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

Here is the translated text as follows:

126 X. AMERICAN STATE TRIALS.

Is there any other principle than that of alienation of mind? I gave the gentleman's argument my closest attention, and far from satisfying my mind of the truth of his proposition, he led me to the conclusion that the prisoner was a man of more decided intellect than I had attributed to him. The first act to which I shall call your attention relates to what transpired on the day of his desertion.

As the first orderly-sergeant, it was his duty, and his alone, to detail every day a man to assist in the stable and one in the kitchen. The proof is that on that morning, he detailed a man for the stable who owned a very fine bay horse, one of the fleetest in the stable. During the day, he went to him and told him that he had made a mistake; that he had intended to place him in the kitchen and the other man in the stable, and directed the change accordingly. That night, he deserted, taking with him the bay horse, which he could not have readily done had the owner remained in the stable.

I leave you, gentlemen, to judge whether this fact indicated mental disorder. The prisoner crossed the river on the ice, and the next morning, his cap was found at the edge of a large hole made in the ice for the purpose of watering horses belonging to the fort. This was done to elude pursuit by creating the belief that in attempting to water his horse, both he and the horse had fallen in and drowned. This ruse was eminently successful, for Dr. Worrell tells you that shortly afterward, he received a letter from Sergeant Clark, announcing the death of his son, and the officers at the fort did not learn to the contrary until they heard that he was arrested for the murder of Mr. Gordon. Dr. Worrell remained in the same belief until the arrival of his son in Dover. Here you have evidence of a mind capable of reasoning, of drawing conclusions from facts, and I question very much if either Major Wright or myself would have managed it half as adroitly.

We next find him at Ferguson's, busily engaged in endeavoring to sell a horse—succeeds in making the sale. Ferguson tells you that although he was conversing with him for half an hour, he discovered nothing wrong in relation to his mind.