The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-04-11 00:00:00

THE CONVICT LAMBON.

Both the father and wife of the prirsoner visited
Wandsworth Gaol on Sunday, and bad a long inter-
view ith him. They found thst the news of the respite
bad been communicated to him on Saturday. Lamson
was calm and collo teL He expressed himself deep,'
grat ful fr the favour of the anthoritiee, but said that
he knew it was merely a respite, and that he was not
to hope. The prisoner's solicit.rr has received a large
number of communications from persona both in
America and this country, who had known the convict,
regarding his marital condition. In Amerion six affida-
vit. have been prepared, and others are in comae of
preparation. showing the convict'. state .if mind during
the whole of Isst summer. These declarations are of
the strongest character as to his mental unsoundness,
and are in support of o:hers which cover a period of 16
moni he prior ti 14h-ember, 1881. Lantsou'e
on Monday received an dher telegram from the United
:stsfea, to the effect Oast further evidence Llie trans-
pired with regard to the alleged ins inky of the prisoner,
and that the proofs were is course of preparation in
order to be despatched by the next mall fur England.

Nzw YORK, Monday Night.

As considerable interest has been evidently taken in
the attitude a lopted by thy Government with refer.
once to the convict Lamson, I forward some particulars
of the documentary evi lenci on his behalf which will
be laid b fore Sir William Harcourt, by detire of the
President. The facts or allegations contained in them
have been carefully weighed by Mr. Attorney. General
Brewster, who has advised President Arthur a. to the
right course to be permed, acid whose advics the
Preskt .nt ha I takea.

The representations on behalf of Dr. Lamson have
hem made at th- ins.igation, partly of people who are
opposied to the idea of capital luniohcneat. and partly
by those who act in the affair out of a feeling of pity
for 1.41=11011.1$ father, who is a clergyman. For this
re mon nearly all the signature. to the petithal on his
behalf are thwe of respectable persons, and mostly
Ono', of minietere of religion.
. .

When the Alaska steam-ship arrives in England
she will bring with her the affidavit it Dr. Nicholas,
Superintendent of the Bloomingdale Bloom Asylum,
who gives • great deal of conjectural evidence as to the
convict and crime. According to Dr. Nicholas, the
aunt. maternal gran knottier, and great uncle of
',sumo were insane, and died in the Bloomingdale
Moim Asylum. Lamson, he holds, has • hereditary
taint of iosality in his constitution. It is not stated
how it is poeible to prove that a man who conducted
himself and his &Holt' with so much shrewdness
and deliberation a. did Lamson, must be held mad
because his aunt and his grandmother died ins lunatic
asylum.
Ano•her string point made is that Lamson had •
mania for giving people aconite. He considored, say
some A hi. professional brethren here, that aconi,e warn
the universal panacea for all diseases. He was under
the delusion that it would core everything, and he
gave it in perfect good faith to his brother-in-law for
curative purpose. It is true that amongst homuso-
pathista aconite take, the place of the lancet among
the allopaths of olden times. But Lamson's profes-
sional friends here are apparently oblivious of the fact
that even practitioners of this school do not administer
the drug as • "general panacea" in such strong doses
as to kill people.
Mr. Attorney-General Webster hal officially advised
President Arthur that had this fact a. to Lamson's
mania for preamibing aconite come before the jury,
they would have returned a different verdict.
The better opinion here is that bad the Attorney.
General studied the case as it was presented by both
the prosecution and defence, he would hove modified
the language in which he urges the President to appeal
for • rempita.—Sfandard.

On Tuesday aftern on, Mr. Mills, Lamson's
solicitor, bad an interview with him in his cell at
Wandsworth Gaol. The c versation wasstrictly con-
fine I to bueinees matters, and lasted but a short time.
It seems that the news of a respite was conveyed to
the culprit shortly wrier six o'clock on Saturday night
He was then, and had been for some days previously,
in a very deepondint state of mind, and ha I complained
of bein: unwell. The moment, however, he heard of
the respite, his spirits seemed to revive, and his rest at
ni,:ht had been lees disturbed than at any time dur-
ing his inclrceratioo. lie now has an unioubted
belief, notwithstanding all that ham been told him to
the contrary, that the final sentence of the law will not
be carried into effect ; end although he says nothing
with reference to his crime, he seems to have implizit
faith in those who are veorkinr in hi. behalf. Lamson,
-Itliongh far more robast in appearance than when
first taken into custody, still has dreamy intervale,
when he a .pear. unable to give an answer to a straight-
forward filleetill I. H 0 ha. no disposition to make any
statement to either the prison official, or his solicitor,
and it is believed by thee who know him beet that
whatever may be the result no confession will he forth-
coming. On Sunday, at uival, he attended the
services in the pri.oo chipol. He now writes hut
little, and employs him-elf chiefly in rea ling the
different devotional works which have been supplied to
him.

Mr. J. Alfred Wank'yr.*. writing in a Lumina paper
concerning the refusal of the Home Offi,e to allow
a third 'tort r ti be presmt at the post-mortem in
behalf of 1.01111•00, tote the following :—About ten
years ago b.kers were ten fined f•r putting alum in
nread, and in trisav ins auce., doubtles., they were
fined unjustly. At lat. an intelligent bakrr ir. p .red
• set of loaves, a .me alumed, and aome witho t alum,
and, having taken the requisite prmautiods ti iden-
tify the .ample., be suldtutted them for an lyei.. The
loves were analys..d, and the aliened bread we pro-
n..unceal to be free from alum, whi at the bread which
contained no alum dmnd .n be alumed. The
analysiat who accomplishe I that feat was int., of the
two gentlemen em..l)ye I by the pr....onion in Dr.
Lamson'a can-. There is high probability that Dr.
Laois It's representative might have ben as successful
as the baker.