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

COMMISSION OF LUNACY.

ON Monday a commission of lunacy was opened
before Mr. Commissioner Winslow and a special jury,
in the large ball of St. Clement's•inn, Strand, for the
purpose of ascertaining the state of mind of Lawrence
Ruck, Esq., of Sittinghourne, Kent, and Montgomery-
shire.

Mr. Montagn Chambers, Q.C., Mr. Sergeant Bal-
lantine, and Mr. Vaughan, appeared for the petitioner
(the wife of the alleged lunatic), and \lr. Edwin
James, Q.C., Mr. Sergeant Petersdorff, and Mr.
Gordon Allen fur the alleged lunatic, who was present
from the commencement._

This gentleman is a military•looking, rciddle•aged
mau, with a dark moustache, and having nothing in
his appearance indicative of insanity to an ordinary
observer. He was seated behind his counsel, Mr. E.
James, with whom he frequently communicated, as if
suggesting questions for cross-examination.

After a short address from the Commissioner in
opening the proceedings,
Mr. MONTAGU CHAMBERS, Q.C., proceeded to open
the case. Their duty, lie said, was to inquire into
the state of mind of a gentleman, named Lawrence
Huck, possessed of considerable property, who con-
ducted himself with the greatest decorum and affec-
tion towards all his family till last year, when it was
found necessary to place him under the care of Dr.
Stillwell, the proprietor of an asylum at fling(len,
near Uxbridge, on the sili of November. As this
was a case of the utmost importance to his wife,
children, and himself, lie (the learned counsel)
begged the attention of the jury while he entered
into some details. Mr. Buck was possessed of pro-
perty in Kent and elsewhere to the extent of about
1,5001. a year, and seventeen years ago he was rimmed.
iu the daughter of Mr. Matthews, of Pantllndw, 10
Montgomeryshire, where he went to live. He took
the lease of a house lint? grounds there, which being
in a dilapidated condition needed repairs,
but
never had those repairs effected. lie lived with his
greatest possible happiness,
wife and children in thehe
until at last there appeared to be certain delusions in
his mind, which bad the effect of entirely changing

834

his conduct. It was noticed by various members of
the family, and by the domestics and the neighbours,
that he was peculiar and eccentric in his manners in
1855 and 1851 i, when ho gave way to habits of intern-
pet &nee. He ( Mr. Chambers) should show evidence
that in 1855 Mr. Ruck exhibited unmistakeable indi-
cations of a disordered mind. lie was excessively
restless ; would get up at all hours of the night, and
wander about ; would call up his servants and order
the horses to be put to the carriage, and be driven
over the most desolate parts of that country (Wales)
in the dead of the night without any apparent object.
On one occasion he made the coachman drive him
through the river, and on several nights he made his
wife get up and go out with him. One erroneous
impression under which he laboured was, that his
estates abounded with copper and tin mines. Things
retrained in this state ttll October, 1857, when the
unfortunate gentleman had, on returning from the
Manctester Exhibition, so behaved that it was found
necessary to call in ft burgeon. He laboured under
the delusion the'. everybody wanted to poison him.
On one occasion he went to a neighbouring inn, and,
with a loaded gun and pistol, intimidated every one
who came in his way. He ordered dinner and a bottle
of wine, and instead of eating in the usual way, he
picked the meat with his ringers and poured the wine
into the chamber utensil. A most extraordinary
circumtoance occurred about this time. A girl named
Mary Jones, a niece of Mts. Ruck, was always sup-
posed to be a virtuous girl until the change in the
mind of Mr. Ituck, when it was found she had had
two illegitimate children by him. Without any
foundation whatever he swore that she had murdered
these children. Another, and pt.rhaps the most im•
portant, of the delusions was that his wife was untrue
to him. In various places he charged her with being
a common street-walker and everything else that was
bad. He even went so tar as to bay that the very
navigators on the railway knew his wile .better than
he did. Mr. Chambers proceeded to describe various
acts of the alleged lunatic, and said he should bring
evidence to prove to the jury that the unfortunate
gentleman was cot capable of conducting his own
affairs.

The evidence adduced was of the kind common in
such cases, the witnesses consisting partly of gentle-
men of Mr. Ruck's acquaintance, and partly of his
sarvants. At the adjournment of the court,

Mr. JAMES applied. for Mr. Rack to be spared the
excitement of being taken backward and turwaid to
Uxbridge every day during the inquiry, and said that
it would be advisable that he should be allowed to
remain at some hotel or other place in L-indon,
where he would have an opportunity of conferring
with his legal advisers.
Mr. CHAMBERS said he was not instructed to offer
any opposition to the application, if the court thought
fit to accede to it.

The CONMISPIONF.R said he thought the application
was a very reasonable one.
Ds. &mamma. reminded the court that he had no
power to allow any person who was consigned to his
custody as a lunatic to remain out of the establish-
ment for twenty-four hours, without obtaining an
authority for that purpose from the Commia,ioners
of Lunacy.
After some conversation it was understood that
moms arrangement would be made for Mr. Ruck to
remain in Llodon during the inquiry.