The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-04-01
IS APPROACHING The END
Defense Has Rested and Rebuttal
Testimony Is Being Heard.
MISS DICKINSON is RECALLED
DIR. Ludwig Wchlau, of This City, Testi'
fled rs an Expert on Insanity
Every Witness for the Defendants
Testified That She Acted Insane.

|
| DR.. Oglesby, of the Danville Insane
asylum, has been i'll for some time and
| could not be present to testify as q Wit
ness in the Anna e. Dickinson trespass
case in United States circuit court.
His deposition was read to the jury ana
| that ended the defendants side OF the
case. Rebuttal testimony was then in
! order and much of it was taken.
| Miss Dickinson herself was on the
stand when court adjourned Saturday,
but had not finished, and she will be re-
| called when court resumes at O'Clock
| this morning 1t is probable that the
case will not go to the jury before to-
| morrow. Judge Daley. of counsel for
| the plaintiff, will address the jury in
Miss Dickinson's behalf, and will occu-
| py not more than two hours; and If
Judge Acheson permits 1t, Attorney
| MCLain will also argue. Major Everett
Warren will present to the jury the de-
PENDANTS side.
The story gained considerable circu-
latlon that the plaintiff will address the
jury. Judge Daley stamped 1t as un-
true and added that Miss Dickinson
did not for one moment consider such
course.
DR.. John s. Heilman. having finished
on Friday evening his direct testimony,
was the first one called to the stand
Saturday morning and he was subject
ed to tireless cross-eXamination by
Judge Daley The witness explained
the various forms of brain and mind
diseases to the jury and said he was
confident that he correctly diagnosed
her case. He knew that her mind was
affected and the remedies he prescribed
were brain sedatives; he also prescribed
heart remedies. She was in the habit
of indulging so strongly in alcoholic
stirnulants that he ordered her to stop
taking them. DR.. Heilman was very
positive that Miss Dickinson was in
sane. He judged it from her actions
and from his professional knowledge
of her physical and mental condition.
Thought Her Mind Unsound.
DR.. Meredith, the present superin
tendent of Danville asylum, was the
next witness. He has been connected
with the institution as a physician for
the past sixteen years. The witness
met Miss Dickinson the evening she
was brought to Danville and she told
him that her room in her own home
had been invaded, herself taken by
violence to q carriage and spirited
away to the train for conveyance to a
madhouse. During her stay at Dan
vile Miss Dickinson lavished unusual
affection on an aged inmate, Granny
Mooney, who was afflicted with senile
dementia. Miss Dickinson asked for
blanks to send kilograms and addressed
three to Rev. John Dickinson, San
Francisco; Robert f. Pattison, and At
torneys Howe & Hummell She did not
at any time ask to have a telegram sent
to the committee on lunacy of the
state board of charities.
DIR. Meredith believed that she was
suffering from a form of insanity
known as paranoia. This is a condi-
tion of insanity that does not neces-
sarily impair the memory or will-power
of the mind and it is a most dangerous
kind of insanity. 1t invariably pos
sesses all who become affected with a
fierce homicidal mania, and another
element of it's danger is that it may at
tack its victims periodically. A para
noic is able to converse as well as per-
sons generally and it requires the
greatest observation to detect that a
person is afflicted with that form of
lunacy.
Major Warren asked the witness
some hypothetical questions about Miss
Dickinson's case. The witness admit
ted that any person who acted as she is
alleged to have acted was undoubtedly
suffering from paranoia.
On crosS-eXamination the witness
admitted that he could not recall any
occasion when Miss Dickenson was ir-
rational during her incarceration at
Danville, nor was she violent or dan
gerous; but he saw her when she was
leaving and she exhibited signs of
paranoic suffering. She is now in
about the same mind as when she was
in Danville, and DR.. Meredith believes
that she has paranoa yet.
After She Left DanyiIIe.
DR.. Meredith swore he saw Miss
Dickinson in the Broadway theater.
New York, in April, 1891, when she lee
tured on Personal Liberty. She then
spoke in a derogatory manner concern
ing eX-President Benjamin Harrison,
Whitelaw Reid, and her sister, Miss
Susan Il. Dickinson, He thought that
she was then affected with paranoia.
DR.. Ludwig Wehlau, of Mulberry
street, this city, was called as an expert
on insanity. Major Warren asked him
hypothetical questions and the doctor
answered that the actions of Miss
Dickinson, such as she has been attrib-
uted with, would Indicate that such a
person would be acting, thinking and
willing out of his accustomed manner
of so doing and would be mentally af-
fected. Insanity is a departure from
an individuals normal stand of think
ing, feeling and acting Egotism and
aversion to ones former friends are
characteristics of paranoic patients.
on cross-examination DR.. Wehlau said
that If a person is justified in the self
opinionated regard then there is no
paranoia.
Miss Maggie Redigan testified that
she saw Miss Dickinson chasing the
servants through the streets. Then the
deposition of DR.. Oglesby was read. 1t
| contained the statement that he ex-
amined Miss Dickinson when she was
conveyed to the Danville Asylum and
he concluded that she was insane.
Here the defense rested.
| Testimony in RcbuttaI.
| Mrs. Jessie Winterstein, who was an
attendant at Danville when Miss Dick
inson was confined there, was called to
rebut the evidence that the plaintiff
showed signs of insanity while at Dan
Vile. Miss Louise Mcdonald, of
Wilkes Barre. who is pleased to style
herself Anna Dicknson's friend" was
called In rebuttal, and so was Mrs. Sal
lie Ackley, of New York. The three of
| them have testified In behalf of the