FEARFUL VENTURE OF A LUNATIC.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6936, 9 February 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

FEARFUL VENTURE OF A LUNATIC.

At Marylebone, London, Douglas William Nimmo, a clerk, wae charged with, being an insane person found wandering without proper control in the Priory Road, Kilburn. A police constable said he was on duty in Priory Road, when he saw the prisoner standing on the top of a 70-round ladder, apparently looking round about London. The ladder was leaning against a high house, surmounted by a steeple, and the prisoner was standing on the part of the ladder which extended far above the top of the steeple, the ladder all the time swaying to and fro with his weight. The witness dared not shout or move for fear the man should fall, which he expected he would do every minute. He therefore waited until he came down of his own accord, and then took him to the station. He produced a certificate of insanity, which had been signed by the divisional surgeon. In reply to tho magistrate, the prisoner said tho constable's statement was quite right. He was just coming home from Hampstead, and, seeing the ladder standing against an empty house, thought he would go up to the top. Hβ had never been up a ladder before, and, as there were no planks on it to prevent people going up, he took the opportunity. There wns nobody about at the time, as luck would have it. He did not think any of hie friends were present in court. Mr. Marsham ordered the prisoner to be taken to the Hampstead Union, to be seen by another doctor, and be dealt with as a lunatic