TALES OF BROADMOOR

Greymouth Evening Star, 16 August 1933, Page 10

TALES OF BROADMOOR

“OLDEST INHABITANTS.” Ono by one Broadmoor, the worldfamous asylum for insane criminals, is losing its most notable “oldest inhabitants.” The most recent to pass away is Mrs Elizabeth Hammond, a Yorkshire woman of eighty-four, who had .spent no fewer than fifty-four years within the walls of the institution. It was as a young woman of thirty that Mrs Hammond first became an inmate of Bioadmoor, having been found guilty, but insane, when charged at the Yorkshire Assizes with the murder of one of her children end ordered to be detained “during Her Majesty’s pleasure.” Mrs Hammond had been a happy and contented wife, wrapped up in her family, and her home, and that she should have taken the life of one cf the children she adored seemed inexplicable. Yet there, was no doubt whatever that the terrible crime had keen committed by her, and medical evidence showed that she had been the victim of a sudden brainstorm. This woman remained to become Broadmoor’s very oldest inhabitant. A year or two ago a. visitor found her placidly sewing. She then spoke highly cf the treatment she had always received, and declared that it was her intention to end her days in Broadmoor. it is customaiy to hold an inquest when a Broadmoor inmate dies, and in Mrs Hammond's case it was established that senile decay had been the cause of death.

The previous oldest, inhabitant of Broadmoor was an old man pf ninety, '■.J 10 ?. iad been there 110 fewer than iiity-five years, and who med about three years ago. His name was Peter' Murphy, and he was a Londoner, who had stood in the Old Bailey dock as long ago as 1875 to answer a charge of malicious wounding, having suddenly and inexplicably attacked another man with a bar of Iron. At Broadmoor Murphy began what is probably the longest, period of detention to be found in British records by working in the tailors’ shop. Work is not compulsory at Broadmoor, but there are few among the inmates of either sex who prefer idleness to occupation.

I Murphy never again showed signs of that, homicidal mania that had led to his incarceration, instead, he became an exceedingly popular figure, both among the guards and his fel-low-inmates, and after some years he became a member of Hie asylum band. He could not play wind or string instruments, but he had a good sense o! ibythm, and, under tuition, speedily became an export side-drummer. For well over thirty years he held this position at the weekly concerts given by the band, until al last sheer old age compelled him to relinquish the drum-sticks to younger hands. Those younger hands belonged to Ronald True, the ex-flying officer,' who was reprieved in J. 922 after being condemned to death for the murder of Gertrude Yates in a flat at Fulham. DEATH AFTER HALF A CENTURY Only a few months ago there passed away a. man of eighty-one who had spent fifty years in Broadmoor. He was Thomas Blackmun, a Lancashire man who had originally been sent to*

prison, In 1883, for a minor offence involving the small sum of half a crown. While serving the short sentence passed on him he developed insanity, and was fated to spend the remainder of his life as an inmate of the asylum. Quite a number of both men and women inmates have spent more than forty years in Broadmoor —a fact which would seem to suggest that this place, situated amid sylvan surroundings on the fringe of the great Windsor Forest, must be one of Britain’s healthiest spots.

Release in most cases has been out of the question, for a. great proportion of the inmates have homicidal or suicidal tendencies, lying dormant so long as they are closely watched and follow the normal routine of the place, but regarded as definitely unfitting tiiem to take part iii the battle of life outside the asylum walls.

These older inhabitants of Broadmoor are perfectly happy, and scarcely one has any desire now' for release. Some time ago it was suggested to one who had grown old and grey in the place that if he cared to go out the Salvation Army would look after him and. try to set him on his feet again in the world. The reply was definite. “I am quite happy here,” the old man declared. "I have not a friend in the cutside world now, and if you send me away I shall come back.” Once a. man who had been released actually did come back. A year or two ago an old man, footsore and weary; arrived at. the gates, and told an astonished official that he was none other than a man named James Kelly, who had made a sensational escape from the place no fewer than thirty-nine years earlier! He had wandered the world since then, and had now returned to give himself up for the sole reason, as ho explained, that he was worried lest he should die a, lonely death, having no one to look after him. The secret of how he had effected his escape had remained a. mystery until he himself gave the explanation. It was with a wonderful skeleton key that he had made from a steel busk of the old-fashioned type of woman’s corset which be had somehow managed io get hold of. The key he bad fashioned after months of work must bo one of the finest specimens of the lock-picker’s art ever made in such circumstances, for it opened the essential door* to freedom without leav-

mg any trace. Broadmoor bears no resemblance to the ordinary prison, except for the fact that, the inmates may not leave it. There is never any lack of volunteers for. labour in the garden, on the farm, in the bakery, the cookhouse, or the various workshops. The men engaged on these staffs are paid by means of orders for tobacco, groceries. or luxuries. They are not allowed to handle money. There are tennis courts and cricket pitche's. white indoor recreations, such as billiards, draughts, cards, and chess, are well provided for. A num-1 her of brilliant chess players are among I he* inmates. Some of (he inmate's have private rooms, which they are able to decorate, to their own tastes. Some arc the fortunate possessors of big incomes, which they 1 ate allowed to utilise for themselves ' to a certain extent. ' < Theer are also philanthropic ladies ' of means who take an interest in one 1 or more of the female patients. Some 1 of the cubicles are therefore furnish- (

d in a most artistic manner, with - arpets and cushions, pictures and lowers, and many patients possess he;r own little libraries. A patient, i fact. may read and write very much hal be or she likes, and quite a timber of novels have actually been ■nhlished that were written within he walls of Broadmoor. I he asylum has accommodation for am 600 men patients and 200 worn- -• and. peiiodically there are examin-i-’oiis by a Home Office panel of some the cleverest mental experts in the entry to decide whether any of the ■iinat.es have sufficient Iv recovered heir mental balance to be freed .voi-y effort is made to secure the ■iture of those who are eventually lischarged.