HISTORIC TRAGEDIES OF LONDON LIFE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7293, 4 January 1902, Page 1

HISTORIC TRAGEDIES OF LONDON LIFE.

(By W. W. HUTOHINGS.) No. XII. SHOOTING THE WRONG MAN. [Am. Rights Reserved.] Of the tragedy which I have now to relate, the victim was Mr Edward Drummond, a member of th© family which founded and still carries on the historic banf of that name at Charing Cross, and also one of the private secretaries of Sir Robert Peel, the Prim© Minister. On the afternoon of Friday, Jan. 20, 1843, Mr Drumimond, now in his fiftieth year, had left Downing Street at half -past "three, in company with the Eairl of Haddington, had called at thie bank of his brother, who was the chief proprietor, and had then started on his way back. When he got into Whitehall and had just passed the Admiralty, he noticed and was noticed by ,a young man of about middle height, respectably dressed in a black coat and 1 waistcoat wira. drab trousers, and having the- look of a mechanic. The man had been seen loitering about the Government offices in this region for some days before, but: there was nothing suspicious about his appearance, and it was conjectured, indeed, by one office-keeper whose attention he attracted that he was engaged in police service. . As Mr Drummond passed on the stranger followed quickly in his .rear, and was seen by aipoliceman and two or three other persons who were not far off- to draw a pistol, deliberately cock it, and fire it almost point blank at Mr Drummond's back. Ihe unfortunate gentleman reeled, but did not fall, and fearing that be had only half done his work) the fellow returned the pistol to his breast> drew another, and' coiked it. A man named Hodge, a carpenter, who was close by, had seen all that had happened,, and ats soon as the first shot was fired had gone towards the murderer, but at sight of the' second pistol he incontinently fled into the roadway, and in his haste tumbled down. A constable, who also had seen everything, was made of different stuff. He had made a rush towards the man as soon as he caught sight of the first pistol, andat the moment that the murderer was taking aim for the second, time lie seized him from behind and pinioned his arms. Though not a man of great strength, the assassin struggled desperately to free himself, and ,in- the scuffle the weapon went off, but happily without doing any mischief. A man named Weston, employed as a porter at the Ship Tavern,, now seized him by the collar, and, at last, by? striking him. on the Vand the constable malde him drop the piscol, and he was handcuffed' and marched -off to Bow Street. Meanwhile Mr Drummond had' been helped in the bank, where he was seenby a doctor, who, being unable to trace the ball, ordered him to be conveyed to his residence in Grosvenor Street. Here he was examined by two of the most eminent surgeons of the day, Who found that the ball had entered the back close to the spjne, and a- little below the left shoulder-blade. ,: • The^wenind was. c^refuDy probed, but the bullet could npfcjbe found, iinfil atlast it was aiscoverea just, Deaeath idle skin of the abdomen, where the merest couch with the lancet sufficed to dislodge it. To . the great relief of Mr Drummond's relatives, and of the stream of distinguished persons who had already begun to call to make inquiry, the surgeons concluded that the injury was not a serious one. The ball, they believed, had not gone through the body, but had travelled round to the point where it was discovered, and they confidently expected? that their patient would make a good recovery. ' . When found and searched, the murderer turned out to be a Scotchman, Daniel M'Naughten by name, and he gave his age as twenty-seven. In his pockets were found two £5 notes, £4 in gold, and a deposit receipt on a Glasgow bank for £750. When h e had been removed to the cells he was visited by a police inspector, who, indeed, cautioned him that anything he- might say in the nature of self-incrim-ination would be in evidence against him, and then proceeded by artfully contrived remarks made in the way of friendship to "draw" him. "I suppose you know whom you have shot?" was one of his questions, to which . the . prisoner repli«£ "Sir Robert. Peel, is it not?" The officer afc first said *" No," but then, fearing that this might stop the flbw 6f M'Naughten's confidences, added, "We are not exactly sure Who it is." . When he was brought up next morning at Bow treet, M'Naughten impressed the spectators as one whose countenance betokened "neither ferocity nor even determination." As soon as formal evidence had been given, he was remanded for a fortnight. To the usual question he had replied that he had nothing to say, but as soon as he had been remoyed to the cells he expressed a wish to be taken before the Magistrate again, which was done. He now madte a statement which, unless he was cunningly playing a- part, indicated that his mind was disordered. "The Tories in my native city," he began, "have compelled me to do this. They follow and persecute me wherever I go, and have entirely destroyed my peace of mind. They followed me into France, into Scotland, and all over England ; in fact, they follow me wherever I go ; I can get no rest for them night or day. I can't sleep at night ' in consequence of the course they pursue'towards me. I "believe they have driven me into a consumption. I am sure I shall 1 never be the man I formerly was. . ! They have accused me of crimes of which lam not guilty. They have done everything in tfheir power to harass and persecute me j in fact, they wish to murder me." Asked if that was all he had to j 6ay, he inquired if he was to be kept in | " -that place," pointing to the cell, for a fortnight. "If so," he added, "I am sure I shan't live." He was told that he would be kept elsewhere, in a proper place of confinement, and thus re-assured, he went back into the station. Later in the day he was removed to Tothill Fields prison ;•* meanwhile he was allowed to remain in the gaoler's room, Where he showed himself attentive to all the conversation, and laughed merrily at anything amusing. When the newspapers came out on Monday morning, the country learnt with grief that the medical men had taken too optimistic a view of Mr Drummond's condition. On Saturday morning an unfavourable change had set in, and on making a further examination the surgeons ascertained that the lowest of the ribs had been injured by the bullet, and that inflammation had supervened. The disquieting news brought flocks of distinguished inquirers, from members of the Royal Family downwards. Sir Robert, with Lady Peel, called frequently to ask after his secretary ; the Duke of Wellington also was assiduous in his inquiries. But the keen solicitude of the great was of no avail to stay the uplifted hand of death. By Tuesday the surgeons had given up all hope,, and their patient breathed his last at half -past ten the next morning, haying retained post . . ......:.. ,

session of his faculties to the last. The post mortem examination disclosed that ihe case was a hopeless one from the first, for though no important organ was injured except that the left lung was slightly abraded, the bullet had perforated, the diaphragm. The news of Mr Drummond's death was at once communicated to M'Naughten, who " turned very pale and for » short time was, very agitated, but soon regained his usual composed manner. " By this time it had been ascertained that he was a wood-turner by trade, belonging to Glasgow. But for some months before the murder he had been lodging in. Poplar ...Bow, off the. New Kent Road, where also he .had lodged for 'a,. While three years before. Further inquire ies conducted by* the solicitor instructed ior the defence, established the fact thafcyfor years past he had bean the victim, of the persecution delusion. He- Had complained to his father of the annoyance wluch he' suffered from persons who followed and insulted, and mocked him, and had besought the protection of the Lord Provost of Glasgow, of the, Sheriff of the county of Lanark' and of the Glasgow police./ To his father .he said that his persecjotor/i', never spoke to him, but derided him/andlshook their fists or jtheir sticks in his" fs^e. When asked whether he could point out" any of the "spies," as he called them, he replied, "Oh, no, if they see with me jtf^sy^ will not follow at^'all J--^t.MvdaiyC**feir I am alone that they 'annoy me." Sometimes they would shake straws in his face, by which they meant to threaten, him with | consignment to an asylum, where he would ! have to sleep, on straw. It was quite true, as M'Naughten had said at 'Bow- Street, thafc he had. gone to France in order to escape from his persecutors. But as soon as he landed at Bon* logne he saw one of them peeping at ihdm from behind a watchman's box on the Quay, jand finding that he was no safer in France than in his .own country, he came straight back. It was with the same object that he had come to London, but here also he was dogged by his tormentors. . At first his belief was that they were set d» to him by the Eoman Catholic priests at Glasgow.; afterwards he believed that he was_ the victim of a conspiracy between the priests and the Tories.,.-:. It was not, however,' because Sir Kobert Peel was the leader of the Tory <party that the unfortunate man seems to -have conceived an animosity against faim. Once when he attended a debate in the House of Commons he came away full of admiration v f or Peel's oratory, and sand 1 he considered hin* far superior to Lord John Russell. "His grievance against the Prime Minister was that though he had the power to protect him from his persecutors, he had not exercised it. This he explained to Dr Monro, a~lunacy specialist, who examined Mm while ibe was awaiting trial, and to whom he confided that if he had had a pistol he would have shot the sheriff of Lanark in Court for, refusing him the projection of the law. To Dr Monro he further said that as the gentleman whom he met in Whitehall passed him' h> gave him "a scowling look." This called up to his memory all the suffering he had endured for months and years, and then it occurred to him that by killing the gentleman he might find peace of mind. At the trial, held at the Old Bailey on March 3, before Lord Chief Justice Tindal and, two bfchfir, judges, the prisoner's strange bearing; tut bnW occasioned comment. As but as soon as he had seated, nimseii m the chair with which he was indulged **s threw his head back and appeared to go to sleep, and so remained throughout the whole of the opening speech of the Solici-tor-General, Sir William Follett. The facts of the murder as I have set them out in the early paragraphs of this article were duly proved, and then Mr Cockburn, Q.O. (afterwards the great Lord Chief Justice), in a speech which was a masterpiece of forensic oratory, eloquent and closely reasoned throughout, set up the plea of insanity as an answer to the charge. He called M'Naughten's father, the Lord Provost of Glasgow, the Sheriff of Lanark County, Commissioner Wilson, of the Glasgow police, and other witnesses to prove that the prisoner's mind had been for years possessed and tormented by tihe belief that he was constantly being persecuted. It was also proved that he had suffered from racking pains in the head, which were sometimes so agonising that he had on several occasions jumped into tihe Clyde to seek relief from them ; and that he was a man of regular and studious habits and of kindly disposition, with a marked fondness for children, whose playing he would watch for hours together. Cockburn, who in his speech had laid great stress on the fact that although, the Crown had sent medical men to the gaol to inquire into the prisoner's mental condition, the Solicitor-General had put none of them into the box, next called a string of eminent specialists who with one consent declared themselves to have no doubt whatever that M'Naiughten was a monomaniac, who was not morally responsible for acts which were consequential upon his delusions. Among these witnesses was the surgeon of Newgate, whose testimony was not less emphatic than that of mis professional brethren. Then the surgeon of Guy's Hospital, whose impartiality was beyond dispute, since he had only seen the prisoner in open court during the trial, declared himself in the same sense, as also did Dr Forbes Winslow, another volunteer witness, who was already an authority on' brain diseases. , Yet another specialist was about to be called when the Lord Chief Justice* inquired of the Solicitor-General was prepared with rebutting evidence, intimating that unless he were, the Bench, in view of tJie strength of the medical evidence in. support of 4ihe plea of insanity t would feel it to be their duty to stop the case. Sir William Folletfc replied that he bad no fuatfhen evidence to offer, and incidentally spoke of the prisoner as "the unfortunate man," and in these circumstances it is no wonder that the jury instantly returned a verdict of "Not guilty." The prisoner was then put back, and was afterwards interned in am asylum. . / .. That this highly undramatie issue of tne trial gave by no means universal satisfaction is not ab all surprising in view of the excitement created by the lamentable tragedy, and the readiness displayed in some quarters to believe that the motive was a political one. Able editors wrote leading articles which were veiled attacks' upon the judges and' medical witnesses, and opened their columns to indignant letters _and sarcastic jeux-d'esprit. Yet unless naying madness is to be looked upon as the only legitimate form of insanity, it is not easy to see how a stronger case could "have been, made out than that which snatched M'Naughten from the gallows. At this time of day the idea of monomania is familiar enough, but sixty years ago the common notion seems to have been that a man could! not be mad on one point unless he was mad on all. The slaying of poor Mr Drummond was indirectly the occasion of a memorable epi- 1 sode in our Parliamentary annals. , Deeply moved by the fate that had Befallen his secretary, Sir Robert Peel naturally enough was also concerned on his own behalf, and when, in the course of one of the Free Trade debates, Mr Cobden warned him tthat he would be held responsible for the condition of the country if ihe hardened his heart against the new doctrine, he passionately charged the. great Free Trader with threatening to expose (him to the attack of. an assassin, and the

accusation was endorsed by the tempestuous cheers of this supporters. Peel, however, soon saw his mistake, and apologised for it, and there the incident ended; except that on a later occasion it was brought up again* by one who hoped to make mischief between the two statesmen, but who only succeeded' in eliciting from Peel a renewal' of his apology . for a charge lie hadinade "in the course of a heated debate," and from Cobden a declaration that he wa4 perfebtly satisfied, with the explanation, and' that She hoped the subject would never be referred to again.