy with his (Deylin's)
wife, and then when he paid her for
his weekly board she give it back,
and so robbed her husband. Mrs.
Devlin was quite an old woman and
was held in good estimation among
the neighbors, but they could none of
them believe in Devlin' s insanity.
consequently their indignation at
his confinement became so trouble
some to her that she took him home.
He had not been home week when
one evening the ledger was shutting
up the shutter, and Devlin, who was
sitting on the steps, drew pistol and
shot him through the heart. When
his trial came off I had to testify. He
called me to the dock and whispered:
"'Now, don't you try to prove me
insane. becausel am not, you know
"'But they will hang you if DON'T
oh no they won't; it was neces-
sary to rid the earth of such man;
they won't hang me- ~,..
''WeL, he. was found insane, of
course, and was sent, / think, to Nor
ristown. To show how this kind of
insanity may be feigned, the case of
Solomon Squires will do for an exam
pie. He followed his wife to church,
and shot her in the back. Insanity
was set up as plea, but he was sem
fenced to death. While awaiting the
execution of his sentence, his friends
did all they could to procure a COM
mutation. In the meantime he pre-
tended to be suffering from melan-
cholia, refused food, read his Bible
from morning till night, and went
through all the usual symptoms. His
sentence was committed. On the day
that this news was brought to him he
was sitting in corner Of his cell
reading, when the warden said:
s. 'Squires, your sentence is COM
muted.'
"He jumped up flung the Bible to
the other end of the cell and danced a
jig with delight.
50 I'D sooner spend two lives in a
penitentiary,' he cried, than be hang
ed
Emotional insanity is common
cause of murder. remember case
of a man named Thayer. He had
been three times confined for a mania
a-potu and was an habitual drunkard.
For this reason his wife left him and
went to live with her brother. One
evening Thayer went to the house,
asked her'if she would return to him,
and on receiving a reply in the neg
alive, shot her through the head. He
was dazed and stu id when taken to
the police station, and showed no
consciousness of having committed a
crime. His former employer was at
first much incensed against him, as
were indeed the whole public.
''Before he was brought up for trial,
however, his employer, who had re-
hected on the case, and in consider
alton of former services. and renem-
bering many little occasions when his
actions had suggested somo brain dis
order, decided to procure the best
counsel possible to defend him.
II was witness. The prisoner was
found insane ard acquitted. His old
employer did all he could for him,
sent him to Cuba and found work for
him there. But he was of no use; his
brain was quite gone. After a while
he found his way to Boston, where
he died of dementia in q hospital.
"Solitary confinement and the dark
cell? Yes, sometimes it is productive
OF insanity, but in how many instan-
ces does the insanity exist before the
criminal is contined2 That is where
the difficulty exists in making dag
nosis for jury. 4 physician may be
perfectly convinced of the insanity of
the criminal. but the absence Of proof
renders him incapable of convincing
the jury.
''The causes Of insanity are varied
and the origin of the causes are equal
~ varied and obscure. A genuine lu-
matte does not like to be thought one,
but caref1 ii questioning and patient
observation will discover the weak
place In nine cases out of ten.
''In the tenth case the cleverest and
most skillful observer is often baff1ed,
until by some accident frequently the
patient develops the necessary symp-
tom which goes to prove the wanting
element in his or her mental organ. -
Philadelphia Times.
John G. Emo, Jr.