The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-15 00:00:00

THE TOWNLEY CASE,

The following are copies of papers relating to the
case of George Victor Townley :

No. 1.

MR, WADDINGTON TO THE SECRETARY TO THE COMMTS

SIONERS IN LI:NA.CY.

Whitehall, Dec. 23, 1863.

Sir,—l am directed by Secretary Sir Geo. Grey
to request that you will lay before the Commissioners
in Lunacy the enclosed papers in the case of George
Victor Townley, now under sentence of death for
murder.

Sir George Grey is of opinion that the verdict of
the jury, in which Mr. Baron Martin, who presided
at the trial, concurs, and which appears to Sir
George Grey from the evidence to have been right,
decides the question as to the sanity of the prisoner
at the time when the crime was committed. The
only question therefore on which any doubt exists,
and upon which in the opinion of the judge there
ought to be further inquiry, is, whether the prisoner
is now insane.

It is to be regretted that this question was not
raised before the trial, when it could have been sub-
mitted to a jury, but, under the actual circum-
stances, Sir George Grey requests that the Commis-
sioners in Lunacy will be so good as to undertake
the inquiry recommended by Mr. Baron Martin,
and report to me their opinion, for his information,
whether or not the prisoner is at the present time
of unsound mind.

The papers sent herewith comprise two letters
from the learned Judge, with Sir George Grey's
reply to the former of them, the notes of evidence
taken at the trial, including the evidence of Dr.
Forbes Winslow and Dr. Gisborne, and a series of
applications from various persona to whom the pri-
soner is known, and who are able to speak as to the
state of his mind before or since the commission of
the murder.

I am to add that the prisoner's execution is fixed
for the 31st of D:cember inst.—l am, &c.,
H. WADDINGTON.

Enclosure 1 in No. 1.
MR BARON MARTIN TO SIR G. GREY.

Nottingham, Dec. 13, 1863.

•
Sir,—George Victor Townley was convicted yes-
terday before me at Derby of murder, and sentenced
to be executed. I have directed a copy of my notes
to be made for you, should you desire to have it ;
but there is a full report of the trial in the news-
papers. The conviction was, in my opinion, right ;
but Mr. Forbes Winslow and Dr. Gisborne were
examined at the trial, and both deposed in the
strongest manner that the prisoner is now of
diseased mind and absolutely insane. I think it
right to call your attention at once to the subject,
with a viaw to a correct opinion being formed as to
the propriety of his execution.—l have, &c.,

SA3IIJEL MARTIN.

:Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
31n. BRUCE TO MR, BARON' MARTIN.

Whitehall, Dec. 17, 1863.

Sir,—l am directed by Secretary Sir George Grey
to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
13th inst., in the ease of George Victor Townley,
convicted before you of murder; and I am to re•
quest that you will be so good as to inform Sir
George Grey whether the impression produced on
your mind by the evidence of the two medical
men examined at the trial, coupled with the de-
meanour of the prisoner, was such as to induce you
to believe that the prisoner is now insane, or that
there is so much reason to believe him so as to call
for further inquiry, as the report of the evidence in
the Tinzes to which you refer in your letter does not
appear to Sir George Grey to be by any means con-
clusive.—l am, &c., H. A. BRUCH.

Enclosure 3 is No. 1:
MR. BARON MARTIN TO MR. BRUCE, 11I,P.
Norwich, Deo. 18, 1863.

Sir,—l have received your letter of the 17th inst.,
requesting me to inform Sir George Grey whether
the impression produced on my mind by the evi-
dence of the two medical witnesses on the trial of
George Victor Townley, coupled with the demean-
our of the prisoner, was such as to induce me to
believe that the prisoner is now insane, or that there
is such reason to believe him so as to call for further
inquiry. I cannot say that I have formed any de-
cided opinion upon the point. The demeanour of
the prisoner afforded me no means of arriving at one.
He sat during the trial with his head depressed; I
scarcely once saw his countenance ; and he never
spoke. I would not be justified in saying that the
evidence of Mr. Forbes Winslow and Dr. Gisborne
is not correct, but I certainly think, and have
thought ever since the trial, that there ought to be
further inquiry.
I enclose a copy of my notes of evidence. You
will find that of Dr. Winslow and Dr. Gisborne at
page 25 and following pages.—l am, &c.,
SAMUEL MARTIN.

No. 2.
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS IN LUNACY.
Derby, Dec. 28, 1863.

We, the undersigned Commissioners in Lunacy,
report for the information of Secretary Sir George
Grey,—
That in compliance with the request contained in
Mr. IVaddington's letter of the 23d of December,
we have undertaken the inquiry recommended by
Mr. Baron Martin as to whether George Victor
Townley, now under sentence of death at Derby for
murder, is or is not at the present time of unsound
mind.

We proceeded to Derby on the morning of the
26th, and have since had lengthened interviews, on
two separate occasions, with the prisoner. We have
also examined the governor of the prison, Mr. Sims;
the surgeon, Mr. Gisborne ; the chaplain, Mr.
Moore; the father and mother of the prisoner, the
chief warder of the gaol, and the four warders who

before and since the trial, have had exclusive charge
of the pris oner, and have watched him day and night.
The re 'suit of this examination of the officials of
the pri'ion, of which the detail will be found ap-
pended to our report, may be stated briefly as in
effect establishing, without dispute, that there has
been substantially no change in the prisoner's
mentril state since the trial ; that such difference or
alteration as may have been noted has been an im-
provement ; and that he has been altogether more
at e Ise, more resigned, and at times even cheerful,
sine a the sentence was passed upon him. Not at
any time since ho was first brought to the gaol,
ace 3rding to the testimony of all who have had the
means of watching him closely, does he appear to
have been more rational than he is at present.
In the endeavour to form a satisfactory opi-
nion as to his existing mental state, we have found
it impossible to exclude the consideration of
what his mental condition had been during the
entire period of his imprisonment. 'What it is now
it has been throughout ; and the detail of what
was elicited from him at our interviews, ap-
pended to this report, is probably sufficiently
ample to enable the Secretary of State to form an
opinion for himself as to the prisoner's moral con-
dition, the views entertained by him of 'the mur-
der be committed, the motives that impelled him
to it, and the reasons by which he justifies it. We i
have to remark that generally his manner during
these interviews, with one or two exceptions which
we have noted, was remarkably calm, quiet, and
self-possessed; and though he seemed to have had
no difficulty in at once, from the questions put to
him, correctly inferring the object and drift of our'
examination, we saw not the least grounds for
suspecting him of any intention to mislead us by
putting on a manner not natural to him, or feigning
what he did not feel.

In view of the extravagant opinions thus delibe-
rately professed by him, of his extraordinarily per-
verted moral sense, and of the hereditary taint
alleged, and apparently proved, to have existed in
the family of the prisoner's grandmother, we cannot
consider him to be of sound mind; but his views of
right and wrong, false as they are, appear to have
been coherently acted upon, and with a full sense
of what they involved. He reasons now, as he acted
in committing the murder. Upon the point of his
alleged belief in a conspiracy against him we
pressed him very closely ; but we could not satisfy
ourselves that this was in the nature of a delusion.
It seems certain that some members of the deceased's
family objected to his engagement with her, while
others favoured it, or were indifferent ; and that the
former had obtained an influence over her some
little time before her letter was written, which was
meant finally to put an end to it. Hence he believed
that she had been acted upon by a conspiracy,
which was meant "in the tenderest point" to isiure
him ; and all the questions we put upon this part
of the case failed to draw from him anything that
could bear other construction than that he had
taken a disordered and morbid view of an actual
occurrence.

Being of opinion, therefore, that the prisoner
continues to be now in, the same mental state as
when he committed the murder and underwent his
trial, we think that, applying the law as laid down
by Mr. Baron Martin in this case, the prisoner,
George Victor Townley, was justly convicted.
W. G. CAMPBELL.
JAMES WILKES.
JOHN FORSTER.