Throughout
my PhD research of the Garlands Lunatic Asylum, Carlisle, I have come across
many extraordinary stories of the patients that came through its doors from its
inception in 1862, until the end of the nineteenth century. The story I am
going to recount through this post is one of a patient that committed a most
brutal and terrible crime ten years after his release from the asylum. This
calls into question the ability of the authorities of the time to judge a
patient fit for release, and whether discharged patients were properly
monitored in the years after their confinement in an institution.
This blog post centres on Michael
Edward Carr, who was a patient of the Garlands Asylum on five separate
occasions between 1870 and 1888. His visits to the asylum for treatment varied
in length; the first being one year two months; the second three months; the
third was six months; the fourth was for five months, and his final stay lasted
only four months, with his final date of discharge on 12 July 1888 – almost ten
years before the dreadful event briefly outlined in the West Cumberland Pacquet[1]
below.
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On
the evening of 31 May 1898, in the hospital ward of Hallburn workhouse in
Longtown, Carr and six other inmates were asleep, and had been since 8 o’clock,
when he suddenly became somewhat excited and accusatory of James Nichol, at
around midnight. Carr was adamant that Nichol was in his bed, when in fact it
was the correct bed and Carr’s laid empty next to him, therefore he was in a
delusional and confused state. Nichol was aged 79, had completely lost the use
of his legs, and was partially blind. Carr himself had deformity of both his
legs, and had to walk with the aid of two walking sticks. Inmates of the
hospital ward who witnessed the incident said that Carr set about Nichol with
both his walking sticks and beat him to death, all because he believed he was
in his bed. One of the witnesses, a fellow inmate, recalled how: ‘blood
spattered on to me, I was terrified that he would strike another old man’. This
same witness stated that for two days prior to the incident Carr had been
somewhat depressed and refused to speak to anyone. However, the master of the
workhouse stated that they did not have any inclination as to Carr’s mental
state, and the incident came completely out of the blue. Carr had only been an
inmate of Hallburn workhouse for seven days, thus possibly not enough time for
the master to fully assess his condition. Carr had instantly killed Nichol with
the first blow to the head with his stick, but had kept on beating him. The
result, as reported by the Doctor who arrived about an hour after the incident,
was that ‘his face was a mass of pulp, his right arm was broken and there were
bruises on his body…his head was practically beaten in’. He also stated that he
had treated Carr a couple of days previous for bronchitis, and that he noticed
nothing wrong with him mentally.
It seems strange that in light of
this brutal murder the people that had come into contact with Carr had not
noticed any strangeness in his character or suspected anything wrong with his
mental state. It also seems strange that none of the people interviewed in Carr’s
trial new of his history in the Garlands Asylum. Each time he had been admitted
to the asylum he was chargeable to Longtown Union, thus they paid for his
maintenance. Also, being incarcerated in a county lunatic asylum at this time
carried with it a great stigma, therefore I find it hard to believe no one in
this area knew of his previous treatment for mental illness. In suspecting that
he was insane at the time of the murder, due to his strange belief that Nichol
was in his bed, Dr Campbell, medical superintendent of Garlands was called to
examine the prisoner at Carlisle Gaol. On 24 June, Campbell remarked of his
examination of Carr:
‘He complained to
me that he had been assaulted and nearly murdered by 8 men in the Longtown
workhouse. He denied that he had ever killed a man or even attacked anyone…I
found his memory as to long past occurances excellent, but as to matters which
took place within the last month his memory was very defective, almost a blank…I
do not believe the man to be feigning insanity. In my opinion the man is
insane, holds and expresses delusions of persecution and is not in the full
possession of his senses so as to be pleading to the indictment’.
Michael
Carr was charged with, ‘having on the 31st day of May last at the
parish of Arthuret in the said County feloniously and of his malice
aforethought killed and murdered one James Nichol’. After being examined by Dr
Campbell Carr was found guilty but insane at the time of the murder, and was
sent to be detained in Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum, where he remained until
his death in 1924.
What
is apparent from the murder committed by Michael C, is that the monitoring of
discharged asylum patients was none existent. The fact that Michael had been in
Garlands several times should have resulted in him remaining longer in Garlands
each successive time he was admitted, however the inverse occurred. Of
particular concern was the fact that Michael was continually referred to as dangerous
and violent in his case notes, which seem to have also been failed to have
taken in account.
Thank
you for taking the time to read this somewhat brutal story from my research
conducted on the Garlands Lunatic Asylum, which forms the basis of my PhD thesis
I am currently writing. I am working towards writing the history of such a
fascinating institution through the experience of its pauper patients. If you
have any stories relating to the asylum, or would like help in tracing your
ancestors that were in this particular institution, please don’t hesitate to
contact me at caradobbing@gmail.com
All
material for this blog post relating to the trial of Michael Edward Carr comes
from the national archives, ASSI 52/38.
