The Detroit times., 1909-07-16


sacrifice anything To gain his freedom,
his wife. his child. his family. and he
! would even make you gentlemen
party To his plan He didn't give
Harry Gostanian the chance you are
giving him He was judge, jury and
the whole court lie took the law IN
his own hands and II is up 10 you. by
your verdict, 10 place the stamp OF
disapproval on this kind OF thing.
DR.. Justin l.. Emerson, one OF the
foremost alienists in the country. oc-
cupied the witness stand all Thurs
day forenoon. He expressed the posi-
tive opinion that DR.. Boyajlan was
sane at the time he shot Gostanian
and capable Of controlling his acts.
The defense, after an exhaustive cross
examination, was unable to shake this
opinion.
Court officer Dan Searle reported to
Judge Connolly. Thursday morning.
that he had heard Jurors Goetz and
Brady discussing the evidence aud the
different verdicts that may be brought
IN In murder case. In their quarters
III the hIlSNOlu ldht
day night. Both jurors denied 10
Judge Connolly that they were dis
GUESSING the Boyajian case, and there
the matter dropped However. the
court again warned the jury. after the
noon adjournment, To refrain from dis-
cussing the case until they had heard
all the evidence and had retired To
their deliberations.
| L. trpt a
timony. said he had practiced medi-
cine more than 40 years. He received
his education In the Hawaiian Islands,
in Williams university and Harvard
university. After graduating from the
medical department OF Harvard he
! took a postgraduate course in the
New York College OF Physicians and
Surgeons. He spent eight years In
the Kalamazoo asylum as assistant
physician and for the last 20 years
has been associate physician in ST.
Joseph's retreat. with which DR.. Clark.
has also been associated for II years.
Waving further preliminaries.
Prosecutor Van Zile varied his pro
gram by reading TO the witness first
the Hypothetical question prepared by
the defense and following this with
his own.
In answer TO the first question. DR..
Emerson said
81 believe that DR.. Boyajian was
sane when he shot Gostanian. / BE-
lieve he was capable OF control at the
time and that. in fact. he exercised
control in the act"
To the second question he replied
simply:
IL should say he was sane
Recounting how he arrived at this
conclusion, DR. Emerson went over
substantially the same ground cover
ed by DR.. Hitchcock. Wednesday. he
made light of the physical and men
tai stigmata found in the doctor,
which Dr. Clark. testifying for the
defense declared were evidences OF
mental impairment.
The deviation of the defendants
lounge" said DR.. Emerson. lis very
slight-not over three-millimeters, or
one-eight or an inch. Many common
signs OF mental and physical degsn-
eracy which We encounter In our
treatment OF the insane and epileptic
are not present in DR.. BoyaJian. In
many respects | found him normal.
| The doctor is afflicted with astigma-
tism. defect OF the eye A major
ity Of people have II to some extent.
II is a very common. slight defect.
Head Measurement Normal.
"Dr Boyajians head measurements
are normal. possibly little above
| the average. So are his ears. | have
never regarded disproportions of legs
to body mark of degeneracy. An
abnormally short body. il is thought
! by some, tends to shorten life, but
| insurance companies never take that
into consideration in examining appli-
cants for policies.
DR.. Emerson said, however, that
| DR.. Boyajian's weight, 210 pounds.
was considerably out OF proportion to
his stature. A man feet inches In
height. at the age OF 30, should weigh
! l54 pounds, he said. The witness
stated that he had made a special
study of epilepsy-that his gradual
! ing essay was on that subject. The
fact that the doctor had had fainting
fits suggested possibility that epi-
! lepsy might exist, but large proper
ton OF fainting fits are not epilept!c,
DR.. Emerson declared. And, more
over in Boyajian's case, there was no
history of an actual epileptie eonvui-
sion.
The question then is was he suf-
fering from psychic epilepsy at the
time OF the shooting" resumed the
doctor. "In that event his memory
would have been a blank II that had
been true, why did he buy a revolver?
Why was he angry when the bullets
would not fit? Why did he say to De-
tective Palmer the next morning: You
wern't two feet from her (meanlng
his wife) when | shot. The fact that
he mentioned his wifes position in
the court room tends TO show that ne
did know what was going on.
Or Boyailan was, OF course, sur
fering intense grief over the great
calamity that had come into his life.
The question Is. did this trouble bring
on insanity? | do not think II did.
During the time. when, II is claimed,
his mind was a blank | think he had
an intense consciousness that his life
had been ruined by his nephew.
coupled with an intense feeling { 10
sentiment against him. You have al
been angry. and when the paroxysm
passes off the chances are that you
can't remember everything you have
said and done"
Possesses Fetentive Power.
Discussing the mental stigmata. DR..
Emerson mentioned the defendants
distractability. but added that there
Is a certain amount OF distractabi.is.
I'm every human mind. He ha' no