QUESTION OF SANITY.

Auckland Star, Volume XLVI, Issue 67, 19 March 1915, Page 2

QUESTION OF SANITY.

-HBRMAHS FOUNT* OUUVTY ■-- OF TJTTERIHG FORGERIES. . ;n - .March- IS. In'Vegard toThe 'plea'of insanity 1 made fey the af-JEarle Hermann, charged .with forging and uttering iills of sale-for'£%;ooo, the medical supertatendentat L _Callan ftrrk Asylum, where Hermann'stayed for" thre-weeks, stated i that came to the'conclusion that Her- I' mannT"aelusi6h"s" were"hot genuine. He!' was-* sjaife-nautamt wZs"not ah epileptic. ' . "£2™!* r defence, addressing the ' ; •7 l ?7',j? l ,jd that oh the evidence he could I" for an acquittal, but he I asked'for 'a verdict of not guilty on the'!' grounds of intermittent insanity. He f added:- "If ever one heaTd of a purpose-1' less-piece of stupidity it is this—a man | ! forging for the. fun of the thing, and | leaving footprints" with a certainty ofi' detection." " 11 Counsel for the, Crown contended that!' the careful and- systematic acts involved ' in the case were those of a sane man. No I saner acts'were ever'shown'.' The jury, found Hermann not guilty ' of forgery, but guilty of and strongly recommended him to merev on I account of the fact that he suffered from] : intermittent epilepsy.-. . .Sentence was deferred. i