The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-06-25
OZBURN SURE TO HANG.
his COUNSEL UNABLE TO PROVE
HIM INSANE.


| Great Interest In the Case.
| ATLANTA, GA, June 24.-At II O'Clock
tonight the lawyers are still wrangling
over the state of Charles NJ. Ozburn's
mind. More speeches are to follow, and
after an all day session it seems not beyond
the bounds of possibility that the hearing
may extend through the night. The result
can, however, be easily foreseen. The jury
will find that Ozburn is quite sane enough
for all practical intsnts and purposes, an d
day after tomorrow he will be hanged on
the gallows already erected in the Fulton
| county Jail yard.
UNABLE TO PROVE INSANITY.
The prisoners counsel. on whom rests the
burden of proof, have utterly failed TO
make out a case of insanity. and. contrary
| to the rule in an ordinary criminal trial
the jury are not bound to give him the ben
eft of the doubt. Moreover, it is question
able whether a doubt is entertained
by the jury. That body is an ideal
one, made up from among the
best and most level-headed citizens in the
town, in whose eyes 1t is impossible to fling
sand. The testimony has justified the be-
lief entertained by many that Ozburn and
perhaps some Of his friends relied on deep
| laid plot to convince the world that he is
mentally unbalanced, and this game of
craft, If indeed such has been practiced is
| destined to fail of its object.
FULL OF sTIMULANTs.
It was sho wn in the evidence that the
prisoner had been freely furnished with
morphine, opium, whisky. beer and egg
nog Nominally he was limited to quart
of whisky day. but practically he could
have that or morphine from one-eighth to
one-quarter Of a grain at a time) whenever
he called for 1t and the jailer deemed it
necessary to quiet him. Such were his
doctors orders. At an early hour this
morning the unfortunate man was arrayed
in a suit Of fresh linen furnished by
his faithful wife. and supported by
two strong men made his way to the vehicle
which was to carry him to the court house.
There the crowd was so overwhelmingly
large that the ordinary, who conducted the
investigation, repaired with the jury to the
superior court rooms. Even that, large as
it is, was packed almost to suffocation.
HIS FAITAFUL WIFE.
The prisoner was attended by his little
wife, whom he has never recognized, SEEM
ingly at least, since she devotedly returned
to him from the far-of home of her parents
to see the end. One has but TO glance at
her to feel convinced that too much cannot
be said In her favor. Her face is enough.
1t is pale. but pretty: it pronounces her a
lady Of refined feeling, a tender woman, a
self-sacrificing wife. Sometimes she sat out
OF her husbands sight, at others near him
plying a fan to keep him comfortable.
Always she maintained a courageous calm
ness remarkable under the circumstances
THE PRISONERS NERVOUSNESS.
A. q. z Il. n
and weakly nervous. His hand played at
his throat, picking, picking, picking, as dy-
ing men pick the sheets. In view OF what
that throat seems about to suffer the
spectacle of the hand clutching and
fumbling there by the hour produced a
horrible impression on the minds of the
spectators. Ozbur4 was pale and emaciated,
so much so that his clothes hung about his
limbs like bags. His eye wandered some
what and be presented certain appearance
of imbecility, but it was not so much that
| OF mailman as Of a sick man.
ALWAYS PITIABLE.
| There is something always sad and pitt
| able in the look of a formerly big, strong
man reduced by disease or anxiety TO little
ness and weakness. This change was ap-
parent in Ozburn, but it suggested phys
| zeal rather than mental falling off.
I. o. Ozburn, a cousin of the condemned
man, was first put on the stand. He thought
the prisoners eyes denoted insanity. There
was faint Of insanity in the family. The
witness only sister had died in an asylum,
| and an uncle had become insane.
THE COUNTY PHYSICIANS BELIEF.
DR.. G. Griffin, county physician, thought
| Ozburn insane. He was affected with phys,.
cal disease. which frequently lead TO mental
| alteration. The witness had prescribed
whisky and morphine for him pretty freely
until recently, when the supply had been re-
| duced TO q minimum.
j. B. Hayes, young physician. testified
to the partial insanity, in his opinion, Of the
prisoner.
J. B. Trotte, an ex-turnkey, said Ozburn
was sometimes rational and sometimes not.
t. P. Kimberly, also a turnkey, formerly
thought that while Ozburn sometimes APP
| peared not to be crazy, he had at other
times talked and acted very strangely.
Whisky was given him at the jail,
his limit being a quart per day
However, he got it pretty much whenever
he called for it. With the exception Of
Deputy Sheriff Barnes, the last witness ex-
amined, who thought Ozburn probably
crazy, this was about the whole of the testi-
mony for the prisoner.
THE ARRAY AGAINST ozBURN
| Against it was arrayed the oath Of physi
clan after physician and of the officials at
| the jail.
DIR. Hugh Hagan, the sole expert on
i mental and nervous diseases, was in
troduced. He said that though a man
might suffer from abnormal exaltation, the
maniacal form OF insanity, or from abnor.
NAL depression which produced melancholy
and vet not be beyond the bound of re-
| sponsibility, Ozborn. he thought, suf-
fered from the latter as a man in
this position would naturally do, but had
| not passed the indicated limit. Drs Todd.
ElkIns, Roy, Harris, Ridley and still other
reputable physicians fatty pronounced the
| prisoner sane so far as they could see, and
the jailer and his assistant did the same
THE PRISONERS CONDUCT.
1t cropped out that when asked about his
physical condition or any Indifferent matter
| Ozburn's replies would sound we'll enough.
but when the questions related to
| his crime, the fate awaiting him
| or his marriage he would render
confused and wild replies, and even assume
an unnatural tone of voice, from which the
witnesses gathered that he was dissimu-
lating. He pretends to be unmarried, and
steadfastly denies his wife's existence.
| STILL SPEAKING.
| ATLANTA, GA, June 25, 80 A. NAT /
o'clock the lawyers were still speaking
| Ozburn was stretched on a cot and numer-
GUS spectators dozed in their chairs or Law
fat on the floor. The court room was still
| crowded.
| ozBURN's CRIME.