St. Paul daily globe., 1889-06-16
degree of responsibility

the degree of responsibility
of persons under delusion,
illusion or haIlucination. The doctor
rightly argued that ''delusiOn" was an
erroneous vision to the mind of sOme-
thing in reality, and therefore based
upon fact. The prisoner may have
been labOring under the delusion that
the deceased would do her great bodily
harm or kill her if he saw her again,
and in her weak and frenzied condition,
If such it was, she blindly
ascribed such intention to Do
herty, and when she saw him
she shot upon an unreasonable
impulse. An illusion is an unreal Wis
lson. presented to the mental or bodily
eye, and il the prisoner was swayed by
this mad picture of the Imagination, she
was not excusable, accarding to the
ideas of the medical world. Hallucina-
ton is the belief in the existence of
things which have no real existence;
III false conception which one
Is unable to distinguish from
true perception. The county at
tOrney questioned and cross
questioned to elicit upon what the wit
ness based his convictions of a partial
insanity of the prisoner. DIR. Jones, of
Minneapolis, physician OF the st.
Peter insane asylum, was the next wit
ness called. He was On the stand from
8 o'clock until adjournment at 5. His
testimony was an exhaustive lect-
ure upon the various forms
OF Insanity, the possibilities and
and disOrganized reason. The county
attorney fired his verbal grape and cam
mister of logic and reason, while the
witness cOolly responded with his sci
entific facts and technical diagnosis of
the prisoners case. The witness did
not credit emotional insanity, and did
not think that Clara Blatz was suffering
OR had ever suffered from partial
INSANITY OR TRANSITIONAL MANIA:
but he did think tnat her case was
one of chronic mania. When asked
upon what he based his conclusion, he
said upon observation and study of the
hypothetical statement of facts of the
prisoners life. In DR.. jones' case, as
in DR.. .Whitcomb's, everything, or nearly
everything, was based upon a hypo-
thetical statement of facts. They had
both heard what had been incident to
the prisoners career, and diagnosed her
case accordingly.
Doctor asked Judge Egan, "do you con-
slider person afflicted with chronic mania
capable of discerning right from wrong and
90 you th1nk, from what you have reard OF
this case that the prisoner knew she was
shooting DOherty with deadly weapon, and
by so doing intended to kill him!''
ut depends much upon the affection.
Some persons would know riSht from wrong,
others would be denser in their coma eondi-
ton and would not I think the prisoner
knew she was shooting Doherty but ] do not
think she could comprehend the gravity Of
the act.''
"You mean she did not appreciate tie
weight OF the consequences of firing pistol
bullet into the body of the man; don't you:"
''Well, yes.''
us revenge motive. doctor:''
Yes; but l do not think il was in this
case.''
What was, then?''
Jealousy / should say
doctor, if this woman should have shot
you or me or any one else, after having been
the subject of such life as she claims she
has led, or any other woman surrounded for
the same period of time by similar condi-
tons. should shoot A., B. or c., what would
you think of herr
IT should say she was crazy
Here the court adjourned. and the
defense announced that all its testimony
was in. The greatest part of the odious
trial is over. On Monday morning
Judge Egan will introduce expert testi-
mOny in rebuttal, after which the final
will be made to the jury. and
the case will be deliberated upon. and
the fate of Clara Blatz determined.