Gray - Adam
Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal, Crawfordsville, Montgomery County, Indiana 7 November 1874 p1
Esquire John W. Ramsay started to the County Asylum this morning shortly after 10 o’clock to conduct an inquest over the body of Adam Gray, the insane pauper who died there last Tuesday morning. Gray was buried at the Asylum late on Tuesday evening. The circumstances of his death and the condition of the body when discovered on Tuesday morning seemed to justify suspicious or foul play and make an inquest necessary. The conversation of the inmates and one or two of their outside friends freely indulged in for the past few days, implicated Lawson, the superintendent, who was arrested this morning by Marshal Ensminger. The inquest has not been finished, and we are of course unable to say how much if any, evidence there is to justify the suspicion of murder against the Superintendent. From Daniel Mann, a stone cutter on Green Street, who was intimately acquainted with Gray and a frequent visitor at the asylum, we get the following statement: Mann was working in the stone yard on Tuesday when Lawson came to him and told him that Gray, being troublesome had been put in a cell about 10 o’clock Monday evening where he was found dead on Tuesday morning. Mann visited the asylum on Tuesday evening. He asked to be allowed to see the body of the dead man. Lawson made no objection, and he proceeded to the coffin. He found the lid fastened down, but succeeded in removing it sufficiently to allow him to see the front of the dead man’s body but not enough to examine it thoroughly. He found an ugly bruise on the forehead and right side of the head which he thought could not have been made by a fall, but was probably the result of a stroke with a slung shot or club. He had time only to make these observations before Lawson arrived. He then asked permission to watch the body during the night. This was granted, but Lawson returned in a short time and stated that he was going to bury the man that night. The burial took place accordingly, and he had no further opportunity to examine the body. Mann also states that an inmate of the asylum named Murphy, and others who saw the body, declare that there was a large hole in the back of Gray’s head from which the blood had run, forming a large pool on the cell floor. He speaks freely of the affair as “this murder.” Lawson, as already stated, is under arrest, and will have a preliminary examination as soon as the inquest is concluded, if there is any evidence discovered to justify the charge made against him. Until such examination public opinion will be suspended, as he may be proved to be entirely innocent, as we sincerely hope he is. Adam Gray, the deceased, was about 32 years of age. He was sent to the Insane Asylum from his home near Whitesville, two or three years ago, leaving a wife who has since married and moved away. He ws returned as incurable and has been an inmate of the county asylum for about 15 months.
Later – Persons who attended the inquest until the time of going to press state that a post mortem examination of the body of Gray developed nothing that would sustain the suspicions against Mr. Lawson and the jury will probably return a verdict of that effect. There were some ugly bruises on the side of Gray’s head but none but what might have been caused by falling. – transcribed by kbz
Source: Crawfordsville Weekly Journal Saturday, 14 November 1874
Roy Lawson, the superintendent of the County Asylum, arrested last Saturday for supposed complicity in the death of Adam Gray, was discharged on Saturday afternoon without even the formality of a preliminary examination. The verdict of the coroner’s jury completely exonerated him, leaving no ground even for suspicion. The parties who filed the information against him were probably instigated by malice. One of these was Daniel Mann, of the marble shop on Green Street. Mr. Lawson has since received information from the warden of the Ohio State Prison at Columbus to the effect that Mann had served two terms in that institution, having been discharged in 1842, after serving two years for counterfeiting and again in 1868 after serving one year for bigamy.
From the evidence before the coroner’s jury it appears that the body of Gray was buried at 5 o’clock on Tuesday afternoon and not at night. Gray’s sister was present before his burial and left on the same day. It also appeared that Lawson had always been accompanied by some of the inmates or attendants when he visited Gray’s cell that night. Gray was unusually troublesome that night and his cries and struggles disturbed everybody about the premises.
William Butler, one of the inmates, testified that he heard a noise in Gray’s room “as if he were pounding a bed to pieces.” Mary Daley stated that Gray made a great noise as if he was trying to get out. Sarah Maltby heard “a noise, like some terrible struggle, as though Gray was trying to get slats off of windows.” This, as nearly all the witnesses testify, occurred before Lawson visited the cell and was the occasion of his going. When he did go to the cell it was in company with Cyrus Ray and others who helped him to seize and secure Gray to prevent his doing further violence.
The following is the verdict of the coroner’s jury: “We the undersigned jurors, impaneled and sworn on the 7th day of November, 1874, in the township of Union, county of Montgomery, by John W. Ramsay, J. P., Acting Coroner of said county, to inquire and true presentment make in what manner and by whom Adam Gray, whose body was found at the county farm for the poor on the 3d day of November, 1874, came to his death; after having heard the evidence and examined the body, do find that the deceased came to his death by yellow softening of the brain.
Thos. J. Wilson
J. C. McKinsey
Jas. Smith
W. A. Carney
Newton Ramsay
Jno. K. Gray