Jury Rules Joe Lytle Not of Sound Mind When He Killed His Wife, Sept. 9, 1922

Commit Lytle to State Insane Criminal Ward. . . Physician Testifies Man Who Slew Wife Was of Unsound Mind

Joe Lytle, who stabbed to death his wife on August 5 at Black Mountain, will be committed immediately to the State Asylum for the Criminal Insane for treatment.

Overwhelming evidence was introduced before the jury Friday to show that Lytle was demented, and the case was not contested. The court ordered the Jury to answer the issue whether or not the defendant was insane and unable to enter a plea to the bill of indictment and conduct his defense. An affirmative answer was returned within a short time by the body.

Appearing for the defendant with Attorney Mark W. Brown. Among those who testified in the case were Mr. and Mrs. Lytle, parents of the slayer; Mrs. Plemmons of Black Mountain, mother of the deceased; and a brother and sister of the dead woman.

In substance the witness told the court Lytle had been insane since last January. He slightly recovered and for a short time was employed by the Mount Mitchell Motor Road Company. Afterwards he suffered a nervous breakdown, they said, and his health continued to fail. He could not sleep and complained of pains over his eyes.

A few days prior to the killing, it was stated, Lytle begged his family to send him away for treatment as he feared he might harm is wife or one of his small children. Physicians advised the family to get the subject off the mind of Lytle and he might show improvement.

Dr. W.B. Meacham told the court it was his opinion the slayer was not of sound mind.

A few minutes before the tragedy, Mrs. Lytle ran out of her house to the woodshed to escape her husband who had threatened her. Lytle followed and stabbed her with a small pocket knife. The woman ran back to the house and hid herself. Later one of the children found her, but she died before medical aid could be administered. It taxed the strength of eight or nine men to subdue the enraged man, who was tied to the back porch until Deputy Sheriffs arrived.

Lytle will undergo treatment at the State Hospital at Raleigh.

From the front page of the Asheville Citizen, Saturday, Sept. 9, 1922