Chapter Five

• Author: Richard D. Schneider
• Pages: 53-57

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Cae Fv

   after the prisoner had been locked up in his cell, he ex-

pressed a wish to have some dinner and he was accordingly supplied

with a plate of beef, some bread, and potatoes, of which he made a hearty

meal. He was moved from the cell to the jailer’s room at about three

o’clock, and was allowed to remain there (instead of being locked up)

until he was taken to Tothill Fields Prison, in the regular prison van.

At about six o’clock, while in the jailer’s room, he frequently en-

tered into conversation with Tyrrell, the jailer, and other persons con-

nected with the court; but, of course, the crime for which he had been

apprehended was not in the slightest degree alluded to by them, nei-

ther did the prisoner ever once mention it. He appeared to be very

attentive to any conversation that passed between other persons, and

frequently laughed at any jocular observation that happened to be ut-

tered. His demeanour throughout the day was precisely the same, and

there was nothing in his appearance or behaviour, with the exception

of the statement he made before the magistrate, from which it could

be inferred that he was labouring under insanity. Between ve and six

o’clock he expressed a wish to have his tea, and he was supplied with

a pint of coee and a penny loaf and some butter, the whole of which

he ate.

As he did so, Tyrrell read the latest on M’Naughten’s case in e

Observer, two items attracting his interest. A constable searching the

prisoner’s lodgings found a powder horn lled with gunpowder and

a quantity of newly cut balls, which exactly tted the pistols taken

from M’Naughten at the time of the shooting, a piece of evidence, the

article pointed out, that had not been mentioned in court that day.

e other item was an interview with “a very respectable widow” by

the name of Dutton, residing at Poplar Row, New Kent Road, where