■& ;V -AT} --*\ £») 'V- So .*'* '•»" ,* '^. < 5 I 1 l.f'Ui PHREKOLOGICAl SO'C 113'. -,, •> T i"1'v'' *,? i n \ * i v KINGTON. W /■ & W /•. ,M K.RAFFT? PHIN VZ' , t <- ■<■ ■ ^> •$•.£.$.$■•$■«$■•$■-^4 <&'■ *$ cv; *& \& w. >&'. ■&■. yp.««SRi^.^ v' :Tr?fc~% A REPORT SUBMITTED TO THE PHRENOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF THE CITY OF WASHINGTON, ON THE 14th OF MARCH 1828, AND PRINTED BY ORDER. At a meeting of the Phrenological Society of Wash- ington City, held at the Medical College on the 14th of March 1828, Doctor Brereton from the Committee ap- pointed for that purpose, submitted the following Report, which was adopted: Mr. President, The Committee appointed by the Society at its meeting on the 14th of August last, beg leave to Report, That they have delayed reporting on the subject referred to them, from an expectation of almost daily receiving from Richmond, the manuscript, containing a detail of the histories or lives of the executed criminals, the associates of Tardy, written by one at the dictation of the others. Had it been re- a ceived, the Committee deemed that a general report of the whole would have been more satisfactory to the Society, than the single one that is now presented. As a preliminary, it is thought expedient, that the follow- ing correspondence and facts be exhibited, to shew the authen- ticity of the cast which is now before you. Soon after the fate of Tardy was known, one of the Committee addressed a letter to Surgeon Everett, stationed at Fortress Monroe, requesting his assistance in procuring the cranium: to which he returned the following answer: "Fortress Monroe, June 29th, 1827. " Dear Sir:—Your letter requesting the cranium of Tar- " dy is received. It will be forwarded as soon as circumstan- ** ces permit; of which, notice will be given. "Yours truly, J. EVERETT, "Jos. Loveix, M. D. Surg. Gen'I. Surgeon U. S. Army." A short time afterwards reports reached us of a nature that would lead us to fear a disappointment: under this impres- sion another letter was written to Doctor Everett, for more correct information. The following is his reply: " Fortress Monroe, July 31st, 1827. " Dear Sir:—I am happy in being able to state in reply " to your note of the 24th instant, that the report of the news- «« papers in relation to the decapitation, &c. of Tardy, is no «« more to be credited than the various statements in matters " of fact and opinion with which their columns generally <« abound. <* The report alluded to originated from some loose " ' camp stories* in circulation here, and the fact that a similar « request to that made by you, was preferred by some gentle- «« men of Baltimore, curious in that way, to Doctor Archer, «' but not before the head of Tardy was in my possession. «« As to any mistake about the person from whom the head «« was taken, you may rest perfectly satisfied. I knew Tardy " when alive—1 knew him and carefully examined him when " dead—saw him buried, which was more than a mile from '« that of any other dead body. There can therefore be no ** mistake upon the subject. " Very truly yours, J. EVERETT. "Doctor J.JLotelLj Washington City." 3 On the 1st of August 1827 the Secretary of the Navy, together with a largo company, in which was one of your Com- mittee, left this city to visit the line of battle ship, North Caro- lina, Commodore Rogers, then but just arrived at Norfolk, Virginia, from the Mediterranean. While at Fortress Mon- roe, Doctor Everett had completed the preparation of the cranium, and handed it over to him. On his return, during the succeeding week, he presented it to the Society, who directed casts to be made from it. The casts have since been compared, examined and measured, and have been found to agree accu- rately in every particular, with the original,* and this now be- fore you, is one of the number so ordered. DEVELOPEMENT OF ALEXANDER TARDY. PROPENSITIES. I. Amativeness ... very large. 2. Philoprogenitiveness - large. 3. Concentrativeness - full. 4. Adhesiveness ... moderate. 5. Combativeness - - full. 6. Destructiveness - - very large. 7. Constructiveness - - moderate. 8. Aquisitiveness - - - full. 9. Secretiveness - - - full. SENTIMENTS. 10. Self-esteem - - - 11. Love of approbation 12. Cautiousness - - 13. Benevolence - - 14. Veneration - - 15. Hope .... 16. Ideality .... 17. Conscientiousness - 18. Firmness - - - moderate. full. rather small. full. very small. very small. rather full. small. full. INTELLECT. 19. Individuality JJJ^* Form -^ 20, 21. Size 22. Weight 23. Colouring - 24. Locality 25. Order - - 26. Time - - 27 Number 28. Tune - - 29. Language • 30. Comparison 31. Causality - 32. Wit - - - 33. Imitation Wonder moderate. full. unascertained, very small. full. moderate. moderate. rather full. full. unascertained full. moderate. rather full. moderate. moderate. The head is large, broad, "and flat at the vertex, which gives it a low forehead: a large preponderance of measurement behind the meatus. It forms a striking similarity with the heads of Vitellus and Pope Alexander VI. MEASUREMENT OF THE CRANIUM. From Occip. Spine to Lower Individuality " " to Ear " Ear or Meatus to Lower Individuality " " to Firmness " Destructiveness to Destructiveness " Cautiousness to Cautiousness " Ideality to Ideality Ins. lOtbs. 7 1 COMPARATIVE MEASUREMENT. 1 1-oa zs .Is y s 1 o 01 .3 °« so a. •g O 1 if s u S o s w | ig II ■S3 s p 3 « o s2 I* ■a 3 <3 i s 1 5.7 5.4 5.4 American -Scotch - -Tardy - - 7.7 7.5 7.5 4.4 4.3| 4.9 5.1 4.9* 4.7 5.7 5.9 5.7 6.0 5.8 6.6 5.7 5.7 5.6 From Combe's Table. As the above measurements of the American and Scotch were taken over the integuments, two-tenths of an inch have been allowed to each point of the callipers for the same on Tardy's cranium. It is deemed a very small allowance. Measurements of the Skulls of criminals executed for Murder. 6 2% % a 11 0 1 i 1 ■a 0 2 > 1! E'S, i Si c u 0.2 .2 = 1 I" S 2 (X 1. Matthew Osborne 5 4 53 c:4 4 "| 2. Bridget Butter ly 4$ 4 (12 Bellingham, see 4. James Gordon - 42 4s H 52 ^8 Transactions, pace 339. 5. John Bellingham 45 44 ■ 3 43 6. Don Felix - - 4 8 *To" 4-T-10 5 • JT0 °To- 'i 1 JTff *c«"$r&? 4-6 HTJS 4 8 rl 5 fro" alo"- 4~7-^1 0 4 9 Murderers of the crew and passen-^> gers of the Brig Crawford, on the 1st of Jane 1827. 8. Pepe - - - - 4 -5- 4-4-10 3TTJ 3To- 4 5 Alexander Tardy - 4-s-10 4-3-10 "iff *>Tff ° 5 Measurements of Full Casts, or over the Integuments, of criminals executed for Murder. b °«g s-5 il s il s:e I 8 Q O m !i 1 > 3 i 3 1 It r a s 3 3 g i 1. John Thurtell 2. John Pallet 3. John Slade 4. John Keppel 5. John Johnson 6. B. Ennis 7. Liscombe Alexander Tardy 5 5 4* 4 9 4 To- 4s 4* 6tV* 6tV 6 6| 6 6 6 °io- 6| 53 3T7 Phren. Jour'I. v. 1, p. 329. Do. do. do. 427. -< From the Cambridge Chronicle, (an Eng-> lish paper.) - Such then is the devclopement and measurement of the individual under consideration: the task of deducing from them their corresponding traits becomes easy to the Phreno- logist; but we deem it not necessary to detain you on this sub- ject as the history, &c. of the indivividual is two well developed in this book, I now hold in my hand, and which we beg leave to submit as our report, in part.* The public newspapers also, during the last summer, contained abundance of information and were not tardy in gratifying the insatiable thirst of their patrons in detailing all the minutise of the "tale of horror.** A collection of those are also submitted; but it is to be remarked, however, that the former contains all in a better dress, than that which may be found in the latter, with the exception of two paragraphs, which it is deemed necessary to notice in this report. The first is from " The Portsmouth Commercial Ad- vertiser" of the State of New Hampshire, viz: " TARDY—The Pirate.—This fellow came into Portsmouth in the Congress " Frigate in the autumn of 1813, and remained here a considerable time. If we re- " member right he was the Cabin-steward of that ship, and was called Captain Stew- * See the annexed « Brief Sketch of the occurrences on board of the brig Crawford, &c. Sec.!' 6 ■• ard on account of his French pronunciation. Captain Smith of the Congress, it will " be recollected, came in here in ill health, and we have heard that his subsequent . " death was attributed to poison administered to him on board that ship. Tardy mix- " ed with the most abandoned company here, and was in frequent broils. He after* " wards went to Boston, and was there arrested for stealing the pocket book of the " late Captain G. W. Balch, at Colonel Wilde's stage-house, of which theft he was " convicted and punbhed with three years confinement in the State Prison." Now all this may be very true with the exception of the in- sinuation of poison being administered to Captain Smith. I speak from personal knowledge,* and I wiH do Tardy th€ jus- tice to observe, that I believe he faitb fully performed his duty to Captain Smith, during the whole time he served on board of the United States Frigate Congress, with but one or two exceptions; one was in purloining some of Captain Smith's private stores and selling the same to one of the petty officers, in which he was detected and flogged severely by order of Com- modore Warrington, who was at that time the first Lieutenant of the Congress. It appears by the <« Muster rolls" of that ves- sel now in the archives of the Navy Department, that Tardy was shipped at Norfolk, Virginia, in March 1812, and dis- charged at Portsmouth, New Hampshire, on the 8th of March 1814, having fully served the term of his enlistment. As Tardy was discharged in March 1814, we saw no more of him, and Captain Smith remained in command of the Congress. Captain Smith was, sometime afterwards, ordered to the com- mand of the Franklin 74, then lying at Philadelphia, where he died on the 6th of August 1815, nearly eighteen months after his separation from Tardy. You will acknowledge, that if the insinuation be believed, it must have required a most wonder- ful and insiduous poison to produce effects so very remote from its administration, and of such qualities too as are unknown to the faculty, or even to Orfila himself. The fact was, that Captain Smith had been for several years laboring under all the grades of dispepsia and general derangement of the chy- lopoietic organs, which eventuated in his final dissolution. The second paragraph that claims attention is furnished by a correspondent of the ** Fall-River Monitor," a paper pub- lished in the State of Massachusetts, and is as follows: " The notorious Alexander Tardy was one of those unfortunate persons who " have inhabited the island of Hispaniola, and been compelled to leave the place dur- " ing the convulsions which that ill-fated island has experienced. Finding he could • Dr. Brereton was late a Surgeon in the Navy, and attached to the Frigate Congress, before and during the late war with Great Britain. 7 "no longer remain there in safety, he agreed with the Captain of an American vessel to take h.mse.fand such of his property as could be removed to the Un S S^ e ".I, 7 T P ^ ^ Tardy l° bC °D h0»d at the *»« °f -'-S. be was to « tt m u!h oafteUhnha %th€ T1 t08aU imme