Evening star., 1936-04-28
REAGUER INSANE,
AL|EN|ST ASSERTS
ASDEFENSE RESTS
Georgetown Professor Says
Emotions, Liquor and
0piate Contributed.
BELIEVES MANS MIND
"UNSOUND" AT PRESENT
Prosecution Summons Rebuttal
Witnesses as Murder Trial .
Nears Close.
BY WILLIAM S. TARVER.

BY WILLIAM ,. IAhtER.
The effects of violent emotion,
. liquor and an opiate, Superimposed on
an already existing brain disorder,
rendered William H. Reaguer insane
during the early morning of October
IL when 21-year-old Willie Mae Wood
was slain. an alienist testified in Dis
trict Supreme Court today.
Shortly thereafter, attorneys for
the middle-aged Culpeper, Va, under
taker rested their case and the Gov
ernment began presentation of re-
buttal evidence.
Mrs. Wood, bride of II days, was
almost decapitated with pocket
knife in a downtown hotel room just
before dawn. Reaguer, 57-year -old
father of two married daughters, was
found with his wrists slashed and his
arm deeply cut lying across her form.
Doctor Gives Testimony.
DR.. Antoine Schneider. Georgetown
University neurology professor, testi-
on October IL and was of the i'm
preston" the mans mind was un-
sound at present
He explained that Reaguer was suf-
fering from "arterio sclerosis of the
brain, with psychosis," a condition
which might render mind sound at
one time and unsound at another,
depending to a large extent on ex-
ternal simuli. Arterio sclerosis, he
explained, is hardening of the ar
teries.
Under questioning by Chief De-
fense Counsel James A. O'Shea, he
said two examinations of the defend
ant and the history of the case, which
Reaguer gave him, convinced him the
man was insane on October IL.
Facts stated in a 23-page hypo-
thetical question, which summed up
all evidence concerning Reaguer hith-
erto presented to the jury, caused
him to reach the same opinion, the
physician declared
Cites Contributing Factors.
Under cross by As
sistant United States Attorney Irwin
Goldstein. the psychiatrist said that
although Reaguer was insane October
IL, he could not be sure he was in
sane October II or October 13.
In an effort to clarity this state
ment, DR.. Schneider said the emo
tional effect of two letters Reaguer
had received from Mrs. Wood, heavy
drinking and an opiate administered
by Culpeper physician would have
the effect of unsettling his mind.
In the letters, introduced in evil
dence several days ago, Mrs. Wood,
who had been married less than two
weeks before they were written, pro-
tested her continued love for Reaguer,
begged him to buy her an automobile
and said she was tired of married
life.
Reaguer had been represented by
defense witnesses as saying he was
glad of Mrs. Woods marriage to Her.
bert R. Wood, youthful Virginia
Highway Commission employe, and
was pleased that his affair with her
was ended.
Miss OBannon Recalled.
4lc llISC IcUuCtdl WlIIlcSS was MISS
Annie T. O'Bannon, 18-year-old cousin
of the slain girl, who accompanied
Mrs. Wood and Reaguer from Culpeper
to Washington and slept in a hotel
room adjoining that occupied by the
couple.
She denied defense testimony that
Reaguer's clothing was disarrayeG
when he alighted from the automobile
after arriving from Washington, and
that Mrs. Wood had said to him,
Come on, let's hurry so we can have
more time together"
-Four or five other persons, mostly
from Culpeper, probably will be put on
the stand by Goldstein and his CO.
prosecutor, Cecil r. Heflin, before Gov
ernment alienists are called on to At
tempt to rebut testimony of defense
psychiatrict experts.
The closing hour of yesterdays ses-
sion was marked by intimate disclos-
lures of Reaguer's family life and his
relations with Mrs. Wood.
DR.. Raymond K. Boxwell, Gallinger
specialist in nervous and mental dis
eases, testified Reaguer told him the
girl had cut her own throat as her
part in a suicide pact. Later, how
ever, DR.. Schneider told the jury
Reaguer characterized the assertion
as "a dream"