Trial of Charles B. Huntington for forgery : principal defence, insanity / prepared for publication by the defendant's counsel, from full stenographic notes taken by Messrs. Roberts & Warburton, law reporters.

  • Huntington, Charles B., 1821-
Date:
1857
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Trial of Charles B. Huntington for forgery : principal defence, insanity / prepared for publication by the defendant's counsel, from full stenographic notes taken by Messrs. Roberts & Warburton, law reporters. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the National Library of Medicine (U.S.), through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the National Library of Medicine (U.S.)

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    the jury. Huntington was in The Tombs from the 10th October —subject to examination not only by the intelligent Physician of that prison, but of any others whose judgment on his condition the Prosecution might desire. Yet not one witness was brought forward to gainsay any thing uttered by Doctors Parker or Oilman. It is hoped that there may be another trial of the prisoner ; and the time is awaited with much interest when any gentleman of equal capacity or reputation with either of those Physicians will come into a court of justice to testify that there is no such thing known or worthy of being recognized as Moral Insanity. What may be the ultimate fate of Huntington, the future must develop. It is not at all remarkable that public prejudice should have made his defence difficult or unsuccessful. Thou- sands, who sneer at the idea of his insanity, believe in the most preposterous amongst the many delusions so rife in these days of Spiritual revelations, Mormonism, &c. Judges, in times past, who would hardly tolerate a suggestion of insanity, did not hesi- tate to encourage trials for witchcraft, nor to pronounce sentence of death on miserable old women convicted of Sorcery. Those who eagerly demanded the blood of a man condemned for murder, in this city, a few years since, and pretended to have clear knowledge of the nature and details of his crime, would not believe that he was dead, after he had committed suicide, and his heart had been taken out of his body in a public courtroom before a crowd of spectators! We would however, be much astonished at the treatment which Doctors Parker and Oilman receive from a few of their professional brethren, were we not acquainted with the fact that a jealousy exists amongst the mem- bers of that fraternity which is scarcely known amongst lawyers. The American Medical Oazette and Journal of Health, for the present month, contains an editorial article in which the following passage occurs: To talk of 'Moral Insanity,' as