The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1909-04-09
DR. SH|RRAS SAYS
tLROY KENT WAS
NOT INSANE
Is Merely Of a Low Mental Type
and Degenerate
JOHN KEENAN, A WITNESS
Insane Patient Who Escaped From,
Asylum With Kent Called by
Defence.

Rutland, April S.--After occupying
the time of Rutland county court for
nine consecutive days the evidence
was closed this afternoon in the case
of Elroy Kent, who is on trial for the
murder of Miss Della b. Congdon OF
East Wallingford and State s>Attor-
ney b. c. Jones made the opening ar
gument for the state. 1t is now ex.
pected that the case will reach the
jury Saturday morning Interest was
conferred chiefly today in the evidence
OF DIR. David A. Shirres of Montreal.
the expert engaged by the state to
examine Kent He is a professor of
nervous diseases at the University of
Vermont and is also associated with
McGill University. DR.. Shirres was
called in rebuttal by the state and he
testified that Kent is a sane man al
though a degenerate. He believed
that the respondent faxed most of his
decisions.
The first witness today was L. D.
Wright, nurse at the Waterbury asy-
lum. He explained a chart showing
Kent's conduct and physical condition
while at the institution last fall. Like
other witnesses from Waterbury he
testified that the respondent used a
great deal of profanity and he seemed
to be cursing some of the time at an
imaginary woman. Witness remem-
bered an occasion when they had to
put Kent in leather shackles because
he wanted to fight some of the atten-
dants. Witness did not hear DR..
Grout tell the prisoners to disguise
themselves when f. M. Taggart went
to the asylum to identify Kent but
some of the men lined up did have
their caps pulled down over their
eyes,
The next witness called by the de-
Tense was John Keenan,, a life pris-
oner. now at Windsor, who escaped
from the Waterbury asylum with Kent
last July. He told of the escape and
his recapture after Kent deserted him.
He was able to carry on an apparently
intelligent conversation with those
examining him but some of his ans.
wers created so much amusement that
the sheriff had to rap for order repeat
eddy. He, like Kent said that they
served human stew at the asylum.
and he said that one day he found in
his stew piece of rubber presumably
a fragment of wOmans garter An
other day he got drunk, he said, from
eating stew made out of man who
had delirium tremens.
DR.. Shirres who was the principal
witness called by the state in rebuttal
said that he had had an interview with
Kent this week in addition to exami-
nations made last winter and the re-
cent interview had not altered his
view that Kent was not lunatic but
was a man of low mental type Kent
had told the doctor that he escaped
from the asylum simply to crafty his
passions.
On cross examination, DR.. Shirres
said that he might be mistaken in
thinking Kent sane but yet did not
think that Kent might have had an
insane impulse which he could not
control 1t was possible for an in
sane man to have good memory.
One of the best Shakespearian schol-
ars the witness ever knew was a dan
gerous lunatic. The physician
thought. that Kent's Authorizations
were false because he seldom discuss
ed them. keenan, on the other hand
who was really insane, began to talk
about his fancies as soon as he was
questioned.