The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-01-18

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What would you say as to a mans
being able TO speak after either one of
those shots hit him?
1t IS possible"
rs il prCba'ble2"
Hardly probable"
On cross examination the witness
said that he had made no particular
examination Of the defendant; his Opin-
ion Was based entirely upon the hypo-
thetical question asked him. From the
Hypothetical question he thought that
at the time Just prior to shooting
O'Melveney, Mills was trying With all
the viii power he possessed to control
himself, but that he was rapidly losing
that eeIf-cOntrOl
Sign of Mental Ills.
A man may have large control of his
business matters and yet be half insane
on other subjects. The fact that his
notes taken sit Provo We're not salts
factory to him was an indication of
some mental arrangement. It was the
work that was easiest for him in his
normal state
1t was indicativs of mental trouble
that he was not capable of taking his
mind out of a rut. The condition of
the defendant at Provo was not nee
eiSsaTily Indicative of insanity, but it
was Indicative of weakened vii power.
He thought that when the disclosure
was made to him at the hospital in re-
gard 10 'Melveney was the time that
he lost control of himself that he
reached the strain that he could no
longer endure. He thought that after
that disclosure Mills was still able to
distinguish between right and wrong
up to certain point. up to the point
that a man might be able to distin-
guish between an act that is right and
one that is wrong, but may not be able
to control himself and hasn't the will
power to control himself.
Control is an acquired faculty. and it
is the result Of about 1000 5ears of
civilization, but there are conditions
where the control is readily lost, and
we know that mentally men differ in
their power of control as widely as
they differ in physique and general ap-
PeaTance. The man who is subjected
to disease and sickness loses the &C
quired part Of his nature fast, and it
isn't a long step back to the natural
man, and he IS Is in the condition to do
natural things
Mills Becomes Dangerous.
The time that Mills left the hospital
he left there. according to his state
ing any one or injuring any one After
he received that shock at the hospital
he was a dangerous man. dangerous TO
himself, to his wife and children and
to O'Melveney.
Why do you confine it to his fami-
~ and to O'MeIveney2"
Because il was within that circle
that all his trouble originated and the
insane acts would be confined to that
circle. In certain forms of insanity
there is a. measure Of ability to recog-
nize wrong and right and to recognize
the individuals who are responsible for
that, and toward them the person is
no longer able to control himself"
Witness didn't think confessional in
sanity was the form Of insanity from
which mills was suffering at the time
he killed O'BGelveBey; ne would call it
frenzy. For weeks after his arrest
Mills was not in violent condition
but was in a condition to break into
violence if the opportunity offered.
Testimony of L. E. Hall.
L. E. Hall testified that he remem-.
bered seeing Captain Mills on Sunday.
the first day of October, the Sunday
preceding the tragedy. He saw him
first that day at the Congregational
church. His attention was attracted
TO him because of his appearance. He
didn't appear 10 be as well as when he
saw him before he went to Cheyenne
He asked him about his wife: asked If
she was still nursing that typhoid fe-
yer patient on Second street.
Mills said Nc and he then asked
if she was out at the hospital Mills
didn't appear to want TO answer but
finally said that she had gone to POca-
tellO. or he understood him 70 say 50,
He invited Mills TO go into the Sun
day school room with him and sit down
in the class Of which he was leader
He did SO, but didn't seem interested
in any of the exercises. During the
study several times when the others
were interested in something that took
place in the study, he glanced at Mills
and ne was staring at the opposite wall
and didn't appear to pay any attention
to these points.
At the close of the exercises, Mills
inquired Of him about his son Joe and
said he would like to see him and to
have him come down town in the
morning as he wanted to see him. That
was the understanding, that Joe was to
meet him the next morning.
About 4 or 3 o'clock in the afternoon.
Mills called at the house, said he had
made up his mind to go to Provo. so
Thought ne ndu better call that after
noon so that Joe would not be disap-
pointed. He came in and spent per-
hape three-quarters of an hour at the
house talking matters over, talking
about Joe's health and his own health.
Mills did not seem 10 be in such a con-
ditiOn as he had known him before:
he didn't seem to be right in his mind.
Joseph Hall On Stand.
Joseph Hall was called and testified
that he was acquainted with Captain
Mills and knew him at Honolulu; he
was fairly well acquainted with him.
He remembered the day that O'MeI-
Veney was shot. He met Captain Mills
that afternoon or the street, shortly
after half past 8. o'clock, at the corner
of Second South and Main stTeetsat
the White House corner.
Mills was going west He met him
at right angles and there was a crowd
at the corner of the street and Mills
had to pass right in front of him and
witness had TO step out Of the way to
let him go by.
He saw his face and recognized him.
and as he went by it flashed through
his mind that he had said he was going
TO Provo that week. and he turned to
go and speak to him and ask him WHY
he was in town, when he noticed that
he was walking very fast and that he
carried his shoulders in the peculiar
erect way he used to when he was on
duty in the army and when he was I'M
der some mental strain Didn't see