Hansford: Mental Defectives in County H., Indiana 39 
by swallowing paris green but was saved by the doctors. He 
was with his father and uncle in the Borden scrape. It is 
said that he will steal, lie, or light with only half a chance. 
He married a daughter of Lloyd Faris. He is said to be very 
abusive toward her, knocking her down, etc. It seems that 
she can take care of herself, for he often appears at his work 
with long scratches on his face. He is a farm tenant on Paul 
Johnson’s place in Township 4. Mr. Johnson says that he 
is a good worker. 
Mrs. Herbert Morris has always been high-strung and ir- 
ritable, and since the birth of her last child has been decidedly 
unbalanced. She has attacked her husband several times with- 
out provocation. Once she took her baby to the creek and 
tried to drown it. She has threatened to kill herself a number 
of times. She has 2 small children. 
Minnie, second daughter of Robert Morris, married a 
Trent. 
Albert, third child of Robert, is 26 years old and runs 
the farm for his mother. He is said to be a good sort of a 
boy. 
Della, fourth child of Robert Morris, first married a Beard, 
whom she divorced to marry John Guinn. She is now sepa- 
rated from John and is in Stonetown where she is one of the 
low-class prostitutes of the town, (Shortly after the writ- 
ing of this history, Della was committed to the Southeastern 
Hospital for the Insane, and received a diagnosis of Hunting- 
ton’s chorea.) 
Bessie, fifth child of Robert Morris, is 14 years old and 
in the eighth grade in school. She barely does average work 
in school which fact may be due to a poor physical condition. 
She has a bad throat and lungs and almost every year suffers 
an attack of pneumonia or cold. 
Harmon Burns was the second child of the old prostitute 
who is the common ancestor of this group. His father is 
said to have been a man named James Brown. At one time 
the Browns were noted counterfeiters in the neighborhood. 
Harmon’s children sometimes go by the name of Brown as 
well as that of Bums. He married a Kelley and has 3 children 
that we know of: Ethel, who married Mose Morris; Rose, 
the wife of Ike Booth ; and Annie, the second wife of Samuel 
Morris. Harmon was insane for a number of years before 
