The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-12
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ire Of great benefit in cases of TORPID
liver, biliousness and indigestion.
HYPNOTISM AS ADEFENSE.
THE SINGULAR MURDER CASE JUST
CONCLUDED IN KANSAS.

Decision of the Supreme COurt-story
of the Case in which the Actual
Murderer Was Acquitted and the
HypnOtizer Convicted.
From the New York Times
Topeka. Kan, April THE decision
rendered by the supreme court yesterday
sustaining the ruling Of the Cowley county
district court, which convicted Anderson
Gray Of the murder Of Thomas Patton
although Thomas Mcdonald acknowledge
cd to having committed the deed. closes
one OF the most extraordinary cases ever
/ brought before a court of justice. and for
the first time admits that hypnotism is .
defense for murder The crime was COM
mtted near Patton's home in Winfield
May 8, 1894 Mcdonald lay in ambush for
his victim and shot him as he rode by
on the witness stand he acknowledged to
having murdered Patton in cold blood
and without provocatlon. Twelve good
men and true found him gultless, or az
/ least not morally responsible for the deed
and gave him his freedom. Then Ander-
son Gray was put on trial. and notwth.
/ standing the fact that he did not fire the
/ fatal shot and was not present at the
/ time, he was convicted or murder in the
/ first degree.
All Of this goes to prove that those who
acquire hypnotic influence over others had
/ better not use the mysterious power in
wrong directions. Other courts. like this
/ Kansas. tribunal, might hold the subject
irresponsible for the commission of crime
and put the hypnotst on trial instead.
1t is perhaps the first time in the his
tory of jurisprudence that hypnotism has
] 4 -
seriously considered as plea of defense.
4 1t is certainly the first time that 1t has
figured so conspicuously in a murder trial,
and the first time that its little-under-
stood power has led two courts and a
jury to declare that the doer of crime is
guiltless and the one influencing him is
responsible for the acts of the subject.
Summarized. the story of the renarka-
BILE crime, and it's still more remarkable
| sequel is this
Anderson Gray, wealthy Kansas farm
er, lived in sumner county. Near him
| resided David and Thomas Patton, two
cousins, whose farms were in the little
/ town of Conway Springs.
/ Before the trouble came about, the
/ wife of one of Gray's neighbors sued for
| a divorce. Expecting that she would OBJ
| tain It, her husband in order to prevent
division of property transferred his es-
tate to Gray, with the understanding
that he was to receive il back when the
courts had adjudged the claims of his di-
vorced wife Thomas Patton was the only
/ witness to the transaction.
When the divorce had been granted
and the affairs of the divorced couple
settled, the farmer asked for the retrans-
fer of his property Gray, it appears,
wanted to keep possession of what had
been temporarily given him in trust, and
there was only one thing to prevent him
from doing so, that was the witness Pat
ton.
Gray was a man of much intelligence
and was we'll read. Hypnotism formed one
of his studies. He cultivated the SIMS
ter power and experimental with it on
Thomas Patton. In the evidence it was
brought out that Gray had influenced ;,
should be killed and that he had supplied
the younger Thomas with a useless re-
volver He knew, 1t seems, that David
Patton was a man who would shoot on
slight provocation and would shoot "a
kill. A we'll directed bullet from his re-
volver would have put the witness out OF
the way.
The scheme was unsuccessful. Thomas
Patton attacked his cousin, but David
aim was not true and his assailsnt was
unscathed. Both were arrested and re-
leased with q nominal fine.
Then Gray sought another subject and
found one in Thomas Mcdonald, young
man who had just been married and who
! was then working sn a Wichita restaurant
Gray secured his services and the newly
welded pair moved cut to the Gray farm
Shortly afterward it is alleged that
Gray said TO the young workman that
| Thomas Patton had been talking about
| his wife. r''What shall l dog the nypnO-
TIED subject asked. KIN him. was
Gray's advice, and he gave the man a
revolver and then rifle to practice with
The evidence showed that Gray had
taught the man how to handle the weap-
ons and had cleared away the branches
from a tree by a roadside and cut a no.ct
in limb for Mcdonald to lay his rife in
when he drew a bead on his victim.
When the preparations had been com.
pleted, and the murderer had become
fairly proficient as a marksman, he took
up his station under Gray's suggestion. 81
| and laid in wait for Patton, who was eX-
pected to pass along the road that day
Gray was not with Mcdonald, but nc
kept in the locality, so that his 'inhu-
| ence" would not be lost at the supreme
moment. He was in the house of a neigh
Dor when the fatal shot was fired. HC
ran quickly DOWN the road when he heard
the report of the gun and knelt beside the
dying victim. He had been shot through
! the lungs and Gray left, him, prom. s.
ing to go for a doctor.
| Instead he went to the house where he
| found Mcdonald The murderer was pale
and trembling. Gray said to him sheer
you XIII him?'
dead-not dead. I'm glad Of It, glad of it. %
he exclaimed over and over again Then
he rushed out of the house and began "a
Where are you going?" demanded
Gray
sheriff must know"
Gray dissuaded him, and then started Ia
ind. a doctor. The evidence showed that
he took his time about getting one Not
! finding the first one he called upon al
home, he waited there for his return sew.
eral hours. although there was another
physician IN the town whom he might
/ have summoned.
Patton died. Gray told Mcdonald that
he would testify, that the murder was
committed by Cherokee Strip boomers
A coroner's jury, however, found that Pat.
ton had come 20 his death by a rifle bullet
/ fired by Mcdonald. Mcdonald was an
rested and confessed an. but insisted that
ne was under Gray's influence and could