The Trial of the Man Who Named Himself 'Defendant'

The whole afternoon was occupied in Judge Lichtenberg's court trying the case of Charles Frank Jones, a former newspaper man charged with insanity. When called to the stand, Jones refused to swear the oath, stating he would affirm, as he would not 'swear' to anything. When the judge asked his name, age, and place of birth, Jones replied, 'I do not know.' He explained his existence as a series of transfers between orphanages and schools in London, Australia, and Canada, eventually arriving in Washington. When asked about his religious beliefs, he claimed to follow Jesus Christ by 'standing up for the rights of man,' often holding an open Bible with an American flag unfurled above it, and wearing a hat with the word 'Liberty'—which he later changed to 'Hope' while in the city lockup. He described himself as a 'confessor of Christ' and claimed that God was in him, asserting that 'when a certain man named Jones received Jesus Christ, the Jones went out.' Despite his claims of being a 'new creature,' medical testimony from Dr. I. M. Young and Dr. M. Hilton suggested he was a monomaniac of unsound mind. Jones maintained throughout that he was simply testing the world's professions of liberty by practicing it himself, stating, 'I couldn't see how liberty could be locked up.'