The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-03-28 00:00:00

THE CONVICT LIMON.

Lamson wu visited on Monday by hie aged father,
who remained some time in the c .n.lemned cell. Tbe
culpr t made n a lution to h • crime. lab alth he is
mach improved. thoogh at night he is restless and di.
tubed. Lamson i, never left without two war fere in
his room, and be coover. very little. He wee engaged
writing letters. chiefly of a busied.; eiaracter, aud in
reeding devotional worke pl.cei at his dl.posal by the
chaplain. Mr.. Latnun vi.itel her husband on the
some day, secoompanied by • friend. She Lista' satisfied
of the convict'. inn clime, and hie friends are energeti-
cally working to prove toe morbid stem of his mind for
same months pelt. The memorial to be sent to the
Home decretery will be confined chiefly to the fact
that he has al .vaye shown a diet) leitho to exaggerate,
mod pinc, he commenced the u.e of morphi• be ha,
been alt unaccountable for his action.. Mr.
Mille, elicitor t the c ...denned men, viiitel lurn.on
in the evening at IVen,l.worth. He fund him quite
calm, and able io tale of bueineei affairs, but occedon-
elly he seemed to wand.r from the subject of c inver.
. Ration to s .me iiffereot topic. There is no doubt he
I fully realises hie dreadful poiition, and in reply to •
q .estion put to him hewed he ha I no fear for himself,
• but he though.. much more for hi. relatives.
Mr. A. W. Mill , the c mvict's edicitor, continues
to receive many lettere, pat ticulerly from medical men,
relative to the action of morph' • m the human b
Yesterday morning several gentlemen called upon him
ti make suggesil es with r4er•nce t • the memnrid
to the Home Secretary which is now In course of
preparat on. (i.e geoilem an came from Bouroe-
mouth, where h.kii.w the pri.ouer intima,ely, and
has made a stat Anent to the effect that be had per.
sonelly, while in his comp .ny, seen him inject m .rphi•
into his arm, es often as twenty times a day. He deo
states that the co .viet's friends Mule believe I •
word .if the eto ies lie told, bec..u.s, knowing his habits
so well, they regarded him as eufferiog from •deordered
brain. _ _

• 0 many atatements iprrju Heist to the cmdemned
men latmom have bees publi-hed day after day that
It is oily right that any authenticated testmony on
the other el la shoo .1 hove the widest publicity. All
the world in ,we that tni, man has been freely charged
with min.{ sham tit'e., sham decoratioos, chain
cheques, an•l that there is too much re., t • bell-vs
that there is Tiod foundation for these allegations. An
anonymous letter, on the other hand, was published,
written by one who had known him during the Russo.
Turkish War, speaking in the hkkest manner of
Lamson's courage sod humanity. That tatalattatY ii
now confirmed by an officer who de fame that he owes
his life to Laniall'a UP eearied oars and dieinterested
kindness. Captain tialuabury's letter is moat emphatic.
113 first mole Dr. Lamson's acquaintance in the
Servian War in 1176, and the foliowing ye.r, when
Captain Salusbury was sent flow Plevna to Bucharest,
apparently •Iyin.; of fever, Dr. Lamson WM untiring in
his exertions oh behalf af his frieul. ant actually re-
fused I. receive any recompense for his services.
Captaiu lialtiabory's letter is hardly likely to convince
any one that Lams •n cold not have committed the
crime ••f• which he atanda c ,nvicted ; there have been
murderers not a few whose earlier record has shown
acts of c•iuragr, gmtliness, a• d seUdenlal. LAMOOn
is not the fir•t man who has faced the dangers and
lia••lahip. of • campaizn, and yet could not face
le•yerty without f ig Iwo rrime. In one way, how-
ever, toe lett r of Copt .in Salosbury may be u eful to
those who sr • n•iw t obtain ',Triese for the
c ,ndeinel man. They &lege that L uns,m's mini
hat been impaired by he const oit use of morphia.
If they Can I love that this drug has the effeot which
they ascribe t' it, thair olea will be fortified by the
pr ,ifs given that ••nly air yearrn ago the c nduct of
Lams ,n at the seat of war was such as entitle i him to the
esteem, not only of threw who owed their lives to his
care, hut of the world at largs."—Eta '•
A writer in a London cobtemporarY an the defence
of Lamson says :—" Not disputing, or desiring to dis-
pute, the jartira of the verdict against Lamson yet it
is not sztief ant •ry that be. being an American, was not
better defen•led by a British b 'Ritter. The defence
bad naitker the b•ldneas n•r ori.inality reirild by the
case. It was all the Old Bailey thing. " Whg d d not
tha witness say that before the SO igiatrahl "Who
Mows what the &allot et an staiallagille alkaloid i.r

--
When I read the evidence I imagined that tke defence
owtoullble be founded 114:11,ien thca.,,,anpreoeut dents and character
been
that, tuiturek.i. b.L'T'enote.bgewcivjeuunreed,y ii had
a . Atnerican, of an impulsive race, whose manner
of action is qui'e inscrutable to tt• They o,ten
shoot one another without may precneduatioo,
isameon had been an amateur army surgeou.
where the nu/obey of the field would require him to
carry instrument' and medicine about with him. It
bee been related by tine who knew him abroad
th .1, siting at • public dinner where • guest
complain-a of pain from en eccAsib e tumour,
Lamson took out a lament Aid et 0500 Indeed I;
before the peach could give his coat)" At ~,,
In", • P'r-on uub.ic o divan). onnpiained of illwes,
when the 'p .c ame to m from his vat
lrrd recover
etaw
d thed-r mn n the
' rna'ziniitis sapowt.""llA immiued'iogrentaiin,
Wit'i en, h prompt way, would I:laterally glee remedies
to lialan lees whom he kuevir ti on aiaug ; cud a maa
en slut +able might for • moment forget the nature of
the medicine b had about bion Al he was known to
tate ohogerous rnmielies himself it would not be
we lerful if his gbing them • fatal quantity was an
unouuscious act. It semi Si tight eirange by 81r
Ferrer Herschel that L imam sh mid lave for the
Contineet immediately on giving a dose to the first
brother who died, an I that. he Ghoul I depart for Paris
alter dams the CAMS thug to the sin.nd brother. Buis
the journeys might be intertied, and he ui2iht have
paid the hurried visit to hi relatives. as it is jut what
an excitable man would do, leaving himself Or time to
be .refol am to what he did. Such acts of coincidence
occur to pers ins who have no orinaLai intention.
Chemists have been known t pison permus—not
only once, but twice—at interval,. A young surgeon
of the Univereity Hospital, London, who went out
with the Gerib.l'ii legiou (to which I was secretary)
shot a volunteer (young Mr. flotems, son of
• member of the Corporation of the City of London) as
he wan itsn'iing with his back to the
fire at his quieter" at Salerno, after eating
hie Chrietntas claimer. It was remembered that he
hal shut another man in • similar way, looliug
with a revolver. He w.,s nit even put upon his trial.
The sou were accounted for by his ex.:Unable nature.
Much hu been given in evidence in thi career of
Isamson that might have lent plausibility to this the nry.
Eveu his n-edy cuuditiou—the striation point egainst
him—might have been pleads lea scenes of his excite.
meat, w .ich led t the misadventure which looked
like guilt. I do unit mein that these suppositions
obliterate all the dernoing proofs against him, but
such an arduineht would h see canoed the Jury ic, have
spent more than thirty minuted making up their
minds, ad w nuld have created stnonger d .übts aa to
the verdict than ar-ee as is the Penge murder, that
might not be nesirable, but t.e public prefsr to eve
toe beet possible defence of a stranger.
It appears that it has not yet been decided whether
report-re shall he a mated to Wandsworth Prison
when the sioution of Lamson takes place. This rests
entirety with the High Mastiff of the county, the
gentleman at present holding that p nettion bang hir.
fritton, of Weybridge At the last moment several
ad iidous have beau mode to the memorial to the Hume
Secretu, for the reprieve of Lao rouricc.
prisoners sslicitor, saine.ed by one of the former's
rel•tinas, on Friday morn.ng carefully went over all
the documentary evidence hearing oil the case which
has been received since the trial, for the purpose of
eitug the piens let supp net oh time mem nine!. The
prieouer has only a general lea of wh .1 is being dune
on has bsuali, and it cancos be seal th .t he taker any
great interest iu the elf out of his flienda, or appeers to
dwell 'ouch OD n.e tact that an is under sultana of
de•lt. Hie 'esti° a hear from him every day, the
p wooer usually writing • ich of town • log letter
'lady. In sneerer to .M.ery loins attlreassa to bint
since Ms untense, he hai um ise bee no hoof...stun UP
make an I wial hive none. He has no fear of death,
and if hia brotheron-law, Percy John, net death at U.
haws it miss have beat by misadventure, fur he dose
not teaulect ever having entertained one thought
ragaiiiet toe oor's
tvi lenoe of Lams ~.'s insanity continuNi to acctunua
la e eeery dsy ir ,in America. tin uis late visit tot •
Coned 5... e, it 1. sho vo hit. he was guilty of the
nest en• 15.01. W 13ary 6- fat will's, which Mal the
effect on c mviuciug ever, one test his mind wee
sbenutely deranged. On one "cud 'nit is ststed by
triend whi wag staying with bun am Cbri t :burets,
New York, tent he saw Lament in toe mid de
of a but siring day stsndiug in the noel with his
teat aunt hat off, inj,ctiug tauphia iot., hie arm.
Toe noisy in. o .mpie.ing the meininal fir • respite
is utameeue luy the vat number f c,mmunisnal
which are being received concerning the prhadier'a
isooentaLities.