A PHRENOLOGIST'S SECRET.

Waikato Times, Volume XVIII, Issue 1550, 10 June 1882, Page 2 (Supplement)

A PHRENOLOGIST'S SECRET.

The following is an extract from a letter published in the New York Sun a few years ago. It is interesting because of its relation to a very conspicuous event in American crime, and also because it is told by Dr. E. Newberry, who was a practical phrenologist forty years ago, and is to-day a strong advocate : "In the fall of 1843 1 had a phrenologioal office in the granite building, Broadway, corner of Chambers-street. John C. Colt, the murderer of Adams, the printer, had an office on the floor below mine, where he taught arithmetic and the English lan-t guage to foreigners. Immediately adjoining his office was Wheeler's Writing Academy, wnich was separated only by folding doors. " One day while in my office, having just returned from a lecturing tour in Conneoti* cat, a stranger called and asked me to sell him one of my packing cases that stood outside near the door. Noticing a large collection of skulls in my office, he said he was not' a believer in phrenology, but would like me to give him some proof of its principles. He* requested me to tell him the leading traits of his character. He took a seat in the chair, and I proceeded to examine his head* Placing my fingera on his head to determine the size of his organs, I [perceived a great difference in the relative heat of the different portions of his heads So I abstractly remarked, ' I judge you are trying to get out of some scrape.' His features assumed an alarming expression, and he asked, • Why do you, say so ?' I told him that his organs of feari commonly called Cautiousness, Secretiveness, and Conitructiveness, wera much warmer than the other organs or parts of his brain. He sprang to his feet and paced to and fro, looking at the floor and at every corner of my office. He then stopped suddenly, and taking up the skull of a pirate, whose organ of Destructiveneas stood out like the big end of an egg, he asked me what organ that was. I told him the character of the man. He said, ' If lhat man acted from organisation, how could he be held responsible hereafter ?' I replied that malproportion was an evil which punished others and brought punishment upon themselves. "This led to a conversation upon the laws of perfecting offspring and education. He became quieter, sat down again, and I proceeded to finish the examination of his head. I told him he had a sanguineous, passionate temperament, with large Selfesteem, love of Approbation, and Destructiveness, which greatly dominated over his Cautiousness and Mercifulness, or Benovelence; that ahould anyone offend his pride, he would be apt, at the impulse of the moment, to strike him a death-blow* I advised him to use his large Firmness to conquer his passion. He told me that all his family inherited similiar traits of character, and that his brother was Col. Colt, the inventor of the revolver. By his card, whjoh he handed me, I noticed he had an office in the same building. He said that I had not only proved to him the truth of phrenology, but that it was one of the most useful sciences for the perfectionof humanity, and he was determined to devote himself to the promulgation of that science. He asked me to teach him phrenology ; that he would compensate me, and feel obliged to me for it. I told him I would be glad to do so, not only for his sake, but for the cause of phrenology. He said he had to go out of town for a few weeks ; that upon his return he would call upon me for instruction. As he called at my office to purchase one of the packing cases I had outside my'door, but which I declined to sell, he left, and I thought no more about the matter. " About two weeks afterwards there was a rumour that a murder had been committed in the building. Being busy with my own affairs, it never occurred to me that the man whose head I had examined was the one who committed the murder. In the meantime I moved my office into the basement of the building, and the affair passed out of my mind entirely. "When the trial waa published in pamphlet form I it, thinking that perhaps the skull of the murderer would come into my possession, for I was then Warden of the New York Phrenological Society. Judge of my surprise when I found that the marderer was the man who had called to purchase a box off me, and whose head I examined. " Colt had a work on arithmetic printed by Adams, whom he promised to pay some money within a specified time. Adams called to collect the money, but Colt tailed to accomplish what he promised. This led to the difficulty between them. Adams, whose skull I afterwards examined, had very small Self-esteem, large Acquisitiveness, and Fear or Cautiousness — the very opposite to that of Colt, the murderer. Such an organisation never could appreciate or sympathise with Colt, Failing to pay him, Colt apologised for being compelled to disappoint him. Adams, in reply, made some uncomplimentary remarks that galled Colt to the very quick. Feeling his pride wounded, he seized a hatchet and threw it at Adams' head and broke his skull. The body fell against the folding doors that separated Colt's and Wheeler's offices. Colt, fearing that Adams might groan, struck him another blow on the head, breaking the skull in completely, Adams was missed; search was made after him, and his friends finally traced him to Colt's office. Upon inquiry at Wheeler's, it was ascertained that a fall was heard in Colt's office, and a box was shipped by him to some, place out of town. The carman was adveitised for and found. He had carted the box to a vessel bound for the South. The box was recovered, and the body in it identified as that of the missing man, Adams. Colt ■ was tried, j convicted, and sentenced to be hanged. "Every effort was afterwards made to procure Colt's pardon from the Governor. It waa rumoured that the Tombs, in which Colt was confined, had been set on fire, and during the excitement a dead body from the almshouse was smuggled into his cell. The report made public at the time was that Colt had committed suicide ! But it was generally suspected that he escaped at the time of the fire.