OFFICIAL DOCU MENTS 
 
 THE CASE OF ANN PRATT, 
 
 Reputed Authoress of a Certain 
 Pamphlet, 
 
 ENTITLED 
 
 “SEVEN MONTHS IN THE KINGSTON LUNATIC 
 ASYLUMSAND WHAT I SAW THERE.” 
 
 JAMAICA: 
 Printed by Jorpon & Osgorn, Kingston & Spanish Town, 
 
 1860 
 
‘ 
 } 
 
 sy 
 
 Ce, FTE ND MA mo 
 BOSTON CO 
 
Public Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, 
 
 August 14th, 18600. 
 
 The following Official Documents are published 
 in pa. t form, in accordance with the direc- 
 tion of his Exce ae the Governor, conveyed in 
 the Despatch of Mr. Secretary Austin to the In- 
 spector and Director, Numbered ae and dated 
 1ith August instant. 
 
 D. P. TRENCH, 
 Inspector and Director of the Public Hos- 
 pital and Lunatic Asylum of Jamaica. 
 
 Al 
 
 | 
 
f 
 
 4 
 
| ges aio 
 
 OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS, 
 &c. So, Sc. 
 
 No. 869. 
 Gov. Sec. Office, July 21st, 1860. 
 
 Sir, 
 
 I am directed by the Governor to transmit herewith Ex- 
 tract of a Letter* received from Dr. Bowerbank, and to re- 
 quest you to ascertain who the female is that is alluded to by 
 Dr. Bowerbank. You will then, if possible, obtain from 
 her, by direct application, what her complaints are, and 
 mvestigate them accordingly. 
 
 IT have the honor to be, Sir, 
 Your most obedient Servant, 
 Hueu W. Austin, Gov. Sec. 
 D. P. Trencu, Esq. Inspector and Director 
 Public Hospital and Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 (Extract.) 
 H. W. Austin, Esquire, Secretary to the Governor, 
 
 Sir, 
 
 It is again my painful duty to report to you, for his Ex- 
 cellency’s information, a most extraordinary and frightful 
 case of abuse which has just transpired with regard to the 
 Lunatic Asylum of this City. 
 
 His Excellency the Governor must be aware of my charges, 
 so often reiterated to himself, and to the Colonial Minister, 
 against Mrs. Ryan, the late Matron of the Female Lunatic 
 Asylum, for her ill usage, and especially for the cruel and 
 murderous system of “ tanking” the unfortunate patients un- 
 der her charge; and his Excellency must be aware, that the 
 said Matron has been recently dismissed from her office in 
 the Asylum after a period of sixteen years’ service, for the 
 very inhumanity of which I complained so many months back. 
 
 * July 14th, 1860. 
 
 =e nee ran en as ere * re 
 ge eS - “ Fe ¥ 
 
 SRE ES Sa STS A See ee Pe 
 
6 Dr. Bowrersans’s Lerrer ro Mr. Avsrin. 
 
 A pooxifemaleiwas, last January, under very painful and 
 peculiar circumstances, sent to the Lunatic Asylum, in King- 
 ston. There e appear to be good grounds to doubt whether, 
 at thisotime,;she was insane. She has however been detain- 
 ed from the 14th January to the 4th July, and has been 
 Dall and shamefully treated in an Institution under the 
 immediate charge of his Excellency the Governor, in Exe- 
 cutive Committee. 
 
 Phe is now discharged, in consequence of the removal, from 
 office, of her oppressor, and she is now prepared to prove the 
 injury inflicted on her, and to see 
 tained. 
 
 The case of this poor unfortunate can be furnished either 
 orally or ee as may be deemed most advisable; and I 
 shall be pr epared, in case of a bond jd e enquiry, to confirm 
 the truth of almost every charge made by the injured and 
 insulted female. 
 
 *. # * * * 
 
 (Signed ) Lewis Q. BowserBAnK. 
 Kingston, 4th July, 1860 
 
 ad = 2 b Aap 
 md Lunatic Asylum Office, 
 Of ~ 
 
 J 
 Be tae oe 
 LOVCaNt street woul Jul } 18 oQ. 
 ’ ai) 
 
 e 
 Si gene d da. 
 
 : Excelleng cy’s 
 
 > writer complains of a most frightful and 
 RCE Sateen ta “ 
 which has just transpired with 
 ” e : (90 e ae 
 mi of this City; and further 
 
 2 
 nec) female vi 
 
 Re 
 
 De last Janu 
 lar circumstances, sent to the 
 letained there from the 14th 
 and has been cruelly and 
 
 ats Selle /sann tented 
 
 that the said (unnamed) 
 to nrove tha jninryy inflicted on her 
 tO prove tie injury Inwvicted On ner, 
 
 iL 
 
 : i 
 1 o> oie Lp Palas 
 sk jus stico, if it can be obtained. 
 
Mr. TRency to Ann Prarry” 7 
 
 ‘And whereas I have received his Excellency theGover- 
 nor’s instructions to endeavour to find out the female alluded 
 to in the said Letter, “and then, if possible;.to. obtain from 
 her, by personal application, what her complaints'are, and 
 investigate them accordingly.” 
 
 And whereas, on reference to the Register of the Admis- 
 sions and Discharges of Patients, I find that you, Ann Pratt, 
 are the only female who was admitted to the Lunatic Asylum 
 during the month of January, and that you were the only 
 female who was discharged therefrom on the 4th of July, of 
 the present year. 
 
 These are therefore to invite you to appear at the Office of 
 the Inspector and Director, between the hours of eleven 
 o’clock, a. m. and twelve o’clock noon, to-morrow, the 26th day 
 of July instant, and then and there inform me of the nature 
 and particulars of the cruel and shameful treatment, which 
 it is alleged you have been subjected to during your con- 
 finement in the Female Lunatic Asylum, and the Names of 
 the persons (being Servants or Officers of the said Asylum), 
 against whom you desire to complain, in order that an inves- 
 igation thereof may be instituted for the information and 
 consideration of his Excellency the Governor. 
 
 Given under my hand, this 25th day of July, 1860. 
 D, P. Trencn, Inspector and Director of the 
 Public Hospital and Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 I served Ann Pratt with the original of the foregoing no- 
 tice on Wednesday evening, the 25th July, at Dr. Bower- 
 bank’s house, where she was then residing, by handing the 
 said notice to her. 
 
 Epwop. Ceruas, Messenger of the Pubhe Hospital. 
 
 North Street, July 25. 
 
 SIR, 
 It is impossible for me to attend you to-morrow morning at 
 the time you mention, as Iam obliged to attend a Magiste- 
 rial investigation at that hour. You must be perfectly 
 aware that the charges I have brought, in my Narrative | 
 against the Matron, and her Assistants, at the Lunatic Asy- 
 lum, being of a public nature, prechudes me from entering 
 upon any private or ea parte examination, and therefore I 
 decline meeting you alone ; but, in order to show you that I 
 do net shrink from any fair and open examination, | am 
 AQ 
 
8. Aww Pratr to Mr. Trencn, &e. 
 
 ready to meet you on Friday morning, in the presence of .my 
 Solicitor, and two or three other friends. 
 
 I do hope you. will agree to this, as I am anxious that you 
 especially, as Inspector and Director of the Lunatic Asylum, 
 should personally hear all I have to state regarding the man- 
 ner of treatment to which I was subjected while under your 
 care. 
 
 Jam, Sir, your obdt. Servant, 
 Ann Prarr, 
 D. P. Trencu, Esquire, Inspector of the Pub- 
 lic Hospital and the Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 Notice.—Duplicate. 
 
 Public Hospital Office, No. 49, Mordant Street, 
 26th July, 1860. 
 ~The Inspector and Director of the Public Hospital and 
 Lunatic Asylum, (in compliance with the desire expressed by 
 Ann Pratt, in her Letter of the 25th instant), has no objection 
 to take down any charges of neglect or ill-treatment she may 
 desire to prefer against the Servants or Officers of the Female 
 Lunatic Asylum, in presence of her Solicitor, and any friend 
 she may think proper to be accompanied by, on Friday 
 morning, the 27th, at 11, a. m. 
 D. P. Trencu, Inspector and Director of the 
 Pubhe Hos; ital and Lunatic Asylum. 
 ANN PRATT. 
 
 July 26. 
 Str, 
 
 I will be with you, with my Solicitor, Mr. M‘Neil, and my 
 friends; the Revd. Mr. Watson and Dr. Bowerbank, to- 
 morrow morning, at the hour appointed. 
 
 I am, Sir, your obdt. Servant, 
 
 Ann Prarr. 
 D. P. Trencu, Esquire. 
 
 STATEMENT of Awnn-Pratr. 
 
 My name is Ann Pratt. J entered the Asylum on the 
 
 mt 
 
SraremMent OF Ann Pratt. 9 
 
 14th of January last. It was on a Saturday, about eleven 
 o'clock. I saw two women come into the Doctor’s shop, 
 Julian Burke and Antoinette Parola, two Nurses, got hold of 
 my hand. Antoinette began to drag me to the Asylum yard 
 to Mrs. Ryan. — I said to her don’t drag me, I will go on 
 quietly, Julian Burke said don’t drag her, she will go on 
 quietly. Antionette, (addressing me), said to me, “don’t 
 drag you, eh ! there isno fun here.” Mrs. Ryan ordered the 
 Nurses (same as already mentioned), and Johnston,. who came 
 in to assist in taking off my dress. I begged the said Nurses 
 to allow me to wear my own clothes, Julian Burke told me 
 it was not allowed. This happened after I had been washed. 
 Some time after this the dinner came in; they did not give me 
 any dinner that day. One of the other patients, Henrietta 
 Dawson, gave me a pan of soup, and offered me a bit of 
 meat, which I refused. After dinner, on the same day that 
 I was admitted, I saw Dr. Keech come into the Asylum yard. 
 I begged him to be so kind as to let me out here, for the 
 people were very rude. I told him that the place was not fit 
 for me to be in, and that Lam quite better. Dr. Keech said 
 no, I cannot do such a thing ; for if you were not domg some- 
 thing wrong you would not be brought here. He ordered 
 Mrs. Ryan to give me a bed; I got a bed that night, (a can- 
 vass bed). Iasked Julian Burke for a pillow that I had 
 brought with me; she said no, she could not give it to me, 
 it is not allowed to give the pillow. JI found a grass pillow 
 on the bed. Next morniny Mrs. Ryan came in to bathe the 
 people; Julian Burke came up to me, and said, “ you know 
 T have to tank you this morning!” She told me to take off 
 my clothes in the yard ; I refused to do so, but Julian Burke 
 and Antionette said it must be done; and they held me and 
 took me up to the tank, and Julian put me into the tank, 
 and then told me if I behave and deliver myself to her, she 
 won't tank me bad. Mrs. Ryan was standing at the tank 
 door at that time. f told her (Mrs. Ryan), that I was not 
 accustomed to strip myself before all these people. She call- 
 \h ed out to the Nurses to take off my clothes. The Nurses did 
 KA so, and tanked me. On Monday morning, 16th January, I 
 saw the tank was full. I mean by the tank the bathing tank ; 
 I saw the Nurses drawing a patient to the bath, and was 
 treating her very cruelly, by dragging her on the bricks, and 
 pitching her over the tank, and holding her in the water by 
 the throat; I got frightened; the patient was Louisa Coch- 
 rane, and the Nurses were Antionette and Julian Burke ; 
 they called out to Rosa Lewis, and many other Lunatic Pa- 
 tents, to assist them. Rosa Lewis did assist them im puts 
 
190 Starement or Ann Pratt. 
 
 ting Miss Cochrane into the water. When I saw all this 
 I got ve ery frightened, and Iran from the Lunatic Asylum 
 to the Pub blic “Hospital, bawling out to Dr. Keech, who was 
 standing up under the buildings of the Hospital; I oS up 
 to the stairs leading to the Fever W ard, and grasped and 
 hugged the railings. Antoinette and Julian Burke were af- 
 ter me; they caught me on the steps, and took me back. A 
 man, named irik tee one of the labourers of the Male Luna; 
 tic Asylum, assisted the Nurses totakeme back. Dr. Keech 
 only came to the steps, and ordered them to take me back. 
 When I was carried 4 sin Mrs. Ryan ordered the Nurses to 
 take me into the t tank, and give it to me well in the tank — 
 I was saying to the Nurses, in Mrs. Ryan’s hearing, that I 
 will tell Mr. Trench the way they are treating me here, and 
 the rest of the Lunatics. The Nurses took me to the tank, 
 assisted by three Lunatics, Rosa Lewis, Eliza’ Scott, and one 
 pi Mary. In taking off my clothes they tore my dress ; 
 they sivigtotl my arms behind my back, and they held my 
 legs and extended them, one leg being held : Eliza Scott, 
 and the other by Rosa Lewis, both J Lunatics; but they were 
 ail tearing away at me; they kept me under ‘the water, and 
 nearly § suffocated me; it was as much as I could do to keep 
 my breath. They tanked me so often that I cannot remem- 
 ber if it sg ay ia same day; but one i that 1 was severely 
 tanked, Mr. ‘Trench came in, I heard his footsteps, and i 
 was layi ing down in the yard. Mr. Trench went right 
 round, and asked about thé people. I was unable, on that 
 day, to complain to }im about this treatment, sik bse ig 
 so much water; all the dir rty water which the: 
 people with, that I was too sick to speak. I sav 
 every morning, but not every evening. gas 
 week I was in, I made a complait rt to Dr. Sco 
 holding me in 1to the water. Mrs, BR; yan was a ose by, and 
 she interrupted me, and said, “oh! you are too afraid of 
 the water.” Dr. Scott then said, “oh! you must bathe , 
 Miss Pratt.” I replied, “yes, Doctor, I will bathe myself, 
 but not in this brutish manner they are holding me, and 
 tearing me, and drenching me to drink all this water.” I 
 have 1 ade complaints often to Dr. Scott about the treat- 
 ment I received in the tank; and, when ever I complained, 
 Mrs. Ryan always interrupted me, and toid Dr. Scott I a 
 mad. He always walks on, and when the Doctor is go 
 
 Qi 
 
 Ds 
 
 Mrs. Ryan often tells the Nurses to take me back to the 
 tank, and say to them, “ give it to her well, the Doctor or- 
 der it.” She would then turn to me, and say, “‘ you make 
 complaint to the Dector, but the Doctor now order me to 
 
 wr 
 
 > 
 
Srarement or ANN Prart. Pe 
 
 give it to-you well.” On the 12th April last, I was sitting 
 down on the bench, mending my clothes; Isaw Dr. Keech 
 was coming in. I "took the “chemise, which T was mending, 
 into my cell, and put it under my pillow, and afterwards ¢ _ 
 woman called Frances Bogle, a female laborer, went in and 
 took it out, and opened it up in the yard, and ‘said, she was 
 going to take it to Mrs. Ryan. I said she may take it to 
 Mrs. Ryan; itis my own pie I brought with me; it 
 is not Mrs, Ryan’s. ‘L asked the laborer if I was not allow- 
 ed to have my own chemise in my own bed. She carried it 
 away through the gate, and shortly after she came back and 
 said to Antoinette, “ Mrs. Ryan say you must take 1b away 
 from her, and lock it up.” Ant oinetie carried it away, and 
 I went to bathe, and could not get the chemise to put on. I 
 had to put on the same dirty one, and did not get. the clean 
 one, which Antoinette carried away, until the next Sunday. 
 After I bathed, on the same 12th of Ap oril, I went into the 
 privy and was crying; and, knowing that Mr. Hall was in 
 the next yard, I was stating ail the treatment I received, be- 
 cause I dare not do it before Mrs. Ryan. Shortly after this, 
 and whilst I was talking, Mrs. Ryan,and Nurse Antoinette, 
 came to the door. I saw them, close to the door of the privy ; 
 Henrietta Dawson, one of the Lunatic Patients, was in the 
 privy, with me. Mrs. Ryan ope ened the door and said, ad- 
 dressing me, “ you Ww 1¢ ked dev don’t ; You see,’ turning to 
 Antoinette, “she, knowing a a aan was in the other 
 side, she goes: there for indecency purpose, she wants man.” 
 TY! They took me out of the privy, and put me on the bench. 
 Mrs. Ryan went out; Frances Bogle, one of the female la- 
 borers, came up to me, and stufle d a piece of br "ea ad into my 
 mouth, and was annoying me, and said to me, “you are a 
 damned negro man’s wife; if I had you outside, I would 
 beat you.” I asked her to go away from me, and she would 
 not; she said, “these mad by ‘utes, when they can’t get any- ; 
 thing to eat in their Parish, they bring them come stuff re 
 in here, to eat buckra bread and beef. This damn’d mad 
 mulatto brute is just getting mad ee I was answering 
 Frances Bogle when Mrs. Ryan came out. Frances Bogle 
 ane to her, ‘‘ Missi sis, this woman getting mad.” Mrs. Ryan 
 said, “lock her up.” Frances Bogle then seized me, at the 
 back of the neck, and tore off one of my sleeves; she nearly 
 choked me; I was struggling with her; Mrs. Ry an called 
 Nancy Lloyd, and Antoinette, to assist in locking me ups 
 Antoinette got hold of one h and, and Nancy Lloyd of the 
 other, and dragged me round the corner of the Asylum Hos- 
 
 rita. When Antoinette had hold of one arm, and Nancy 
 
12 STATEMENT oF ANN PRATT. 
 
 Lloyd had hold of the other, Frances Bogle thumped me in 
 the face, and gave me a horrible black eye. Mrs. Ryan was 
 inside the yard, and saw when they were dragging me, and 
 she ordered them to drag me. She did not say anything 
 to Frances Bogle when she saw her beating me. They 
 dragged me out of Mrs. Ryan’s sight, round the piazza, 
 when Frances Bogle hammered me well, and I bawled as 
 loud as I could; but, although Mrs. Ryan was in the Asy- 
 lum yard, no one came to my assistance; they pitched 
 me in the cell, and locked me up. I got up on the win- 
 dow, and bawled, and madea great noise; and hailing for 
 Mr. Roberts, that he might hear me. Mr. Roberts is the 
 Superintendent of the Male Asylum. John Hall, the la- 
 bourer of the Female Asylum, came round to me and said, 
 “Hush, you must not make a noise.” I was talking out 
 loud that they were murdering me. At this time Mrs. Ryan; 
 who was standing in the yard, ordered Antoinette, Frances 
 Bogle, John Hall, and Nancy Lloyd, to take me to the tank, 
 and tank me well. Antoinette, Frances Bogle, and Nancy 
 Lloyd, took hold of me, and dragged me to the tank ; John 
 Hall refused to doit. When they got me to the tank, it 
 was midday; the people had all bathed; there was dirty 
 water in the tank; they took a tub, and scooped up all the 
 dirty water, and dashed it in my face; one person, Antoinette, 
 holding one arm, and another person, Nancy Lloyd, holding 
 the other, while Frances Bogle dashed the water. I was 
 calling out, Frances Bogle is murdering me in here, when 
 she said to me, “you damn’d mulatto bitch, who told you 
 my name is Frances Bogle.” Mrs. Ryan was standing close 
 to the tank all the time. Mrs. Ryan asked, who give her 
 two petticoats, you must take away one from her; and they 
 put on only one, and then Nancy Lloyd and Frances Bogle 
 dragged me tothe bench. When Mrs. Ryan saw my eye, 
 which was blackened by the blows given me by Frances 
 Bogle, and the exhausted way I was in, she brought a little 
 porter to me, and asked me to drink it. I refused to drink 
 it; she called Old Kate, one of the patients, and gave it to 
 her. Mrs. Ryan said to the Nurses, and to John Hall, 
 “have the tank ready early to-morrow morning, and give 
 her a good tanking; that impudent mulatto thing, I will 
 make her take her impudence back to Lucea, and not bring 
 it here.” When night came, Mrs. Ryan ordered me out of 
 the room that I was in, into a cell, with ten other Lunatic 
 Patients, on a platform, and said to me, “don’t you think 
 you are going to sleep in this bed.” During the night I got 
 upon the window, and bawled out for Dr. Scott, Dr. Keech, 
 
STATEMENT oF ANN Pratt. LO 
 
 Tinker, and any other body in Kingston. I am a stranger 
 in this Parish, I am not mad; does the Doctor not know 
 one that is mad from one that is not mad; they are keeping 
 me here tobe murdered! for God sake, if any body hear me; 
 go and tell my old pastor, Mr. Watson, from Lucea. The 
 Night Nurse, Mary Donaldson, came to me, and advised me 
 to be quiet. I told her I would not be quiet, and I was not 
 quet. By daylight next morning, Friday, the 13th April, 
 Dr. Keech came to the Asylum; he was earlier that morn- 
 ing in his visit than usual, he came up to me, and asked me 
 why I was making such a noise the previous night. I told 
 him that Frances Bogle had nearly murdered me, and they 
 were now getting the tank ready to drown me. I showed 
 him my eye; he turned away, he looked shocked ; he said 
 nothing to.me, but went away. After he had gone, Mrs. 
 Ryan came and ordered Antoinette, and Nancy Lloyd, and 
 Frances Bogle, and another patient called Mulgrave, to take 
 me to the tank, and give it to me well. I was then sitting 
 on the bench; they got. hold of me, and stripped me at the 
 corner of the piazza, in the yard, in the presence of John 
 Hall, a day laborer, and dragged me into the bath room. 
 Mrs. Ryan was then standing at the bath room door; she 
 said, ‘now take her in, and give it to her well.” They took 
 me in, Antoinette twisted her hand into my hair,’ Frances 
 Bogle got hold of one hand, Antoinette holding the other 
 with her other hand, behind my back. Nancy Lloyd got 
 hold of one leg, they put me down in the water, first on my: 
 back, then on my stomach. Mulgrave, another patient, was 
 in the bath with me, and was ordered to hold me down; and 
 she sat on my chest. Antoinette, Nancy Lloyd, and Frances 
 Bogle, the two last, and the patient Mulgrave, were inside 
 the bath; they all swung me about, and Antoinette beat my 
 head up and down against the wall. They then got on the 
 wall of the bath, and held up my legs, and put my head down 
 into the water, Mrs. Ryan calling out all the time, that is’ 
 the way to give it to her. 
 
 Aww Pratt, 
 
 Taken before me, on the 27th July, 1860. 
 D. P. Trencu, Inspector and Director. 
 
 The preceding having been read over to the complainant, 
 she has requested me to state that, on reflection, she finds 
 that she entered into the Asylum on the 21st of January; 
 and not the 14th, as previously stated in her complaint; the 
 day of the week is the same, and the acts shewn to have 
 been committed, on the Monday, the 16th January, must be 
 
14 fl nae wis Rat ee 
 14 Mra: Trexen tro Dri Scorr. 
 
 altered tothe 23d of January. She also states, that between 
 se sore ss of Ja seen y and cane of pi pole 2 she se pre 
 
 vs vill me prepare a Fon ber depose to. 
 
 Anw Pratt. 
 en before me, this 30¢ti July, 1860. 
 D. P. Trencu, Inspecto y and Director of the 
 iblic Hospital and uk natic Duabilivea 
 
 At the request of Ann Pratt, ¢ ne with the consent of the 
 Lnanagtor and Director of the Public Hospital and Lunatic 
 Asylum, we were presen Hse the foregoing statement of 
 the said Ann Pratt 
 
 Dated this 30th day of July, 1860. 
 Jxo. MacPurrson Ma 
 
 James. WATSON. 
 Lewis Q. BowErspank 
 
 cNzit, Solicitor; 
 
 No. 40.—Duplicate 
 Public Hospital, 25th July, 1860. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to request that you will be so good as to 
 report, for the information.of his Excellency .t the Governor, 
 your Medical opinion of the state of mind of Ann Pratt 
 (late a patient in the Female Lunatic Asylum), when. she 
 was first admitted into the Asylum, and the particulars of 
 any circumstances in connection w ith her case, which may 
 have been either observed by yourself personally, or commu- 
 nicated to you by the Matron, on your Medical visits to the 
 Asylum, from time to time. 
 
 [ am also desired to request that you will state whether 
 any complaints were made to you by Ann Pratt against 
 Mrs. Ryan’s treatment of her, or that of any of the Ni lirses, 
 and report the nature of such ‘complaint ( Gf any), and the ac- 
 tion taken by you in reference thereto. 
 
 I haye the honor to be, Sir, 
 Your most obedient Servant, 
 
 DPD. P. Trencu, Inspector and Di- 
 rector of the Public Hospital 
 and Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 James Scort, Esq. M. R.C,S. E. 
 Principal Medical Officer, &e. &e. 
 
 oN 
 
 a 
 
Dr. Scorr ro Mr. Trexen. LS 
 
 Public Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, 
 26th July, 1860. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to acknowledge your communication of 
 date 25th July instant, in which you request me to report, 
 for the information of his Excellency the Governor, certain 
 particulars in connection with a female named Ann Pratt, 
 late a patient in the Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 In reply I beg to state, that this person was admitted into 
 the Asylum on the 21st January of the present year, and 
 was discharged on the 4th July instant. The documents 
 having reference to her committal to the Institution, as a 
 Lunatic, by the Justices of Hanover, based upon the Medical 
 opinion of Doctor Brebner, are among the Records at the 
 ‘Hospital. 
 
 On the admission of Ann Pratt into the Asylum, al- 
 though apparently quiet, I detected, upon careful observation 
 of her symptoms, undoubted signs of mental derangement, . 
 and after a very short time, (with one week after she was 
 admitted), these were developed in such unquestionable form, 
 as to leave no doubt of her insanity; indeed, the paroxysms 
 were sometimes violent, and she was then with difficulty re- 
 strained. Such a degree of exhaustion followed one of these 
 as to threaten a fatal termination, but this was averted by 
 treatment. 
 
 The Matron reported to me, at different times, Ann Prati’s 
 conduct, and her highly insane condition, to which it was 
 attributable, was painfully apparent both to myself and 
 Doctor Keech, who, in my absence, was obliged, on a few oc- 
 casions, to visit and prescribe for her. 
 
 With regard to any complaints alleged by her as to ill- 
 treatment, on the part of Mrs. Ryan, or the Nurses, I have 
 @ distinct recollection of Ann Pratt having once complained 
 of the conduct of a Nurse. On making a morning visit, my 
 attention was drawn to a slightly ecchymosed state of her eye- 
 lids, and on enquiry of Mrs. Ryan. as to the cause, Ann 
 
 \ Pratt stated that she had been struck by a Nurse, who, being 
 present, denied the statement. 
 
 I at first directed the suspension of this Nurse from her 
 duties, but' considering the existing rules and practice of the 
 Institution, and the relative duties of the Inspector and Di- 
 rector, and of myself, I withdrew the order, and directed the 
 Matron to report the occurrence, in regular form, to the 
 Acting Inspector and Director. I learnt subsequently that 
 the case was reported, and on enquiry as to the result, I 
 was. informed that the Nurse had been reprimanded, and 
 
 ee ET IF OE IO IO EI eR. aes = — 
 = ————_— se a —S = a = Sy a - — ——< 
 
16 Mr. Trencu to Dr. Scort. 
 
 told that, for the future, she was to observe more gentleness 
 towards the Lunaties. 
 
 I may here state that this occurred on the 13th day of 
 April, at which time you were away, on leave of absence, 
 from the Institution. ; 
 
 In conclusion, I have most distinctly to state, that no 
 complaint was ever made to me by Ann Pratt that Mrs. 
 Ryan had at any time ill-treated her, nor had I any reason 
 for believing so, Any statement, therefore, emanating from 
 her to the effect that she had complained to the Medical men 
 of such ill-treatment, and that her complaint had been dis- 
 regarded by them, is wholly without foundation. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sir, 
 Your very obedient Servant, 
 James Scort, Principal Medical 
 Officer of Hospital and Asylum. 
 D. P. Trexcu, Esquire, Inspector and 
 Director of the Public Hospital and 
 Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 No, 44.—Duplicate. 
 Publie Hospital, 3d August, 1860. 
 Sir, 
 
 In the Letter of Dr. L. Q. Bowerbank to his Excellency 
 the Governor’s Secretary, under date the 14th July (a copy 
 of which I submitted to you for explanation, as to the treat- 
 ment of Ann Pratt, late a patient in the Lunatic Asylum); 
 the following passage occurs: “She is now discharged in 
 consequence of the removal from office of her oppres- 
 sor, and she is now prepared to prove the injury inflicted on 
 her, and to seek justice, if it can be obtained.” I think it 
 likely that his Excellency the Governor would wish to be in- 
 formed on what grounds Dr. Bowerbank arrived at the con- 
 clusion that Ann Pratt had been discharged in consequence 
 of the removal from office of her oppressor. 
 
 I have therefore to request that you will be so good as to 
 report, for the information of his Excellency, the cireum4 
 stances under which you discharged her from the Asylum. — 
 
 ~ T have, in conclusion, to request that you will cause the’ 
 eommitment of Ann Pratt, and any papers,: which accom- 
 panied. it, to be placed in my possession for his Excellency’s 
 information. 
 I have the honor to be, Sir, 
 Your most obedt. Servant, 
 D. P. Trencx, Inspector and Director, 
 James Scott, Esquire, M. R. C.S. E, de. &e, 
 
Dr. Scorr ro Mr. Trencu. 17 
 
 Public Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, 
 4th August, 1860. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have the honor to reply to your communication, of date 
 the 3d instant, in which you quote the following paragraph 
 of Doctor Bowerbank’s letter to his Excellency the Gover- 
 nior’s Secretary, of date 14th July last, in reference to Ann 
 Pratt, late a patient in the Lunatic Asylum, viz :-—‘ She is 
 now discharged, in consequence of the removal from office of 
 her oppressor, and she is now prepared to prove the injury m- 
 flicted on her, and to seek justice, if it can be obtained.” 
 
 You request me to state, for his Excellency’s information, 
 under what circumstances Ann Pratt was discharged from 
 the Asylum. 
 
 In order thereto, I beg to enclose. an original communica- 
 tion from Messrs. James Wilson and H. G. Henry, Church- 
 wardens of the Parish of Hanover, to Doctor Keech, by 
 which you will perceive that a request was made by them to 
 entrust Ann Pratt to the care of Captain Symonette, to be 
 conveyed to her home, sb .d she be considered sufficiently 
 recovered from her late ume 3, to be allowed to leave the 
 Asylum. 
 
 Doctor Keech has no recollection of, nor can he discover 
 the date of the receipt of this Letter, although it was deliver. 
 ed to me as soon as it came into his possession. I am under 
 an impression that it reached the Hospital much later than 
 the 10th of May. I would here draw. your attention to the 
 fact of the date, “ Lucey, May 10th, 60,” not being in the 
 hand-writing of the Churchwardens; and, on examination 
 of the Manuscript, you will observe that the upper portion of 
 the half sheet of paper, on which the Letter was written, and 
 en which doubtless the true date appeared, has been torn off. 
 The date which has been substituted has evidently been afs 
 fixed by an illiterate person. 
 
 As I considered that Ann Pratt had sufficiently recovered, 
 fo justify her being sent home under the charge of Captain 
 Symonette, I communicated to her the contents of this Letter, 
 and I informed h/r that it had been arranged that the Cap- 
 tain would send ‘or her whenever he was ready to leave 
 Kingston. Some delay, on his part, in sending for her, oc- 
 curred. Fearing from the peculiar constitution of her mind 
 that under disappointment there might be a return of her 
 maniacal symptoms, I advised her to be quiet, and to have 
 patience until the Captain was prepared to sail. I spoke to 
 her almost daily on this subject, assuring her that she would 
 
 shortly be sent for, and I-was the more induced to do so, as 
 
 she commenced to exhibit a great degree of restlesnesss and 
 anxiety. B 
 
18 Dr. Scott ro Mr. “Frencu. 
 
 On the morning of the 4th July last, a young man came 
 to the Hospital, and told me that Captain Symonette had 
 sent him to request that Ann Pratt might be discharged from 
 the Asylum, as he was about to sail for Lucea. I asked 
 him at what time the vessel would leave, he replied, on the 
 following morning. I observed to him that I would send 
 her down early in the morning ; he answered. that the vessel 
 would sail “before day,” and that Captain Symonette wished 
 her to be taken to the wharf at four o’clock in the afternoon. 
 J then told him that I would send her at that hour. <Ac- 
 cordingly, at four o’clock, she was removed from the Asylum, 
 and I directed that she should be sent in charge of one of 
 the Nurses to the wharf, off which it was said the vessel was 
 lying, and where I expected the Captain would receive her. 
 
 I learnt subsequently, that instead of her beng taken to 
 the wharf, she, of her own accord, went to Captain Symonette’s 
 house, where, having been received by his wife, she was left 
 by the Nurse. From .all I can learn, the vessel was. then 
 lying in the harbour, but, at what time she actually sailed, 
 1 have been unable to ascertain. 
 
 Having stated thus much for his Excellency’s information, 
 J can only remark, that the statement made by Doctor Bow- 
 erbank, im hisccommunication to his Excellency, that “ she 
 (Ann Pratt) is now discharged, in consequence of the re- 
 moval of her oppressor,” is simply untrue. 
 
 T am at a loss to conceive on what ground Doctor Bower- 
 bank could have arrived at the conclusion that Ann Pratt 
 had been discharged in consequence of the removal from 
 office of the late Matron, for neither had she, nor is the 
 
 present Matron likely to have the slightest power of detain- 
 
 J 5 
 
 ing or discharging, at will, any inmate of the Lunatic Asy- 
 lum: The Medical Men alone are the Officers required, un- 
 der the law, to determine when a Lunatic may be discharged ; 
 and, under the circumstances, which I have deemed it ne- 
 cessary to detail, it will be apparent to his Excellency that 
 Ann Pratt was properly discharged from the Asylum, and 
 that she was not released therefrom for the reasons assigned. 
 by Dr. Bowerbank. 
 
 I beg to enclose, herewith, the commitment of Ann. Pratt 
 to the Lunatic Asylum, and the Medical Certificate of Doctor 
 Brebner, declaring her to be an insane person. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sir, 
 Your very obedient Servant, 
 Jamus Scorr, Principal Medical Officer. 
 D. P. Trencu, Esquire, Inspector 
 and Director of the Public Hos- 
 pital and Lunatic Asylum. 
 
cogeunppieiebarnaren bee's 
 
 Warrant to Commir Ann Prart, 19 
 
 Jamaica, ue 
 Hanover. 
 
 To James Witson, and Hueu Grorce Henry, of the Parish 
 of Hanover, Esquires, Churchwardens of the said Pa- 
 rish, 
 
 Whereas on the 9th day of December, 1859, it was made 
 known unto the Undersigned, two of her Maj jesty’ s Justices 
 of the Peace of and for the said Parish of Hanover, that 
 Ann Pratt, of the Parish of Hanover, Spinster, being at 
 large in the said Parish, was deemed to be insane, and the 
 said Justices, by an or der under their hands and sae re- 
 quired the Constables, or Policemen of the said Parish, to 
 bring the said Ann Pratt. before them, or any two Jus ye 
 
 .of the Peace for the said Parish, at the Court-House at Lu- 
 cea, in the said Parish, on the 9th day of December, 1859. 
 
 And Whereas, on the said 9th day of December, 1859, 
 the Undersig ned, two of her Majesty’s Justices of the Peace 
 for the said Parish, having called to their assistance William 
 Brebner, a qualified Practitioner of Physic and Surgery, 
 did. proceed to the examination of the said Ann Pratt, and 
 thereupon found her to be insane, and were satisfied that 
 
 she is so far disordered in her senses that it is dangerous for 
 her to be permitted to go at large. 
 
 And pean on seni y into the circumstances of the 
 
 said Ann Pratt, it appears that she, the said Ann Pratt, is 
 destitute of the means of eel ‘and has no relatives or 
 friends to take charge of her. We do therefore order and 
 direct you, the said Churchwardens of the Parish of Hanover, 
 to cause the said Ann Pratt to be conveyed to, and placed 
 in the Lunatic Asylum of the City and Parish of Kingston, 
 established under the provisions of an act of this island, en- 
 titled “ An act to regulate the Public Hospital and Lunatic 
 
 Asylum in the City of Kingston, and for other purposes. 
 
 And, for so doing, this shall be your authority. 
 
 Given under our hands and seals, this 16th day of De- 
 cember, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight 
 hundred and fifi ty-nine. 
 
 (Signed) J. W. Davis, 3. Pp. 
 Wa. Browns, 5. pe. 
 True copy, 
 D. P. Trenen. 
 
 In compliance with the above warrant, to us directed, we, 
 the undersigned Churchwardens of the eer of Hangyen! 
 
 ‘do hereby order and direct you to take the body of Ann 
 
 Pratt, the insane person, and her safely convey to the Luna- 
 
 pt D 
 Ba 
 
 23 ATR 
 
 Se SITE Wessel 
 
20 Warrant vo Renease Ann Prarr, &c. 
 
 tic Asylum, in the City of Kingston, and deliver her to the 
 Keeper thereof, toget ther with this order, 
 Given under. our hands, this 16th day of December, 1859. 
 (Signed) James WIitson, Churchwarden. 
 H. G. Henry, ‘Chur chwarden. 
 True copy, 
 
 D. P. Trencu. 
 
 Dr. J. B. Keecu, 
 Dear § SIR 
 Should you consider Ann Pratt sufficiently recovered from 
 her late ifiness to be allowed to go at large, you will please 
 en big ree oe the care of Capi Simmonet, with whom we 
 ssage for her to this. 
 are, Dear Sir, 
 Your obedt. "Servt. 
 (Signed) James WILSON, ©. W. 
 H. G. Henry, c. w. 
 Lucey, May 10th, 60. 
 
 The Asylum, Kin 
 True copy, 
 D. P. Trencu. 
 No. 43. 
 Public Hospital, 3d August, 1860. 
 Sir, 
 
 In obedience to his Excellency the Governor’s instructions, 
 conveyed to me by J your Despatch, No. 869 of the 21st July, 
 and accompanied | by a copy extract of a Letter from Dr. L. 
 Q. Bowerbank to yourself, I adc opted hi only means at my 
 command, by reference to the H ospital and Asylum Register, 
 to find out the een who Dr. Bowerbank alludes to, as 
 having been the object of gross and frightful abuses, while an 
 inmate of the Female Lr inatic Asylum, from the month of 
 January to the 4th of July last, on which latter day, accord- 
 ing ee Dr. Bowerbank, she was discharged. 
 
 2. Finding that Ann Pratt was the only Female Patient 
 
 admitted to the Asylum, during the month of January, and 
 hd she was the only person discharged on the 4th of July, 
 
 I invited her to attend at my office by written notice, duplicate 
 of which forms (No. 1. of the present. Enclosures.) 
 
Mr. Trency ro Mr. Avsrry, di 
 
 3. In reply thereto I received the Letter attached, signed 
 Ann Pratt, (Enclosure, No. 2.) 
 
 4. Desirous of affording this p person every on Ou ity of 
 preferring her complaint against the Officers and Nurses of 
 the Institution, I sanctioned her bein 1g accompanied by her 
 Solicitor and friends, without whom she had declined to ap- 
 pear before me, and waiving, on public grounds, the personal 
 objection I entertained to meet (on Hospital matiers) at least 
 one of her friends, I proceeded to take down, verbatim, 
 her complaint (as delivered) on Friday, the 27th, and Monday, 
 the 30th July, in presence of John MacPherson MacNeil, 
 her Solicitor, Revd. James Watson, and Dr. L. Q. Bower. 
 bank, her friends, by whom it is witnessed, and authenticated 
 by their Signatures. 
 
 5. This Statement forms Enclosure, No. 5. 
 
 6. In submitting these Enclosures for his Excellency’s 
 consideration, [ have the honor to report, 
 
 7. First. That the Statement alleges the committal of 4 
 series of most unwarrantable assaults on the complainant by 
 persons then, (but no longer) in the service of the Institution, 
 who were, by virtue of their office, entrusted with the care 
 and protection of Ann Pratt, as one of the inmates of the 
 Asylum, 
 
 8. Secondly, That the then Natron, Mrs. Ryan, and two 
 out of the three Nurses therein implicated, are no longer 
 under the official jurisdiction of the Hospital Authorities, in 
 their administrative capacity. 
 
 9. Thirdly, That the cruelties alleg 
 mitted on the person of Ann Pratt, ks 
 of the Asylum, form in no degree the le itimate or sanction- 
 ed treatment of Lunatic Patients, and renders the aggressors 
 amenable to the statutory laws of the oy, 
 
 10. Under these circumstances, and for these reasons, I 
 felt it my duty to decline taking down the parol evidence, 
 which was tendered by the S olicitor and friends of Ann 
 Pratt, in substantiation of her charges, until I have, in the 
 first instance, submitted to his Ex tens cy the Governor the 
 complaint, as delivered before me; and my own suggestion, 
 that in justice to the Institution, to the persons implicated, 
 and to the complainant herself, the ease should be handed over 
 to her Majesty’s Attorney General, and the truthfulness a 
 the charges tested by a Jury, on an indictment against th 
 alleged aggressors 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sir, 
 Your most obedt. Servant, 
 D. P. Trencu, Inspector and Director of the 
 Public Hospital and Lunatic Asylum, 
 H. W. Austin, Esquire, Goy, Sec. 
 
 BO 
 
 ved to have been com- 
 
 AT at 
 1e Matron and Nurses 
 g 
 
 a earners SAE ANS SENS eS RR A EE SS RR IN OT Bea 
 
22 Mr. Arrorney-Generat to Mr. Austin 
 Tue Acting Arrorney-Generat to Mr. Austin. 
 
 Spanish Town, August 8th, 1860. 
 Sir, 
 
 T have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Letters 
 
 of the 26th and 30th July (Nos. 908 and 921), with Enclo- 
 sures (which I now return); as also a Letter from Mr .D. P. 
 Trench, the Inspector and Director of the Public Hospital 
 and Lunatic Asylum, with certain Documents therein refer- 
 red to, (which Letter and Documents I likewise now enclose), 
 and, in reply to the request of his Excellency, as to whether 
 any thing in the pamphlet alluded to in the first of the above 
 Letters contains a libel on the Officers of the Public Hospi- 
 tal, and, if so, whether the best and surest mode of arriving 
 at the truth would not be by bringing an action for libel 
 against the publishers, I have the honor to state, that tho’ I 
 consider the pamphlet in question contains libellous matter 
 in several parts, and though, in case of an action against the 
 publishers, it would be competent for them to set up, as a de- 
 fence, the truth of the matters alleged to be libellous, I am 
 of opinion, especially since the perusal of the above mention- 
 ed Letter of Mr. Trench, and the Documents referred to in 
 it, that an action for libel, in respect of the pamphlet, or in 
 respect of the articles contained in the “ Daily Advertiser” 
 _of the 27th and 28th of July, and referred to in your Letter 
 of the 30th July, would not be the surest and most satisfac- 
 tory mode of testing the allegations contained in the publica- 
 tions above-mentioned, and of arriving at a knowledge of the 
 truth; and I think such a course the more inexpedient, be- 
 cause, in consequence of the official transmission to me, by 
 the Clerk of the Peace for the City and Parish of Kingston, 
 of a certain information on the oath of one Andrew Carey, 
 supported by the depositions of Ann Pratt, (the writer of 
 the above pamphlet), and others, relating to the death of one 
 Matilda Carey, lately a patient in the Lunatic Asylum, and 
 the wife of the above-mentioned Andrew Carey, I have con- 
 sidered it my duty to authorize the Clerk of the Peace in 
 question to institute criminal proceedings against Mrs. Ryan, 
 the late Matron, and against certain persons, lately Nurses in 
 the Lunatic Asylum, upon the trial of which persons, | ap- 
 prehend, a very full opportunity will be afforded for testing 
 the mode in which that Institution has been conducted. 
 With reference to the charges made by Miss Ann Pratt, and 
 contained in the statement transmitted by Mr. Trench, I beg 
 to say, that immediately on those charges bemg preferred by 
 her, by way of information, on oath, before a Magistrate (as 
 in the case of Mrs. Carey), I shall feel it incumbent on me, 
 
aS 
 
 98 
 
 Mr. Trencu to Mr. Austin 9$ 
 
 when officially informed of that fact, to direct such criminal 
 proceedings to be taken in respect of her case also, as I may, 
 
 under the circumstances, consider myself enabled by law to. 
 
 adept. 
 I have, &e. 
 (Signed) Epwarp Kempre, Acting a. a. 
 No. 47. 
 Public Hospital, 8th August, 1860. 
 Sir, 
 
 My attention has been directed to a pamphlet, which has 
 lately been published and e¢irculated extensively th rough this 
 island, and a great number have, 1 understand, been for- 
 warded by the last packet for circulation in England. 
 
 2. It purports to be the Narrative of a Female, named Ann 
 Pratt, late a Patient in the Lunatic Asylum, and is entitled 
 . Snyun Montus iv tHe Kineston Lunatic AsyLuM, AND 
 WHAT I saw THERE.” 
 
 3. The cruelties, assaults, and abuses therein alleged, so 
 far as they affect this person individually, have been some- 
 what ambiguously alluded to by Dr. L. Q. Bowerbank, in a 
 Letter addressed to yourself, under date the 14th July last, 
 which Letter, having been transmitted to me, with his Excel- 
 lency’s instructiens that I should enquire into and report 
 thereon, has been already dealt with, and the action taken 
 by me, in obedience to these instructions, has been submitted 
 to his Excellency, in my Letter to you, numbered 43, and 
 dated 3d Au sust. 
 
 4. But the entire pamphlet now under consideration (of 
 which this poor ignorant woman is made to assume the au- 
 thorship), is so evidently a disingenuous contrivance to con- 
 yey to the public mind, a prima “Fact ve corroboration of the 
 numerous random charges which have been published from 
 time to time by Dr. Bowerbank against the Officers and 
 Nurses of the iAgy him, that I have felt it my duty, and 
 gladly availed myself of the opportunity afforded, to take the 
 examinations of such persons (being in the service of the In- 
 
 stitution), as are favorably alluded to in the pamphlet, and 
 
 are mentioned as being eye witnesses of some of the eruelties 
 
 alleged against the Matron, and some of the Nurses. 
 
 I have also examined (after their discharge from the: 
 
 Agata) two late patients, who are therein alluded to. 
 
 6. The first of these examinations i is that.of John Hall ~ 
 
 laborer at the Female Asylum, The alleged. ill-treatment 
 
 towands a patient named Prudence ( (page 14) is represented. 
 
 Bo 
 
od Ma. Trencu to Mr. Ausriy. 
 
 to have been committed in the presence of this man, whe, 
 (says the Narrative), remonstrated with the Nurses for their 
 hard heartedness and brutality; and, at page 15, he is re- 
 presented as having been ordered, on one occasion, to tank 
 the authoress, which he refused to do. 
 
 % Tn Ann Pratt's parol statement before me, which has 
 been submitted to the Governor, she accuses the Matron and 
 Nurses of stripping her in the open yard before this laborer ; 
 but she appears to have forgotten this part of the treatment 
 to herself, while exposing that of the patient Prudence, in 
 her Narrative. Hall’s statement however contradicts both of 
 these allegations. 
 
 8. The examination of Emma Steele (Enclosure, No. 2), 
 was taken on the morning that she was discharged from the 
 Asylum, in consequence of the allusion to her in the pam- 
 phlet, at page 15. The circumstances -elicited from her, in 
 reply to questions 3 and 5, is the case that was reported to 
 me by the Purveyor, submitted by me in due course to his 
 Excellency, in my Letter of the 29th of June, No. 18, and 
 led to the dismissal of the Nurse, Naney Lloyd, who was 
 charged with improper severity towards the Patient, and-also 
 to the dismissal of Mrs. Ryan, the then Matron. 
 
 9. The examination of Catharine Fare, a late Patient, 
 forms Enclosure, No. 8. She is mentioned in the pamphlet, 
 at page 16, as a witness in connection with the ill-treatment 
 (therein alleged) of the late Matilda Carey, a Patient from 
 Glengoffe, in St. Thomas in the Vale. 
 
 10. Enclosure, No. 4, is the examination of Mary Do- 
 naldson, a Night Nurse, but for whose kindness (says the 
 Narrative, at page 8,) Ann Pratt must have died long ago ; 
 she supplied her with a Prayer Book (page 17), and at page 
 19, she is represented as having been desired by Dr. Keech 
 to tell Ann Pratt not to say anything about the treatment of 
 the people before Mrs. Brannagan. She appears indeed (ac- 
 cording to the Narrative), to have been the one great friend of 
 the Authoress, during her sad affliction; but it does not ap- 
 pear, from this Nurse’s testimony, that Ann Pratt had at 
 any time confided to her the indignities and assaults which 
 she suffered so frequently at the hands of Mrs. Ryan and the 
 Nurses, in the stripping and tanking operations. (See replies 
 to Questions 38 and 39), while she firmly denies (in her re- 
 plies to Questions 27 and 28), having received any such m- 
 struction from Dr. Keech, as that charged at page 19. 
 
 11. The examination of Mr. Caleb L. Hall, the Purveyor, 
 forms Enclosure No. 5; and eee 
 
 ‘12. The Duplicate of a Letter, addressed by me, on the 
 30th of July, to the Vicar Apostolic, with that Revd, Gien- 
 
Mer. Trencu to Me. Austin. 25 
 
 tleman’s reply, dated 31st. July, and another Letter, address- 
 ed by me to the same Revd. Gentleman, under date the 6th 
 August, and the Revd. Gentleman’s reply thereto, dated 8th 
 instant, forms Enclosures Nos. 6 and 7. 
 
 13. The lasttwo Enclosures have reference tothelate Louise 
 Cockerell, late a Patient in the Lunatic Asylum, whose al- 
 leged ill-treatment by the late Matron, and some of the 
 Nurses, is prominently depicted at page 15. 
 
 14. Enclosure, No. 8,isatrue copy Extract ofa Letter written 
 by one of the Magistrates of Hanover (Mr. Brown), who signed 
 the commitment of Ann Pratt (as a Lunatic), and addressed 
 to a Gentleman in Kingston, who, in furtherance of the 
 cause of truth, has, in accordance with the permission of the 
 writer, placed it in my possession. 
 
 15. These several Documents are submitted to his Excel- 
 lency the Governor, not with a view, in the slightest degree 
 to prejudice any judicial enquiry that may be instituted, as 
 the result of the charges preferred by Ann Pratt, in her 
 statement, delivered before me on the 27th and 30th ultimo, 
 but in order that his Excellency’s Government may be oifi- 
 cially advised to what extent the allegations contained in. the 
 pamphlet represent the truth, so far as they afiect the gene- 
 ral treatment of Lunatic Patients by the late Matron, and 
 the Nurses therein named. 
 
 16. I do not attempt to conceal from his Excellency my 
 own belief that greater. roughness and severity is at times 
 exercised by the Servants and Nurses of the Asylum than 
 is desirable or proper in the management of violent Lunatics, 
 but I feel entirely convinced, in my mind, that (with every 
 allowance for this evil), the Narrative, which has been put 
 forth to the world, is from first to last a disgusting over- 
 drawn picture of falsehoods and exaggerations, 
 
 17. Itis extremely difficult toemploy Nurses and Servants 
 of mild temperament and good character, in whomare com- 
 bined, with these desirable qualities, the necessary strength 
 of mind and body to control and manage Lunatics during 
 their violent paroxysms.; and, unless provision is made, at a 
 considerable additional expense to the public for the importe 
 ation of thoroughly trained: Nurses, I fear the evils, which 
 result from the necessity of employing inexperienced. and 
 untrained Nurses at the present cheap rates, must, to some 
 extent, continue. 
 
 18. No amount of surveillance, by the Officers of the In- 
 
 stitution, as at present constructed, can. ensure an entire 
 
 check to the occasional display of that irritability of temper, 
 wih is peculiar to. the class of Ret sons to whom our selec- 
 
oe a hI Nr J PN TE 
 
 26 
 
 fined. 
 
 ExamInation oF Jonn Hatt: 
 
 tion of Servants and Nurses is at present necessarily con- 
 
 In conclusion, I beg leave to transmit to his Excellency, 
 a copy of the pamphlet in question, which will be found full 
 ef contradictions and inconsistencies. 
 I have the honor to be, Sir, 
 Your most obedt. Servant, 
 D. P. Trencu, Inspector and Director of the 
 Public Hospital and Lunatic Asylum of 
 
 Jamaica. 
 
 H. W. Austin, Esquire, Gov. Sec. 
 
 &e. 
 
 &e. 
 
 QUESTIONS. 
 
 1st. What is your name, 
 and what position do you 
 hold in the Female Lunatic 
 Asylum ? 
 
 2d. Doyou knowa Patient, 
 in the Asylum, named Pru- 
 dence ? 
 
 3d. Is she now in the Asy- 
 lum? 
 
 Ath. Do you remember her 
 being delivered of a child, and 
 can you tell me the date of 
 her confinement ? 
 
 5th. Do you know whether 
 er not she was tanked, or 
 bathed shortly before her con- 
 finement ? 
 
 6th. Did you ever see the 
 patient, Prudence, stripped 
 naked, and all her clothes 
 taken from her. If so, state 
 by whom she was so stripped, 
 by whose order, for what pur- 
 
 No. 1. 
 JOHN HALL Examrinep spy InrErRoGATorIEs. 
 
 ANSWERS. 
 Ist. My name is John 
 Hall. Iam a day laborer in 
 the Female Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 2d.;Y es, Sir: 
 
 3d. Yes, Sir. 
 
 4th. 1 remember that she 
 was delivered of a child, but 
 I cannot tell the date of her 
 confinement. 
 
 5th. No, Sir, I don’t know 
 any thing about that. 
 
 6th. Not to my seeing; 
 all I know is, that I was de- 
 sired, one morning, to carry 
 her into .the bathing room, 
 and deliver her up to the Fe- 
 male Nurses. I was order- 
 
EO | 
 
 ExaMINnation of Joun Earn, 
 
 pose, and any thing else you 
 know about it? 
 
 7th Do you remember see- 
 ing the Nurses ill-treating 
 Prudence in any way, at any 
 time; and, if so, state the 
 names of the Nurses, the 
 time you saw them ill-treat 
 her, and say what you did 
 when you saw it ? 
 
 8th. Did Mrs. Ryan ever 
 eall on you to assist to tank 
 or bathe Ann Pratt? 
 
 9th. Do you know why 
 Mrs Ryan asked you to do 
 this ¢ 
 
 10th. Could not one of the 
 Female Nurses have taken 
 her to the bath room 2 
 
 11th. Were you ever order- 
 ed or required, by Mrs. Ryan, 
 to assist the Female Nurses 
 in the act of bathing Ann 
 Pratt; and, if so, did you 
 comply with the order, or did 
 you refuse to do so? 
 
 12th. Did you not resign 
 your situation as. Day Labor- 
 er while I was absent from 
 the island, and will you state 
 the reason why you resigned ? 
 
 py 
 ed to do this by Mrs. Ryan. 
 It was between eight and nine 
 o’clock in the morning; this 
 was about a week before she 
 was confined. She was very 
 violent then. I don’t remem- 
 ber anything about her being 
 stripped after her confinement. 
 
 7th. Not to myseeing, Sir; 
 I never saw any one ill-treat 
 her. 
 
 8th. Yes, Sir, she did ask 
 
 me to help to give her up to 
 
 the Nursein the bathing room. 
 ° 
 
 9th. She was always very 
 rough when she was required 
 to bathe, more especially 
 when she was excited. 
 
 10th. Oh! no, Sir; it take 
 sometimes four of them to 
 bathe her. 
 
 11th. No, Sir; she never 
 attempted to order me such a 
 thing as that; she has order- 
 ed me to assist to put her in 
 the bathing room, and I have 
 done so, but she had always 
 her clothes on at that time. 
 
 12th. After you went off 
 the island I was absent from 
 my work, sick for two weeks. 
 I came back the following 
 week after that, and I was at 
 my work until one Sunday. 
 About eleven o’clock, I went 
 to my breakfast, and, when J 
 came back, Mrs. Ryan told 
 me she was looking for me 
 
28 EXAMINATION oF Jonn Haut. 
 
 13th. Are you quite sure 
 that Mrs. Ryan never asked 
 you to do anything to the Lu- 
 natics that you considered 
 improper, and refused to do? 
 
 14th. How long have you 
 been a servant in the Institu- 
 tion ? 
 
 15th. Can you remember, 
 during that time, having seen 
 Mrs. Ryan, or any of the 
 Nurses, tank or bathe patients 
 out of the usual hour for 
 bathing, or have you seen 
 them ill treat any patient ? 
 
 16th. Did you ever hear 
 any patient complain of being 
 ill treated? If so, state the 
 nature of suchcomplaint, and, 
 if possible, by whom such 
 complaint has been made 2 
 
 17th. Are you quite sure 
 you never heard any of them 
 complain of Mrs. Ryan,. or 
 the. Nurses ? 
 
 Witness.—Grorcs Nix, 
 
 to go over for some medicine. 
 She commenced to quarrel 
 with me, and words passed 
 between us; she told me I 
 was drunk, and if I did not 
 want to stop in my situation, 
 T could go away ; and, before 
 having any quarrelling, I left. 
 
 13th. No, Sir; she never 
 asked me to do any thing 
 that is rough on them, and 
 T refuse. 
 
 14th. To the best of my 
 knowledge, going and coming, 
 about seven years. 
 
 15th. No, Sir, not to my 
 seeing ; things might be done, 
 not in my presence. 
 
 16th. Oh! Yes, Sir, I 
 have heard them complain 
 sometimes their belly don’t 
 full. Kate Pinnock almost 
 always complain. I don’t re- 
 member the names of any 
 more, but when it comes on 
 dinner time they mostly com- 
 plain that they can eat more 
 than they get, and they want 
 yams, instead of bread. 
 
 17th. No, Sir, not to my 
 hearing. 
 
 his 
 Joun \ Hatt, 
 mark, 
 
 Taken before me, this 27th July, 1860. 
 D. P. Trencu, Inspector and Director. 
 
 In my presence, 
 
 Anprew Donn, M, pv. 
 
EXAMINATION oF Emma Srrerz. 29 
 No. 2. 
 EMMA STEELE, Lars a Parmnt iw roe Femarz Luna- 
 
 tic Asytum, Examrvep sy Inrerrocarorizs. 
 
 QUESTIONS. 
 Ist. What is your name, 
 and what Parish do you be- 
 long to ? 
 
 2d. How long have you 
 been a Patient in the Lunatic 
 Asylum ? 
 
 3d. Have anyof the Nurses 
 ill-treated you. If yea, tell 
 me who has done so, how they 
 have done so, and when? 
 
 4th. How long was this 
 after you had been in the 
 Asylum ? 
 
 5th. Did she do anything 
 else to you? 
 
 ANSWERS. 
 Ist. Emma Steele; I be- 
 long to the town of Falmouth, 
 
 2d. From since I leave 
 Falmouth. It must be going 
 on four months now, and I 
 was three weeks at sea coming 
 up. 
 
 dd. One day I was sitting 
 down, and I said I want to 
 see my child, and I don’t 
 know what they are keeping 
 me here for. Then Mrs. 
 Ryan said to Nancy Lloyd, 
 take her in and tank her 
 (meaning me). Nancy Lloyd 
 immediately took me by the 
 hand, and led me to the bath, 
 and shoved me in the bath ; 
 and, as she found she could 
 not manage me, she called 
 out for help, and about three 
 or four others came up and 
 ducked me. 
 
 4th. About three or four 
 weeks after I came in to the 
 Asylum. 
 
 5th. Yes; the same day I 
 was sitting on the piazza cry- 
 ing, after she had tanked me. 
 I had my wet clothes on, the 
 same Nurse came upand said, 
 Thad no right to ery, and 
 laid hold of me, and was 
 carrying me past the gate to. 
 go back to the tank, and she 
 pushed me down; when I 
 was down on the ground I saw 
 
6th. Has Mrs. Ryan ever 
 ill-treated you ? 
 
 7th. Explain in what way 
 she ill-treated you ? 
 
 Sth. Did she ever trouble 
 you again ? 
 
 9th. Did Dr. Scott come 
 to see you ? 
 
 10th. Did you ever com- 
 plain to Dr. Scott about Mrs. 
 Ryan, or the Nurse’s ill-treat- 
 ing you, and, if not, why did 
 you not? 
 
 _ 11th. How were you fed ; 
 did what you receive in the 
 way of food satisfy you ? 
 
 12th. Have you any other 
 complaints to make at all 
 about your treatment in the 
 Asylum ? 
 
 Witness—Guornce Nrx. 
 
 30 E.XX AMINATION OF Emurk Stent. 
 
 Mr. Hall; the Nurse took me 
 back to the bath. room, but 
 did not put me back into the 
 bath; she looked frightened 
 when she saw Mr. Hall. 
 
 6th. Yes. 
 
 ith. When I came out of 
 the bath on the same day, and 
 dressed myself, I was sitting 
 on the bench. Mrs. Ryan 
 came up and said, “ Go away 
 out of this to the washerwo- 
 man, and wash clothes, you 
 are too lazy.” As I got off 
 the bench, she pushed me 
 with her umbrella; 1 went 
 to the wash tub, but I was not 
 able to wash clothes, I was 
 so weak. 
 
 8th. No, never; only she 
 sometimes look at me very 
 cross. 
 
 9th. Yes, every morning. 
 
 Py 
 
 10th. No, I never com- 
 plain to him, because I did 
 not wish to disturb him. 
 
 11th. Yes; what they gave 
 me | was always very well 
 satisfy with. 
 
 12th. None at all; and I 
 did not require any physic. 
 
 her 
 Emma 4 Srexxz, 
 mark, 
 
Examination of Carmsnine Fare. 31 
 
 Taken before me, this 2 
 
 6th July, 1860. 
 
 D. P. Trencu, Inspector and Director. 
 
 And, in my presence, 
 
 Anprew Dunn, M. pb. 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 CATHARINE FARE, tare a Patient in tue FemMAe 
 
 Lunatic AsyLuM, INTERROGATED THUS :-— 
 
 QUESTIONS. 
 Ist. What is your name, 
 ‘are you married, and what 
 Parish do you come from ? 
 
 2d. Whendid youleave the 
 Lunatic Asylum ? 
 
 3d. How long were you in 
 the Asylum ? 
 
 Ath. What was done to you 
 when you first came into the 
 Asylum, and how were you 
 conveyed from the office to 
 the Asylum, when the Doctor 
 admitted you ? 
 
 ANSWERS. 
 Ist. My name is Catharine 
 Fare, I am married, and I 
 come from Port-Antonio. 
 
 2d. I leave it one: Tues- 
 day, but I don’t remember 
 the date. 
 
 3d. I was in there four 
 weeks, 
 
 4th. When I first came 
 to the Hospital, a Nurse, 
 named Nancy Lloyd, came 
 and carried me to the Asy- 
 lum; she took me by the 
 hand, and led me quietly 
 along. When I arrived at 
 the Asylum I saw Mrs. 
 Ryan; she told me to sit on 
 the bench. When I got in 
 dinner was over. Mrs. Ryan 
 got a bread for me; I got 
 rice water in the evening. be- 
 fore going to bed. When 
 they called me to go to bed 
 I went round to the room, 
 
 ‘the Nurse Antoinette pulled 
 -off my clothes, except my 
 
 chemise, which I kept on to 
 sleep in. I asked -her not to 
 pull my flannel, and she did 
 not pull it, but left; I slept 
 in my flannel every night, 
 
82 Examinarion oF Caruantne Fars. 
 
 5th. What clothes did you 
 wear during the day, while 
 you were in the Asylum ? 
 
 6th. How often were the 
 clothes changed? , 
 
 7th. Did you bring any of 
 your own clothing to the 
 Asylum with you ? 
 
 8th. Were you bathed 
 every morning ? 
 
 9th. Who bathed you 2 
 
 10th. Did the Nurses ever 
 call any other Patient to help 
 bathe you? 
 
 11th. Did you ever hear 
 
 the Nurses call Patients to 
 assist in bathing any one ! 
 
 12th. What sort of food 
 did you get in the Institu- 
 tion? 
 
 13th. Were you satisfied 
 with: the food ? 
 
 14th. Was Ann Pratt a 
 Patient in the Asylum when 
 you were there ? 
 
 15th. Did you ever see 
 her bathed ? 
 
 16th, Who bathed her ? 
 
 5th. IT wore a blue coat 
 and a chemise, both belong- 
 ing to the Institution. 
 
 6th. If I put them on on 
 Sunday, I have clean chemise 
 again on Wednesday. 
 
 7th. No. I brought no- 
 thing but what I had on my 
 back. 
 
 Sth. Yes, Sir. 
 
 9th. Antoinette, and Nan- 
 cy Lloyd, always go into the 
 tank roori with me. 
 
 10th. No, Sir; because I 
 don’t afraid of water, and I 
 never give any trouble. 
 
 llth. Yes, Sir; them that 
 afraid for water, the Nurses 
 have to call help, because 
 them fight. 
 
 12th. In the morning lL 
 get a bread, and a pint of 
 coffee. Atdinner I get beef, 
 and yam, and soup some 
 days, and other days I get 
 saltfish and yam. Most even- 
 ing I get a piece of bread; 
 and, a little before sun down, 
 I get rice water, 
 
 13th. Yes, after all them 
 other satisfy, me oblige to 
 satisfy ; I never complain. 
 
 14th. Yes, Sir. 
 
 15th. Yes, Sir. 
 
 16th. In the morning time 
 
Examination or Carwartne Fars. 
 
 17th. Did you ever see 
 any of the Nurses ill-treat 
 any Patient by beating them, 
 keeping their heads under 
 the water when bathing, or 
 making them strip in the 
 open yard ? 
 
 18th. Did you ever see 
 them treat any other Patient 
 sot 
 
 19th. Did you ever see any 
 of the Nurses lay hold of 
 Ann Pratt, and drag her to 
 the tank, or strip her in the 
 open yard t 
 
 20th. Did any of the Nur- 
 
 ses ever trouble you, or were 
 they ever cross to you? 
 c 
 
 33 
 Mrs. Ryan always come in, 
 and say the brown people 
 must bathe first, and Miss 
 Pratt always bathe before 
 the black people. She al- 
 ways bathe herself the four 
 weeks I ‘was there. 
 
 17th. Emma Steele; one 
 day the Nurses put her to 
 sit down on the bench, and she 
 won't sit down; she get up, 
 run come out into the wash- 
 ing yard, the Nurses go and 
 bring him back to sit down ; 
 she keep get up, and want to 
 run away out, and then the 
 Nurse, Nancy, take her into 
 the bathing tank, and she 
 tank her; I can’t say what 
 they did inside, because I 
 was sitting outside. When 
 they let her out she go and 
 lean on the platform, and 
 was crying, then Nancy go 
 and bring her back to the 
 tank yard; and, as fast as 
 she take her there, Emma 
 Steele keep running out; the 
 Nurse then went out, and 
 was pushing her into the bath. 
 room, when she fell down; 
 and, just at the time, Mr. 
 Hall came up. 
 
 18th. No, Sir; meno see. 
 
 19th. From I go there 
 such thing never done to Miss 
 Pratt; from me in there Miss 
 Pratt always bathe herself. 
 
 20th. No, Sir, by the help 
 of God I never give them 
 any occasion, and they never 
 
21st. Did you see the Doc- 
 tor every day, and did you 
 ever hear any Patient com- 
 plain to him about Mrs. Ry- 
 an, or any of the Nurses ? 
 
 ia Have you any fault to 
 
 find at all with the Nurses, 
 or Mrs. Ryan, towards your- 
 self ? 
 
 Were you ever called 
 ae abil e in the Asylum, 
 
 to assist the Nurses in bath- 
 and; if you 
 
 ing any Patient, 
 
 were, state the particulars ? 
 
 24th. Did you ever see the 
 the Nurses drag Mrs. Carey 
 
 along the ground, or did you 
 see them thump her, and haul 
 her down ? 
 
 TEX AMINATION OF CATHARINE FARE. 
 
 trouble me; I always bathe 
 myself. 
 
 21st. Dr. Scott come there 
 every morning; he come in 
 the evening sometimes, but 
 morest in the morning. I 
 only hear Mrs. Brown say, 
 one morning, to the Doctor, 
 that him got fever, that is all 
 me hear. Sometimes they 
 talk to. themselves, but I 
 never give my ears to them. 
 
 29d. N 
 
 ee to fi 
 
 got. no 
 wa ys 
 WwW hint 
 
 eae ere 
 
 Si; 0 
 and, because Ta 
 1s right, ¢ “4 
 m e€'t0 do, and 
 
 casion. . 
 
 Carey, 
 he Patie nts, Was s0 
 t they could not ma- 
 nage her, they were obliged to 
 
 ( 
 
 call help, and me always 20 
 help them. We carry hex 
 d throw wa- 
 
 f e had purg- 
 ing on her at ha sean ane 
 they would not 
 
 the tank; nothing 
 
 pa 
 = it ag 
 
 sid a 
 
 eV er 
 
 SLUCS 
 happen, except one day the 
 . pee go to take him 
 
 t of the bath room, and her 
 evn et into the little gutter, 
 which side the water run out, 
 and she fall down. 
 
 When they hold her 
 carry to the pa to bathe, 
 
 18 e wild she won’t. go; 
 when the ey go to take him to 
 
 rry to the tank to bathe 
 4 she draw herself from 
 them, and tumble down; 
 
 and when they go to take her 
 up she fight. them, and they 
 
EXAMINATION oF Catrwartne Fars. BH 
 oblige to call for he Ip. From 
 .me go there I never see them 
 
 25th. brs me all what 
 Miss Pratt said to you, when 
 she said it, and where she said 
 The 
 
 26th. Did she tell 
 
 what Doctor 2 
 
 you 
 
 27th. Did you gowith her? 
 
 Witness.—Georce Nix. 
 
 Taken before me, this 
 
 him tell me I 
 
 duck her, but they throw wa- 
 ter, and I help hold,her, be- 
 she was very wild. 
 Miss Pratt was asking me 
 
 1 about that alrea dy, and 
 I tell her I don’t know any- 
 hing about that, 
 
 25th, I met her in the 
 Saturday gone, she ask 
 
 me if T no been there when 
 they duck Mrs. Carey, I. tell 
 him ae from me go in there 
 (the As sylum), I never see 
 them duck Mrs. Carey; then 
 must come £0 
 re rahe 8 al I ask her 
 whei are she live, she tell me 
 
 4. 
 
 st yoat ov 
 UL OO S 
 n 
 
 on 
 th 
 
 say at Dr. Bowerbank’s. 
 27th. Me go half way, I 
 tell her say me hungry, and 
 Tt a 1 back : when me 
 ty rn | ] 
 
 CaruHarine 4 Fare, 
 mark. 
 
 30th Ju uy. 1860. 
 
 D. P. Trencu, Ins pector and Director of the 
 Public: Hos pit: al and Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 And, in my presence, 
 
 Awnprew Dunn, M. pv. 
 
36 
 
 Examination or Mary Donaupson, 
 
 No. 4. 
 MARY DONALDSON Examinep by Iyrerrocatorizs. 
 
 QUESTIONS. 
 
 Ist. What is your name, 
 ahd what position do you hold 
 im the Female Lunatic Asy- 
 Jum ? 
 
 2d. How long have you 
 been in the service of the 
 Asylum ? 
 
 3d. Did you ever, as Night 
 Nurse, hear any Patient com- 
 plain of ill-treatment in’ the 
 Asylum; and, if yea, state 
 the Names of such Patients, 
 and the nature of their com- 
 plaints 2 
 
 ANSWERS. 
 
 Ist. My name is Mary 
 Donaldson, Iam one of the 
 Night Nurses of the Female 
 Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 2d. About eleven months. 
 
 3d. Yes, Sir; Ihave heard 
 Miss Pratt complain to me. 
 I went in one evening which 
 side she was locked up, and 
 she said to me, “them nearly 
 kill me to-day.” I asked her 
 what for, she said she was 
 mending a chemise, and she 
 saw Dr. Keech coming, and. 
 she put it under the pillow, 
 and Frances Bogle took it 
 out, and opened it, and said 
 she was going to shew it to: 
 Mrs. Ryan; that she, Ann 
 Pratt, then told Frances Bo- 
 gle that she might show it, 
 for Mrs. Ryan is not God, 
 and she brought the chemise 
 into the Asylum. She said 
 that Frances went and told 
 Mrs. Ryan that she, Ann 
 Pratt, was quarrelling about 
 the chemise, and that Mrs. 
 Ryan had ordered her to be 
 tanked and locked up; and, 
 after they had tanked her 
 done, they went to lock her 
 up, and that Frances Bogle 
 had doubled her fist and 
 knocked her (Ann Pratt) in 
 her eyes. I saw the black 
 eye . myself. She, (Ann 
 Pratt), then jumped up on 
 the window, and began te 
 
Examinarion o— Mary Donatpson, 
 
 4th. When did this hap- 
 pen t 
 
 5th. Did any other Patient 
 complain; if so, state parti- 
 culars ? 
 
 6th. What state of mind 
 was Ann Pratt and Henriet- 
 ta Dawson in at that time 2? 
 
 7th. Did you report to 
 Mrs. Ryan the nature of the 
 complaints made to you by 
 Ann Pratt and Henrietta 
 Dawson; and, if yea, state 
 how you reported; and what 
 was done in consequence of 
 your report ? 
 
 Sth. Did you report: this 
 to the Medical Officers, or to 
 the Inspector and Director, 
 when Mrs. Ryan treated your 
 report in the way you men- 
 tion ¢ 
 
 9th. Why did you not re- 
 port to either of these Offi- 
 cers ¢ 
 
 of 
 
 bawl out for Dr. Scott and 
 Dr. Keech, and called to 
 them to attend to what she 
 was saying, because she knew 
 when morning came Mrs. 
 Ryan would not give any pow- 
 er to her to talk. 
 
 4th. I don’t know the date, 
 but it was about two weeks 
 after you (the Inspector) wen 
 away to America. 
 
 - 5th. Only she and Henri- 
 etta Dawson. Henriettacom- 
 plained to me about the same 
 time that Julian Burke boxed. 
 her. 
 
 6th. T did not see nothing 
 the matter; they were in 
 good sense. 
 
 7th. Yes, Sir, I did report 
 to Mrs. Ryan, but she turned 
 me out of the place, and said 
 I was a lying devil; I don’t 
 business with what done in 
 the day to bring itcomeand tell 
 her; she said she don’t know 
 what they put a Night Nurse 
 there for; they were standing 
 very well before without a 
 Night Nurse. 
 
 8th. No, Sir. 
 
 9th. After Mrs. Ryan say 
 whatever the Patients do at 
 night I come and carry it out, 
 I was afraid to report to the 
 Doctors, because Mrs. Ryan 
 was always abusing me. 
 
38 y Examination oF Marx Dowatpson. 
 
 10th: Did you report to 
 any person 0 outside the Insti- 
 tution what Ann Pratt and 
 Henrietta. Dawson told you 
 of their il- pa, or of 
 Mrs. Ryanabusing yot when 
 you - mentioned ae ‘occur- 
 rences to her ? 
 
 llth. Have you had any 
 conversation Ww ith Ann Pratt, 
 or Henrietta Dawson since 
 
 41 arr sha > a fy; } ay A NT 
 their dise 1arge trom tne ASsy- 
 
 ytients in the Asylu m? 
 
 at hour was this 
 
 4 
 vO 
 
 it. a part ¢ 
 
 assist in bath- 
 
 18th. When Ann Pratt 
 complained to. you, on the 
 
 5 Spy 
 about he 
 
 any mat 
 
 10th. No, Sir; me never 
 
 told any body yet. 
 
 11. No, Sir, I have had no 
 conversation with them at all. 
 
 12th. No, Sir; except one 
 morning Mrs. Ryz an called me 
 to duck Ann Pratt, and I re- 
 
 Weer 
 fused. 
 
 13th. About six e Ret im 
 ae morning, before [left the 
 
 5 
 ASsy ium. 
 
 14th. No, Sir. 
 
 15th. I told her I had not 
 the heat to duck Ann Pratt. 
 
 1nuTr 
 > had cursed Mrs. 
 
 ya 8 was not more 
 violent than usual, 
 
 17th. Yes,Sir; Mrs. Ryan 
 gave me orders, if any of ‘the 
 people sick at night, I must 
 call Dr. Keech. 
 
 18th. She said where they 
 
 beat her, her skin hurt her. 
 
Examination or Mary Donarpson, 
 
 that evening, what did she 
 say ¢ 
 
 19th. Did she appear to 
 you to be in great pain, when 
 she complained ? 
 
 20th. What hour was this? 
 
 21st. Did you call Dr. 
 Keech to her? 
 
 22d. Why did you not? 
 
 23d. Did you ever: give 
 any Patient a book of any 
 description ; if yea, state the 
 name of the Patient, and the 
 description of book ? 
 
 24th. Who did the book 
 belong to ? 
 
 25th. yon what purpose 
 did you give the book to Ann 
 Pratt, as you did not know 
 what book vs was 
 
 96th. What time was this 2 
 
 27th. Were you ever de- 
 sired a any one of the Of- 
 ficers f tHe Public Hospital 
 and aaa Asylum to tell 
 Ann Pratt not tosay anything 
 about the treatment of the 
 Lunatic Patients before Mrs. 
 Branagan ¢ 
 
 28th. Are you quite sure 
 that Dr. Keech never gave 
 you such instruction ? 
 
 29th. Are you aware that 
 
 in a pamphlet, alleged to be 
 
 written by Ann Pratt t, such 
 is stated to have occurred ? 
 c 4 
 
 19th Yes, Sir, she com- 
 plain for her two arms, and 
 was in great pain. 
 
 20th. Between seven and 
 eight o’clock in the evening. 
 
 21st, No, Sir. 
 
 22d. I asked her if [I 
 should call the Doctor, and 
 she told me no. 
 
 23d. I gave Ann Pratt. a 
 book, I can’t remember what 
 book. it was, but it was the 
 book the Minister baptize 
 Prudence child with. 
 
 24th: I borrowed it from 
 Mr. Atkins, the Dispenser. 
 
 25th, She was praying, 
 and told me that she wis hed 
 she could get a book, she 
 would oa aye herself. 
 
 26th. About six o’clock, 
 just as I went in. 
 
 27th. No, Sir; I never 
 have no talkin 1g with them 
 at all. 
 
 28th. No, Sir; I never 
 recollect that Doctor ever tell 
 me anything of the sort. 
 
 29th. Thear the pamphlet 
 read by my neighbour, but I 
 never stop till the whole of it 
 done. 
 
Ady Examination or Mary Donatpson. 
 
 30th. Did you ever hear 
 any Patientsthreaten, as soon 
 as they come out of the Asy- 
 lum, to go and complain ;. and, 
 if so, state particulars 2 
 
 Slst. Didshe everthreaten 
 to complain to the Medical 
 Officers, or to the Inspector 
 and Director ? 
 
 32d. Did you ever. men- 
 
 tion to the Matron, or to the 
 
 Medical Officers, that this 
 Patient had complained of 
 being prevented speaking te 
 the Doetor by Mrs. Ryan ? 
 
 33d. Have you ever been 
 questioned by any person out- 
 side the Institution, with re- 
 gard to the treatment of 
 Patients in the Asylum 2? 
 
 34th. Have you shewn any 
 particular acts of kindness to 
 individual Patients, as Night 
 Nurse ; and, if yea, state the 
 nature and particulars of such. 
 kindness ? 
 
 35th... Haveyoushewn Ann 
 Pratt any particular acts of 
 kindness 2 
 
 36th. Have you been asked 
 any questions, by any one 
 outside the Institution, about 
 
 « 80th. Yes, Sir, Henrietta 
 Dawson. often said, quite com- 
 mon in the Asylum, that 
 when she come out she would. 
 go and tell Dr. Bowerbank 
 all what was going on. 
 
 31st. No, Sir, but she said 
 if you was in the country she 
 would go and complain to you, 
 
 because you will stop and 
 
 hear her. She say it is no 
 use tocomplain tothe Doctors, 
 
 for Mrs. Ryan won’t make 
 
 them talk to Doctor. 
 
 32d. No, Sir, {never tell. 
 
 any person. 
 
 33d. No, Sir, before I 
 would do such a thing I 
 would go and tell it to Dr. 
 Scott, or Dr. Keech ; nobody 
 can dare to ask me such a 
 question. 
 
 d4th. Yes, I have, Sir; 
 sometimes I give them a little 
 cake, and if I am eating my 
 dinner after I go in, I give 
 them a piece; sometimes I 
 buy acake, and break it up, 
 and give it to them through 
 the window at night, not any. 
 one particular, I give to any 
 of them. 
 
 35th. No. more than £ do 
 tothe rest. 
 
 36th. No, Sir, I have ne- 
 ver been asked any questions 
 at all about her. 
 
de 
 
 Examination ox Mary Donaxpson. 4h 
 
 Matilda Carey, a late Patient 
 in the Asylum ? 
 
 37th. Did you ever see ei- 
 ther Mrs. Ryan, or any of the 
 Nurses, © ill-treat Matilda 
 Carey, or bathe or duck her 
 in an improper manner 2 
 
 38th. Have you ever seen 
 any cruelty practised towards 
 any Patient, or have you ever 
 seen any Patient stripped 
 and improperly exposed in 
 the open yard before the 
 Nurses, Labourers, or other 
 Patients, orhave any Patients 
 ever complained to you of 
 such usage ¢ 
 
 39th. Then, in all the com- 
 plaints to you, by Ann Pratt, 
 and Henrietta Dawson, did 
 they never once complain of 
 being made to strip in the 
 open yard before the laborers, 
 or other Patients ? 
 
 40th. Did Ann Pratt com- 
 plain to you of any improper 
 treatment of her by the Nur- 
 ses, when in the act of bath- 
 ing her; and, if so, state the 
 nature of her complaint, and 
 when she made it ? 
 
 4ist, Did any other Pa- 
 AO 
 
 37th. No, Sir, [never saw 
 it; all I know they generally 
 give mea pan of arrowroot to 
 feed her in the night, which 
 I did. 
 
 38th. No, Sir, T never saw 
 any cruelty practised, and I 
 never sawany Patient stripped 
 or exposed, and I never heard 
 any one complain of such 
 usage; they have a bath room, 
 where they strip them; they 
 never strip them in the yard, 
 if they done it they must have 
 done it when I am not there. 
 
 39th. No, Sir, they never 
 complain to me of such a 
 thing. I never hear of such 
 a thing. 
 
 40th. She told me, wher 
 I came one night, that An- 
 tomette duck her, and had 
 hold of her hair, both her 
 hands, and two Patients had 
 hold of her legs, one each, 
 and duck her in the water; 
 and she said one sit upon her 
 stomach, and when she was 
 fighting in the water, she laid 
 hold of Mrs. Lewis’s hand 
 and bite her, and while she 
 was biting Mrs. Lewis’s hand, 
 Antoinette take and bite her 
 (Ann Pratt’s)" arm and 
 thumb. I never saw any 
 one knock her, or ill-treat 
 her, with my own eyes. 
 
 41st. No, Sir; none-else 
 
42 Examination or Cares L. Hatz: 
 
 tient ever complain to you 
 about being ill-used, or beat- 
 en while they were being 
 bathed ¢ 
 
 ever complain. 
 
 Taken before me, this 30th July, 1860. 
 D. P. Trevcu, Inspector and Director of the 
 Public Hospital and Lunatic Asylum. 
 And, in my presence, 
 
 Anprew Du 
 
 NN, M. D, 
 
 No. 5. 
 
 CALEB L. HALL Examinep sy Iyrerrocaroriszs. 
 
 QUESTIONS. 
 
 Ist. What is your name 
 and what position do you 
 hold: in the Public Hospital 
 and Lunatic Asylum? 
 
 2d. Have you had frequent 
 opportunities of witnessing 
 the tr pee gee rved_ to- 
 wards the Lunatic Patient: 
 by the Nurses of oe Femal 
 Asylum ? 
 
 3d. Have you ever seen 
 any improper or violent treat- 
 ment of the Lunatic Patients 
 on the part of the Nurses ; 
 if yea, state the particulars ? 
 
 Ath. Is the case you have 
 just referred to, the only one 
 that has occurred under your 
 own observation ? 
 
 5th. Have you ever seen 
 any improper force used by 
 the Nurses towards. Ann 
 Pratt, when she was an in- 
 mate of the Lunatic Asylum ? 
 
 ANSWERS. 
 
 Ist. My name is Caleb L. 
 Hall, and I am Purveyor 
 of the Public’ Hospital and 
 Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 2d. I have, to a certain 
 extent. 
 
 3d. I did once; which was 
 the case that I reported to 
 
 =) 
 
 you on the 26th June last, 
 when I saw a Patient being 
 roughly handled by Nancy 
 
 Lloyd, a Day Nurse. 
 4th. It is the only one. 
 
 5th. I remember going 
 through the Female Asylu 
 one morning; in doing so oT 
 met Ann Pratt with i or eye 
 black; I asked her how she 
 got it hurt, and she told me 
 
 one of the Nurses had struck 
 
Mr. Trencu to. Rev. J. Duperron. 
 
 6th. Did Ann. Pratt ever 
 complain to you that she was 
 ill-used in the bath by the 
 Nurses, or that she was made 
 to strip in the open yard, and 
 before the other Patients or 
 Laborers ? 
 
 7th. Did she relate to you 
 the particulars of the ill- 
 treatment she complained of ; 
 if yea, state what they were ? 
 
 8th. Did Ann Pratt at 
 any time ask .you to send for 
 the. Revd. Mr. Watson, or to 
 write for her to that Gentle- 
 man; if. yea, did you do so, 
 and state particulars ? 
 
 9th. Did you report, to the 
 Principal Medical Officer, or 
 to the Acting Inspector and 
 Director, that Ann Pratt had 
 expressed a wish to see Mr. 
 Watson ? 
 
 43, 
 
 her purposely. I called the 
 Matron, and three of the 
 Nurses, and asked them 
 about Ann Prati’s eye; they 
 all told me it happened when 
 putting her into the room, ag 
 she was outrageous. 
 
 th: She never did com- 
 plain of that, but I have 
 heard her remark, at different 
 times, about the ill-treatment’ 
 of other Patients by the 
 Nurses. She has also com- 
 plained of their ill-treating 
 her, but never spoke about 
 the tanking, or the stripping. 
 
 7th. She did not complain 
 of any particular _ ill-treat- 
 ment, but merely complained 
 generally of the Nurses. 
 
 Sth. She did several times, 
 but I- did not write, nor did 
 Y send for him, as I consi- 
 dered it no part of my duty 
 to interfere with those mat- 
 ters. 
 
 9th. I did. not, as she 
 told me she had already ex- 
 pressed that wish to Dr. 
 Scott. 
 
 Cares L. Hart. 
 
 Taken before me, this 3d of August, 1860. 
 D. P. Trencu, Inspector and Director of the 
 Public Hospital and Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 No. 6. 
 
 No. 42.—Duplicate. 
 
 Public Hospital, July 30th, 1860. 
 
 REVEREND Sir, 
 
 T shall be much obliged if you will assist me to find out, 
 from the friends, and the attending Minister, of the late Louise 
 
A4 Mr. Trencu to Rev. J. Duperron, &c. 
 
 Cocherell, late a Patient in the Lunatic Asylum, whether, 
 during the period she was an inmate of that Institution, she 
 had, at any,time, complained to her friends, or her Ministers, 
 of any ill treatment at the hands of the Officers or Servants; 
 and, if so, the nature of such complaints. 
 I remain, 
 Reverend Sir, 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 D. P. Trencu, Inspector and Director of the 
 Public Hospital and Lunatic Asylum. 
 The Reverend “ Durryron, Vicar Apostolic, 
 C. &e. 
 
 6, Upper King Street, July 31, 1860. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 In answer to your Letter of yesterday’s date, I beg to 
 state, that the only one of my Clergy who visited the late 
 Louise Cocherell, whilst she was an inmate of the Lunatic 
 Asylum, is the Reverend Mr. Dupont, and, as you saw him 
 this morning, I naturally suppose that you put to him the ques- 
 tion contained in your Letter. I sent this morning for a near 
 relation of the above mentioned Louise Cocherell ; one of her 
 servants has just called upon me with the message that her 
 mistress would not have any thing to do with the Hospital 
 affairs, but that if she were obliged to speak, it would not be 
 in favor of the Establishment. (I suppose that she means the 
 Lunatic Asylum). 
 
 Believe me, my Dear Sir, 
 Your’s very truly, 
 J. E. Dureyron, Vicar Apostolic. 
 D. P. Trencu, Esquire. 
 
 No. 7, 
 
 No. 46.—Duplicate. 
 Public Hospital, 6th August, 1860. 
 
 REVEREND Sir, 
 Tam desirous of embodying, in my Report to his Excel- 
 lency the Governor, the substance of the Revd. Mr. Dupont’s 
 reply to my personal enquiry, on the subject of the- late 
 
Rev. J. Durryron ro Mr. Trencu, &e. 45 
 
 Louise Cockerell, while an inmate of the Asylum, and, be- 
 fore doing so, I shall be much obliged if the Revd. Gentleman 
 will allow me to draw his attention to the conversation I had 
 with him on the subject, at the Committee Room of the 
 Hospital, and say whether the following substantially re- 
 presents his reply to my question, as to whether, in his Minis- 
 terial visits to Louisa Cockerell, she had ever made any com- 
 plaints to him of ill treatment, or whether, to his knowledge, 
 she had ever complained to her friends. 
 
 The Reverend Gentleman’s reply being “ That he had only 
 visited Louise Cockerell three times—that on one occasion he 
 had an interview of about twenty mimutes with her in Mrs. 
 Ryan’s Hall; that she tried always to persuade him that she 
 was not out of her senses, but that she never complained 
 of being ill treated.” 
 
 That the mother, or grandmother (I now forget which), 
 had told him, that the wrists of Louise Cockerell were very 
 much blistered from the sun, but she had never com- 
 plained of being ill used. 
 
 If the foregoing is incorrect, in the least degree, I will 
 ask the favour of Mr. Dupont to correct it. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Reverend Sir, 
 Your most faithful Servant, 
 D. P. Trencu, Inspector and Director of the | 
 Public Hospital and Lunatic Asylum. 
 The Reverend the Vicar Aposronic, &c. &e, 
 
 6, Upper King Street, August 8, 1860. 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 Your Letter of the 4th came to hand yesterday evening, 
 and, agreeably to your desire, I communicated it to the Re- 
 verend Mr. Dupont; after carefully perusing it, he told me 
 that your statement of the conversation, which you had with 
 him, in regard to the late Louise Cocherell, (pronounced Cosh- 
 rel), is guite correct. 
 
 I have the honor to be, 
 Your obedient Servant, 
 J. E. Dupryrron, Vicar Apostolic. 
 D, P. Trencu, Esq. 
 
 No. 8. 
 
 Extract of a Letter, dated 30th July, 1860, addressed to. 
 Gentleman in this city by William Browne, Esq. Justice 
 
4G Exrract rrom Mr. Brown’s Lerrsr. 
 
 of the Peace for the Parish of Hanover, and one who sign- 
 ed the commitment of “ Ann Pratt,” as a Lunatic, to the 
 Kingston Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 “ T have perused. the pamphlet carefully, and feel bound to 
 state to you my opinion, which is also the opinion of every 
 intelligent person in this town, who has perused it, that the 
 poor creature is quite unable to write, or dictate such a pro- 
 duction, and that the “ kind friend,” who, she states, in. the 
 Preface, assisted her to draw up her “imperfect sketch,” 
 has, for some sinister puree of his own, exaggerated the 
 complaints she has been induced to make, of the neces- 
 gary discipline of the Lunatic Asylum. 
 
 “« After perusi ‘ing the pan ane let, I saw the Magistrate, Mr. 
 Sharpe, Dr. Brebner, and his ; Assistant, Mr. Cort, the Clerk 
 of the Peace, the § Superintendant of the Prison, the Matron, 
 Mrs. Crooks, t} he Churc chwardens, the Sergeant of Police, and 
 other persons, andthe unanimous opinion of all, myself in- 
 cluded, is, that Ann Pratt was mad, and dangerously mad 
 too, while in the Female Prison at Lucea, and for two days 
 before she was committed there ; and a Lady, who was one 
 of her fellow-passengers on boa rd the Marie Louise, declared 
 that, on two occasi ons, she was se ized with fits of madness. 
 
 < We e are all ready to make oath to this fact, whenever an 
 investigation is rdered, 
 
 «The mother of Ann Pratt informed me that she was mad 
 some years since, and I believe she has been ee te eccentric 
 since that time. 
 
 “ One evening, in December last, 1 t think, while riding out, 
 I was accosted by y Ann Pratt, who complained to me that a 
 brutal assault had been committe ed on her by three men, 
 named Davis, M‘Kenzie, and Morris, bookkeepers on the Kew 
 estate, adjoming her cottage. I told her to. come into town 
 next morning, and make oath to the charge, and I would is- 
 sue warrants for their apprehension. This was ac cordingly 
 done, and the prisoners were bound over to appear at the en- 
 suing Court, to answerthe charge. I was prevented, by press- 
 ing business, from attending ¢ at the Court myself, but I was 
 informed tl that Mr. Justice Sharpe heard another case that 
 she had against one of the above named persons, M‘Kenzie, 
 or Davis, for abusive language, and a cross warrant against 
 herself, on the same charge, and fined both parties. The 
 chargé against the men, for the assault on her, was low down 
 on the Calendar, and could not be heard that day. It would 
 have been heard next day, but she unfortunately became in- 
 sane.that evening. The Clerk of the Peace caused strict en- 
 « quiry to be made, to discover further evidence of the assault, 
 
 uW 
 a 
 at 
 
Exrract or Mr. Brown’s Lerrezr. et 
 
 alleged by Ann Pratt to have been committed on her, but 
 -eould not obtain any, and was obliged to have the prisoners 
 bound over to appear, when called. 
 
 “T learned subsequently that Ann Pratt is the mother of 
 two children for a man named Levi, who was living with, or 
 married to another woman; that she had been cohabiting 
 with one of the prisoners, M‘Kenzie, who was also living with 
 another woman, and that it was in consequence of some quar- 
 rel, arising from jealousy, between her and M‘Kenzie, that 
 she had ‘him, and Davis, and Morris, arrested on the charge 
 of assault. 
 
 “The morning after she became insane, she apparently had 
 a lucid interval, and was quiet. 
 
 “T directed the Police Sergeant to send her home to her 
 friends, but at midnight she was brought into town by her 
 neighbours, who declared that she had endeavoured to kill 
 one of her children, and to stab one or two of the neighbours 
 “with knives. 
 
 “The Magistrates were then obliged to have her confined, 
 but employed her own mother to attend on her. While in 
 prison she was outrageous, stripping herself naked, and Mr. 
 Cort assured me she attempted to eat her own ordure; the 
 Doctor: was obliged to have her put into a strait waistcoat, 
 and to order her removal to the Lunatic Asylum, as the Ha- 
 nover prison was an improper place for her to remain in. 
 
 “‘Her children have been cared for in her absence, and the 
 Authorities directed Captain Symmonette to bring her home 
 as soon as she was well enough to leave the Asylum. 
 
 “This is all I know about this unfortunate woman. Ihave 
 no doubt that the quarrel with her lover, and the dispute 
 with, or perhaps the indecent assault of the other two men, 
 brought on again her old complaint—insanity. I believe she 
 had frequent lucid intervals, but I think she was certainly mad 
 when in the Asylum, and, like many unfortunate persons in 
 that state, she took a dislike to some of the Attendants, whose 
 duty it was to restrain her; and, after leaving the Asylum, 
 eagerly embraced the opportunity which some disinterested 
 philanthropists afforded her to gratify her vengeance 
 ‘against the objects of her hatred. 
 
 ‘““When the whole truth is known, the case of Ann Pratt 
 will be regarded, by unprejudiced persons, as an addition to 
 the catalouge of abortive attempts to injure an Institution, 
 which appears, on the whole, to be very well conducted, and 
 suited to the requirements of the Island. 
 
 “TJ am, my Dear Sir, faithfully yours, 
 (Signed) ’ Wu. Browne. 
 
48 Mr. Trexcn to Mr. Austin. 
 
 “P, S, You are of course quite welcome to use this Letter 
 in any way you think necessary, for the cause of truth and 
 justice. 
 
 om: Be 
 
 I Certify, That the foregoing is a verbatim Copy of 
 the original Letter, produced to, and read over by 
 us. 
 
 D. P. Trencu. 
 H. D. MacKay, Senr. 
 
 No. 48. 
 Public Hospital, 10th August, 1860. 
 Sir, 
 
 IT have the honor to submit to his Excellency the Governor 
 the enclosed Letter, addressed to me by the Clerk of the 
 6th August, 1860. Peace of Hanover, together with a Statement 
 6th August, 1860. which accompanies it from the Surgeon to the 
 Prison of Hanover, and which came to my hands on the day 
 after I had closed and forwarded my report, No. 47, of the 
 8th August. 
 
 1 have the honor to be, Sir, 
 Your obedt. Servant, 
 D. P. Trencu. 
 YW. W. Austin, Esq. Gov. Sec. &e. &e. 
 
 Peace Office, Hanover, Lucea, 6th August, 1860. 
 
 My Dear Sir, 
 
 T am in receipt of your favor of 2d instant. When my 
 attention was first directed to the pamphlet, published in the 
 name of Ann Pratt, entitled “Seven Months in the King- 
 ston Lunatic Asylum, and what I saw there,” I thought 
 of replying, through the medium of the Press, to that portion 
 of it which charges the authorities of Hanover with having 
 conspired against. “a poor, unprotected woman”—of having 
 denied her common justice, punished her for complaining of 
 a felony, and of capping the climax to the other wrongs 
 which they committed on her, by sending her without cause 
 to the Lunatic Asylum. On further consideration, however, 
 it seemed to me that the writer of the pamphlet had so en- 
 
Mer. J. S. Trencu to Mr. D. P. Trencn. 49 
 
 tirely overshot his mark, that the inconsistencies and impro- 
 babilities are so apparent on the face of it, as to afford a suf- 
 ficient contradiction in itself’, rendering it unworthy of fur- 
 ther notice. 
 The pamphlet contains unimportant particulars respecting 
 an 
 
 peed Ui 
 the birth, childhood, anc a eed ail days of Ann Pratt, but 
 
 is entirely silent on ‘her > history during the last twenty years. 
 ‘his peculiarity i is explained by the fact, that ‘‘ Miss Pratt” 
 has,:for years past, borne the character of a prostitute, has 
 had connection with black men, and had children, the result 
 of promiscuous intercourse, two of whom are now alive. 
 The circumstance of her | having ‘ “attended the ministry of 
 the Reverend James Watson,” and been “one of | his Sabbath 
 
 School children,” redounds but little to her credit at present 
 
 DULL, 
 
 since I have ascertaimed from velighle sources (her own rela- 
 
 tives), that for some years before M r. Watson left Lucea 
 (viz. in 1850), up to the present time, “ Ann Pratt” has not 
 
 been known to have attended any p lace of worship, but, to 
 her other sins, had added that of desecrating the Sabbath, 
 
 “that sacred day which she had always been taught to 
 reverence.” So much for her az detbdande: I would be glad 
 if I could for a moment imagine that such abounding grace 
 had recently been imparted to her, as would cause the sin- 
 cere expression of pious sentiments at the end of the first 
 page of the P reface, but linked as those ser itiments are, with 
 
 such “a great deal of false evidence,” evidently pron npt- 
 ed by “rev go yer “to gratify a wounded § spirit,’ they 
 
 must be attributed to the inventive imagination of a “* kond 
 
 friend ’ who assisted her in “drawing up” this “ necessarily 
 imperfect t sketch ;’ and I doubt not that his motives are as 
 obvious to all disinterested readers of the pamphlet on your 
 
 side of ne island, as they are to all here with whom I have 
 
 1 
 had an oppor tunity of conver “me on the subject. 
 It appears sae in October, 1859, a libertine, named John 
 Davis, came as a bookkeeper to the Kew estate, about halt- 
 “a-mile from ‘Bavhats Hill, a village where Ann Pratt re- 
 sided, and a familiarity speedily sprang up between them. 
 On 1st December, 1859, Ann Pratt came to the Peace 
 Office, accompanied by Police Sergeant Sanftleben, witha re- 
 quest from Mr. Justice Br rowne, that I would hear her 
 statement, and issue proceedings upon it. I did so. She 
 stated, that on the night of the 10th November, 1859, John 
 Davis, a ae by his brother bookl Keepers, George 
 ~M‘Kenzie, and John Morris, had come to her house, and that 
 Davis, with the assistance of the others, had beaten her vio- 
 lently, had thrown her on ‘the ground, held her down, and 
 committed a rape on her; that when he had 
 D 
 
 2 
 
 = ae eee arenes 
 
50 Mr. J. S. Trencn to Mr. D. P. Trency. 
 
 and ran away from the house. In reply to questions which. 
 
 1 ‘put to her, she said that, after the) y left, she went to bed ; 
 she had not complained to any one of it; did not think that 
 any one heard her call out, and had no witness to corrobo- 
 rate her statements in 2 any po oint: She had noé “ broken the 
 Ailence of the midnight hour, by cries for help, in the hope,” 
 &e. Not one of the nei hbours knew that her “ house was 
 atiacked,” nor cou! id's she give any rea son sea ie remain- 
 éd for three weeks u 
 
 wrongs which ill-usas Y on? * spen ding we the 
 long and drear y night 3 in weeping nual ian instead 
 of coming down immediately after, and inforn a3 aga 4 
 the alleged ruffians. I considered her stater > 
 improba sb but Vieaade out the following in 
 she signed and swore to — Mr. Browne, an warrant 
 was issued for the appreh n of the accused parties : 
 
 *« Jamaica, s3.? 
 Hanov * 
 
 j 4 ADH 
 “The information and complaint of Ann Pr ail Parish 
 
 of Hanover, taken this first day of Decen she year we 
 our Lord One Thousand Eight Hund nd Fifty Nine 
 y 2 
 
 before the undersigned, one * her Ma, Justices of the 
 > q 
 
 Peace in and for the said Parish of 
 
 se LJ, 
 did, on the 
 
 who saith, 
 
 4 
 
 that John Davis, of ie 82 31 ht of the 
 10th day of November, 1859, at the Par - aforesaid, make 
 th ‘ J _ 
 an assault upon this ¢ dep ponent, and did, then and there vio- 
 lently, and against her will, ravish and carnally know her 
 J? > ) 4 
 
 and ee John pee and George Vi. of the said 
 Parish, did aid and abet the said John Davis to commit the 
 said offe Senco,” 
 Anxious to have the matter panes ‘ah beet I di- 
 rected the Police Sei gean 4 to send one 2 
 men to the neighbourhood, to make dil 
 whether there were any means of cot rroborat 
 statement. This was attended to, and Policer 
 ported to me that there were houses in the Village, Bibl 
 a few yards of Ann Prati’s hie ove which the least 
 noise must have been hea wd 5 that none of the inmates over- 
 a any screams or nok se, eh wou i lent ia to sus- 
 
 at = ha RO mn}, 
 had been committed on he “hat 
 
 et that such an outra 
 Davis had been seen, hot before si fter the 10th No- 
 vember, frequenting Ann Prati’s wer at late hours at 
 night; that it was understood among them that he was coha- 
 biting with her; and although not “ prevented from inter- 
 course with friends, Aner o ‘deprived of the means of inform- 
 ing them,” that she had ne ver complained | or mentioned: the 
 
 ‘6 
 
1 
 
 ah 
 
 SSR cane 
 
 Mr. J. 8. Taencn ro Mr. D. P, Trencu, 51 
 
 circumstance to any of them till two or three days before the 
 date of the information ; and (which, in my opinion, formed 
 a clue to the whole affair, s shewing her motive to be that of 
 “revenge,” and to gratify a “wounded spirit,”) that Davis 
 had, a few days before her complaint was lodged, taken 
 another woman to live openly with him at the Kew. 
 
 My efforts at corroborating this “innocent victim of gross 
 
 ill treatment,” however, did not cease there. I I got Dr. Breb- 
 ner to examine her person carefully, and the result of hig 
 examination you will find in the annexed statement. 
 
 Besides the complaint of rape, Ann Pratt complained that 
 George M‘Kenzie made use of abusive language to her on 
 the 29th November. She said she had not money to pay 
 the fee for a summons against him n, and I gave her one with- 
 out charge. ‘The — day George M*Ken zie attended at my 
 office, and com] plained of having been abused by Ann Pratt, 
 and got a a saree against her, paying the fees for it. On 
 the firstCour ‘tday, the Court list containe od forty-five cases—the 
 case against one an others for rape, and another case of 
 felony were >» in accordance with @ practice which obtains in 
 our Petty Sessions, allowed to stand over for depositions to 
 be taken the : following ¢ day, and the accused parties entered 
 into recognizance, with sureties, for this purpose. The case 
 against M‘Kenz zie, for abusive language to Ann Pratt, was 
 first proceeded with. There being only one Justice (Mr 
 Sharpe) sitting, both plaintiff and defendant were asked by 
 me, in the terms of 1st V ic. cap. 9, sec. 6, whether the 
 were satisfied to have the case tried before one Justice; they 
 both consented. The language proved against the defendant 
 vas his calling plaintiff a damned———— and a damned—--—. 
 He was fined 10s. and costs 8, OF, in def he five days’ hard 
 labour. They then changed places, and Ann Pratt was 
 charged with abusive lang 1age to ish eorge M‘Kenzie. The 
 same questions were e put to them, and their consent given to 
 have the case tried before one J a 
 
 The following is a copy of the Notes of Evidence taken 
 at the time, and they wil nt give some idea off the choice 
 
 xxpressions used by this “ poor un protected woman,” who had, 
 wm childhood, been at the “ Mico School,” and the School at 
 Paradise,” and the “ Sabbath Sch ool,” and who fell into con- 
 
 vulsions oe the treatment she rdveinaul at Court from the 
 
 Magistrates | and who is made to appear so horrified at the 
 
 ”? 
 
 ‘shocking and obscene language” alleged to be used in the 
 5 
 Asylum :— 
 Abusive language to George 
 “The Queen vs. Ann Pratt J ar 
 The Q Aes P 2 M‘Kenzie. 
 “George M‘Kenzie, sworn~-Am bookkeeper of Kew. 
 p2 
 
ee OE Sp mR te 27 eS 
 = 
 
 a 
 
 LAOREET, 
 
 LARSSON 
 
 a2 Mr. J. S. Trencx to Mr. D. P. Trenca. 
 
 Heard, on the morning of 29th November, that defendant 
 mn acensed ih I saw cher at: the mareriele at Kew, 
 
 (N ar-hole is on the main road leading to Mon- 
 bes quarter of a, mile sig om her house e), and 
 ai Came to high words. She called me a 
 damned w a damned ————_——;; damned. 
 worthless ———_—_——._ I called her a damned liar, a damned 
 
 9? 
 
 i 
 
 “ David Stewart, sworn.—Was passi ing along the road; 
 hea rd M‘ Kenzie and Pratt abusing each other.. She cursed 
 
 him ‘ damned ——————-; a damned —_———;’ he abused 
 her: to 
 
 4 Mary Campbell, sworn.—Saw Ann Pratt at the water- 
 hole at Kew. M‘Kenzie asked her about something he had 
 = d, and called her a lying strumpet. She said your father 
 is a damned | Pay ———. (Note—Mr. M ‘Kenzie’ 
 fae a respectable old Gentleman, has a large wen on his 
 im ad lead —— -; that she knew 
 
 he wan cir 
 
 at 
 
 Ss 
 
 tered into an account of what 
 
 101 aff t ion for using such language 
 in the aes road, end he inflicted the same fine as on 
 M‘Kex viz. 10s. and costs, or five oaks hard labour. 
 Both parties paid. ‘This is the treatment she received at 
 
 jury added pe the Magia, &e. I 
 
 Court, a and the in 
 
 by a relative of ‘don Prats eels 
 he p pamphlet) +) to remove Ann Pratt 
 rad bitten her sever ely, and was other- 
 
 senses, (Vi de their State- 
 
 ch, 
 
 rc fi a 1 1g por 
 ments). sed, <enzie, and Morris, appeared 
 n 2 ] ade} hoOlY Spy 2 not A 
 in accordance with ane reoogn izance Boe! Ann Pr att, not 
 
 bail was exten Jed to the following 
 nn Prat it hadagain been given in 
 larg i @ mad (vide Statement herewith), 
 and the: defendants’ bails were again extended for a week, 
 and so from week to week, till it was ascertain ned from the 
 ial Officer, Superintendant, and Matron of the Female 
 rict Prison (the only ser we have for the safe custody 
 ics) no hopes were entertamed of her early re- 
 
 covery ;. and ther a th ue idants were bound under recogni- 
 zance to appear whenever ca elie on; ands shortl} y-after, pro- 
 ceecings were taken in due form, under 19th Vic. chap. 4, 
 to have Ann Pratt removed to a he Be ey _ sylum. I saw 
 
 her once or twice on my official visits.to the Prison, and cam 
 
 A 
 
Tage 
 
 Statement or Dr. Bresyer. 5S 
 
 add-my testimony to the fact of her being raving mad, -and 
 
 the person who would venture to deny her being so, would 
 
 either be a knave or a Lunatic himself. 
 
 The “large amount of false evidence” which the pamphlet 
 contains, with respect to the authorities of Hanover, affords a 
 pretty good test as to the reliance which is to be placed on 
 the rest of this “necessarily imperfect sketch.” If the Lu- 
 natic did, indeed, as is pretended (page 4 of Preface), keep in 
 her. memory dates, events, persons, names, particulars, and 
 treatment, it is to be deplored, that for the purposes of “re-: 
 venge,” and to gratify “a wounded spirit,” they should have: 
 been “ lately washed over” with pen and ink by her “kind 
 friend,” so that there cannot be “ found underneath the wash” 
 anything but gross exaggerations and untruths, so far at least 
 as the narrative has reference to this Parish, Who is that 
 
 kind friend? All here, who have read the pamphlet, pro-. 
 
 nounce it to be the same quondam “unflinching friend of 
 
 the unfortunate,” and the “truthful” expositor of pretended. 
 
 “ mismanagements,” and fancied “atrocities.” 
 
 T have not time to-day, or would add a few remarks with 
 
 regard to the absurdities apparent on the face of the pam- 
 phiet, in reference to the discipline in the Asylum. 
 
 In conclusion, I may mention, that you have my sanction 
 for making any use you may think proper of this Letter, 
 either officially, or in the Newspapers; and that every word 
 of this explanation is susceptible of the clearest proof. 
 
 I remain, &c. &. &e. 
 J.S. Trencu, Clerk of the Peace, and Clerk of 
 the Magistrates, for the Parish of Hanover. 
 
 The following is the Statement alluded to in the foregoing 
 Letter : 
 
 * Remarks on Ann Pratr’s Case. 
 
 “J have known Ann Pratt for many years; she is illites 
 rate, and quite unequal to such a work as the production, enti- 
 tled “Seven Months in the Kingston Lunatic Asylum.” 
 She has, for some years past, cohabited with a Jew, named 
 Levi, by whom she has two children, who are now in the 
 custody of her (Ann Pratt’s) mother, and have been, for the 
 last eight or nine months, supported at the parochial expense. 
 T examined the person.of Ann Pratt on the 7th of December, 
 1859, at the Court-House, in Lucea, by request of Mr. J. S 
 
 Trench, Magistrates) Clerk, and Clerk of the Peace, to ascer- 
 . tain if there were any marks of violence on her, as she had 
 brought forward a charge of felonious assault against one 
 
+ 
 
 RO ROT MEE LA RIEL LE LES STOEL ALOT TER IER: 
 
 54 SpATEMENT OF Dr. BREBNen. 
 
 Davis, and others, in which she had, as she stated, received 
 some bruises. I perceived a very faint and trifling black- 
 and-blue mark on the calf of one of her legs, which might 
 have been occasioned, on a person of her fair complexion and 
 relaxed habit, by very slight-pressure. I could not, however, 
 nerceive any indication of an injury which she stated she had 
 received, viz: a laceration of the-———by the broken han- 
 dle of a chair. In submitting herself to my examination 
 she evidenced much excitement and exaggeration of manner, 
 which I concluded to be consequent on the outrage, she said 
 she had sustained. I did not at this time know that she 
 had, on a former occasion, been insane, or would have looked 
 more clearly into it, and would doubtless have concluded, 
 and correctly, that this excitement was premonitory of another 
 outbreak of insanity—the lightning before the storm. I did 
 not give evidence in this case on the 7th December, 1859. 
 Wednesday is generally a busy day in Petty Session ; it is 
 usual to put off serious charges, for investigation, on the day 
 ollowing. Ihave not yet been examined, in consequence 
 of Ann Pratt’s insane state following so soon. On the 10th 
 December I saw Ann Pratt at the Female Prison; she was 
 quiet and melancholy, and her body evinced very rough 
 handling; being very much bruised. She stated to me that 
 the people at Johnson’s Town had been running her, and 
 that to escape she had got under a bed; and that a man 
 had struck her all over with a sword to get her out. She 
 also, with coherency, gave me some detail of her past life, and 
 her reason for living at Barbary Hill. There was, however, 
 abundant evidence to satisfy me of her insanity. On the 
 11th (next day), I found her furious, using language of the 
 foulest kind, and naked, having torn off her clothes as often 
 as put on. She remained in the Female Prison till January 
 15th, when she was sent to the Asylum in Kingston by the 
 “ Marie Louise” schooner. 
 
 “The form of insanity under which she suffered here was 
 ‘mania, alternating with ‘melancholia ; during the pa- 
 roxysms of the former, she would utter the most indecent lan- 
 guage, strip herself naked—eat her own excrement, and rub 
 her body over with her “fwces.” Under these last-named 
 circumstances, and sufficient attendance not being available, 
 the jacket had, much to my reluctance, to be used at times. 
 After the subsidence of these furious paroxysms, she would 
 settle down for a day or two into a quiet melancholy, when 
 she would allow her proper dress to remain, and take exer- 
 cise in the open yard quietly, and converse with those around. 
 These periods of quiet were generally of short duration, and 
 finding that she was notigetting- better, I determined on 
 
| 
 ij 
 \ 
 
 . Ma. Austin to Mr. Trencu. 55 
 
 sending her away from the prison, which is a most improper 
 place for such cases. Her mother attended on her all the 
 time, and by her I was told that Ann Pratt had, on a. for- 
 mer occasion, for some three months, been in a nearly similar 
 state, only not so furious; therefore her friends managed to 
 take care of her. When embarked on board “Marie Louise,” 
 she was in one of her melancholy moods, and amused herself 
 by tearing up her hat, and bits of paper. We are compelled 
 to keep such cases temporarily in the prison, having no other 
 convenient place, till water conveyance for Kingston offers. 
 Several opportunities offered in Ann Pratt’s case, but we did 
 not deem them sufficiently comfortable, so preferred waiting 
 for the “ Marie Louise,” a large schooner, commanded by a 
 most kind and humane Captain, on whose attention to her 
 reliance could be placed. 
 (Signed) “Wan. Bresyer, 
 “ Medical Attendant, Hanover Jail. 
 “ Lucea, Hanover, 6th Aug. 1860.” 
 
 No. 964. Gov. Sec. Office, King’s House, 
 lith August, 1860. 
 Sir, 
 
 I have submitted to the Governor your Letters of the 3d 
 and 8th instant, with their several Enclosures, reporting upon 
 the complaint of Ann Pratt, late a Lunatic Patient in the 
 Asylum under your supervision, and upon the contents of a 
 pamphlet recently published in her name. 
 
 2. The first of these documents having been referred to 
 the Acting Attorney-General, I am to acquaint you, that 
 although, as you therein observe, the persons more immedi- 
 ately implicated in the charges preferred by Ann Pratt had 
 been dismissed from the service of the Asylum before those 
 charges were preferred, that Officer has stated, that imme- 
 diately upon the charges in question being made by Ann 
 Pratt, by way of information, on oath, before a Magistrate, 
 he will feel it incumbent on him, when officially informed of 
 that fact, to direct such criminal proceedings to be taken, in 
 respect of her case, as he may, under the circumstances, con- 
 sider himself enabled by law to adopt. You will cause a 
 communication to this effect to be made to Ann Pratt imme- 
 diately. 
 
 3. With regard to your Report upon the Pamphlet, as you 
 state that that publication has been extensively circulated 
 throughout the island, and transmitted by the last packet 
 
ee ae 
 
 rey 
 
 PAP EE 
 
 cellency 
 let form, 
 
 “with the 
 Merence, 
 
 Religion, 
 c Fune- 
 7 will 
 ia Body, 
 Jamaica, 
 ispapers, 
 
 1860. 
 
 pital and 
 ae Pratt 
 the Llia 
 ency the 
 ‘+ of the 
 ment of 
 PRINTED and 30th 
 
 OSs LLL ER ES ee a L of the 
 Public Hospital and Lunatic Asylum. 
 To Ann Pratt, North Street. 
 
 Gov. Sec. Office, August 13th, 1860. 
 
 No. 973. 
 Sir, 
 
 I am directed by the Governor to acknowledge the receipt 
 of your Letter of the 11th inst. with its Enclosures, and to 
 state, that his Excellency is of opinion that the Letter of the 
 Clerk of the Peace for Hanover, as well as Dr. Brebner’s 
 Statement, should be published with the other Papers, in the 
 case of Ann Pratt. I therefore return them. 
 
 I have the honor to be, Sir, 
 Your most obt. Servt. 
 Huon W. Austin, Gov. Sec. 
 D. P. Trencu, Esq. Inspector and Director.