The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-05-20
COURT THRILLED
BY CHAL0NER'S
STORY OF LIFE
libel suit Plaintiff in ORA
matte Recital Says Gill;
ard Slew Self.
SKETCHES WHOLE CAREER
Living Swathed in Chair Re-
enacts His Version of Death
Struggle.

John Armstrong Chaloner told tn
story Of his life before Judge Augusta
n. Hand and a jury in the Unite
states Court yesterday. The recita
was enough to satisfy Conan Doyl
NJ the detective stories and a Coma
Doyle OF the psychic.
Chaloner told Of his estrangemen
from his brothers, Lewis Stuyvesan
Chanler, Robert Winthrop Chanler an
l winthrop Astor Chanler, OF his mar
rage TO Amelie Rives. the novelist. o
row she divorced him and later mar
RED Prince Troubetskoy. and of hov
4 famous physicians, lawyers and finan
ciers were mixed in his affairs. FINAL
| he recited dramatically, working on
Inc sction with a revolver and wit
his counsel, how he had struggled wit.
John Glllard in the dining room of hi
home, until Gillard's fingers, "crawlin
ike a tarantula down the barrel
he revolver" seized Ghaloner's ow
Rand at the butt and pressing tn
trigger fred the bullet which pierce,
G!llards brain and killed him.
Chaloner is suing the Evening Post for
lbsl because that paper printed an edi-
,orisl paragraph after Gillard was killed
which said the latest common assassin
10 the rare foresight to have himself
6eclared insane before he shot his man."
Hs attorneys contend they will prove
that ne neither KILLED his man" nor Is
insane
Under cross-examination by William
u wherry. Jr., counsel for the Evening
Post chaloner went into details with
regard to his subliminA faculty. Mr..
Wherry read the amazing statement
from one Of Chaloner's books that ct am
The only Individual from the dawn of
civilization until to-day who has hai.
rsssed this faculty and made It work for
lin
Chaloner resented any ifnputatiop that
The matter should be looked upon lightly.
IT am not a spiritualist." he said en-
phatically. II don't believe in 1t. But
I. 10 my theory. in which l believe, that
have succeeded in doing what Samuel
Taylor Coleridge almost did. I am able
to reproduce in literary work the labor
Q. the dream faculty out Of which Cole
ridge said he got his wonderful Kubla
Khan Celeridge reproduced ninety lines
Of this poem. and they are perfect almost
bsyond comparison. as you know. can
reproduce everything that my 'X-faculty'
reduces when / put It to work. and I
th comment upon and correct It
Learned to Write I'm Asylum.
When went into Bloomingdale the
only thing l could write was a check.
there I learned the value Of this sub
conscious self. and there's the result"
pointing to a pile OF q dozen printed
volumes OF which he is the author.
Seldom has a stranger figure sat on
ne witness stand than this man who Is
stll Insane according to the courts OF
ia native city, and who Is here for the
@st time in twenty years under the pro-
;ection OF the Federal courts to enable
lin TO try his suit. Wearing a coiored
stock OF odd shape without a scarf, a
ight tan overcoat OF the sort fashionable
Fhen he left here half a generation ago.
nd with his feet propped upon a camp
'~ N'iN AAS icSS "Idppcu III u SHAWL On
account OF an injury to the spine. which
70 said he had sustained while in Bloom
inscale, he talked almost without respite
'or three solid hours Twisting in his
nAr' now addressing the Judge and now
ms jury, occasionally brushing aside his
own as well as the opposing counsel to
make his own explanations. he went
cosenty from point to point of the long
story.
The significance Of the legal trend OF
nc case yesterday. involving apparently
ne straight issue of Chaloner's sanity,
vas not lost upon him and he overlooked
40 opportunity to press q point that
would buttress his contentious or to ex-
pain away one that would shake them.
me morning had been passed In q legal
mtngIe between counsel as 20 whether
Cnaloner. insane in this State and sane
~ virginia and North Carolina. was
Competent to testify. Judge Hand ruled
ut ne was for the present, this phase of
40 case having been determined some
Eeeks ago by Judge Dietrich in the same
out when he overruled the Evening
Fots demurrers
thaloner began with his birth IN the
No No As'or mansion in Lafayette place.
ms education In q school in Washington
me MS father was In Congress. his
Lainlng at military academy at o.
nHhS and in the English school at
Hn4soy' Followed by a course In Column
"a admission to the bar. extensive
,u,a'el here and abroad, his marriage,
~ residence in Paris and his divorce
zen ne came to the tale Of how he was
";,arcerated in Bloomingdaia
ne told Of business difficulties with his
...o'Aers and OF how he had been lured
w, come 70 New York by Stanford
,Nh'le whom he characterised a. q false
.enq He stopped at tho old KensinE-
..H NOEL IN lower Fifth avenue. There,
~, Nd'd' DR. Starr and other famous
s.,,,Eh'sis ~ the time came to him under
.sse eolors. He went into q trance for
e'h on one occasion-and he says Il
,,a> on what he said while In this trance
ya" under lunacy commission, he was
!LIseH insane and commitment papers
him. "u' against
-, III vas my sublimihai self, really.
WAY got me into BloomingdaIe," no said
vi denomination. But they know
'ssec'!y what / was doing"
., 'Ieh ne told OF how he was induced to
70 10 the asylum.
,,,1 was lying In bed IN my room at tho
III Nhen DR.. Starr came In" he said.
&c loid me that he had papers Cor my
pta'hent and that resistance was
ia 's', as he had, seevral men with him
ms. more outside In the corridor. Now,
oAScious self had warned me OF