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

Here is the translated text as follows:

EDWARD D. WORRELL. 137

Gentlemen, I am through with the depositions, though it will be necessary to call your attention to some parts of them upon other branches of the subject.

I wish now, gentlemen of the jury, to call your attention for a moment to that part of Major Wright's argument, in which he undertook to show that insanity was hereditary in the family of the prisoner. Upon an issue of this kind, it is held competent to introduce evidence to show the existence of the malady with the parents of the accused, or that it has manifested itself through generations of lineal ancestors, but never, that I am aware of, among collateral kindred. The fact that it has exhibited itself among lineal ancestors is only important when connected with other facts and circumstances tending to establish insanity in the prisoner. Mr. Taylor, in his work on medical jurisprudence, says "that when it is transmitted by hereditary descent, it often appears about the same age, under the same form, and is induced by the same existing cause in the offspring as in the parent."

In this case, there is no evidence of its existence at any time with either the father or mother of the prisoner. It is true that Mr. Raisin and Mr. Ringold say that they once heard from rumor that Dr. Worrell had attempted to commit suicide, but they know nothing of the fact themselves, and if the attempt had been made, there is no evidence that it had been induced by insanity.

On the maternal side, the prisoner derives his blood from what is called the Kent Island branch of the Ringold family, a very numerous family scattered over a large portion of Maryland. The only instance of supposed insanity in this branch of the family is that alluded to by Mr. Raisin, the case of Thomas Ringold. Mr. Raisin does not state whether he had personal knowledge of the fact, or whether he derived his information from rumor, but the latter is the most reasonable supposition, as he is contradicted by Samuel Ringold, who states unequivocally that no case of the kind ever occurred in the Kent Island branch of the family, and it is fair to suppose that he knows more about his own family than anyone else.