human
My Lord, might I sit down? I feel very weak; I am not able to stand; I have been in prison for the last two months. This permission was accorded. Mr. Stephen Curtis, barrister, appeared for the accused.--Mr. M'Caffrey, assistant clerk of the Crown, then read the indictment against the prisoner for having on the 16th August, 1871, at Brownlow-hill, Liverpool, married Elizabeth Mary Clancy while his lawful wife, Jane Molloy (_née_ Murray), was still alive. The latter was in court--a grey-haired woman, who seemed to feel very much her position. The prisoner pleaded not guilty. Mr. Curtis said he would be able to shorten the case, for substantially their defence was that the prisoner was insane. He had always been a person of weak intellect, and had often been in a state of dangerous lunacy, having been four times in lunatic asylums, both in this country and on the Continent. The prisoner belonged to a most respectable family, amongst whom there had been instances of insanity.[15]--Dr. Banks was examined, and deposed that he had been physician to the Prisoner's family for a number of years. He declined to answer with regard to other members of the family; but with regard to the accused he said that at one time he was labouring under symptoms of insanity, and had been placed in a private lunatic asylum. He also understood that he had been confined in two lunatic asylums in Bruges, and that he escaped from one recently.--Mr. Justice Lawson: What do you think of his mind now? Witness: I think he is an imbecile. He is of very weak mind.--Mr. Curtis: Do you think he is capable of discerning right from wrong?--Witness: Certainly not as regards his matrimonial alliances (laughter).--Serjeant O'Brian:--Oh, we believe the man to be insane; but I never heard of a more captivating character (laughter). No less than four ladies have succumbed to his winning influence. Here Miss Greene, who had been intently reading a newspaper during the proceedings, looked up and smiled, whilst another of the ladies, Miss Cassidy, laughed aloud.--Mr. Justice Lawson: There is no accounting for taste (laughter).--Serjeant O'Brian: You know, my Lord, when men are afflicted women are the ministering angels (laughter).--Mr. Justice Lawson directed the Jury to find that the Prisoner was insane.--The Prisoner was found guilty of the charge alleged, and on the verdict being entered the Jury found that the Prisoner was insane at the time he went through the ceremony of marriage. He was then ordered to be detained in an asylum during the pleasure of his Excellency the Lord Lieutenant.--When leaving the dock Molloy, who himself looked the picture of misery, smiled to each of the women.--An extraordinary passage at arms took place between two of Molloy's
gpt
during the interval when the Court was at luncheon. When the Prisoner was sent down to the cells Miss Robertina Greene, the last of the ladies who changed her name for Molloy, requested permission to speak to her