The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-11-13
Mrs. COnness Battles Her
QuestiOners
ON SUBJECT OF INSANITY.
Acknowledgement Hart Obtains
an Instructive Lesson.
JOSHUA HENDY's IRREGULARITIES
Not Only Extravagant and Insane,
but He Had a Far Away
Look i'm His Eyes.

There is nothing wildly exhilarating
about the Hendy will contest, at present
on trial before Judge Ccffey and jury.
| But the moDotony has been broken during
the past two days of the the trial by some
remarkable testimony delivered by Mrs.
| Harriet n. CONFESS. a Berkeley lady, who
is permitted TO testify as an expert on in
| sanity.
Mrs. CONFESS was the wife Of the late
! Volney Gushing, aud from the history of
| her life appears TO have suffered terribly
| from the dread disease OF insanity, not In
| herself, but ia nearly all the members OF
her hus bands family and ner children by
HIN. Her evidence on Friday last was of
most pathetic description. and it was
| only the fact of her presence, as deeply
read student of the various forms of the
| hideOus disease, that caused her to be sub
jected yesterday TO a searching crOss-eX-
animation at the hands OF General Barnes
and Acknowledgement Hart.
Mrs. COnness. having testified in direct
| examination that in her opinion the late
| Joshua Hendy was insane and there
| fore not competent to have executed the
will which is now in dispute, was taken in
hand yesterday by the Attorney General
| in such manner as to lead the spectators
to suppose that the examiner was not only
trying to see how much his witness knew
of the theory of insanity, but was also on
voyage of discovery upon the question
! whether or not by too familiar associa-
! tons with the deceased she had not be-
come slightly tainted herself. However,
the worthy Acknowledgement did not
make much out OF Mrs. CONFESS.
Mrs. CONFESS having spoken on Friday
last of Sequences in relation 10 ICON
| tinuity of ideas" as demonstrating the
degree of reasoning power, and by in
auction, sanity, of an individual, was
asked to explain in cross-examination
what she meant By sequences, etc. and
how they applied in the case OF Joshua
Hendy, deceased, Her answer was
ready. however. and was characteristic.
In substance Mrs. Conness replied as
follows:
"a sequence is a continuation OF related
ideas in progressive order; my opinion of
Joshua Hendv was based upon his mar
rowness of views, chlldishness, incontinu-
ity of ideas; in the four hours converse
ton at my house it would be rather diff
cult for me TO relate exactly what he said.
He spoke of his litigation with one Steen :;
| sym pathiZsd with him, but he said that
in the long run it would do Steen good, as
he, Hendy, had more money than he knew
what to do with. l asked him how he
came to trust Steen. and he replied that
he thought Steen was a Judge of old ma
chinery. His ideas had a very narrow
range; he had no broad views"
Mrs. CONFESS. do you believe in
future llfe?" asked the Attorney General
Mrs. Conness-"Belief in a future life
must be based upon reason. Belief must
be based upon reason, and belief in
future life is unreasonable. l believe in
the Immortality of the soul. in the imman-
ence of God. do not think there is any
difference between the mind aud the soul.
Disease is partial destruction. The mind
is indivisible. indestructible, immortal 1t
cannot become diseased. The soul acts
through the body; but this body Is not
perfect instrument. 1t is material thing.
1t may become diseased, and thus obstruct
the operation Of the soul or mind. but the
force that moves or guides the instrument
is the same.
Inventors are sometimes peculiar.
They are not eccentric; on the contrary
they are concentric. 1t was always a
a
mind as Joshua Hendy could have in
vented anything. do not know that he
had invented anything. 1 never saw
Joshua Hendy so much disturbed as he
was in 1870. After that he was his moral
self, although do not think he was all
right"
Acknowledgement Hart asked the wit
ness whether, in her opinion, the fact of a
man writing upon paper would be evil
deDce that the mind directed the body.
"Yes," was the answer.
IF he wrote will would you not say
that the mind directed the operation?"
YES; but would not know whether it
was controlled by reason or not"
In redirect examination Mrs. CONFESS
stated that she ha continued to bear chill
dren 10 Captain Volney Cushing because
she believed that education would elimi-
nate any tendency 10 insanity" Her
daughters had shown no signs of the dread
disease at that time. In the end, when
Mrs. Conness was allowed to retire. it was
felt that q witness had been upon the
stand who had more of the theory and the
study of the various forms of insanity at
her finger ends than was to De found in
the brain of many highly trained pro-
lessor OF medicine.
Similar testimony was given by Sterling
Hammack, who though not testifying as
an expert, said he was connected with the
late Joshua Hendy in business at the
mines, long years ago. He said that
Hendy had always a far-away look in his
eyes, and gave the witness the impression
that he was "a little bit off"
The case will be resumed to-day.
THE champion baseball remnant will 90