On Wednesday Mr. Norris NICHOLSON and a jury of 23 gentlemen concluded  an
inquiry at the White Hart, Brislington, Bristol, into the sanity of Mr.  Charles
Pierre MELLY, a member of the firm of MELLY Brothers, merchants,  Liverpool.
The petitioner in the case was Mrs. Louise MELLY, wife of the alleged  
lunatic, who was represented by Mr. BUCKNILL, of the Western Circuit. The  defendant
conducted his own case.

It appeared that Mr. MELLY was a gentleman well known in Liverpool as an  
excellent man of business and as taking great interest in philanthropic matters.  
Hard work had told upon his health, and in 1878 he went to Geneva to obtain
some  rest. On his return to Liverpool there was a marked change in his
demeanour. In  March 1879, Mr. MELLY fired three shots from a revolver at a solicitor’
s clerk  who went to his residence to serve a writ upon him. He conceived the
idea that  men were continually lurking about his office to kill  him.
Eventually he  was placed in an asylum in Liverpool, and afterwards in Dr. FOX’s
private  establishment in Brislington.

He believed he was the president of a secret society called “The Society of  
St. George for God and for Right.” He signed himself “No. 5000,” adding to
the  figures a cross, the form of which he said was suggested to him in a
vision. He  administered the oath of membership to Dr. GILL, the superintendent of
the  Liverpool Asylum, and to an attendant named PUGH.

The defendant conducted his case with much ability, and displayed great  
shrewdness in cross examining the witnesses. He informed the jury that he was  
placed in a lunatic asylum to prevent his becoming a member of Parliament for  
Liverpool.

Among the witnesses examined were Mr. WHITLEY, M. P., Liverpool, and Mr. S.  
G. RATHBONE, chairman of the Liverpool School Board and brother of the late  
Liberal member for that borough. Mr. RATHBONE is the defendant’s first cousin.  
Evidence was given by Drs. DRYSDALE, GEE, AND GILL (of Liverpool), BRITTAN
(of  Clifton), FALCONER (of Bath), and FOX (of Brislington), who all agreed that
the  defendant was suffering from paralysis of the brain, was of unsound
mind, and  incapable of managing himself or his affairs. The witnesses called by
Mr. MELLY  strengthened the case against him.

The jury eventually found that he was of unsound mind and incapable of  
managing himself or his affairs.