Proof Hampden was Crazy

 
Here is proof the John Hampden was not stable. This is a letter that he wrote to Wallace's wife

   Madam

    If your infernal thief of a husband is brought home some day on a hurdle, with every bone in his head smashed to a pulp, you will know the reason. Do you tell him from me he is a lying infernal thief, and as sure as his name is Wallace he never dies in his bed.

    You must be a miserable wretch to be obliged to live with a convicted felon. Do not think or let him think I have done with him.

    John Hampden

In case some of you don't believe that, here is the letter

http://books.google.com/books?id=AhKHGEp857QC&pg=PA261&lpg=PA261&dq=%22If+your+infernal+thief+of+a+husband+is+brought+home+some+day+on+a+hurdle,%22&source=web&ots=TUZHFTe4tc&sig=lu9pGrb2PyyHtg_GlzRWSuC58gU#PPA262,M1

Go to page 262

Just in case you are skeptical, here is Wallace's handwriting, which as you can see is very different

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15997/15997-h/images/image05.png][url]http://www.gutenberg.org/files/15997/15997-h/images/image05.png[/url]

Cooool

So what's your point?

that he's crazy, duh

Dogplatter questioned that Hampden wrote the letter, but when I gave him proof he did not respond.

For some reason I thought this was a thread on Frampton.   I had to share that. Sorry.

For some reason I thought this was a thread on Frampton.   I had to share that. Sorry.

Thanks for sharing. Weirdo.

For some reason I thought this was a thread on Frampton.   I had to share that. Sorry.

Subject change, I love Frampton. This is now a post a pic/lyric of Frampton thread.

Here is proof the John Hampden was not stable. This is a letter that he wrote to Wallace's wife

If a man stole all of your money, committed libel against you, sued you in court, and had you falsely imprisoned on numerous occasions, wouldn't you share John Hamden's feelings towards Alfred Russel Wallace?

Two things.

Now, I don't intend this as an ad hominem against Wallace's biographer, but let's face it, he's fairly likely to side with Wallace on something like this. In other words, I don't think you've provided sufficient legitimate evidence that Hampden penned the letter (especially given that Hampden, as far as I'm aware, consistently denied making the death-threat).

Second, if we assume that you're correct and that Hampden did pen the letter, then as Tom pointed out, the attitude expressed in the correspondance is certainly mitigated by the horrendous misconduct and trickery of Wallace.

especially given that Hampden, as far as I'm aware, consistently denied making the death-threat

proof please

the attitude expressed in the correspondance is certainly mitigated by the horrendous misconduct and trickery of Wallace.

Read on the link I gave you pg. 261. In a letter to his friend he wrote

I return Hampden's letters. I actioned him for Libel but he won't plead, and says he will make himself bankrupt and won't pay a penny. As the man is half mad, I don't want to indict him criminally and infuriate him, and so I suppose he will continue to write endless torrents of abuse until the end of his life

While I respect your opinion, you have to admit that I have given much more evidence that Hampden was the one at fault, while all you have are gut feelings and guesses.

Also, Wallace never got any money for the wager. Even further evidence is that once Wallace had his telescope set up Hampden refused to even look in it!

Hampden contested his charges (he was arrested for allegedly threatening to murder Wallace, which he denied) - that much is fact.

Now, I imagine your next tack will be to present Hampden's published apologies. I shall pre-empt you by saying that these in no way indicate an actual admission of guilt or remorse - Hampden was forced by the courts to produce these humiliating documents and consistently denounced them as the false confessions they were.

Hampden never threatened to kill Wallace, and it is my opinion that while correspondances did occur between Hampden and Wallace's wife, they are not those which you have quoted - Hampden's explanation of his dealings with Anne Wallace vastly differ from the content of those letters on which Hampden's post-threat arrest hinged.

Hampden kept coming back for more. He never lost any money to Wallace(due to the law of the time), yet still could not stand the blow to his ego. How can you say Wallace faked his results when Hampden refused to look into Wallace's microscope. That is hardly science. Wallace, on the other hand, thoroughly researched his opponent's results and was able to make counter arguments.

Wallace was hardly a man of science, as an examination of his views on spirituality, mediums, psychics and other ghost-related nonsense will reveal.

Hampden did not "keep coming back for more", Wallace did. Hampden wasn't looking to be driven into bankruptcy and forced to write humiliating apology letters.

Hampden got his money back. That didn't satisfy him. He tried to destroy Wallace. Wallace retaliated. As the letter I showed you suggests,

I actioned him for Libel but he won't plead, and says he will make himself bankrupt and won't pay a penny

Wallace was hardly a man of science, as an examination of his views on spirituality, mediums, psychics and other ghost-related nonsense will reveal.

That much is true, but does that mean you should claim you have been cheated when you haven't even seen the results?

Hampden got his money back. That didn't satisfy him. He tried to destroy Wallace. Wallace retaliated. As the letter I showed you suggests

Hampden did not "get his money back". He was driven into bankruptcy by Wallace's repeated, unwarranted legal action.

Read the bottom of page 260 of the book I showed you. It states Hampden received his money back due to the law of the time. Hampden later released the pamphlets, which Wallace sued him for.

Also, How do you know it was unwarranted if Hampden refused to even look through Wallace's telescope?

Wallace sued repetitively because Hampden kept releasing new leaflets and such

We know a lot about Wallace but I can't find much information about Hampden. Where did Hampden get his money from?