COMMITTED TO ASYLUMS.

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 1886, 22 October 1913, Page 4

COMMITTED TO ASYLUMS.

■ THE JOHNSON CASE; V ; QUESTION OF HIS SANITY. ' ■ Mr." J. H. BRADNEY, Chairman oi the A to L; petitions Committee, roported on the_ petition of T. H. Audi E. Johnson praying for compensation foi " the wrongful detention of petitioner, T, •H. Johnson, in the .Auckland Mental Hospital. Tho reply of the committee _ ; to the petition was that they had "no ' .recommendation to make." He moved (as the custom is) 1 that the report oi •the committee do lie on' tho table. Mr. J. PAYNE (Grey Lynn) said that as a member of the committee that considered the petition, ho thought the report unsatisfactory. . He liaa projposed another report (which had beer .rejected by the committee) setting forth-; — 1 ... That'theTo was not sufficient evidence 'to justify the 1 committal. ' -That the methods followed were quite irregular. >| That, there. was ;somo colour for the tumour that there was, ho would 1 nol * Bay collusion, but an understanding, t< get Johnson, out,of AVaihi. That' in future a different method . ■? otight to-Be'taken in connection wit! •'.5 Committee-inquiries. . , Mi'-'' Payne'expressed the opinion thai ;; to make these committee reports valu- - ahloj-tho plan iri forco at Home shoulc 5 bfl; adopted, of admitting a majority anc report. . Ho did s not believe ;nhAj/ ; the doctors in Waihi acted ;in col- ■ lusion with tho police in this matter, , - but ho considered that they had been : called in quite an irregular manner, Johnson undoubtedly, oh the evidence, ■ was wrongly • committed to ;the Mental Hospital. While, such lax methods as were pursued in this case obtained, i' lio one was safe. In his opinion, the relatives of persons committed as insane ■ havo a right to call , in otliei 'medical, men than those who orderei rthe committal. PfersonaJly, lie con- - sidered that Johnson merited fiomo consideration . at the hands of tho Government. O A Very Crave Danger. • Mr. J. ROBERTSON (Otaki) said that the facts in this case .'should be made fully known, and steps taken, ii necessary, to prevent what, in hit opinion, was a very gravo danger ir connection with committals to mental '' hospitals._ He traversed in detail the . facts leading up to Johnson's committal Sir Joseph Ward l : Where is lie now? , Mr. Robertson: He is out, and oughl nover to havo been in, in my opinion, A disquieting feature of tho case, lie continued, lay in .the action of tlu police. When Johnson made a conffssion s the police did riot conduct an investigation with, a view to laying a criminal charge, if necessary' (as, in hh opinion, should havo boon done in thi: case). Instead,; tho police decided .thai the mart was insane, and secured hi; committal to a .mental hospital. The Evidence showed that what purpQrtee ito be a deposition by Johnson had reallj lieen written up by'a polico sergoanl four months after it was made. This was a matter that called for inquiry Four medical men, including Dr. Beat tie, medical 'superintendent' of the Auck land Mental Hospital, had certified tha Johnson was'.'perfectly' sane. Agains this, there was put only, the statemonti of two medical' men who committe( him. One of the .committing doctor, had been influenced by a belief tha Johnson made a murderous attack whil • under an epileptic seizure. It wa clearly established by evidence, how ■ ever, that .Johnson remembered all th :'"details of the alleged attack. Ho couli • not liavo dorre so if the thing had oc 'burred when he was under an cpilepti •seizure. Ho disagreed with the find iiig : of/the committee, and ho regrettei that at these committees thcro wcr party differences, as in tho House. Mr. Fisher: How did Mr. Vigo Brown vote? Mr. Robertson: He voted for the Gov brnment on that occasion. He went oi -..to say that he. doubted whether Mr ■Brown, -and others of those who hai ■ the finding, knew .much aboti .the case, liot having attended sittinc ' or tho committee regularly. H was certain that if. an impartial com rnittee went thoroughly into the inquir; they would have found that Johnsoi was wrongfully committed.. Mr. J. S. DICKSON (Po.riiell), on of tho members who had not been rogu ]nr in his attendance at tho committer said he had been engaged at tho Nei Lynn inquiry at the time, but befor he had voted for the recommendatio: jie had road all tho evidence tendere ■In his absence. Ho had then given decision, which, as lie believed, was i: accordance with the medical evidence Ho was quite satisfied, and he be lieved that the other members who ha voted for the recommendation though that the man was insane when he wa rommitted. The Charge of Collusion. Tho Hon. F. M. B. FISHER, a men 'her of-tho committee, said the ossein: of tho caso scorned to that :i cliarti had been mado of collusion cither b( tween tho doctors and the police, c among the doctors, the police, and tit .Government. The succestion was mad

that it was desired to get this man out 'of the way at a!ll costs. Ho (Mr. Fisher) had listened to all the evidence, . and ho proposed to give information to the House which, lie thought, would justify the finding of tho committee. Johnson was committed on Decomber , 14, 1912, and ho was committed on tho ?? certificates of two medical men, Drs. j Craig and Callaghari, and Dr. Craig !!' was an expert in lunacy. r( j Mr. Robertson: Perhaps thai is why ho was at Waihi. ,j li 1 Mr. Fisher:, Possibly that is why the as honourable gentleman went there also. a l When Johnson was committed, Mr. Fisher continued, ho'was in an excited, ie hysterical condition. He had also ron_ luted an extraordinary story of how lio Je had attempted to shoot his wife. It m appeared that he went into his wifo's is room,'put a loaded revolver against her n. ' heart, and fired. Fortunately, his wife is moved, and tho bullet went through her v, arm. Then, said Johnson, he felt a e- strange presence coming between them, e- and he did not shoot again. The wife id reasoned with him, and persuaded him to give up the revolver. But Johnson said it was his deliberate intention to destroy his wife, his children, of whom thoro .were soven, and himself, the reason being that he was in an impoverished state. Aiter shooting his wife through tho arm, Johnson bandaged. it, and subsequently a doctor's services were obtained. But it Was only some extraordinary act of providence which saved , the wife and those seven children from 5 being killed on that- night. Tho certificates of tho doctors who had com<J' mitted Johnson had declared that the n" man . suffered from petit mal, a mild form of epilepsy. About Epilepsy. 10 ! d ~ Johnson was also alleged to have stated to the polico that his father was a very delicate, epileptic, nervous man. ill Johnson said] that ■ he, top, was an it epileptic, /but although ho had attacks i© he was a' man of very strong will, and > ho could so far control himself that no >n ono could- tell whether ho had. on atg tack or not. Johnson bad also said that eight months previously he had : 0 suffered from poisoning or epilepsy, and that he had been sent to tho Auckt« land Hospital by Dr. Kinder. He stated also that whilo ho lay on tlio io -bed ou-which ho was.-heforeJJr.-.-Kinder 3t sent'him to tho hospital,;ho heard Dr. to Kinder say through tho telephono that he (Johnson) was suffering either from id poisoning or epilepsy. Tho notes on th Johnson's case in tho hospital said that tho man had been sent in with a liistoiy of epileptic convulsions. Could all this it ovidenco, on something that had taken i- placo eight months previously, have Id been arranged ? Johnson had- also made id a statement that ho had been attended by five doctors 'in Australia. Asked il- by him (Mr. Fisher) what he had been r, attended for, Johnson replied that it was because ho had a huskiness in his r. throat. The next day, when asked -the e, same question, ho declined to answer, a- but, pressed for an answer, he said it Is was because he had a weak heart. ], Johnsdn had also said that hohad been ie cured of epilepsy by-a doctor in Sydney ie by correspondence. 31 A 1 <d Statements of a Rational Man? Could anyone sav these wero ■ tho statements of a rational man? • Dr. Beattie said the man was sano, but his opinion was .disagreed l with by his'own assistant, Dr. Will. Dr. Will id had said concerning • Johnson's )e case: "There is danger that_ this man jf will' again rtry to harm his wife," i a Ho (Mr. Fisher) was not prepared [ n to venture an opinion where doctors disagreed, but the evidence of this man j e before the committee was clear and I conclusive proof that t-hero was some- >' thing wrong with the man. Johnson had said on oath that tho first time ho n _ had heard anything mentioned about epilepsy was when he read the applicale t-ion for his committal to the Mental g . Hospital. Subsequently ho said ho had n _ heard Dr. Kinder say something about n _ it before he went to tho' hospital in j g l Auckland eight months before. Still ; 3 later, in his evidence, he said he had jt consulted doctors in Australia about j s it. On top of ill these contradictions 10 thero was a mass of fabrication. Johnjd son had told a remarkable story about jy his haying objected to his mother being nt married again. He had objected to the i s marriage, and had followed the man y_ about for three months, preventing tho 't_ marriage, but finally had withdrawn his objection. • His explanation of this was t-liat the man" must have mesmerised s t' him. Johnson had' told the committee t s how, when, he was at Kumeu, ho had 3t ] done all his ploughing by moonlight, and had put in his strawberries and toat rnatoes by moonlight. Could any honilo ourablo gentleman say that these wore a3 the statements of a reasonable man ? nr. Johnson had tho idea, too, that if it ho had not I>ech. for him tho Arbitrationist Id movement in Waihi would have collansic- ed entirely. Ho had told other foolish ;j c tales also, such as ono to the effect that d- 'ho had written a Aovel, which had been ed published. There was no proof of pubro lication, and the only conclusion to como to was that it had-, never seen tho light or of day. Mr. Fisher said that he did not.ac,v- cept Dr. Beattie's statement as on final by any means. As a fact [r. Dr. Beattie had allowed a man to ad go out from'tho mental hospital who ut had, threo weeks afterwards, butchered prg a woman to death. This being so it lo must be hold that whilo the medical ■n- superintendent might be conscientiously ry doing his duty, it was possible for him an to make a mistake-. Ono thing about Dr. Beattie's evidenco that he could no not understand was that he regarded u- Johnson's attempt to murder his wife ■b as the sano act of n sane mnn. jw Mr. J. H. ESCOTT (Pahiatua) said to lio was satisfied tliafc tlio man, u jiot on insane, was dangerously near to that ed condition, .and ho was . satisfied that a that had heen the opinion of tho unin biased members of the committee. Hi "the Truth About Walhl." ad Mr> P. c. WEBB (Grey) said he ht proposed to move that the matter be a 9 referred back for further consideration. He had been biased against Johnson, but lie did not think the committee had done justice by him. , He went on to m- allege conspiracy on the part of the ice "blarklogs" in Waihi with the doctors ge and the police. The whole truth about je- the Waihi matter bad not been told, or Mr Herdman: Hear, hear. lie Mr. Webb urged that Mr. ITordmnn de ought to sco that tho truth was told.

Mr. Herd man: You would bo very sorry if it was told. Mr. Webb urged that there ought to be an inquiry into the whole Waihi business. Ho moved Ilia amendment as | ho had said ho would. Dr. Beattie Defended. . Mr. J. ROBERTSON (Otaki), referring to the statement that Dr. Beattie had released a mail who afterwards butchered a woman, quoted Dr. Beattie's evidenco oh the subject in extenso. Tliu-effect of the evidence was that tho caso in question was one in which Dr. Boattio took special precautions. He warned the ' relatives of the released patient, and also the police in tho town in which lie lived. Mr. Eobertson went on to state that a perusal of the whole of Johnson's evidenco would, greatly modify tho impression created by the Hon. F. M. B. Fisher's reading of portions of that evidence. He put on record the certificate of three medical men who cxaminod Johnson subsequent to his escapo from Avondale, and submitted that the whole weight of tho medical evidenco was against tho committal. Mr. J. PAYNE (Grey Lynn) also spoke a second time, and cont-ended that a grievous wrong had been done to Johnson. _ The Hon. F. M. B. FISHER said that it was not enough that a man should be sano at a given time. If he was liable to bo violent at intervals his being at large was a menace to a community. The question before the House was 0110 of those upon which medical evidence differed ■ very widely. He was quite satisfied that the doctor.sat Waihi .who committed Johnson were justified in doing so. No doctor would convince him that a man was sane who proposed to 'kill his wife and afterwards to kill his seven children. Mr. J. H. BRADNEY (Auckland West), speaking'in reply, said that the evidenco Imd been ably reviewed by tho Minister of Marine. Personally lie had at first been favourably inclined to the petitioner, but having "heard the whole of tho evidence he now held the opinion that Johnson might possibly again relapse into such a condition as to endanger tho safety of his wife and family. Ho -resented the suggestion by the Labour members that party considerations had dominated tho proceedings of the committee. . The amendment was negatived, and tho original motion that the report lie on the tablo was agreed on tho voicoß.