different realities and reactions killing the child. After she herself had been executed they could then meet in heaven. After some hesitation she drowned her child and walked to the nearest justice of the peace, told her story, and asked for a quick sentence and execution. She was imprisoned in Derby where a jury found her not guilty due to insanity.598 Well known is the attempted murder of king George III by James Hadfield in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Hadfield, a former dragoon, May 15th 1800 fired a shot at the king. He missed, despite being at close range, but was not therefore sad or perturbed. His aim rather than killing the king had been to be executed.599 When questioned he said that he was afraid that had he committed suicide he would have ended up in hell.600 According to the Prince of Wales, later George IV, bearing witness at the trial, Hadfield after the crime said that he knew that “his life was forfeited“ and that he was tired of life.601 This aspect of his motive was not of importance at the trial, where the aspects most considered were the ideological or theological background to the attack and the mental health of Hadfield. Due to the latter, he was found not guilty and eventually he was imprisoned, mostly in hospitals, until his death in 1841.602 In 1824 at the Launceston assizes, nineteen years old Amy (also called Emma) George, living in Redruth, who worked in a mine and lived with her parents, was tried for murdering her young brother Benjamin by strangulation. She had considered murdering others first, but chose him because she wanted to send him to heaven and, interesting enough, she also had plans of killing herself with a knife to go to heaven with her brother. A witness said that he had had to hinder her, after the murder of her brother, by taking a knife from her. At the trial both witnesses and the court pursued the idea that the murder was inspired by Methodist revival meetings in Redruth that George had attended for about seven 598 L’esprit des journaux, françois et étrangers 1796II:194 sqq. 599 Moran 1985 p 493. 600 Poole 2000 p 122. 601 The Trial of James Hadfield 1800 p 11 sq, A complete collection of state trials XXVII 1820 col 1299 sq (quotation col 1299). 602 Moran 1985 p 507 sq, 516 note 24, Walker 1968 p 74 sqq. 171
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