The Washburn times. [volume] (Washburn, Wis.) 1896-1976, 1907-05-09
DEDTHDUE TOh" JUNPER"
Incidents of a Case Tried in a
Maine Court.
DEFENDANT BLAMELESS

In This Case His Blow Caused
Death.
The curious nervous condition that
manifests itself in the so-called jump
ers" came before the Maine courts
when the Cumberland county grand
Jury began consideration OF the case
against Isaac Romeo, who was
charged with the homicide of Patrick
J. Griffin.
Romeo is a Jumper" The pecaI-
arity of the Jumper is that he Is
impelled to start or jump by any sud-
den 81 md or motion. The affection
of these men frequently makes them
the sport of others. A whistle.
shout, a sudden touching of his per
son, or any unexpected sudden thing
will make the Jumper strike out
bIindly with MS hands or feet or
leap yard or two, or perform other
antics.
Sometimes he will strike his best
friend hard blow. The remorse OF
the Jumper is often pitiful after an
occurrence of the kind. few in
stances wiz give an idea Of the suffer-
ing to which Jumper may be sub
jected
Among a gang Of Canadian French
men working on the railroad embank-
ment alongside South Pond in the
town of Bucl1ield, Maine, some years
ago, was a large Ratchet faced,
swarthy man. One day, as the men
sat along the bank, eating their lunch
con of bread and pea soup, this man
lifted the pail of soup off the fire.
A boy seeing him and knowing him
to be a Jumper" shouted suddenly
Drop it," The Jumper" at once
dropped his dinner into the waters of
the pond. Then he uttered a scream
and started for the boy and gave him
a thrashing.
few years ago Bishop Fellows of
the Methodist Church came to Maine
to preside at the annual session of the
Maine Conference. At Biddeford a
| passenger got on who was Jumper"
| The whistle of the engine, the jerking
| of the car. the slamning of the car
door, the sound OF escaping air from
the brake, all set the Jumper into
activity, and several times he
screamed before the train had passed
over the seventeen miles between
Biddeford and Portland.
At Portland, as the Jumper" got
ofe Soma sound oIorrood him, ond hn
! struck out from the shoulder, knock
ing the man in front of him off the
steps to the planks beside the track
in Union Station. Then he picked up
| himself, for he had fallen too and
| with nervous haste\ scurried toward
d! the street.
The Jumper" is usually a good
worker. though he has nervous
| energy that sometimes misdirects his
| efforts, and he is readily taken by
| employers of labor in cases where he
| is not likely to endanger the lives of
| his fellows. In the woods he is a
| first class axeman, but the rest of the
crew take care to be well out Of tbs
| reach Of his axe.
AS log piler, or river driver
work hard and fast, for nothing else
will satisfy his active nerves. He is
| seldom a skilled workman, like a cab
| met maker or machinist. There is
one Roman Catholic priest who is in
dustriously upbuilding Maine parish
| despite the handicap of being a Jump
err" and he is beloved by his own
| people and respected by the rest of the
community. A lawyer with a fair
| practice is another instance.
Cases of insanity are rare amons
| the Jumpers" and they do not dis
| young. An old Jumper is seldom,
seen, and the explanation is that they
usually die as they are verging from
middle life to old age.
The weakness is usually found
among men, probably not more than
| ten or fifteen cases in a hundred be-
ing of women. Jumpers are not
common. Of the three thousand or
| four thousand French Canadian in
hab1tants of Augusta, it is probable
| that eight or ten are Jumpers"
1t is believed that the legal stains
Of the Jumper" has never been
brought before the courts. In the case
of Isaac Romeo there is no dispute
as to the facts.
Romeo and Griffin were fellow
workmen in the boiler shops of a
machinery and steam fitting concern
Romeo had a boil on his left shoulde,
The boiler making room is a diff
cult place in which to carry on CONVEX
sation, but occasion arose for Griffin
| to speak to Romeo about the work.
He shouted several times, but Romeo
did not hear, and kept at work with
his riveting, bar. Then he touched
Romeo on the shoulder. and it hap
| pened that he hit the boil.
Romeo Jumped" and hit a wild
swinging blow with the heavy steel
riveting bar, hitting Griffin on the side
and the small of the back. Griffin had
kidney trouble, which was aggravated