The Halliday Case: Difference between revisions
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It is not my intention to attempt this evening an exhaustive clinical study of the Sullivan County murderess, Lizzie Halliday, whose bloody work of over a year ago sent a thrill of horror through the land and whose trial was watched with so much interest by the medical profession. It seemed to me, however, on receipt of the kind invitation of your President to present a paper on this occasion that it might be profitable to consider the case briefly in some of its aspects and to vindicate, if vindication be necessary, the finding of insanity in virtue of which sentence of death was commuted to life imprisonment and the [[Lizzie Halliday|miserable woman]] was transferred as an insane criminal to a State hospital for the insane. | It is not my intention to attempt this evening an exhaustive clinical study of the Sullivan County murderess, Lizzie Halliday, whose bloody work of over a year ago sent a thrill of horror through the land and whose trial was watched with so much interest by the medical profession. It seemed to me, however, on receipt of the kind invitation of your President to present a paper on this occasion that it might be profitable to consider the case briefly in some of its aspects and to vindicate, if vindication be necessary, the finding of insanity in virtue of which sentence of death was commuted to life imprisonment and the [[Lizzie Halliday|miserable woman]] was transferred as an insane criminal to a State hospital for the insane. | ||
The brief time at our disposal and the freshness of the case in the public memory suggest the convenience of assuming that you are familiar with the main facts of Mrs. Halliday's history and of confining my remarks to an analysis of the case as it presetned and unfolded itself on personal examination in Clinton Prison and on subsequent personal enquiry into her antecedents in the village of Greenwich, Washington county, where she at one time resided. | |||
The prisoner was examined in Clinton Prison, Thursday, July 12, 1894. Present: Drs. J. D. Spencer, J. M. Lee and G. A. Blumer, the Commission appointed by the Governor; Dr. J. B. Ransom, Prison Physician, and Warden Thayer. | |||
She is a woman thirty-six years of age, 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing about 90 pounds, with brown hair and grey eyes. Her skull is noticeably asymmetrical, there being marked flattening in the right occipito-parietal region. Forehead high and somewhat tapering. Nose coarse and disproportionately large; bridge, flat; upturned; nostrils large. Malars and superciliary arches prominent. Mouth large; lips medium thickness; teeth, fairly regular. Palatal vault, average. | |||
(I submit two excellent photographs showing profile and three-quarter face, taken in prison, and cast made by Dr. J. B. Ransom, as follows: The hair having been evenly pasted down to the scalp, rubber tissue was carefully fitted over the hair and pressed firmly down. The diaphragm was then placed aorund the head at a level with the eyebrows in front and immediately below the base of the cranium posteriorly. The cast shows very accurately the rough outlines of the cranial deformity, though allowance should of course be made for the modification of the asymmetry on account of the hair.) | |||
The patient was crouching in a corner of the cell with her face to the wall, muttering and hallooing incoherently. When brought into the corrider she offered resistance, crying, "Don't let me go by the river." Her nostrils and ears were stuffed with bits of dress material. When forcibly seated in a chair she began to pick at her clothing; to spit, to stamp on the floor and, when not restrained, pounded her thighs violently with her fists. She paid no attention to her examiners and could not be induced to answer questions. The following were some of her incoherent mutterings taken down at the time: "Manure, Nicodemus, pitchforks. Don't you stay there. No. I don't want you. Yes, you did. You took my baby; 13 or 14 o'clock. Snow and bull frogs. Take its little dress out of the bureau drawer and bring my little Isabella. Take them snakes away. Nineteen cords, charcoal. Don't throw that over me. I can't eat that sawdust. These are not the rules of the Methodist and Baptist church. You must preach the Gospel. John the Baptist, John the Baptist. You've got small-pox in your heels. Diarrhaea. She broke a spine of my ribs. You've got that bear sewed up in me. It's you that done it. You sewed them up in me. You broke three of my legs. You pitched me down from the garret. YOu put a coat of shingle nails over me. They don't want you in their house. They're going to saw off my nose. Take them snakes off me. You brought them in a basket. You tied them around me." | |||
(With reference to the hallucinations and illusions here exhibited I may quote a brief extract from notes of the case kindly forwarded by Dr. H. E. Allison as part of the record of the State Asylum for Insane Criminals at Auburn in 1892, as showing an apparent repetition of the symptoms: "Feb. 10, 1892. Mentally she is sull, stupid, unable to converse coherently, expression of face is very vacant, no amount of questioning elicits any response either in words or expression. Hallucinations of sight constant. She sees reptiles, bugs, birds, etc., on her own person and on all those who come near and will try to pick and shake them off. At times she is restless and uneasy and makes many movements of a rhythmical nature. April 6, 1894. Sees bugs of different kinds in her room and on her person; also says that she feels them crwling on her arms and neck. Claims that there is a turle, a lizard and a snake inside of her, and in order to not feed these bugs and reptiles, she has refused for the past week to eat a mouthful of food voluntarily, etc.") | |||
To resume: | |||
During the examination there appeared an excessive secretion of saliva, and a profuse discharged of glairy mucus from the nostrils. There was marked analgesia. Persistent pricking, almost stabbing, with the point of a sharp knife elicited no responsive reflex. Tickling of naso-labial folds and mucous membrane of nostrils made no impression. Tickling of the soles of the feet was also ineffective. The conjunctivae were markedly insensitive; the patient remained perfectly unmoved when the lids were raised and finger-tips rubbed over the conjunctival surfaces. On the contrary when these crucial tests of sensation were being made the patient continued her incoherent, snatchy talk. Flies - especially annoying to tall others present - were allowed to accumulate on patient's face and never brushed away. At the conclusion of the examination prisoner was lifted from her chair and taken, violently resisting, to her call and crying "Don't take me by the river." | |||
At a second examination of the prisoner on the following morning the patient's condition and conduct were essentially the same. | |||
It may be stated briefly that the notes (covering period June 29 to July 22) taken while prisoner was at Dannemora show that she was noisy, destructive, dirty in her habits, and frequently profane and obscene in speech; frequently disturbed and noisy during the night; occasional self-mutilation and violence to others. | |||
The following data were obtained from personal interviews in Greenwich, Wash. Co., N.Y.: | |||
<i>Mrs. G.</i> said that Margt. McNally entered her service as a domestic servant about fourteen years ago. She had solicited employment several times and was very insistent. Said: "I'll please you, if I have to crawl on my hands and knees to do it." Began to work with a will. Was thorough and neat. Always scrupulously clean about her work and person. At the end of the third week of service, everything baving progressed satisfactorily up to that time, something went wrong with the baking. Mrs. G. called Maggie's attention to it mildly, whereupon she flew into a violent passion, using vile language to her mistress whom she threatened to have "arrested at once". Forthwith the servant entered complaint again her mistress before a justice of the peac, alleging that she had been violently assaulted by the latter, given a bloody nose, etc. Although dismissed from the service of Mrs. G. she came back at noon, made no preparations to leave, had to have her trunk packed by the family and by summarily ejected. | |||
Revision as of 06:31, 15 April 2024
[Published in the Brooklyn Medical Journal, Published Monthly by the Medical Society of the County of Kings. Vol IX, January-December, 1895. 356 Bridge Street, Brooklyn, NY - starting on Page 162]
Read before the Kings County Medical Society, Brooklyn, Sept. 18, 1894.
It is not my intention to attempt this evening an exhaustive clinical study of the Sullivan County murderess, Lizzie Halliday, whose bloody work of over a year ago sent a thrill of horror through the land and whose trial was watched with so much interest by the medical profession. It seemed to me, however, on receipt of the kind invitation of your President to present a paper on this occasion that it might be profitable to consider the case briefly in some of its aspects and to vindicate, if vindication be necessary, the finding of insanity in virtue of which sentence of death was commuted to life imprisonment and the miserable woman was transferred as an insane criminal to a State hospital for the insane.
The brief time at our disposal and the freshness of the case in the public memory suggest the convenience of assuming that you are familiar with the main facts of Mrs. Halliday's history and of confining my remarks to an analysis of the case as it presetned and unfolded itself on personal examination in Clinton Prison and on subsequent personal enquiry into her antecedents in the village of Greenwich, Washington county, where she at one time resided.
The prisoner was examined in Clinton Prison, Thursday, July 12, 1894. Present: Drs. J. D. Spencer, J. M. Lee and G. A. Blumer, the Commission appointed by the Governor; Dr. J. B. Ransom, Prison Physician, and Warden Thayer.
She is a woman thirty-six years of age, 5 feet 2 inches tall, weighing about 90 pounds, with brown hair and grey eyes. Her skull is noticeably asymmetrical, there being marked flattening in the right occipito-parietal region. Forehead high and somewhat tapering. Nose coarse and disproportionately large; bridge, flat; upturned; nostrils large. Malars and superciliary arches prominent. Mouth large; lips medium thickness; teeth, fairly regular. Palatal vault, average.
(I submit two excellent photographs showing profile and three-quarter face, taken in prison, and cast made by Dr. J. B. Ransom, as follows: The hair having been evenly pasted down to the scalp, rubber tissue was carefully fitted over the hair and pressed firmly down. The diaphragm was then placed aorund the head at a level with the eyebrows in front and immediately below the base of the cranium posteriorly. The cast shows very accurately the rough outlines of the cranial deformity, though allowance should of course be made for the modification of the asymmetry on account of the hair.)
The patient was crouching in a corner of the cell with her face to the wall, muttering and hallooing incoherently. When brought into the corrider she offered resistance, crying, "Don't let me go by the river." Her nostrils and ears were stuffed with bits of dress material. When forcibly seated in a chair she began to pick at her clothing; to spit, to stamp on the floor and, when not restrained, pounded her thighs violently with her fists. She paid no attention to her examiners and could not be induced to answer questions. The following were some of her incoherent mutterings taken down at the time: "Manure, Nicodemus, pitchforks. Don't you stay there. No. I don't want you. Yes, you did. You took my baby; 13 or 14 o'clock. Snow and bull frogs. Take its little dress out of the bureau drawer and bring my little Isabella. Take them snakes away. Nineteen cords, charcoal. Don't throw that over me. I can't eat that sawdust. These are not the rules of the Methodist and Baptist church. You must preach the Gospel. John the Baptist, John the Baptist. You've got small-pox in your heels. Diarrhaea. She broke a spine of my ribs. You've got that bear sewed up in me. It's you that done it. You sewed them up in me. You broke three of my legs. You pitched me down from the garret. YOu put a coat of shingle nails over me. They don't want you in their house. They're going to saw off my nose. Take them snakes off me. You brought them in a basket. You tied them around me."
(With reference to the hallucinations and illusions here exhibited I may quote a brief extract from notes of the case kindly forwarded by Dr. H. E. Allison as part of the record of the State Asylum for Insane Criminals at Auburn in 1892, as showing an apparent repetition of the symptoms: "Feb. 10, 1892. Mentally she is sull, stupid, unable to converse coherently, expression of face is very vacant, no amount of questioning elicits any response either in words or expression. Hallucinations of sight constant. She sees reptiles, bugs, birds, etc., on her own person and on all those who come near and will try to pick and shake them off. At times she is restless and uneasy and makes many movements of a rhythmical nature. April 6, 1894. Sees bugs of different kinds in her room and on her person; also says that she feels them crwling on her arms and neck. Claims that there is a turle, a lizard and a snake inside of her, and in order to not feed these bugs and reptiles, she has refused for the past week to eat a mouthful of food voluntarily, etc.")
To resume:
During the examination there appeared an excessive secretion of saliva, and a profuse discharged of glairy mucus from the nostrils. There was marked analgesia. Persistent pricking, almost stabbing, with the point of a sharp knife elicited no responsive reflex. Tickling of naso-labial folds and mucous membrane of nostrils made no impression. Tickling of the soles of the feet was also ineffective. The conjunctivae were markedly insensitive; the patient remained perfectly unmoved when the lids were raised and finger-tips rubbed over the conjunctival surfaces. On the contrary when these crucial tests of sensation were being made the patient continued her incoherent, snatchy talk. Flies - especially annoying to tall others present - were allowed to accumulate on patient's face and never brushed away. At the conclusion of the examination prisoner was lifted from her chair and taken, violently resisting, to her call and crying "Don't take me by the river."
At a second examination of the prisoner on the following morning the patient's condition and conduct were essentially the same.
It may be stated briefly that the notes (covering period June 29 to July 22) taken while prisoner was at Dannemora show that she was noisy, destructive, dirty in her habits, and frequently profane and obscene in speech; frequently disturbed and noisy during the night; occasional self-mutilation and violence to others.
The following data were obtained from personal interviews in Greenwich, Wash. Co., N.Y.:
Mrs. G. said that Margt. McNally entered her service as a domestic servant about fourteen years ago. She had solicited employment several times and was very insistent. Said: "I'll please you, if I have to crawl on my hands and knees to do it." Began to work with a will. Was thorough and neat. Always scrupulously clean about her work and person. At the end of the third week of service, everything baving progressed satisfactorily up to that time, something went wrong with the baking. Mrs. G. called Maggie's attention to it mildly, whereupon she flew into a violent passion, using vile language to her mistress whom she threatened to have "arrested at once". Forthwith the servant entered complaint again her mistress before a justice of the peac, alleging that she had been violently assaulted by the latter, given a bloody nose, etc. Although dismissed from the service of Mrs. G. she came back at noon, made no preparations to leave, had to have her trunk packed by the family and by summarily ejected.