1. Cold-blooded murder
2. Body found buried under the fireplace
3. A man of many disguises
4. Deeming chooses his next victim
5. Capture at Southern Cross
6. Journey back to Melbourne
7. Was Deeming Jack the Ripper?
8. Detecting the signs of insanity
9. Preparing Deeming's defence
10. Crime of the Century?

8. Detecting the signs of insanity

Deeming's trial included much discussion about the nature of insanity. A claim to madness was the only defence possible against the overwhelming evidence of his guilt. The progress of the trial took its toll on Deeming's behaviour, which had been consistently confident since his arrest.

At the time of Deeming's trial, medical and legal opinion was divided over the nature of sanity and insanity. The prevailing medical trend was to look for physical manifestations of brain disease, particularly signs of syphilis. In the Royal Commission on Asylums for the Insane (1886), Inspector of Lunatic Asylums, Dr Thomas Dick, one of the prosecution's medical experts, had admitted that it was 'exceedingly difficult at times to say whether a patient is or is not insane', and he often had great difficulty in diagnosing cases. ¹

Much of the medical evidence presented in Deeming's trial centred on the presence or absence of any physical symptoms that would prove he was insane. Syphilis, epileptic fits and blows to the head were all considered physical manifestations of insanity. Deeming had scars on his legs, head and neck, and claimed he had caught syphilis in South Africa. He declared that to kill a woman with the disease would be justified. He also claimed he had suffered from headaches and fits since he was 18 years old. One of the members of his police escort back from Perth testified to witnessing two such fits. The prosecution's experts, however, cast doubt on the genuineness of these attacks.

Dr James Rudall, for instance, visited Deeming in Melbourne Gaol to examine his eyes for any sign of scarring caused by fractures of the skull, and for syphilitic disease at the back of the eye. Deeming had begun wearing glasses following his arrest, but Dr Rudall could find no reason for this. Deeming did have two scars on his head, but a number of other doctors dismissed them as unimportant.

When examined by the medical officer at Melbourne Gaol, Dr Andrew Shields, Deeming claimed not to remember his marriage to Emily Mather or his journey with her to Australia. Shields argued that despite his low moral standards Deeming was sane, partly because there were no physical signs of epilepsy or syphilis.

Dr Springthorpe examined Deeming in Melbourne Gaol on four occasions and appeared for the defence at the trial. He noted that Deeming claimed he talked to his dead mother every night at 2 am and that she said horrible things to him. Reading from his examination notes, Springthorpe told the jury that, according to Deeming,

Deeming also told Springthorpe that both his mother and father had been in mental asylums in England, that his mother had died in one, and that one of his brothers was still in an English asylum. He claimed that his father had been physically violent towards his children, and that one of his sisters had a child by their father. Birthdays rendered Deeming unconscious and he could not remember any of them. He also claimed not to have any memories of his life before the age of 12, except that he was in an asylum near London.

Deeming said he had undergone treatment for fits for several weeks in a hospital in Calcutta in 1881 and also in Sydney. He also reported having been too ill to leave his cell in Hull Gaol, England. Deeming's solicitor, Marshall Lyle, requested further time to investigate these assertions to prepare his case, but this was denied. While medical experts for the defence accepted Deeming's claims, the prosecution's experts argued that Deeming was simply lying.

In evidence given at the trial, Dr Dick observed that Deeming was 'an instinctive criminal ... I think he tried to deceive me by feigning insanity.' He reported that his examination of Deeming's 'head, his eyes, his general appearance' failed to present him with 'any signs of the prisoner's mind being other than in the normal condition.' The doctor argued that while Deeming had a 'defective moral sense', he was not suffering from insanity, but also admitted that he had 'been influenced by the belief that he [Deeming] was guilty of the crime with which he is charged'.²

Deeming's defence team referred to another case in which the same expert witnesses had also given evidence and found the murderer to be insane. Although Deeming's circumstances were similar, these doctors argued that Deeming's insanity was a falsehood.

Lombroso research into criminal types
PROV, VPRS 8369/P1 Correspondence, Photographs and History Sheets of Certain Male Prisoners, unit 1
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The realm of the mind was only just beginning to be understood, and 'sciences' such as phrenology - the study of bumps and lumps of the head - were popular and widely accepted. Phrenologists argued that the contours of the skull indicated the strength of the faculties in the part of the brain they covered. Italian criminologist Cesare Lombroso adapted ideas from phrenology to create a study of criminal types that included Deeming and Ned Kelly as examples. Professor Lombroso believed that certain people were born criminals, and that their criminal nature could be detected in the shape of their skulls and other physical features.

Prior to his execution, doctors from the Victorian Branch of the British Medical Association wrote to the government to permit Deeming to donate his brain for study after his death. The request was denied.

Letter from Victorian Branch of the British Medical Association 12 May 1892
PROV, VPRS 264/P0 Capital Sentence Files, unit 21, Albert Williams [alias Deeming]
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Further illustrations

 

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