The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-07-22
INSANITY EXPERTS
BADLY FOOLED
Remarkable Case of Martin
Tighe, Murderer
HE WAS SENT TO ASYLUM
Now Pleads Guilty and Gets Long
sentenee-some Of the Unique
Methods he Tried to Fool
the Doctors.
He WAS SENT TO ASYLUM

From the New York Post.
There was murder trial in general
sessions of especial interest in view II
the attention attracted freshly to the de-
Tense of insanity by the Terranova case.
and more especially to the generally un-
derstood intention OF interposing a STINT
lar plea In the case of Harry K Thaw,
who killed Stanford White. The case
was that of man who killed his wife
nearly five years ago, was adjudged in
sane by commission Of experts, and con-
fined in Manhattan asylum. A convict
who once occupied a cell with this man
told so forcibly of the revelations made
to him by the supposedly insane man.
respecting the means he used for Imposing
on the experts, that all further defense
was abandoned. a plea of guilty was
made. and sentence of nearly twenty
years in prison resulted.
Andrea Cuoco, a lifetime prisoner. in
Sing Sing, was brought to general sessions
court today to tell a conversation he had
had with Martin Tighe. prior to the lat
ter's commitment as insane in 1901 On his
trial he pleaded insanity and experts up
held his plea. Recently District Attorney
Jerome learned that Cuoeo had an inter-
esting story to tell, obtained It, and had
Tighe again placed on trial for murder.
According to Cuoco's story, what espe-
cially convinced the experts of Tighe's in
sanity was the dryness and roughness OF
the mans skin. a symptom which Cuoco
swore was produced by artificial means.
Expert Witnesses.
The expert witnesses appearing for the
defense at the trial were DIR. Emmett C.
Dent superintendent of the Manhattan
State hospital; DIR. M V. Byrne. and DIR.
George w. Jacoby. DIR. Charles L. Dana
represented the district attorney Several
important murder cases were tried about
that time and in every one of them in
sanity was the defence.
In Tighe's case. experts reported that
"the condition of the pupils, the skin, and
the reflex action could not be feigned, and
that all the symptoms taken together
could not be slammed unless the prisoner
was one of the most remarkable actors
that ever lived,9 and this conclusion over
weighed the concession that part of the
mans actions might have been studied
with intent to deceive.
The important portion of Cuoco's testi-
mony was to the effect that while a cell
mate of Tighe in the tombs, the latter
used a liniment brought to him by his
mother with which to rub himself In or
der to make his skin rough and dry. as II
parched; that he lived on lemonade and
honey using on occasions when he ex-
pected to go before the commission as
much as the juice of two dozen lemons
mixed with honey Cuoco said that Tighe
told him he was "fooling the doctors
f1ne," and that whenever he appeared be-
fore them he would try TO take off his
shoes and disrobe, and that he would talk
about buying farms. horses. and chickens,
until the doctors thought him insane on
those subjects
Cuoco Feared Death.
Lewis stuyvesant Chanler, counsel for
Tighe. tried to show that Cuoco was ac-
tuated by an expecta ton of reward in tes-
tifying as he did after the lapse of four
and one-half years, but Cuoco declared
that 1t was simply because he feared he
might die. and his conscience told him
not to die with the confession unmade
The commission which heard the testi-
mony of insanity at the first trial con-
sisted of Abraham Stern, John r. Ahearn,
now borough president of Manhattan; and
DIR. J. f. Lleberman, who were appointed
on application of Judge Mclaughlin, then
practising in the general sessions. Tighe
was Of good family, and after the murder
he ran away and enlisted In the Twenty
second regiment. National Guard. His ia
ther a saloon keeper on the West Side,
was heart broken. and his mother, it was
said died of grief. As to the motive for
the murder, 1t is alleged TO have been
found in the arrest of Tighe at the in
stance of his wife, for cruelty.
After the testimony of Cuoco had been
heard Tighe pleaded guilty to man.
slaughter In the first degree. and was SEN
fenced to nineteen years and ten months
in Sing Sing. His counsel asserted that
the determination to plead guilty had
been reached on Monday night, and that
the testimony given by Cuoco had no
bearing on that decision.