Watson’s Apology

by Beryl Bainbridge

  ‘In these cases it is often common for the counsel for the prosecution, having stated the facts of the case, to stop and tell the jury that it is for the prisoner or his counsel to make out the case for insanity, to do no more than prove the facts of the case, and to throw the burden for defence entirely on the counsel for the prisoner. But, having had ample notice, from what has previously occurred, that the defence to be set up is one of insanity, it is necessary for me, I think, in the first instance, to call witnesses with regard to that issue which is the practical one the jury will have to try. The prisoner was taken into custody and remained in the Surrey County gaol until the 14th November. I will call the medical gentleman who attended him in the gaol and who saw him every day, and he will tell you, that, doing the best he could, by conversation and otherwise to form an honest judgment with regard to the prisoner’s state of mind, he came to the clearest conclusion that there was nothing in his conversation, his reasoning powers, his manner or his physical appearance to lead him to any conclusion but that the prisoner was a man of sound mind, capable of exercising his judgment, and of doing rational things.

  ‘Gentlemen, I must remind you of the necessity of exercising extreme caution in dealing with pleas of insanity in the cases of persons charged with murder.’

  George Greenham. I am in the Metropolitan Police Force – I understand the making of plans – I have prepared and produce a plan showing the position of the rooms at 28, St Martin’s Road, Stockwell. On the ground floor, as you enter, the drawing-room is on the left, and the dining-room on the right, with a small schoolroom at the back – on the first floor there is a front bedroom and a dressing-room behind, also a library in front, and a smaller bedroom behind it.

  Eleanor Mary Pyne. I am now living at New Cross – I am twenty years of age – I was in the service of the prisoner and his wife not quite three years. While I was there a sister of mine was in service as well – she left last Christmas twelvemonth – from that time I was the only servant there – no one lived in the same house but me and my Master and Mistress. My Master and Mistress used to occupy the same bedroom; that was the front bedroom on the first floor – they ceased to occupy the same bedroom at the commencement of the hot weather last year. My Mistress then slept in the room behind the library. She dressed in the room Mr Watson slept in, the front bedroom. At the back of that bedroom is a dressing-room. I used to attend to all the rooms on the floor, excepting the one that Mrs Watson slept in – she attended to that herself – I only went into it once or twice during the two or three months she slept there – I don’t remember how recently before Sunday, 8th October, I had been in it. On Sunday morning, 8th October, my Master and Mistress went out together rather earlier than the usual church time – they came back rather later than usual – I should think it was about 1.45 o’clock – that was their dinner hour at that time. I had prepared dinner in the dining-room on the ground floor; that is the room on the right, as you come into the house. Mrs Watson took off her bonnet and things, and they sat down to dinner – I attended to them – they had no wine for dinner, they had some after dinner – I am not certain what wine it was – after dinner they went upstairs into the library. I do not remember seeing them again – it was between 2 and 3 o’clock when I left them in the library – up to that time I had not noticed anything in their manner or demeanour to attract my attention – they usually lived on very friendly terms. They were generally very quiet. I went out that afternoon, about 4 o’clock – I let myself out – before I went out I had prepared the tea in the dining-room – 5.45 was their usual time for taking tea. When I returned, at 9 o’clock, I knocked at the door, and Mr Watson let me in, and he said my Mistress had gone out of town and would not be home till tomorrow. I don’t remember his saying anything more then – I went into the dining-room and he came in with me – I noticed that the tea things had not been touched; I looked at them, and he said “We have not taken tea” – he said nothing more – I passed some remark, a word or two – I forget now what it was – I asked him if he would take some supper, and he said yes, he would take a little bread and cheese – it was usual for him to take supper – he then went upstairs into the library. I went down to the kitchen and took off my things, and took some bread and cheese up into the dining-room – I then went upstairs to settle the bedrooms as usual – I went into Mr Watson’s bedroom. I don’t remember going into the library that night – I did not notice anything about the bedroom different to what I had left it – that was the front bedroom – I did not see Mr Watson then, he was taking his bread and cheese in the dining-room – I had told him it was ready, and he went downstairs and had his supper in the dining-room. I saw him again at 10 o’clock that night. He came out of the library as I was going up to bed, he opened the door and said, “This stain on the floor is port wine your Mistress has spilt. In case you might wonder what it was I have told you.” I could not see any stain then, it was under the carpet as you are walking into the library, at the side of the door, under the door – he also pointed to the next room door, the small bedroom at the back of the library, and said, “Do not go to that door, your Mistress has locked it” – I said “No,” and went up to bed – that was all I saw that night. On the following morning, Monday, I got my Master’s breakfast in the dining-room – I am not certain if it was that day or on the Tuesday that he said my Mistress would not be home for a day or two – I don’t know how he came to say that – I did not ask him any question – I wanted some candles and I said to him, if she would not be home till dark I should want some candles out, and it was upon that he said that she would not be home for two or three days – he did not say where she had gone. My Master went out on the Monday, and he had his meals as usual – he went out on the Tuesday – I almost forget now the times at which he went out – he said on the Tuesday that he was going out, and would not be home all night – it was after dinner that he said that – he had been out before dinner – and he went out after he had said that – he went out about three times after that – I went out in the afternoon to try to find somebody to sleep there; but I was not able to get anyone. I told him at night that I was unable to get anybody, and he said that I should have to remain by myself – I went downstairs, and waited to see if he would go out, but he did not go; I remained up till about 11 o’clock, when he called me over the stairs. He was standing on the staircase, the first flight from the hall – he said, “If you should find anything wrong with me in the morning, send for Dr Rugg” – I said “Are you ill, Sir?” – he said, “I may require medicine in the morning”; nothing further took place. I went downstairs, and he went upstairs, to bed, as I supposed; I did not see him after he went from the stairs; it must have been after 11 o’clock when he went to bed. On the Wednesday morning I came down about 6.45 – near 8 o’clock I went to the door of his room; I knocked at the door, and Mr Watson answered me; he was dressing himself, I could hear – it was not quite 8.30 when he came downstairs – he went out, before breakfast, for about ten minutes; he breakfasted as soon as he came in – after breakfast he went out again, between 10 and 11 o’clock – he came back about 11 o’clock; I think he went up to the library; I don’t remember his passing any remark at that time – between 11 and 12 o’clock he called me, I saw him in the hall; he said, “If I should be ill before dinner, go for the doctor” – I said “Yes” – he said nothing more; he went upstairs. Some time after, I heard a groaning – I should not think it was an hour after, about half an hour, or more, I should think – I was in the drawing-room and the groaning came from overhead, in the front bedroom – I went up to my Master’s bedroom, he was lying in bed, undressed – I spoke to him, but he was unconscious, he did not know me – I went for the doctor at once – I left him in the house by himself. Before I went for the doctor, I noticed three papers in the chair, and a small phial on the drawers, and there was a glass on the chair by the side of the bed – I took up one of the papers, this is it; I took it up, thinking it might be some message for
the doctor, and read it – it is in my Master’s writing (Read: “For the servant, Ellen Pyne, exclusive of her wages. Let no suspicion fall on the servant, whom I believe to be a good girl.”) That was sealed; a £5 note was enclosed in it – I don’t think the “No.3” was on it when I opened it; I don’t remember seeing it, it might have been there. I went out and fetched Dr Rugg – I had known him before, he had been to the house before to attend my sister, who was ill – he went into my Master’s bedroom, and he afterwards went out and fetched the police. I went into the room afterwards, and spoke to my master; I spoke to him once or twice before he answered me; then I asked him if he was cold – he said “Yes” and I put something more on the bed. When the police came I went into the library with them – I showed them some marks there; there were some splashes about the window, which I supposed to be wine that had been splashed about, I mean on the library window – I think I first noticed those marks on the Tuesday, I had cleaned the window – the marks were by the side of the skirting; I did not touch them; I don’t remember any being on the glass – I did not see any other marks in that room – I did not notice the furniture; I did not notice the chair – I had not done anything to the carpet before that, I had only done the fireplace – I did not see the body of my mistress that day, I did afterwards. One quarter’s wages was nearly due to me at this time; it would be due that day month that my mistress died, that would be 8th November. I did not know that my master had any pistols; the pistol in the possession of the police I had never seen in my master’s possession, I did not know where it was kept. This paper, headed “For the surgeon”, is in my master’s writing. This letter in Latin was left on the library table, I saw it found – I remember seeing that paper on Tuesday, on the table; I saw it on the Wednesday as well – it is my master’s writing. The police afterwards showed me some clothes, and a shirt – they were my master’s; they looked like the clothes he used to wear.

  Cross-examined by Mr Serjeant Parry: I never saw any pistols in my master’s possession, I never saw them till they were found by the police – I was the first that went to the drawer and saw them there – I think somebody told me they had been found in the drawer, and I went and saw them; I am not certain, but I think I was the first person that found them – I called the attention of one of the policemen to the fact that I had seen some pistols in that drawer – it was in Mr Watson’s dressing-room, the drawer of a chest of drawers – it was shut; it was unlocked, I could open it easily and look – there was nothing to prevent anyone opening the drawer and looking into it. I had been in the habit of attending to my master’s dressing-room, putting it to rights in the morning; that was a part of my duty – I had access to it constantly; if I had been curious I might at any time have seen these pistols, but I never opened the drawer till that day. This Latin paper was left on the library table, the corner of it was put under a book, I think, or something was across it – it was placed so that you could read the writing; it was open – I noticed it, and looked at it, but I could not read it – that was on the Tuesday morning. It was in the hot weather that they first ceased to sleep together – about July – the reason of their ceasing to sleep together was the hot weather, and then my mistress attended to her own bedroom; she said I had enough to do, and she would help me – sometimes she would behave to me with great kindness, sometimes she was hasty. My master always behaved to me with great kindness; I considered him to be a kind-hearted gentleman – I never noticed any quarrelling, or any angry feeling between them, while I was attending upon them – they always appeared to me to live happily and comfortably together. Mrs Watson always seemed to have her own way, that is all I know. My master was a very reserved man; I may have noticed it more by their being so quiet, by their not having much company; there was no company at all – after their meals they used to sit together in the library; that was their common practice – when I went up there Mr Watson was always either reading or writing. When I saw the pistols in the drawer I did not move them – I went down to Sergeant Giddings, and told him.

  Dr George Philip Rugg. I am a doctor of medicine, living and practising at Stockwell Villas, Clapham Road – I know Mr Watson – I have known him for years as the head master of the Grammar School, at Stockwell – I have not attended him professionally, but on one occasion I attended the sister of the last witness, who was a servant with her, and who left at Christmas. I have an impression that the last time I saw Mr Watson was the day before the transaction in question – I did not speak to him – I was on the opposite side of the way – whether it was that day or two days before, I don’t know, but I saw him that week. On Wednesday, 11th October, I was called to Mr Watson’s house, about 11.30 – I was fetched by the servant Pyne – when I got there I found the prisoner in bed; he was unconscious, breathing heavily, with difficulty – his eyes were turned up, there was a cold clammy perspiration on him, and he had a weak, soft, compressible pulse, an intermittent pulse – I thought he was labouring under an attack of epilepsy at first – he was probably a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes in that unconscious state. Pyne put three letters into my hand – one was addressed “For the surgeon” – it was sealed with an adhesive envelope, this is it. (Read: “I have killed my wife in a fit of rage to which she provoked me; often, often has she provoked me before, but I never lost restraint over myself with her till the present occasion, when I allowed fury to carry me away. Her body will be found in the room adjoining the library, the key of which I leave with the paper. I trust she will be buried with the attention due to a lady of good birth. She was an Irish-woman. Her name was Anne”). The key was enclosed in that paper – there was something scratched out, and I asked Mr Watson what it was; but he did not enter into it at all, in fact I had my doubts at the time whether he was married or not, from that being scratched out, and I asked him the question afterwards, and he said he was married, certainly; but he did not tell me what it was that he had scratched out. I have the envelope, it is addressed “For the surgeon” – this was also one of the papers handed to me, it is marked “Statement for such as may care to read it” on the envelope. (Read: “I know not whose business it will be to look to my property, my books and furniture. My only brother was living, when I heard of him, five or six years ago, in America, at 82 Grand Street, Williamsburg, and a niece with him. He is my heir, if still alive. I know not if I have any other surviving relatives. One quarter’s wages will soon be due to my servant, and I should wish the sum to be more than doubled for her, on account of the trouble which she will have at the present time, and the patience with which she has borne other troubles. In my purse will be found £1.10s. I leave a number of letters, many of them very old, with which I hope those who handle them will deal tenderly. The books are a very useful collection for a literary man. The two thick quarto MS books, marked P and Q, might be sent to the British Museum, or might possibly find some purchaser among literary men, for whom they contain many valuable notes and hints. Among the other MS is a complete translation of “Valerius Flaccus” in verse, which I think deserves to be published. Messrs Longman and Co. also have in their hands for inspection 2 vols. of manuscript, containing a complete history of the Popes from the foundation of the Papal power to the Reformation. There is also ready for the press a tale entitled “Hercules”. I leave, too, in the bookcase, several books of extracts and observations marked with the letters of the alphabet, the oldest being that I believe marked M, and the most recent that marked P. There is an annotated copy of the “Life of Porson”, with a book of addenda and a copy of the “Life of Warburton”, with a few annotations and a book of addenda. There will be found, in loose sheets, in the press at the side of the fireplace in the library, a complete translation of Béranger’s songs, with the exception of “Mes Derniers Chansons”. Some of these have been printed. The house is to be vacated at the half-quarter. For the rent to Michaelmas I have sent a cheque today. There will be some small bills, but when all claims are satisfied there will be a considerable sum l
eft, besides what will arise from the sale of books and furniture. I have made my way in the world, so far as it has been made, by my own efforts. My great fault has been too much self-dependence, and too little regard for others. Whatever I have done I have endeavoured to do to the best of my ability, and have been fortunate, I may say, generally, but with one great exception. In the paper-cases lying about and elsewhere will be found some MSS which have been used, and others intended for literary purposes.”) I found out Mrs Watson’s room from the servant – I opened the door with the key and went in – it was the bedroom at the back of the library. I found Mrs Watson dead, huddled up in one corner of the room – she was covered over with a blanket – I examined her, to see what was the cause of death, and found several wounds on the scalp, and a fracture of the bone – there was blood on the floor, and her gown was covered with blood, saturated with blood – there was a good deal on the floor – I can’t say how much, it was congealed, and the clothes all saturated. The body was stiff – she must have been dead a day or two at least, on account of the congealed blood and the stiffness of the body – death was no doubt caused by the fracture of the skull by some blunt kind of instrument. A horse-pistol was shown to me the next day at the station. The wounds I saw were most likely to have been produced by such an instrument as that. The body was dressed in the ordinary female dress, she had a gown on. I afterwards returned to Mr Watson’s room, where I found a glass of this description and a bottle, which were on a chair beside his bed – this phial was on the chest of drawers, it was half full – it holds two drachms; there was a slight drain in the glass, scarcely a drain, apparently the same kind of liquid that there was in the bottle – I did not examine it then – I could only tell by sense of smell at that time, and I had a very severe cold, therefore I went to the chemist’s to discover whether he had purchased poison, and he smelt it for me – that was Mr Lewis, another chemist – I found it to be prussic acid – I was away about five minutes when I went to Mr Lewis – I then came back again, and went into Mr Watson’s room, he was recovering his consciousness, but he was talking in an incoherent way – I spoke to him – I told him that I knew he had taken poison, and I also knew it was prussic acid, and that he had been to the chemist’s that morning to purchase some. He did not make any remark at that time, that I remember – I asked him where he had purchased the prussic acid and he said he did not wish to get the chemist into trouble, and he told me where he had purchased it. I sent for a policeman, and I told him what I had done – I told him there was a policeman in the next room, that he would be given into charge, that he must be aware what it was for. He did not make any reply to that, he simply put up his arms and made an exclamation of that sort, “Ah”, but he did not make any remark. I left him then in charge of the police. I thought he was not in a fit state to be removed at that time, he had scarcely got over the dose of poison – I returned afterwards. The police surgeon was there; he wished to see me, to know if he was in a fit state to be removed – we examined the flooring and the spots of blood, the chair in the library, and the woodwork about the window – the window frames were spattered with blood. The prisoner told me he had taken prussic acid the night before, but he had not taken a sufficient dose, or he supposed so. Dr Pope and I agreed that he could be moved, and he then got up to dress himself; that was about 4 o’clock – the police were present while he was dressing – there was no very particular conversation – he called for a particular pair of boots, which he said fitted him, that he felt easier with them, and he directed my attention to an oyster shell that was on the chest of drawers in his dressing-room, or on the washhand-stand; he said “A curious thing” – he said very little, he was a man that never said very much – he said “A curious thing that, I picked it up” – I examined it, and said it was a curious thing; it was rather a remarkable shell, it was covered with cercules, a sort of calcareous matter made by a worm, a sort of coral. Nothing more passed, except the observations he was making while he was dressing, with regard to brushing his hair and that – he seemed to be very particular about himself before he went away; he wished to be shaved – his manner seemed frivolous to me, considering the position in which he was placed. I don’t remember any further conversation that took place at the time; by-the-bye, I did mention to him that he should have a solicitor, and he mentioned Mr Fraser’s name, as being an old pupil of his – he said he did not think it was any use, the deed was done – he consented to my calling on Mr Fraser, which I did afterwards, and he is the gentleman who is now conducting the defence. He asked the police to deal gently with him, and to get the matter over as quickly as they could – he did not quite seem to understand that he was to be removed to the police-station; he asked why he could not remain where he was. I don’t recollect anything more. I next saw him at the police-station, in the evening, after that, and I told him I had called on Mr Fraser, but he was out, the servant said he would be home about 10 o’clock, and he would be there in the evening. He said he did not suppose Mr Fraser would come.