Fifteen Minutes to Confess: The Morphine Trial of Port Townsend's Captain De Lion

(Special to The Post-Intelligencer.)

One of the most spectacular scenes ever witnessed in a room in Port Townsend was enacted in the superior court today. Capt. R. De Lion, consul of Chile at Tacoma, at one time mayor of Port Townsend, and reputed to be worth over $500,000; promoter and builder of the dry dock at Port Townsend harbor, and in years gone by an important factor in Democratic politics in Jefferson county, was placed on trial charged with being an insane person dangerous to be at large. The accused was present during the trial, taking copious notes of the proceedings and otherwise evincing a lively interest in the trial. In conversation both in court and outside he showed a brilliant intellect and a mind that was apparently as sound as a dollar.

Pale, emaciated, and apparently nearly dead from exhaustion, when his wife entered the courtroom she was the picture of a wreck of a mother whose household had never known an unhappy hour until a year ago. As she told the captain's unvarnished story in a plaintive voice that brought tears to every eye in the crowded courtroom, she was the object of much sympathy. The defense made an energetic effort to prevent the introduction of her testimony, on the ground that a husband or wife shall not testify for or against the other. The court overruled the objection, holding that in this case the wife was not testifying for or against her husband. Very few authorities were submitted for consideration.

Mrs. De Lion was called at the opening of court today. She testified that they were married in Callao, Peru, over twenty years ago. Up to a year ago their happiness had been undisturbed. It was about this time that De Lion's health became affected by reason of a liver complaint, an ailment which necessitates constant discharge of pus from an aperture in his side. To relieve his sufferings, his wife said, he became addicted to the use of morphine, and gradually the habit attained such a hold that he became its slave. About a year ago the first symptoms of insanity were manifested, when the accused charged the witness with infidelity and with having been intimate with employees and a boatman.

The witness pleaded with her husband, telling him that she had been a faithful wife and a true mother to their seven children. Later, when De Lion became rational, he regretted his hasty accusations by saying, "Mamma, I have found out everything. I have done you a terrible wrong, for which I came near killing you." Calling in the children to witness the retraction, De Lion said: "Some person has been telling me untrue stories about you, which I know not to be true." Subsequently De Lion accused her of the same offense on numerous occasions, when the witness would faint. Later he accused her of trying to poison him with an apple cake. He said that he had sent a piece to be analyzed, and the report was to have been framed and hung up in her parlor as a constant reminder of the awful attempt on his life.

As time passed she perceived that his mind was gradually breaking down. He wrote a nine-page letter and told the witness to be seated while he read it to her. All she heard read was the first page, when the witness fainted. They were in a room with the doors bolted, and the only person present was their little daughter. De Lion quietly opened his watch and said she had fifteen minutes to confess her infidelity before he took her life. Their little daughter screamed and begged her papa to spare her mamma's life. De Lion answered that she would be better off without such a bad mamma, but he permitted Mrs. De Lion to leave the room. Again De Lion repented and acknowledged that he had wronged his wife, and pleaded for forgiveness. He said he would take a course of medical treatment to regain his health, when their happiness would be restored.

Mrs. De Lion went on to testify that on numerous occasions De Lion showed symptoms of insanity by accusing her of infidelity. Last week in Seattle he again threatened to kill the witness if she did not confess her infidelity. The witness refused, when De Lion struck her in the face and otherwise maltreated her. Mrs. De Lion pleaded to have her life spared for her children's sake. On another occasion in Tacoma the accused struck and beat his wife while laboring under the temporary hallucination of Mrs. De Lion's unwifely conduct. She testified that a scene was enacted that aroused the neighborhood. The witness said she had not been consulted about bringing this proceeding.

On cross-examination Mrs. De Lion testified that she was addicted to the morphine habit, taking one-fourth of a grain per diem. She said she acquired the habit at her husband's solicitation. She admitted that she was very nervous and took the drug to quiet her nerves. The witness became quite exhausted under the close examination of Judge Maxwell.

The defense scored an important point when it developed the fact that Mrs. De Lion was a slave to the morphine habit. M. F. Hamilton was called, and testified that De Lion had told him of his wife's infidelity, and that he had written her several letters to the same effect.

Letters written by the captain were introduced and read to the jury, which accused his wife of infidelity, using obscene insinuations which are unfit for publication. While the letters were being read De Lion temporarily left the courtroom. In a letter to Mrs. Hamilton he specifically states that Mrs. De Lion is yet addicted to the morphine habit and that she uses from four to six grains daily. No threats of personal violence to any person were made in the letters.

Dr. Hill and Dr. Sharples, of Seattle, were in attendance to testify to the sanity of the accused. Ex-Judge M. K. Sachs and ex-Judge T. N. Maxwell, of Seattle, H. Brinker, United States district attorney, D. W. Jameson, county auditor, and A. E. Coleman appeared in the case.

Court resumed at 7:30 o'clock this evening by the further examination for the prosecution.

At the evening session De Lion's two children, aged 7 and 9, testified that he had given them injections frequently to relieve their ailments. They corroborated their mother's story relative to their father's threats. On cross-examination they did not change their story in any essential feature, although they modified the accusations of infidelity made by De Lion of his wife. The jury will probably take the case under consideration tomorrow night.