St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1894-11-24

/ ing denOersOnS movements Au So0
cage
placed my face against the lat
ticed window. looking into his cage.
which he was still mechanically
pacing. Then. as the first note OF
taps" sounded, he stopped and reared
as quickly as stag is startled when
he first hears . hostile shot that has
struck wide and knows not whence It
| came. The waltz ceased. and In . mo
ment had all but seen the stabbing
of Jenkins-then, as always before,
the waltz again.
In the morning I reported. 1t was
| clearly 4 case of acute madness, or no
one who ever performed q tour Of
guard duty with Henderson had ever
seen madness, but to our astonish-
ment and horror the post surgeon
thought otherwise, and SO officially no
ported.
The colone' was furious! He had in
spected te mantle man was mad!
He called up Davis and informed him
of these facts. Davis replied. firmly:
''The man il sane, colonel; and I SO re-
ported" Hes not sane!" the COM
mander retorted. "Why influence me
to stir up q civil murder trial. which
disintegrates q command and disturbs
discipline? He should be sent to an
asylum" Ten years ago Davis would
have explained patiently and At
length why he thought Henderson
| sane, but since those callow days he
had once offered gratuitous informa-
/ =: IL nd hA
said, simply: I'm not influencing you to
anything. colonel, unless it is per-
mitting you to do your duty by doing
mine" Davis spoke with the gentle
firmness of one struggling to be respect
| full, and showed the effect of severe
staff training in duty.untainted by the
despotism of absolute command. The
word permitting" had been delicate
ly chosen and passed below the
coloners guard. That will do. doc
tor" said the colonel. stifiiy, his color
after Arizona service has killed your
respect for a man his opinions are still
entitled to 1t, for they are the result
of experiences that have cost the man.
Yet my faith in Davis weakened. It
takes more than five years confidence
in human being to outweigh our
own fallible deductions, even on SUBJ
ject Of which we are variously ignO-
rant. The egotism of being rational
is SO pleasingly pleasant! Still the
the colonel sent Henderson to civil
trial and Lullied Davis in the hope
that he would stop it.
The trial was held near the post and
many attended it. Before 1t proceeded
to the arraignment the court sum-
moned Davis for an opinion. Again
the same reports he had made SO con-
fidently to the colonel. Every one was
dissatisfied and the court proceeded to
trial. The colonel again called Davis
up. Davis" said he, bluntly. ''this
has gone far enough. was q witness
In that mans case to-day and the man
is mad and the court and everyone
knows it except you. who of all per
sons should know it. From the testi-
mony the jury must convict, which
means the man shall be hung. don't
want man of my regiment hung un-
less I'm convinced that he deserves 1t.
Now stop your professional stubborn
ness and request some one in consulta
tion before the verdict. Would yor
have crazy man hung?"
The mans as sane as you are, col
onel; and even granting he is not
which I don't-the class Of insanity
which he affects, if real, would be sub
sequent to the act, so he would b
punishable whenever reason or a lucid
interval reappeared. Itwould be only
little too kind to hang him now, that
is ALL" replied the surgeon. So the
trial concluded and Henderson was
sentenced to be hanged. On petition
of the jury the judge granted stay Of
execution until medical experts could
be summoned from San Francisco.
These, after consultation with Davis,
pronounced the prisoner sane.
During the week before the day set
for his execution Henderson confessed
his feigned insanity to me while was
taking him some tobacco, and said that
he felt kindly toward everyone for his
treatment in trial except that post
surgeon. who had played it on him that
he might hang. IF I only had my
liberty long enough to kill Davis" he
said to me one day. I'D die happy"
He said that had been good to him;
had fetched him some clean clothes
and tobacco, and that he would re-
ward me. Then he outlined how he
had killed q Mexican miner near Las
Cruces, three years before, but that he
had robbed him of but half Of his
h,,~ ~:<l hat ~ - l~l
to return for the balance and had
never done SO. Then he gave minute
directions rs to place and exact locality
and amount of the buried treasure.
Henderson" asked, when he had
finished, are you still crazy. or arc
you only lying?"
Neither" he said, simply. ''As I
mount the scaffold I'll incline my head
toward you, which is to affirm. in the
preseace of eternity. that speak the
truth
The day before the execution he
told me that he had forgiven everyone,
even Davis, who had only done his
duty. and to tell him that now he in
vited him to come and see him hanged.
After my discharge l actually went
from Deming up to Las Cruces and
followed the rascars directions, but
found no buried money, though old
Perez had been murdered. rs stated.
Shortly afterward met Dr. Davis and
told him Of my case. He laughed
pleasantly and then l asked him,
Doctor, would you mind telling me
how you could be 30 certain that Hem
derson was not really insane?"
'Why, you should know that" he
said, with = slight twinkle. "You
helped me establish the fact. Do you
recall that I gave you E diagnosis Of
his case before his cell and had you
placed on guard to observe the COM
pleting symptoms?"
Yes, but he really showed them"
$50 would you had you been feigning
insanity, rs he was doing, and over
heard me and believed, ~ until now
you evidently did believe, that spoke
4 L.