The Oskaloosa herald., 1909-08-12
BY HARRY X. THAW.

Inc iOllOWlnB ID all L nave 10
say about the trial:
Mr.. Jerome's witnesses were
an unprofessional lawyer and an
unfortunate woman who contra
dicted each other, also three of
his peculiar alienists and DR..
Baker, who, from his testimony,
might have been on either side,
except that he showed some I'M
friendliness to us and could not
remember many admissions he
had made to me and to DR.. Pill
grim.
DR.. Baker admitted he did not
believe in souls because he had
never seen any. DR.. Hirsch af-
firmed that their profession was
incompatible with religion. DR..
Macdonald and DR.. Flint refused
to believe what Jerome had SOL
emnly stated to jury, so l hard
ly think any judge could believe
any of them.
The best experts have informed
me that If any insane man was
questioned for 20 minutes, as
Jerome questioned me. he would
assuredly show his insanity. As
Jerome kept this up over Is hours
IN all during the trial, he proved
me sane As times over, for the
alienists said any 20 minutes dur
ing his Is hours of wild and ex-
traordinary questions would have
settled any paranoiac.
Other Testimony Worth More.
However, l might have failed
as other sane men might have, so
] don't consider my testimony
one-tenth so important as the
20 alienists who personally ex-
amined me and in the records
have sworn / am sane, or the
testimony of go lay witnesses.
Mr.. Jerome at the second trial,
after telling the jury why he had
not produced DR.. Flint. etc, said
he would submit the case to hui
man intelligence.
William de Morgan relates the
following conversation to the
same point:
"a great alienist is going to
operate on a woman who has
been unconscious for 40 years
and desires clear knowledge Of
her mental state II she regains
any mental faculties. So he asks
his wife and her friend to watch.
The doctor tells them, II don't
want you to see anything of the
operation, but what | want is to
have one or more good observers
at hand and | want everything
observed and recollected." His
wife replies: why don't the
people at the asylum do so, why
us?"
Because" answered the hus-
band, each of them has a theory
and none of them will recollect
anything that don't agree with 1t.
l want real live human creatures
of good average intelligence"
Find Him Perfectly Sane.
1t seems to me must be per
fectly sane If hard-headed, sensi-
BILE men who slept in the same
room with me. saw me undress
and go to sleep and wake up.
then eat my breakfast, dinner
and supper and who took me up
on the mountains where l could
have left them miles behind had
not been trustworthy. These
and many clergymen. headed by
President Patton Of Princeton,
and ladies', some Of whom have
known me all my life, and bank
ers and manufacturers and po-
lice and prison keepers accus-
toned to observing both sane
and insane men. Also city clerks,
editors. farmers, lawyers and the
ex-governor of great state, all
find me perfectly sane and none
find anything irrational at all.
This seems to me to prove my
sanity ten times better than
whether or no I could handle Mr..
Jerome in a 141s hours debate
on every possible subject except
the alleged delusion which he
did not seem to want explained.
Maybe explanations would have
spoiled his hypothetical question.
HARRY X. THAW,