The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-16 00:00:00

COMMITTEE OP ACCOUNTS AND GENERAL PURPOSES.

The report of the Committee of Accounts and General
Purposes was presented, which recommended the payment
of bills and accounts to the amount of £16,552 lle. Bd.
The report was received and adopted.
HOUSE OF CORRECTION, COLDIATH -FIELDS.
The report of the visiting justices of the House of Correc-
tion was presented, which stated that the number of pri-
soners that day in custody was-1,593 in Coldbath-fields, of
whom 517 wore misdemeanants,and there were 153 prisoners
belonging to this county at Bedford, Northampton, and
Taunton, under contract with this county for their main-
tenance. There had been five cases of flogging in the pri-
son since the last report, the punishment varying from 12
to 36 lashes. The prisoners who underwent the punish-
ment having been repeatedly guilty of insubordinate con-
duct. The other matters of the report were of the usual
nature, and the recommendations it contained were adopted.

HOUSE OF CORRECTION, WESTMINSTER.
The report of the committee of visiting justices of this
prison was presented, which stated that there were 730
prisoners in custody, consisting of 677 felons and misde-
meanants, and 53 vagrants. Since the date of the last re-
port, the 15th of August, the health of the prisoners had
been good, and there had been two deaths from consumption.
The report was received and adopted.
HOUSE OF DETENTION, CLERKENWELL.

The report of the visiting justices of this prison was pre-
sented. The number of prisoners in custody was 730, mak-
ing a total of county prisoners of 2,649. The report said that
Henry Richardson, a prisoner confined for want of bail,
having become insane, was removed to the County Lunatic
Asylum at Colney Hatch, on the 10th of Sept., where he
died on the 18th of that month. An inquest was held on his
body, and the visiting juetices were informed that the coro-
ner's jury returned a verdict that " The deceased died from
natural causes, accelerated by undue severity, in the House
of Detention." The governor having informed the visiting
justices of this verdict, they forthwith entered upon a full
inquiry into the treatment and condition of the prisoner
while in confinement in this prison, and after consideration
of all the circumstances they have come to the conclusion
that the latter part of the verdict of the coroner's jury is
quite undeserved, and they regret that the jury did not ascer-
tain with more care the treatment of the deceased in the pri-
son. It appears that the deceased was for some time past a
man of violent and ungovernable temper, and had been at-
tacked with delirium tremens, the effects of drunkenness.
He had been confined at the House of Correction, Coldbath-
fields, for assaulting his wife, and had also been previously
committed to this prison in default of finding sureties for
keeping the peace towards her. After some consideration
he was not deemed insane either by the justices who ex-
amined him, or by the physician who was called in to his
aid. On the last occasion of Richardson's imprisonment he
was committed on the 20th April last, for assaulting Emily
Wilson and threatening her life, and in default of finding
bail to keep the peace towards her for six months. A few
weeks after his commitment, the state of Richardson's mind
came under the consideration of the visiting justices, who
passed a resolution, instructing the surgeon of the prison to
examine him and report therein. After a careful considera-
tion of his case the surgeon certified that he was not insane,
and was in a fit state to be amenable to the discipline of the
prison. Under these circumstances the governor, on diffe-
rent occasions, when his violent and refractory conduct re-
quired, ordered him to be punished in strict accordance with
the rules of the prison, by close confinement in a cell, for
periods varying from 12 to 48 hours, and in some cases with
bread and water diet. In consequence of his quarrelsome
conduct, and his assaulting other prisoners and two of the
officers, he was eventually removed from the bail division to
another division ; but this removal only involved the depti
vation of taking associated exercise with the other bail pri-
soners for three hours each day, and is a deprivation often
imposed on bail prisoners who are guilty of riotous or re-
fractory conduct. During the period of Richardson's impri-
sonment he frequently came before the visiting justices at
his own request to complain, not of his treatment in the
prison but of his relatives towards him. On these occasions
his behaviour was that of a man of sound mind, but whose
temper was excitable, and he save way to violent outbreaks,
which he seemed soon to regret, and for which he had often
expressed his sorrow not only to the visiting justices but to
the governor. At length at the end of August, the opinion
of the surgeon as to the state of the prisoner's mind was
changed, and at the beginning of September he was duly
certified to the Secretary of State as insane, and was by his
order removed to Colney Hatch Asylum.
Mr. H. F. FRANCE, the chairman of the visiting justices,
moved the reception of the report.
Mr. H. HARWOOD said he wished personally to state to
the Court, in reference to the man Richardson, and who was
referred to in it, that the governor of the prison was not in
the slightest degree mixed up with the circumstances. In
consequence of what had taken place as regarded the gover-
nor, he (Mr. Harwood) felt it was but justice to him to rise
in his place, and say that his treatment to this prisoner had
been more than ordinarily kind and indulgent.
Mr. TANNER corroborated this statement. This was a
most irritable man, and he knew the governor of the prison
had exercised a large amount of forbearance.
Mr. WYATT said he thought the public would hardly un-
derstand how the matter stood without some explanation.
The prisoner was originally a bail prisoner, but in default
was sent to the House of Correction for threatening some
members of his family. He would not submit to the rules of
the prison, and was afterwards sent to the House of Deten-
tion. There his conduct was such that they called in Dr.
Smiles, the surgeon of the prison, to make his report as to
whether the man was sane. He accordingly reported that he
had no doubt that he was sane, and that he wai therefore
amenable to the prison rules. The visiting justices had the
man before them, and remonstrated with him, advising him
to comply with the rules, but he must not be permitted to
knock down officers and tear up his clothes with impunity,
and that he must submit to the rules. Early
in September
he was certified to be insane, and died nine days after he
was sent to Colney Hatch Asylum. Even the surgeon to
Colney Hatch Asylum said the verdict of the jury w_a! all
nonsense, as under any circumstances the man could not
have lived more than a few weeks. He (Mr. Wyatt) called
upon the relatives of the man, asking there to bail him out,
which could have been done by entering into sureties in the
small sum of £lO, but they refused to do so, and he i
could
state, from what he knew of the case, that instead of being
ill-treated he was treated with more than ordinary care.
Mr. KEMSHEAD said it appeared to him that there was
great discrepancy between the opinion of the surgeon of
the House of Detention and the surgeon of Colneyt . H atch
some explanation about i The
Asylum, and he required
surgeon of the prison reported the man to be perfectly sane,
and the Colney Hatch surgeon said he was insane, and
ought to have been sent to the asylum long before. He also
said :that he believed the man had been insane far six
months. Even after the man was declared to be insane, on
the surgeon of the House of Detention being asked to
certify that he was so, a delay took place. He wanted to
know what time had elapsed from the time of the certificate
being granted from the Home Office and the removal of
the man to Colney Hatch Asylum.
Mr. WYATT said that it was after Dr. Smiles had certi-
fied that he was insane that he had his first epileptic fit,
which very much altered his appearance. Dr, Shepherd
found that the man was insane, but he was assisted in
coming to that conclusion by the post-mortem examination,
which Dr. Smiles did not have. As to the delay that oc-
curred between the granting of the certificate from the Home
Office for the removal and the certificate of the surgeon of
the prison that he was insane, that arose from the fact of
Sir George Grey being out of town.
The subject then dropped, and the report was agreed to.
Mr. H. W. WYATT moved, pursuant to notice, " That a
superannuation allowance, commencing from the 23d of
may, 1863, of £6l Ils. 6d. per annum, be granted to Thos.
Clark, late a warder in the House of Detention, who has
resigned his situation in consequence of infirmity, whereby
he has been rendered incapable of executing the duties
of his office in person, after upwards of 29 years' service
as an officer in the county prisons." In support of this
motion, he said that during the 29
years Mr. Clark had
been in the service of the county there had never been a
single complaint against him.
The motion was put and unanimously agreed to.
THE MILITIA STOREHOUSES 07 THE COUNTY.
Mr. H. M. KEMSHEAD moved, "That the surveyor of
county bridges be ordered annually to inspect the several
militia storehouses as soon as possible after each training,
and report in wi iting to the Cuurt the result of such inspec-
tion, and what repairs are necessary."
The motion was put and agreed to.
Mr. KEMSHEAD also moved, " That a special committee
be appointed ifor the purpose of superintending and inspect-
ing the militia storehouses of the county, and that the
power now vested in the committee for accounts and for
general purposes, by order of the Court of the 12th Ap,roi
1855, of ordering repairs to any storehouse to the exteaD
in
£5O, be transferred to and vested in such committee
future." to.
The motion was put and unanimously as.—

-- -- -- --
DEPTH OF EARTHQUKEB.—Mr. Mallet ascer-
tained that the great Neapolitan earthquake of 1857,
unequalled in intensity by any since that of 1783, had its
the. range of posei.. originating focus situated at nog reater average depth than
51 geographical miles, or 54,920 feet;
bility varying from a maximum of Si miles, or 49,359 feet
to a minimum of 2 mites, or 16,700 feet. Now, if we '
re-
member that Mr. flopkins, the. most eminent advocate •
shall
the internal heat doctrine, requires 800 miles of solid °l
surface is
earth-
cruet beyond the presumed central molten mass, vie
perceive at a glanoe how far off 51 miles from ththe
, cane internal
from 800 miles, and consequently how little
have had
molten mass of the. globe, if it do exist at-all
anything to do With that violent catastrophe,