An Extraordinary Case.

Cromwell Argus, Volume III, Issue 148, 10 September 1872, Page 3

An Extraordinary Case.

Polic3 Court cases, medical enquiries, application to Judges of the Supreme Court, motions in Parliament, and a threatened Parliamentary enquiry have arisen out oi the case of King v. King, which is creating a sensation in Victoria, and suggests the necessity of an investigation into the management of lunatic asylums in that Colony. The circumstances of this case came before the world through the refusal of a husband to contribute to his wife’s support, A woman was incarcerated for four years and seven months in Yarra Bend, her husband reported her dead, and she is eventually “ recalled to life” through the disinterested agency of a comparative stranger. The sole ground for her incarceration was the idea that her husband had tried to poison her by putting strychnine in the milk (which suspicion she seems still to entertain); but Judge Molesworth has decided that such a delusion is not sufficient warrant to detain a person in a lunatic asylum. But no sooner is it proposed to release the woman, than the discovery is made that her husband is strongly opposed to a proceeding that will restore her to the world ; and he actually resists her claims to support on the ground that—a judge of the Supreme Court notwithstanding—she is a lunatic, and ought to be remitted to her old quarters and kept at the public charge. That there were quarrels between the husband and wife prior to the latter’s incarceration, is beyond question ; but it has been proved beyond doubt that at Maryborough he illtreated her; that he was compelled, under a magistrate’s order, to support her; and that within one month of the expiration of the period for which the order was made, and when there was every probability of an application for its renewal, she was suddenly pounced upon, and immured in Yarra Bend, She may then have been sane or insane : her statements as to the strychnine may have been pure delusions, or the fallacious reasonings of a suspicious nature worked upon by unhappy circumstances. But the enquiry now takes a different direction. Her husband, after a lapse of nearly five years, declares that he does not know who sent her to the asylum, and he denies that it was done through his instrumentality. He suddenly finds himself relieved of the burden of maintaining his wife. Two medical men certified to her insanity. They were, we presume, paid fees for so doing. She was brought before the stipendiary magistrate, Mr Pascoe, and she was sent ar someone’s expense from Maryborough to Melbourne ; and yet her husband declares that he does not know by whom this was done. Dr Laidman was Mrs King’s medical attendant, but he did not certify to her insanity, anti it does not appear that he was examined by the magistrate; but a gentleman practising six miles off, and who Mrs King declares only" saw her for a few minutes, joined with the hospital surgeon in giving the certificate. The depositions of the certifying doctors are exceedingly unsatisfactory ; they disclose no good grounds for the allegation that the woman was in-ane, and they wore contradicte 1 in one very important respect by Dr Paley, who stated that during his residence in Yarra Bend, he had never known Mrs King to be violent. Having got rid of Ids wife’s presence, King docs not appear to have contributed anything to her support for years. At length, in 1871, he was compelled to enter into a bond to pay soven and sixpence a week. This pittance he paid for four months, and at the date of Mrs King’s escape, he was about eight months in arrear. We next pass to the circumstances which are said to have justified King in openly declaring that his wife was d aid, and within two or three months after the happy event placing himself in readiness for another marriage. It was said that he knew his wife was do id through an obituary notice appearing in the Arj’rs, and Ihe d »es not know who place lit there. Dr Paley is forced now to admit that she is to all appearance sane. The Chairman of General Sessions, and Mr Templeton, acting with him, think si too, and she is at large, her husband being now ordered to contribute 2ns. weekly" towards her support, j The Aije, from which wo extract the forgoing particulars of this most extraordinary case, calls upon the Victorian Government to institute a strict enquiry into the circumstances of the woman’s confinement in the lunatic asylum.