The daily morning journal and courier., 1897-01-29
TESTIMONY OF EXPERTS
PHYSICIANS YESTERDAYSIIDT THAT
 KIPPIE VAS INSANE

Drs. Baldwin, Crothers and Kenna on
 the Stand-Reasons for Their Opinions
 No Fits Disturbed the Court Yester-
 day-Inoldents of the Trial.
 The heavy snow storm was instru-
 mental yesterday morning in delaying
 for nearly an hour the resumption of
 the Ripple murder trial for the sixth
 day. Owing to the delay of trains oc-
 casioned by the snow, Judge Prentice
 of Hartford, Dr. Hammond of New
 York, and two jurors from Madison
 were variously delayed from fifteen
 minutes to an hour. Judge Prentice arrived at 10:15 and the two jurors at
 10:40 Dr. Hammond was to have gone
 on the stand at the opening of court
 to continue his testimony in the cross
 examination, but as his train was an hour late, David Steele, who knew the
 Nipples when they lived in New Brit
 ain, testified:
 He testified to having gone to school
 with Ripple, that he never saw any
 member of the family have fits, never
 saw father drunk, never saw Tom
 drunk; that the so-called well where
 Nipples mother was drowned was only
 a spring; that it sometimes overfiowed
 and that the, water would run off
 around it into the road.
 The witness stated that the ground
 around the spring was slippery with
 ice and any person, drunk or sober
 was in danger of slipping in and he admitted that Mrs. Ripple might have been drowned accidentally instead of
 by suicide.
 Coroner Mix was recalled by Attor-
 ney Futile to testify regarding the tes- timony of Peter Leoni, the man who at tempted to catch Ripple on the night of
 the murder as given at the inquest. He was asked if Leoni did not testify
 that Ripple was very tired and leaned
 up against the fence. The coroner said that he did
 Dr. Hammond had by this time ar
 rived and was called to the. stand. In answer to question the doctor said
 that, in his opinion, Ripple was suffer ing from acute alcoholic mania at the
 time of the murder, but stated that all
 coholic mania was not technically a
 disease. He said that he believed from
 the facts assumed that Ripple had been
 suffering from this aff1iction, for only 9. few moments before committing the crime, perhaps from two to fifteen min utes. Witness further stated that mem
 tai deterioration does not always follow the acute alcoholic mania. MT. Williams read Dr. Hammond's s opinion given in the Maria Barberi case It was as follows: After saying Never mind, mamma, don't cry. May be he will marry me yet and his reply Only boys marry Marie advanced a distance of five feet to Cataldo and
 seizing him bent his head back and cut his throat, and left the store muttering, Die, die, you have taken my honor These facts show, in my opinion, a continuous consciousness. They show a motive and a purpose. She knew she had killed, she knew who she had kill ed, and she knew why she had killed him. She had killed only the one she had accused" MT. Williams asked if those were his words.
 "They are not,' replied Dr. Ham, mond q didn't say those, but it is my opinion. I was prevented from saying it.''
 Do you, a medical expert, say that Ripple was unconscious of his act on January 31, 1896, because of a mental
 disease characterized as acute alco- holic mania?"
 q do.'
 Mr. Futile asked the following ques- tion
 Doctor, will you state any opinion which you have as to the present con- dition of Ripple, judging only from your personal examination?" q think he is of Q low type of mental development with feeble powers, feeble will and feeble memory. There is a | peculiar deformity of palate, typical of | the degenerate, a peculiar high arch Tn using the term degenerate what do you mean?"
 T mean a person of a lower type gen. erally than the average individual" | Dr. Hammond was then excused Dr. Thomas E. Brothers, superin- | tendent of Walnut Lodge hospital in l Hartford, and editor of the Journal of 1 Inebriety, was next called by the de- | fence and qualified as an expert In 1 answer to the hypothetical question | propounded to Dr. Hammond, Dr. l Brothers stated that in his opinion Kip | pie was insane when he killed his wife, | and the form of his insanity was alco- holic mania.
 1 Dr. Brothers state that from a per
 sonal examination he found a high pal ate arch, indicating feeble mentality
 and base degeneracy; that his present 1 condition is that of degenerate and l that he is partially demented l He said that if parents are drunkards | it will follow that the child will be in-
 sane. Sprees and debauches of parents | at prenatal periods have the effect of l producing insane offspring.
 He said that he had never heard of
 case where children of drunken par ents were perfectly rational. l Dr. Brothers said that where any l evidence of criminal disposition was 1 found it was proof of mental degen-
 eration. He said it is impossible for a
 sane child to be born of incorporate | parents, and that Ripple was never sane in his life.
 1 He was then excused, and pr. W. l F. Baldwin of this city was called by l the defence for expert testimony