HC Deb 10 March 1884 vol 285 cc1036-7
SIR HERBERT MAXWELL

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the narrative of Alexander Kay, as published in The Westminster and Lambeth Gazette of 16th November and 16th December 1883, in which his detention for upwards of five years in various lunatic asylums is described, and his subsequent escape from Brook-wood Asylum; and, whether the allegations contained in the said narrative are in accordance with fact?

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT

, in reply, said, he had not seen the particular narrative referred to in the Question of the hon. Baronet, though many such narratives, written by Alexander Kay, had been received at the Home Office. He thought he could safely answer that there was no truth in the allegations contained in the narrative. The case had been frequently examined, and there was no reason to believe that the man was improperly detained.