The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1900-10-04
IS He IMBE:cAE?
Medical Experts Disagree as
to Garrabrandt's Re-
sponsibility.
SOME SAY He FEIGNS
But the Defendants Wit
nesses Say His Physical
Defects Prove His
Degeneracy.
SOME SAY HE FEIGNS


Of Henry Mass, his ffteen-year-old
friend, in this city on May 5 last. The
question at issue was the mental respon-
sbility of the young murderer. Two ply
sicians, DR.. Carleton Simon, the expert
criminalogist of New York, and DR.. John
w. Dougherty of Jersey City, We're pro
duced by the defence, who swore posi-
lively that Garrabrandt was unable tc
distinguish the difference between right
and wrong-in short was a moral imbecile
at the time the murder was committed.
The battle of medical experts over the
question of the moral degeneracy of the
young murderer was begun shortly after
recess yesterday and was still waging
when court adjourned at six o'clock last
night. The differences of opinion on i'm
portant matters disclosed by the testi-
mony of the experts was perhaps one OF
the most remarkable features of this
case.
Dr. J. H. Dougherty and DR.. Carlton
Simon, the experts produced by the de-
fence, expressed their positive convictions
that Garrabrandt was a moral imbecile,
incapable of distinguishing between right
and wrong. In support of this belief they
referred to his malformation of head and
body; they said that the peculiar shape OF
his skull was that of degenerate; that
his ears were indicative of defective
mind; that his actions during the trial
were conclusive proof of his simbecility-
in short almost everything in connection
with the prisoner that had come under
their observation tended to corroborate
their belief.
For the State DR.. J. Leonard Corning,
who testified at the inquiry into the SAN
ity of Edward Clifford that he was simu-
lating insanity, expressed with equal posi-
tiveness his belief that Garrabrandt $
mind and body were both normal; that
the skull formation referred to by the ex-
perts for the defence was not out of the
ordinary, and even if it was would not be
indicative of defective mind; that his
ears were in no way remarkable and not
at all an evidence of an imbecile brain;
that his actions during the trial were but
poor effort to simulate condition that
counsel for the defence and the experts
produced by him would have the jury be-
lieve the prisoner was in.
The torus palatinus, or long growth
in the roof of the young murderer's mouth
which Drs. Dougherty and Simon said
was conclusive evidence of an hereditary
impaired mentality, DR.. Corning admitte,
was uncommon, but denied that it was ir
any way a physical symptom Of i'm
becility. He went further and Offered
to exhibit to the court a similar condition
in the mouth of one of the most respect
ed and learned citizens of the county
who. he said, was present in the court
room.
Another important point on which the
experts disagreed was the effect of the
excessive use of tobacco on the human
brain. The experts for the detance said
that Garrabrandt had smokers heart,
that his hereditary condition of embecility
had been aggravated by over indulgence
in cigarettes, and that the abuse of the
fragrant weed could not but have a
deleterious effect on his brain.
DR.. Corning testified that he could moi
discover from the pulsation of the youns
murderer any evidences of smokers
heart" that his brain had not beer
affected by the one hundred to one hun
dred and fifty cigarettes that it had beer
testified he had smoked on an average
each day, that he had never known a case
of insanity resulting from the use of too
much tobacco; that it was frequently pre-
scribed by physicians-in short that it hat
no effect whatever on the human brain
To strengthen his contention that ths
weed was prescribed by physicians, DR.
Corning said that he himself before NJ
had taken the witness stand had smoked
a cigar to ease his brain and collect hls
scattered thoughts. AS this statemen
hardly conceded with the subsequent ont
that tobacco had absolutely no effect or
the human brain, the defendants lawyer
on cross-examination asked how 1t wa:
that the witness could testify that cigar
cite smoking could have no effect OF
Garrabrandt's brain and yet admitted
that it affected his own gray matter BY
easing it. This was hard one for tht
physician, usually verbose and plenti
| fully supplied with authorities to suppor
his conditions. He hemmed and hawed {
little, but did not acknowledge that eithel
of his statements was wrong.
These were only few of the details
on which the learned experts differed ant
each was as positive of his position a.
was the other.
Lawyer Simpsons opening address wa
| very brief He said he realized that i
was generally thought that when insan
| ity was set up as a defence there wa
practically no defence at all. He asket
| the members of the jury to overcom
that belief if it existed in their minds
to consider that there was such a thins
as insanity, and he promised, before th
defence closed, to prove by both medica
and lay witnesses that the prisoner wa
a moral degenerate of the most pronounc
ed type and totally Irresponsible when HI
committed the crime for which he wa
| on trial
The defendants counsel said that tn
atrocious nature of the crime was in 1t
self an evidence of this He said tina
| young Garrabrandt had been in the habi
of smoking about $50 cigarettes a da.
| ever since he was five years old Expert
would be produced to show the effec
| the nicotine poisoning had had on tn
| young murderer.
| Mrs. Betty Sewers, of No. 72S Park ave
nue. Hoboken, and Mrs. Julia Coyle
| the janitress OF the house in Eighteentl
street, where Garrabrandt lived were tn
/ first witnesses called III the attempt t
prove the young murdered insane. Bot
told Of hiss peculiar actions ana pre-
! terence for the comp panionship o1 yer;