Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 2: From the eighteenth century to its demolitionGriffiths, Arthur
History
Chronicles of Newgate, Vol. 2: From the eighteenth century to its demolition
Griffiths, Arthur
Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England); Prisons -- England; Punishment -- Great Britain
carriage came up to him Oxford turned, put his hand into his breast,
drew a pistol, and fired at the Queen.
The shot missed, and as the carriage passed on, Oxford drew a second
pistol and fired again. The Queen saw this second movement, and stooped
to avoid the shot; the Prince too rose to shield her with his person.
Again, providentially, the bullet went wide of the mark, and the royal
party drove back to Clarence House, the Queen being anxious to give the
first news of the outrage and of her safety to her mother, the Duchess
of Kent. Meanwhile the pistol-shots had attracted the attention of the
bystanders, of whom there was a fair collection, as usual, waiting to
see the Queen pass. Oxford was seized by a person named Lowe, who was
at first mistaken for the assailant. But Oxford at once assumed the
responsibility for his crime, saying, "It was I. I did it. I'll give
myself up. There is no occasion to use violence. I will go with you."
He was taken into custody, and removed first to a police cell, thence
committed to Newgate, after he had been examined before the Privy
Council. Oxford expressed little anxiety or concern. He asked more
than once whether the Queen was hurt, and acknowledged that the pistols
were loaded with ball.
A craze for notoriety, to be achieved at any cost, was the one
absorbing idea in young Oxford's disordered brain. After his arrest
he thought only of the excitement his attempt had raised, nothing of
its atrocity, or of the fatal consequences which might have ensued.
When brought to trial he hardly realized his position, but gazed with
complacency around the crowded court, and eagerly inquired what persons
of distinction were present. He smiled continually, and when the
indictment was read, burst into loud and discordant fits of laughter.
These antics may have been assumed to bear out the plea of insanity set
up in his defence, but that there was madness in his family, and that
he himself was of unsound mind, could not be well denied. His father,
it was proved, had been at times quite mad; and Oxford's mental state
might be inferred from his own proceedings and demeanour in court. The
whole of the evidence pointed so strongly towards insanity, that the
jury brought in a verdict of acquittal on that ground, and Oxford was
ordered to be detained during Her Majesty's pleasure. He went from
Newgate first to Bethlehem, from which he was removed to Broadmoor on
the opening of the great criminal lunatic asylum at that place. He was
released from Broadmoor in 1878, and went abroad.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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