The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-02-13 00:00:00

EXTRAORDLYARY CASE OF LUNACY.

An inquiry, of a most and painful character, into the state
of mind of a highly respectable old lady of 83, of the county of
Antrim, Ireland, Mrs; Bailey, was brought to a conclusion on
Tuesday evening, by the jury returning a verdict in accordance
with the evidence, and which pronounced her not to be of sane
mind. The case is a simple one. Mrs. Bailey, a lady in ber
84th year, of a family highly respectable, about two years ago
began to evince symptoms of a decaying intellect. Dr. Henry
Pnrdon is married to her niece, and she came on a visit to
his house. While there she had a severe attack of illness, and
her life was despaired of. She recovered ; but, with the
recovery, of her physical strength, her mental capacity
did not keep pace. She evinced, in many ways, the
effects of a senile, a decaying intellect; but, still, not
such a cdmplete abandonment of reason as, in a lady
of her years, would lead to family apprehensions, She took
a house, and continued, till the last few months, to reside with
comparative quietness, until the family were informed that she
was manifesting decided symptoms of mental weakness ; one
of the strongest and most conclusive of said symptoms being,
the admission of low persons, beneath her sphere of life, into
her house; and the sending of proposals of marriage to utter
strangers. Mental weakness having thus exhibited itself, this
poor old lady appears to have become the prey of a conspiracy.
A person, named DEVlanns, who is a cess collector, or some_
thing of that kind, in town, was seen by her on the
opposite side of the street, whereupon her servant, from
her own instigation, or otherwise, introduced this fellow
to the old • lady, and ultimately a marriage • was arranged.
The parties went before the Vicar of Belfast to ob-
tain a license, but ho very properly, on investigation, refused
to grant one. M‘Manus thus failed, succeeded in getting the
old lady to Scotland, where it is pretended a marriage took
place. This M'Manus is about 35 years of age, and had buried
his wife some three months ago. The old lady is in her 84•11
year. We should state, that Mrs. Bailey has a life income of
£l4O a•year, and had cash in bank amounting to £BO odd.
When the lady's family found she was thus degrading herself,
they were obliged to incur publicity to 'save her. Any
man of right feeling can well imagine.how exceedingly painful
it is for a family to consent, even under such trying circum-
stances, to adopt measures that necessarily lead to publicity,
but there was no other course open by which the lady could be
protected and saved; the. result %Yu; an application to the Lord
Chancellor, and the direction by him of the Commission, and
the conclusion of which we publish above.

CHARGE OF UTTERING A FORGED BILL OF

EXCHANGE.

On Wednesday, at the petty sessions held at Baenp, near
Manchester, a charge was preferred against Miss Mary Ann
Taylor, of Rusholme, and formerly of Hall Car r, Rawtenstall,
for having uttered a forged bill of exchange, by which means
she received £ll9 from Mr. Sutcliffe, corn miller, Bacup.
The father of the prisoner had carried on business as a woollen
manufacturer, and some months ago he and his sons absconded
from the country, leaving the creditors unpaid. The bill
which Mr. Sutcliffe had received was dishonoured, and
it was discovered to have been a forgery. Mc. Farlam,
inspector of police at Bacup, acting under an impression
that ho might obtain some information relative to
her father, took Miss Taylor into custody, and, after
three hours, she was released on bail, without any thing of
importance having been elicited. She appeared according
to her bail, and was discharged. Proceedings were afterwards
taken against Mr. Farlam, police inspector, when a claim was
preferred of £35 damages for false imprisonment. The case
was tried before a jury at the County Court held at Haslingden,
and a verdict for the defendant, with costs, was returned. The
plaintiff was afterwards taken into custody on a charge of
uttering a forged bill of exchange, and for having committed
wilful perjury. On the case being heard on Wednesday, Mr.
ilenwood, solicitor, Cross street, Manchester, appeared on
behalf of the prisoner, and after the case had occupied the
attention of the court several hours, the bench decided that
there was not sufficient evidence to prove that the prisoner bad
knowingly uttered a forged bill of exchange, but the evidence
that she had committed perjury at the County Court at
Haslingden was sufficiently clear to justify them in committing
her for trial at the Liverpool assizes. She was accordingly
committed for trial, but bail was accepted for her appearance
at the assizes.