The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-12-05

I ployed them to describe Broadmoor-- Englands great prison for insane crimi- l nals which stands in Berkshire, nigh to
 the little town of Crowthorne and which has been made famous by many grisly tale of crime that-rightly or wrongly has ended with the incarceration of the central figure within it's walls, as well as by many sensational work of im- ag1native fiction and many a grim melo- drama. Broadmoor was the ''=---- i Criminal Lunatic Asylum" in which Du Maurier's Peter Ibbetson" was sup posed to have written his strange auto biography, and finally to have died. and i the institution has figured again and again in the writings of George R. Sims and other purveyors of romance Recently and perhaps for the first time, Broadmoor has become more than g ! name to readers in America owing to the publication of the strange and all
 most incredible tale of how an American civil war surgeon, who went mad as a result of experiences in that conflict, and who later came to England and com mitted murder here. spent nearly 40 years in Broadmoor. and how, while there he turned his cultured mind to literary research, and was of inestimable assistance to the late Sir James Mur- ray, one of the greatest scholars of his time, in the latter's compilation of the material for that greatest of all lexieons. the New English, Cor Oxford) Dietion- ary."
 This American, Dr. William c. Minor, TOW in his eighty-thir year, is today an f..1,,o tn nf acx.l,,x f3,A | government institution at Washington, p. C., to which, as an ex-member of the United States army, he was admitted when, in April, 1910 at the instance of his relatives. he was finally released 1 from Broadmoor by Winston Churchill, who was then home secretary, and brought back to his own country after having spent 3S years, almost day for day, iE confinement in this country Meanwhile, his story has become world famous When first revealed here, com | ing as it did, so soon after thse death | of Sir James Murray, the Great I4exico- grapher of our time, the tale of how a mad man furnished him, according to l his own showing, with sbetwesn 5000 and ] Sp00' of the quotations which he used in his mighty work. was the sensation of the day in the press of England, which. in retailing it, momentarily forgot I the war. Learned editorial articles were ! based upon it. NO romance" declared l the Fall Mall Gazette" lis equal to I this wonderful story of scholarship in a padded oell' And the London 'Tele- graph" which, in it's news columns. de- 1 scribed the tale as lone of the strangest l ever chronicled in print commented upon it editorially to the extent of nearly a column and drew contract between 1 the American doctor and the notorious l Wainwright, posoner and art critic who | 4l%1 t..k< -f st,~..l r Il. and DeQuincey, and whose remarkable career suggested materials for a char l aeter both to Bulwer Lytton and to | Charles Dickens.
 l Wonderment was expressed, too at 1 the details thus made known to the | present generation for the first time, of how Dr. Minor lost his reason as 1 the result of an operation involving | branding which, as surgeon in the l federal army, he was eempelled to per l form. Of how, bearing letter to John Ruskin he came to England in the hope l of ridding himself of deiusions that he
 was perseouted by the Irish and pur-
 sued by the Devil. And of how, finally, l he shot and killed an inoffensive work . 7! man in Lambeth, and, being tried in the 1 assizes and found guilty, but insane
 he was sent to Broadmoer to be, kept | there "during her majesty's pleasure 2 1 (Queen Victoria being, of course, on
 the throne) when in the early days of
 1872 all this happened.
 Peers of the realm and famous
 1 scholars, (the names of Lord Knutsford and MT. Henry Bradley, the new senior 1 editor of the "Oxferd Dictionary" may be mentioned among others) have writ- ter me in connection with my articles
 on "The Strange Case of Dr. Minor.'' but by far the most interesting of the voluntary statements in connection with it is that which was made, first 1 by letter and later by word of mouth, 1 by one who saw Dr. Minor almost daily during 1a years of his incarceration in 1 Broadmoor and who, as himself the
 possessor of more than ordinary schol- arly attachments, united with keen intelligence and an unusual faculty for
 keen observation. was able to furnish l details, not only regarding pr, Minors 1 life within Broadmoer's walls, but as !, to his companions in misfortune thera
 and regarding the fashion in which life | is ordered in that dread institution
 The details cannot fail, one thinks. to
 prove of more than common interest. 1 For obvious reasons, I am unable to disclose my informant's identity, but that he speaks with authority, and
 was not unworthy of the personal inti-
 macy which pr, Minor freely accorded | him, will be evident frem what follows, T had recently returned from visit to the United States when I made pr, ! Minors acquaintance" wrote my then unknown correspondent in his first communication, land he was glad to 1 hear what I had to say about his coun- l try, and we had many interesting con veTsations on that and other subjects ! in which we were mutually interested. "He was a remarkable and interest," ing personality, and enjoyed privileges accorded to no other patient in the in | stitution.
 He was greatly respected by both l the officials and his fellow patients l and being generous and kind hearted, I lighter and easier by his henefactiona l and kindly interest. He was one to whom others instinetively looked up. Tt was always said that he paid pension to the widow of his unfortu- nate victim, and though I cannot per spnally vouch for the fact, knowing him as I did, can we'll believe that such was the case.
 Tn personal appearance he was tall being little short of six feet in height painfully thin, and would not have turned the scale at nine stone. He was quite bald, with a fine shaped head broad forehead, keen and intelligent blue or blue gray eyes, hollow cheeks a thin silky moustache, and thin, pointed. wavy beard In fact he much Father Time, or one of the old alchem- | ists,
 "He always spoke quietly and clearly,
 with an American accent that he never quite lost in all those years; his words were always to the point and careful | ly uttered. as became a schorarly | thinker.