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CUNNINGHAM APPEAL
EVIDENCE AT THE ASYLUM.
THE HEARING CLOSED.
The hearing wat» concluded last weet
at the Hospital for the Insane, before
Mr. Justice Draper, of the .appeal by
Francis Cunningham, e^-school teacher,
an inmate, who is seeking release. The
chief reason for changing the venue to
Claremont was to facilitate the taking
of evidence by asylum attendants, of
whom 19 in all were called.
Though Mr. L. B. Goold appeared ia
his interests, Cunningham ¡himself con-
ducted the examination of the witnesses,
his questions being so put that, for the
most part, the witnesses required ti>
answer only t,Yes" or "No." The ex-
amination sought to establish that "Cun-
ningham was, in the judgment of the
witnesses, of sane mind1; that individual-
ly they did not consider 'him dangerous,
and would have no personal fear of
him. The facilities offering to Cunnins
hani to escape were also included in the
interrogation of 'witnesses until his
Honour intimated that there was no need
to further-stress that aspect. The ques-
tions also sought to support the con-
tinued denial by Cunningham for five
j ears of tile statement Öiat he was suf-
fering from the delusion that he was
the victim of conspiracy.
Attendant .Jasleby said that on one
occasion Cunningham remarked "tàat he
wondered 'his ('Cunningham's wife had
not visited1 Lim. From his knowledge of
Cunningham he did not think he wo ii H
be dangerous if given his liberty. He did
not think Cunningham suffered from de-
lusions. In arriving at that -opinion
he judged by Cunningham's actios us
well as from his speech. Seeking, to
establish a babis for the existence or
otherwise of a delusion. Cunningham
asked the witness, "If someone, say, i
doctor, said to you, *You believe you -ave
a kangaroo,' would you believe you were
a kangaroo?"
Attendant Fraser, who had personally
known Cunningham for the past 13
months and had come into constant con-
tact with him by day and night, said ne
came to the conclusion that Cunningham
was sane from his actions. He had never
seen Cunningham act in an insane man-
ner. He would not say that because
Cunningham wrote in letters that he
would have revenge necessarily meant
that be was insane. He would not iiave
an> fear of Cunningham if freed; he
would trust him anywhere at any time,
He_ had never known Cunningham io
strike ov aet violentl> towards any pati-
ent since he' was in the asylum, nor haJ
-he 'heard him use violent or abusive lan-
guage. It would be possible for a pati-
ent _ to escape from the institution.
Similar evidence was tendered by at-
tendants Turner. Flahe>. Smyth, Neil,
Carter, Keriu. lliffe, Bogan. Kennedy.
Hopkinson. O'Brien, McGhie. Sharp,
Currie, and Stewart, and steward Gen
telli. Und'er cross-examination by Or.
Bentley, medical superintendent, the
witnesses admitted knowing nothiug .of
Cunningham's history prior to his admis-
sion to the institution.
Attendant A. W. Hillstead said he
had not noticed any difference in Cun-
ningham's behaviour or conduct since
he bad been an inmate of bhe asylum.
In his opinion, the attendants were in the
best position to express an opinion as to
the mental condition of patients. The
information "from attendants was largely
depended upon by the doctors in the com-
pilation of their reports.
His Honour: Then you think you know
better than the doctors.
Witness: No;"it would not come within
my province to express such an opinion.
I do think that if any attendant ¡has or-
dinary commonsense 'he can form an ac-
curate opinion on a patient's mental con-
dition. -
His Honour: Do you say that it
should prevail against the medical opin-
ion?
Witness: I think it.should be taken
just as much notice of as the medical
opinion.
Do you think it just as reliable?-I
can quote an authority, Dr. Morris, of
New South Wales, who said tua* if any-
one should know the exact mental capa-
city of a patient it was bis official at-
tendant. - i
Continuing, this witness said he was 1
aware of part of Cunningham's history
prior to coming to Claremont. He bad
got this from a member of the Board ¿n
Lunacy. In his opinion, if Cunningham
had gone through the ordinary channels
prior to committal he would never have
been committed1; because he believed the
attendants, while Cunningham was un-
dergoing observation, would iiave re-
ported favourably on his mental condi-
tion.
Mrs. Amelia McDonald said she was
positive of Cunningham's sanity from her
conversation with him, and lier observa-
tion of 'him, since «he had known him
at the asylum. She and her husband
would be agreeable to accept responsi-
bility for Cunningham, and to take him
into their Aiome without charge to the
State, if he were discharged.
Mrs. Altborp. a member of the Lun-
acy lleform Association, who said she
had known Cunningham for the past
five and a half years and had' often visit-
ed bim at Claremont, expressed the opin-
ion that Cunningham was not insane.
William Quaile, a journalist, said he
had frequently come into contact with
Cunningham, both personally and by let-
ter, and he had never noticed anything
which indicated insanity in him. Cun-
ningham -had contributed several articles
dealing with insanity, and the original
mnnuscript of these, and also the printed
articles, were put m- As a result of
those articles he became thoroughly con-
vinced that Cunningham was sane.
At the conclusion of the attendants'
evidence Cunningham repeated the re-
quest made previouslj in Court for the
calling of Messrs. S. W. Munsie. M.1J.A.,
and G. F. Dennis, to prove that""Mis.
Cunningham was opposed to his re-
lease; but his Honour again ruled such
evidencp to be unnecessary, as Mrs. Cun-
ningham's evidence liad already been
given on the point.
Cunningham theu asked leave to put
in affidavits by Dr. Juett. Mr. J. Bee-
cham, mid himself. He then was ex-
amined bv Mr. Goold on a letter written
bv bim in March last to the Chief Jus-
tice, in which, amongst other allegation?.
Hie statement was made. "I never wis
insane, and you know it." The letter
was written under stress of great in
noyance; as he felt he was being subject-
ed to high-banded treatment, all his ap-
plications for the oopsideration of lils
case having been ignored. He was
wrong in .writing "and you know it," as i
he had no proof of such a statement.
Cunningham addressed his Honour at
considerable length, traversing the his-
tory of his case. The Court then ad-
journed, judgment being reserved.
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