Evening star., 1897-06-05
FATAL OVERSIGHT.
A Brief Narrative Showing the Danger
Of q Lapse. ofSlAentaAAty.


Of q Lapse. .ofSNientalAty.
The discussion had turned upon that Pc
culiar condition Of pefsons nnlnd which
will not warn him when he IS doing or
about to do something that can only result
disastroSsly. or, IN less serious cases. which
Will mako him apDear SHY to the very
verge Of sanity. AS, for instance. when a
person goes to see q friend at a house when
he knows the person has not lived there
for weeks: or he will go to q bank on a
holiday. without ever thinking Of the holi-
day till he finds the door shut.
(which reminds me-" said q War De-
partment clerk, '.of a page out of the story
of my life when I was doing business for
myself, and before politics ruined me and
drove me into the government service. I
had an acquaintance in a bucket shop who
made q lot of money, mostly by skinning
or some Of them would fix him some time
in way he didn't like. but would stop him
Off just the same. To this he replied with
laugh, but one morning when l went to
my office l noticed that the glass In his
door was broken, and it excited my sus-
picion, as he and l were the only occu-
pants at that time Of the floor, which was
ten stories up. The door was open, and !
saw my neighbor sitting at his desk dead.
and hole In his head which might have
been made with pick.
1T was murder, of course, but 1t was not
robbery, for nothing was disturbed, and I
felt that my prediction had come true.
There was no clue, however, and though
the police made every effort, nothing could
be discovered to show who had done the
deed. The victims brother had taken his
papers from the desk the morning Of the
murder. and they had not been examined
for three days. On the fourth day the
brother showed up. with a will made by
his brother. and dated the day of the muir
der. The will was brief, making the broth
er the sole legatee. and, strangely enough,
1t bore the name as witness Of a man who
had been ruined by the dead man. AS
soon as I saw the signature took an Off
Ger and went to the witness house, where
we found him. I had got the officer up to
the proper pitch by my talk on the way
there and as soon as the man appeared in
the room where we were the officer ar
rested him for the murder OF the broker.
1t was bfun, but 1t worked. and the man
broke down and confessed the whole thing.
Then he seemed to be easier in his mind.
ana he wanted to know how we suspected
him. I showed him the will, with his sig
nature as witness, and his surprise was
genuine when he threw up his hands, and
for the first time realized what he had
done by putting it there.
II asked him how 1t happened, and he
told US that he had gone to the broker $
office late at night. as he had done on 9TH
er occasions, when no one was about, and
had tried to get him to let him have back
part Of the money he had lost. but the man
taunted him, and it had crazed him, and
he caught up miners pick and was about
to brain him with 1t, when the broker. to
gain time or a chance to escape. had asked
him to let him make his will before he
died. and, just to humor him, he had done
so. Then the broker told him that 1t was
not legal unless witnessed, and asked him
to witness it. There the strange part Of
the whole thing came In. for, without ever
thinking what the result would be. and
having only in mind the humoring of the
victim, he had written his fun name. And
even stranger, he had never thought of 1t
until I had showed him the will.
"An Of which was fully exhibited at the
trial, and the man was acquitted on the
grounds of emotional insanity"