Description

On 20 January 1908 a sensational
trial began in the Supreme Court
of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown.
Mr. Edwin 0. Brown, 33, a lawyer
with the Charlottetown firm of McLeod
and Bentley, was charged with forging
seven mortgages, the largest valued at
$1,200. The case hinged on the question
of Brown's sanity, and the trial was the
centre of controversy. As the Crown
prosecutor observed, it was the first case
of its kind upon which a plea of insanity
had been fought out in the Supreme
Court. A city of only 11,500, Charlottetown
did not see such events often,
and hundreds of spectators turned out to
watch the trial. Those too late to get into
the courtroom had to be content to stand
outside the brick courthouse on Queen
Square.