The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1908-12-15

Supreme Court Justice Willard 2. Woo
, hees was unavoidably detained, on We,
nesday, the day set for the trial of JOSEF
Hoover for the murder of Edward Fort
of Bordentown, who was shot and kille
on August 25, under the belief that Mr.
Hoover had been too intimate with til
deceased, and as result court did M
begin until II o'clock.
The petit jurors, drawn for the Septeu
Der term of court, had been summoned
appear at 9.45 o'clock. From this pane
it was intended TO draw jury to decid
the fate of the prisoner had the trial gon
on. This panel had become defective b
the death of one of its members and re
moval from the county of another. Thes
facts were brought to the attention O
the court, and notwithstanding they wer
waived by counsel on both sides, tn
court discharged the panel for the term.
With the preliminaries disposed of, V
Claude Palmer, counsel for the accused
made application for the appointment o
commission to inquire as to the presen
mental condition of the defendant. A pc
tition in lunacY was handed to Judg
VOORHEES,. 1t was sworn to by two repu
table physicians, and set forth the facts il
the case.
Answering question of the court, Pros
ecutor Samuel A. Atkinson replied by
stating that he had nothing to say in re
gard to the application.
| Judge Voorhees, said the paper was il
proper form and he deemed it his duty tt
inquire into the condition of the defend
ant. He said he was unwilling to &C
without the intervention of jury and {
special panel of twelve citizens was order
ed drawn.
In the order made by the court, Sheriff
Worrell was instructed to summon the
twelve men to act as the commission, be-
fore which body the presenting of testi
mony began about l. 80 O'Clock.
Although he had made personal ex
animation of the prisoner for the state,
DIR. Richard Fl. Parsons was called as the
first witness by the defence. He was OF
the opinion that Hoover was insane and
could not converse inteligently with his
counsel. The man has several delusions
which could not be corrected. Similar ties,
timony was given by DR.. William P.
Melcher, of Mount Holly; DR.. Paul L
Cort, of Trenton; DR.. William 81. Ships,
of Bordentown.
Others who testified to the peculiar &C
lions of Hoover were Sheriff Worrell and
Turnkey Samuel Gaskill " Claude Pal
mer took the stand and stated his inability
to get information from the prisoner which
might be useful in the preparation of his
defence.
Judge VOORHEES, asked each physician if
he thought Hoover was shamming and re-
ceived negative reply, that being fea-
ture of their examination that was care
fully noted.
Hoover left home suddenly in 1904, and
remained away for nearly six weeks. At
the time he realized his position he found
himself working on the streets in Balti-
more. He at once started for home and
arrived there looking like tramp. and
for some time thereafter he was i'll. This
and other facts about Hoover were related
on the stand by his wife, whose presence
was not even. noticed by the defendant
At one time Hoover had talked about
suicide. He suffered much
from headache and possibly from sun
stroke
Those physicians who examined Hoover
In his cell visited him several times. Be-
cause of his loss of memory he could not
recognize them when the calls were days
apart. By each physician some special
form of delusion was noted.
Hoover insisted he had seen Ford in a
room with his wife and that he had killed
Ford two or three different times. He
had invented patent seat attachment,
worth millions of dollars, in which prom
inent men of the country were interested.
He was greatly worried, however, be-
cause of conspiracy at the Jail to rob
him of his patent.
When Hoover was visited by his wife
he did not recognize or know her, and
there was total absence of affection at the
meeting. He insisted that his wife was
dead. She had appeared to him one night
dressed in white and she looked beautiful.
He denied having any children and said
he was 80 years old, but could not tell when
or where he was born. He imagined that
he was living on board of ship. Poison
was being put in his food and the water
was unfit to drink. He had been out on
the street and had tied himself to the
cell door to keep from going out again.
He made liquor in his cell and offered a
sample of his product to Sheriff Worrell
One spigot contained whiskey and from
the other he drew beer. One night he
was seen with a blanket over his head
Jumping in and out of the bath tub and
hiding under his cot. He said he was
looking for pain. He could be relieved
of this by cutting off the top of his head
On the plea that he had been drinking
too much and was intoxicated, he asked
DR.. Ships to excuse him when seen on
Wednesday morning short time before
being taken into court.
The prisoners memory is practically
gone, although he knows that he has COM
mitted murder and wants to be electro
cuted He is affected with form of asthma,
and is suffering from lack of exercise
due to his confinement. While his ply
steal condition is only fair, it has grown
steadily worse since he was first placed in
Jail. His trouble is due to excessive
use of alcohol and cigarettes. Here
ditary insanity was shown, one mem
Der in the family having been an inmate
at the state asylum. The father was a
very eccentric man and his mother died
from tuberculosis.
Before the case was given to the jury
Prosecutor Atkinson said it was pity
that when Mrs. Hoover first suspicioned
her husband was becoming of I'M
sound mind that the matter was not re-
ported to the authorities so that he could
have been committed to an asylum, which
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