096 Page – American State Trials 1918 Volume X Leo Frank Document

Here is the translated text as follows:

X. AMERICAN STATE TRIALS.

He woke up. As far as I saw, his condition was the same after the paroxysm at Portsmouth as at Baltimore. I saw him again in the same condition at Claysville, Ky. The day of that fit, he was more excitable than I had ever known him. The fit was at night. There was no object more than usual to excite him. Generally, a word from me, or my hand on his shoulder, will control him. That day, I went to him several times and asked him what was the matter. I saw his eyes looked wild; he was restless; he walked quickly. I had been in the habit of watching him for a long time. He said, "I don’t know, mother, what is the matter, but I feel very bad." He got more and more restless towards night. Quite early in the evening, earlier than usual, he said he believed he would go to bed. He slept in the house, perhaps in a room with Dr. Curran and some other gentlemen. I did not hear any more from him until about 8 or 9 o'clock. We had not gone to bed. They sent over for his father, saying he was very sick. His father went over immediately. I was not prepared to go just then. In a few moments, they ran over, telling me he was dying. I went over and found him in violent convulsions and several trying to hold him. I was more frightened than even at the first fit; it appeared worse. I don’t know how long it lasted. He tore off his father’s coat sleeve. He foamed very much at the mouth. It passed off that night. He did not recover from it so soon. He was in bed all the next day. It appeared to affect his mind more than the others. For several weeks, in talking with me, he would shed tears and be very desponding. He often said he wished he could die, and when I asked him why, he answered, "Because I feel so wretched; there is no reason for it, but I am tired of life."

The next fit I knew him to have was at Winchester, Ky. I did not see it; I only know of it from what my husband told me. The next attack he had at Baltimore, I was not there; his father was. I did not see him again until he got out of the army and returned to us at Wilkesbarre, Pa. He seemed to control himself better when he first came there, but towards the last, not so well. On one occasion, I was trying to reason with him on some subjects, and he used language to me he had never done before, and said he would not be controlled. At this time, his eyes were wild; he talked loudly, was nervous, so that he could not hold himself still.

I visited him at the jail every morning at 9 and left there generally at 12 or 1. His father spent the evening with him. The last of September, after his return from Union, I witnessed the first return of these paroxysms. Their first symptom would be great irritability for an hour or so; he would fall back as if fainting, and remain insensible for some time, sometimes for an hour. He would have violent convulsions, throw his hands against the wall violently, would look at the wall as though he saw something on it, grit his teeth, tear his hair, and very frequently would not become calm until after I could get his teeth open and give him a dose prescribed by Dr. Davies. After the paroxysm, he would sometimes not sleep, but appear very restless.

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