Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1914-06-25
7OVE'S S|GHS PUT
INTO 14-M|NUTE
LEGAL QUESTION
Hypothetical Query Relating to
Mutual Alteration of Mrs.
BrentOn and Holman Put
to Expert in Insanity.

Hartford, June ia hypothetical ques-
ton that required IA minutes for pro-
pounding was asked yesterday afternoon
of DR. Whitefeld n Thompson of the
Hartford Retreat for the insane. 1t had
to do with the mental condition of Mrs.
Elizabeth A. c. Holman on September ),
1872 the date on which she was taken
from her home in this city to an asylum
at Brattleboro VT. She Is suing the Rev.
DR.. Cranston Brenton. then her husband
DR.. Paul Waterman and DR.. Oliver Z.
Smith for damages, alleging they con-
spired to coniine her until she should ad-
NIT misconduct with Frederick f. Hol-
man. her present husband. and so enable
Or Brenton to get a divorce.
The Hypothetical question ended;
Would you say this woman's mind was
impaired on September 3, 1922"
DR.. Thompson answered yes" to
the apparent satisfaction of the defense.
The chief suppositions of the ques-
ton were the following:
Suppose a woman born In 1878.
when her mother was thirtyfive years
of age and her father fifty-five years
Of age, an only child, brought up
among refined people. and suppose the
woman was married at the age of
twenty-five to man of culture; and
suppose the woman, five or six years
after her marriage, entered into
secret correspondence with man she
had never seen, and that for a period
of about four years she secretly re-
ceived and treasured letters from the
man, many of the letters of great
length, in one case as long as forty
four pages.
FORESAW A BABY GIRL
And suppose that the correspondence
rapidly became very passionate and
erotic and that the mans letters con-
tanned SUCH passages as these
"'Ah, that dark-eyed, black-haired
baby that some time shall run out from
some group of baby angels. and greet
us.
My real, real wife, with all the
name implies
| And suppose the letters of the woman
to the man We're also passionate and
erotic. and that the woman and the man
signed themselves 'Bess, Wife Girl and
Ernest, Boy Husband, and that the
man and the woman secretly exchanged
kilograms and called each other on tho
telephone between Hartford and Rock
land, Me-, and obtained elaborate horo-
scopes Of the destinies OF themselves,
and after a certificate of mystic union.
or mating, entered into mystic mar
riage, and later the woman received
from the man a letter with the follow
ing passage:
wife of Dreams: I desire you to do
this-when you go home do not tell your
Lao har oh arrio hn
not understand, but do tell her that you
are absolutely reconciled to your life as
1t is; that It is to be with all of you
as it was at first.
And suppose that in the fall of
1905 the woman met the man for the
first time. secretly in one of the parks
of Hartford, while her husband was
away, and that she and the man car.
essed and embraced each other in A.
passionate manner; and suppose that
in the summer of 1911 the man and
tho woman planned for further secret
meetings in the absence of the wom-
ans husband and mother, and suppose
the woman wrote letters to the man,
closing as follows
Husband, l give thee all l have,
thy Bess-wife,'; All must and will go
right for us on Monday. Till then.
life's joy till l can hold thee and COM
fort thee, husband. the eternal life OF
the wife girl. Bess.'
And suppose that these letters
came into the hands of the womans
husband and mother. and when tho
letters were called to her attention
she refused to terminate the cores
pondence; and suppose that during tha
period of the correspondence and acts
set forth the man was, to the knowl-
edge of the woman, married to anothe E
woman.
MENTIONED PREVIOUS LOVES.
And suppose that the woman's cons
duct toward her husband and her
mother was extremely deceitful through
out her married life and that her whole
life was tissue of falsehood and deceit:
and suppose that the woman maintained
that she was not bound by the ordinary
conventions and suppose that the wom-
an had had several previous, but less
serious. infatuations with other men dur
ing her married life
And suppose that a son OF her
fathers brother committed suicide when
command was placed upon him after
graduating from Annapolis: and suppose
that another cousin committed suicide
while taking a postgraduate course in
Boston; and suppose that the woman's
aunt had been confined In the Hartford
retreat.
And suppose that the woman HERSELF
threatened to commit suicide. and as
serted that suicide was justifable. and
that on September 3. 1912. she had in
her possession some deadly poison; and
suppose that the woman had twice
threatened to kill her own child. Basins
your opinion on the foregoing SUPPOSE
lions, would you say that this womans
mind was mentally impaired on Septem-
Der g. 1922"