The Savannah morning news., 1902-08-08
MRS. SHOTTER INSANE.
So Pronounced and Committed TO
Custody of Her Guardiass.

OuHtOug VI
Mrs. Elizabeth w. Shotter. wife of
Mr.. Spencer P. Shotter. was yester-
day afternoon adjudged insane by a
| commission from the Court of Ordi-
nary. To its verdict the jury append
| ed a recommendation that Mr.. Shotter
and Mr.. George w. Owens be appoint
ed Mrs. Shelters guardians, and that
she be committed to their custody. An
| order directing that this recommends
ton be carried into effect was signed
at once by Judge McAlpin.
The investigation was held at the
residence of Mr.. Owens, at Abercorn
and Thirty-seventh streets. There
Mrs. Shotter has been since she was
brought to Savannah after the service
of the lunacy warrant, by Deputy Sher-
if Fennell of Macon.
The preliminary steps in the inves-
tigation were taken in the private Of
flee of the ordinary at the Court House.
There the jury assembled and the oath
was administered The jury consisted
of the following well known Savannah
men: Dr.. T. J. Charlton, 7. S. Wylly,
Wright Hunter, George w. Lamar,
A. r. LawtOn, John S. Haines, Will
liam N. Pratt George ]. Baldwin, w.
G. Morrell. A. b. Hull, r. Cuyler Cor
don and John Screven, Jr.
At MIR. owens residence the exami-
nation of the witnesses and of Mrs.
Shotter herself was conducted. The
principal witness was DR.. II. d. ALLEN
Of MilledgeVille, in whose private sanl-
tarium Mrs. Shotter has been confined
for the last i've years. Besides DR..
Aliens, testimony was given by DR..
w. w. Owens, DR.. r. B. Harris and
Mr.. George w. Owens, DR. Charlton,
member of tire jury, also contributed
to the other jurors acquaintance with
the facts in the case.
In it's entirety the evidence admitted
of no doubt of Mrs. Shelters unfor-
tunate mental condition. 1t was suffi-
cient without the additional certainty
that came from her investigation, con-
Quoted by members of the jury. While
Mrs. ShOtter was relatively quiet and
composed evidences of the lamentable
hallucination from which she suffers
crept constantly into her speech.
Among these is the impression which
she holds and which has received some
credence, that she is the victim of an
organized persecution at the hands of
members of her family. This halluci-
nation has no reference, however, to
her husband, but relates to those who
are bound to her by ties of blood.
mania for destruction was one of
the traits brought out at the inVesti-
CATION, and amply and fully supported
by the evidence there given. 1t has
assumed in the past numberless sad
and distressing forms. There was
other evidence of the same character,
even more distressing in it's nature.
Mrs. Shotter will remain for some
time at least in the custody and under
the protection of Mr.. Owens and will
not be Immediately returned to the
sanitarium at Milledgeville. Under the
order of the court the guardians APP
pointed by Judge McAlpin have the
right and power to designate the man
ner and by whom she shall be con-
trolled.
DIR. Allen left at night for Mount
Airy. where tomorrow he will appear
before Judge Emory Speer in answer
to the write of habeas corpus served
upon him. DIR. Aliens answer to the
writ will be that at the time of its
service Mrs. Shotter was no longer in
his custody, actual or constructive, as
he had sent her on to Savannah, in
obedience to instructions from her rel
atiYes. She was accompanied by a
member OF the staff of the sanitarlum.
Dr. Stone, and a trained nurse, but
they were along merely to see she
came to no harm and not in any sense
as her keepers.
At the train last night DR.. Allen.
stated to a representative of the
Morning News that Mrs. Shotter Is I'M
questionably insane, and had been so
pronounced by the most distinguished
authorizes on mental disease in the
country. including the celebrated DR..
Frederick Peterson of New York.
while she has lucid intervals" said
DIR. Allen, lin which her really extra
ordinary ability and conversational
faculty enable her to impress the I'M
skilled or inattentive with the opinion
she is sane, no extended investigation
is necessary to change this casual
opinion into a fixed conviction that she
is mentally diseased"
John r. Cooper, Esq, the Macon at
torney who represented Mrs Shotter IN
the habeas corpus proceedings and who
lad wired Judge McAlpin to know
when the lunacy investigation would
be held, did not show up for the inves-
tigation. Had he done so Judge Me-
Alpin had determined to permit him
IN he