The Sun.
London, England, 1842-12-12 00:00:00

COMMISSION OF LUNACY.

NEWBURY, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 9.—This morn-
ing at eleven o'clock a commission de lunatico
inquirendo was opened in conformity with the
terms of the Act passed in the last session of Par-
liament, before Mr. Commissioner Winslow, at the
George Inn, in this town, to inquire into the state of
mind and the capacity to manage and conduct her
own affairs of Miss Mary Jones, a maiden lady, aged
42 years of age, who it was stated was possessed of
property of not less value than -20,000/. The case
excited considerable interest in the town and neigh-
bourhood.

Mr. Montagu Smith, the barrister, appeared in
support of the commission, which was unopposed en
the part of the unfortunate subject of the inquiry. Of
24 gentlemen who had been summoned to serve upon
the Jury, the fo
:—Mr.
following 15
sasn.swGeareled, thforemtheairn ammer.
s,
and weresworn
Hall, Mr. Seymour, Mr. Darling, Mr. Goddard,
Mr. Herbert, Mr. Austin, Mr. James Tanner, Mr.
Richard Lovelock, Mr. Forster, Mr. Woodruffo, Mr.
Thatcher, Mr. Shaw, Mr. Greaves, and Mr. Mills.
The Learned COMMISSIONER, in opening the pro-
ceedings to the Jury, stated that under the recent
statute it was provided that the individual to whom
the incapacity of lunacy was sought to be attached by
an inquiry of this character had a right to be present
during the examination of all the witnesses who might
be called. With this view he desired that Miss Jones
should be introduced.

The unfortunate lady was accordingly conducted
intope ar
atnhcee r, o.
ao
nmd.
mSahnei
feps presenteda t a s
evl ef
-rpyo s lsaeds
sy.i loink.e aop-
n
sthakeinwgashmerdrseesasteanbeayrhitmo tashe
~LmieassrnejdonCeosm,,,mtiosswiohniecrh,
she immediately replied,z " No, rto, not Miss Jones,
but Mrs. Althorp ; thus exhibiting the delusion
under which she laboured—namely, that of imagin-
ing she was a. married woman. In answer to que3-
tions put to her by the Learned Commissioner, she
hiiietaia :a,
landyy,t
hoaebnj
nature
ac
ttt
thi
ioranet
replied, that she had been married in the heavenly
hut that the Almighty
bower ; that the house she had lived in was her own,
Miss Jones had departed in the year 1824, and that
had
taksleWlen
to make to it, she replied, " Oh, no ; all or none ; all
or none."
oshfethweaisnqnuoiwry,llalnrsd.
a.,Alteh(oirpif.
Mr. M. Smith, in opening the case to the Jury,
detailed various acts which exhibited the existence of
manifest delusion in the mind of the unfortunate lady,
especially that which had been shown to the Jury by
the examination of Miss Jones herself, viz., the delu-
sion that she was a married woman. 1

The evidence which was adduced in support of the
Commission went back as far as the year 1831, and
was given by Miss Clarke and Miss Baskerville, in
whose scholastic establishments Miss Jones had been
educated ; by Milt. Baggs, in whose care she had
been for a number of years ; by Mr. Stephen Hem-
stead, surgeon of this town ; and by Dr. Monro.
During the examination of Mrs. Beggs, the object of
the inquiry anticipated that lady's answer to every
question propounded, either by the Learned Commis-
sioner or by the Court, and manifested an astuteness
and shrewdness that surprised all the Court. So
much did it interfere with the witnesss's self-possession
that she appealed to the Court. and stated it would be
impossible for her to go on in Miss Jones's presence, as
all she said she should hear of from her again. By direc-
tion of the Court Miss Jones was removed in the care of
Mr. Hemstead, and the evidence of Mrs. Baggs, which
went to make the case beyond doubt, was completed.
On the close of the examination of all the witnesses,
Miss Jones was re-introduced, and the evidence which
had been taken was carefully and minutely read over
to her. The only reply she made was a repetition of
the expression " All or none." After her again re-
tiring from the Court,
The Learned COMMISSIONER observed, that the
case was so clear, not only from the evidence which
had been adduced in support of the Commission, but
from the conduct and demeanour of the unfortunate
lady herself before the Court, that it was scarcely ne-
cessary for him to address or recapitulate the evidence
to the intelligent gentlemen who composed the Jury.
With them, however, the verdict rested.
The Jury, aftey t very brief consultation, returned