The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-22 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 22, 1864,


The opening of the spring . assiais has again
brought before the public the horrible case of ill

treatment of a lunatic which some time ago excited
so much astonishment and disgust. The evidence
brought forward in substantiation of the oharge in
no degree mitigates the matter, since the particulars
given by the witnesses for the prosecution more
than confirmed the worst of the reports which have
been current on the subject. The miserable man
has, it seems, been insane or idiotic for more than
thirty years, having become mentally effl'eted when
he was about twenty years old, and having dragged
on a wretched existence until he is now fifty-five.
In what manner he has passed the years in which
he has been under his brother's care may be better
imagined than described. At first his father, it
appears, took charge of him, and after his death he
was left in the hands of his sister, who went to
America in 1853, at which epoch he passed into his
brother's keeping. At first he was confined in a
room adjoining a house in which he then lived, but
in the early part of the year 1863 he was removed
by night in a wheelbarrow to a new house which
the brother had built, and in a small outer room the
miserable creature was confined. His prison was
twelve feet long by nine feet wide, and eight
feet high, without fireplace or stove. Ia this little
den he remained crouched and crippled iu the
depths of filth and wretchedness, in a state which
would hardly appear to be possible to a creature
bearing the name of humanity. The room, accord-
ing to the defendant's communication to the Lunacy
Commissioner, was constructed on purpose for the
lunatic, and it is a noticeable part of this story of
cruelty and ignorance that the perpetrator of the
evil should be a man of some wealth and position.
Whether he was conscious of the full extent of the
atrocity of his actions is uncertain ; the jury gave
him the benefit of the doubt, but it is evident that
he preserved a degree of mystery regarding his un-
fortunate prisoner which goes far to prove him
wilfully guilty. No one had ever csught a glimpse
of the unhappy lunatic since he was under his
brother's charge save one woman, who accidentally
came upon him, and was horrorstricken at the sight
of his dirt and nakedness. After a good deal of
evidence in favour of the prisoner, which, however,
did not affect the startlingdisolosures of Dr. BYRNE
and the Lunacy Commissioners, a legal point was
brought forward on behalf of the culprit. A doubt
was raised as to the extent to which he was amen-
able to the statute, since it was designed for keepers
of asylums, and a man who neglected the charge of
his lunatic wife had previously been acquitted on
this ground. Mr. Baron MARTIN said he would
obtain the opinion of the Court of Crown Cases Re-
served on this point, and consequently postponed
his sentence unt:l he had learned it. The jury re-
turned a verdict of guilty of neglect, but said they
, did not think the defendant was aware of the law,
and therefore recommended him to mercy. We
cannot but regard this PS a most extraordinary and
uncalled for renornmetdation, since, whatever his
ignorance of the exact terms of the law, he hod
been guilty of prolonged and deliberate cruelty
which unquestionably deprives him of all claim on
our indulgence or sympathy. It is difficult to be-
lieve that a man in his position was so obtuse of
; sense and feeling as to ha unaware of the suffering
ite 'was inflictiag. iI strict con.;:,,4lmAt of the