New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-03-04
HOW FIELD CHEATED HIM.
HIS PARTNER TELLS HIS STORY.
MAGNIFICENT LYING JUST BEFORE THE FAILURE
-ExTEEMELY sHREwD INSANITY.

-EXTEEMELY sHREwD INSANITY.
Probably the most mcrcsnn. part Of he Testimony
In the trial Of the sanity Of Edward ". Held IN the
Court OF oyer and Terrn.ncr Yesterday. that Of
John NJ. Wlechers Fields paitucy to the eleo; that
he and his friends had lost by tie failure OF the
firm the sum Of 81 100000 Most Il mi, MONEY had
been advanced TO Mr. Wiechers by his relatives. ard
he had such perfect confidence Ia Mr Field mat he
did not even grow suspicious when warned by an0ny-
letters that his firm was f. lad ,hapc. Mr.
w1echers was witHes, for the prosecution at The
afternoon session. ana before his testimony had been
given many mole ~ the business associates Of the
prisoner had been wtne,-s- and declared that they
had never anything in he conduct Of Mr.. Field
TO make them believe that he mentally unSOund
John Il. Harris. the agent Of the Merchants Eanl
Of Canada told the story Of how Field GOT his
firm 70 advance $4,000 on forged hils OF iad'nS
for the ships Cambria and Dolcoth
John G.. Weight, whose hair j. white. and who mas
been the cashier of Mr.. Fields firm for fifteen years
testified T. having seen Mr. Field nearly every DAY
during rhat time. and he had never seen anything
TO make him VMnh that he mentally unsound.
william Con0or the professional nurse who ATTENDED
Field after the failure, was also witness Tor 'le
prosecution lie testified 10 having been called on
November 2s by DR. Aim McIane hamilton. 10
at end Field 1t NO 40 East Thrieth-St., the home
OF John Lindlcy. When he arrived nj the mousse Vhe
patient was MT There, and he and some other man.
name he did nor know, started ont to look lor
and cot finding him there they visited number
Of lquor stores. They did no. find him in any OF
these places and they returned - the nome Oh MY.
undlcy. After they had been there Tor short TIME
Mr. Field came In of his votlV ana went upstairs
and went 10 he'd lie complqincd Of being weak
before he GO. in bed. hut that was all. DuIlhG inc
few DAYS that he wa in that house. whenever he
would get ou If bed Field would support himsch S
a chair whenever he moved about. Inc """c'
went with Field to the asylum at Noun vernon
The only abnormal fcatrrc which he Observed aDo"O
the patient was that he sometimes nc~ alei ""''
he tried TO speak. lie never had hslmoina'''' u
The knowledge Of the witness. From BIS ohscrNa lois
durng the whole lime that he was with the prisoner
he thought that he was ra onal.
uo,rv Uaauc also Of the Merchants Bank. supple
mented The testimony of Mr.. Harris abont 'ne u''S
action in which Field got the money from the 'f.nA
On a forged hi Of ladine. lie tonsnt 'n"' ,,.
Field had always been rational in his de"hnss Will
,he hank He told however. that when fleld came
In the Office at the time hat he made the lAh' C'o
witness met him and Field introduced mh>'H.
witness had replied to this sclintrodncuon 'ha' IL
would not have known Field because ne h"u s''""
so = out since he had las seen Inn.
William H. Atkinson, clerk in the same panN sop-
rltmentcd this testimony with some l'''''' poo
about the tran action. , 81.
Dr. william A. Hammond. the surgeon "e''"'" VI
the Army. the retired list. WIS inc mon. VIZ"
He said that he had come mp rom "as'ins""
examine the prisoner. lie hal never eeeh M" u,i
on Wednesday morning. and he had seen h'h "S'"'
Yesterday morning. This witness MADE sT'"s III"
nression on the Jury Ilo was called IN laVof Vi
Field and the Dis;r.ctAtt0rncy consented 20 tn'"
him TO 90 on the stand at THIS JunctuIe' III nan"
mond described with great particularly inc SinP'''"s
which he had observed in the prisoner wlie nc was
examining him. He had gone in The cell "hefe l 'Vu
was unannoumrcd. and he had opened the ooIr SUI
denly He found The prisoner yiag on his back win
ns hands over his head lie put a lot OF questions
10 him as 10 whether he thought he wa' insane anu
the like and 10 all of them The prisoner ""u '
swered in the negative Then he asked MIN u IcP'.'V
, Inf Of words which wen lcr fcctN sane man would
have some difficulty In repeating. such Tor eA'npo
as "truy rural and The like lie repeater t.c'o
with reasonable amount of success. All inc ume
tic witness observed that the pupils OF ue eSeS vi
tho prisoner Osclated. On5 pHpl ga hot c'hNao'
IN the light. The witness put the nght near 70 INC
ewes of the prisoner. and lie closed them as IL inc
light hurt them. 1t the $ M; ihe NC N' 80,
twitched to a considerable extent. HE "i,hes' uu
not think much Of TIL, test, as the pha>hsr niE't
have assumed all these symptoms. but wheh JIG 'u'
his eyes the tears bcrD 10 flow freely. ana ths s!hP
tom no cOud not have assumed. lie decL-'t" '"'''
there were no symptoms that TOO much bromide A'i
been used In reference to the appearance Oh le
prisoner he said that most any one corlI look sad'
but no one cou,i assume tie lacal expression WAioH
the prisoner To sum up witl' he tEohsh' lh''
tho prisoner had mclancho!L which was tuning l'''
general paresis aud that he was gradually becoming
worse In the cross examination by Mr. Nic0ii, tl'
witness gave lis opinions jhe question oi heIeI''
Insanity ard he thought tAat Il almost a. Hhty
10 be inherited from a gIudparent as from parent
and often it Skipped generations from great SI'''u
parent TO great gIaidciM. Oi other causes Oi M
sanity he had known person VINO Adi been e'r"cA
on the head with a ruler y teacher in school to be-
come insane twenty years later. although t"e SAN
had not been broken at the time. Two or three Of
the Jurors asked the doctor questions. ana theh
he was excused.
After a number Of business men had testified that
in their opinion Mr. Field WAS sane. Mr.. Nechcrs
took the stand lie told the relations Of the mem
bers Of the h1n. and said HAT Nh Fieh looked a!ief
their rnant: ii Affairs Mr.. Wcehers said that he put
$4,000 in cash in the firm at first Mr. Field TIA
him that Deacon White va, going a. corner. tio
market. and that Il the Arai should 70 Ill.,, Wi
agent. Field suggested that II the witness cG1d et.
has relative TO lt up , sG l. MS teatke ia
Europe. and they sent checks for between ooooVy ,
and $500 600 lie deposited these checks " me cIct
Of the firm. Field AeDt telling him that they were
making money, and that he could remit TO ms eiuVes
a iii OF eXchanc. rs nc said he would have sell
his Chicago gas. and he did not want to do tat Ihe
relatives OF the witness became more and more anNous
have their money. and finally they demanded tlnt
it be cent cable dispatch. Field aged to do TINS.
on the sunday before The failure ne w'neso 70
ceived anonynO. letter advising him 10 transfer
all his property to irends OF MS later a. MS nr1
the latter assured him that the firm was perfectly
solvent. Field declared that TIE letter had been i
written nv wretch who had tled TO RUN him ana
the before. On the following day another similar
examination Of the books of tho firm Again he wen,
~ his partner. and again Field assured hun that
e ensrIsn% Il M he 3 s Of %Iee we're ali safe
Field declared In the presence o. Ms vile hat ne had
did NOT aIIw him to do The witness then tod of
tho assignment which was drawn on Thanksgiving Day
that Field was sauI and knew what he doing
The case will be continued TO day.