appeared to me a healthy person; she told me a few days before her death
that she was suffering great pain in her breast, which, from its
appearance she must have done; there were very extensive wounds, no
doubt produced by strong corrosive liquid; the skin was destroyed, and
hung in folds on the chest; there was a considerable discharge from the
wound generally; the wound extended from nearly one arm-pit to the
other, and from the throat to the bottom of the chest; the skin was off
both breasts; it was of a very dark colour; when I attended her first,
there was no cabbage leaf on; I applied a simple dressing; I saw the
deceased afterwards, every day until her death; I considered the wound
dangerous to life from the first moment that I saw it; when Mr. Vance
was called in, he applied the same dressing, and I described to him the
treatment I had pursued; I gave the deceased some internal medicines; it
was not until mortification had commenced that bark and mineral acids
were administered; according to the best of my judgment, I should say
that the deceased died of the wound in her chest; it certainly was not
necessary to produce such a wound to cure a difficulty in swallowing; I
know of no disease where it would be necessary to produce such a wound.
Cross-examined by Mr. C. Phillips: I have practised as a surgeon for
seven years; some hope (after Mr. Vance was called in) remained that
Mrs. Lloyd would recover; from the time that I was called in Mr. Long
had no opportunity of prescribing for her; generally speaking, the
remedy applied by the surgeon must be regulated by the description the
patient gives him of his disease; I was not present when the deceased
first described her symptoms to Mr. Long; I do not recollect whether I
proposed to Mrs. Lloyd to call in some eminent surgeon; I did not
consider that I was authorised in calling in another surgeon without the
party wished it; the general practice in dangerous cases certainly is to
mention it to the friends, and leave them to act as they please.
Mr. Phillips: Seeing, as you express it, that it was a wound dangerous
to life, did you not wish for further assistance? Witness: I had no
objection to take the chance; mortification came on about seven or eight
days after Mrs. Lloyd was under my care; I was from the beginning
apprehensive of gangrene, but I cannot say how soon afterwards it
commenced; I applied nothing but simple dressing until Mr. Vance was
called in; I stated at first to the friends of the deceased the danger
that I anticipated from the wound; I attended her nearly a month before
she died, during which time Mr. Long had no opportunity of seeing or
prescribing for her.
Re-examined: I fully believed that I understood how to treat the wound;
I saw the body examined after death, but from nothing I then saw do I
think there is any reason to suppose that I mistook the cause of death;
I never saw a wound like the one on Mrs. Lloyd's breast produced by a
blister, and in such cases, where fatal results have followed, there
have generally been appearances to account for them.
By the Court: I think simple dressing best calculated to have reduced
the inflammation.
When the whole of the evidence had been given, Mr. Alley and Mr.
Adolphus addressed the court, and urged that there was nothing in the
proofs, which had been adduced, which fairly brought the prisoner within
the jurisdiction of the court.
Mr. Baron Bayley, however, held that any man presuming to meddle with
what he did not understand--unacquainted with the principles of
medicine, venturing to prescribe for the sick, and thereby causing their
death, incurred a heavy responsibility, and indisputably, in some cases,
was guilty of manslaughter. It would be for the jury to decide whether
the present case assumed such a complexion.
The prisoner was then called on for his defence.
He addressed the court and jury at some length, urging that the death of
the deceased was occasioned, not by any improper treatment of his--for
that, if he had been permitted to attend her for a few days longer, he
would have restored her to perfect health--but to the inexperience of
Mr. Campbell, into whose hands she was thrown, to his utter exclusion.
He complained of the prejudices which had been excited towards him by
practitioners, who were jealous of his success; for while he was earning
ten or twelve thousands a year, they were not obtaining more than
one-third of that sum. It was true that he was not a member of either
the College of Surgeons or Physicians; but he had spent a fortune in the
attainment of his professional knowledge, and in the pursuit of his
practice had given the most universal satisfaction--so much so, that
were he acquitted that day, he was persuaded he should be again honoured
with the confidence of those distinguished and respectable individuals
who had already from experience placed implicit confidence in his skill
and judgment. Of those, he was proud to say, he had many in attendance,
to whose testimony in his behalf he should refer. He complained that he
had not himself been examined as a witness, before the Coroner's
inquest, and repeated, that if guilt attached anywhere, it did so to Mr.
Campbell more than to himself; for that there was nothing in his
treatment which could have occasioned the melancholy result, which no
man deplored more than himself. The prisoner spoke in rather a low tone
of voice; and, having a slight impediment in his speech, his address did
not seem to make a very forcible impression.
The counsel of the prisoner then proceeded to call evidence in his
behalf.
Mr. Abingdon was examined: He said he had several times been under the
care of the prisoner; he had an asthma, and subsequently a determination
of blood to the head.
The Attorney-General here interfered, and submitted that the course of
the present examination ought to be confined to the general character of
the prisoner, in which the court, after hearing arguments from Mr. Alley
and Mr. Phillips, acquiesced.
Mr. Phillips endeavoured to shake this decision, contending that as the
indictment raised the question whether Mr. Long was grossly ignorant, or
had been grossly careless, it was impossible to establish his innocence
otherwise than by showing, as he verily believed they could, that he was
both learned and skilful, and most attentive and humane in his practice
of the healing art.
Mr. Baron Bayley: We cannot go into specific cases; we must confine
ourselves to general evidence.
Mr. Phillips resumed the argument at length, but
The Attorney-General, in reply, said that if his learned friends found
themselves at liberty to go into all the successful cases of the
prisoner, he should go into the several failures in his practice.
The court having repeated its former decision, the examination of Mr.
Abingdon was resumed, and he stated that the prisoner had attended him
for several disorders, and he had the fullest reason to be satisfied
with his skill, care, and attention.
Mrs. Ashworth, the wife of General Ashworth, Miss Rook, her sister, Mrs.
Prendergast, Mrs. M'Donnell, Mrs. M'Dougall, and a vast number of other
ladies and gentlemen were then examined, and every one of them bore
testimony, in the strongest manner, to the skill, assiduity, and
humanity of the prisoner, and to the extraordinary success which had
uniformly attended his practice.
Mr. Baron Bayley then proceeded to sum up, observing, that the question
for the jury to decide was, whether the prisoner had been guilty of
gross rashness, or had manifested culpable ignorance. The point at issue
was, not whether, after the medicine had been administered, the prisoner
had been inattentive, for his services were prevented; but whether,
before it had been administered, he was ignorant of its nature and
probable effect upon the constitution of the unhappy person to whom it
was applied. His lordship then proceeded to read over the evidence, and
to comment upon it as he proceeded. If the jury were of opinion that the
death took place from the wound given on the morning of the 10th, they
would give their verdict against the prisoner; but they must be fully
satisfied that the death arose from that alone. If they entertained any
doubt, the prisoner would be entitled to the benefit of that doubt; but
they must be satisfied that the crime imputed to him had been committed
feloniously.
The jury retired at half-past eight o'clock, and returned in an hour
with a verdict of "Not Guilty."
Several ladies, elegantly dressed, remained with the prisoner in the
dock throughout the day, to whom this verdict appeared to give great
satisfaction.
Mr. Long, upon his discharge, resumed his "rubbing in" practice, as
before, and, we believe, still with much success. Many reports were
circulated as to his habits and history, and many calumnious statements
were made, both as to his mode of life and the system which he had
adopted to carry on his business. For one of these libellous
publications he brought an action in the Court of Common Pleas, which
was tried on Tuesday, 14th June 1831, and he obtained a verdict with
100_l_. damages.
Mr. Long, we believe, was a native of Mallow, in Ireland, where his
father carried on the useful but humble trade of basket-making, in which
he was assisted by his son. At an early period of the life of our hero,
his father removed to Doneraile, and there he became acquainted with
some members of the family of a gentleman named Hill. The young Hills
were at the time engaged in perfecting themselves in a knowledge of
drawing, and young Long being observed by them to possess some taste and
considerable aptitude as a draughtsman, he was permitted to copy the
sketches which they made. A slate and pencil were his original utensils;
but his patrons, finding that he soon excelled them in proficiency,
generously provided him with better materials, and better means of
obtaining a knowledge of the art for which he had taken such a fancy. A
short time served to render him a tolerable proficient; and leaving the
basket-making trade to be prosecuted by his father and brothers, he
repaired to London, where for a considerable time he supported himself
by the productions of his pencil. We have no means of learning the
manner in which he discovered his system of medical treatment, or in
which he was first introduced to the public as a successful operator in
the case of certain diseases, but it is true that he numbered amongst
his patients persons of the highest eminence in this country, and that
he obtained an extent of practice which enabled him to live in excellent
style.
He died in the year 1834, and his body was consigned to the tomb in the
Harrow Road cemetery, where a monument has been erected to his memory at
the cost of his former patients, who, in an inscription, pay a handsome
tribute to his talents.
WILLIAM SWALLOW, _alias_ WALDON; GEORGE JAMES DAVIS, _alias_ GEORGE
HUNTLEY; WILLIAM WATTS, _alias_ CHARLES WILLIAMS; ALEXANDER
STEPHENSON, _alias_ TELFORD; AND JOHN BEVERIDGE, _alias_ ANDERSON.
TRIED FOR MUTINY AND PIRACY.
The whole of these persons at the time of their trial for piracy were
already convicts; but having been concerned in a mutinous seizure of a
vessel, in which they were confined as prisoners, they subjected
themselves to a punishment more severe than that to which they had been
already sentenced, and were therefore liable to a second trial.
They were indicted at the admiralty sessions of the Old Bailey on
Thursday, November 4, 1830, for having, on the 5th September in the
previous year, piratically seized the brig Cyprus. And they were also
indicted for that they, being convicts, had been found at large in
England before the period of the sentence of transportation passed upon
them had expired.
The facts proved in evidence were shortly these:--The prisoners were
convicts in Hobart Town, but having been there guilty of second crimes,
by which they rendered themselves liable to new punishment, they were
tried before the supreme court of judicature there, and sentenced to
transportation. The places to which prisoners twice convicted were at
this period assigned, were Macquarie Harbour, a place on the northern
coast of Van Diemen's Land, and Norfolk Island, which is situated at a
distance of about a week's sail from Sydney, in an easterly direction.
The prisoners were ordered to be conveyed to Macquarie Harbour, where
they well knew they would be subjected to drudgery of the very worst
description, in punishment for their offences. The Cyprus, a colonial
brig, was chartered to convey them to the place of their destination;
and, in the month of August 1829, she sailed, having on board thirty-two
convicts, a crew of eight men, a military guard of twelve men, under the
command of Lieutenant Carew, whose wife and children were passengers,
and a medical gentleman named Williams, under whose superintending care
the convicts were placed.
On the 5th of September, Dr. Williams, Lieutenant Carew, the chief mate,
a soldier, and a convict named Popjoy, went ashore in Research Bay on a
fishing excursion; but when they had left the ship about half-an-hour,
they heard a firing on board, which induced a fear that the convicts
were striving to overpower the guard and crew. They immediately
returned, and on their going alongside found that their anticipations
were realised, and that the convicts having risen _en masse_, had
mastered the guard, and were now in possession of the ship. They refused
to suffer any one to board except Popjoy; and, having secured him, they
thrust him down below. Immediately afterwards the convicts sent the crew
and the soldiers and passengers ashore, but without provisions or the
means of existence. Popjoy swam ashore the next morning, and was of
material assistance afterwards in procuring fish, &c. for his fellow
sufferers.
On that evening the Cyprus made off, and Lieutenant Carew and the rest
remained in a most forlorn and miserable condition for many days, until
they were at length happily delivered from the dangers which surrounded
them by the Zebra, a small vessel which was accidentally sailing by, and
saw some signals of distress which they made. The Cyprus was never
afterwards heard of; but the prisoners were apprehended separately in
various parts of Sussex and Essex, whither they had returned to their
old haunts.
The evidence of Popjoy, who for his good conduct on this occasion had
received a free pardon, and who was now a seaman in the East India
Company's service, was procured at the trial, and tended to fix guilt
upon all the prisoners; Stevenson and Beveridge, however, he admitted
were not so active as many others; and the conduct of Swallow, he said,
was quite consistent with the defence which he set up, that he had been
forced to act by the other mutineers.
Other witnesses corroborated his testimony, and Swallow was acquitted,
while a verdict was returned against the other prisoners, Stevenson and
Beveridge being recommended to mercy.
Sentence of death was immediately passed upon the convicts.
On the 1st of December following, the cases of the prisoners were
reported to His Majesty, by Sir Christopher Robinson, the judge of the
Admiralty Court; and His Majesty was pleased to grant a respite to all
but Watts, _alias_ Williams, and Davis, _alias_ Huntley.
On Thursday, 9th of December 1830, the sentence of death was carried
into execution on these culprits. In the early part of the morning they
partook of a slight repast, and at about half-past seven received the
sacrament. They then admitted that they were about to die justly, and
declared that they were at peace with the world. Davis was neatly and
respectably attired in a new suit of blue clothes; and his
fellow-sufferer also wore a blue jacket, with a white waistcoat and
trousers. They behaved with much decorum, but were both extremely
dejected.
Beveridge and Stevenson, who had also been convicted, were transported
for life to Norfolk Island; and Swallow having been identified upon the
indictment, by which he was charged to be a returned transport, was
sentenced to be once more sent back to Macquarie Harbour, to undergo the
remainder of the punishment to which he had been already sentenced.
LUKE DILLON.
TRANSPORTED FOR RAPE.
No person possessing the ordinary feelings of human nature can read the
dreadful detail of this villain's detestable crime, without shuddering
at the baseness of heart which prompted him to its commission. Few
instances are to be found where the remorseless debauchee has resorted
to means so horrid as those adopted by this youthful destroyer of female
virtue; and setting aside his age, and the respectability of his family,
one is at a loss to discover a reason why the full sentence which the
law awarded to his crime should not be carried out, and why a mitigated
punishment of transportation only should have been inflicted upon him.
He was tried at the Commission Court at Dublin on Thursday the 13th of
April 1831, on a charge of feloniously violating the person of Miss Anna
Frizell, a young lady of most respectable connexions and amiable
disposition, and but twenty years of age.
Upon his being placed at the bar, Dillon appeared to be only about
twenty-one years of age. He advanced to the front of the dock with an
air of the most unblushing effrontery. He was fashionably and gaily
attired, and his appearance was highly prepossessing.
Miss Frizell was the material witness against him; and her evidence
detailed the whole of the connexion which had existed between her and
the prisoner. She was frequently interrupted during her examination by
her emotions; and her answers were allowed to be repeated by Mr. West,
king's counsel, who sat near her. From her statement it appeared, that
she had been principally educated abroad, and that, after having passed
eight years in a convent in France, she returned to her father's house
at Slapolin, near Howth, in the year 1828. She was occasionally in the
habit of visiting her relations, Dr. and Mrs. O'Reardon, who resided in
Molesworth-street, Dublin; and there she met the prisoner about two
years before the trial. An acquaintance soon ripened into an intimacy;
and on her meeting him at a party at Mr. MacDonnel's, in Stephen's
Green, whither she had accompanied Mrs. O'Reardon in October 1830, he
professed himself to be her warm admirer. At her invitation he was to
call upon her on the following day, for the purpose of receiving some
letters which he had undertaken to convey to England for her; but upon
his knocking at the door, Dr. O'Reardon presented himself, and denied
her to him. On the 4th of November they again met, and the prisoner
then accompanied her, and Mrs. O'Reardon, to a dinner party. They
entered into conversation in the course of the evening; and Dillon
requested her to meet him on the following day, as he had something
particular to say to her. She exhibited some hesitation in complying
with this request; but eventually she consented to an appointment in
Kildare-street. She accordingly repaired to the spot; but it proved wet,
and for shelter they entered a cottage which presented itself to them in
a walk which they took. They remained there during two or three hours;
and in the course of that time the prisoner disclosed to her his object
in requesting her to meet him, which was to ask her hand in marriage.
Her answer to him was that she should be very happy, provided he could
obtain her father's consent; but added, that if money was his object, he
would be disappointed, as her father had a large family, and could not
give her any considerable portion. He declared that he had no such
sordid motive in view in making the offer which he presented to her, and
that if he succeeded in gaining her affections with her hand, he should
consider himself supremely happy, for he had money enough to support
them both, and had besides very considerable expectations from his
uncle. Before they quitted the cottage, he kissed her twice; and as they
drove away in a carriage, which he had sent for in consequence of the
rain, he pressed her to marry him privately, as he was sure that her
father would never consent to their union. The carriage drove on as Miss
Frizell believed in the direction of Molesworth-street, but presently it
stopped at a house in Capel-street; and at the earnest solicitation of
the prisoner, the young lady alighted to take some refreshment,
receiving an assurance that she should immediately afterwards be
conveyed home. She entered a house with the prisoner, and they were
shewn into a back apartment by a young man, who was directed to bring
some fish. They sat together for a time, and then Dillon left the room.
He was away for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour; but on his return
he said, that the evening was fine, and she could walk home. As she had
taken no punch, however, he insisted that she should have a little warm
wine and water; and some was almost immediately brought by the waiter.
Dillon then placed the glass to her lips, and held her head until she
had swallowed full half the contents of the glass. She directly felt
stupified and faint, and became quite unconscious of what subsequently
passed, until she found herself at night, undressed, and lying on a bed
by the side of the prisoner, in a room above that in which they had been
sitting. Frantic with terror, she sprang from the bed, and in her hurry
rushed against the wall instead of going through the door. The prisoner
ran after her, and seized her round the waist, saying it was all over
then, and she might as well be quiet; but she screamed aloud. He dragged
her away from the door with great violence, cursing and swearing at her
all the time, and again threw her on the bed, where he completed an
outrage, which, there was no doubt was a repetition only of an act of
violence of which he had before been guilty. He put his hand upon her
mouth to prevent her screaming, and swore to God that he would marry her
the next morning. He, however, again repeated his violence, and detained
her in bed until daylight, when he allowed her to rise; and she
ultimately left the house with him, under a promise that he would take
her to Mr. Kenrick, the priest, and marry her. This promise, however, he
did not fulfil, and she returned alone to Mrs. O'Reardon's house. She
told Mrs. O'Reardon that she was married; but acquainted her also with
the violence which had been used, and that lady fainted, and
subsequently she also communicated what had passed to other persons. The
prisoner never kept his promise to marry her, and she had never seen him
until that day in court since the transaction, the circumstances of
which she had just related.
The witness was cross-examined at great length by Mr. Serjeant
O'Loughlen, in the course of which she admitted having written a letter,
of which the following is a copy, the day after the atrocities described
in her evidence in chief:--
"My dearest Dillon--Our car came in to-day. Fortunately papa did not
come with it. I was wishing to see you, so I went to Home's, but you
were out. I cannot tell you what torture I have been in since I parted
with you. You may imagine I am nothing better; you may guess the rest.
If you value my life--my honour; everything depends upon you. I have
thought of something that will, I think, do. I will see you to-morrow.
When I see you I will----. I was obliged to tell Maria (Mrs. O'Reardon)
we were married. She is exceedingly ill. The Doctor thinks I was at a
lady's in Gardiner-street, a Mrs. Dwyer's. He went to Mrs. Callaghan's
himself, so I could not say I was there. For God's sake, meet me
to-morrow, about twelve o'clock, at the end of the street, in
Dawson-street, and I will, at least, be a little happier, for I am
miserable now. Buy me a ring, and, for Heaven's sake, arrange
everything. Recollect _who you had_ (these words were scratched out) I
am not to be trifled with. I am sure papa would blow my brains out were
he to know it. I, therefore, rely on your solemn promise last night;
and, once more, be punctual to the hour to-morrow. Really, I am almost
dead with grief. Indeed, my dearest Dillon, on you depends my future
happiness for life.
Yours,
"ANNA."
"Saturday night.
"Luke Dillon, Esq., Home's Hotel, Usher's-island."