TO THE EDITOR.

Dec 3.   Anmerkung von Jenny Marx

SIR,—I was unable before writing to you on the 30th ult. to discover Ann Hutton’s lodging and question her further. My information was gained from the statement made by her in the imbecile ward, where the matron’s interruptions rendered it difficult to obtain a clear account. I have seen the woman this morning, and ascertained from her that she was not pursued to the master’s office, but that the matron and under-matron were waiting for her when she returned to the ward she had left.

She has also explained to me that the deficiency in the amount of her beer was about a quarter of a pint—that the quantity served to her was always less than her allowance when the matron drew it, but that when others drew it she usually received her full allowance.

It is fair to all parties to mention these errors of detail in my letter.

To the particulars which I sent you in my last she now adds the following:—

That her liberty to go out was taken away about six weeks previously to her confinement in the imbecile ward, and that the chairman of the visiting committee (Mr. Adams) told her that she should never go outside the gate again. That when first she was placed amongst the imbeciles she was for 14 nights immured in the padded ward, being incarcerated at half-past five in the afternoon and liberated at half-past seven the following morning. She complains that during this time she had neither pillow, sheet, nor blanket except for the last two nights, but was left to sleep on a flock bed with no covering but a hard tick, and that she was so cold as to be unable to dispense with her shoes and stockings.

The guardians of St. Luke’s say that she was not punished. What is punishment?—I am, Sir, your obliged servant,

WM. MILLINGTON
St. Barnabas, King-square, Dec. 2.