Thus far his
lunacy case has been carried by them to the Court of Appeals.
CASE II.--Y. was found guilty of libel in the Criminal Court of the
District of Columbia, and while awaiting sentence was adjudged insane
by a jury and admitted to the Government Hospital for the Insane,
June 22, 1911, at the age of 56. Y. is an attorney by profession,
comes from a prominent family in Ohio, and has received an excellent
education. According to information obtained from his father and
sister, it appears that one sister and a nephew are insane; that the
patient himself has been considered insane by members of his immediate
family since 1889, when, as the result of a court-martial for
disobedience, he was discharged from the Navy, where he then held the
grade of ensign. Immediately following this discharge he took up the
study of law and began to specialize in maritime affairs, handling
almost exclusively sailors' grievances against the Navy Department. He
spent a great deal of time working up these cases, occasionally
writing contributions to the Maritime Register, for which publication
he was a regular correspondent for several years. In these papers he
would constantly harp on the irregularities and illegalities of many
of the government affairs. At home he always acted in a peculiar
manner, never had much to say to anyone, was unreasonable,
fault-finding and complaining; he always wanted things his own way.
Several years ago he came to live with his sister, accompanied by his
wife and child. Although he paid nothing for board and lodging for the
three, he complained about the food and had something to say in
criticism for every little inconvenience. He would frequently leave
town without saying a word to any member of his family, and would
reappear just as suddenly. He kept to his room almost constantly,
leaving same only for his meals. On one occasion he wrote his wife,
who at the time was staying with her child at his sister's house, that
she should watch this sister, as he feared she might try to poison the
child. Sometime in 1910, he came to his home town, had an interview
with the Judge of the Probate Court, and left town without visiting
any of his relatives, although they lived only four squares distant.
At that time this Judge told the patient's father that he thought the
patient was mentally unbalanced. He was always considered by his
relatives as being of a morose disposition, vindictive and selfish. On
a later visit to his parental home he acted very strangely about the
house, disarranged things, kept the rooms in disorder, and was busy
writing constantly. At this time he left home suddenly without taking
leave of anyone. A few years ago, while home on a visit, he declared
that his father was incompetent to manage his own affairs, instituted
legal proceedings to have himself appointed committee for his father,
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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