Millbank Penitentiary: An Experiment in Reformation — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Millbank Penitentiary: An Experiment in Reformation
John Stuart Mill · en
He was caught in a clandestine correspondence with his relatives
outside, and for this he was transferred to “the dark.” Fifteen minutes
afterwards they find him suspended from the top of his cell gate by
his pocket handkerchief. They cut him down at once. He pretends to
be unable to speak, yet it is clear that he has not done himself the
slightest injury. Nevertheless, to keep him out of mischief, he is
removed to the infirmary and put into a strait jacket. To escape from
this restraint he embarks upon a new line of imposture. He sends an
urgent message to the chaplain, having, as he asserts, a weighty sin
upon his conscience, which he wishes at once to disclose.
“Some four years ago, sir, I murdered a young woman. She was the one I
kept company with. I was jealous. I threw her into the New River. Sir,
I have never had a happy moment since I committed the deed. My life is
a burthen to me; and I would gladly terminate it upon the scaffold.”
“Are you quite sure you are telling me the truth?” the chaplain asks.
“The truth, sir—God’s truth. If I am not, may I,” etc.
He detailed the circumstances of the murder with so much
circumstantiality that it was thought advisable to take all down in
writing, so as to make full inquiry; but both governor and chaplain
were “fully convinced that the prisoner had fabricated the whole
story in the hopes of getting himself removed to Newgate.” No sort of
corroboration was obtained outside, of course, and by and by the matter
dropped. I have merely quoted this as a sequel and commentary upon the
conduct of Edwards, proving that he was clearly an impostor from first
to last.