The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1922-06-05

International News Service Special
Correspondent.
New York, June 5.-"If anyone
should ask you, I never killed any,
| bodyi"
Rutser warder, helpless on an OPP
| Grating table, sinking under ether,
because he is a resident of the death
house at Sing Sing, condemned to die
for the murder of Henry Werner in
1921.
Warder was stricken with appen-
dicitis several days ago. He would
| have to die, anyway, pretty soon.
| But every now and then the cleo
| trio chair, vile instrument OF ven
thrown into its embrace, Just as the
Minotaur was gorged with the bodies
| of youths and nlaidens.
| Lest Warder die and cheat the care
| gers for his body, they rushed him
| out to the prison hospital, where
ether made him say:
IF anyone should ask you, I never
killed anybody
What Did Ether Do?
Now the question IS. did the anaes-
thetic make Warder tell the truth or
| did he merely utter the denial that
! has been so often on his hps2
More than year ago Dr.. James
Cotton, of Toronto, announced his
discovery of a preparation of ether
which compels persons under It's IN
tluenc0 TO speak the Et11SI
following the Canadian experiment,
was effiicacious in a case in New Jer-
sey DIR. John Ccrcoran, of the staff
of st. Marys Hospital, Passatc, ad-
ministered the drug, while officials
questioned and $b1s obtained truth
full statement from a previously 81
lent patient.
This hysterical girl, who had been
found wandering about unable to tell
anything about herself. cleared the
when ether lOOSenHd first heT
inhibitions and then her tongue. DR..
Corcoran said of the drugs proper
ties:
withhold facts; even though they may
be derogatory to ourselves or others.
Its effect upon the person, the eff
feet so to speak, upon the psyche
logical being, is to remove all inh1b1-
tons"
For all Warder knew he might be
going to die when he went to the OPP
Grating table for the removal of his
appendix. Both in sinking under ether
and in coming out from it's influence,
he affirmed his innocence OF the crime
for which he will be compelled to die
on a certain day and in a certain way.
Could he possibly be guiltleSS Of
Werner'S murder?
The matter was put up to a psy-
chologist and to a woman lawyer for
their respective opinions on the prob
ability of Warders truthfulness and
ton.
DR.. Edward J. Kempf. we'll known
as a mental expert, says he believes
the case of Warder is worth 1nvest-
lawyer. We shall review the opinions
Of both persons
Two Expert Opinions.
There are many cases Of 'hysterI-
cal amnesia,' explains Dr. Kempf,
perhaps 1 had better say repres-
sion,' in which people commit muir
der and proceed to forget every de-
tail OF the crime. 1t is really a sort
of hysteria in which the memory fails.
These persons take the attitude of
perfect innocence. I say many cases
of this sort while I was connected
with the government hospital for the
insane at Washington, d. c.
Ether could produce both truth
These people who forget the de-
tails of their crimes are normal
enough in other respects, outside OF
this one-'repression
"Warder's statement may be false
or true.
make people tell the truth? Nom
But I do think the case is worth
looking into"
Yet trials in the State of New York
are reputed to be fair enough, al
though evidence is often deceptive.
This is emphasized by DR.. Hochfelder.
a woman who comes in touch with
many phases of life through her legal
work. She says:
IF circumstandal evidence We're
not allowed to figure as strongly as
1t does in a conviction I should not
be so bitterly opposed to capital pun
ishment, I suppose.
Trials are fair, 1t seems, yet we
are all human beings-judge, pros
ecutor and jury
to me that it would have been more
humane to let the man die if he were
seriously i'll.
"It looks as If the state wanted to
have its vengeance. He must go
through the agony Of facing death all
over again
Deathbed Statements.
His statement is like d deathbed
confession.
yet think how much Importance
everyone attaches to the deathbed
confessionI 1t is always given Gre
dence,
They say our subconscious mind
acts in dreams, and our thoughts that
are stored away are then set free.
1 should think anything stored away
would assert itself under these condi-
tons.
to the way analysts explain dreams"
ct would want this mans affairs
thoroughly investigated and think the
pSych o-analystS would be inter tsd
in him
interest many fans, as It is so readily
avaiIable and should prove most use