The Express.
London, England, 1860-09-15 00:00:00

SEPTEMBiII 15, 1860.

PAIBON ragarmszt 13 MIDDLIASI

According to the statute in that cane made and
provided, Mr. Wakley, the coroner, concluded yesterday an
adjountedl inquest in the Coldbath-fields House of Correc-
tion respecting the death of a prisoner named Joseph Scott,
aged 22 years, which occurred m the prison on the 7th inst.
from long-standing pneumonia.
At the first sitting of the coroner grave charges were
made against the committing magistrates and the medical
offioers of the prison of undue severity, amounting almost
to downright cruelty, and that such severity was a prime
element which contributed to the death of the man. The
deceased came from Hampstead, and belonged to that clam
of the population whose unsettled habits render them very
disagreeable additions to any neighbourhood. On each Sun-
day, both morning and afternoon, it is the practice of
costermorgers, carter's helps, ahstighter-house men, coal
carriers, Sic., to assemble in parties of five or six, at some
unfrequented part of the locality where they are residing,
send out scouts, and entice younger boys to tom with them.
At Hampstead the inhabitants, on their way to divine ser-
vice on Bondays, complain of these gangs of swearing gam-
biers very much. On Sunday, the 12th of August, the
deceased and several others were caught tossing, and on
the following day, with the view of making en example of
them to deter other., they were sent to hard labour for
various terms, the deceased getting a month, although the
act empowers the magistrate to award three months in
aggravated cases. After he was sent to prison • gentleman
of the Dame name as the deceased, but in no way related
to him, thought he was unduly ecevicted, and that the
sentence was severe. Having spoken to Mr. Mar-
shall, the committing magistrate, and told him
that the deceased was too ill to bear hard
labour, that gentleman hastened to Mr. Wakefield,
the prison surgeon, but found that the hard labour had
already been remitted. The deceased went into the in-
firmary soon afterwards and died of pneumonia, hut he had
• complication of diseases, the result of a dissipated life.
Mr. Scott, who had taken up the case, wrote a "stinging."
letter to the coroner about the treatment of the men in
prison, and Mr. Wakley, in order to sift the matter tho-
roughly, en= an independent medical gaaslemsa
wane a p6iiJnonem ennunueuooand report. Both Mr.
Scott and Mr. Marshall were iu attendance yesterday, and
Mr. Scott's letter was read to the jury. He stated that
further inquiries since writing it convinced him that
he had been entirely misinformed about the
deceased's respectability, and about some other
points, so that he desired to withdraw the letter.
He said his information waa derived from the deceased's
mother, whom he had known for about two yews, and who
averred that her son was • respectable, hard-working young
man. Mr. Inspector Webb, of the 8 division, however, put
another complexion on the affair, and proved that the man
had been five times in custody for various offences, larceny
among the number, and the prison warders also proved hav-
ing had charge of him on • former ooession and that he was
the associate of the worst characters around Hampstead.
Mr. Scott was completely misled ,by the asseverations of
the mother, hence his " warm " letter to the coroner.
It was shown that he made no complaint of illness at the
time of conviction, and that when he did so in the prison,
and his statement was examined, he was immediately
attended to and taken into the infirmary. He was only
twice on the treadmill'. When in the infirmary) he had
fish, mutton broth, beef tea, wine, gin and water, eggs, milk,
arrowroot, in fact, everything he asked for or wished. This
was proved both by the medical books and the testimony of
other prisoners.
The coroner examined every one who had had anything
to do with the man, from the moment he entered the prison
until he was put into his coffin, and was glad to find there
was not one tittle of evidence to invert the very serious
complaints made. The average number of prisoners in the
prison is never under 1,500, and tho deaths upon that num-
ber are only about one per cent. The coroner very ably
summed up the whole case, and the jury returned a verdict
in accordance with the finding of the medical gentlemen
who examined the body, to the effect that death was the
result of purely natural mutes.