HUSBAND'S RETURN THWARTS TRAGEDY

Urbana Courier-Herald March 29, 1912

WIFE BECOMES INSANE DURING
HIS ABSENCE.
Three-year-old Boy Alone With Demented Mother —Imagined Child
Had Been Called to Heaven.

When George Morgan, a postal clerk on the Illinois Central, went on his run the other day, he left his wife and three-year-old son, a beautiful child, happy and in good health. When he returned late Monday afternoon he found the little fellow terrified at the queer actions of his mother, who had become a raving maniac during his absence. She told him that God had called her and the boy to heaven, and Morgan believes that his return prevented a double tragedy.

Is Adjudged Insane
Mrs. Morgan of Champaign was adjudged insane and committed to the Eastern Illinois Hospital at Kankakee, by a jury in county court on Thursday afternoon. The jury was composed of Dr. J. Bartholow, John Heppe, Jesse M. Sadorus, George Riley. R, A. Sturgeon and Z. Alsip. The case is a peculiar one. Mrs. Morgan had never manifested symptoms of insanity until last Monday. When her husband returned from his run that evening she refused to prepare his supper, and when he started to get the evening meal for himself and their little son, she run screaming out of doors, alarming the neighborhood

She finally was quieted and returned to the house. Even then Morgan did not realize that she had lost her reason, thinking that something dreadful had happened during his absence to agitate her.

Fears For Child's Life.
Mrs. Morgan had always been devoted to the little boy, but that night when he asked her to put him to bed she replied, "I don't want anything to do with you." Then she told her husband that God had called her and the child to heaven. Morgan then realized that something was seriously wrong, and fearing that she would kill herself and the boy, called a physician. Several medical men have examined the unfortunate woman, but are unable to explain the cause of her sudden attack of insanity.

"I knoow something is the matter with me," she said on the witness stand. "There's something pressing against my brain."

Prior to her marriage Mrs. Morgan was Miss Susie K.Birch, for many years bookkeeper for W. Lewis & Co.