THE WIDOW OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume III, Issue 123, 3 September 1875, Page 14

THE WIDOW OF PRESIDENT LINCOLN.

Mes. Lincomt, the widow of President Lincolon, has been brought before an influenti-l jury at Chicago in order that her sanity might b« te.-tod. Her son, Mr. Robert Lincoln, gave evidence, and said he did not consider it safe to allow hoi* to remain unrestrained any loDger. She had been of unsound mind since the death of her husband, f-hd had not been responsible of her actions for ten years. The jury having heard all the evidence, declared Mrs. Lincoln to bo insane. Next : day she was conveyed to an asylum, having in the interval at' amptod, 'it ia itated, to poison herself. "So feeble had become the Btate of her mind, and, as a conse.quence, so eccentric her uature and habits of life (says the ' New York Tribune' of May 21), that a council of the leading physicians of Chicago, and personal friends, was held to consider what was best to be done for her. The result of the council was an agreement to petition for an order to try the question of her insanity. On May 10 Mrs. Lincoln was brought into court. Several witnessos testified to her strange fancies, her expensive and rockless purchases of jewellery »nd other articles of which she had no need, and gate evidence of haiing observed indications of mental disturbance" on many occa:ion». " Mr. Robert Lincoln, her son, who was much distresied, olio gave evidence at considerable length. He had no doubt she wm insane. He h*d had a conference with her cousin and Mayor Stuart, of Springfield, and Judge Davis of the Supreme Court, all of whom advised him to the course he had taken. He did not regard it iaf« to allow her to remain longer unresrtained. She had long been a source of great anxiety. She had always been kind to him. She had been of unsound mind since the death of her husband, and had been irresponsible for the last ten years. He regarded her as eccentric and unmanageable. There was no cause for her recent purchases, a* her trunks were filled with dresses she never wore. She never wora jewellery. A number of tradesmen having testified to the extravagance of Mrs. Lincoln's purchases, the jury retired, and after a consultation of ten minutes brought in the following verdict : — " State of - Illinois, County of Cook, ss. — We, the undersigned jurors in the caii^ of Mary Lincoln, alleged to be insane, have heard the evidence in th» case, are satisfied that the said Mary Lincoln is insane, and is a fit person to be sent to a State hospital for the insane ; that she is » resident of the State of Illinois and county of Cook ; that her age is fifty- nix years ; that the disease is of unknown duration, and is not with her hereditary ; that she ia not subject to epilepsy ; that she does not manifest homicidal or suicidal tendencies j and that §h« is not a pauper." According to a statement in the ' Chicago Times,' Mrs. Lincoln attempted on the following day to poison herself. Escaping from from surveillance, she applied to a druggist for a mixture of laudanum and camphor, ostensibly for neuralgia. He gave her a harmless comgound, which she took. On finding that it had no effect, she endeavoured to obtain more, but this waß prevented. In tho afternoon she was removed to an asylum.

Being 1 told that tlie price of an Italian landscape he admired ■was fifty guineas, a farmer expressed his astonishment, and asked the artist if that sorb of paint was " partiklariy dear ; for," said he '•' I've painted all my front palings for fifty shillings. What risk do people run, who fit in. free pews in church ? — Of being good for nothing. A young man has* sued his harbor for cutting off his Inoust»ohe. —The barber says he didn't jsee it.