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

Here is the translated text as follows:

144 X. AMERICAN STATE TRIALS

The case involved the murder of one Chisuall. It appeared in evidence that the prisoner labored under the notion that the inhabitants of the town of Hadleigh, of whom Chisuall was one, were continually issuing warrants against him with the intent to deprive him of his liberty and life. He would frequently, under the same notion, abuse persons whom he met in the street and with whom he had never had any dealings or acquaintance of any kind. In his waistcoat pocket, a paper was found, headed "List of Hadleigh conspirators against my life." It contained forty or fifty names, and among them were "Chisuall and his family." There was also found among his papers an old summons about a rate, at the foot of which he had written, "This is the beginning of an attempt against my life."

The medical witnesses in the case testified that, from the evidence given, the prisoner, in their opinion, labored under that species of insanity which is called monomania. They believed that he committed the act while under the influence of that disorder and might not have been aware that in firing the gun, his act involved the crime of murder.

Ray gives another case, which occurred in 1848. A Scotsman named McNaughton met in one of the streets of London Mr. Drummond, the private secretary of Sir Robert Peel, and shot him dead with a pistol. For some time previous, he had entertained a delusion that he was pursued by enemies that followed him everywhere, blasting his fame, disturbing his peace, and filling him with intolerable inquietude. Imagining his victim to be one of the crew, he determined to sacrifice him. His insanity was not obvious at sight; he had recently transacted business and behaved with propriety in ordinary intercourse with men. Were it not for the unnecessary consumption of time, I would refer you to other cases in which this character of delusion has manifested itself. However, I pass on to the next form of insanity as given by Taylor and known as dementia. He places under this head those cases in which there is a total absence of all reasoning power caused by the destruction, and not the perversion, of the mental faculties. There is a want of memory as well as a want of consciousness on the part of the individual of what is happening around them.

---