Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 57, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 October 1911 — AUGSPURGER IS SANE [ARTICLE]

AUGSPURGER IS SANE

According to Verdict of the Jury In Proceedings Against Him. The insanity proceedings instituted by Omar Morlan against Wm. Augspurger of Newton tp., who claimed the latter had shot at him and his father twice last Saturday while they were driving past the Augspurger farm on their way to the polls to vote in the railroad election, returned a verdict Wednesday morning against declaring him insane. The case occupied all of Tuesday afternoon and a part of Wednesday, court adjouring, of course, for the night and resuming Wednesday morning. The jury was composed of Wm. Washburn, Benjamin Welsh, H. W. Kiplinger, Wilson Shafer, B. F. Alter and Frank Kresler, and a verdict was reached on first ballot, the jury being out only three or four minutes. The court costs in the case, which are about $75, fall on the plaintiff, Mr. Morlan. The plaintiff went to Kankakee, 111., Monday afternoon and secured a copy. of the insane hospital record there as to Mr. Augspurger’s condition during the time he was a patient in that institution. It seems from the evdence in the case that the defendant, while a resident of Illinois, was treated in an Ohio sanitarium in 1892, and in September of the same year was brought home and taken to the Kankakee insane hospital for treatment, and was taken home from there by his wife in December, 1892. While there he was a model patient, assisted in husking corn and other work, was neat and tidy in his person and gave no trouble whatever. Except to show that the defendant had once been in the asylum there was not much to this, part 1 of the evidence to help ihe plaintiff’s side of the case. A large number of witnesses summoned including five doctors, but the latter were rather non-committal in their testimony and did not shed very much light on the case one way or the other. The defendant claimed that he was shooting at a rat when the Morlans drove by his place, and that the proceedings were simply spite work, the parties having had some trouble heretofore over threshing matters. Immediately after the ending of the case the Morlans stated they were going to institute a criminal action against Augspurger for shooting at them with intent to kill.

Later— An affidavit was filed in Squire Irwin’s court on the above charge and a warrant issued yesterday./ Mr. Augspurgef’s attorney called him up over the phone and informed him what had been done and he came to town, and it is presumed the warrant was served on him, although The Democrat’s forms closed too early to say positively as to this.