Schmidt Prosecutor Going to Europe to Probe Priest’s Sanity.

Assistant District-Attorney Deacon Murphy, who has charge of the prosecution of Hans Schmidt, will sail for Europe tomorrow to examine relatives of Schmidt in Germany. They are to appear before a consular inquiry at Frankfort-on-Mainz to testify as to Schmidt’s sanity and the sanity of his ancestors. Judge Foster this morning granted the application of Alphonse G. Koelble, Schmidt’s counsel, for such an inquiry.

With the application was filed a letter from one of the jailed priest’s brothers in Germany, in which were cited many queer incidents connected with Schmidt’s life before he came to America. It was also stated in the letter that his paternal grandfather, uncle, aunt, and cousin had taken their own lives, and on the maternal side an uncle and cousin committed suicide in a fit of insanity.

The brother declared that Schmidt was called the “Crazy Doctor” by the students who knew him at Mainz. Judge Foster directed Koelble to have all his evidence ready by Nov. 12, as the trial will begin shortly after that date.

Schmidt Prosecutor Going to Europe to Probe Priest’s Sanity, The Evening World, 24 October 1913, page 28, column 1.