Homicidal mania : a biography, with physiological and medico-legal comments / by D. Yellowlees, M.D.

  • Yellowlees, D. (David)
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Homicidal mania : a biography, with physiological and medico-legal comments / by D. Yellowlees, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    It] old man, who had spent so much of his life in this solitary room, doffing his Kilmarnock, raising himself in bed with the dignity of a poet-laureate, and singing with heart and voice the praises of our honoured Queen. He professed to he indifferent to praise, as already perfectly satisfied with his own performance, still it was not unwelcome. Ere you left, he was almost certain to tell you, if he thought you worth speaking civilly to at all, that he was going to remain in the Asylum no longer; that he had already shown what he could do, and was determined ere the week was over to murder the doctor or some of the attendants. That he had houses in Edinburgh, whose accumulated rents now amounted to a large sum, and that even if he had nothing, his own inventions would secure him a fortune; that therefore they had better let him out before he kills some of them, for if he has to begin he'll soon do the trick for them and give them a most unmerciful cruel death. When the subject of his murderous attempts was introduced, he delighted to rehearse them to his visiter; they lost nothing in the recital, and he always darkly hinted of some deed far more terrible than these which he was about to perpetrate. If he was pleased with you and your visit, he probably would offer or promise you a copy of the anthem he had sung. In the end of 1858, he had a slight apoplectic attack, but its effects were very transient and did not alter his mental condition. In 1859, he was as poetical, loyal, and homicidal as ever. He fre- quently appointed days for murdering certain people, and had always some ingenious reason for his non-fulfilment of the threat. When he failed to find a good excuse, he said it was in order to show that he was a merciful man, and not the bloodthirsty villain they took him for. In further support of this, he used to quote occasions when he might have brained or strangled an attendant and yet refrained, not recognising that this very argument was a confession of how constantly the thought of murder was uppermost in his mind. About this time Willie was offered the privilege of a visit to Edinburgh. For almost twenty years he had never been beyond the grounds of the Asylum, and had spent most of the time in his solitary room. He was, from old age and increasing dementia, by no means the formidable man he once had been; and it seemed that this indulgence might with proper precautions be safely granted, and might add a little happiness to his lonely life. He was much elated at the prospect and very grateful. He selected the night- watch as the person who should accompany him, and at the time appointed he was ready, dressed in the best suit the attendants could procure. He went to the door full of eager anticipation ; but as soon as he saw the carriage waiting for him, and understood that he was not to walk through the town as he had intended, he turned and went straight back to his room, threw aside the new suit, and absolutely refused to go.