Jasper County Democrat, Volume 14, Number 68, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 December 1911 — HOSPITAL RECORD IS INTRODUCED [ARTICLE]

HOSPITAL RECORD IS INTRODUCED

Defense Succeeds in Showing Prisoner Was Insane IN THE POOLE MURDER TRIAL Testimony of Neighbors Very Favorable to Insanity Plea.— Trial Will Probably End Next Week. Lafayette, Ind., Nov. 28.—Dr. Frank B. Thompson, a Lafayette physician, was the principal witness for the defense in the John W. Poole trial today. Dr. Thompson gave testimony which greatly strengthened Poole’s claims. He said the condition of the skull of Joseph Kemper showed the charge of shot had entered at the base, this being in direct contradiction of the opinion of the state’s expert witnesses, who said that the shot entered near the fop of the skull. Dr. Thompson’s testimony on this point confirms Poole’s story that he shot Kemper accidentally while getting over a fente and that the gun was pointing upward and that the charge struck Kemper at the base of the brain, and^ranged upward. Dr. Thompson said the skull had been improperly wired together and that accounted for much of the confusion as to the manner of the injury. Dr. Thompson said the shattering of the skull was dlie to hydro-dynamis force and that the two triangular fractures, which, according to the state, marked the spot where the gun shot entered were caused by. this force. Dr. Thompson said that if the gun were discharged by striking the trigger on the fence as Poole related, the charge of shot would necessarily strike a man of Kemper'size in exactly the manner that Poole said it did. Regarding the blood stains in the dining room at the Poole home. Dr. Thompson further strengthened the theory of the defense by saying that cold weather retarded the coagulation, and that Poole might have taken the dead body into the house and washed it and caused the blood stains that were found there.

, Dr. Thompson examined John Poole’s head at the county jail, and said he found a defective development of the posterior portion of the skull. The occipital portion is almost flat, the features are coarse, flabby aryl lacking’ln refinement, he said. The inferior _ maxillary is receding and abnormally small and the arch of the palate is too high and too narrow, the left ear sets lower than the right one and a little farther back, according to his testimony. These things, he said, indicate congentai stigmata and a permanently disordered condition of the mind, which, taken in conection with the other abnormal features, weakness of the head, the- receding chin, indicates weakness in judgment, lack of discernment and lack of keen moral perception. The flatness of the back of the head, he said, indicated blunted perceptive faculties, and such persons are apt to be careless in dress and appearance. The witness said he had no ticed a peculiar manner of expression and appearance of the prisoner, and gave it as his opinion that the man at the bar of justice is of unsound mind. He said the expression on one side of Poole’s face was different from that on the other, and that Poole ‘undoubtedly is suffering from chronic and delusional insanity. Poole is insane, and has been insane for many years, according to the testimony of the itev. G. W. Infield, of Jasper county, who owns a farm adjoining one of Poole’s properties. Infield was placed on the stand as an expert witness, and testified he Jiad

studied psychology and had closely examined Poole. He said Poole was suffering from “overdeveloped ego.’-’ The witness related a number of instances to show that Poole talked incoherently and had difficulty in following any line of thought to its conclusion. This testimony was the first introduced by the defense in support of the opening statement made by Elmore Barce, Poole’s attorney. Discussing Emory Poole, the son who has turned against his father, and who was the state’s principal witness, attorney Barce said: “One of the .first indications of insanity is the perversion of human affections, and this son of John Poole’s is insane.” “His conduct in asking people to come to court and hear him testify against his,father is sufficient evidence of his mental condition. I have no words of censure for this unfortunate boy. I have only pity for him. I have never seen such a spectacle before;, as that of son seeking to hang father, and I trust I never shall see one like it again.” Lafayette, Ind., Nov. 29.—An important ruling for the defense of John W. Poole, charged with murder, was made when Judge De Hart decided to admit in evidence official records showing that Poole was committed to the Central Hospital for the Insane at s Indianapolis. When court convened today Judge De Hart heard arguments on the admissibility of Poole’s record in the insane hospital, which .had been offered by the defense yesterday, and" to. which the state objected. The principal basis of the objec-

tion Was that the papers failed to show the day on which Poole was released on furlough, and were not complete. Judge De Hart held this as not a fatal defect. I The paper showed Poole was an inmate of the asylum for seven months at the time of his first detention and was released on furlough, having improved under treatment, but in 1897 he was returned to the asylum suffering from recurrent mania. He was homicidal and not suicidal, and, was suffering from hallucinations and delusions, but was released in 1899 on furlough, according to the evidence submitted. Mrs. Frank Banes, a sister of Mrs. John W. Poole, and Mrs. Manley Marlowe, a sister-in-law, were in court today in behalf of, the defendant. Poole’s business interests took him into Jasper county a great many times and many persons who come in contact with him there’will appear before the trial closes. Attorney Barce has indicated the defend-' ant will not be placed on the witness stand. By the time the prosecution ended its cross-examination of Dr. Frank B. Thompson, expert witness for the’ defense, yesterday, much of the testimony in Poole’s favor was modified. The! witness was forced to admit that, if the charge of shot entered Joe' Kemper’s head at the base of the brain, as Poole says, the head must have been held in one particular position to be injured in the manner shown by its pres-j ent condition. Dr. Thompson.' was also forced to admit that’ a person might have all the pe ! cularities in the shape of his' head that Poole possess and still ! be rational. The presence of other conditions, it was brought out, would be necessary to de- ( termine whether the person was

ratipnal or not Dr. Thompson,' however, clung to his original statement that Poole was insane and had* been so from birth.i Much time was spent in the cross-examination, the state going into details on the subject. James Hollingsworth of Benton county, a' neighbor of Poolc’sl testified he was passing the Poole farm when Poole asked him to come in, and held erect a con-' trivance which he called a der-j rick. The witness said the device was impracticable and evidently the idea of a crazy man. He said Poole stopped at his farm with a load of hogs and! told him he had another load' coming two or three miles be-1 hind without a driver. He said Poole’s manner was wild, and in his opinion Poole was mentally; unsound. Charles Bowers, an-*, other Benton county man. said Poole was driving some cattle past Bowers’ farm when he stepped into the house and e. tinned: “I wish I had a v ow that would give beer!” The witness! said he regarded Poole as insane.! Henry Heck said he worked for Poole several months in 1902 and on one occasion, while Poole was! digging out peach trees,» Heck was plowing furrows along the row. Heck said Poole kept him running back and forth from the field to the orchard and when Heck asked why he did this! Poole exclaimed: .“I donff know. I don’t know what in hell I am doing!” He' said on one occasion Mrs. Poole pulled some onions from the truck garden and it angered Poole. Seizing an ax, he started; for his wife, said the witness, andj exclaimed, “I’ll split your head open?” Heck said Mrs. Poole shouted: “John, John, put that ax down!” arid Poole seemed to recover himself and throwing down the ax he started away

through the orchard crying. The witness said he had frequently seen Poole gesticulating and talking to himself. At times, he said, Poole would stop and assume a listening attitude when nobody was around. Sometimes, he said, Poole sold plum trees for cherry trees. Frank Wetzel, superintendent of the Union Mission was called to the witness stand, and told about working for Poole twenty years ago, selling fruit trees for the defendant. He testified that, in his opinion, Poole was insane.