The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-17 00:00:00

The Extraordinary Charge.

Last evening, after the ordinary business of the day had
been disposed of by the Hen. G, C. Norton at Lambeth
Police-court, Mr Edward Hammond and Sarah Allen, his
servant, who had been before his worship the previous day,
surrendered to their recognizances. It will be recollected
that Mr Hammond was charged with a misdemeanour in
having kept his wife confined for two years in her bedroom,
to the great injury of her health; and that Sarah Allen
was charged with having assaulted her mistress. On Mrs
Hammond entering the court the improvement in her ap-
pearance since Thursday was a subject of general remark.
Mr E. T. E. Besley, of the Home Circuit (and not Mr
Beasley, as stated by mistake) appeared, as before, for the
prosecution, and Mr Neale for the defence.
Mr Besley, addressing the magistrate, said—Sir, at the
close of the examination of the unfortunate lady yesterday,
which lasted for a considerable time, ono or two questions
arose, and a different issue had been raised on the part of
the husband, Mr Hammond, that the lady was of unsound
mind. I beg, however, to call to the recollection of your
worship the opinion you were pleased to express of close rea-
soning, her unimpaired memory, and the lucid detail in
which she gave a narrative of the wrongs she had sustained.
Her sanity, however, having been brought in question, I
felt it was my duty, as the adviser of those who have insti-
tuted these proceedings, to request that they would allow a
medical gentleman to see Mrs Hammond. Dr Sewell, now
pressnt, has had a long interview with her, and I will at
once place him in the box, in order that you may hear his
opinion of the soundness of the unfortunate lady's intellect.
Dr Charles Brader Sewell, of 76, Guildford-street, Itus-
sell-square, was then sworn, and described himself as a
member of the College of Surgeons and a Doctor of Medi-
cine of the University of London. He had been in practice
since 1861, and since that dm had been in the daily habit
cf attending patients.
Mr Norton—Do you mean patients mentally effected ?
Witness—Generally. I have not directed my attention
entirely to thus,) cases.
By Mr Besley—Dr Sewell, did you attend Mrs Ham-
mond yesterday ?—I received a note last night, and saw her
this morning.
Was!that at the request of:aher sister's husband P— Yes

it was at the request of Mr Morgan.
How long was the interview you had with Mrs Ham
mond ?—About an hour.

Did you make an external examination of her body P—l
did.

Generally speaking, in what state was her body ?—Very
much emaciated, but not unhealthy.
That is a relative term. Can you give me some idea ?
Have you seen patients as much emaciated ?—At the
termination of a fever is the nearest I can give to a
professional person ; but I cannot give any nearer appear-
ance to a non-professional person than that she was very
much emaciated. The muscles showed out very distinctly,
showing great emaciation.
You have used the expression, " at the end of a fever."
What kind of fever ?—A. continu ma fever.

Supposing a patient is attacked with fever fur some weeks,
is that what you mean P—Yes ; I only use it as an illustra-
tion.

Supposing a person was attacked with fever and had to
submit to the treatment necessary for several weeks, would
a patient in such circumstances be in the same state as Mrs
Hammond ?—Yes.
You are probably aware that it has been proved before
the magistrate that she was kept fram September, 1862, to
May, 1863, in a place called Lanark-house, and then
removed to the house in which she was found yesterday in
May, 1863, and during the whole of that time kept locked
up in a single room. Is her appearance consistent
with that ?—I had no notice of that before I started to see
her My only knowledge was what I obtained through the
newspapers, and having read that I should say that her ema-
ciated state does correspond exactly with such a state of
things as her having been confined during that time.
Mr Norton—Would such a confinement produce such a
result P
Witness—Yes.

Mr Besley—ls there anything else you would wish to add
as regards the external appearance of the patient ? Not with
regard to the external appearance.
Were her physical powers lowered by the emacietion ?
Had she the corporeal power of moving about ? That I had
no oppor!unity of seeing, as she was in bed ; but I saw her
moving about just now. There was no necessity for testing
any physical power.
Now, as to her mental power. Did you converse with her
for a length of time ? Yes, I conversed with her during the
whole time of my being there.
With the view of testing her mental powers ?—Yes.
Mr Norton—Will you be kind enough to give the result ?

—The result was, that I could detect no indication what-
ever of any want of mental powe r. Her answers were
delivered coherently, and nothing indicative of loss of
memory or mind presented itself.
Mr Norton—Of what order do you consider her intellec-
tual faculties to be, so far as you have had an opportunity
of judging ?—I should say she has intellect of a very high
order.
By Mr Besley—Would such treatment as has been
proved before the magistrate, confining her against her will
in a single room for two whole years, without admitting
her to take air and exercise, be likely to injure her health,
and produce her present wretched appearance ?—Yes ; such
a state of things would injure anybody.
Mr Neale declined to cross-examine this witness.
Police-constable John Spinks, 65 L, deposed that on going
to serve the warrant on Thursday morning he was accom-
panied by Mr Morgan, her brother in law, and the solicitor
of Mrs. Hammond. On approaching the house he found the
outer gate locked, but got over it, and the solicitor knocked
at the front door, but nobody answered it, though he had
seen the female defendant Allen at ono of the upstairs win-
dows. He at the same time got into the kitchen, and saw
Allen and another woman, Emily Wakeman there. He
asked them where Mr Hammond was, and they said in the
garden, They all three went there to him, and the solicitor
said he wanted to see Mrs Hammond. Mr Hammond said
" You cannot see her, for she is in bed." The solicitor said
he was sure he could see her, for he had observed her at
the window only a moment More. He was not aware
that Mr Hammond made ar y reply, but ho demanded that
he should see M-3 Hammond, and Mr Hammond said " Oh,
yes, you may see her." When they got into the room
Allen was by the side of the bed, and appeared to be trying
to prop her mistress up by pulling clothes over her. The
bedroom was on the ground floor of what appeared to be a
wing of the house, and was very meanly furnished. There
was a small iron bedstead ; the bed and bedclothes were
very old and bad, and much stained. The bedstead appeared
to be mended in two or three places, and the smell of the
place was most offensive and loathsome,

Mr Norton—Did the room seem comfortably furnished?

Witness —No ; quite the reverse. The things were of
such a description that I would not have them myself if
they were given to me.
In answer to further questions the witness said that
while bringing Mr Hammond to this court in a cab he said,
addressing Allen, who was in the vehicle with him, that he
put his wife in the room for his own safety; that he was
afraid to live with her, because he found knives under her
pillow. He was very glad to get rid of her, for, indepen-
dently of finding the knives, she had threatened to murder
him. He said he had never seen her while she had been in
the room, for that he was afraid of her ; that he kept Allen
wholly to attend on her; that he was very glad she was
gone, as she had been a great trouble to him, and as they
had taken her away they might keep her; he should never
receive her again.
Nothing was elicited in cross-examination.
This concluded the examination, and Mr Besley applied
for a summons against Emily Wakeman for the assault on
Mrs Hammond, and the case was adjourned to next week,
Mr Hammond and his servant being admitted to bail in the
interim. It may be added that prior to Dr Sew ell leaving
the court ho was bound over to appear and give evidence
against the prisoners at the next Surrey Sessions.