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

THE TOWNLEY CASE,

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

No. 1.
Mu, WADDINGTON TO THE SECRETARY TO THE COMICS»

SIONERS IN LUNACY.

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 plpers 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. Giborne, and a series of
applications from various persons 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 December inat.—l am, &c.,

H. WADDING TON.

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

Nottingham, Dec. 13, 1863.

Sir,—George Victor Townley web convicted yes-
vrday 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 -"Law to a correct opinion being formed as to
the propriety of his execution.---I have, &e.,

SAMUEL MARTIN,

"Enclosure 2 in No. 1.
11n. BRUCE TO MR. BARON MARTIN.

Whitehall, Dec. 17, 1863.
Sir,--I am directed by Secretary Sir George Grey
to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the
13th inst., in the case 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 Times to which yon refer in your letter does not
appear to Sir George Grey to be by any means con-
clusive.---I am, &c., H. A. BRUCE.

Enclosure 3 in No. 1.
MR, BARON MARTIN TO MR. BRUCE, M.P.
Norwich, Dec. 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 nctes of evidence. You
will find that of Dr. Winslow and Dr. Gisborne at.
page 23 and following pages.-1 am, Sze.,

SAMUEL MARTIN.

No. 2.
REPOILT OP TILE COMMISSIONERS IN LUNACY.
Derby, Dec. 28, 1863.
We, the undersigned Commissioners in Lunacy,
report for the information of Secretary Sir Geuge
Grey,—

That in compliance with the request contained, in
Mr. Waddington'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 fir
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 havj
also examined the governor of the prison, Jr, Sims
the surgeon, Mr. Gisbornc; the chaplain, Mr.
Moore; the flatii6r 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 prisoner, and have watched him day and night.

The result of this examination of the officials of
the prison, 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
mental 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 ease, more resigned, and at times even cheerful,
since the sentence was passed upon him. Not at
any time since he was first brought to the gaol,
acc3rding 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 mcral con-
dition, the views entertained by him of ,the mur.
der he committed, the motives that impelled him
to it, and the reasons by which he justifies it. We
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 injure
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. CAM PRELL.
JAMES WILKES.
JOHN FORSTER.

TO THE EDITOR CF THE SUN.

SIR,—In the communication made in this case to
the Home Secretary by Mr. W. T. Cox and two
other magistrates, and by Dr. Goode and Mr. Har-
wood, and published in The Sun of the 12th inst.,
there is an important error, which, with your per-
mission, I should like to correct.

It is stated :—" Upon the trial of the prisoner,
Mr. J. H. Sims, the Governor of the Gaol in which
the prisoner was confined, deposed to the fact of the
prisoner being insane at that period—viz., on the
11th of December." I never was at the trial asked
by counsel whether I considered the prisoner sane
or not. Immediately after council had elicited an
opinion of insanity from Dr. Winslow and Mr.
Gisborne, I was asked whether I considered the
prisoner was in the same state then as he was when
be came into the gaol; my answer was in the affir
mative, not that I meant to imply that I considered
him insane, for I never have done so.

I am, sir, your obedient servant,
J. H. Sims, Governor of the Gaol.
County Gaol, Derby, Jan. 13.

The Derby Mercury publishes a letter from Mr.
Giaborne, surgeon to the Derby county prison, and
another from his partner Dr. Goode; both letters
having for their object the personal justification of
the writers as to their share in the transaction which
led to Townley's respite. Noticing the statement
of Mr. Mundy, M.P., that the Visiting Justices were
greatly surprised "that they were not informed by
the surgeon to the gaol when he first became aware
of the prisoner's insanity, after having previously
given ns his dectded opinion that the man was per-
fectly Bane"—Mr. Gisborne sus
Townley entered the gaol on the 24th August. I saw him
on the 25th, and occasionally vidtal him till the 6th Octo-
ber, the date when I made the following note in my jour-
nal :—Oct. 6, Townley aperient pills, Good health, mind,
and body." In my interviews with the prisoner our conver-
sation was of the most general character, I found him placid,
free, and satisfied ; he eat his food, slept well, and neither
asked for nor needed any medical advice; in fact, during
the whole of his imprisonment, he only twice or thrice re-
quested to see me as his health was good. Up to October
the 6th I never once alluded to the crime on which he was
to be arraigned, for with that I had nothing to do. My
conversations with him had only proved to me thal
his mind was weak, and that ho waa ill-educated. The
evidence thus before me disclosed no grounds for
suspecting insanity. I was impressed as the public were
that he was sound in mind and body. The above curt note
was made for recalling to my memory his general state of
health, and not for the purpose of supplying the visiting
justices with any formation. The visiting justices, though
they met on Oct. 9, Nov. 13, and December, never indivi-
dually or collectively officially asked me one word as to
Townley's mind, or ever called nay attention to it. As soon
as a winter assize was arranged, I visited Townley more
frequently, not that he required it. I also made repeated
inquiries of the governor, chaplain, and turnkeys as to what
they had observed, and as to his remarks. I did so because
I thought it possible that the judge might ask my opinion
as to his mental condition. During the last seven or eight
weeks I frequently discussed and entered into details of the
horrible tragedy and of his religious views; lee was always
open and unequivocal in stating his opinions, though they
were of the most absurd, character; he justified his acts and
often expressed comfort at the approaching termination of
his life. Sometimes I thought his monstrous notions might
be all pretence—that he had an object to accomplish, so I
often travelled over the same ground with him to test his
sincerity. From all that I saw and heard I was sorely
' perplexed as to the true state of his mind. Sometime I
thought he'was insane—again I thought he was sane. In
this difficulty I remained till the assines approaehed. I\lr.
Leech called en mo a fortnight before the trial; I told him
that I was desirous of having nothing to do with. either the
prosecution or defence, that I could dilly btate to the.jury
what I had observed, and that I considered Townley suf-
fered from a morbid condition of mind. Some days after-
wards I had a consultation with Dr) Ilitchtbanti, and our
joint opinion was that no ease of legal insanity could be
established, and that an intelligent jury would bo Certain to
find him guilty. About this time, Dr. Forbes Winalo*, a
great authority in lunacy, saw Townley, and reported on
his case. This I read carefully. Dr, Winslow had no doubt
that Townley's delusions and statements emanated from
organic brain mischief ; that he was insane. I put all these
varied and accumnlated facts, opinions, &c. together, and
after balancing the evidence before me) and ehdeaVouring
to give a mature and impartial judgment, I came to the cone
clueion, through the portals of doubt) that ToWnley Was of
unsound mind. His essential (1.61',A;L; were not discernable
in discussing °relit:Al.y topics,but on matters relating to Miss
Goodwin he was monomaniacal. My early impressions were
readenn superficial data I believed then to be correct. I now
consider the note in my journal regarding his mind to be
erroneous. Mr. Mundy's language at the sessions implies
that the magistrates having read my note on or about the date
it was written (Oct. 6), have remained till the day of Town-
ley's trial under the conviction that my " decided opi-
nion" was that he was " perfectly sane." I must now
very respectfully aak the Visiting Justices whethar my
consideration entry was ever seen by them till January
3, 1864, the day previous to the sessions. If that bo a
fact, how could my note have misled them I If they
were uninformed of my Written opinion, why should it
surprise and aggrieve them? It is asked by Mr. Mundy,
why I did not communicate the change that had taken
place—that change taking place at the gaol a" If this
applies to Townley, my reply is, that no change did take
place in him ; if to myself, I answer, that almost till rail*
into the witness-box, I was undecided as to the op inion
I should give. I told Mr, Leech I should be guided V,