THE LUNATIC MURDERERS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

Bruce Herald, Volume III, Issue 73, 31 August 1865, Page 5

THE LUNATIC MURDERERS OF GREAT BRITAIN.

The whole of lunatic murderers of Great Britain — those who have been acquitted on* the ground of insanity, and or» dered ' to be imprisoned during her Majesty's pleasure' — rare confined in the great Broadmoor asylum, Broadmoor now contains nearly 500 inmates, about 400 men and 50 or 60 women.. , With a few rare exceptions, nearly, all are homicides, and the victims of their, united crimes would probably amount to nearly 1,000. The 'Times' conducting us through this terrible prison says :— 'Here one may occasionally see a female croquet party on the lawn, the players in which have been guilty in the aggregate of some thirty murders y or on the men's side, playing at bagatelle, a little group, with each or' whose crimes all England at one time rung. Here comes one who was, when at large,- more dangerous -to her Majesty than Oxford himself hopelessly mad from a vain love of notoriety, which ,he thinks he has attained, as the grand strut with which he enters the room shows clearly enough. The once terrible Cap t. Johnston - who murdered the crew oi- his *ship, the Tory, is here now, as is Macnaughton, as really mad as when he killed poor Mr .Drum mond. Here is anon-com-missioned officer, whose murder of his wife and family some years ago shocked all England. His only anxiety now is about his good conduct medal. Here, too, ai*e several who have been in asylums before for. attempted murder, who have been discharged as cured, and having then perpetrated murder outright, have been committed to stay here for. evermore. As a rule, however, all in. this block are harmless through the prefixes which come attached to their characters and dispositions are not at first calculated to convey this mild impression. Thus we find 'TM murdered his wife and two children ; quiet and Very harmless. L F murdered wife, sister and child ; obedient, quiet, and perfectly inoffensive/ A few wbo*are sane during the greater part of the year are subject to periodical returns of their dangerous maladies. But of the symptoms -which precede these outbreaks Dr. Meyer is always a careful observer, and the patients are in good time removed to the 'strong block.' It is only "a very small proportion that can be trusted with such implements as spades, knives, scissors, or even needles and thread. In the quiet wards the patients have blunted knives and' forks, just enough to keep up appearances and enable them to cut- and eat their vegetables. In the ' strong block' the food is cut up, and the inmates have only, a smooth horn knife and spoon with which to feed themselves. Yet in some few cases the labours of the lunatics can be utilised. Under the eye of the 'vigilant attendants a few are trusted to work in the garden. There is a cobbler's shop, in which every one at work save the superintenpent. has killed one or more people. You can pass through a row of tailors, where all are quiet and busy, but where all have a history of crime— where the earnest looking man in the midst, whose very soul seems absorbed in the movements of his sewing machine is among* the worstj and if mad crime is to be taken as a proof, of danger, the most dangerous of all. Outside are a small group of gardeners labouring with the minute labour of love upon the patch of ground committed to their care ; and again you come upon a few painters, with Edward Oxford who attempted to murder the Queen; now a fat eldealy man at their head, all busy, and Oxford himself carefully graining a door in beautiful style. Oxford has now perfectly recovered his sanity, and is the most orderly, most useful and most trusted of all the inmates of Broadmoor. A small pecuniary reward is given to thoae who labour well as an inducement to others to de likewise, and this money they are allowed to spend in any way they please. Out of his small earnings Oxford has between LSO and L6O carefully saved. 'In the women's, ward, the first person we meet with .here in the corridor on the women's side is a gaunt Irish-woman, always violently abusive but not dangerous. The instant, Dr. Meyer and one of the kindest and most careful governors.of the asylum, Sir William Hayter, make their appearance, she assails them with fierce abuse, and threatens" to do for them What she did for Ned Naylor— the man • tor

whose murder she is now restrained.; The influence of rnind over matter receives a fresh* illustration! here-, as between the gaunt virago and the visitors a little wardress glides, at the mere jingle of whose keys the furious mad woman subsides at once, and, though still fierce and abusive, utters threats na more. In the dark pad-ded-cell is a young girl,, rather a dangtrous lunatic, bat who, when her fits of violence and screaming come upon her, as they often do, at once runs off to this dark quiet haven, where an hour or two of selfsought confinement never fails to restore her to serenity and cheerfulness. Nearly all are quietly engaged in reading or sewing, while many,, young and old, are walking rapidly to and fro in the airing ground beneath the window. It is very rarely that any one of the women wish to be Jet out, or make complaint, oi their detention. The last comer in the women's block is one who murdered all her children in a fit of jealous vanity. The overweening airs of pride which this young woman still gives herself would be almost amusing* in their exaggeration, if they were not also painful evidence of the hopelessness of her malady. It is in the 'strong block,' however, where the most dangerous of all the male lunatics are confined, that what may be called the terrors of Broadmoor and its fearful collection of patiants culminate. Here are confined the men whose murderous propensities and love of bloodshed seem almost inextinguishable. They are in the airing ground as we enter, a ground enclosed with tall strong iron railings, within the area of which the} are muttering and pacing to and fro. As we enter, a thin, slight, dangerous man advances to the bars, and clutching them, blasphemes with vague unmeaning oaths at -visitors and all around and then, with a burst of laughter, lets go his hold and shuffles away across the ground, cursing as he walks. Another takes his place, a man named G, the most dangerous of all at Broadmoor. This man, the surgeons say, is not so much mad as irrecoverably bad — a kind of modern Frankenstein, born apparently without a 7noral nature. Of all within the walls of this asylum, there is none that will not at once betray his fellow in any attempt to escape, any concealment of weapons, any premeditated onset on the warders, save this man G. He atone possesses powers of combination, and can gain over his dangerous associates to do his wil[ and keep it secret till it is done. He is here for most cruel murders, and is, of all those in Broadmoor, the most dreaded. He is always asking to be let out, and to be allowed to do work, but one might as soon trust a tig*er with children as him with knives or tools. Beyond him is a man whom we will call F, red-haired, tall, lithe, and powerful, with a bow and fawning" smile at the least token-of recognition. Face to face to face with F you are safe enough, yet neither warder nor doctor vould ever turn their- backs upon him, or woe betide them. He will kill, or try to strangle and kill, any whom he can surprise unawares from behind, though, barring this little failing, he is, when openly confronted, harmless and even fimid enough, though very cunning. He, however, is one whose perpetual yearning and search is after weapons of offence of any kind. In this he resembles another dangerous murderer, P, as also W, whose cruel slaughter of his mother and sister shocked all England a few years ago. As we entered this 'strong block ' P gave W a desperate blow on the nose, which almost broke it. They were instantly separated a»d transferred to different enclosures in the airing grounds, and while the man W broke into an incoherent torrent of blasphemous ribaldry, P explained, with clearness and good temper, how W had used some phrases regarding his dead mother which he (P) considered/ a cruel insult, and felt bound to avenge/ Into, the refractory wards of this * strong block ' never less than three warders enter, so that in case of any attack by which one should be struck down there are always two left to grapple with the maniac' i