MURDER  AND  REPENTANCE

In 1878, all of England was abuzz about the murder of George Merret, father of six, with a pregnant wife.  The incident took place in Lambeth (South London). Who did it?

For years, even up to today, England has had a very low number of shootings, perhaps only one, if any, each year, as compared with hundreds in America.  Some folks even speculated that the shooter might  be an ex-pat American. 

Alas! They were somewhat right.  The shooter was retired U.S. Army surgeon, Dr. William Chester Minor, who was taking a "restful vacation" in England. (Dr. Minor's home was in Connecticut.)

Dr. Minor confessed that he had shot the innocent George Merret because he suspected Merret had broken into his "digs." The "break-in was all in Dr. Minor's mind, because he was a paranoid schizophrenic.

 A Judge ordered the Doctor to spend the rest of his life at England's Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.  Because Dr. Minor had a steady Army pension besides other funds, he was allowed certain privileges. (Money talks! Even then.)

Minor was given two cells, with tables and bookcases,  He was allowed to purchase enough books to fill his bookcases. He had an easy chair to sit in as he read classics of English literature.

He had a kind of picture window from which he could watch the greensward, the clouds, the sheep, and the young girls in short dresses playing tennis.

He was also allowed accompanied walks around the area.  All in all, he was allowed to live the life of a scholar with all the cultural amenities "adhering thereto."

At some point he began a correspondence with  Oxford Professor Murray.  Doctor Murray was in charge of developing the OED (Oxford English Dictionary) which would become an inventory of the English language (actually, The Ultimate English Dictionary.)

There had been other dictionaries (like Dr. Johnson's) but none like this all-inclusive reference creation, and Dr. Murray needed lots of unpaid volunteers to read, and read, and read, and list information on every word of text.  

Dr. Minor volunteered and over many years became the most prolific reader and creator of pertinent word notes that helped in a big way in the final dictionary that filled 20 volumes of print.

(Through the use of computers, the OED was able to be printed in its entirety on very thin paper and compressed into two heavy volumes. My wordsmith son has a copy, which was given, with a useful magnifying glass, as a "come on" by the Book of the Month Club.  (I wonder if there are any copies left.)

 In time, Minor's actions became weirder and weirder, culminating in an act that made me cringe when I read about it.

Eventually, he gave up his OED activity and allowed some of his relatives to take him back to the United States, where he died "peacefully in his sleep."

I read the Dr. Minor story in Simon Winchester's book: "The Professor and the Madman." I had it downloaded to my Kindle and I got caught up immediately in the story.  I heartedly recommend the book, especially if you are a wordsmith.

I understand that the story was featured in a movie called, what else? " The Professor and the Madman."

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Go, and look for interesting English words.