The Washington times., 1919-03-18

| traordinary case that Ishida was
legally irresponsible when he bought
the pistol and when he used it on
the following day.
The feeling is growing in the court
room. which is filled daily with hun.
/ dreds of men and women sufficiently
interested to stand throughout the
long court session. that Ishida may
not only be adjudged insane at the
time of the killing. but that he may
walk out of the courthouse a free
man.
For, although all the members Of
the State lunacy board examined him
recently and pronounced him sane, not
one OF them had an opportunity to
observe him during the frs few
weeks after the shooting. The de-
Tense, on the contrary, had DR.. Charles
]. Hill. whose testimony was ad.
mittedly instrumental in securing the
acQuittal OF Mrs. Bradley for the muir
der Of Senator Brown. examine their
client nine days after the shooting
and repeatedly in the weeks that fol-
lowed
They are pinning their hopes Of
acqUtttal on what Dr. Hill will today
tell the judges. IT is known that DR..
Hill is convinced that Ishida was in
sane At that time and that he will so
testify. Therefore. with the docu-
mentary evidence already produced to
show the mans mental condition be-
fore the shooting. augmented by the
testimony OF several of his japanese
friends of various talks they had with
him in which he repeatedly spoke Of
VOLTS persecution, coupled with DR..
Hills assertion that he was insane AZ
the time he first talked with him IN
his cell on DeceTnber so. the defense
lawyers believe they have established
their case. In addition they are eX-
pected TO ask the four members OF the
lunacy commission to answer a hypo-
theticsl question based on the evidence
produced in an effort TO force them u
admit that Ishida was of unsound
mind before they had a chance to ex.
anime him and has since recovered.
Believe IHhIda Sane.
These four men have already gone
on record as believing 1shida sane
at the present time. If he is found
guilty and committed 10 an asylum.
the defense could Immediately ask mis-
release based on the fact that the
lunacy commission has recently pro-
nounced him sane.
The States case against Ishida was
brief. After establishing the actual
killing, States Attorney George Hart
man rested his case. Contrary TO all
expectation. he did not offer any wit
nesses to show a motive for the crime.
The only pTemeditation he attempted
to prove was brought out when he
established that DR.. Ishida had pur-
chased the revolver with which The
shooting was done on the day before
the murder. CroSs-examination show
ed that Ishida had made no attempt
10 conceal his purchase. and that on
the same day he had attempted to-
have a warrant sworn out for Dr.
Wolff's arrest both in Baltimore and
in Towson. Altogether the States wit
ness occupied less than three hours.
DR.. T. MatsUmoto. close friend of the
defendant. who came from Japan -
this cOuntrE. was the first witness
called in Ishida's defense 4 man nt
forty-siX and connected with the
Phipps clinic at Johns Hopkins, Dl.
MatsumotO was not sufficiently con
versant with English to testify with
out an interpreter.
The proverbiaI Philadelphia lawyer
would have been a decided asset III
the tanEle and confusion which re-
suited when DR.. Matsumotos exam:u-
alton vas in progress. 4 Japane @
witness. A Japanese interpreter. =
EcoTe Of postcards written in Japane sc
and the rules and Tegula tions Of al
American court came into conflict
more than once. The judges them
selves were plainly puzzled in the ef-
fort 10 find out what the witness was
endeavoring 10 tell them and what ne
postcards actually contained. II WIS
the usual case of the witness talking
dozen para graphs at once, the n.