The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, October 6, 1900, Page 1

SAN FRANCISCO, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 6, 1900. PRICE FIVE CENTS. MERE BABY ADJUDGED A MANIAC AND WILL BE IN HIS MURDEROUS TENDENCIES AFTER BEING CURBED COMMITTED TO THE INSANE ASYLUM AT NAPA L Tiny Montee Ledderhos, Four Years of Age, [S Insane. — A Fall in Infancy IS Assigned as Cause of Maladu. i Phusicians Are Unable {0 Even Suggesta- Remedu. T Y ured the base of Ris present insanity oo forferetertlot T 2 RS <+ An Assassin at Heart, - He Seeks Lives of Relatives. Infant Sister Victim | of His Brutish Assaults. R RS Ha!l Pin Was Favoriie Weapon When He Was Angru. P A S e I o e s a | Homicidal and swicidal mania have caused Montee Ledderhos’ relatives to seck his imprisonment. Without provecation he will assault any lhving creature within his reach. His favorite weapon is a hatpin, but without Deprived of the opportunity to gratify his lust for murder the But- ting into stone pillars and throwing himself one he is equally dangerous. el el @ tiny maniac will cruelly injure himself. head foremost to the pavement are common practices with him, and unless closely watched he wwill continue battering himself until uncon- usness comes. His brutal and murder- ous treatment of his baby sister is past under- standing. He would frequently assault her by pa- rents or guardian would conclude his par- oxysm of rag without warning, and when stopped with bursts of screaming and laughter. From infancy he was of destruc- tive disposition, and this tendency gradually developed until he more brute than human He will throw anything that comes into his hands at a = one who is near at the Since his birth he has not spoken, but endea- ors to express himself by means of uninte His ligi murderous i BABY 'HE IARKABLE FOR CLE. CAN BE PLAINLY SEE: AND AN S, THE HE SKULL SHOW E. FLEISCHMAN, IS RE BUDDING AS IT WERE MANIAC RNESS AND X-RAY OF HIS SKULL. T OF AN INJURY WHICH PRESUM ABLY CAUSED HIS I DETAIL. THE THE TINY PATIENT'S SKULL IS ABNORMAL BOTH IN SIZ THE DARK SPOT WITHIN THE WHITE ANITY. THE RADIOGRAPH, WHICH WA YOUNGSTER'S BACK MOLARS, NOT Y T THROUGH TH D FORMATION CIRCLE AT THE B MAD prevented his admission into the As: B e T B B B o B T i ) = th, he ’ ! blic safety, small as he s beaten down beneatt while he stood apart with a burst of sobt ver, his jangled ¥ harbor a scen ed 8 baby boy S r ylum cel . mother. th L he n r efforts to sta aneing. & ght the did of th n th was b @ home . were regy f £ Soclety, the ¢ H -minded was carried on f line of proceeding. the became minded, disc i: generaily one remained as a refuge for him, as not feeble h but um for the sor of s hopelessly insane Formaly Declared to Bz Inscnz or for .rbee, who has been keeping the child . led the child into cr of the Insanity g b of the case. Dr. Lus id that the case . ind rot simple-minded: The lad, in his or uic mitted to the asylum for the . his to the warrant upon which the the stand. He testif! that for over three ed in vain to develop the child’s , murdercus and brutal, the witness flixed called tc had labc structiv He wa A emall but without r cure, demar Nty felou rtune had been expended on him in an effort to secure It. Even the lad’s mother had despaired of effect- the safety of the child’s relatives as well as the prived of the power to do Wrong. le be « t if Dr. Rethers, who is acting with Dr. Lustig e that the child was not simple-minded but insane he would sign a commitment consigning him to the Napa Insane Asylum for treatment. Dr. Rethers was called upon to make an ex- nation of the child. He immediately pronounced the lad insane, and with Dr. Lustig signed the certificate setting forth the nature of the child’s m This preliminary disposed of, the commitment was drawn up. The little patient was led back to Mrs. Barbee's home to await the ming of the iff, who will take him to the asy um. The commitment will be prese to Jud Lawlor this morning His signature will be flixed and dittle Montee Ledderhos will leave his birthplace to go to, the j where in all probability the remaining years of his life will be ‘ v Ledderhos has been an enigma to the physicians of this city he was four months old. Recently he treated by Dr, C. N. Mil- sician passed the ca veless. Ph fter phy- sult bope at least the child’s brutal habits Heilbron, who is now a resident of San s the last to attempt to relieve the child. She had the youngster to the ifornia College of Osteopathy. There it was decided that ad’s insanity was congenital—from birth—but perhaps aggra- vated by the existence of pr 1 the brain from a wound grecelved some time in infancy. The child’'s parénts remembered a fall” the lad ceived when but four months of age. He was left in a hammock sleeping one day, when a playful youngster ran against the hammock. The baby was thrown out and struck in the bed of a little creek on the back of his head. From that day his health began to wane. Finally he was taken with » fever. For weeks hovered between life and death, and then began to rove. But along with the light of health In his eyes there > the flash of insanity. As a baby of eight months there was upper- in his mind a passion for brutal things. Anything he could lay his led baby hands upon he would crush or hurl to the floor. This de- ructive temperament developed with his months until the taking of life seemed to be the alm of his existence. @n Operation Would Mean Death. Upon this clinical history of the case the physicians of the College of Osteopathy decided that a radiograph—an X ‘ray photo—of the child's skull should be taken as preliminary to an operation, if such was found to be reasonably certain of successful result. The baby patient was taken to the laboratory of E. Fieischman, 611 Sutter street, and subjected to the ray. 'The result was marvelous *rom the standpoint of the radiographer, but it extinguished the last spark of hope that remained in the minds of the child’s parents. Just at the base of the skull a large dark spot apr ared on the plate. spot Infancy This was the cause of the child's in marked where the skull had thickened from the wour and behind it the dim blood clots could be discerned. To remove the cause of the lad's insanit) would be to kill him. A large and vital portion of the brain was involved, and to Uft from it the bony cover that is bearing down so cruelly upon it would only serve to free the blood vessels that lons ago degenerated under the pressure, and almost instant death, so the phy; ans say, would be the reward of their labors. Her health broken from long and constant worry and watching, the lad’s mother, when all hope had gone, gave up to her illness, Her hus- band, Theodore Ledderhos, had her removed from their home, 2501% Lar- kin street, to St. Winifred's Hospital. There she will undergo an opera- tion In the hope that her life may be saved, but a doubt hangs upon the hope. After her removal to the hospital Master Ledderhos was taken in charge by Mrs. Barbee. His constant attempts to commit murder and to end his own existence by butting his abnormal skull against harder sub- stances finally caused her husband to make the complaint on which he was taken before the Insanity Commission. After completing his examination Dr. Lustig said: “The child is plainly insane. He cannot be classed among the stmple minded. Stmple-minded patients are commonly divided into three classes— idicts, imbeciles and creting. The line of demarcation between the three degrees s, however, only relative. The idiot is the person absolutely bereft of intelligence, and the other two ascend the s The difference between a simple-minded person and an fnsane person is plain. The so-called simple- minded person, who comes within the three degrees named, is usually, or most always, to be more correct, congenitally so. deficiency in the brain. He was never gifte his advance or the opposite would not find him anotier place on the me scale. Insanity, in the strict sense of the term, is usually acquired through injury or abuse of nature. The term Insanity presupposes that the patient up to the time ofethe affliction was the possessor of a normal mind, but that disease, injury or abuse disorganized its functions. These latter con- ditions are manifested by this baby patient. I have gathered from the clinical history of the case that both the lad’s father and mother were normal people of sound intelligence. .The story of the lad's injury when an infant, the result of a fall from a hammock, has also been made known to me, as well as the fact of his subsequent fever or measles, which is usually accompanied by fever. Doubtless the child’s insanity was caused by the fall, aided perhaps by the fever, but from my examination of him, being assisted with such meager details of his life, I am unable to assign the exact cause of his condition. es of degencrated brain In his case there with full mental capacity Insane Asylum His Proper @bode. “The asylum for the insane is plainly the place for him. His mania is to destroy, to kill and to maim himself. There is no doubj that he will be a source of endless worry to the management of the Napa Asylum, and I fear that the trouble he will cause may result- in a demand being made that he be discharged from that institution and committed to the Home for the Feeble-mindeG. Though there is no doubt that the Home for the Feeble-minded is better fitted for the care of such youngsters—or rather simple-minded youngsters—in my opinion the only safe place to keep him is in the asylum. His mania at any moment might cause him to seek gratification among the helpless Inmates of the Home for the Feeble- minded, and even though he may be the source of endless worry to the o the Fecble-minded, and in the absence of a bet- BY ter remedy or safer home will be com- GUM, o 2 mitted to the asylum. 1sylum officials, for humanity's sake he should be allowed to remain there ntil the end.” Though he is not a medical expert, Em: Golden place, shares the opinion advanced by Drs. Lust Kaeintz is an uncle of the unfortunate child who is about to the madhouse. With the rest of the child’s relatives, he had lor that some relief for the baby's awful malady might be found he has hopes that when the youngster grows stronger, if the decree, an operation may be performed with successful resu “Ever since he was injured when an Infant Montee rigibl said Mr. Kaeintz yesterday. “I was to have testified as to his actions before the Insanity Commissioners to-day, but I was so busy I could not get there. glad to go. at If any more testimony Is needed, however, I will be The little fellow should have been in the asylum long ag Though the doctors say he'is hopelessly insane, I am of opinion that he would not have been as bad as he is had he been placed in the asyl where he conld have recelved proper attention. two years ago. Th his mind is disorganized, he has sufficient left to profit by the lenie: of his parents, who were wont to gratify his every desire when by some peculiar action on his part they knew that he had a desire to gra Always Brutal in His Habits, “He s always brutal in his habit: Frequently, when he was not watched, he would steal upon his baby sister, grasp her by the hair ana hurl her to the floor. Tken he would attempt to stamp out her life, ana more than once her tiny neck has borne the imprint of his heels. Aga he would strike her and hurl anything he could get hold of in an evident hope of maiming her. Only the day before assaulted his father. Without a word of warning he picked a stove-lifter and huried it with all of his maniacal strength. The iron missile struck his father on the chest and Inflicted a painful wound. Had Mr. Ledderhos been struck on the head the result would have been seric When sitting at the table, without warning he will grasp the cloth and hurl the dishes to the floor. Those that remain unbroken he will break if the opportunity is afforded him. Curbed in his desire, he will work himself into a frenzy and then can only be cared for by main force, and it takes considerable to handle him. “He will sneak up behind an intended victim and without warning will infilct what injury he can. Hatpins are a favorite and dangerous weapon in his hands. He will stab and slash at any one who attempts to interfers with him. Great cauticn must be used in approaching him, for no one caa tell what weapon he may have concealed in his hand. “His skull is most peculiar in formation. What I would call knots stick out all over his head, except the forehead, which recedes and !s low. He refuses to walk steadily alone and constantly throws himself head foremost to the pavement. For this reason it is alwa cessary that two persons accompany him—one on each side to support him—if, indeed, they are not called upon to defend the passers-by. During his life he has never spoken a word. His language is an Incoherent jargon and is punc- tuated with devilish sereams that freeze one’s blood. His commitment to the asylum will save those who now keep him perhaps from a fate as pitiable as that which has befallen his mother. There may yet be a chance to save him from death in the asylum: it would be better that it oceur on the operating table when scientists are bending over him seeking vesterday he *to disgel the cloud that darkens his mind.”