The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-08 00:00:00

THE UN,
LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JUL Y 8, 1859.
S

TIIE ROYAL STATION HOTEL, Paragon-
street, Hull, requires only to be visited to be pronounced
one of the most splendid hotels in England. The situation is
open and healthful, a few minutes' walk from all the public
buildings and places of business, and being connected with
the Railway Station, affords railway passengers arriving or
departing by every train day or night, the advantage of being
on the spot, and having their wants and wishes immediately
attended to.
The public should know that under the present manage
ment they will find every
.comfort and convenience at the
same charges they are paying at the minor hotels. It has
accommodation for upwards of one hundred and fifty visitors,
is fitted up with every luxury an hotel can command, and is
so arranged for the advantage of every class of visitor, that
Beds can be had from is. to 2s. ; Private Rooms, from 2s. to
4s. ; Breakfasts, from is. 6d. to 2s. ; Dinners, from 2s. ; end
all other charges of that moderate character which will give
satisfaction to every class of visitor who may pay the hotel a
visit.
The hotel contains Gentlemen and Ladies' Coffee,Rooms ;
a special Room set apartfor Commercial Gentlemen ; fourteen
P. ivate suites of Rooms ; large spacious Rooms for Dinner
Parties, Public Meetings, &c., &c. ; two first-class Refresh-
ment Rooms ; two Smoke Rooms ; Bath and Billiard Rooms.

A Night Porter in attendance.
EDWIN TAYLOR.

Proprietor of the Royal Station Hotel, Hull, and Crescent

Hotel, Filey.

N.B.—TAYLOR'S CRESCENT HOTEL, fronting the sea
for Families and Gentlemen. It has accommodation for up-
wards of one hundred and fifty visitors. Table D'Hote at
five o'clock. Omnibuses and Cabs from the hotel meet all the
trains. Good stabling and coach-houses. Moderate terms.

LATV INTELLIGENCE-July 7.
COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH.

(Sittings at Nisi Prins, at Guildhall, before Lord

Chief Justice Cockburn and a Special Jury.)

FLETCIIER V. ,FLETCHER-ALLEGED FALSE IMPRI-

SONMENT IN A LUNATIC ASYLUM.

This was an action brought by Mr. Edward
Phillip Fletcher, a young gentleman, aged about 29
years, to recover damages against his uncle, Colo-
nel Fletcher, for having coisigned him- to a lunatic
asylum, and there illegally detained him.
The defendant pleaded, first, not guilty; secondly,
that the plaintiff—ivas a person of unsound mind,
and that it was improper, unsafe, and dangerous
for him to be at large, wherefore the defendant con-
fined him ; and thirdly, that he was of unsound
mind, but it was not alleged that he was a danger-
ous lunatic. The Court of Queen's Bench had de-
cided the form of the third plea to be bad, but issue
was joined on the whole of them.
Mr. Edwin James, Q.C., Mr. Lush, Q.C., and
Mr. Prentice were counsel for the plaintiff; Mr.
Bovill, Q.C., Mr. Coleridge, and Mr. Hannan
,were
counsel for the defendant.

Mr. Edwin James,in stating the ease to the jury
said, the plaintiff was a young man, about 29 years
of age, and he had brought this action for his im-
proper detention in a lunatic asylum, under the
pretence of insanity, by his uncle, under very ex-
traordinary circumstances. The plaintiff is the son
of the late Mr. Fletcher, who died in 1848, and who
was at the time of his,death a partner in the firm of
Alexander, Fletche and Co. He left a will giving
the plaintiff £5,000 on attaining his 24th year and
a reversion in £5,000 left to his mother for life, and
made him residuary legatee of his property in the
firm, which he valued at £40,000. The delusion upon
which two doctors had declared him insane was his
belief that he had a claim on his uncle for that
amount, not one shilling of which had he ever re-
ceived, though he had made repeated applicati:ins for
it. At last an account was rendered in which the de-
fendant stated the balance due to the plaintiff's father
at the time of his death at £44,000 ; but had debited
him with his share of estimated losses down to
1857 at upwards of £117,000. In 1849 the plaintiff
obtained a cadetship, and his mother went with him
to India. There he kept up an establishment that
brought him into difficulties, and he was obliged to
give up his cadetship and return to England in
1851. In 1855 he obtained a commission in the
Turkish Contingent, and he went to Kertch, where,
from the heat, from the suffering he underwent,
from bad and poor living and excitement, he took
to drinking, and was then seized with a fit of an
epileptic character. When the regiment was dis-
banded, he returned to England in 1856, with
nothing to depend upon, when he was told by the
defendant that his father had practically died insol-
vent, but by some arrangement he allowed him
from the firm a sum of 30s. per week. He was
about this time living in a small lodging in Orchard-
street, Oxford-street, when he was sued for his
lodging, though his aunt had promised to pay it,
and he ultimately found himself in Whitecross-
street prison. He had been educated at Oxford,
and when in Whitecross-street he was discovered
by an old college friend, without the means of ob-
taining a loaf of bread, without a change of linen.
His friend, compassionating his situation, called
upon his uncle, who sent him a small sum of money.
Ultimately the plaintiff had to pass through the
Insolvent Court for £2OO. He was confined in
Kensington House private lunatic asylum by the
defendant, from which he ultimately escaped, in
the curious manner the plaintiff would describe.
The learned counsel called the following witnesses :
Mr. Edward Phillip Fletcher was then examined
by Mr. Lush. He said—l am now 29 years of
age, and my father was a member of Alexander,
Fletcher, and Co.'s firm. I was educated at Eton
and Oxford. My father went out to India to take
charge of the business there, leaving myself and
sister in England, and he died there in 1848. (The
father's will was here put in, and was read by Mr.
Lush. It contained a disposition of the deceased's
property, which was considerable, and much in
favour of his children, and an account of the rela-
tives whom he appointed as guardians.)
Examination resumed—My mother was a Catho•
lie. After my father's death I was taken into the
firm as a clerk, and I subsequently went out to India
as a cadet. I was accompanied by my mother,
and after having been there some time, I returned
to England, accompanied by my mother. I saw
my uncle after my return, and in 1852 I went to
Australia, where I was appointed to a clerkship in
the Commissariat Department. I then returned to
England, and in the Crimean war I went to Kertch,
where I was appointed Deputy-Assistant-Commis-
sary in the Ordnance Field-train. At Kertch I led
rather a "fast life," and got an illness such as I
never had before. It was more like hysteria than
anything else, and the fits ,lasted commonly from
three to four hours. I was attended by medical
men. I returned to England in 1856, and on my
waylodgedhoamtethe house of a
I had one of those fits which lasted
about three hours. On my arrival in London I
Mrs. Fox, in Howard-
street, Strand. I went thence in 1856 to Bou-
logne, to see my mother, who was then stopping
there. On my return to London I went to the
house of an old servant of my father—a clerk,
where I lodged for five months. I was then with-
out means of living. I went thence to the house of
a Mr. Hemsworth, and, in 1857 I wrote to my
uncle, James Fletcher, for an account of my father's
property. No answer was given until Mr. Hems-
worth applied to the executors on the subject, and
I ultimately got the account now put into my hand.
It came from the executor—Mr. Cunningham, a
merchant.

Mr. Bovill—that account must not be taken as
having come from Mr. James Fletcher.
Examination resumed—The account is signed by
the members of the firm, Fletcher, Alexander, and
Co., namely, Mr. C. D. Bruce, James Alexander,
C. Pearce, and another, all members of the firm.
(Account, read :—Say for his capital, £35,000, and,
in all, the balance due to him in 1848 was £49,000,
subsequently totally reduced, by liquidation, &e.,
which were accounted for by losses after the death.)
Applications were made, in my name, to my uncle
James, on the subject of the account just read, and
I did not for some time after receive any allowance
from him: In July, 1857, he commenced an allow-
ance to me of 30s. per week, which was continued
to me up to December in that year, when I was
arrested for the lodging-money due from me to
Mrs. Clark. I was then taken to Whitecross-street
prison, and my allowance was then stopped from
me. While in Whitecross-street an old college
friend of mine, Mr. Croker Adams, called upon ma.
I had been then two months in Whitecross-street,
and without any allowance during all that time.
Mr. Croker Adams called on my uncle, and he then
renewed the allowance of 30s. a-week to me. I
was discharged under the Insolvent Debtors' Act ;
my debts were then aboutX27o. When discharged
under the act I went to lodge at the house of a
Mrs. Draper, in Orchard-street, where I had a re-
newal of some attacks of the illness from which I
before suffered. I was attended there six weeks by
a medical man named Squires. I communicated
the state of my father's affairs to him. I remember
in the month of February a Dr. Wood having
called upon me. Dr. Squires did not give me the
least intimation of Dr. Wood's coming. I had seen
my uncle James about three weeks before, in the
month of January. I was in the habit of drawing
cheques upon the firm of Alexander, Fletcher, and
Co., of Kink's Arms-yard, City, for my allowanco.
When Dr. Wood called upon me he asked me if I
had not made a will, and asked to see it. I de-
clined, and said, " When I am dead you can see it."
He then added, "If you do not let me see your
will, that I may judge whether it is a rational ac-
count, I shall certify that you are of unsound mind
and unfit to take care of yourself." Dr. Squires
was then with Dr. Wood, and they both left toge-
ther. I dined out a few days after that.at the
house of Mr. Rudd, at Islington, and while there
Mr. Hemsworth called on me. Pthen went back to
my lodgings,
and I told my landlady I should
leave the house, as there was a conspiracy against
me ; and I instructed her not to admit Mr. Squires,
should he again call. I then went into my bed-room,
and hearing a noise, I went into my sitting-room,
and I there saw Mr. Squires sitting down, with his
coat off, and his hat on a chair. I told him I did not
desire to see him. He said he wished me very much
to go with him to a medical friend of his in the
country. I declined, saying I should not ; and he
asked me if I would write that. I replied I would,
and added I should leave the lodgings and
go to
Australia, or anywhere, in order to escape annoy-
ance. He then left me, saying he was sorry I de-
clined to go with him to his medical friend. I left
the lodgings next day, having received notice to
quit, and I went to lodgings in Brooksby-
street,
Islington, provided for me by my friends. I there
wrote the letter which Mr. Squires wished, and
forwarded it to him
,• and while at my lodgings on
the 13th of March, I saw a brougham drive up to
the door, and Mr. Squires in it,
I' declined to re-
ceive him, and he then went awayt I then wrote
again to him, expressing my disinclination to com-
municate with him, and I then wrote to my uncle

James and referred in that letter to Squires' calls
upon me. On the Sunday morning following, on
coming out of the door, I saw Squires standin op-
posite, and looking very pale and.rauch agitate.
The letter of the uncle, Mr. James Fletcher, in
answer, was here put in, and read 'by Mr. James.
It stated that Squire had not his (Mr. James
Fletcher's) authority to call upon him.
Examination continued—On the Sunday morning
that Squires called on me, I had not then received
my uncle's letter. Squires came into the house with
a portion of a letter in his hand, and he was accom-
panied by a Mr. Gill, a medical man. Mr. Gill
threatened to put my affairs into the hands of a bar-
rister. I said he might do so, and they then ques-
tioned me about my father's property; and his share
in the house of Alexander, Fletcher, and Co. I said
I desired to have an account of them.,. Squires then
said that my suspicions about the family and the
firm were unfounded ; and he then added he should
place my letter in the hands of a barrister, and
that he was sorry to say I was of unsound mind
and unfit to take care of myself. They both left
me then. I then wrote to Mr. Hemsworth of what
had occurred, and on the 14th of March—the same
day on which the medical certificates were signed,
I went into the King's Arms-yard to the firm, there
drew a cheque, and received the £3O. I returned
home and had a friend to tea with me. On the
next day, the 15th, a person called, and introducing
himself to me as a colonel, said he wished me to
accompany him to Kensington-house to see some
lawyers on the subject of my affairs. I Said I knew
nothing of Kensington-house, and that I should
not go. He then said the business had reference
to that on which the parties called upon me on
Sunday, and I said they had my address, and that
I could not be losing my time in looking after
them. He then left me, and returned almost im-
mediately, said he had something more to say to
me, and almost immediately after the door was
opened, and a tall, thick-set man, with a stick in
his hand, entered the room and put a long printed
paper into my hand.
The paper, signed by the plaintiff's uncle, Edward
Charles Fletcher, a Lieut.-Colonel in the army, and
Justice of the Peace, was here put in by Mr..
James, and purported to be a warrant for the con-
signment of plaintiff to Kensington-house as a
private patient of unsound mind. The certificate
of Mr. Gill, that he had examined him and found
him to be of unsound mind, and unfit to take care
of himself, was also put in and read. It described
a general incoherence of manner in the plaintiff,
peculiar expressions of his face, his delusions with
regard to money, his general strangeness of man-
ner, so that the servants at Mrs.. Draper's, in
Orchard-street, refused to wait upon him; his
capricious feelings with regard to the disreputable
associates who called upon him, requesting his
landlord for one hour to turn him (Mr. Gill) out
like a dog, and describing him at other times os
gentle and familiar.

Examination continued—Plaintiff deposed there
was not one word of truth in those statements.
[The certificate of Wm. Squires, member of the Col-
lege of Surgeons, was then put in, also dated 14th of
March, 1858, and stated the grounds upon which he
formed his diagnosis of the symptoms which led him
to believe that plaintiff was of unsound mind ; and,
amongst them, attempts by him to commit suicide
by attempting strangulation]. This the plaintiff ex-
plained by stating, that when attacked with the fits
of epilepsy or hysteria, he felt a sensation of suffo-
cation in the throat, and that he put his hAds to
his throat, not to injure, but to relieve himself.
Examination continued—The next delusion as-
signed by Dr. Squires was my delusion respecting
a lady with large fortune, whom I wished to marry.
There was such an attachment by me to a lady who
had a fortune, but I broke it off in 1848. He asked
me if I intended, in the event of marrying the lady,
if I meant to prosecute my claims against my
father's partners, with her fortune, and I said I
should prosecute my claims. Another delusion at-
tributed to me by Dr. Squires, was my fancying I
saw blood upon the wall ; and I can explain that
by stating that after I had the fits of epilepsy, and
while I was recovering, I fancied I saw blood on
the wall. On the day of the 15th of March, when
Dr. Wood and the keeper called upon me, and when
Dr. Wood asked me to accompany him to Kensing-
ton House, I declined, having then road the paper.
He said I must accompany him, and I said I must
first breakfast. I then breakfasted, and having
asked him if it was a lock-case, I called my land-
lady's daughter up stairs to be a witness. He said
I must accompany him. Sandys, the keeper, was
the man who was with him. They got a cab, and
conveyed me from my lodgings to Kensington
House. They did not use force. • When I arrived
at Kensington House I was shown into the draw-
ing-room, where there were patients. I arrived at
the asylum between ten and eleven, and at the din-
ner hour, two o'clock, I was asked to take dinner.
I declined to take any, because the effect of finding
myself in such a place as that, had taken away
my appetite. As to the employment of curative
means, I was not aware that they employed ar.y,
except, perhaps, some slight administration of
morphia and quinine. During the time I was
in the asylum, from the 15th of March to the
30th of June, my uncle, Colonel Fletcher, the de-
fendant in this case, never called to see me, neither
did my uncle James, nor any other relative. My
mother was at the time at Boulogne. On the 30th of
June, I .vas out walking with the keeper and
another " alleged " lunatic, and whit they were
engaged in looking at the horses in Rotten -row, I
took an opportunity, and slipping down a narrow
footway between the Duke of Wellington's Monu-
ment and Apsley-house, I got into a cab, and made
my escape. I had been without means, and had
put on another suit of clothes before I left the
asylum, in order that I might pledge them when I
got out, for my necessities. I called on a friend, and
asked him to befriend me. Some evening after
that, I went into the Brown Bear, St. Giles's, kept
by my friends the Churchills, and while there, a
policeman, accompanied by Sandvs, the keeper,
entered, and the latter said, " Mr. Fletcher, I want
you." I turned to Miss Churchill, and said, " What
shall I do, there is no back way by which rean
escape ?" She said, " Run up stairs, Edward, and
lock yourself in a room." I ran up, and got into
Mrs. Garrett's room. She was a member of the
family, and received me. Sandys called upon the
policeman to break in the door, and Mrs. Garrett
asked him by what authority he came there, and to
produce his warrant, which staggered and confused
him. Mrs. Garrett aided me to make my escape,
and furnished me with veil, gown, cuffs, bonnet, and
everything ; and so attired, I got out on the roof,
and passing over the roofs of two houses in Drury-
lane, I entered a window, and, having remained in
the room for some time, I emerged therefrom, and
entering the window of another house, I proceeded
down stairs, and the people of the house were much
astonished at my appearance. (Laughter.) I then
escaped and went to the house of a friend, where I
was specially visited by the Commissioners of
Lunacy. They questioned me, and advised me to
put my affairs into Chancery. They then left me.
I have been since living very well, and my health
has been good. _ _

Mr. Bov-ill here read an undated letter from the
plaintiff to his uncle James, in which he spoke of
the severity of his mother, as a person who had
caused great disquiet to him and to her family.
Plaintiff continued—That was not the first time
in which I knew my mother was going to make
a disgraceful marriage. In 1851, when she was
living in Berners-street, I knew it, and she told me
so herself. • _ .

The Lord Chief Justice—What do you mean
when you say she was going to make a disgraceful
marriage ?
Plaintiff—Because I knew he was very inferior
to her in position, and that he was much younger
than her.

A Juror—Those are very good reasons.
Plaintiff—And also, that he was not able to sup-
port her. I knew him to be the same person who
was paying attention to her at Boulogne, and whom
she was disposed to marry there, and I was indig-
nant, and might have said, " I should sooner anni-
hilate her ;" but I have no recollection that I said
so.

Mr. Bovill here read another letter from plaintiff
to his uncle James, beginning "My dear James,"
and stating that he was determined to go on in
legal prosecution of his claims ; that the firm had
robbed him, and stating that he knew what he was
about ; that he was not so powerless as they sup-
posed him ; that he would not be lono•er trifled or
trampled upon by his proud family; and that unless
redress were afforded him " blood should flow."
Plaintiff—l wrote that letter under great irrita-
tion and disappointment, and I delivered it myself.
After my return from Australia I obtained an In-
dian cadetship through the influence of my uncle
James, with my uncle Colonel Fletcher, with whom
I was not then on terms of friendship, and a contri-
bution was then got up for me by my relatives for
my outfit, which was about £lOO. I went to my
uncle James's house, prior to my going out to In_
die, and he gave me X4O towards my outfit, for
which I gave him an authority to receive Payment ;
but he has not yet been paid, as my tailor had to be
paid first. I went afterwards to my uncle's house