The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-03-01

| Slder1nS all other Things IN the case
/ the writer was insane when the let
| terS were written. Yesterday DIR
/ Evans was obliged to state his opinion
| on each letter excluding everything
| else.
This letter shows an unsteady state
| of mind said the witness regarding
the first letter. He would be no more
| definite.
What would you have treated him
for?"
"I don't know. don't think I ever
treated a patient by letter.
WAS the unsteadiness normal OF
| abnormal 90
well, it was abnormal in that it
| was not perfectly normal"
WAS the defendant fnsane?'
1.-The unsteadfneSS had perhaps not
reached the state of unbalance or in
sanity"
DR.. Evans refused even to attempt
to classify the unsteadiness, saying
| that it often took months to classify a
| case WHEN under close observation.
and it was impossible to try to do it
ON the strength of a letter.
''Then you can not say what was
the form of the mental instability %
suggested Mr.. Jerome.
"It was no particular FORM.
Mr.. Jerome next had the witness
take up each one of the nine letters in
turn, asking an opinion as to the state
of mind of the writer at the time of
the writing, taking into considerable
everything connected with the case,
including Mr.. Delmas' long hypothet-
ical question.
Goes Over Letters Again.
LAS to exhibit A. said DR.. Evans,
'I would say the writer was bordering
ON insane insta bility-that he was
over the border
ain what direction?' insisted the
prosecutor.
DR.. Evans, "over into insanity
you mean moving toward in
sanity"
"He was further over than when
some of the other letters were writ
ten.@
AS to exhibits B. C and d. DR.. Evans
declared they showed a delusive state
of nnind-that the writer was not per-
fectly sound-mentally unsteady.
Exhibit F. he said. threw no light
on the mental condition of the writer.
This letter shows a state of mental
unsoundness in the reference to ex-
hibit c.
Eat last we have got letter which
shows the defendant was insane ?"
asked Mr Jerome.
ain a degree, yes
"What sort of insanity was it?"
Il can't diagnose from letters-no
You can't tell what form of insan-
'"There are indications that might
show one of several kinds"
Explain what kinds? ?"
Might Be Acute Mania.
"Well, there might be temporary
state of acute mania. There might
also be indications of simple melan-
cholia."
''Did you ever know a person suffer-
ing from acute mania to write let
ter?'
Eyes. many
when persons suffering from acute
mania write letters. do they remember
them afterwards?
--ttSome times,
What kind of acute mania did he
suffer from -
s'I can not tell. If of any at all, IL
was a very mild form
Exhibit H, the doctor said, threw no
light on the mental condition of the
writer, but exhibit ], the last of the
defendants letters. showed mental un-
NOW said Mr.. Jerome, please
answer me plainly, was the writer of
these letters sane or insane? 2?
when writing some he was insane.
How long the insanity lasted l am un-
able to tell
Those letters were written in 1903,
said Mr. Jerome, now tell me what
form of insanity Thaw was suffering
from at the time of his marriage April
4. 1862"
IF that was the same time he eXecut-
ed the will and codicil, / would say ne
was suffering a temporary attack, due
adolescence. Remember continued the
alienist. Il had not seen him at that
time. I had not seen him for nearly
year afterward. l base my opinion on
observations since that time and the
documents executed at that time.
Mr.. Jerome now came directly to the
issue in the case and asked: "On the
night he killed Stanford White, was
this defendant sane or insane .
jerome Gets an Answer.
'I am firmly of the opinion that he
was insane"
DR.. Evans answered quickly and with
for almost the first time since
his cross examination.
what form of insanity was it?" con-
tinued Mr.. Jerome.
1T was an explosive outbreak of
adolescent insanity
Nov, then, he probably was insane
when he wrote those letters in 1903?''
LAS matter of general opinion he
was deranged-a degree ofadolescent in
sanity, perhaps"
us the insanity of adolescence acute |
or chronic?''
There are acute outbreaks of adoles- |
cent insanity and I have known many |
cases to clear up over night. There was |
a sudden outbreak in one case have in
mind at night and the next morning the
patient was perfectly lucid"
DO you consider insanity which lasts |
from 1903 to 1906 acute or chronic?''
IF the insanity continued 1t WOULD |
be chronic. but if there were lucid inter- |
walls it could not be so considered"
would you keep such a man under |
mot necessarily, pneumonia is a re- |
current disease, but if a person has an |
attack in July he would not be kept un- |
der treatment for fear he might have |
another attack in September
IF a man was crazy but had lucid in |
tervals for three years would you call it /
acute or chronic?'
''If he had lucid intervals would not |
call it chronic"
persons suffering from paranoia Of |
ten remain in a healthy physical con-
1ition, do they not2"
Yes
..v1,, 1--,n,r r,arar, r,nia don't ,ro,, %,