The Penn's Grove record., 1896-06-26
A CASE.


telligent young man came to PENIS
Grove to remain during the summer.
lie afterwards brought his wife and
they were here during the summer OF
1894. The young man was known here
as DIR. tombstone, but his correct name
was DIR. John A. Dougherty. He had
the reputation of being quite wealthy
and had sporting propensities. When
he first came he had a fine countenance,
but he soon became addicted to hard
drinking and the morphine habit. He
got daft on prize fighting and had the
the young pugilist Cornelius Moriarity,
OF Wilmington, and other toughs at his
mouse. While Dougherty was away
once they smashed nearly all the furni'
lure in the house.
Previous to this racket Dougherty
became so infatuated with Moriarity
that he had Moriarity adopted as his
son to inherit his wealth, as he had no
children, but hal a very nice wife.
Dougherty has came to his senses and
applied to the Court of Chancery OF
Delaware to have the order Of adoption
of Cornelius ]. lMoriarity) Dougherty
vacated on the plea that the alleged or
der was made in December 1894, and
was secured through fraud, BY undue
influence and that lie was OF unsound
mind at the time. The proceedings be-
gan in Wilmington on Monday.
The first witness called was Rev.
Augustine II. Rufe, rector Of st. An
drew's Roman Catholic Church at Am
bier, Pa, who swore to the good char.
acter of DR.. D~ougherty, and further
testified that at the time of the adop-
tion of Moriarity he was mentally un-
sound.
The unusual thing of q witness de-
scribing his state Of mind while he was.
according to his own allegation of un.
sound mind, was a feature of the hear
ing. DR.. Doughelty testified that he
had been a morphine flend. He had
become addicted to the habit since be-
ing put under the influence Of morphine
in a Virginia hospital where he had been
sent to undergo an operation. He met
M0riarity some time in November. He
could not fix the time when he applied
through Benjamin Nields for an order
of adoption, and said that he did not
know Of the adoption until he read 1t
in a Sunday paper at Penn's Grove
''the following day" He had been u.s.
ing morphine about that time, Wit
ness recoliected that he had applied 10
Judge Elcock of Philadelphia for an or
der Of adoption before the order was
made in Wilmington. In November he
had thought himself cured of the NOR.
phine habit. Concerning alleged mis-
representations by Moriarity the wit
ness remembered only that he said he
was 10 years of age when he was over
81 years at the time of the adoption.
The further examination brought out
that the doctor used to drink about a
quart Of whisky a day. He related how
he would take morphine and whisky,
throughout the day. Affected by that
combination he would have hallucina-
tons followed by depression and col
lapse.
Col. Benjamin Nields, who repre-.
sented DR.. Dougherty in the application
to adopt Moriarity looked upon the doc
tor as a competent man at that time.
When the doctor saw him concerning
ing the application he appeared to know
perfectly well what be was doing.
In REORGANIZATION DR.. Dougherty
testified to making arrangements for an
athletic exhibition in the Opera House
in Wilmington and delivering q speech
challenging anyone in the world to meet
Leeds and MOrarity.
He remembered paying $40 to get the
order adopting Moriarity. but did not
remember giving Col. Nlelds q check
for $3.50. He said he might have done
it and might have made the amount
81, 900, 900. After he had come out Of
his artificial state-that is, from the
effect Of morphine and whisky-he had
found many checks that he had never
heard of before.
Judge Grubb, of Wilmington, told
the circumstances Of the granting OF
tile order Of adoption secured from him
Ex-Judge Elcock, of Philadelphia,
testified that Dougherty had proposed
to him to get the order of adoption, but
he refused because Dougherty seemed
to be under a drug and not right.
Frank Enos was an important wit.
ness for DR.. Dougherty. He had lived
with the physician and been In his com
pany considerably about the time Mort.
arity was adopted. Enos testified about
the doctor taking injections Of NOR
phine and drinking whisky. The wit.
ness kept the physician company in do
ing the latter. While at Penn's Grove
DR.. Dougherty conceived the idea that
Moriarity, John Campbell, a trainer,
and four other persons were in q con-
spiracy to poison him by morphine.
The witness had seen the doctor take
his food and subject 1t TO q chemical
test to see II it contained any poison.
He was a crank on religion and kept
begging the witness to join the Roman
Catholic Church and have his child
baptized by a priest. On several ecca'
sions DIR. Dougherty thought he was
going to die and got up out of bed u
hunt for a doctor. He had also made
the witness get up out of bed TO attend
early Mass. DIR. Dougherty had spoken
to Enos about adopting Moriarity. The
physician had said the fighter was q
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