This is the ninth installment in our on-going series about Robert Austin Shearn - A Criminal in the Family.
Part One - Troubled: A Criminal in the Family
Part Two - 1877: A Fateful Year
Part Three - British Army Service
Part Six - Melbourne to Adelaide and Incarceration in the Parkside Lunatic Asylum
Part Seven - Parkside Lunatic Asylum: A Closer Look
Part Eighth - Bicycle Theft Dunolly
In this installment we consider another low point for Robert Austin Shearn, his commitment to another asylum. This time time in Kew Asylum in Kew, Victoria, Australia.
According to the record, “Victoria, Australia, Asylum Records, 1853-1940 for Robert Austin Sheran Kew Asylum Case Books of Male Patients, 1871-1912,” he was committed for "mania acute." The record contains the following:
Name: Robert Austin Sheran
Form of Insanity: Mania Acute (J.Q.E)
By whom brought: Police
Previous residence: Gordon Chambers Little Bourkes St. Melbourne
Age and sex: Male 28 years
Married, single, or widowed: Single
If any family: -
Occupation: Electrical Engineer
Habits of life: Unknown
Native place: New Orleans America
Religion: Ch of E
Duration of present attack: 14 days
If disordered before, and how long: M Parkside Asylum, S.A.
Supposed case: unknown
If hereditary: ‘
Specific signs of insanity: ‘
Whether subject to epilepsy: no
If suicidal: no
If dangerous: no
If destructive:
State of bodily health:
Name and address of nearest relative or friend: Alfred Cowley The Oaks Toowong Brisbane
Request by JP’s
Facts indicating insanity before admission: Escalation. Random statements. Loquacity. Fighting his own shadow training in an almost nude condition. Says he was employed by Edison.
Mental state on admission:
Exaltation:
Excitement: none
Depression:
Enfeeblement:
Memory: fair
Delusions:
Coherence: coherent
Conformation: good
Expression: worried
Integumentary: “
Respiratory: “
Circulatory: “
Alimentary: “
Genito Urinary:
Bodily state on admission:
re Robert Austin Sheran received 3.30 p.m. Tattoo R.A.S. left arm - old rash both legs. Some pimples on back. No signs of organie disease.
Sqo Arthur Simpson
Page 2
Admitted 13th Oct 1905
14.10.05 Inclined to loquacity: Boastful of powers. Coherent - memory good. Supdt’s report He is in condition of acute mania with considerable loquacity and exaltation. Says he is the equal in strength and prowess of any man on earth also in intellectual attainments. Probably a GP. He is in fair health and rather gross soft condition. Sqd WH Barker 16.10.05
11.11.05 No change in mental condition
3.2.06 Discharged Sec 104 : By pass to 2d award given
Discharged 3.2.06
Right away we see two conflicts: the spelling of his name and his city of origin. The spelling is likely just a misunderstanding, but the city of origin seems strange. Perhaps Robert, if it was he who said it, was confused or just lied. Other data in the record indicates that this is our Robert Austin Shearn. One is simply that he was said to be manic. He has that in previous records. Also, his nearest relative is a Cowley which was his mother’s maiden name. Alfred Cowley from Toowong, Brisbane was his mother’s first cousin.
Two things the record does not say are exactly where he was picked up and what prompted the pick up. It does say how he was behaving when they picked him up, but it does not say who called it in or if the police were just passing by or what. It does show that he was taken on 13 October 1905.
The record says that Robert Austin Shearn had "mania acute." According to The History of Insane Asylums website, acute mania was mania that had only recently manifested. We see he was brought in by the police.He was 28 years old and had lived at Gordon Chambers on Little Bourkes St in Melbourne. He said he was single and an electrical engineer. That’s the first time we have heard that he was an electrical engineer. Apparently he had been suffering from acute mania for about two weeks. He had been fighting his own shadow when the police took him into custody at about 3:30 pm. Reference is made to his time spent at Parkside. He is not epileptic. He was coherent and had a fair memory, but he was worried. He had a rash on his legs, but no sign of disease. He also had an RAS tattoo on his left arm.
The second page is a listing of dates and observations of Robert Austin Shearn’s mental acuity. There is no indication that he got better. But he was released on 3 Feb 1906.
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