The Washington times., 1921-02-27
Beds Which HaUe Led
the Legislature of
Connecticut to
Consider Whether 1t
Would Be Truly
MercinL to Put Them
Out of Their Misery
foontsnxed from Preceding pa0e)

Suddenly, about three years ago, the suf'
ferer's ideas changed. He still thought his
stomach contained a number OF knives, but
he seemed to value them, and protested
against what he thought was forcible at
tempt on the part Of the attendants to re-
move them. He grew worse and his mind
gradually went completely blank. But
until the end he had recurring periods
when he thought he was being seized and
bound and cut open by someone who
wanted to steal the precious knives.
Many writer's have dwelt upon the fact
that the children of the very rich are
prone to develop insanity, and alienists
have compiled lengthy lists of the children
of millionaires whose fighty acts have
gone beyond the bounds Of eccentricily.
In a few of these cases the patient has be-
come violently inclined, but In the ma.
jority only harmless freaks have evolved.
One Of the violent type, however, was
J.. Lawrence Mott, grandson of the New
York multimillionaire ironmaster, Jordan
L. Mott. The young mans troubles began
with his addiction to alcohol. He lived on
the old Post road between White Plains
and sTarrytown, New York, and here he
became terror to all with whom he came
in contact He had craze for collecting
and experimenting with deadly weapons
and made intimates of his twenty-eight
dogs, chosen for their ferceness. There
were startling rumors Of violent scenes in
doax
until his wife escaped and made 1t known
that she had had to battle with him for
her life ON more than one occasion. The
evidence of his homicidal tendency piled
up, until he was brought before a commits
sion and declared lunatic OF the most
dangerous type. He was placed in fam
Gus asylum in Scotland, with but slight
hope for his recovery. =
It seems to be generally recognized that
close and continued association with the
insane may produce insanity In a normal
person-that insanity might almost be said
to be a communicable disease. Some
times even the alienist is SO afflicted. A
famous case in point was that of DR..
Emil Bunta, of Chicago, resident alienist
Of the psychopathic branch Of the Cook
County Hospital He had made a great
name for himself as a psychiatrist and an
authority on insanity. There was no taint
of lunacy in his family history.
His courtship and marriage to a very
charming lady seemed to be entirely nor
NAL and aroused no more interest than
would ordinarily have been the case, but
at midnight OF the day on which he had
been married his bride telephoned the
Cook County Hospital for aid.
Hurry, oh please hurry" she gasped.
"Dr Bunta has gone crazy!"
A party OF doctors and nurses raced to
the newly-married couples apartments.
broke in the door and found Mrs. Bunta
on the floor beside the bed, hysterical with
fear On the other side of the bed, clad
only in pajamas, stood the doctor his arms
waving wildly and his eyes glaring.
Il am the son OF God!" he shouted over
and over again. ''I have received a mes
sage from the Almighty. 1t is a special
command and I intend to obey 1t. She is
the object!"
And he became patient in the psyche
pathic ward in which he had once labored
and won renown as healer.
famous English maniac was Alan w.
Richardson, who shot and killed several
persons at Ramsgate, England. The day
before his trial for murder he made the
following crazy statement:
Il can't keep my head up, as Il is not
IN use now. I don't think of anything, ex-
cept getti-.- nysel. down; of course, get
raised very much one way or another.
You never think ~.shout making a noise.
l suppose though Is he word, but It al
ways depends uLyn what God is-a dfff!-
cult problem to prove. i can't say
whether there are any spirits here; have
not noticed It particularly. I remember
the shooting at Ramsgate, but do not
know why did It. the fact is had two
new teeth coming In and I wanted to go
away. :. &. saw the Holy Ghost al
Marseilles; I hope II did not speak to me.
| think some of the English churches over
there did this. ! thought II was an awk-
ward thing to do when shot the people:
| did II because somebody had gone up to
my head"
The late DR.. Allan McLane Hamilton.
one OF the best known alienists In Amer.
lea, used to tell about a woman named