Widnes Examiner. — 1892-04-30 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

THE EXAMINER, SATURDAY, APRIL 30, 189.  THE MELBOURNE MURDER.' RENEWED APPLICATION FOR THE POSTPONEMENT OF THE TRIAL. WHAT DEEMING TOLD THE DOCTORS. MELBOURNE, WEDNESDAY.-At the Criminal Court here to-day, before Mr. Justice Hodges, Deeming's council, Messrs. Deakin and Forlonge, made a fresh application to have the trial of the prisoner for the Windsor murder postponed, in order that further inquiry might be made as to his mental condition.  Mr. Walsh, Crown Prosecutor, opposed the application at some length. The Jadge said—l am asked to give the doctors a further opportunity to test the prisoner's mental condition. That application I will not dispose of now, but to-morrow I will hear medical evidence on both sides. I feel that my position is one of great responsibility, but the interests of the community demand that a person accused of such a crime as this should be tried immediately, and if found guilty should suffer the extreme penalty of the law. If lam satisfied that a further postp3nement of the case is necessary, I will grant it ; but if the evidence on the point is not conclusive the trial must proceed. Deeming will accordingly be brought up for trial when the Court resumes to-morrow morning. In interviews which I have had with the doctors who examined Deeming, I have been informed that they , elicited from him the following among other statements : The prisoner's name as a child was Frederick Deeming. He remembers nothing of his life before he reached the age of twelve, except that he was sent by his father to an asylum near London. From that establishment he was taken away by his mother and was under her care between the ages of twelve and sixteen. He was never in robust health, but was nevertheless always in mischief. His scrapes, however, never ended in his being sent to prison. He was generally- called " Mad Fred," and one occasion, while still a boy, he threw a girl into a canal for calling him by that name. He afterwards changed his name to Harry, and when about 16 ran away to London, Where he knocked about for some time, and, having been reduced to a starving condition, he was placed in an asylum as "Teddy Williams." He did not remain there long. He climbed over the wall and got away, but was subsequently arrested while tearing his clothes to pieces in the street. He was sent to a House of Correction, whither he was traced by the chaplain of the asylum where he had been confined. Instead of taking him back to the asylum, however, the chaplain got him sent to sea. From early life he was in the habit of frequently changing his name, and passing from one employment to another. With regard to his family history, he states that his , father's mind was unhinged, that he was of a very violent temperament, and that he died in a lunatic asylum at Birkenhead. His mother he describes as good and kind, but she also was confined in a lunatic asylum until shortly before the prisoner's birth. His brother Sam, he asserts, was likes. ,3e confined in a lunatic asylum, but this fact was on,y known to his other brother Albert. When in England last year the prisoner declares he vainly endeavoured to ascertain the whereabouts of his brother Sam. He has a sister, who is employed as a housemaid at New Brighton, near Liverpool, and another, who is " not right in her head."