§ MR. BALLANTINE (Coventry)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any medical inquiry was held at Nottingham Gaol into the mental condition of Walter Smith after his condemnation for murder?
§ MR. ASQUITHAt the trial there was no allegation that this prisoner was suffering from insanity, and not a particle of evidence to that effect was put forward by his counsel. On the contrary, it was said he was a steady man, devoted to work. The first representation that he was mentally unsound was received by me the day before the execution in the form of a telegram from his uncle; but that gave no particulars, and there was never any Report or suggestion from the Medical Authorities of the gaol that the man was mentally unsound or that his mind was affected.