Omaha daily bee., 1896-11-07

| Castles condition now became still more
painful, and a female warden came to sit
| beside her and keep her from falling to
| the floor OF the dock.
| The next surprise OF the case was when
Mrs. Castle pleaded guilty to seven separate
| indictments against her. This course was
| decided upon by her lawyers this morning
at a consultation before sitting of court. their
| line OF defense being to rely on medical tes-
| tlmony as to her mental condition to secure
| her discharge without imprisonment.
Having pleaded to the Indictment, Mrs
| Castles counsel received permission for her
| In view Of her wretched condition, to retire
| to her cell while the expert evidence was
! being taken. The chairman assented and
granted permission to Mr.. Castle to stay
| with his wife until the conclusion OF the
case.
STATEMENTS OF THE CASE.
It now having become necessary to state
the case against her this was done in the
| f9rest possible manner by MIR. Horace
| ANOry, a well known crown lawyer Moth
| ing could have been more consderate than
| the way he put the facts, there being no
effort to press anything unduly or to weaken
by anticipation the defense Of mental de-
rangement which was to be put forward
The only faint touch OF color Mr.. Avory
gave to his brief statement was when he
| described the contents of Mrs. Castles
| trunks as including "a perfect museum of
small articles Of value" This caused an
almost imperceptible litter in the court,
which was again excited as Mr. Avory read
an epitomlzed catalogue of multifarlous OBJ
jects uncarthed by the police among Mrs
Castles belongings. The sting in MIR.
Avorys statement was in its tail, when he
pointed out that the conduct of Mrs. Castle
when the police were searching her room
at the Hotel Cecil showed an apparent con-
sclOusness OF what she had done, and
perfectly natural desire to
avoid the consequence. These robberles
were committed so skillfully that in no sin
gle instance she suspected by the shop
men under whose eyes she took the goods
In fact, there was nothing in her proceed
ings on these occasions TO convey the idea
that she was not responsible for her ac-
tions"
Sir Edward Clarke representing Mrs Cas-
tie, had task of extreme deicacy in meet
| ing the case against his client for If he
harped too strongly on the insanity plea he
would justify the chairman in holding his
client to be entirely insane In which event
| the only sentence allowed the bench to be
imposed that she be detained during her
majesty's pleasure-in other words. that she
would be consigned to criminal lunatic
asylum perhaps for life. Sir Edwards cue
was to show that while unsound on this one
point Of kleptomania, though he never ut.
| tered the words, Mrs. Castles condition was
such that Justice would be satisfied by her
being handed over to her friends. He pro.
ceeded on that line with great dexterty, ex-
amining the medical experts whom he called
for the defense with extreme adroitness
Their testimony all went to show irst that
Mrs. Castle suffered from n certain condi-
tion peculiar to women which was frequently
productive of some species of mania; and
second. that her nervous hystercal over.
, wrought condition was an infallible Symtom
of this arrangement.
, ADMITTED BY THE DOCTORS.
Two Of the experts, Or. Grgg and DR.. Saw.
! age, are among the highest authorities in
| nn nf httf ha fng-
timony which made the greatest impression
on the court was that OF
Dr. Scott medical officer of Hol-
loway prison, where Mrs. Castle was
. detained for a week before the police mag
stratc had accepted bail. DR.. Scott's re-
port was confidential one, made to the
home secretary, in consequence of the rep
reservations made by the American ambas-
sador as to the injury to Mrs Castle S
health, certain to ensue, II she were not
liberated on bail The report was a com
plete CorrOboration of views taken by the
other experts, although it had been pre-
, pared before they saw Mrs. Castle at all.
The effect Of DR.. Scott's entirely disinter-
ested official testimony such that Mrs.
Castles release was deemed certain by all
In court. police inspector, accustomed
to court proceedings, who was standing near
me- volunteered the remark: THAT report
will get her Off. right enough" But when
at the conclusion Of the evidence, Chairman
Mcconnell intimated that he intended
, to withdraw for consultation with the full
bench of magistrates II realized that
Mrs. Castles fate was still hanging in the
! balance. Her counsel looked significantly
at each other while Mr.. Castle, who had for
moment left his wife in the cells and re-
turned into court to get for her, as he fully
expected glad tdings OF her discharge, in.
quired anXiously of his lawyers what this
| proceeding of the chairman meant. They
endeavored to put the best face possible on
it OF assuring him there was not a doub;
about the result and he returned again to
the cells.
l CAME BACK TO CONDEMN.
After eighteen minutes absence. the chair
man, accompanied by the magistrate, re-
sumed his place on the bench. Mrs. Castle
was now summoned to the dock again TO
. hear the decision. Her sobs and plaintive
cries could be heard as she ascended the
stairs, and with her handkerchief to her
eyes, her body quivering, as she tried to
gulp down. her tears, she flung herself on
the rail in front of the dock, a pathetic pic
ture OF abject detection and misery. There
was an intense stiffness throughout the court
as the chairman in tone which showed that
he felt the painfulness Of the occasion, stated
that after anxious consideration it was his
, duty to pass sentence upon the prisoner He
then went on to point out that If the prison
er's mental condition was such that 1t would
, be imperilled by confinement, then there
were other authorities who could more
: fttngly take that fact into consideration
than he could This meant. OF course, that
, the home secretary could, in the exercise
of his discretion, order her release If Mrs
Castles condition warranted It. The chair
/ man then pronounced the sentence OF the
court of three months with hard labor. "
Then. correcting himself, added: without
hard labor"
Every one having assumed that the un-
fortunate woman would he discharged this
sentence came with n painful shock OF sur
, prise in court There was an unbdden pro-
testatory ejaculation Of "Oh" on all sides
and the unhappy prisoner gave herself up
2 to grief in utter abandonment For the
first time she removed her handkerchief
! from eyes swollen with crying and looked
) with unspeakable agony at the judge and
| then throwing up her arms she shriskr,i
e hysterlcaly:
What does that mean? What does that
r mean?"
And as she was lei down stairs to the cells
she exclaimed In ones OF deepest anguish
oh, my God what does that mean?" Her
cries and sobs gradually becoming fainter.
r This being the only business before the
court, the chairman and magistrates left the
t bench. Mr.. Castle having again obtained per-
mission OF the court to visit his wife In the
cell until the time for her removal to prison
arrived. Expressions Of sympathy were gen
eral and the police inspector before men
tloncd said in blunt fashion; well / call
| hat fp1I bn