Los Angeles herald., 1909-06-25
BRAINS PLACED
IN MANS CHEST
GRASSMEE CASE PRESENTS
PECULIAR FEATURE
PRELIMINARY HEARING OF BERG
is IN COURT
Doctors Show That There Is Differ
ence Between Views on Condition
of Man Who Was Killed
at Asylum

SAN BERNARDINO, June 24-The
preliminary hearing of Hans S. Berg,
charged with manslaughter, for the
killing of Henry Grassmee TO-DAY
brought little or no mention OF the
likelihood or possibility of the former
watchman committing the act OF IN
turing the patient and it is evident
from the stand that District Attorney
w. e, Bryne took in the court room
that at first he will make strenuous
efforts to prove that Grassmee came
to his death as the result of the in
juries and not from paresis, as claimed
by the surgeons at the hospital.
The witnesses who were called TO
the stand were Oscar Grassmee, broth
er of the murdered patient; e. Scott
Blair, superintendent of the hospital;
Drs Wilson, LoizeauX, Jennings and
Simpson, who were present when the
autopsy was performed, and DR.. How
ard G. Campbell of Los Angeles.
Oscar Grassmee testified, with view
of proving that the patient was not
in the advanced stages of paresis as
claimed, that his brother was not af-
flicted with constitutional contamina-
ton, which, according to statistics, ac-
companies nine out Of ten cases of
general paresis.
DR.. Blair, the next witness, stated
that at the time he left on his Vaca-
ton May % Grassmee was not classed
as paretic, although three weeks later
he was found by the surgeons of the
hospital in the last stages of the dis
ease.
Drs. Jennings and Simpson gave
practically the same testimony which
they gave at the two previous inquir-
les, but weakened to the extent that
there could have been more than three
ribs broken and they not notice 1t.
Doctors Taken to Task
Dr. Loizeaux, who performed the
autopsy, was taken severely to task
by Justice Thomas at the conclusion
of his testimony in which he stated
that the patient died from general
paresis and in the next breath said
that there was no doubt but what the
injuries hastened the death. The court
asked the surgeon to explain how he
died from paresis if his death was
hastened by injuries. The justice IN
formed the witness that the law was
very plain in regard to the cause or
death in such cases.
DIR. Gustave Wilson spent grilling
hour on the stand, during which time
he was forced to repeatedly face the
questions as to why he had not noti-
fed the coroner. why he had dis
charged Berg without investigating
the case, why he did not include the
broken ribs, even though three, as he
claims, were all that were found in
the death certificate and why he stated
that the patient died from paresis
when, according to his own testimony,
death was hastened by the Injuries
which he had received. Justice Thom-
as also scored the witness severely for
making the statement that death re-
suited from paresis when he admitted
that the injuries FASTENED death.
DIR. Campbell was the last witness
examined before the court adjourned.
and emphatically stated the thirteen
ribs which he found to be broken were
fractured during the life of the pa
tient. He also informed the court that
the brains instead of having been re-
placed in their proper cavity were
placed in the opening made in the
chest. The case will be resumed to-
morrow at 10 a. m.