month, in fact he was unable to stand it any longer, and if the
President did not come to his relief at once, he intended to take the
matter in his own hands and make short work of the warden. He thought
he was accused of the murder of the police officer who was killed in
his home town, but he insisted that at the time of the murder he was
locked up in jail, hence could not have done this.
The patient continued in this trend of thought and conduct until his
transfer to this institution, April 7, 1911.
On admission here he talked in a coherent manner, was clear mentally
and quite well oriented. He reiterated the story given above,
namely,--that he was kidnapped in Pennsylvania on a trumped-up charge
of post office robbery, was tried by a "phony" court and sentenced to
five years at Leavenworth. Soon after arriving there the warden had an
electrical apparatus rigged up with which he was tortured constantly.
He complained to the doctor about this and begged to be put in a cell
so he could get some sleep as he could not sleep in his cell on
account of these electric shocks. He heard them saying from above that
they were going to torture him. One night they had him paralyzed on
one side.
In an endeavor to explain these persecutions he stated that probably
the railroad police who arrested him were friends of the police
captain at Olean with whom he had had trouble for a long time, and who
was later killed by someone; that probably they blamed him for this
killing, and that for this reason they framed up the charge of post
office robbery against him. He believed that the electrocuting which
he was receiving at Leavenworth was a part of this scheme to get rid
of him, as he knew that the police captain at Olean was a friend of
the warden of the Penitentiary. In giving this recital he was somewhat
irritable and nervous, constantly rubbing his head and face in a
troubled manner. He kept to himself, making no acquaintances with
those about him and was apparently somewhat worried and apprehensive.
He slept well the first night, stating that nobody bothered him. He
stated that he was not insane, that there was nothing wrong with his
mind. When asked why he was sent here, said simply because of a trick,
that he was told that he was coming to the President to secure a
pardon, and instead of this, was brought to this institution. He was
quite unstable emotionally, very surly and irritable, and soon
transferred his persecutory ideas to the officials of this
institution. He complained of having electricity on him; stated that
the warden at Leavenworth rigged up a wireless apparatus whereby he
could send wireless messages to him constantly. Stated that he had
been chloroformed at night and that his body was lined with electric
wires through which electricity was running all the time. He became
very abusive to the physician, stating that the latter was in league
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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