Sept. 3—HIGH POINT — When a High Point woman's throat was slashed during the summer of 1936, some observers called it one of the strangest murder cases they'd ever seen — not because of the slaying itself, but because of what happened to the alleged killer after he was arrested.
According to newspaper accounts, Arthur Boggs was overcome by a medical condition called catalepsy, an almost trance-like state — some articles even described Boggs as "comatose" — that caused his body to become rigid and insensitive to pain. He couldn't eat, speak or move... which, of course, made it difficult for prosecutors to try him for first-degree murder.
Eighty-six years later, we can't help but wonder — as some folks must've wondered in 1936 — was Boggs truly ill? Or had he devised a clever strategy for avoiding the death penalty?
Our story begins on the evening of June 17, 1936, around 9 pm, when Naomi Burnett Bower was found lying by the road near Homestead Avenue, bleeding profusely and groaning, with a deep, ear-to-ear gash in her neck. By the next morning, she would be dead ... but not before pointing the finger at 42-year-old Arthur R. Boggs as the man who'd slashed her throat with a long paring knife. Boggs initially denied cutting the woman, but later claimed he'd cut her in self-defense.
The two appear to have been lovers — the cab driver who drove them to Homestead Avenue that night said they were "all lovey-dovey" in the back seat before he dropped them off — but even lovers fight sometimes.
At his arraignment, Boggs "stared in space as though he was not conscious of what was happening," The High Point Enterprise reported.
That was a mere precursor of what was to come.
A week later, The Enterprise reported that for the past several days, Boggs had been "in a state of muscular rigidity and insensible to pain." He had been diagnosed with catalepsy, which we contacted an expert about for a better understanding.
"Catalepsy is characterized by muscle rigidity, or 'waxy flexibility' in which limbs of the patient can be manipulated into positions and remain there," explained Dr. Ruth Benca, professor and chair of psychiatry and behavioral medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. "Usually there is decreased pain sensation, as well."
Such symptoms, she said, can be associated with catatonic schizophrenia, but can also be caused by epilepsy or Parkinson's disease.
Whatever the cause, that sure sounds like the symptoms Boggs was experiencing.
"All efforts to induce mobility into the man have failed," The Enterprise reported. "He is perfectly stiff. If stood up, he remains standing, provided propped. If laid across his cot, he remains in that horizontal position. If one leg is raised, the other comes up, too. And, they fall simultaneously."
Hypodermic needles didn't faze him, nor did other items that would normally cause pain.
"Boggs' eyes are closed, his mouth shut, his fists clenched," one article stated. "If he sees, hears or feels anything, there is not even a faint outward indication of it."
The prisoner's bizarre condition prompted hundreds of phone calls, letters and telegrams from individuals suggesting what could be done to help the man. Some of them, no doubt, also expressed the opinion that the only illness Boggs had was the acting bug — and he deserved an Academy Award. Why else would he just coincidentally develop these symptoms after being charged with first-degree murder, knowing he could potentially face the electric chair or the gas chamber?
We asked Benca about someone faking catalepsy, and she said there's something called factitious catalepsy, "where a patient is consciously aware that they are pretending to have a symptom."
She said it's also possible, however, that the symptoms were caused by psychological stress — say, for example, the shock of being charged with murder or the fear of facing the death penalty.
So maybe Boggs was faking, but maybe not — we'll never know.
As the catalepsy dragged into its second week, further delaying the possibility of a trial, The Enterprise reported, "(Boggs) has been given his food through a tube, and except for the beating of his heart, he appears to be dead."
Finally, one month to the day after Boggs allegedly slit his lover's throat, he was hauled into court — literally — and plopped down on a chair, still as rigid as a statue. But Boggs was not in court to face trial — he was there for a hearing to determine his mental competence.
Among those testifying were the county health director and Sheriff Joe Phipps. As Phipps approached the witness stand, he raised Boggs' arm to about a 75-degree angle. The arm remained in that position for about two minutes before it slowly started descending again.
Not surprisingly, the judge committed Boggs to Dix Hill, a hospital for the mentally ill in Raleigh. It appears he may have remained hospitalized for the rest of his life. When he died in 1982, he was a resident at John Umstead Hospital, a psychiatric care facility in Butner.
As best as we can determine, Boggs never served a day for the slaying of Naomi Bower. Not that he should have if he truly had a mental illness, but that still didn't make it any easier for Bower's family.
jtomlin@hpenews.com — 336-888-3579