Genealogy
Skeletons in Your Closet?
by Jenny Bodenham
Not long ago I asked a fellow genealogist if she was ever concerned that she might discover something unpleasant in her family's history. Her reply was that as long as there were no axe murderers she'd be okay with whatever presented itself.
Strangely enough, within a few weeks of that conversation I was stunned when my own research revealed—you guessed it..an axe murderer in the family!
"Family history research can be a fun, interesting, and challenging hobby. It can also lead one to stories such as this. It's a good idea to be prepared to find some skeletons in the closet--figuratively speaking...most of the time."
Although the perpetrator of this heinous crime wasn't in my direct line, we did share a common ancestor. Of course, being very curious by nature I had to know more about this horrific event. I did some investigating and was able to find a good deal of information about the circumstances surrounding this case and the deplorable way it was handled in the courts.
Sifting through some of the details of this case (by reading a newspaper account of what happened and then a later psychiatrist's report on the personal examination of the killer) It was disturbing to find that the young man, though obviously suffering from some type of mental instability had been tried and convicted as though he were perfectly sane.
It seems that at the time of his trial neither the prisoner nor his friends or family had arranged for his defense. A lawyer who wasn't familiar with the defendant or the necessary facts (particularly as they related to insanity) offered his services and the trial began.
In his investigation of the case, the Late Medical Superintendent of the Toronto Asylum for the Insane, stated that it was abundantly clear from the judge's report that he did not believe in the insanity of the prisoner. However, looking at the evidence having to do with the mental condition of the killer before, during, and after the murder one is easily convinced that he was terribly ill.
Nine or ten years earlier he had been kicked in the head by a horse which, the psychiatrist believed, quite probably could have caused brain disorder. Around this same time the convict had been in gaol for about a month. He had been placed there by 2 magistrates who believed him to be insane. He had apparently threatened to kill different people. They believed at the time that if he were allowed to remain free he would have killed someone. However, within one month his discharge was authorized by and approved by the chairman of the Quarter Sessions. A certificate of recovery had been produced and signed by 2 qualified physicians! What a travesty!
Almost every witness at the trial indicated they thought he was crazy. Even his mother, the victim of the attack, was said to have confided in friends and neighbours that her son was crazy and yet nothing was done. His periodic odd and violent behaviors were ignored (and sometime provoked) until something triggered a maniacal outrage with horribly tragic consequences.
In the end, the prisoner was sentenced to be executed. Despite all the evidence to warrant a not guilty by reason of insanity verdict, the jury choose to find the prisoner guilty. For some odd reason they put forth a recommendation for mercy though. The Governor General must have reviewed the case and commuted his sentence and so the mentally unsound (probably schizophrenic) man spent the rest of his life in prison.
The Medical Superintendent felt compelled to write these word at the end of his examination of the case: "I can not close this report without most earnestly pressing on the consideration of the Honorable Minister of Justice, the palpable inadvisability, if not great injustice, of hurrying through the trial of any prisoner, known, or supposed to be insane, before defending counsel shall have had full time to become possessed of all the facts necessary for establishment of the truth. It is my conviction that had the defense been conducted by an intelligent and zealous advocate, fully appraised of all the circumstances bearing on the case, and duly instructed in the medical jurisprudence of insanity, the prisoner would have been declared insane by his jury."
Family history research can be a fun, interesting, and challenging hobby. It can also lead one to stories such as this. It's a good idea to be prepared to find some skeletons in the closet—figuratively speaking...most of the time.
