“Nor could he recollect that two days prior to the crime (as a witness had sworn) he went to the river side, fired a shot into the air, and declared that he was going to shoot Hill and his (prisoner’s) sweetheart.
“Dr. Owen Taylor, police surgeon, said when arrested prisoner had a strange expression, and appeared utterly indifferent to everything going on around him. “He betrayed no excitement, and during the whole of the time witness questioned him he stared witness straight in the face with a fixed and vacant expression.”
“Two days later his condition vastly improved, he answered more quickly and brightly, and knew that he was accused of murder.
“Witness tested him in every possible way, but he had not the slightest remembrance of anything that happened on the fateful day.
“Pressed by the Judge to give an opinion, witness said it was possible that while suffering from an epileptic seizure, prisoner did not know what he was doing.
“The jury found prisoner guilty, and sentence of death was passed.”
Instances similar to the above can easily be multiplied, but I content myself with one more case of recent date. The following appeared in the daily press of November 15, 1911—
“In charging the Grand Jury at the Stafford assizes yesterday, Mr. Justice Pickford referred to the case of Karl Kramer, who was arraigned for the triple murder at Kidsgrove. His Lordship pointed out that during the magisterial inquiry there seemed to be considerable doubt as to prisoner’s sanity, and the magistrates adjourned the case sine die. A verdict of “Wilful Murder” was returned against him by the Coroner’s Jury, and he did not think the jury would have any hesitation in finding that there was a prima facie case against the prisoner. When, later, Kramer was carried into court, he seemed in a state of collapse.
“Sir Richard Brayn, Home Office expert, in his evidence, said he examined the prisoner in Stafford Gaol on September 28. Questions were put to him, but no response could be elicited. Kramer’s body and head were bent forward, and the only movement was a twitching of his right forefinger. He was in a state of rigidity the whole time.
“He had examined Kramer several times since, and had applied a test as to his sensibility, but the results were entirely negative. He formed the opinion that the prisoner was quite incapable of exercising his mental faculties in any way.