Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1891-08-01
DANGEROUS PHASES or INSANITY.
Facts for the ssntlmebtsiis to Read
and Ponder Over.

Facts for the sentimeDtaiists to Read
and Ponder Over.
Insanity exists but every one IS moi
fitted by study and observation to de.
tcct slight mental alterations or TO see
wherein the doubtful eases vary from
normality; and in questions of lunacy
IL IS not uncommon TO hear from gem
orally intelligent persons such re-
marks as. x don't see anything insane
nbons him. or. ''He is just as sane as
l am" or, IL have done business with
him aud found him sharp business
man."
A man does not necessarily confide
to his business acquaintances or even
to his family that he has foreboding
of bis approaching insanity; that he
feels at times the force of an impulse
10 suicide c. homicide or lawless ex-
cesses which are new and foreign to
his nature, and which for the present
he reslsts; that at times he thinks he is
followed by spies; that he is talked
about and pointed out as he walks the
streets. But such irrational ideas pos
sess the minds of scores Of persons
who are at large and unsuspected.
These mental peryersions may be
latent for long time and assume the
| form Of fixed delusious and become
the basis of action; and the friends
| who are not accustomed 10 look for
such things may only discover them
when accident or an explosion OF in
dignation at fancicd wrongs brings
them TO light. The mau so possessed
by morbid feelings and impulses may
regain his tone, so that If he does not
| bauish them from his mind he may be
| able 10 artfully conceal them. The
chance that insane suspicious and
projects for revenge may be concealed
or Iaay return under new stress makes
| i've responsibility for the whereabouts
| Of the individual so affected serious
one, aud one which no man should
assume lightly.
The dangerous but shrewdly secre-
| tive insane often get their cases into
courts. Their appearance of rational
| ity brings friends 10 their aid, and
! their plausible disclaimers convince
/ the jury. The reports of their trials
and narrow escape from unjust con-
| iinemsnt are almost rs sensational and
| moving as some romance Of the Charles
| Reade style.
Perhaps the next column in the
! newspaper to the one which chronic es
| the escape of this victim tells story
! Of another kind. A mother. in a sud-
| den paroxysm Of insanity. has killed
her child and then herself. An old
| man. insane from sickness and suffer-
t,,,, Fa nj
then poisoned himself. A man haunted
! by sense of wrong and persecution,
from which the law gave him no re-
lief. has turned on his fancied enemy
and reveDged himself. These are no
fancy sketches, but sad occurrences,
the counterpart of which are known to
all readers of the papers and students
| Of the insane. Instances like the first
| two have been recorded within o
month. The writer knew personally 4
case like the last. A highly intellect
ual aud naturally amiable man awoke
one morning with an unusually vivid
! sense OF a personal outrage which had
| been practiced upon him during the
night, and. taking his pistol. he went
| out and killed an innocent passer-by
whom he had never before seen but
whom he fancied to be his tormentor.
The evolution of the ''Paranoiac.
or partially insane person. is very in
teresting. Usually he is by nature de.
fective. and mentally inclined to take
cranky view of things. At his
! best. he thinks his aches and pains of
| special Importance and that his i'll
success is due TO jealousy aud want OF
affair chance. When he becomes in
sane he is even more self-conscious
| and egotistic. He thinks enemies
practice on his body aud affect his
nsiud. Their means of doing this are
hidden aud mysterious; but according
-tarhis degree OF education he fluids an
explanation for the improbable in
spies. detectives. evil spirits. secret
societies. loadsione electricity, hyp-
notism, animal magnetism, or what
ever is the particular mysterious force
under discussion at the time and in the
society in which he moves. Believing
so many persons are concerning them
selves about him he comes To think
that he must be of more importance
than he had supposed. and soon he
passes through the stages of possibility
aud probability 10 that of certainty
that he is king, or pope, or a
Christ. or whatever else is, in his opin-
ion. most exalted.
| Oftener natural amiability and the
habit of abiding usder authority hold
the man in check and he INDUCES his
| fancies harmlessly. Occasionally. how
ever. there is an individual in whom
| the failure TO receive the respect aud
honors which he considers his due
breeds growing sense If injustice
and wrong, and after standing it as
long as he can he takes the law into
his own hands. Happily for the sane
members of the community, these des-
perately insane men are comparatively
few and are generally put beyond the
possibility of doing harm before their
thoughts of revenge have taken tangi-
| bic form.
| Hallucinations, which are disturb
ances of the special senses. cause
mau to hear voices which do not really
| exist, and which may command him
TO do certain acts, or which may warn
him OF dangers which threaten his life
or property, or which may tell him of
some high position which is rightfully
his and of which his enemies are de-
frauding him. Perverted taste and
smell suggest poison. chloroform, nox-
ious gases, etc. which he believes are
being used by his enemies 10 overcome
him. or TO remove him from their path.
Through these disorders of his hear
ing. taste, smell. etc. he receives im-
prcssions which are rs real 10 him as
any sound we hear is to us. and thus
he learns of plots against him aud of
nefarious attempts upon his life. Is it
strange that he is indignant and that
at length the pressure of his indigna-
tion may burst the trammels OF law
aud order?
The manner of the maniac. tho
Juror OF the man who runs amnck."
giving warning Of danger. The peril
from these partially insane persons.
who TO the common appreciation act
and talk nationally. while harboring
purposes most deadly. is heightened by
their artful concealmenl while deaf
ear is sometimes turned to the warn
lug voice OF the physician
As the pendulum swings back in the
happy time to come for which the