The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1917-11-24
LIFE OF JACK"
DE SAULLES IS
Barred AT TRIAL
Counsel for Defence Tells
Amazing Story of Cruelty
Preceding Tragedy.
SLAYER WAS AN INVALID
Hypothyreosis. Fractured
Skull and SunstrOke Caused
WOman's Act.

WOHldn'B ACC.
Hypothyreosis-that Is Blanca d
saulies's malady; that 10 what mad
her kill her husband. The word, old /
therapeutics but new to nearly ever
startled soul In the Mineola court roor
Yesterday. rolled easily from the lips Q
Henry A. Uterhart when at the end Of
blasting review Of John Longer d
saulles's life during the period Of hi
marriage the attorney for the defenc
came to tell why she shot her forme
husband.
BY the testimony Of three physician,
he said. he would prove that. the .men
tai confusion" which numbed the mora
sense Of the young woman on the nigh
Of August was induced BY these fac
tors:
Hypothyreosis. an atrophy Of the
thyroid gland which affects the nerve
centres OF the brain and which. IL not
checked, ends In hopeless mental in
trinity and death.
depressed fracture Of the skull
one and one-half inches in diameter
and three-eighths Of an inch deep,
caused BY fall In Chile in 1902, and
another fall in 1915 which fractured
the bone anew.
Touches Reason's Throne.
This depression still exists, Mr.,
Cterhart said; the bones are not
united; fragment presses on one Of
the frontal lobes Of the brain-"the
place where all the highest faculties
or the brain exist, judgment. reason
and control"
4 sunstroke suffered a few summers
ago at Deal Beach.
The combined effects Of these things
aggravated by the terribly hot weather
Of the weak In which de Saulles was
killed. which for her was q week of
stupefying headaches.
A feeling, when she went to get her
boy on that night and the father re-
fused to rellnquish him. that he was
going to do something vicicus"-this
feeling caused by q look In his eyes
that she knew Of old.
She felt as II she had been struck Q
tremendous blow on the top Of the head.
said Mr.. Cterhart, whose voice rose hig \
AS he pictured that night for the jur,
and an enthralled court room. "She tell
tremendous pain In her brain. Al
went blank. She knew nothing NOR,
until she awoke in the Jail"
He said he would prove everything
ne Said about her rtental and physica
condition by three physicians who ex
amined her on the day following tn,
wight. johnson and CleR
norm. He will also have the testimon,
Of DR.. Smith Ely Jelliffe. an alienist wit.
ness in many murder trials that hav,
attracted PUBLIC attention. He will prove
ne said. that Mrs. de Saulles was not 9
criminal when she shot her divorced
husband in the back: she was an in.
valid, and is an invalid still. but In beina
cured.
II is a curious fact that in his omen
ing addres to the jury for the defence
which lasted nearly an hour and A. hal
and which amounted to q story OF
Blanca de Saulles's life from her brit
10 the present day. he did not once as
sert that mistreatment by her husba nc
was one Of the elements which brought
about the crime-or the act Of one men.
tally irresponsible IL the theory Of tn,
defence Is correct.
subtlety Of Address.
lie pictured de Saulles as mar
whose conduct toward the girl was tn,
essence Of cruelty almost from the da,
ot their marriage, but only by inferenc,
did ne suggest his possible belief tina,
de Saulles himself brought about tn,
tragedy. After telling his story-whict
blanca de Saulles is to hll in on Mon
faN uh hA tnl.
TONED only the physical and menta
causes OF the shooting enumerated In
the foregoing.
In his Introduction Mr. Uterhart spoke
o. the conception Of the law that killing
under certain circumstances may be
justified, but In all his later words did
rot attempt to argue that this woman
was justified in what she did. She
d'dn't know what she was doing; tina,
was all, Her mind broke: she Aired
without being conscious Of II; she awoke
N Jail. that was all.
Hypothyrea. hypothyrreoidea. or hypo.
~ reosis is thus defined in Stedman'.
Medical Dictionary:
gland p,minished ,hn secretion OF the thyroid
.nion resulting from the lack Of thyroid
e"Creuon. as myxedema."
~ was indicated later that the Distric,
.Ntorney. when his turn comes again
WI. produce surgeons and alienists who
WI testify that the conditions described
DY me lawyer for the defence to-day are
'nposslo'e. and that their alleged effect
vi 'le brain OF Mrs de Saulles Ia pre-
p's,ernns' The nature Of the defence ID
s4ch mat the trial will last considera bly
.onger than was at first Thought. n vii,
Hot he over by ThanksgivinE, and NAV
'N,end into the next week.
The line OF defence was utter,v nm
'Apected by the District Attorney. as nv
srybody else in the court room excen,
MS de Saulles. her family and physi.
ans and Judge Lewis Smith, Mr.. liter.
"artS associate counsel
They expected. OF course. that tb.
am OF mental irresponsibility or tenn
.'orarity insanity. which s the same
'lhg' would be set up. but the frac-
,"fed skull and the thyroid atrophy were
innovations in the case.
District Attorneys Reauest.
The District Attorney. as soon as Mr.
'erhart finished. was on his feet ask.
,hg mat medical experts for the State
ne allowed to examine Mrs. de SauiIes.
Mr. Uterhart declined. lie said II the
request had been made before the woman
nad spent tvs days In thu court room the
not DO now. '
These were the main points In Mr..
.tefharte unsparing narrative OF John
de saullss's lifs--a1l Of which, Of course
remains to be proved.
Mrs. de Saulles had q little more color
Yesterday and listened 70 all that vas
's'd' but Wa net animated. The utats