The Washington times., 1919-03-09

Continued from First Page
In Thaw's case, it was because Stan
ford White was supposed to have be
trayed Evelyn Nesbit. the most IA
nous and tragic artists model that
ever stirred New York. Ishida charges
that DR.. Wolff victimized a pretty
nurse at the institution where they
were both studying psychopathology
This nurse will be one Of the most
important witnesses At the trial
Believed Assault q Fact.
Like the Thaw defense, Ishida 8
| lawyers will maintain that it is i'm
material whether Ishida's delusi0n
about this girl was founded on fast
or not 1t will be enough, they CLAIM,
! IL they can show that he thoroughly
believed it to be & fact 1t will be
remembered that in the Thaw case
| the court ruled that it was not perth
! nent whether Evelyn Thaw's story
of the attack. upon her. by Stanford
White in the famous mirror-linPd
tower room, with its red velvet hang
ings in Madison Square Garden. was
true or false.
The only thing that inattered, fs.F
the purposes. OF the trial, was
whether or not Evelyn told Harry
Thaw this story after her marriage
to him and whether Or net -Thaw be-
lieYed IL to be the. truth. believed 1t
to such an extent that his reason be-
came unhinged by worrying aud
brooding over it.
If DR.. Ishida can prove that ne was
the victim Of an attack Of acute
paTanoia just before Christmas when
ha DT fc hot
he may 60 scot free. o., The defense
will be that his reason became sud
denly deranged-that- he committed
the murder while in this condition
that he therefore cannot be held
legally responsible-and that now his
reason has become normal again, he
must be released.
Report Ishlda Sane.
CuriousIy enough, the defense hopes
to take advantage of one Of the prose-
cution's own guns to help prove their
George Hartmann arranged through
the court to have the Maryland State
Lunacy Commission examine DR..
Ishida and report on his present men,
tai condition. This commission has
just handed down a report that DR..
Ishida is a sane man. If the trial
verdict shows that Ishida was insane
at the time Of the shooting, the
natural procedure would be to confine
him in one Of the State insane asy-
lums, but now that this commission
has reported him sane at the present
time, this procedure could not bS fol-
lowed
Even were Ishida confined with the
criminally insane, his lawyers could
demand an examination at any mo-
ment. The examination would neces-
sarily be made by the very commits
sion that has already gone on record
as believing Ishida sane at the present
time. TO uphold their professional
reputation, they would have to ad-
here to the same opinion. Undoubted-
ly 1shida could then gain his freedom.
The CPueiaI PSIht.
The crucial point of this very clever
defense is whether or not the defense
lawyers will be able to produce evil
dence showing their client insane on
the day OF the shooting. DR.. Ishida,
himself a recognized expert on mental
ailments, insists he was suffering an
attack of paranoia at the time Of the
perintendent Of the Sheppard Pratt
Hospital, where the murder took
place, has gone on record as believing
that DR.. Ishida had never shown any
symptoms of mental arrangement
prior to the morning when he killed
DR.. Wolff.
Messrs Halle and Grason, the, de-
tense attorneys. are yelling their en-
tire case in the greatest secrecy, and
will not divulge the names of the
witnesses upon whom they depend TO
show that Ishida was the victim OF
insane hallucinations for at least a
brief period before and after the
shooting.
The case will go down In legal an
nails as one of the extremely rare
cases Of a man being tried for murder
without a jury of his peers. Ishida's
guilt or lack of responsibility for the
crime will be decided by three JUS
tices, Chief Judge Burke and his as
sOciates, Justices Duncan and Nc
Lane. which group constitutes full
bench.
EntitIed 10 Jury Trial.
,Ishida is legally entitled to jury
trial, bat because of the fact that he
is a foreigner and because of the
nature of the expert testimony in
Nolved, his lawyers came to the de-
cision that he would receive a better
deal from the minds of three trained
jurists. unpretudiced by his national