Histories

Newspaper Date : 11/29/1889 12:00:00 AM
Volume : 13
Number : 35
Column : 3
Newspaper : Review
Description : Examination of Duncan McArthur for insanity.
Transcription : PROBABLY INSANE Examination of McArthur by an Expert Who Pronounces Him Insane. Last week, Dr. J.B.W. Lansing of Bay City, who was formerly connected with the insane asylum at Pontiac in an official capacity, came to Harrisville at the request of Prosecuting Attorney Smith to personally examine Duncan McArthur for the purpose of establishing his sanity or insanity. Dr. Lansing subjected the prisoner to a rigid examination and applied all the tests known to medical science. His conclusion in regard to the case was emphatic: he pronounced it a case of insanity of the worst kind. He said that Mr. McArthur suffered from mental aberration and a delusion of the hearing as well as of the eyesight. He imagines that ten thousand voices are talking continuously against him and he sees hideous things which have no existence in reality. He pronounces the chances for his recovery as very slender. Since the expert's visit the Prosecuting Attorney has been consulting the authorities to ascertain the proper course for him to proceed. As Judge Simpson pleads a lack of time, it is likely that he will commence proceedings before the Judge of Probate when if McArthur's insanity is conclusively established he will be committed to an insane asylum. McArthur strenuously denies that he is insane and he also refused to take refuge in that means of defense when he was on trial last summer for the attempted murder of his wife.