WAS HE A PARANOIAC?

Abstract

CH 1isTowN, JAN. 17, 1902. His Excellency W. Murray Crane, etc. We have examined H. J. B., 35 years of age, committed March 26, 1897, as a common and notorious thief, sentence of from five to nine years, and would respectfully report. When B. was first committed he worked in the harness-shop, he began to agitate the men and was placed in Cherry Hill, where he began to write to all the authorities and to lawyers telling of the illegal actions of the officers of the prison and wishing to begin actions in law against some of them. He claims to have been admitted to the bar in Dakota. He was arrested in London, Brussels, and New York as well as Boston. Perhaps there is no inmate of the prison who has given more trouble to all concerned than he. At our first examination he began telling in legal terms how unjustly he had been treated before his trial and claimed that from the first he was a victim of persecution and conspiracy; that his sins were sins of omission (neglecting to say his prayers often) only, and not of commission. He related how many people would be defendants in cases he would bring against his persecutors. He also showed some wood and iron that had been placed in his food. The examination lasted over two hours. At the second examination he recognized us and began to say that we were engaging in a conspiracy to pronounce him insane in order that his enemies might get possession of his property. He rehearsed nearly all that he said at the former visit and taking his oath that he was an innocent man. That in all of the former arrests in London, Brussels, New York and elsewhere he had been exonerated, and that the so-called obtaining money under false pretences was proven to be legitimate business. He asked us to examine two bottles of medicine that had been given to him from the