The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-07-21
DR.. ATCHERLEY
ADJUDCEO INSANE
CONTINUED From. Page One.)

Dr. AtcherIey succeeded IN his Cd
iect of dragging the leprosy question
into the trial. What he expected Il
gain by it, SO far as the judge wa!
| concerned, was not apparent, unless i
was to attempt to prove the point
which is one of his main decisions, thai
he is being prosecuted by Hthe gang,
DR.. Wayson, DR.. Brinckerhoff. Chester
Doyle and County Attorney Catheart
because he refuses to surrender to then
| his alleged cure for the disease OF
leprosy.
Be that as it may, DR.. Atcherley yes
terday dragged the entire court out tc
the Kalihi Receiving Station with him
to take the testimony of a leper there
named Frank Carl. Carl's testimony
had no apparent bearing on the case
but it was Ateherley S claim that the
man is nearly cured by the accused
| physician s treatment, and he evidently
| thought that might influence the judge
Mrs. Atcherley wanted to go to the
Receiving Station, too, but was not al
| lowed by the judge to do SO. This was
| the only time she was separated from
| her husband during the entire trial. All
| the rest of the time she sat at his
side, constantly prompting him, max
/ ing suggestions, and occasionally call
| ing down upon herself the wrath of
the Judge, who had to tell her many
times to keep quiet and not interrupt
the proceedings.
AS proof of his claim that his "per-
secutors7 wanted nothing less than his
life, Dr. Atcherley called R. o. Mathe-
son. Chief Clerk of the Territory and
formerly a reporter of the Advertiser,
! to the stand and asked him if he had
not made the statement to Mrs. Atcher-
! ley one time that the leprosy agitation
would not cease until she and DIR. Atch-
! erley were hanged Mr.. .Matheson de-
MED ever having made any such state
ment, saying that on one occasion,
when Mrs. Atcherley brought in a manu-
| script she wanted published, he had
| laughingiy told her that he was afraid
| the Atcherley agitation would never
! stop until either the control of the
| leper station were placed in the hands
| of DR.. Atcherley or the Atcherleys
themselves were hanged. Mrs. Atcher-
+! lev at the time accepted the remark in
! the joking way in which it was meant,
but later, during the political campaign,
she used it as political material, de-
| ciaring that the Advertiser had threat
ened the lives Of herself and her hus-
| band.
Yesterday afternoon the case reach
! ed the stage of argument. County At
| torney Cathcart reviewed the testimony
fully, concluding by saying that he was
/ firmly convinced and thought the judge
must be, too, not only from the testi-
mony offered but also from the actions,
| demeanor and appearance of Dr. Atch-
| erley, that the latter was of unsound
mind and danger to the community.
| At any time, said the prosecuting officer,
i DIR. Atcherley might feel it incumbent
upon himself to shoot some of those
| whom he, in his delusion, imagined to
! be prosecuting him.
DR.. Atcherley rose to make his own
argument. He was armed with whole
handful of notes, to which he constant
~ referred, turning them over and over
and going back to each one time and
/ again, as if afraid that he had forgot
ten some of the voluminous notes he and
Mrs Atcherley had been making dur
! ing the trial.
F.! DR. Ateherley was cool and fairly col
lected while speaking. The nervous
ness that he exhibited was no more
| than might be expected from man
! placed in new and trying position.
| His argument was not lacking in GER
tain brilliancy, and his logic would have
been excellent had it not been for one
| fatal defect; he started from false prem
ises. He tried to explain the acts and
words that caused his trial for insanity,
but he could not get away from the
| one idea that haunts him, that he is
being prosecuted by the "gang
Everything he said went back to that.
J He was willing to give UP the tele-
/ phone story, branding it as merely a
piece of fiction such as any man might
tell or write-but he insisted that it
was perfectly feasible for gang to
use the storm sewers to prosecute him,
and he insisted that such statements
should not be taken as evidence of in
sanity,~
Regarding his signed statement pub
lished in the Advertiser, DIR. Ateherley
said that that also was to be taken
as a piece of fiction, but it was no
evidence of insanity for man to write
| fiction. Incidentally, he promised that,
if given his liberty he would be more
careful in the future as to what he
said and did
Evidently his argument had been
| carefully planned by himself and Mrs.
| Atcherley, and for man who is not a
lawyer, he certainly did extremely we'll.
But he went over the same ground
again and again, trying to point out
that nothing had been adduced to prove
| that he is paranoiae Mrs Atcherley
| constantly prompted him, and several
times when he started to sit down, she
reminded him of something else that he
might say. The leprosy question ap-
peared to be uppermost in her mind and
it was along that line that she coached
him most frequently. DR.. Atcherley
spoke for nearly an hour and a quarter.
At the conclusion of his argument
Judge Andrade adiudged him insane in
the words with which this story begins.
But he also passed the buck. for he stat
ed that he did not consider himself
qualified to pass upon the question of
insanity and would leave it for the
Lunacy Commission to have the last
word. He therefore instructed Deputy
Sheriff Rose not to send the doctor to
the asylum but TO keep him at the
notice station until today. when it could
be arranged for the insane person to
| yAly -