Alias Grace (55 page)

At that same time the Governor’s wife called me into the parlour, and asked me very earnestly if
Dr. Jordan had ever made any improper advances to me; and I said that he had not, and that in
any case the door to the sewing room had always been kept open. Then she said she had been
deceived as to his character, and she had been harbouring a viper in the bosom of her family; and
next she said that the poor lady in black had been interfered with by him, having been alone in her
house with the servant gone, although I was not to speak of it, as to do so would cause more harm
than good; and although this lady was a married lady, and her husband had been abominable to
her, and thus it was not quite so bad as if she’d been a young girl, still Dr. Jordan had behaved
most improperly, and it was a mercy things with Miss Lydia had never gone so far as an
engagement.

Not that I think there was any idea of such, in Dr. Jordan’s mind at all; nor do I believe
everything that was being said against him, as I know what it is to have lies told about a person,
and you not able to defend yourself. And widows are always up to tricks, until they get too old for
it.

But that is all idle gossip. This is what I would especially like to ask you: Did you really see into
the future, when you looked into my palm and said five for luck, which I took to mean all would
come out well in the end? Or were you only trying to comfort me? I would very much like to
know, as sometimes the time stretches out so long, I can scarcely endure it. I am afraid of falling
into hopeless despair, over my wasted life, and I am still not sure how it happened. The Reverend
Verringer often prays with me, or I should say he prays and I listen; but it is not much good, as it
only makes me tired. He says he will get up another Petition, but I fear it will not be of any more
use than the others have been, and he might as well not waste the paper.

The other thing I would like to know is, why did you want to help me? Was it as a challenge, and
to outwit the others, as with the smuggling you used to do; or was it out of affection and
fellow-feeling? You said once we were of the same sort, and I have often pondered over that.

I hope this will reach you, but if it does, I don’t know how you will get word back to me, as any
letter I might have they would be sure to open. However I think you did send me a message, as
some months ago I received a bone button, addressed to me though with no signature, and the
Matron said, Grace, why would anyone send you a single button? And I said I did not know. But
as it was the same pattern as the button you gave to me in the kitchen at Mrs. Alderman
Parkinson’s, I felt it must be you, to let me know I was not altogether forgotten. Perhaps there
was another message in it also, as a button is for keeping things closed up, or else for opening
them; and you may have been telling me to keep silent, about certain things we both know of. Dr.

Jordan believed that even common and unregarded objects can have a meaning, or else recall to
memory a thing forgotten; and you may only have been reminding me of yourself, which indeed
was not needed, as I have never forgotten you and your kindnesses to me, nor ever will.

I hope you are in good health, dear Jeremiah, and that your Magic Show is a great success,
From, your old friend,

Grace Marks.

From Mrs. William P. Jordan, Laburnum House, Loomisville, Massachusetts, The United States of
America; to Mrs. C. D. Humphrey, Lower Union Street, Kingston, Canada West.

May 15th, 1862.

Dear Mrs. Humphrey:

Your communication to my dear Son came to hand this morning. I open all his mail nowadays, for
reasons I will shortly explain. But first permit me to remark, that I could have wished you to
express yourself in a less extravagant manner. To threaten to do yourself an injury, by jumping
off a bridge or other elevated location, might carry weight with an impressionable and
tender-hearted young man, but it does not, with his more experienced Mother.

In any case, your hope of an interview with him must be disappointed. Upon the outbreak of our
current lamentable war, my Son joined the Union army to fight for his country in the capacity of
Military Surgeon, and was sent at once to a field hospital near the front. The postal services have
been sadly disrupted, and the troops are moved about so quickly due to the railroads, and I had
no word of him for some months, which was not like him as he has always been a most regular
and faithful correspondent; and I feared the worst.

In the meantime I did what I could in my own limited sphere. This unfortunate War had already
killed and wounded so many, and we saw the results daily, as yet more men and boys were
brought in to our improvised Hospitals, mutilated and blinded, or out of their minds with
infectious fevers; and every one of them a dearly loved Son. The ladies of our town were kept
thoroughly occupied, in visiting them and arranging for them any little home-like comforts it was
within our power to supply; and I myself aided them as best I could, despite my own indifferent
state of health; as I could only hope that if my dear Son were lying ill and suffering elsewhere,
some other Mother was doing the same for him.

At last, a convalescent soldier from this town reported hearing a rumour that my dear Son had
been struck in the head by a piece of flying debris, and when last heard of had been lingering
between this world and the next. Of course I was almost dead with worry, and moved Heaven and
earth to discover his whereabouts; until much to my joy, he was returned to us, still alive but
sadly weakened both in body and spirit. As a result of his wound he had lost a part of his memory;
for although he recalled his loving Parent, and the events of his childhood, his more recent
experiences had been completely erased from his mind, among them his interest in Lunatic
Asylums, and the period of time he spent in the city of Kingston; including whatever relations of
any kind he may or may not have had with yourself.

I tell you this that you may see things in a broader — and I may add, a less selfish perspective.

One’s own personal doings look small indeed, when faced with the momentous travails of History,
which we can only trust are for the greater good.

Meanwhile, I must congratulate you on the fact that your husband has been at last located,
although I must also commiserate with you on the unfortunate circumstances. To discover that
one’s spouse has passed away due to prolonged intoxication and the resulting delirium, cannot
have been at all pleasant. I am happy to hear that he had not yet exhausted his entire means; and
would suggest to you, as a practical matter, a dependable Annuity, or — what has served me quite
well during my own trials — a modest investment in railway shares, if a solid company, or else in
Sewing Machines, which are sure to make great progress in the future.

However, the course of action you propose to my Son is neither desirable nor feasible, even should
he be in any condition to entertain it. My Son was under no engagement to you, nor is he under
any obligation. What you yourself may have understood, does not constitute an understanding. It
is also my duty to inform you, that before his departure my Son became as good as engaged to be
married, to Miss Faith Cartwright, a young lady of fine family and impeccable moral character,
the only obstacle remaining, being his own honour, which prevented him from requesting that
Miss Cartwright bind herself to a man whose life was so soon to be imperilled; and despite his
damaged and at times delirious state, she is resolved to respect the wishes of the two families, as
well as those of her own heart, and is at present helping me to nurse him with loyal devotion.

He does not yet remember her in her proper person, but persists in believing that she is called
Grace — an understandable confusion, as Faith is very close to it in concept; but we persevere in
our efforts, and as we daily show him various little homely objects once dear to him, and lead him
on walks through local spots of natural beauty, we have increasing hopes that his full memory will
shortly return, or at least as much of it as is necessary, and that he will soon be well enough to
fulfil his marital undertakings. It is the foremost concern of Miss Cartwright, as it should be for
all those who love my Son disinterestedly, to pray for his restoration to health and the full use of
his mental faculties.

In closing, let me add that I trust your future life will be more productive of happiness, than has
been the recent past; and that the evening of your life will bring with it a serenity, which the vain
and tempestuous passions of youth so often unfortunately, if not disastrously, preclude.

Yours most sincerely,

(Mrs.) Constance P. Jordan.

P.S. Any further communication from you, will be destroyed unread.

From the Reverend Enoch Verringer, Chairman, The Committee to Pardon Grace Marks,
Sydenham Street Methodist Church, Kingston, Ontario, The Dominion of Canada; to Dr. Samuel
Bannerling, M.D., The Maples, Front Street, Toronto, Ontario, The Dominion of Canada.

Kingston, October 15th, 1867
.

Dear Dr. Bannerling:

I presume to write to you, Sir, in connection with the Committee of which I am the Chairman,
upon a worthy mission which cannot be unfamiliar to you. As the former medical attendant upon
Grace Marks, when she was in the Toronto Lunatic Asylum almost fifteen years ago, I know you
have been approached by the representatives of several previous committees charged with
submitting petitions to the Government, on behalf of this unfortunate and unhappy, and to some
minds, wrongly convicted woman, in hopes that you would append your name to the petitions in
question — an addition which, as I am sure you are aware, would carry considerable weight with
the Government authorities, as they have a tendency to be respectful of informed medical opinion
such as your own.

Our Committee consists of a number of ladies, my own dear wife among them, and of several
gentlemen of standing, and clergymen of three denominations, including the Prison Chaplain,
whose names you will find appended. Such petitions have in the past been unsuccessful, but the
Committee expects, as well as hopes, that with the recent political changes, most notably the
advent of a fully representational Parliament under the leadership of John A. Macdonald, this one
will receive a favourable reception denied to its predecessors.

In addition, we have the advantage of modern science, and the advances made in the study of the
cerebral diseases and mental disorders — advances which must surely tell in favour of Grace
Marks. Several years ago our Committee engaged a specialist in nervous ailments, Dr. Simon
Jordan, who came very highly recommended. He passed a number of months in this city in making
a detailed examination of Grace Marks, with particular attention to her gaps in recollection
concerning the murders. In an attempt to recover her memory, he subjected her to
Neuro-hypnosis, at the hands of a skilled practitioner of that science — a science which, after a
long eclipse, appears to be coming back into favour, both as a diagnostic and as a curative
method, although it has thus far gained more favour in France than in this hemisphere.

As a result of this session and the astonishing revelations it produced, Dr. Jordan gave it as his
opinion that Grace Marks’ loss of memory was genuine, not feigned — that on the fatal day she
was suffering from the effects of an hysterical seizure brought on by fright, which resulted in a
form of
auto-hypnotic somnambulism, not much studied twenty-five years ago but well documented since; and that this fact explains her subsequent amnesia. In the course of the neuro-hypnotic trance, which several of our own Committee members witnessed, Grace Marks displayed not only a fully recovered memory of these past events, but also pronounced evidence of a somnambulistic
double
consciousness,
with a distinct secondary personality, capable of acting without the knowledge of the first. It was Dr. Jordan’s conclusion, in view of the evidence, that the woman known to us as “Grace Marks” was neither conscious at the time of the murder of Nancy Montgomery, nor responsible for her actions therein — the memories of these actions being retained only by her secondary and hidden self.