Insanity and crime : a medico-legal commentary on the case of George Victor Townley / by the editors of the Journal of Mental Science.

Date:
1864
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Insanity and crime : a medico-legal commentary on the case of George Victor Townley / by the editors of the Journal of Mental Science. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    II. The Medical Evidence of Insanity. On the 18th November,, three months after the murder, Dr. Winslow examined the prisoner Townley for nearly two hours, in the presence of Mr. Sims, the governor of the gaol; and again on the 10th December, the day before the trial, he examined him for three-quarters of an hour. He opinion that in so doing he was repossessing himself of her as his property is inconsistent with his own repeated statement to ns that, without forethought of any kind, he killed her under the influence of sudden impulse. He explained to us that hy killing Miss Goodwin to repossess himself of her as his property, he simply meant that he took her out of the hands of his enemies, and placed her in a position where she would wait, and where he would rejoin her when he died. The prisoner endeavoured to represent the catastrophe to us as due to the influence of sudden impulse, hut the details which we elicited from him show that he used threats of murder for some time before he struck the first blow. We think that his clear memory of the events attending the crime, and also the attempts which he has made to misrepresent the state of liis mind and memory at the time of these events, are evidence of his sanity. We are of opinion that he does not entertain any delusion on the subject of a conspiracy against him, but that he uses the term conspiracy to exjiress the real opposition which he has met with from the members of Miss Goodwin's family to his engagement with her, and also to express the feeling that they are hostile to him. We have considered the evidence of hereditary predisposition to insanity given in the papers supplied to us, and our opinion of the prisoner's state of mind has not been altered thereby. We examined the apothecary and also the chief attendant of Bethlehem as to the conduct of Townley since he has been in detention at the hospital— both of them have had him under daily and special observation—and they assure us that neither in conduct, manner, or conversation had they been able to observe in him any of the pecuharities which they are in the habit of remarking among the insane. W. CHARLES HOOD, M.D„ Visitor of Chancery Lunatics. JOHN CHARLES BUCKJSTILL, M.D., Visitor of Chancery Lunatics. JOHN MEYER, M.D., Medical Superintendent of the Criminal Lunatic Asylum. «W. HELPS, M.D., Medical Superintendent of the Royal Bethlehem Hospital. Looking on this report as conclusive that Tov/nley is of sound mind, and a certificate having been received by him to that efiect. Sir George Grey has in- formed the Derbyshire magistrates that Townley's sentence had been commuted to penal servitude for life, and that the prisoner will be dealt with accordingly. Sir G. Grey adds, that it is the intention of the Government to propose an amendment of the Act under which the certificates of insanity in this case were given. We rejoice at this result, not only because it fully justifies the views taken in these pages—views which, if regard were had to scientific accuracy, it was im-