The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-05-06
INSANITY QUERY
 IN HANS TRIAL Question of 10000 Words Is
 Read to the Jury THREE ALIENISTS IN CASE 
Medical Experts Define the Kind of Insanity With Which They De- clare Hains Was Suffering at
 Various Times.

Flushing, N. Y, May 5.-rhis was
 'hypothetiear' day at the Hains trial.
 For nearly two hours the jury listened to
 the reading of the hypothetical question,
 containing more than 1000 words, as pro-
 pounded by the defense upon which three
 alienists are to predicate their opinions of
 the mental condition of the defendant
 Capt. Peter c. Hains, when he shot and
 killed William E. Annis at the Bayside Yacht club.
 During the cross-examlnatlon of the
 frsi lhenist, Dr. L. Samuel Manson,
 forms of insanity ranging from ordinary
 melanehoia to the rawlings of d hopeless lunatic were discussed. The jury and
 every one but the witness at times ap-
 peared to be lost in the weird maze of
 psychical phenomena.
 In answer to the hypothetical question which covered the actions and speech of the defendant tending to show irrational fly as put in evidence, Dr. Manson de-
 elared that Captain Halns was suffering from impulsve insanity" at the time l lie killed Annis. He had been the vic tib of manic depressive insanity from
 the day on which his wife, Claudia, is al- legged to have confessed to him of her le- lat1ons with Annis up to the time of the shooting.
 Manic depressive insanity the alien ISL explained, was form of stuporous melancholia, subject to violent marincal optbursts," such as Captain Hains Is all legged to have experienced when hS shot
 Annis. The period of "impulsiVe insani- l ty the witness said, lasted from the l time the defendant first heard the name of l Annis mentioned on the Bayside Yacht 1 club float until the last of the eight bull 1 lets had been discharged into the body I of his victim. Then, according to the l alienist, a relieving .quescence of mind" l from the pent up fury followed. and | the defendant lapsed Into state of l manic depressve insanity. His mental 1 condition had improv, since that time l he added.
 l pr. Manson was on the witness stand 1 under cross-examination when court ad- journed for the day. Two other alienists will be called by the defense.
 District Attorney Dewitt asked that
 many of the exclamations of the defend ant be stricken from the hypothetical 1 question. Justice Garretson ruled against 1 him. The diagnosis, manic depressive
 insanity made by Dr. Platt, the Long
 Island physician, was allowed also to ! stand.
 l NOW Dr. Manson, assuming that all l the facts heretofore rected are true, can l you state whether the defendant was
 sane or insane on August 15, 190S?' asked
 MT. Mcintyre.
 T can." replied the witness. Tn my | opinion he was insane"
 I What form of insanity was the de- 1 fendant suffering with at that time?" l asked MT. Mcintyre.
 l He had an attack of impulsive insan- 1 ity." was the answer
 Dr. Manson described 'impulsive in- ] sanity as a state developing from manic
 depressive insanity during which the sub 1 ject entirely lost his self-control and was 1 irresponsible for his acts. Captain Hains. according to the alienst 1 first lost control of his faculties through
 morbid thoughts. The first outbreak Of
 'impulsive insanity occurred when the l defendant learned of his wifes confess
 sion and was followed by quieter periods l of deep depression, with current outbreaks 1 of mania, the witness said. When he 1 saw Annis, August 15 the outbreak oc- l cured in its most acute form After l that Hans suffered from a melancholic 1 form of insanity.
 l On cross-examnation District Attorney 1 Dewitt questioned the witness at length
 in regard to his qualifications as an ex-
 pert. The cross-examination had not been concluded when court adjourned