The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-14 00:00:00

COMMISSION OF LUNACY.

An inquiry took place yesterday in Clement's Inn
Hall, before S. Warren, Esq., one of the Masters
in Lunacy, and a special jury, into the state of
mind of a gentleman of considerable property,
named 'William Phelips, and to decide whether he
was competent to manage his estate and affairs at
the present time.
Mr. Montagu Chambers, Q.C., Mr. G. J. Philli•
more, Q.C., and Mr. Kingdon, appeared in support
of the commission. Sergeant Ballantine and Mr:
Henry James represented the alleged lunatic.
Mr. Chambers, in opening the case to the jury,
said that this was a proceeding instituted upon the
petition of Mrs. Ellen Harriet Phelips, the wife of
the gentleman whose condition of mind was the
subject of the inquiry ; and he was afraid that when
they had heard the evidence he should have to lay
before them, that they would be compelled to come
to the conclusion that he was of unsound mind and
quite incompetent on that account to manage his
affairs. Mr. Phelips, he said, was a young man, a
member of a very old and distinguished family in
Somersetshire, where he possessed an estate
called Montacute, and ho had an income of about
£4,000 a-year. He was married in 1t345, and he
and his wife lived most happily together down to
the period when his mind became affected, and in-
deed he believed that at the present motent Mr.
Phelips entertained the most affectionate feelings
towards his wife, and these proceedings would
never have been instituted if that lady had not felt
that they were actually necessary, and she even
then adopted them with the greatest possible re-
gret. Two children were the issue of the marriage,
a boy and a girl, and it appeared that the first indi-
cation exhibited by Mr. Phelips of any aberration of
intellect was after the birth of the latter, when he
said he believed she was not his child, there not
being the slightest foundation for such a suggestion.
This suspicion seemed at length to have worn off,
but in 1853 the state of his mind was such and he
exhibited so many extraordinary delusions that it
became necessary to call in the assistance of Dr.
Sutherland, and by his advice was removed to the
country, and his condition improved, and he
went on pretty well until last year, when it became
evident that the mind of the unfortunate gentle-
man was seriously impaired, and that he was the
victim of many extraordinary delusions. One of
these delusions was that persons were constantly
conversing with him by means of blow pipes or
trumpets, and that persons over his head were
jumping on the floor with great force, and that
their object was to prevent him from getting any
rest. He was also under the impression that as he
walked along the street persons made offensive ob-
servations respecting him, and insinuated that he
was not of good family, and also that he was a mad-
man, and he said that this frequently happened
when he was walking in the Park. He was so
impressed with the truth of these matters that he
wrote long statements to 'the Lord Chancellor and
the Commissioners of Lunacy, in which he gave a
detailed account of all the annoyances to which he
was subjected, and insisted upon an inquiry ; and
at length it appeared that he refused to pay the
labourers or tradesmen who:had claims:upon him at
his estate until the matter was cleared up, and he
wrote a letter to that effect to his steward, and at
the same time said that he wished him to give in-
formation of all the facts to the editor of the Yeovil
newspaper, near which town his estate was situated,
in order that they might be made public. The learned
counsel then read portions of the letters of Mr.
Phelips to the Lord Chancellor, the Lunacy Com-
missioners, and other persons, which were of
the most extraordinary character. They contained
a minute detail by the unfortunate gentleman
of the continual trumpetings to which his ears
were subjected, and he also represented that by
means of a blow pipe the most indecent and offen-
sive expressions were, made to him, and that the
whole of the conspiracy to which he was a victim
assumed the form of a dream, in which he was
made to play the part of the madman, and the
other actors were the doctor and the people
about him. Mr Chambers then stated some
other facts connected with the inquiry, and the
following evidence was adduced :
Mr. Thomas Martin, chief clerk to the Commis-
sioners of Lunacy, produced two letters written by
the alleged lunatic to the Commissioners on the
14th September and the sth October, 1859. A
letter written to the Lord Chancellor was also pro-
duced. They were the same referred to in the
opening, and they were read at length.
Dr. John Alexander Sutherland deposed that he
was consulting physician to St. Luke's Hospital,
and he had had great experience in maladies of this
description. He first saw Mr. Phelips at an hotel
in Leicester-square, in October, 1853, and lie then
told him that there was a conspiracy against him,
at the bottom of which was Mrs. Phelips's maid;
that he had heard the servants talk about it. In
consequence of what witness heard and observed at
this time, he signed a certificate of insanity on the
24th of October, 1853. On the following day
witness had a consultation with Dr. Salmey, and
it was arranged that Mr. Phelips should be placed
in a private lodging in St. John's-wood, and he
was attended upon by a man named Allen.
At this period there was great prostration
of the powers of both mind and body, and Mr.
Phelips told him that he only dosed and never had
sound sleep ! and he said that peop!e on the tops
of the omnibuses made remarks about him as they
passed his house:
His condition after this gra-
dually improved, and he appeared to be satisfied
that he had been labouring under delusions. Mr.
Phelips told him that he heard noises continually,
and that they were like the vibration of a harp
string, or the bursting of a shell close to the ear,
and he also saiti that he only heard these noises
when he was in a recumbent position. At Midsum-
mer, 1854, he was considerably recovered, and went
to Portsmouth and Weymouth. He returned to
London in November, and witness saw him shortly
afterwards, and lie then told him that he had seen
some writing on the wall at Weymouth that re-
ferred to him. He gave him an explanation of
what the writing was, but he said he believed it
was written by the lady's maid and a barber who
lived at Weymouth. Witness tried hard to induce
the patient to go to his country mansion at Monta-
cute, and he positively refused to do so until what
he called " the mystery" was cleared up. Ho after-
wards said that if witness would give him an assur-
ance that tho mystery proceeded from disease, he
would think no more about it. This was in 1856,
and witness gave him the assurance he required, and
he did not hear of any more delusions until 1859.
Witness was at this time obliged to leave London
from illness, and Mr. Phelips was placed under
the charge of Dr. Blandford, his assistant. 'Wit-
ness again saw Mr. Phelips in Nov. 1850, and in
December he began to talk about the noises he
heard. He said they were sometimes voices, some-
times whistling, and sometimes like blowing down
a tube. He also said that he was determined not to
sign any more cheques until he was informed of
the cause of the change in his medical treatment;
and he also said that Dr. Blandford was the cause
of the blowing and the noise that took place over
his head. He likewise said he supposed this was
the asylum treatment, and that the blowers over his
head were in connexion with the chief office, and
that Ille‘.Sfl'TCS were blown from the chief office
down the tube, and that the messages were some-
times complimentary, sometimes chaffing, and some-
times grossly indecent, and that he was determined
to make the matter public, in order that it
might
be pat clown, and that it would form the grounds
for a bill which was to he brought into the House
of Commons. When Mr. Phelips made these state-
ments to him, lie appeared to think that he was
narrating actual facts. On the 26th of
iMarch,
after the letter had been written to the Lord Chan-
cellor, he again conversed with Mr. Phelips upon
the subject, and he repeated the same statements as
to the noises, and said that in September he had
complained to Mr. Bingham, the magistrate at
Marlborough-street, and that this Boni put a stop
to the whistling. Mr. Phelips also told him that
while he was walking in the GI een Park, persons
called out, "He is mad, he is mad." Witness saw
Mr. Phelips on the previous day, andhe found that
he was still labouring under similar delusic ns, Dr.
Sutherland then proceeded to narrate the other de-
tertained by Mr. Phelips, one of which
11140115 913

In answer to questions put by the learned Corn-
erland said, that Mr. Phelips was
the-nature of these proceedings,
and was very much pleased that all the facts should
be published in the newspapers, and he told him
that he believed his case wairld create as much in-
terest as that of Mr. Ruck. Upon one occasion
he sail that the blowers and whistlers wou'd all
be examined, and that Sergeant Ballantine would
cross-examine them. (A laugh.)
Cross.examined—Witness
.believed that, if Mr.
Phelips was examined at the present time l►e would
exhibit the same delusions. Witness had
that in 18,53 lie had a sun-stroke. This would
affect the brain to ,-orne extent, but would not pro-
duce the malady he obseryed in Mr. Pilelip,. Wit-
ness did not believe that there was any organic
disease of the brain in this ease, and he did not
consider it at all a hopeless case, and believed
that the delusions might in time be removed.
1)1.. Blandford deposed that during the abscuee
of Dr. Sutherland he attended upon Mr. Phelip..,
and he confirmed the evidence given by that gen-
tleman with regard to his condition. He said that
Mr. Phelips complained of noises all over the
house of opening and shutting drawers aid doors,
and he also said that he constantly heard the
sound of persons blowing through trumpets and
blow-pipes, and he suddenly quitted his lodging
in Bolton•street, because he said he had been
locked out. He was also constantly talking of
going to law and getting damages, but he did not
seem to clearly understand what sort of proceedings
ho should adopt. Witness made inquiries, but
could not ascertain that there was any foundation
for the complaints made by Mr. Phelips.
Sergeant Ballantine here suggested that, after
the positive evidence of 1)r. Sutherland as to the
present condition of the unfortunate gentleman, it
might be the most convenient course that he should
be sent for, and the Court and jury thus have an
opportunity of examining him, and forming a con-
clusion as to his condition at the present time. He
said he was only instructed to watch the evidence
and see that the case of the petitioner was legally
established, and he had no wish to occupy the time
of the jury unnecessarily in the consideration of
this painful matter.
The Commissioner and the jury expressed their
opinion that this was the most advisable course,
and the court was adjourned for a short period in
order to procure the attendance of the alleged
lunatic.
Upon re-assembling, Mr. Phelips was introduced,
in charge of a keeper. lie is a rather tall man, of
gentlemanly appearance, but with a very vacant
expression of countenance.
The Commissioner invited him to take a scat by
his side, and after asking him one or two ques-
tions upon indifferent subjects, he slightly al-
luded to the noises and other annoyances to
which the unfortunate gentleman represented him-
self to be subjected, and he at once, in the most
earnest manner, entered into a description of them.
He said he was unable to account for the noises
that were made in the rooms over his head, except
by the supposition that the doctors concealed some
person there to annoy him, and that it was what
they called subjecting him to strong medical treat-
ment, or a private commission of lunacy, the object
of which was to prevent him from having any sleep
at night, and thus by exhausting him, give him the
appearance of a madman.
The jury, after the unfortunate gentleman had
retired, said they considered it quite unnecessary to
hear any further evidence, and they at once returned
a verdict that he was at this time of unsound mind,
and incapable of managing his estate and affairs.