The McCabe Lunacy Case -- Testimony of the Doctors as to the Insanity of Miss McCabe
Item
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Title
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The McCabe Lunacy Case -- Testimony of the Doctors as to the Insanity of Miss McCabe
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Description
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This article outlines the testimonies of Drs. Bradford & Burdick declaring Rose McCabe insane before the Court. These accounts did not always align with Rose McCabe's testimony, which raises questions as to whose testimonies should be believed.
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Creator
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New York Times
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Publisher
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ProQuest
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Date
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September 05, 1872
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Type
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Newspaper Article
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Format
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PNG
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Language
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English
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Identifier
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ISSN 03624331
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ProQuest Document ID 93281286
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Subject
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Supreme Court
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Defense
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Testimony
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Doctor
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Insanity
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Place
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New York City
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Temporal Coverage
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19th Century
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Rights Holder
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New York Times
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Rights
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Public domain
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transcription
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The McCabe Lunacy Case -- Testimony of the Doctors as to the Insanity of Miss McCabe. The case of Miss Rose McCabe was again before the Court, yesterday, and the entire day consumed in examining physicians in opposition to the motion for the petitioner's discharge from the Asylum, as to facts and circumstances within their knowledge, which in their judgment indicated an unsound state of mind, and on which they had signed the certificate. Most of the testimony was entirely without interest to the public. Dr. Bradford, in addition to that portion of his testimony already published, stated that in 1871 Miss McCabe had told him that a doctor had been sent her by the authorities of the Catholic Church, who prescribed for her, but she refused to take the medicine, believing he had been sent to poison her, and that she had piled chairs and trunks against her door to keep all such emissaries out. This statement, it will be remembered, Miss McCabe denied having made on her examination.
Testimony of Dr. Bradford was further to the effect that he had no doubt of her insanity.
Dr. Stephen P. Burdick, who, in company with Dr. Bradford, had certified at the time of her commitment to Miss McCabe's insanity, testified that she then complained of sleeplessness and dryness of the throat; that her mind wandered soon from her symptoms to the subject of some priest who she imagined was following and persecuting her; she admitted her family had treated her kindly; was restless in her chair as if in fear of some one; she repeated to him the statement made to Dr. Bradford, that some priest, with a doctor and a woman, attempted to get into her room, but she piled chairs, &e., against the door to prevent them; that she did so to keep them out until daylight, when she dressed and escaped into the street in disguise; this was some place in Thirty-fifth-street, she said: the she truly believed the priest conspired with every doctor that came to see her; that when she supposed some one was attempting to get in, she would go to the window and throw it up as the only means to escape; after two careful interviews, he became satisfied her mind was unsettled, and, while not dangerous to others, she was dangerous to herself, as in any momentary paroxysm of fear, she might throw herself from the window.
