The Press. — London, England, 1858-08-28 00:00:00

THE PRESS, AUGUST 28, 1858. arges. lie stated that at Welshpool she was not e in a state of sobriety ; and that some one had im properly conducted himself towards her. I frequently s aw Mr. Ruck at Moorcroft, but did not converse to him about his wife. My practice is not to mention to lunatics the subject uf their articular delusions. 1 endea vo ur, if possible, to let p those delusions die away of themselves. I regret to have to speak in such terms of Mr. Ruck, because he is a person every one must like, but I consider that it would be a cruel thing to remove liim from restraint. That he entettains delusions of a most gross and insane kind there can be no doubt; they are of a nature to prompt him to dangerous actions. A man who imagines his wife to be so grossly wicked is likely, if a person of strong feelings, to make some attempt upon her life, or under the influence of despair upon Lis own. Mr. Ruck made statements to me about Lis wife's misconduct so late as the 18th of June. I remonstrated with him, and asked him what proof he could give of it. [He gave a reason which cannot he printed.] He added that it was sa notorious that the very drovers on the road knew all about it. My opinion of his insanity is founded, not on these state. 3uents only, but on his reserve with regard to his delusions. In real cases of cure patients generally express their surprise that they could ever have entertained such hallucinations ; but Mr. Ruck avoided the subject, and his reserve appeared to be growing on him. I think it would decidedly be unsafe at present to let him go at large. Crossexamined by Mr. JAMES : I have seen Mr. Ruck since June, and had conversations with him. Since then I have not spoken on the subject of his delusions with him. I think Mr. Ruck will recover, and I think he would be bet ter now if nothin g had interfered with the wholesome discipline and quiet of the asylum. I think when a patient is decidedly insane nothing can be worse for him than to attend consultations with his counsel. I think Mr. Ruck was not in a condition to take part in the proceedings that have no doubt been had with reference to this inquiry. lam a consulting physician at Itloorcroft. I do not receive a salary, but consultation fees. They are paid to me by the executors of my late lamented friend, Dr. Stillwell, through whom I first became connected with the asylum. I consider that lam not " connected " with the asylum in the sense con• templated by the act. I send male patients there because I have no house myself for gentlemen. I am not the regular medical attendant, and I am not responsible for the treatment. During the last year I have sent there, lam afraid, very few patients. I do not recollect receiving either a letter or a verbal communication from Dr. Stillwell to the effect that there was no ground for detaining Mr. Ruck. I never heard of his doing any act of violence; but a man may be very dangerous, end yet may have never committed an act of violence. Reexamined by Mr. CHAMBERS: Habits of intern perance will produce insanity. The first. test of recovery from delusion is the patient's giving over all that course of conduct which had resulted from it ; afterwards he generally confesses that it was a delu sion. For instance, I had a patient who, when he ree.overed, said to me, " I don't know how it was, but whenever you called I thought you were the Arch bishop of Canterbury !" Mr. Ruck never made any admission of his error. On the contrary, his delusion appeared to grow upon him, and he used stronger language in reference to it. I recommended Moor' mutt because I have perfect confllence in that estab lishment. I consider flint Mr. Ruck is still insane, liecause he has never manifested the slightest change of feeling towards his wife, or desire to atone for his gross and cruel suspicions respecting her conduct. The inquiry was then adjourned. THIRD DAY. Oa Wednesday morning the inquiry was continued• The :pace at the end of the hall devoted to the public was thronged throughout the sitting. A con siderable part of the day was occupied with the examination of the alleged lunatic himself, who Mated what he had to say in a uniformly calm, rational manner, entirely free from excitement or extrsvaganco of any kind. He occupied a seat near the foreman of the jury, and told his story in an easy otl'-h,tu•l style across the table,—occasionally jocular, when the matter justified it—addressing himself to the Commissioner, by whom the examination was chiefly conducted. At one time, on being asked Incidentally if he was not happy to see his wife in court on the preceding day, he replied that be was, and manifested fur a moment a little natural emotion. Dis examination lasted upwards of an hour, and, although always self-pm sessed, he appeared to grow the more collected the longer it continued. Dr. Stillwell was the first witness examined, and was followed by two witnesses named Weller and brown, assistants at Moorcroft house Asylum. Mr. Rucx, the alleged lunatic, was next called, and, in answer to questions put by the Commissioner !aid I have been present during the whole of this' That is my misfortune, though it has not disturbed me very much. I have heard the whole of the evidence. I was in a confused and agitated state of mind when I entertained these suspicions about my wile. I was caught up and put into this asylum at Moorcroft without having had any oppor tunity of investigating the circumstances. I merely wished fur inquiry, and as soon as I had been satis fied that there were no grounds for my suspicions I should have abandoned them. If I could have spoken to my brother-in law, Mr. Fisher, there would have been no occasion for my going to Moorcroft at all. I had been drinking about the time 1 had these delusions. 1 have not seen my wife since February until yesterday. I was very happy to see her looking so well ; and my mind is quite disabused of all these impressions I had respecting her. From the state I was in at that time I fancied that the gentleman who got into the mail on the way to Welshpool placed his band upon my wife, and I thought some thing was wrong. Since about that time I have not been intoxicated ; but on Monday evening last, on the occasion spoken to by the attemlant, I was a little elated after dinner. As I got well, the suspicions nearly vanished. I cannot say they were entirely removed from my mind, and I wished to ascertain if there were any grounds for them. I asked my solicitor, Mr. Wainwright, to investigate the facts. Though I was under those notions for a time, the facts have been now investigated to my satisfaction. The COMMISSIONER : What. means has your solicitor taken to investigate the facts? Mr. Rucx : Ample means, I believe ; and he took a very long journey to do so. He made the investi gation at my request, and after ha told me the result I said, "'That will do;' or something of the sort. I could not disabuse my mind before that investigation. The COMMISSIONER: That. investigation having been made, you are satisfied ? Mr. Rum( : Perfectly satisfied. The investigation he made has satisfied me that my suspicions were purely imaginary. The COMMISSIONER: It would be satisfactory to the jury to know the facts on which you have come to that conclusion. Mr. RUCK: I believe that the gentleman who travelled with us to Welshpaol had not seen my wife in the previous part of the morning. That was one of my suspicions. I had also a suspicion that Mary Jones came and lay by my side at Welshpool. It turns out that Mary Jones was never at Welshpool at all at that. time. Having felt those suspicions, I could not rest. until I had satisfied myself that. they were groundless. I was boand to investgate them. Another circumstance is that I made a mistake about the name of the gentleman who travelled with us in the mail to Welshpool. I find his name is Bailey, and not Peach, which I supposed it to be. It is pos eible in the excitement undee which I laboured that I conceived many things true which were not. I can only say that I don't think onytbing more of them. I wished an investigation to he made at Reading when I was there, but I was prohibited from seeing any of my friends or writing to them. It was on the 11th of June last that. Mr. Wainwright communicated to me the result of his investigation. I have not seen Mary Jones since I left her at my own house. The children are an unfortunate affair. 1 don't know Iwhere they are now. I have never seen the chi ldren I had by her. The COMMISSIONER : Do you think they are living? Mr. Mice: Well, I suppose they are. She refused to give me any information about them. She would never say whether they were alive or what she had done with them. She ought to have satisfied me about that. The CommtssrosEe . What was your motive for locking her up ? Mr. Rucx : On returning home on one occasion she was so drunk that I locked her up until she was sober, and wive her some tea. Mr. Wainwright did not go into the matter of the childr. n. I was induced by one circumstance to think that my wile bad been unfaithful to me, and that. was when she told one of the girls in the house that. she would do the same by me as I ba.l done by her. 1 wrote a most affectionate letter to my wife the day after I went to Moorcroft. I wished to see her more than I did at Moorcrolt, but the doctors would not allow her to see me, on the ground that I was not well enough to receive her, and I thought it useless any longer to ask to see her. Besides, after 1 left. Reading I requested her to remain there, hut instead of doing that she went off about a fortnight afterward. She also unpacked my luggage, although I had written to her not to pry into my private affairs. I was very much grieved by that. The Commissmaxe : Why did you not communicate to her that your suspicions had been dispelled? Mr. Rucx : Because I had then got n otice of this commission, which I thought was a most cruel thing towards me. If she had not issued this commission and had allowed me to institute this inquiry, every thing would have been arranged satisfactorily. I have lived in this country all my life, and I could not understand that such a thing would have been permitted as the sending me to Moorcro ft in the wa) in which I was sent there. I suspected my wife on 835 insufficient grounds, and now that my suspicions are removed I am satisfied. There is no foundation whatever for my suspicions that she was criminal with other men. I made those charges under excite ment arising from drink. I had been quiet up to within a week of my leaving Pantlludw, and able to transact any business. I went to amuse myself in shooting three or four days, and then the weather changed. I druvo about the country to different places to amuse myself, and took drink, and that accounts partly for the state in which I was fotind. I have very little doubt that Mary Junes tore the cot and shawl. _ In reply to further questions put by the Commis sioner and the jury, Mr. Rack explained, among other things, how the poisoning of the dog was as accident. He denied the truth of the story told by Mr. Thurston of his (Mr. Ruck) having kicked him in the stomach, and he added that he had frequently had to place Mr. Thurston on his pony, after leaving the dinner table, and see him on his road home. He (Mr. Ruck) had on several occasions expressed his sorrow at the pain he had given her. He was in an excited state all the time he was at Welslipool, and bad a general suspicion that his wile had been un• faithful to him. It was from the absence of evidence, rather than from the investigation of particular facts, that his mind bad been relieved. lie stated, as a reason for giving Mr. Barnett in charge to a policeman, that Mr. Barnett, when he came in pursuit of hits. collared him in a ruffianly way. He VMS now satisfied that. the suspicion lie had enter tained of Mr. Barnett poisoning his wine was an erroneous one. He treated with contempt the story told by David Arnold about his having offered Arnold 300/. to sleep with his wife, adding that the man was a notorious liar. He continued to bay his (Mr. Ruck's) property realized about 1.5001. a year, the greater part of it being in Kent. He had expended about 5001. in opening a slate quarry in Wales, from which he expected a good return. He had not entered into mining enterprizes without ascertaining the opinion of competent men. By the COMMISSIONER: He bad for some years lived unhappily with his wife, and been in conse quence very wretched. He desired to be separated from her, because he understood that she did not wish to live with him. Dr. Sutherland and Dr. Forbes Winslow were also examined. The latter witness deposed that he saw Mr. Huck on the 9th of /thy last at Moorcroft. He saw him in tit . garden, and walked about with him. He had had some previous information about his malady. It was the best part of an hour before Mr. Ruck would touch upon the delusions under which he laboured, and then he said he would make a clean breast of it. He said his wife's conduct bad been so infamous thst he could not forget it. Witness suggested that he might possibly be under a mistake. He replied the facts were such as he could never overlook, and that he never could live with her again. He gave instances of his wife's infidelity, and these Mr. Winslow repeated. Witness added that after due inquiry lie could come to no other conclu sion than that bis delusions arose from his own dis • tempered fancy, and lie did rot now think that they had entirely passed from his mind. Besides, they were of a nature likely to relapse if Mr. Itnek ever again gate way to intemperance. He (witness) had a gentleman once under his care who admitted to him that all his delusions had vanished, and expressed great regret that he had ever entertained them. That gentleman was liberated by witness's desire, and in less than three Jays he was found with a carving knift secreted in his sleeve, and in the act of going into e lonely part of the country. He would suggest a different mode of treatment of Mr. Ruck coupled with a little gentle supervision. He could not take upon hiraszlf to recommend his liberation, but by a little modification of treatment it was probable he might recover. Cross examined by Mr. JAMES : He thought patients in an asylum ought to have frequent com munication with their friends, and that every facility should be afforded for investigation into their mental condition whenever it was desired. By Mr. CHAMBERS : Ho would not recommend his • liberation, but he would suggest a course of treat ment in which he was permitted every reasonable latitude consistent with the state of his mind front time to time. Dr. CONOLIX was recalled, and stated that, after hearing the evidence of Mr. Ruck, his previous opinion of his mind was modified, but not removed. He thought that lie was better, but he had expected, after what be (witness) had stated yesterday, that he would have entirely denied that he still entertained his delusions. Mr. RUCK was recalled and stated in answer to the Court that his belief was that Miss Jones must have torn the coat and shawl up when he locked her in the room. Mr. Sergeant BALLANTINE then summed up the case on the part of Mrs. Ruck. lie submitted the question the jury had to try was nut now what was Mr. Buck's state in October or November last, bat -•1