Volume 11 , Issue 22

1936 - Edith Johnson's Column

The Oklahoman dated February 27, 1936, page 10, had this to say about Emma Willis and Mental Illness.

"Whether Emma Willis, tried for killing her father and acquitted in court in Anadarko yesterday, is actually insane, she hardly could pass through years of horror without being emotionally maimed in some degree. Other children in the Willis family, joint subjects of their father's unnatural conduct, his rages, and his outbursts of brutality may have come emotionally unbalanced also, if not so seriously affected as Emma may be. Nor will they be any the healthier mentally or emotionally for the experiences they have had since Emma killed her father. Every one of them may have a neurosis in the making, thanks to the horrible mental atmosphere they have known and the fear in which they have lived continuously.

"If Emma Willis is mentally sick, the father to whom she owes that affliction was far sicker. A man who abuses his children or permits an unnatural affection for one of them to develop is a mental invalid, one who ought not to be at large. Since Emma's father has passed beyond during in this world, one can only hope that his unhappy daughter may be healed and saved to become a useful member of society.

"Children of a brutal father or mother live in conflict and confusion, and they usually alternate between hysteria and self-control. In self-defense they build up metal resistance against the quarrels they bear or are drawn into, against the kinks and cuffs, the sharp rebukes and the punishments inflicted upon them. After a while they hardly can think of any but themselves, since they continually identify themselves with wounds and shocks inflicted upon them. Life or any one them is an endless tragedy even it it does not precipitate a killing as in the case of Emma Willis who in a moment of blind and terrified rage against her beastly father, seized a gun and shot him."
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