No lawyer, so far as we have seen, and all the English medical and legal papers have teemed with commentary, has been able to suggest a reason for these discordant sentences; but every one is agreed that to pass death-sentences knowing that they will not be carried out is an undignified and inhumane proceeding.
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G'day TradeName
I'm sorry but has something been left out here, ie after the words "No lawyer" as it doesn't appear to make sense. Are they saying no lawyer has commented but the medical and legal papers have or are they saying that someone was unrepresented? -
It's a real case, but there was actually no "judicial murder" as the sentence was commuted, as noted in the Grain book.Originally posted by Mayerling View Post
The Japan Daily Mail, Volume 31, Jan 21, 1899, Page 69
The trial of Lieutenant R. T. Wark, R.A., Woolwich, for having wilfully murdered a young lady of independent means, named Jane Yates, residing in Liverpool, by performing upon her an illegal operation, has concluded. The social position of the parties, and the sensational circumstances of the crime, excited wide-spread interest in the case. Counsel for Wark made the most of the fact that the prisoner had endeavoured to dissuade Miss Yates from undergoing the operation, whilst counsel for the prosecution pressed home the very ugly circumstance that only Wark benefited under the dead girl’s will. The Jury found the prisoner guilty, with a recommendation to mercy, and the Judge pronounced sentence of death. There is much sympathy for Wark, and the sentence is almost sure to be commuted.
The Philadelphia Medical Journal, Volume 3, January 29, 1899, Page 195
Crime and Punishment.—The recent trial of a man named Wark at Liverpool for procuring criminal abortion on his paramour, who died of injuries received in the operation, resulted in a verdict of "murder" and a sentence of death. Wark's sentence has now been commuted to one of penal servitude for three years. This makes the third case of the sort that has occurred in England in the last few months and the sentences form a curious commentary on the law. One man, Dr. Collins, was convicted of "manslaughter" and sentenced to 7 years' penal servitude; another, Dr. Whitmarsh, was convicted of "murder" and sentenced to death, the sentence being commuted for one of 12 years' penal servitude; the third case we have just detailed. No lawyer, so far as we have seen, and all the English medical and legal papers have teemed with commentary, has been able to suggest a reason for these discordant sentences; but every one is agreed that to pass death-sentences knowing that they will not be carried out is an undignified and inhumane proceeding.Leave a comment:
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A couple more University Press books.
The Pathology of Emotions (London: The University Press, 1899), link
by Charles Féré, translated by Robert Park, M.D.
The Universal Illusion of Free Will and Criminal Responsibility (London: The University Press, 1899), link
by Augustin Frédéric Hamon
Bio-sketch of Hypatia Bradlaugh Bonner, whose husband Arthur did printing for the University Press.
Who's Who, 1907 (London:Adam and Charles Black, 1907), Page 181
BONNER, Mrs. Hypatia Bradlàugh-; b. March 1858; 2nd d. of Charles Bradlaugh; m. 1885, Arthur Bonner; one s. Educ.: private schools in England and Paris. Assisted with the National Reformer, 1877-98; Editor, Reformer, 1897-1904; Secretary to Mr. Bradlaugh prior to 1878, and again in 1888; taught evening classes in Chemistry and Mathematics in connection with the Science and Art Department, 1880-88; connected with the Women's Liberal Association, International Arbitration and Peace Association, the Criminal Law and Prison Reform department of the Humanitarian League, the Rationalist Press Association, etc.; Lectures on Indian, political, ethical, peace, and humanitarian questions. Publications: Charles Bradlaugh, a record of his life and work (with Mr. John M. Robertson); The Death Penalty; Stricken India; The Labour System of Assam; some Children's Stories, etc. Recreations: reading and country. Address: 23 Streathboume Road, Upper Tooting, S.W.
--end
Collection of the science lectures mentioned in the sketch. The other lecturers are Annie Besant, Edward B. Aveling and Charles Bradlaugh.
Hall of Science Thursday Lectures (London: Freethought Publishing, 1882), link
by London Hall of scienceLeave a comment:
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University Press Catalogue
Some books published by Springmuhl's University Press:
An 1897 edition of the Ellis book. The imprint is "Wilson and Macmillan," but
the "16 John Street" address was used by both the University Press and the Legitimation League. The printer if "A [Arthur] Bonner," also the printer of the Free Review. Bonner was married the Hypatia Bradlaugh, daughter of Charles. Some pages are missing in this scan.
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1: Sexual Inversion (London: Wilson and Macmillan, 16 John Street, Bedford Row, WC, 1897), link
by Havelock Ellis, John Addington Symonds
A 1900 edition with an University Press imprint. Symonds is not credited as an author in this edition. Even more pages are missing from this scan.
Studies in the Psychology of Sex, Volume 1: Sexual Inversion (London, Watford and Leipzig: The University Press, 1900), link
by Havelock Ellis
A novel by Ellis' wife.
Seaweed : a Cornish Idyll (1898), link
Author: Ellis, Havelock, Mrs., 1861-1916
Publisher: London : The University Press
The Blight of Respectability: An Anatomy of the Disease and a Theory of Curative Treatment (London: The University Press, 1897), link
by Geoffry Mortimer (Walter Matthew Gallichan)
Chapters on Human Love (London: The University Press, 1898), link
by Geoffry Mortimer (Walter Matthew Gallichan)
Pseudo-philosophy at the End of the Nineteenth Century: Vol. 1. An Irrationalist Trio Kidd-Drummon-Balfour (London: The University Press, 1897), link
By Hugh Mortimer Cecil (Ernest Newman)
The Dynamics of Religion: An Essay in English Culture History (London: The University Press, 1897), link
by M. W. Wiseman (John Mackinnon Robertson)
The Saxon and the Celt: A Study in Sociology (London: The University Press, 1897), link
by John Mackinnon Robertson
This has a Swan Sonnenschein imprint, but the next page says "The University Press."
Montaigne and Shakspere (London: Swan Sonnenschein, 1897), link
by John Mackinnon Robertson
Harold Hardy (London: The University Press, 1898), link
by F. C. Huddle
Judicial Murder: The Case of Lieutenant Wark (London: The University Press, 1900), link
by Robert John Wark, E. R. GrainLeave a comment:
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A finding aid to George Bedborough's magazine.
The Adult, link
EP85.Ad937.897a
Finding aid prepared by Ellen Williams, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library Print Collections
A bio of Charles Bradlaugh with a small reproduction of a portrait by Walter Sickert. (Click on the image to see a slightly larger version.)
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
Charles Bradlaugh
A pencil sketch of Bradlaugh by Sickert.
National Portrait Gallery
Charles Bradlaugh
by Walter Richard SickertLeave a comment:
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A summary of the publishing history of the Free Review, with some relevant links and excerpts. Note that in Volume 9 "De Villiers" provides a clue to his true identity by discussing the condensing of grape juice. Also note the threatening letter from Scotland Yard in olume 10.
Anne Humpherys, The Journals that Did: Writing about Sex in the late 1890s, link
19: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century, 3 (2006)
Because the University Magazine and Free Review is relatively unknown a discussion of its history may prove useful. Briefly the Free Review began life in 1893, founded and edited by the future Liberal M.P. John Mckinnen Robertson, a protégé of the secularist Charles Bradlaugh. It was designed at its beginning as a continuation of Bradlaugh’s National Reformer which ceased publication in 1893 after Bradlaugh’s death in 1891. In the initial number Robertson wrote that it was ‘an attempt to make a platform for opinions which are more or less unlikely to get a hearing in even the more advanced of the established reviews, with perhaps the exception of the Westminster’ (1 [1893], p.2).
The publisher of the Free Review was the distinguished progressive firm of Swan Sonneschein.15 Robertson edited the Free Review until September 1895 at which point he sold it either to Roland de Villiers or George Astor Singer and one or the other of them became the editor.16 Swan Sonneschein continued to publish the journal until 1897 when that role was taken over by the University Press, first located at 16 John Street, which Bedborough also used as a house and office. Soon after the University Press took over the publication from Swan Sonnenschein, it moved to Watford (at this point the press was sometimes known as The University Press at Watford). In addition to its two journals, it had a sizable list of progressive publications.17 And of course, it also published Havelock Ellis’s first volume of Studies in the Psychology of Sex on Sexual Inversion and more surprisingly the second volume which appeared after the Bedborough trial.18
The editor of the University Magazine and Free Review was now ‘Democritus’ but, according to the British Library catalogue, continued to be Singer, though Singer said it was de Villiers. The title of the journal changed to the University Magazine and Free Review. In 1899, in the wake of the Bedborough trial, the journal became an annual, the University Magazine, still edited by Democritus, though the British Library catalogue says this was now Allan Laidlaw. However, the University Press in 1900 published two pamphlets about the Bedborough trial by Democritus, and the British Library catalogue lists this Democritus as Singer. The last issue of the University Magazine was in 1900.
[...]
As should be obvious, George Astor Singer and Roland de Villiers were the same person although none of the parties knew this. Despite the fact that Ellis had his suspicions,21 no one was to know for sure until January 1902 when Singer/de Villiers (he had, according to the police, at least 30 other aliases22) was finally arrested for selling obscene literature and died in police custody, the coroner said by apoplexy. His actual name, again according to the police, was Ferdinand Springmuhl von Weisenfeld. They said he was the son of a German judge, and had come to England in 1880 where he began a career of petty crime for which he had spent twelve months in jail for forgery.23
It is not known how he surfaced in the mid-1890s as a respectable editor and publisher with strong connections to the free thought and secularist world; nor is it known from where he had acquired the £10,000 with which he founded the University Press. Probably he had developed connections among the free thought and secularist world since everyone else involved in the community of writers about sex met through these connections. Why Robertson sold the Free Review to Singer in 1895 is also unknown, and how he met him equally so.24 Singer must have seemed a little shady even at that early stage, and given the increased number of articles on the sexual problem after he took over the Free Review, it is hard to believe that Robertson didn’t sense a difference. Martin Page, a biographer of Robertson, referred to George Singer as ‘one of Robertson’s close friends.’25 In any case, Robertson, despite having to testify at the Bedborough trial26 and being, as it were, tainted by his connection to that case (he was a member of the defense committee27), continued to contribute to the University Magazine and Free Review until the very end in 1900, and the University Press continued to advertise and sell his books.
In 1899 the University Magazine and Free Review was driven to become an annual by reduced circulation which resulted from letters (supposedly from the police) to news agents across the country threatening them with arrest for distributing obscenity if they sold the journal. Bedborough in a deal with the police to avoid prosecution also fingered de Villiers as the publisher of Ellis, whereupon a order for de Villier’s arrest was issued. He disappeared, though George Singer (as Democritus) apparently continued to edit and write for the University Magazine and Free Review and to author several biting satires and commentaries on the Bedborough trial.28
[...]
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The Free Review (London: Swan Sonnenschein), Volume 1 (October, 1893 to March, 1894), link
edited by John Mackinnon Robertson
The Free Review (London: Swan Sonnenschein), Volume 2 (April to September, 1894), link, alternate link
edited by John Mackinnon Robertson
The Free Review (London: Swan Sonnenschein), Volume 3 (October, 1894 to March, 1895), link
edited by John Mackinnon Robertson
The Free Review (London: Swan Sonnenschein), Volume 4 (April to September, 1895), link
edited by John Mackinnon Robertson
September, 1895, Page 576
SPECIAL
NOTICE TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS.
I have to intimate to the readers of the Free Review that on the issue of this number it will pass into the hands of a new Proprietor and Editor, Mr. George A. Singer, M.A., who I trust will be able greatly to extend its usefulness. In his hands the Review will be managed on the same lines on which it has hitherto been conducted, and I shall have the pleasure of remaining associated with it as a contributor. The valued colleagues who have constituted its main strength during the two years of its existence will also continue to write for it, and I earnestly trust that all who have thus far befriended it will give their support to the new management.
John M. Robertson.
All literary communications and subscriptions henceforth to be addressed to Mr. George A. Singer, M.A., Cumberland House, Wembley, London.
Communications as to the trade supply of the Free Review should be sent to the publishers.
The Free Review (London: Swan Sonnenschein), Volume 5 (October, 1895 to March, 1896), link
edited by G. Astor Singer
The Free Review (London: Swan Sonnenschein), Volume 6 (April to September, 1896), link, alternate link
edited by G. Astor Singer
The Free Review (London: Swan Sonnenschein), Volume 7 (October, 1896 to March, 1897), link
edited by G. Astor Singer
The University Magazine and Free Review (London: The University Press), Volume 8 (April to September, 1897), link
edited by Democritus
The University Magazine and Free Review (London: The University Press), Volume 9 (October, 1897 to March, 1898), link
edited by Democritus
January, 1898, Page 345
Vegetarianism
by R. De Villers
The concentration of vegetable substances, especially the concentration of liquids and solutions in vacuo is of the greatest importance, if a gradual return to vegetable diet should ever take place. As an instance I may cite the concentration of grape juice and of fruit juices in general. Grapes contain from 80 to 85 per cent, of water, and in the process of concentration the bulk is reduced to one-fourth and even one-fifth of the original quantity. The flavour and even the ferment is maintained intact as the concentration takes place at a very low temperature. This is an industry already initiated on a large scale in California, Algeria, and Italy. It preserves the valuable juice of the grape and in a similar way by evaporation in huge vacuum apparatus can all kinds of fruit be preserved.
The University Magazine and Free Review, Volume 10 (April to September, 1898), link
edited by Democritus
August, 1898, Page 560
Prosecution of Mr. Bedborough.
Subscribers and friends of the University Magazine are urgently requested to send their names and addresses to the Manager of the University Press, Watford, near London.
A system of intimidating booksellers all over England has been adopted by some person or persons connected with the prosecution of Mr. George Bedborough, and, as a result, a number of retailers have notified their intention to discontinue the distribution of our publications. As nearly 75 per cent. of our subscribers are supplied by the book-trade, and as, therefore, their names are unknown to us we shall be unable to supply them if this boycott should continue.
The notice, or letter, received by many booksellers in London and elsewhere runs as follows: —
"PRIVATE AND CONFIDENTIAL.
"Criminal Investigation Department,
"Scotland Yard, W.C.
"Sir,—The arrest and committal of a London bookseller should serve you as a warning.
"Take notice that the police will arrest and prosecute any bookseller who in the future should sell the atheistic and abominable publications of the University Press.
"A Christian."
It is certain that these letters do not emanate from the Scotland Yard authorities, but from some person or society connected with or interested in the prosecution. There can, however, be no doubt that the object of frightening booksellers has been attained in many cases, so that we will have to discontinue the publication of the Magazine if our friends should fail to stand by us.
THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, Ld. BEDBOROUGH DEFENCE FUND.
At the request of the majority of contributors to this fund the list of contributions will be published after the trial. The amounts forwarded to the treasurer have been acknowledged individually.
Printed and Published by the University Press, Limited, Cromwell House, Watford. Herts.
September, 1898, Page 561
THE SWAN'S SONG.
The University Magazine And Free Review as a monthly review succumbs to the extensive boycott practised by frightened booksellers all over the country, in consequence of the Bedborough prosecution, and this number will be the last of the monthly issues.
The University Press, however, will publish annually, under the same title and on the same lines, a volume, uniform in size, print, and binding with this Magazine. This annual volume will contain a number of prize essays on the most important philosophical, psychological, and sociological subjects.
The University Magazine and Free Review (London: The Univerity Press), Volume 11 (1899), link
edited by Democritus
The University Magazine and Free Review (London: The Univerity Press), Volume 12 (1900), link
edited by Democritus
The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge (New York, 1919), Volume 23, Page 561
ROBERTSON, John Mackinnon, British author, lecturer and legislator: b. Brodick, Isle of Arran, 14 Nov. 1856. He received an elementary education at Stirling, Scotland, but left school at the age of 13 years. In 1878 he joined the staff of The Edinburgh Evening News, as a leader writer, went to London in 1884 to join the staff of Bradlaugh's National Reformer, and was the editor of that publication from the time of Mr. Bradlaugh's death in 1891 until it went out of existence in 1893. Mr. Robertson then started The Free Review and was editor of that periodical until 1895. In that year he was the Independent Radical candidate for Parliament for Northampton, but was not elected. He made a lecturing tour in the United States during 1897-98, and in June 1900 he went to South Africa to investigate the condition of affairs in Cape Colony and Natal. His letters from South Africa to The Morning Leader, signed "Scrutator," attracted a great deal of attention at the time. He has been member of Parliament for the Tyneside Division of Northumberland since 1906, and was named a Privy Councilor in 1915. He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade from 1911 to 1915. He has written a number of books and essays on religious and literary subjects, among which are 'The Dynamics of Religion': 'Modern Humanists'; 'Buckle and His Critics'; 'History of Free Thought'; 'Christianity and Mythology'; 'Montaigne and Shakespeare'; 'The Baconian Heresy' and 'The Eight Hours Question.'Leave a comment:
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A poem written by Havelock Ellis about a woman who was executed for the assassination of Czar Alexander II.
To-day: The Monthly Magazine of Scientific Socialism, Volume 1, No, 4, April, 1884, Page 256
edited by Ernest Belfort Bax, James Leigh Joynes, F. Bland, Hubert Bland
Sophia Perovskaia
Executed 16th April, 1881
She would not share the lot of those who make
The world a nest of ills; she gladly met
The thorns of that strange crown, their guerdon yet,
Who of Life's bread of freedom dare to break,
And pour Life's wine that after men partake;
And having laboured to redeem the debt
The ages owed, aye, not till she had set
A Czar towards death, she died for Life's sweet sake.
Heroes and martyrs love and suffer still:
As flashes from earth's smithy they are hurled
About the sky to lighten darkest nights.
This has been so for ever, and ever will,
When on the anvil of the grief-worn world
God lays the human mighty Heart and smites.
H. Havelock Ellis.
--end
Who's Who (London: Adam and Charles Black, 1907), Pages 552-553
ELLIS, Henry Havelock, L.S.A.; Fellow of the Medico-legal Society of New York and the Anthropological Inst, of Great Britain Honorary Fellow of the Chicago Academy of Medicine, etc.; general editor of the Contemporary Science Series (1889); b. Croydon, Surrey, 2 Feb, 1859, belonging on both sides to families connected with the sea, and spent much of childhood on sea (Pacific, etc.); m. Edith M. O. Lees, 1891 (Mrs. Havelock Ellis has written Seaweed: a Cornish Idyll, and My Cornish Neighbours). Educ.: private schools; St. Thomas's Hospital. Engaged in teaching in various parts of New South Wales, 1875-79; returned to England and qualified as a medical man, but only practised for a short time, having become absorbed in literary and scientific work; edited the Mermaid Series of Old Dramatists, 1887-89. Publications: The New Spirit, 1800; The Criminal, 1890 (3rd ed. revised and enlarged, 1901): Man and Woman: A Study of Human Secondary Sexual Characters, 1894 (4th ed. revised and enlarged, 1904); Sexual Inversion, being vol. ii. of Studies in the Psychology of Sex, 1897; Affirmations, 1897; The Evolution of Modesty, etc., being vol. i. of Studies in the Psychology of Sex, 1899 ; The Nineteenth Century: A Dialogue in Utopia, 1900; Analysis of the Sexual Impulse, 1903, Sexual Selection in Man. 190Ô, Erotic Symbolism, 1906, being vols. iii., iv., and v. of Studies in the Psychology of Sex. Recreation: travel chiefly. Address; Carbis Water, Lelant, Cornwall.
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Some references to JtR from the emlarged 1916 edition of the 1890 Havelock Ellis boo, The Criminal.
The Criminal (London: Walter Scott, 1916)
by Havelock Ellis
Fifth Edition, Revised and Enlarged [1st 1890]
Pages 220
After every celebrated or startling crime, some weak-minded and impressionable persons go and commit the like, or give themselves up to the police under the impression that they have been guilty of the crime. It is youths and children who are especially prone to the imitation of criminal events from books or from real life. After the murders associated with the name of Jack the Ripper several murders by young children took place throughout the country.
Page 354
The popular excitement over "Jack the Ripper," and the Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, may be specially mentioned as having produced a large number of crimes. They are, however, by no means isolated examples.
Pages 371-372
It is useless, or worse than useless, to occupy ourselves with methods for improving the treatment of criminals, so long as the conditions of life render the prison a welcome and desired shelter. So long as we foster the growth of the reckless classes we foster the growth of criminality. So long as there are a large body of women in the East of London, and in other large centres, who are prepared to say: "It's Jack the Ripper or the bridge with me. What's the odds ?"(1) there will be a still larger number of persons who will willingly accept the risks of prison. "What's the odds?" Liberty is dear to every man who is fed and clothed and housed, and he will not usually enter a career of crime unless he has carefully calculated the risks of losing his liberty and found them small; but food and shelter are even more precious than liberty, and these may be secured in a prison.
(1) Pall Mall Gazette, 4th Nov. 1889.
Pages 425-427
Appendix
[...]
Page 281. The Sadistic Factor in Criminality.—The morbid element in criminality is well illustrated by that class of crime—-the most obviously horrible of all—-in which blood is shed in order to gratify a perverted and more or less overpowering sexual impulse. I have discussed the origin and nature of this impulse in the study of "Love and Pain" in the third volume of Studies in the Psychology of Sex. The acts of the sadistic criminal pervert are best known in England by the series of "Jack the Ripper" crimes, the perpetrator of which was never detected. His essential character may, however, be judged by that of the author of an almost precisely similar series of crimes in France, Vacher, whose case has been studied with much zeal and care by several distinguished psychologists, anatomists, and criminal anthropologists working in association (Laborde, Manouvrier, Papillault, and Gelle, "Etude psycho-physiologique, médico-légale et anatomique sur Vacher,"Bulletin de la Société d'Anthropologic de Paris, fasc. v., 1899; Lacassagne also has embodied a medico-legal investigation of Vacher in a volume in which he studies the whole subject, Vacher l'Eventreur et les Crimes Sadiques).
Vacher was born in 1869 at Beaufort (Isere), and belonged to a large and honest family, cultivators of the soil. The ancestry appeared to be quite healthy, though it was subsequently learned that the father, at the age of forty, and before Vacher's birth, had suffered from a prolonged fever, during which he had to be strapped down; it was also found that another very near relation suffers from mental attacks, during which he quits his work suddenly and runs at random, shouting and singing. Vacher does not appear to have suffered from any serious early illness, but from childhood he is described as sulky, disobedient, unsociable, and later incapable of work. At the age of eighteen he was placed in a monastery as a postulant; two years later he was sent away, having made attempts to commit unnatural offences on his comrades, attempts which he renewed on a child. A little later we find him in the hospital with a venereal disorder. In 1890 began his period of military service. At this time definite mental symptoms appeared; he obtained the grade of sergeant, but he was feared by all under him, and was liable to attacks of extremely violent conduct. In 1891 he was placed in the infirmary for observation, as being subject to "gloomy ideas, with delusions of persecution"; there was also a certain incoherence in his language. He was shortly after sent to the hospital with a diagnosis of "mental troubles." This rather vague diagnosis was here interpreted more precisely as "melancholia, with ideas of persecution, impulses of violence, and erotomania." Nor were associated impulses to homicide and suicide absent, for when sent away as convalescent he went to join a young woman whom he was to marry. She, however, would now have nothing to do with him; whereupon he fired at her with a revolver, and then attempted to kill himself. The girl's wound was slight, his own serious, for the shot were left in his head, producing inflammation of the inner ear, deafness, and facial paralysis on one side. It is suggested that hereby his mental troubles were complicated by hallucinations of hearing. However that may be, having again been put under observation in an asylum, he was finally dismissed from the army on account of "mental troubles." Up to this point there is no question as to Vacher's insanity. Lacassagne, however, and the officially appointed experts who reported on the case, believe that he left the asylum sane, and that he was fully responsible for the subsequent acts. This conclusion is attacked with much point and vigour by Laborde, while Manouvrier wisely remarks that the question is insoluble.
Now began the series of crimes—-at least eleven in number—-with which Vacher's name is associated. They all have the same stereotyped character, and are marked by premeditation and system. He selected a young shepherd or shepherdess (sex apparently made little or no difference) in an isolated spot, and strangled the victim, then cutting the throat; next he proceeded to disembowelling, and to removal of breasts or testes; finally he struck the victim at random, and violated the corpse. He would bring with him a change of clothes, and putting them on he would leave the spot with much rapidity and go so long a distance (he had a powerful muscular system) that identification became impossible. He maintained that he was "executing the orders of God, who had sent him on earth to punish men for their crimes." He also asserted that he was moved by a sudden and irresistible impulse, a rage for blood. Finally, having been caught, and the official experts declaring that he was completely responsible for his actions, Vacher was executed.
His brain came into the hands of Dr. Toulouse, who cut up the right hemisphere for histological purposes, and put the left into a powerful preservative solution, then inviting Professor Manouvrier to examine it. According to the report of the latter, it was no longer possible to form an exact estimate of the weight of the brain, but this was clearly over the average, and the fissures were also deep; it must be remembered, however, that Vacher was well developed generally. There were no signs of adherence of the pia mater. A few variations in the fissures and convolutions were noted, but not of an excessively rare character; it would be quite fanciful, Manouvrier declares, to regard them as stigmata of degenerescence.
It is of interest to compare with Vacher another criminal sadist who was of different temperament but not less typical of a group. This is Riedel, who was very thoroughly studied by Lacassagne, Rousset, and Papillon. ("L'Affaire Riedel", Archives d'Anthropologic Criminelle, Oct.-Nov. 1907.) Riedel was a congenital sanguinary sadist of eighteen, a seminarist who killed another boy and was finally sent to an asylum. From the age of four he had had voluptuous sensations connected with ideas of blood and of killing, and liked to play games of killing with other children. Unlike Vacher, he was infantile in physical development, with a pleasant, childlike expression of face. He was very timid, modest, and delicate, strongly religious in temperament, and he hated obscenity and immorality. But the love of blood and of murder was an irresistible obsession, and its gratification produced immense emotional relief.
There is some difference of opinion as to whether sadistic and similar crimes involve insanity and legal irresponsibility. This is illustrated by the various views maintained in regard to Vacher. The general question is discussed by Dr. Harold Moyer, "Is Sexual Perversion Insanity?" {Alienist and Neurologist, 1908) and he decides that it is not. The same view is maintained by Dr. J. G. Kiernan in an interesting paper, bringing together many cases, on "Psychological Aspects of the Sexual Appetite" (Alienist and Neurologist, April 1891). It seems to be unquestionable that sexual perversion in itself by no means involves insanity, though it may often involve constitutional degeneration. When, however, such perversion is manifested in a violently anti-social manner the question of insanity must always come up for consideration.
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I wondered if there was ever any connection between Havelock Ellis and Forbes Winslow. The best I could come up with is that a paper by Ellis was read at the 1895 Medico-Legal conference and Winslow was present at the session.
Also, from an 1882 guide to the LSA exams, the Forensic Medicine questions. I don't know the answers.
Bulletin of the Medico-Legal Congress (New York, 1898), Pages xxxix-xlii
THIRD DAY.
Afternoon Session, 2 P. M.
The President called to the chair to preside over the papers not read, an [sic] their discussion, Vice-President Dr. L. Forbes Winslow.
President Clark Bell, in behalf of Moritz Ellinger, who was prevented by illness from being present, read a paper on "The Case of Czynski." This was followed by a paper read by Clark Bell on "Hypnotism in the Courts of Law."
The following paper was read by the President, in the absence of the author:
Elwood Wilson, Esq., "Hypnotism in the German Courts—the Czynski Case."
A discussion followed on the subject of hypnotism, participated in by William Lee Howard, M. D., of Baltimore, Md.
Dr. Forbes Winslow said that the popular belief that it was only persons of weak intellect who could be hypnotized was a fallacy. Persons of strong will were equally liable to become the subject of hypnotic suggestion.
Dr. Grover, of Massachusetts, related a case where a young woman in New England, afflicted with tuberculosis, had been cured through repeated hypnotic "suggestions."
Dr. Hubbard W. Mitchell expressed some surprise at Dr. Grover's statement. "If that is true," he said, "the hypnotizer has a tremendous power, and its importance cannot be overestimated, but I am inclined to be skeptical. The Medico-Legal Society has for a long time been trying to find out what hypnotism really is."
The President, Clark Bell, Esq., closed the discussion:
The President then read the following papers in the absence of the authors:
P. C. Remondino, M. D., San Diego, Cal., "The Evolution of Theosophic Medicine and Its Present standing in the United States."
Gustave Boehm, Esq., New York City, "Prostitution—The Evil; The Cure; Legislation, Etc."
H. R. Storer, M. D., Newport, R. I., "Fraudulent Life Insurance and Its Relation to the Medical Examiner."
E. N. Buffett, M. D., Jersey City, N. J., "Is Death Painful?" also, "A Popular Medical Error to be Corrected by the Physician."
Dr. Havelock Ellis, London, "Sexual Inversion, with Analysis of Thirty-six New Cases."
Discussion opened by William Lee Howard, M. D., Baltimore.
The paper of Dr. G. E. Shuttleworth, Richmond, England, which had been received by steamer that morning, was then read by the President.
The paper by James Gordon Battle, Esq., Assistant District Attorney, entitled "Indeterminate Sentences as Affecting Congenital Criminals," was read by title, at his request, illness preventing his attendance.
Mr. Albert Bach offered the following resolution:
"Resolved that the thanks of the officers and members of the MedicoLegal Congrees now in session be extended to the public press of this city for the efficient and willing assistance it has yielded in disseminating the work of the Congress and in awakening public interest in the science of forensic medicine; and be it further
"Resolved that the Congress express its particular gratification with the full publication by the New York Times of many of the papers read at its meetings."
President Clark Bell said:
"I rise with great pleasure to second the resolution offered by Mr. Bach. Whatever work scientific men may do, if it only extends to their own horizon, it does not do much good. No man can overestimate the good that has been done by the press of this city in laying before the public the valuable papers that have been presented to this Congress. The press has been most kind, and the New York Times, in particular, wonderfully kind toward the deliberations of this Congress, and it is with great pleasure that I second the motion.
"I have never received, nor has the society which I represent, so much honor at the hands of the newspapers of New York as on the present occasion."
Dr. Forbes Winslow, who also seconded the resolution, said:
"I should like to add my testimony to the remarks made. I have had a great deal of experience with the English newspapers, but I can assure you my experience with the American newspapers has been most agreeable. One of the chief institutions in your country is your press, and the manner in which it is carried out, and by that I mean its enterprise, is most wonderful. When I go back to England it will be with very pleasant recollections of the kindness I have received at the hands of the American newspapers."
Dr. Hubbard W. Mitchell, President of the New York Medico-Legal Society, who supported the motion, said:
"I desire to express my appreciation of the accuracy which has attended the reports that have appeared in the New York newspapers of the proceedings of this body. The New York Times has, with great liberality, given from day to day most complete reports of our proceedings. That paper's reports have been remarkable for their accuracy. It is with great pleasure that I also second the motion."
Dr. I. N. Quimby supported the motion, likening the New York Times to the man who knew a good thing when he saw it, and remarking that a great many papers of international interest had been read at the Congress, many of which had been faithfully reported.
The resolution was unanimously adopted.
President Clark Bell offered this resolution:
"Resolved, That in the opinion of this Medico-Legal Congress not only should the subject of medical jurisprudence be recognized in the various institutions of learning, but in the medical and law schools of this country; that such schools should include such a course in the curriculum of studies, and that examination on this subject be made necessary for graduation in either medicine or law."
Dr. Forbes Winslow, Judge A. L. Palmer, of the Province of New Brunswick, and others supported the resolution, which was adopted.
A communication was received by telegram from the State Medical Society of Rhode Island, congratulating the Medico-Legal Congress upon its work, and assuring the body of its sympathy for and interest in its labors.
The thanks of the Congress were, on motion, directed to be returned to the State Medical Society of Rhode Island.
Judge Palmer moved a vote of thanks to Clark Bell, Esq., for the efficient manner in which he had presided over the Congress, and for the arduous work he had done prior to the assemblage. This was unanimously adopted.
Ex-Surrogate Ransom offered the following resolution, which was unanimously adopted:
"Resolved that it is the duty and would add to the interest and benefit of the legal and medical professions if every national and State medical society and every national and State bar association in the United States and British Provinces should appoint a standing committee upon medical jurisprudence."
On motion of the President, a vote of thanks was passed to the United States Government and to Judges Benedict and Brown and to Postmaster Dayton for their aid in securing the use of the court-room for the Congress.
Mrs. Frances C. S. Burnham, representing the Society for the Protection of Persons Falsely Accused of Insanity, called attention to the action of the society she represented in resolutions commending the attitude assumed by Albert Bach, the counsel of their association, in the paper he read to the Congress on "The Necessity of Amendments of the Law of New York Appertaining to Commitments of the Insane," and pledging the support of the society she represents to Mr. Bach's recommendations.
The President introduced Ex-Assistant District Attorney Alexander S. Dawson, who in eloquent language thanked Dr. Winslow for his exertion on behalf of Mrs. Maybrick, who is at present suffering life imprisonment in England on the charge of poisoning her husband.
On motion, the following resolution was adopted:
"Resolved that all matters of business or finance relating to the Congress, its work, or the publication of the Bulletin, be referred to the officers of this Congress, with power.
Mr. Hart made a strong appeal for proper and nutritious bread for all inmates of the public institutions of the State.
The President then declared the Congress adjourned to 7:30 P. M., when the closing banquet would be given at the New York Press Club, to be preceded by a reception at 6:30 P. M., tendered by the resident members to the visiting members and delegates.
CLARK BELL, President
M. Ellinger, Albert Bach, F. B. Downs, M. D., Clarence A. Lightner, C. A. Doremus, M. D., Secretaries.
Pages 111-123
SEXUAL INVERSION:
WITH AN ANALYSIS OF THIRTY-THREE NEW CASES.
BY M. [sic] HAVELOCK ELLIS, LONDON, ENG., HONORARY VICEPRESIDENT MEDICO-LEGAL CONGRESS. FELLOW OF MEDICO-LEGAL SOCIETY. HONORARY FELLOW OF THE CHICAGO ACADEMY OF MEDICINE.
Read before the Medico-Legal Congress, September, 1895, and before Medico-Legal Society, December, 1895.
[...]
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Guide to the Examinations of the Apothecaries' Society of London (London: Bailliere, Tindall & Cox, 1882), Pages 40-43
by William Edward Dawson
IV. Forensic Medicine and Toxicology.—Books: Husband's "Medical Jurisprudence" is, for its size, by far the best. Mr. Hemming's little book in the "Student's Aid Series" is an excellent summary of Dr. Husband's, and contains in addition much original information. Students cannot do better than purchase both the works above-mentioned. Special attention should be paid to the section on "Infanticide."
QUESTIONS.
1. What are the appearances presented by those recently drowned?
2. Give the symptoms, treatment, and post-mortem appearances in Poisoning by Strychnia; and the tests for this poison.
3. What is the nature of Medical Evidence? What are the different kinds of Medical Evidence, and the value of each?
4. What are the symptoms and treatment in a case of Oxalic Acid Poisoning? Give tests.
5. Give the symptoms, post-mortem appearances, and treatment in Poisoning by Oil of Vitriol.
6. Contrast the symptoms of a case of Poisoning by Arsenic with those of a case of Corrosive-Sublimate Poisoning. Give the treatment in each case.
7. How would you detect the following in Solution: Oxalic Acid, Meconic Acid, Antimony, and Zinc?
8. Give the symptoms and treatment of Acute and Chronic Lead Poisoning.
9. Give proofs of Live Birth.
10. Distinguish between Stupor of Opium, Alcohol, and Apoplexy.
11. In a case of chronic Arsenic Poisoning, what are the symptoms?
12. After a Fatal Epidemic Disease in a house or institution, what precaution should be taken for future prevention?
13. What are the tests for Corrosive Sublimate, Copper, and Zinc?
14. What are the signs of Recent Delivery?
15. How would you distinguish Wounds inflicted during life, and after death?
16. Mention the Antidotes in cases of Poisoning by Antimony, Arsenic, and Copper.
17. Name the chief Poisonous Gases. How do they destroy life? How would you counteract their influence?
18. You have to examine, under a coroner's warrant, the body of (a) an Adult, (b) an Infant Found Dead. What points must you specially attend to?
19. What is meant by Epidemic and Endemic Diseases?
20. How tell if a Foetus is at full term and born alive?
21. What are the symptoms of Poisoning by Belladonna, Stramonium, and OEnanthe Crocata?
22. Distinguish between Blood-stains, Fruit-stains, and Iron-mould.
23. What are the post-mortem appearances of Death by Apnoea?
24. What is the value of the Hydrostatic Test? How examine a Child in a case of supposed Infanticide?
25. Classify the principal Feigned Diseases, and give the methods you would use for detecting each.*
*I. Diseases altogether feigned.
II. Diseases exaggerated.
III. Diseases artificially excited by patient.
In the earlier editions of Tanner's "Clinical Medicine" appear some excellent methods for detecting malingering, etc., with especial reference to soldiers and sailors.
26. Explain the terms "Alive at Birth" and "Born Alive."
27. Distinguish between Feigned and Real Insanity. What diseases are most commonly feigned?
28. What are the different Forms of Insanity, and the essentials of a Lunacy Certificate?
29. Describe the symptoms, diagnosis, and treatment of Acute and Chronic Cupric Poisoning. Give the tests for the presence of the Metal in Solution, in Organic Mixtures, and in Articles of Diet.
30. Contrast the post-mortem appearances in death from Starvation, Suffocation, and Cold.
31. Describe a Case of Poisoning by Phosphorus; how discovered in body after death?
32. How would you proceed to detect Arsenic in Wall Paper and Articles of Clothing?
33. What conditions would facilitate or retard the Action of Water upon Cisterns made or coated with Lead?
34. Describe the modus operandi of abstracting Prussic Acid and Oxalic Acid from the Stomach respectively.
35. What are the Post-mortem appearances of death by Hanging?
36. Describe Reinsch's test for Mercury, Arsenic, and Antimony.
37. What are the fallacies in the diagnosis of Rape?
38. What is the differential diagnosis of Irritant Poisoning and Cholera?
39. In a case of suspected Poisoning, describe the steps you would take for conducting the post-mortem examination.
40. Distinguish between an "Illusion" and "Delusion."
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In a review of books on criminal anthropology, Havelock Ellis discusses the class of "semi-insane" criminals that Lombroso referred to a "mattoids." I don't know if this is an exact match for Springmuhl.
The Journal of Mental Science, Volume 36, July, 1890, Pages 439-445
3. Criminal Anthropology
by Havelock Ellis, L. S. A., etc.
Cesare Lombroso: L'Uomo Delinquente. Volume Secundo. Torino:
Bocca, 1889.
L'Anthropologic Criminelle et ses Récents Progrès. ("Bibliothèque
de Philosophic Contemporaire"). Par Cesare Lombroso. Paris:
Alcan, 1890.
Étude Anthropométrique sur les Prostituées et les Voleuses. Par le
Docteur Pauline Tarnowsky. (Publication du Progrès Médical).
Paris, 1889.
[...]
The next chapter is devoted to the not very large class of semi-insane persons, whom Lombroso designates mattoidi. The "mattoids" are related to idiots on one side, and to monomaniacs on the other, but they have well marked characters of their own. They are rarely women; Lombroso only knows two, one of them being Louise Michel. They are rarely youthful; again,only two exceptions. They are usually found in large cities, and to some extent in mountainous districts where goitre and cretinism are prevalent; they are frequent in the cities in which insanity is also frequent, as Verona; they abound also in countries in which a new and artificial civilization has been rapidly introduced, as in India. They are frequently clerks, doctors, or priests, rarely soldiers or country people. They often display notable ability in practical life, but they show, also, an exaggerated laboriousness in matters external to their profession, and out of proportion to their not very elevated intelligence—a laboriousness like that of genius, without showing any corresponding results. Their altruism is often very highly developed, and they publish a great number of books of no value. This cacoethes scribendi Lombroso seems to regard as frequently their chief characteristic; and while they are often marked by perfect good sense in daily life, their books may be of a very insane character. They possess also a very exaggerated belief in their own merits, which comes out more in their books than in their daily life. The "mattoid" attaches himself to all that is new; "every new sect, every new science has some mattoid among its followers." He appears to be by no means unlike what the Americans call a "crank ;" and Lombroso selects an American, Guiteau—-lawyer, journalist, preacher, impresario, writer of strange books and theological journals, moral imbecile, political assassin—-as the complete type of a variety of "mattoid," exhibiting lack of moral sense instead of marked altruism.
[...]
--end
A notice of Ellis passing his LSA exams:
The Lancet, Volume 2, October 20, 1888, Page 795
Society Of Apothecaries Of London.—
[...]
Passed in Medicine, Forensic Medicine, and Midwifery:—
Ellis, Henry Havelock, St. Thomas's Hospital.
Fielder, Sidney, Glas. Univ. and St. Thomas's Hospital.
[...]
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A 1929 article about Springmuhl includes an allegation that he used his wife as a tool in a vicious blackmail scheme.
The Advertiser (Adelaide, SA), January 29, 1929, Page 23
MISDIRECTED GENIUS.
No. VI. Von Weissenfeld a German Rogue. Companies in Which He Played Many Roles. By CHARLES DUDLEY Author of "Mystery Millions."
[...]
.Coming to London in 1880. he got into touch with a number of his compatriots who specialised in blackmailing, and the acquaintance was soon fruitful. After he had taken another turn at the art which had made him exile himself—-forgery—-be arranged with his wife that he should introduce to her, as his sister, a young, impressionable fellow-countryman whom he had picked UP somewhere. A meeting took place, and; as she was no less attractive than unscrupulous, she fascinated the tourist, who within a fortnight proposed marriage. By a clever ruse his offer was subsequently obtained in writing, and then von Weissenfeld got him recalled home, and circulated reports in Germany that caused his father to refuse to consent to the engagement. The victim thus became practically at the mercy of the conspirators, who wrung £1,000 out of him.
[...]Leave a comment:
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Links to some court cases involving Anarchists at which John Sweeney testified. I don't know if he thought any of these people were connected to Springmuhl:
DAVID JOHN NICOLL, CHARLES WILFRED MOWBRAY, Royal Offences > seditious libel, 2nd May 1892.
Reference Number: t18920502-493
Offence: Royal Offences > seditious libel
Verdict: Not Guilty > unknown; Guilty > no_subcategory
Punishment: Imprisonment > hard labour
493. DAVID JOHN NICOLL (32) and CHARLES WILFRED MOWBRAY (35) were indicted for unlawfully, in a newspaper called the Commonweal, inciting, soliciting, and encouraging certain persons unknown to murder the Right Hon. Henry Matthews, Secretary of State for the Home Department; Sir Henry Hawkins, one of the Justices of the High Court of Justice; and William Melville, inspector of police.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL (SIR RICHARD WEBSTER), with MESSRS. SUTTON and HORACE AVORY, Prosecuted; MESSRS. GRAIN and BURNIE Defended Mowbray; Nicoll Defended himself.
[...]
MOWBRAY— NOT GUILTY . NICOLL— GUILTY .— Eighteen Months' Hard Labour.
GUISEPPE FARNARA, FRANCIS POLTI, Damage to Property > other, 30th April 1894.
Reference Number: t18940430-434
Offence: Damage to Property > other
Verdict: Guilty > pleaded guilty; Guilty > no_subcategory
Punishment: Imprisonment > penal servitude; Imprisonment > penal servitude
434. GUISEPPE FARNARA (44), and FRANCIS POLTI (18), were indicted for having in their possession and control certain explosive substances, with intent to endanger life and property; other Counts varying the mode of charge.
MESSRS. CHARLES MATHEWS and HORACE AVORY Prosecuted, and MR. FARELLEY Defended.
[...]
GUILTY .—Sentence on
FARNARA— Twenty Years' Penal Servitude. On
POLTI— Ten Years' Penal Servitude.
The COURT highly commended the conduct of the witness Thomas Smith, and also that of Inspector Melville, Sergeant Quinn, and Constables Sweeney, Maguire, and Cann. The GRAND
JURY had also made a similar commendation.
FRITZ BRALL, Damage to Property > other, 25th June 1894.
Reference Number: t18940625-580
Offence: Damage to Property > other
Verdict: Not Guilty > unknown
580. FRITZ BRALL , Feloniously having in his possession certain explosive substances, under such circumstances as to give rise to a reasonable suspicion of his having them for an unlawful purpose.
MESSRS. C. F. GILL, BODKIN, A. GILL,and GUY STEPHENSON Prosecuted; and MR. FARELLY, MR. SURRAGE,and MR. CLEAVER Defended.
[...]
NOT GUILTY .
MR. JUSTICE GRANTHAM stated that the police were thoroughly justified in every step they had taken, and that it was a case for thorough investigation.Leave a comment:
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An advertisement run by the University Press and an extract from the proceedings of a committee investigating indecent advertisements.
The Academy, Volume 59, September 29, 1900, Page 249
Ad:
TABOOED SCIENTIFIC WORKS.—-The
Manager of the University Press, Limited, begs to
inform the Medical Profession, Clergymen, and Teachers that
the Scientific Works indicted at a recent trial and burnt by
order of the Court—-viz. Dr. Havelock Ellis's "STUDIES in
the PSYCHOLOGY of SEX." Professor Krafft-Ebing's
"PSYCHOPATHIA SEXUALIS," Dr. Ch Féré's "THE
SEXUAL INSTINCT," and G. Mortimer's "CHAPTERS
on HUMAN LOVE," in the future, cannot be stocked by Booksellers
in Great Britain, and will only be supplied direct from
Leipzig and Paris.—The University Press. Limited, 2, Broad
Street Buildings, London, E.C.
--end
Report from the Joint Select Committee on Lotteries and Indecent Advertisements (London: 1908, Pages 40-41
by Great Britain. Parliament. Joint select committee on lotteries and indecent advertisements, William Lygon Beauchamp (7th earl)
Chief Inspector Dew testimony:
Another case is that described as the "University Press." It was a case in which a number of grossly obscene books, purporting to be works of a classical or medical character, were found being circulated from Watford, and as the result of inquiries which were made, a book was obtained, and a warrant was granted both for the search and the arrest; the person was arrested, and there about two tons of literature was again seized. The person who was charged gave certain information to the police, clearly showing that he was only an agent, and in consequence of information which was received from him, the police set to work, and discovered that these books were printed, and the country being practically flooded with them in very large quantities by one De Villiers, alias Dr. Roland, who was found to be carrying on business in the City at Broad Street Buildings, and living down at Cambridge. A book was obtained, a warrant granted for arrest and search of the premises, and five persons, including men and women, were arrested. At the house in Cambridge where De Villiers was living with his wife, and was directing operations with respect to the distribution and circulation of the book, it was found that a part of the house, in anticipation of being raided by the police, contained a sort of secret chamber in the roof. When the police went to make inquiries, although it was certain that he was in the house, he having been seen going towards the house, no trace whatever of him could be seen until some movement was heard up in this room in the roof, which was thereupon burst open, and De Villiers was found concealed. He proved to be a person of German extraction, made a desperate struggle with the police, but was seized, overpowered, and taken to the police station; but before he could be charged, practically within an hour of his arrest, he was seized with a fit of apoplexy, and died. In that case the other persons were proceeded against, and some were punished, others who were found to be simply agents were bound over, and about four tons of this literature was seized. I am unable to show for your inspection any of the identical books in English, but this is a German one, and it was printed in English with these photographs (exhibiting the same to the Committee). You see that the first photograph is one we would certainly describe as being obscene. It is written in German, but it is similar to what was printed in English, with these photographs.
Viscount Llandaff.
440. Could you tell whether the photographs were made in this country ?—I cannot say that, but I should think it would be likely that the plates (they are all on plates) might be printed abroad, as De Villiers was a German. He took with him when he died a lot of information which might have been useful to us.
Chairman.
441. Have you finished with what you have to say on the University Press ?—Yes.
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Some information about the prosecution of the people associated with the University Press after the death of Springmuhl/de Villiers:
Accounts and Papers, Volume 56 (1903), link
by Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons
Returns Related to the Prosecution of Offences Acts, 1879 and 1884, Pages 34-35
Rex v. Ella Sinclair Roland, Anna Sinclair, Allan Laidlaw, Charles
Maurice Coleman, and Edward Henry Coleman. (Conspiracy.)
No. 295 in List for 1901.
The defendants were tried at the Central Criminal Court on the 10th April, 1902, upon a charge of conspiracy with Roland de Villiers—-then deceased—-to publish a number of obscene books issued by Roland de Villiers under the title of "The University Press Limited," 2, Broad Street Buildings, E.C.
The books chiefly referred to subjects connected with psychology and pathology of sex.
The defendant Ella Sinclair Roland and Roland de Villiers lived in Cambridge, whilst Anna Sinclair acted as the intermediary between de Villiers and Laidlaw, who received orders for the books and had charge of the office at 2, Broad Street.
The two Colemans lived at Worthing and printed some of the pamphlets.
All the defendants were convicted.
Roland de Villiers died suddenly, immediately after his arrest, at Cambridge.
The very large stock of books which was kept in a cellar near Bedford Row was ordered to be destroyed.
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From the Old Bailey online:
ELLA SINCLAIR ROWLAND, ANNA SINCLAIR, ALLAN LAIDLAW, CHARLES MAURICE COLEMAN, EDWARD HENRY COLEMAN, Breaking Peace > libel, 7th April 1902.
Reference Number: t19020407-326
Offence: Breaking Peace > libel
Verdict: Guilty > pleaded guilty; Guilty > pleaded part guilty; Guilty > with recommendation
Punishment: Imprisonment > hard labour; Imprisonment > hard labour; Miscellaneous > sureties
326. ELLA SINCLAIR ROWLAND (32), ANNA SINCLAIR (20), ALLAN LAIDLAW (47), CHARLES MAURICE COLEMAN (31), and EDWARD HENRY COLEMAN, Unlawfully conspiring with Roland De Villiers and others to publish obscene pamphlets, books, and libels.
MR. MUIR, MR. BODKIN, AND MR. LEYCESTER Prosecuted.
MR. HUTTON and MR. FULTON appeared for Rowland and Sinclair; MR. SIMMONS and MR. MORLE for Laidlaw; MR. BLACK for C. M. Colman; and MR. BIRON for E. H. Colman.
ROWLAND,LAIDLAW,and C M. COLEMAN withdrew their pleas, and stated in the hearing of the jury that they were guilty. GUILTY .
E.H. COLEMAN then PLEADED GUILTY to publishing two obscene libellous pamphlets.
ANNA SINCLAIR— GUILTY.The jury recommended her to mercy, considering that she was under the influence of the other prisoners.
The COLEMANS received good characters
ROWLAND, Nine months hard labour.
LAIDLAW and MAURICE COLEMAN, Six months' hard labour each.
E. H. COLEMAN and ANNA SINCLAIR to enter into recognizances.Leave a comment:
Leave a comment: