The Sun.
London, England, 1846-11-20 00:00:00

EXPERIENCE IN A PRIVATE
LUNATIC ASYLUM.
(From the Lancet.) _

A correspondent at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, who has
authenticated his communication with his name and
address, has forwarded to us a communication, in which
a statement of facts relative to his personal experience of
confinement in a lunatic asylum, is prefaced by some
very correet and judicious remarks on private establish..
ments for insane persons, instigated by the painful ac-
counts relating to Haydock Lodge, which have appeared
in print. He justly condemns such establishments as
" markets trafficking in humanity in its worst condition,
in most of which those prudent, judicious, and rational
means which ought to be adopted for the
_recovery of
the patients, are entirely and designedly neglected. ;"
nay, he " fears that other means, more deadly and inex-
plicable, are resorted to in some of them for the Turpose
of confirming the complaint, and continuing them under
alienation." He proceeds' :—" From my own experi-
ence, I judge that those institutions are not calculated
to restore the patient labouring under mental affliction.
Every intelligent person is aware that diseases of
the mind are as various, and operate as differently, as
the diseases of the body. Consequently, different modes
of treatment should be adopted in different cases ; but
instead of this important and salutary caution being ex-
ercised, one uniform course is pursued towards all. I
awnti
dmohdti,
reaeShbsi
slrei,
bettern"gt
o
h 3e. says, " in humble circumstances of life, and
conveyoeud
iu
is
educated
oduly d
m. e
In sentimentsmwasighmt dyos ifbt huc
confined
nt
mhfienyecodlbejiaenrcnotenisnes
of these places. About seventeen years ago. I was
visited with an affliction of the mind, arising from nerv-
ous affection and extreme bodily weakness. After six
months' confinement I was restored. About twelve
months ago I had another attack of the same complaint,
and was only two days ill ; but after my wife had con-
sulted a surgeon, he without using any means for my
recovery, at once signed a certificate for me to be sent
to an asylum. But Nature has again rallied, and I
am now in the bosom of my family. To detail all that
I could say with reference to that asylum would be
long and tedious for a communication of this kind,
but I am ready and anxious to give any information
on the subject that may be required. When I
was taken into the asylum I was extremely ill, and,
being a little talkative, I was handled very roughly.
No attention was paid to my bodily weakness. I was
every now and then put into a dark cell, but before that
was effected the keepers had to try their strength, and
appeared much gratified that they could master me ;
and in that way I was knocked about for five weeks
before being allowed to see any of my friends, who had
repeatedly applied to visit me, but were refused. Good
reasons there were for the refusal ; for my face had
been cut, and my eyes were swollen up and thoroughly
blackened. I had undergone the.most excruciating
suffering. This was not the sort of treatment my case
required. It was medical treatment that I wanted, but
that was never thought of. If judicious means had been
taken by my surgeon, there would have seen no neces-
sity for consigning me to a place of this kind for my.
recovery. The most effectual cure for my case occurred
by accident: I was struck at very violently, and hit over
the nose, when the profusion of blood that flowed gave
me extraordinary relief. This clearly shows that if I
had been properly dealt with my complaint would soon
have been removed.

" With reference to the conduct of the visiting magis-
-

...,
- .
trates it is not my wish to speak in the slighted degree
disrespectfully, but I think that they err in placing too
much confidence in the integrity of those who have the
management of these places.
" I will give you an illustration of the benefit that the
patients may expect from their visitations. Of course,
everything is made ready against the day appointed for
their coming. They visited once during each time of
my confinements. They came into the ward, or room,
where I was (a sort of second-class place, at the charge
of 1/. ls. per week each patient), accompanied by the
house-surgeon and two keepers. There were twelve
patients in the room. The visitors passed through
without speaking a word, or making an attempt to
ascertain whether any of the patients were in a fit state
to have their liberty. And in this way they would go
through the wholb asylum. Now, Sir, this is the sort
of vigilance that the magistrates of Newcastle exer-
cise over these places. No wonder that selfish " re-
spectable" men act as they think proper towards
their charges. To one case I particularly call your at-
tention; it is that of a person named Robert —, who
has been confined for four years, and who, by industry
and carefulness, has realised a very handsome income,
amounting to about 3001. a year, but who I take upon
myself to affirm is in perfect health, a man of great in-
telligence and activity of mind, married to a second wife,
having two sons by his former wife. But every. person
related to him appears to be indifferent to the situation
of the man, though some of them have his money to live
upon, the patient seeming to me to be, under the present
system, under certain confinement for life—a horrible
case! This unhappy man has made several applications
to the magistrates, and other persons, to get him out,
but some peculiar influence is too much for them all.
Are the parties in power afraid to let him out, lest he
should bring facts before the public that would ruin the
establishment? I will state a few circumstances, which
deserve particular notice. On the evening previous to
my leaving the asylum, I was sent for into the doctor's
private room, and there I found him and the house-
surgeon sitting together. They requested me to take a
chair, when Dr. -- said, • Now, Mr. --, you are
quite well, and ready to go out.' The surgeon then said,
• Mr. --, we wish to know what you and Mr. (the
person to whom I allude) have been talking so much ahout

In the garden to-day. Has he not been requesting you to
use means when you go out to get him out of the asylum?
Can you tell us two or three things that he requested
you to do?' Perceiving their otject, I avoided answer-
ing. So they said, 'Do you think -- well, end fit to
go cut ? ' I wailed the question and said that he was
anxious to see his sons. They said, You are not to in-
terfere in his case; you have nothing to do with what be
has been instructing you in.' They then both talked a
great deal about his still being unfit to go out, and
strongly urged me not to say one word about him; but
I made them no promises. Of course Mr. - had
been, during the day, in the garden, very fervently im-
pressing upon my mind the wretchedness of his condi-
tion, and the hopelessness of his ever obtaining his
liberty ; and I assured him that I would do all that I
could to get him out. He said 4ltis my little property
that has been the cause of all my present misery.' I
comforted him by telling him that I would use every
means to bring his case before proper persons, which I
did, as soon as I came out, but fnund my efforts availed
nothing. I applied to one visiting magistrate, who
treated me with great contempt for interfering in a case
which Dr. - considered a bad one,' saying that Dr.
- was fully competent to manage his own affairs, and
that it was out of my province to meddle with matters
of that kind. But I feel satisfied that Mr. - is a fit
person to have his liberty, and I entreat you, Sir, to use
your great power and influence in behalf of this cruelly
oppressed individual."

MURDEROUS OUTRAGE AND
ATTEMPTED ROBBERY.
PRESTON, WEDNESDAY.—Last night, one of the most
daring outrages which ever occurred in this neighbour-
hood took place at Broughton, about three miles from
this town, at the residence of W. Miller, Esq., surveyor
and land steward. Mr. Miller's house is at some distance
from any other residence. About six o'clock in the
evening, Mr. Miller and his daughter being in the house,
and no other person there but a female servant, a smart
knock was given at the front door, on which Mr. Miller
observed, "It is some gentleman from Preston who
wishes to see me on business." The door was opened
by Miss Miller, when six men, armed with pistols, made
a rush into the house, two of them subsequently retreat-
ing back, and remaining in front of the house. Miss
Miller, terrified by the villians, cried out, "Thieves,
thieves !" making at the same time a rush towards the
lawn in front of the house, when one of the men out-
side shouted out, " Grab her." At the same moment a
pistol was fired at her, which was immediately fol-
lowed by the firing of another. Miss Miller then ran
to the house of a neighbour screaming out "Murder."
In the meantime the villains had gained full access to the
house, and one of them, presenting a pistol at Mr.
Miller, said, "We want your money.', Mr. Miller told
them he had none; upon which the men said, " We know
you have." Mr. Miller again denied having any, and
called to the servant, whom the robbers had forced into
an adjoining room, to ring the bell. The bell alluded to
is an alarm bell, situated at the top of the house, from
which there is a communication with the room into
which, fortunately, the robbers had forced the attendant.
At her master's call, the servant commenced ringing
the bell, on which the men looked at one another in
amazement, and then ran away. In less than ten
minutes from the alarm bell having been rung, a number
of neighbours arrived. From the cool determination
evinced by the whole gang, there can be little doubt that
the lives of the whole family would have been sacrificed,
had it not been for the escape of Miss Miller and
the ringing of the alarm bell. Mr. Miller's presence of
mind, too, during the attack, was wonderful, especially
_
considering that he is 75 years of ge.
farmer,
eMr,issshe Miller
,4,,vaa
returning home, with a neighbouringvhee onrecdttehanttsof her
one of
the pistols having life had
bmeuecnhinextrmhaustoesdt,
imminentaud it
was discovered
ot
grazed the front part of her head, to
pe
but, we are glad to say, is in no danger. The lady's
be imagined, when it is stated that on
the extent of about three inches. She bled considerably,
alarm may
ruck and broke a window in her excitement, the arm
p
arriving at the house of the farmer alluded to above, she
stassing quite through the framework. It is said that
Mr. Miller had, a few days previously, been receiving
certain rents, and the presumption is that the delin-
quents were aware of that fact. We regret to say that
they have not, up to the present time, been apprehended;
but suspicion rests upon some characters in the neigh-
bourhood, whom the police are on the look out for.

THE DUCHESS OF INVERNESS.—A rumour 0.. f so
extraordinary a character has reached us, that had w e
not the strongest reasons for respecting the authority
im
possible
to it is derived, we should find it almost
to lend it a moment's credulity. It is said that to out
already overcharged pension list is to be added the name
of the Duchess of Inverness, with a pension of 1,0001.
per annum.—Court Journal.
BREAK DOWN ON THE NORTH-WESTERN.—The
Newcastle express train, due at Euston-square at ten
minutes before nine o'clock last night, did not arrive at
that station till a quarter before one this morning, in
consequence of a luggage train breaking down and
blocking up the line to Ullesthorpe, on the Midland
Counties line, but we are happy to say no further acci-
dent occurred.

The marriage of Captain Henry Bagot, R.N., se-
cond son of the Bishop of Bath and Wells, and Lady H.
Bagot, to Miss Frederica W. Bagot, youngest daughter
of the late Right Hon. Sir Charles and Lady Mary
Bagot, was solemnized on Tuesday, the 17th inst., at
Blythfield Hall, Staffordshire, the seat of the Right Ron.
Lord Bigot.