The Sun.
London, England, 1856-06-18 00:00:00

ALLEf;ED MANSLAUGHTER BY THE
,SURGEON OF A LUNATIC: ASYLUM.

At the Bow-street i'olice-couq, yesterday, Mr. Chas.
Snape, the residect surgeon of the County Lunatic Asy-
lum, at Wandsworth, appeared before Mr. Henry, upon
a summons, to answer the charge of having unlawfully
killed and slain Daniel Dolley, aged 65, an inmate of
that establishment. _

The proceedings were taken by the Commissioners of
Lunacy, and Mr. R. Gordon, Mr. John Forster (the secre-
tary to the conimiußion)' Mr. Pnet, 4:!., were present
upon the bench. Mr. Clarkson appeared for the de-
fendant./

Mr. Bodkin, the counsel for the prosecution, stated
that the commiseio.nere were act uatlei by no other desire
than to afford protection to a numerous and affitcl,ed
class of our fellowebeings ; and whether the result of this
inquiry. should be favourable or otherwise to the defend-
ant, he apprehended it was a question which a jury must
eventually determine. Mr. .Soaps, it appeared, was
the medical superintendent of the male inmates of the
Surrey Liinatio Asylum, and the charge against_ him
was that he had ceased the death of a lunatic, named
Daniel Dailey, .by subjecting him to harsh and impro-
per treatment, in. the month of April last: Dolley was
an old man, and_oceasionally excitable and trouble,ome,
not only to the ogleers, but also to the other inmate, of
the asylum. Now, there appeared to be a system in this
establishment of having recourse to the cold shower-
bath wherever a patient became excitable. Of the pro=
priety or humanity of that system he wished to offer no
opinion at present, for, doubtless, the publicity which
would be giverf to the distressing facts of this case would
lead to ample diecassion upon that peiet, and defiiiittly
settle the creestien .as to whether it is faulty or otherwise.
The practice, however,' is acimittei, wad 'early in the
elordin-z 9td of April, the patient Deihl having
been , reporteil ems— . e*citat,..le,‘ 14,reArtpe.
sp.t where. f.e w'is, and, direeteeeee ettezihchnitri-t44:7put
him into the oho wer-bath. bad been pdhlshed in
a similar way about, a week before, and this may account
for the repugnance manifested by him on this occasion
to that sort of treatment ; for, on seeing Mr. Shape with
the key in his hand, proceeding towards the bath-door,
Dolley struck him a violent blow on the head, and tried
to escape. He was followed and brought back to the
bath-room by force. Mr. Snaps desired the attendants
to strip him. They did so. Dolley then went into the
bath. The cold water was turned upon him. He was
kept there 28 minutes, and within 15 or 16 minutes after
he was taken out. he died.

An inquest was held upon the body, as was usual in
cases of sudden death ; but the inquiry took place under
peculiar circumstances, which it was important to explain.
Tue attendant who placed Dolley in the bath, by Mr.
Snape's order', not being actually present at the man's
death, was not asked any further questions ; and neither
Mr. Snape nor any other person appeared to have in-
formed the coroner of what had taken place.. Mr. Snape
stated that a post mortem examination had taken place,
and that death Wa i caused by "disease-of the heart ;"
and, consequently, the jury were directed to find a ver-
dict of "natural death.

In consequence of circumstances that had since trans-
pired the commissioners hal determined to adopt the
present proceedinv.
Mr. Bodkin then examined the following witnesses :

John 0. Barnett, sworn—l have been an attendant in
the Surrey Lunatic Asylum, at Wandsworth, between
four and five years. My ward, No. 3, contains about
40 patients. I was acquainted with Daniel Dolley,
who became an inmate in September last. He had
been in and out of the asylum several times previously.
He was a very excitable patient at intervals. About
a week before his death I gave him a shower-bath, by
order of Mr. Snape. I gave him no medicine after it
on that occasion. On the 9th of April I saw Dolley
in a very excited state, at a quarter past six in the
morning. He h.ad struck another patient who had
caused this excitement. Dolley had hie breakfast at 8
o'clock. Mr. Snape cams round and I reported to him
what Dolley had done. Mr. Suape spoke to him. I
do not know what he said, but Dolley turned a deaf
ear to him. Mr. Snape then said, "Come this way,
Dolley," and walked towards the bath-room. Mr. Snape
had the key of the bath-room in his band, and was in
ti
the act of opening the door when Dolley struck hint a
" strongish ' blow on the head with his fist. Dolley
made an attempt to get away, but I followed hint with
another attendant named Davies. He turned round and
kicked us. I blew my whistle,-upon which Ibbetson, a
third attendant, came to our assistance. Mr. Snape
was waiting at the bath-room door. We all went in,
Dolley being still greatly excited. Mr. Snape desired
us to put him into the bath. Dolley said, " D-- it,
let refs go to the farm to work," or words to that effect.
Mr. Snape said, "Go into the bath quietly, Dolley ;"
which he did. After he was in we fastened the bath-
door by letting down the bar, and turned the water
on. A. patient hike no means of opening the door.
There is no bell to ring, nor any window. I was desired
by Mr. Snape to keep him in half an hour. Mr. Snape
said, "Pull the erring, keep him iu half an hour, and
then give him a good dose of the light-coloured mixture,
and look to him several times." After this, Mr. Snape
stood talking two or three minutes. He told me that
he had never been struck before by a patient since he
had been in the institution. He said this before he
directed me to keep Dolley in the bath half an hour,
and to give him a strong dose. I asked him to tell
Davies when the time was up, as I had not got a watch.
Snape also said, "Lst him\have gruel diet." Some
of the patients are allowed tea sometimes, as an indul-
sence, to encourage them to work and to employ them-
selves. Dolley had been allowed tea a month previ-
ously, before he became excited, and since then he had
been kept on gruel night and morning. I looked at
him five times while he was in the bath. He held his
bands over the top of his bead while the water was pour-
ing down upon him. I saw Davies corning towards the
bath ; I considered the half-hour must be up, so I opened
the door and let him out. He bad been in 28 minutes.
I took hold of him, and he walked to the end of the hip-
bath, which he leaned against while I dried him and
dressed him. I assisted in dressing him. I put his shirt on,
and helped him on with his trousers. He walked with
me into the next room, the day-room, where there was a
fire, and there I gave him four table-spoonfuls of the
medicine (tartio emetic), as f was desired to do. He
swallowed part of it, and spat part of it. He was shiver-
ing. I went to find his shoes, and, not seeing any in the
cupboard, I went to the shoemaker's for a pair of slip-
pers. I left him stooping to put on his socks. Pinnegar,
another attendant, came to me while I was at the shoe-
maker's, and, in consequence of what he said to me, I
went direct to Mr. Snape. When I returned, Dolley
was in No. 3 room, lying dead upon a bed. The body
was then taken to the dead-house. This was about 15
or 10 minutes after he had left the bath.
Cross-examined by Mr. Clarkson—lt is a common
thing to give excited patients a cold shower-bath.
Dolley had had•one for a quarter of an hour or 20 mi-
nutes a month previously. He did not appear more dis-
tressed than usual. He was a strong, hale man for his
age. I saw no symptoms of distress either of the five
times that I opened the bath and looked in. It is a oum-
mon thing f a. the patients to hold their hands upon their
Heads. I was examined on oath before the commission-
ers. They asked me the question, " Don't you believe
that this bath was given as a punishment, rather than
to allay excitement I" and I replied, " I believe it was
given to allay excitement."
Some objection having been raised to this mode of exa-
mination, Mr. Clarkson stated that his object was to
show that the commissioners had no right, under the
statute, to put such questions to the witnesses before
them—questions which invited certain conclusions, in-
stead of eliciting facts.
Witness—l stated then, and I state now, that I do
not believe the bath was ordered as a punishment.
Mr: Henry—The witness should not be asked his
opinion. That is matter for observation.
Mr. Clarkson—l do not wish to press the point. Mr.
Snape is as anxious as the commissioners can possibly be
that this inquiry should go elsewhere ; therefore I do not
propose ,to make many observations here upon a charge
which I so solemnly believe has not the remotest shadow
of a foundation in fact.

Mr. Henry—Realli, Mr. Clarkson, nothing can be
more irregu!ar than for a counsel to express his own be•
lief as to the guilt or innocence of his client, It is highly
improper and wholly uncalled for.
Cross-examination continued—All persons shiver when

they come cut of a cold bath, and I did not see that
D illey shivered more than usual. Mr. Snape was not
excited at all when he gave the order for the halt-hour's
bath and extra dose. He is never an irritable man, but

always kind-hearted and attentive to his patients. He
spoke art-I.y ca mly when he said, "I was never struck
by a patient before," and a minute elapsed before be gave
the order afterwards. We might have heard Dolley in
the bath if he bad called out very loud. The pressure
of the water is not so strong after the firsteight minutes.
It takes about that time to exhaust the cylinder, and
then the water pours in from the top with only the ordi-
nary pressure. I have often put excitable patients into
the bath, and once or twice for 20 minutes, with great
advantage to them. The commis-inners asked me i I
did not force the mixture down Dolley's throat, and I
said I did not.
Re-examined—Mr. Snaps told me that he was nearly
stunned by the blow which Dolley gave him. I never
knew of an instance before this of a patient being ordered
in the bath for half an hour. I have known cases of 15
to 20 minutes. I knew one case of 20 minutes. It was
George Gale, and he was between 60 and 70, and is still
in the institution. The emnsic is part of the system. I
Mr. Henry.—Do you mean to say that a patient be-
nefits by being kept in the bath 20 minutes.
Witness.—Yes, judgin,, from their appearance after-
wards. I have also heard them say so themselves.
Henry Pinnegar, another attendant is the asylum,
gave confirmatory evidence.
At this period of the examination it ettis arranged that
an adjournment should take place for two or three weeks
for the convenience of counsel—it being impossible to
complete the case in time for the present sessions at the
Old Bailey.
The defendant, who bad appeared. to the summons,
was not required to give bail for his future attendance.

The Pacific steam-transport, W. C. Thompson, com-
mander, passed through the Bosphorus on the Bth inA.
'with 712 officers and men of the Ist Royals, and arrived
at Malta on the 11th,