The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-05-24
SHE is INSANE.
THE VERDICT In THE W0oT-
TEN CASE YESTERDAY.
she DOESN'T MIND IT VERY MUCH.
An AIl-Day Trial-Cnptain BcrkeIcy's
Speech-His Collar Waits, But He
Gets There Jusf tho Snme-Incidents
orihc Case-Hoped TO be Discharged.

oil the aNSc-aOpeV 10 De DiSchart-c0
Miss Nora Wootten, the cratic
young female, who attempted the life
of DR.. II. A. Sims, has been acquitted
on the ground of insanity.
Tho case occupied the attention of
the Hastings Court all day and the
verdict of the jury was not rendered
till nearly six o'clock. After much
difficulty the following gentlemen
were selected as jurors: a. NJ. Nelson,
j. E. Lewis, Henry Bonn, Howard
Chapman. James S. Simmons, George
+. Over, w. c.. Thomas, s. *. Law
horn, Robert Hopcr.ft, James r.
Hinton, Eugene Ford and John S.
Campbell.
The prisoner was represented by
Messrs. Phlegar, Berkeley and john
son, and Thomas n. Williams, esq,
assisted Roy Smith in the prosecu-
ton. The witnesses for the defense
were Dr. Sims, Frank b. Caldwell,
Rush q. Derr and DR.. w. S. Gregory.
Their testimony related to the i'm
mediate incidents Of the attempted
killing, the particulars of which are
already known to the readers of the
TIMES.
DIR. Lewis G. Pediso and H. w.
Harrison were examined as medical
experts and testified that they be-
!ieved the woman to be suffering
from peculiar mania, which rem
dered her course naturally cratic and
at times violent. One of the strong
symptoms of this mania is to imagine
some association between herself and
some prominent person. Sometimes
"a professional man, but most fire.
quently o preacher was selected as the
subject of her special attentions, and
associated with her hallucinations. In
most cases this Imagination was car
ried out as If real at aggravated stages
of the disease DIR. PediSo testified at
length of this disease and cited SINH
lar cases He also stated that he had
known the prisoner some years and
had predicted such an outcome Of her
condition considerable time ago.
Rev. j. w. Lynch stated that she
had visited him several times and
desired to take the veil. She also
stated that she wanted to marry one
of two men and asked his advise rs to
which one to choose He clearly saw
signs of insanity at that time.
The case was interesting through
out, and the court room was crowded
all day, every one straininS their
necks to get a glimpse of the young
woman. All the lawyers of the Roam
oke bar were there at different times
during the day.
MIR. Williams made Il very snort
speech for the Commonwealth, and
was followed by Captain w. w.
Berkely for the defense. Captain
Beikely started off calmly and DELHI
erately, taking sip of water about
every dozen words, but before he had
been speaking five minutes he had
become thoroughly aroused, and at
times, his voice could be heard Il
square away. 1t was onlya few mo-
ments before his standing collar had
wilted, and he unbuttOned his vest,
mopped the perspiration from bis
forehead with linen handkerchief,
as his argument progressed. lie
poured hot shot into Smith l. Will
Iiams. on theother side, but they al
lowed smile to play on their coun-
tenances, stopping occasionally to
take a note.
Miss Wootten smiled frequently
while the speech of Mr. Williams was
being delivered. When he said that
if the Jury believed from the evidence
that she was guilty they would have
TO send her TO The penitentiary for
five years, Miss Wooten exclaimed
passionately, you'll have to hang
me then when | get out again. She
interrupted him several times while
speaking.
Miss Wootten looked as fresh and
rosy as possible when she was
brought into the court room. She
has been well cared for by Sergeant
Thomas, and showed no signs OF her
confinement. She is Il small woman,
with rosy cheeks, a wealth OF brown
hair and two large brown eyes that
gazed restlessly around the room, and
never seemed to fix themselves upon
anyone object. She was attired in
black dress and large black three
cornered felt hat Her mother occu-
pied chair just in the rear of the
prisoners box, and was in a deep
mourning attire.
The jury was only out of the room
ten minutes when the above verdict
was brought in. -, :,
The only thing Miss Wootten said
when the result was brought in was,
II had hoped to be discharged, | don't
want to go to that horrid old asylum"
She was remanded back to jail to
be sent to the asylum as soon as prac-
ticable.
AGAINST the Norfolk ana Western.