Here's a bizarre case
A curious accident happened to a patient on the 25th July 1870 at 4pm. As he was returning from work he was struck by lightening. His clothes were set on fire, both legs were deeply burnt, all his hair was singed, and his shoe blown off his foot. He survived the shock for two months.
Asylum inmate sentenced as sane man
20th October 20th 1927, at the Bedfordshire Assizes: Yesterday Mr Justice Rigby Swift sentenced Issac Mitcham, 43, an inmate of Three Counties Mental Hospital, Arlesey, to two months imprisonment for assaulting Dr Finiefs, a member of the hospital staff. He was also charged with threatening to assault Dr Fuller. It was stated that the accused rushed out of the bathroom threatening to kill with a wooden plunger anyone who approached. Dr. Finiefs endeavoured to pacify him, but Mitcham struck him on the head with the plunger. The defence as put forward by Mr J. Cremlyn was that Mitcham, failing to ventilate a grievance and establish his sanity by other means, took this course. The Judge said he assumed the accused to be sane, and treated the case as an ordinary common assault.
Asylum brewer dies in a vat
This is a very bizarre accident, 26th March 1906: On this date the asylum brewer was found dead in a vat of beer. Mr Prime, the asylum brewer, was a reclusive type of man who worked independently of his supervisor. Perhaps, because he lead a secluded life, he was not missed even at mealtimes. Sometimes took his meals with the hall porter, so it was not unusual that he was not at the meal table. Mr Prime the brewer often took leave with permission so it was not totally surprising that the brewery workers did not miss him. Though it was strange that they carried on their normal working duties between the death and the discovery of the body, some 40 hours later!
The brewers body was discovered when Mr Thompson, an engineer, wanted to use the brewery engine. He tried to find the brewer but could not find him. The porter suggested that Mr Prime the brewer must be on leave, but he was told by the steward that the brewer was not on leave so the brewery was searched. The body of Mr Prime was found in Vat 3 after the steward noticed what he thought was a sack floating in the vat. When he lifted it he found it was a mans leg, after draining the 400 gallons of beer from the vat they found Mr Prime’s body. Hs head was trapped under a coil and his leg trapped under another coil. The medical officer examined Mr Prime's body and found no signs of foul play - he concluded that the brewer had drowned. He must have been overcome by laughing gas fumes and simply fell into the vat.
Suicide of a lunatic
This is a short story from the Bedfordshire Mercury, from 1887. On Friday Mr Whyley, County Coroner, held an inquest at the Three Counties Asylum, on the body of one of the inmates Mr Alfred Kendall, who had cut his throat the day before with a plane iron. The deceased was a middle aged married man, and a carpenter by trade. When admitted he was reported as suicidal.
On the 2nd inst he attempted to escape, and, when found out, he said he wanted to see the clergyman. On Thursday morning, at 9.30, he was at work with two or three other patients in the workshop with the head carpenter. He was noticed to go across the yard to the closet, and a minute afterwards the assistant went to the bench where he had been working and missed the iron from the plane. Following the deceased, he found him lying in a pool of blood, his throat cut from ear to ear and almost to his spine. He was quite unconscious, and died in a few minuets. The jury returned a verdict of suicide whilst of unsound mind.
Here is a very odd case
John Hackett was sent from Bedford Prison to the Three Counties Asylum on the 31st March 1891. He was a 19 year old plumber who had sustained an injury to the head at birth, this had led him to be mischievous if left unattended and not under strict supervision. Because of this he had been in prison three times before, once for indecent assault. He was sent to the asylum because he had committed an offence which only someone of an unsound mind could have considered doing. Assistant Warder Arthur Abbot tells us that John Hackett was very childish, mentally weak and suffered from incapacity. He as dirty, very indecent in his habits and exposed his person anywhere in public places. His crime? Attempting to commit an unnatural offence with a sheep!
Escaped lunatic killed on the Great Northern Railway
21st September, 1870. Last night about eleven o’clock the driver of an 'up' goods train reported to the officials at Hitchin that there was something on the 'down' line near Arlesey. It had the appearance of human remains. Mr Watkins, the clerk in charge, at once started on the pilot engine and near the thirty-