The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 2/2 being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841 (part 3 of 4)

The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 2/2 being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841 (part 3 of 4)

"Prisoners at the bar,--After patient trials, before impartial and intelligent juries, each of you has been found guilty of an offence against which the laws of your country have, for the security of all, denounced the sentence of Death. You have, with many others, who for the present have escaped the hands of justice, devoted to plunder and destruction the city in which you live, and the place which had afforded to all of you subsistence and protection. You have reduced parts of it to a state of ruin and desolation, more complete than any foreign enemy, unless the most merciless, would have inflicted upon it. You have deprived many industrious families of their only means of support and subsistence; and the blood which it was necessary to shed in order to repress your acts of wanton outrage may be justly considered to lie at your door. But the hope we entertain that the fate of those upon whom the sentence of the law hath been passed, will operate as a sufficient warning to all others, induces us to join in an humble recommendation to his majesty that your lives may be spared. I would not, however, have you expect, that by escaping the bitterness of death, you have avoided all punishment for your offence. You will pass the remainder of your lives in a foreign and a distant land, separated for ever from parents, relations, and friends, and in a state of severe labour and privation."

Patrick Kearney, who, evidently, when first brought up, expected the extreme sentence would be passed upon him, and was then crying and begging for mercy, when he had heard the sentence, brightened up, and said, waving his hat at the time, "Never mind, my life is saved and Ireland is free."

The day's proceedings thus concluded; and on the following day the business of the commission terminated.

On Friday, the 27th of January, the sentence of death which had been pronounced, was carried out upon the four convicts--Clarke, Davis, Gregory, and Keys, Vines having been respited on the previous day. The miserable convicts, after their trials, conducted themselves with much propriety. They were attended by the reverend chaplain of the jail, and by the Rev. Mr. Roberts, a dissenting minister, whose exhortations were received by them with much apparent satisfaction. The place where they were doomed to receive their death was the very spot which had witnessed the commission of the crimes of which they had been found guilty--the New Jail. The outside walls now only remained--a sad memento of their desperate purposes.

Every precaution was taken to preserve order. The sheriffs arrived about eleven o'clock, and immediately proceeded to the cells of the wretched men, who were deeply engaged in devotion. It was not till past twelve that they were brought from their cells. The short time of anxiety which had elapsed since their trials had made a deep impression upon all. Still they were all comparatively firm, without the slightest tendency to bravado or improper boldness. The mournful procession slowly paced the prison-yard, the chaplain repeating the Burial Service--"I am the resurrection and the life." Having gone round the ruins of the governor's house, they approached the lodge, and then went up the winding staircase to the press-room.

The customary ceremonies were here gone through, of pinioning the convicts; and the procession once more, and for the last time, resumed its march, going up the winding staircase to the top of the lodge on which the scaffold was erected. Here all knelt down, and the Rev. Mr. Roberts offered up a prayer for heavenly mercy. The executioner now made his appearance. Davis was then conducted up the stairs to the frail scaffold, followed by Gregory. The latter bowed to the populace. Davis took no notice of those beneath, but once cast his eyes up to the fatal beam. Clarke next ascended, and was followed by Keys. The reverend divines having prayed with them a short time, and again taken leave of them, the caps were pulled down over their faces, and the fatal bolt was drawn. Keys apparently suffered much--the others died almost instantly. The crowd did not utter any expressions of approbation during the time of execution--all were quiet, and apparently were not much affected by this dreadful exhibition.

During the time occupied by the proceedings of the special commission, other inquiries were carried on scarcely less interesting to the inhabitants of Bristol. The first of these was an investigation by court-martial of the conduct of Lieutenant-Colonel Brereton in the affair. The charges made against him were, for negligence and want of due energy in assisting the civil force to suppress the tumultuous outrages of the mob during the riots in the city of Bristol on the 29th, 30th, and 31st October. The case against the defendant was opened on Monday 9th January, at the Merchant's Hall, in the presence of a very crowded audience, including many ladies. Captain Thomson, of the 81st foot, acted as Deputy Judge Advocate. Mr. Erle was counsel for Colonel Brereton; and General D'Albiac, at the command of his Majesty, conducted the prosecution. Colonel Brereton, on the charges being read over, pleaded Not Guilty.

General D'Albiac opened the case, calling upon the Court to form their judgment strictly upon the evidence, and to relieve their minds from all extraneous observations which might have arisen elsewhere.

The first witness called was Mr. Serjeant Ludlow, town-clerk of Bristol. He was at the Mansion-house on Saturday the 29th of October, from twelve at noon till twelve at night. There was a riotous and tumultuous assemblage in front of the house; the troops were called out under the command of Colonel Brereton; orders were given to Colonel Brereton to clear the streets, disperse the mob, and get the city quiet; this was not peremptorily and effectively done; the riots continued at intervals till twelve o'clock at night. The following statement was then made by the learned serjeant:--When Lieutenant-Colonel Brereton and the troops came to the Mansion-house door, the people on the outside were engaged in battering the front door; they had battered in one of the windows on the ground-floor, and some of them had entered into the dining-room. The immediate effect of the arrival of the troops was to remove them from the front of the Mansion-house, but they did not withdraw far. I repeatedly noticed, that the people having withdrawn from the streets while the soldiers were passing, immediately afterwards returned again to the front of the very door of the Mansion-house; occasionally stones were thrown at the windows, and indications of tumult and violence did not appear to me to have decreased materially. Colonel Brereton occasionally went down stairs and returned, and said that the people appeared to be very good-humoured, and he had no doubt he could drive them away by merely walking the horses. Just before one of these occasions, two of the soldiers of the 14th were brought in wounded--one of them very seriously. I asked Colonel Brereton if he thought that a symptom of good-humour on the part of the people out of doors? I said also they appeared to me to be increasing in number rather than lessening; and it certainly was intimated to him that it would be desirable to get the city quiet. The effect of his answers was such as to induce me to ask him if he had any recent instructions from the War Office to prevent him from attending to the directions of the magistrates? He said, "My directions are to attend to the orders of the magistrates." I then said, the mayor and one or two of the aldermen being near, "Your directions are immediately to clear the streets, and to get the city quiet as soon as you can," or to that effect. Some sort of cavalry movement was made in the interior of the square, where the people had collected; they were driven from the green part of the square, and entered the courts in front of the houses, and occasionally returned to the front of the Mansion-house, and continued the same kind of conduct which had prevailed the early part of the evening; in short, they were not effectually dispersed. Late in the evening, probably eleven o'clock, an officer of dragoons came into the room where we were. Colonel Brereton was in the room at the time. The officer stated, that his troops were receiving considerable annoyance in one of the streets near the Mansion-house, the situation of which he described. He said, that the lights (lamps) had been put out--that it was quite dark--and that the people, when followed by the soldiers, retreated into some boats or barges lying in the river, from which they annoyed the troops, and where of course the troops could not follow them; he said he wished to fire a few ball-cartridges in that direction. One of the magistrates, I believe Mr. Alderman Daniel, said, that in the situation in which the boats were described to be, there were probably a good many people going from market in the market-boats, and it would be desirable to avoid injuring those persons if possible. One of the gentlemen present, I believe a special constable, said, "Let me have twenty-five men, and be supported by the troops, and I will undertake to go down and dislodge the people in the boats." That operation certainly would have been undertaken if it had not been for what Colonel Brereton said. He said, "If you'll take my advice, you'll let them alone; it's getting very late, and I dare say they will go quietly home to bed." Some observation was made as to the necessity of getting the city in a state of peace and quietness; upon which Colonel Brereton answered, his men should patrole the streets during the night, and that he would be answerable for the peace of the city, or words to that effect. The officer of the 14th went away, and Colonel Brereton retired shortly afterwards.

Several other witnesses were called, whose testimony went to show considerable want of energy on the part of the colonel, as well as mistaken lenity, that led to the perpetration of outrages, which, had a more decided and vigorous policy been adopted, might have been prevented.

The inquiry had proceeded to a very considerable length, and on Friday was approaching a termination, when an event occurred which effectually put a stop to all further investigation, while it cast an additional gloom upon this most lamentable affair. It appears, that the gallant colonel seemed to feel the full force of the evidence against him as it went on, and was obviously much depressed. On quitting the court on Thursday afternoon, he went, as usual, to Reeve's Hotel, where he remained during the evening. At twelve o'clock his gardener brought his horse and gig, and he drove home to his house, called Bedfield Lodge, about a mile and a half from the city. He retired to his room without exciting any particular remark on the part of his servants; but about three in the morning his housekeeper heard the report of a pistol: she immediately called the guard and footman, who entered his room, and found the unhappy man weltering in his blood on the bed. Life was extinct; and on examination it turned out that he had shot himself through the heart. Surgical assistance was instantly summoned, but it was without avail. The news of the melancholy event reached Bristol at an early hour on Friday morning, and produced a most painful sensation in all ranks.

The effect of this tragical circumstance was the termination of this court-martial, which, however, was followed by another upon Captain Warrington, the inferior officer of Colonel Brereton at Bristol, at the time of the riots. The insertion of the following paragraph, however, which appeared in most of the public prints of the day, will be deemed only just to the memory of Colonel Brereton, before we proceed to the conclusion of this dreadful business:--"The proceedings of the court-martial evidently preyed on his susceptible and humane mind. He is acknowledged by all parties to have been a man of the most kindly and benevolent disposition, and during the eight years he has held the command of the district, was universally respected. He has been a widower for above two years, and has left two daughters, the one five, and the other three years old. He had served abroad, and distinguished himself as a brave and excellent officer. He was fifty years of age, thirty-three of which he had been a soldier; and as a testimony of the regard in which he was held, had received a sword, value two hundred guineas, from his brother officers. There is no doubt his mistaken lenity was influenced by his desire to avoid shedding human blood, and a conviction that he should have been able to pacify the mob without proceeding to those extremities which his duty under the circumstances clearly demanded. It would be ungenerous now, however, to dwell on the errors of one whose fate every feeling heart must deplore."

It was on Wednesday the 25th of January that the court-martial upon Captain Warrington commenced its proceedings. The charges preferred were three in number. The first imputed that, on the night of the 30th of October 1831, being in personal command of a troop of the 3d Dragoons in the city of Bristol, at the time when the most outrageous and alarming riots prevailed, although required by Mr. Thomas Kington, a merchant of the city, who required his aid, and that of the military under his command, to prevent the firing of the Custom-House, he not only refused to act, but neglected to inform Colonel Brereton, his superior officer, of the information he had received.

The second charge imputed, that the following letter from Mr. Charles Pinney, the mayor, to Colonel Brereton, was delivered to Captain Warrington, which he read, but neither acted upon it nor forwarded it to his commanding officer.

"Bristol, Three o'clock Monday Morning, 31st October 1831.

"SIR--I direct you, as commanding officer of his Majesty's troops, to take the most vigorous, effective, and decisive measures in your power to quell the existing riot, and prevent further destruction of property.

"I am, &c. C. PINNEY."

An hour elapsed with the troops inactive after the letter was delivered, and in consequence great mischief was done. Several houses were sacked, and property to a large amount destroyed.

The third charge accused the Captain of neglecting to command his troops in person, and leaving them to the guidance of a young cornet, only sixteen months in the service, while he was absent from his quarters or retired to bed.

The evidence adduced was merely a repetition of those details which had already become perfectly notorious.

Captain Warrington commenced his defence on Monday the 30th of January, and, in a clear and manly speech, touched upon all the charges which had been preferred against him, and in a short narrative endeavoured to prove that when there was any apparent want of energy, or exertion, on his part, it arose, not from want of inclination in him, but from the omission of orders from his superior officer, or the absence of those magistrates who would have justified his proceeding even without the commands of Colonel Brereton. With regard to his temporary absence from his troop, he accounted for it by stating, that he had gone to General Pearson to ask his advice, and, on his return, was labouring under a fit of the ague, brought on from being repeatedly exposed to the rain, for the two preceding days; he retired to change his dress, and when his personal presence was officially and regularly required, he lost no time in heading his troop, and assisting in dispersing the rioters. He adverted to his past services under similar circumstances, and appealed to these, as well as to his conduct throughout his military career, as the best refutation of his having intentionally neglected the important duties imposed upon him. The address seemed to make a deep impression, and apparently went to remove all serious imputation from him as an officer and a gentleman. The witnesses called for the defence went to give the most satisfactory explanation of the course which the gallant officer had pursued throughout.--The following curious evidence was given by Major Beckwith, of the 14th Dragoons, on Tuesday:--"I must relate in what manner I saw the civil and military authorities co-operating, in order to show to the court the difficulties under which I saw Captain Warrington acting. On reaching Bristol, on Monday morning the 31st of October, I immediately went to the Council-house, where I found the mayor and several magistrates, who appeared to me bewildered and stupefied with terror. On hearing the state of affairs in the city of Bristol from those gentlemen, I urged that one or more magistrates should accompany me on horseback, for the purpose of restoring order. They all refused to accompany me, saying, it would make them unpopular, and cause all their property to be destroyed; they also added, that none of them could ride on horseback; and the one I requested to accompany me said he had not been on horseback for eighteen years. Seeing, therefore, that any assistance from the magistrates would be out of the question, I demanded to receive from them a written authority to take what measures I deemed expedient. From what I have related, and from what I saw in another quarter, to which I cannot refer, the impression of my mind was, that Captain Warrington and the 3rd Dragoon Guards were in a great measure paralysed by the imbecility and misconduct of those who ought to have directed them. I have further to state, that during the time I had a personal opportunity of observing Captain Warrington, he appeared to me alert, zealous, and desirous of doing his duty."

On the following Thursday, General D'Albiac replied to the defence of Captain Warrington; and this closed the case.

The decision of the court was not, however, promulgated, in obedience to the usual course, until it had first been submitted to his Majesty; but on the 21st of February, it was intimated to Captain Warrington that he had been found guilty, and was sentenced to be cashiered; but that he was recommended to mercy, and that his Majesty, having listened to the recommendation, had been pleased to authorise his disposing of his commission.

There were yet other persons in authority whose conduct upon this occasion it was deemed fit should be the subject of a judicial investigation. Reports unfavourable to the character and demeanour of the magistracy of Bristol had been circulated; and the necessity of allaying the irritation of the public mind, as well as of determining the real extent of blame to be attached to the mayor and aldermen, was felt too strongly to admit of this final inquisition being omitted. It was not, however, until Thursday the 25th of October 1832, that the case came on for trial. It was then brought before the Court of King's Bench, upon an information preferred against Mr. Charles Pinney, the mayor, and was decided by a special jury selected from the County of Berks.

The Attorney-General proceeded to state the facts to the jury, and said, he had no doubt he should be able to adduce evidence to prove that the defendant had neglected his duty as chief magistrate, and that he was guilty of the misdemeanour charged in the information.

Mr. John W. Newcombe was the first witness examined. After detailing the scenes already described, and the inertness of the police, in his cross-examination he said that he did say, on being applied to, to act as special constable to protect Sir Charles Wetherell, he would not do so, but said he would not injure him; and he had repeatedly said since, that it would have been better had Sir Charles been thrown over the bridge than that so many lives and so much property should have been destroyed. A similar feeling seemed to exist with many others, who had been applied to in a similar manner, and it was evident that the magistrates found great difficulty to get a sufficient number of persons to act on that occasion. Several other witnesses were examined, making out a strong case against the defendant. A good deal of amusement was excited in court by the description given by one of the witnesses of the escape of the mayor from the Mansion-house, during the heat of the attack. The witness said, in his examination, "I saw the mayor in the larder, on the ground-floor. I believe it is called the larder: it is the men's water-closet as well, but they hang up meat there (a laugh). There were three or four female servants with his worship (renewed laughter). They were making great efforts to get up on the leads--the female servants and his worship (a laugh). His worship, seeing me, said, 'For God's sake, young man, assist me up.' I stooped down and helped his worship up, the female servants assisting him behind. (Here the laughter became so loud that Lord Tenterden found it necessary to censure it in strong terms as foolish and indecent.) We got the mayor up on the leads, myself and the female servants, and he got away over the wall."

The inquiry continued until the following Thursday, and then terminated by a verdict of acquittal.

This, we believe was the last of the proceedings which arose out of these dreadful riots, if we except those which were carried on by those persons whose property had suffered damage through the violence of the mob. The extent of the mischief done could never be properly or specifically calculated; but its amount could be scarcely computed at less than 300,000_l._ The injuries done to property, however, were not those only which were to be regretted. The destruction of the buildings of the town, splendid and costly as they were, was small in importance compared with the loss of human life, and the personal violence sustained by many of those who were engaged in these proceedings. Of those whose misguided or wicked desires led them into this terrible fray, who died of the wounds which they sustained, a number scarcely less than twenty was discovered; and it is reasonable to suppose, that others also shared a like unhappy fate, whose death accident, or the design of their friends, concealed from public notice. Many were taken to the hospitals of the city, gorged with drink, who died from the combined effects of intoxication and exposure, while others were brought in at the last gasp, suffering from the effects of the wounds inflicted by the weapons of the soldiery, or produced by the falling of buildings, which they had themselves fired or overthrown. Some even yet retained in their possession the fruits of their rapine, and were found to have their pockets crammed with money, or other valuables. Of the number who fell victims to their own temerity, in their anxiety to complete the hellish work of destruction which they had commenced, and who were smothered in the falling ruins of burning houses, it is impossible to form an accurate calculation. They were principally of the very lowest and most abandoned classes of the people; and their loss was scarcely discovered, even by their oldest companions and most intimate associates. The number of wounded was of course much larger, and equally difficult to be properly estimated. Many, it is true, received surgical relief on the spot; but still there were great numbers who abstained from an open admission of their condition, in order to avoid the probability of those future proceedings, the result of which might have been more inconvenient than the injuries which they had received. Hundreds in this way concealed the effects of their own violence; but their crippled or maimed appearance eventually told too plainly the tale of their guilt.

With regard to the conduct of the magistracy and the military upon this occasion, it does not become us to offer any observations. The demeanour of both was the subject of legal investigation; and the determination arrived at must be deemed to have been both correct and conclusive. The want of energy which, it must be admitted, was exhibited, must nevertheless be the subject of universal and most sincere and painful regret.

JONATHAN SMITHERS.

EXECUTED FOR ARSON AND MURDER.

On Monday morning, May the 28th, 1832, a fire broke out in the lower part of the house, No. 398, Oxford-street, in the occupation of Mr. Jonathan Smithers, a tobacconist, which was attended with very serious consequences. At about six o'clock the police ascertained the existence of a conflagration at the lower part of the house, by the sudden issue of a large quantity of smoke and flame from the shop and house doors, and from the fan-light over the latter; and proceeding immediately to the spot, they found Mr. Smithers endeavouring to make his escape into the street by means of the area, communicating with the kitchen. All his efforts to gain the footway, and those of the people, who had in a few moments assembled, to force the railings of the area, however, proved unavailing, and Mr. Smithers was at length compelled to retire through the kitchen; and making his way up the stairs, which were on fire, he succeeded in reaching the shop, from which he rushed into the street, much burnt about his face and hands, and with his clothes on fire in many places. The sudden admission of air to the house through the shop door tended to increase the fury of the flames; and before any alarm could be conveyed to the inmates, who were asleep within, nearly the whole of the lower part of the premises was on fire. Mr. Smithers was immediately conveyed to the Middlesex Hospital, in order that the wounds which he received might be dressed; and almost before he had quitted the spot, the lodgers and other remaining occupants of the house had been made acquainted with their dangerous situation. Their first impulse was to escape by the stairs; but this they found to be utterly impracticable; and the scene which soon presented itself to the by-standers in the street was of the most heart-rending description. At almost every window were to be seen persons, male and female, bewailing their dreadful situation, and imploring aid with uplifted hands. The servant-girl at the third-floor window made signs that she would throw herself into the street, but was entreated to endeavour to descend to a lower floor, before she made so hazardous an attempt to save her life. The cries which were addressed to her prevailed, and she soon appeared at the second-floor front room, having experienced considerable difficulty in making her way down the staircase. Several men then ranged themselves under the window to catch her in her descent; and the girl, exerting her courage, presently found strength of mind to throw herself out, and alighted safely in the arms of one of those below. The man was knocked down, and considerably hurt, but the girl walked away comparatively uninjured.

But the worst part of our narrative is yet to be related. The second floor of the house was occupied by an elderly lady, named Twamley, and her family, consisting of two daughters, Eliza and Caroline, an orphan boy about eleven years of age, named Farengo, the nephew of the young ladies, and a Miss Thomasin, their niece. When this family became sensible of their danger, all hopes of escaping by the staircase had vanished, and they ran from window to window in a state of mind bordering on distraction Miss Eliza Twamley held the boy in her arms, and appeared more alarmed for his safety than her own. Terror-stricken, she remained at the window, unable to adopt any decisive course, until at length the flames caught what clothes she had on. The boy seized hold of the window, but was precipitated to the ground on his head--his aunt at the same moment appeared to be suffocated by the smoke, and fell back immediately under the window, a prey to the flames. Mrs. Twamley, it appears, was seventy years of age, and was in the last stage of chronic asthma,--unable to get out of bed. Her daughter Caroline heroically endeavoured to save her from the impending danger: seizing her in her arms, with strength increased by the frightful nature of her position, she raised her from the bed, and bore her through the window to some leads at the rear of the house, from which she hoped to be able to escape, or at which she thought they might remain until the flames should be extinguished. Her position was seen by some of the neighbours living at the back; and they called to her to beware of an abyss which lay in her path, and which separated the leads of Smithers' house from others at the rear of some other premises, and that they would rescue her from her perilous situation. A ladder was procured, and raised against the place where she stood; but before efficient aid could be rendered her, overcome by fright, she dropped to the leads below, with her mother in her arms. The distance which they fell was from twelve to fourteen feet; and both ladies were materially injured. Mrs. Twamley was immediately conveyed to a place of safety, where medical aid was procured; but death put an end to her sufferings after a period of two hours. Miss Twamley also received such medical assistance as her injuries required.

The other inmates of the house, whose escape we have not mentioned, were Miss Thomasin, M. Guissamere, a Frenchman, a Mr. Davis, and Mrs. Smithers; all of whom succeeded in quitting the house by the back premises. The engines, during the time occupied by these occurrences, had reached the spot, and instantly playing upon the burning house, succeeded in extinguishing the flame, and preventing them from extending to the adjoining premises, but not until they had completely destroyed the house in which they had originated, and every article of furniture and stock which it contained. Immediate search was then made for the remains of Miss E. Twamley; and they were discovered at the very spot at which she had been seen to fall, presenting a dreadful and melancholy spectacle. The arms and feet were entirely burned off, and the intestines protruded from the body, through some wound which had been caused by the falling upon her of some rafters. Her remains were immediately wrapped in blankets, and conveyed to the workhouse.

On the following day, Tuesday, a coroner's inquest was held on the body of Miss Twamley; and in the course of the inquiry disclosures of a most painful nature were made, tending to show that the house had been wilfully set on fire, and that means had been adopted to secure this object of a nature which left no doubt of the intention of the incendiary; and, further, that Mr. Smithers was the person to whom suspicion of guilt of this diabolical act attached. The main points upon which this suspicion rested were these:--It appeared from the statements of the various witnesses, that Mr. and Mrs. Smithers had lived for some time upon bad terms, and that frequent quarrels had taken place between them upon the subject of some property belonging to the latter, and of which the former desired to possess himself. On the night of Sunday, the 27th of May, Mr. Davis, the lodger, was let in by Smithers himself at about twelve o'clock, and he went down to the water-closet, which was situated at the bottom of the kitchen stairs. He observed a quantity of shavings about the stairs, and saw that his landlord was engaged in doing something with the shavings, the precise nature of which he appeared anxious to conceal. The servant had gone to bed early; and, contrary to custom, she had been directed to occupy an upper room on the third floor, instead of her usual apartment (the kitchen), and her master and mistress had their bed prepared in the back parlour. Smithers, about ten days before the fire, had purchased two sacks full of shavings; and these had been deposited, apparently with some object, in a vaulted cellar at the back of the house, with a quantity of old baskets and boxes, and other rubbish of the same description. On the day after the fire, a minute examination of the premises was made by Mr. Abrahams, a surveyor; and the discoveries which he made at once proved the fire to have been intentionally caused. He ascertained that the conflagration had originated at the bottom of the kitchen stairs, immediately in front of the water-closet, where the remains of burned shavings were distinctly perceptible. In the back vaults, adjoining the kitchen, there were even stronger proofs. A species of devil, formed of gunpowder pressed into a card, was found, communicating by a train to a heap of shavings at one end, and to a mass of easily ignitable rubbish at the other. Fire had been communicated to the shavings, which were placed upon a wooden shelf or dresser; but, in consequence of the interposition of a piece of greased paper which had been placed among them--apparently with a view of increasing the volume of flame, but which, in truth, had had the effect of extinguishing it altogether--the train of powder was not ignited, and the whole remained, affording distinct evidence of the act of incendiarism.

These, with other corroborating circumstances, were deemed of so suspicious a nature, that a verdict of wilful murder was returned by the coroner's jury, in the case of Miss Twamley, against Mr. Smithers, who was still in the hospital, and a warrant for his apprehension was issued.

At an inquest held on the body of Mrs. Twamley, a verdict was returned that she had died from fright; but the poor boy Farengo subsequently also died from the injuries which he had received; and in this case also a verdict of wilful murder was returned.

On Tuesday, the 12th of June, Smithers was removed to Newgate to await his trial upon the charge upon which he was already in custody, from Middlesex Hospital, where he had been confined by the injuries which he had received.

On Friday, the 6th of July, he was put upon his trial upon an indictment charging him with the murder of Miss Eliza Twamley, and of the boy Charles Richard Napoleon Farengo. The facts which had been disclosed before the coroner were again proved in evidence; and, after a lengthy inquiry, a verdict of "Guilty" was returned at two o'clock in the morning. Sentence of death was immediately pronounced upon the wretched man, and he was ordered for execution on the following Monday.

Upon his being conveyed to his cell after his conviction, he was repeatedly urged to confess the justice of the result of the trial, but he steadily persevered in avoiding giving any direct answer to the question; and although he never asserted his innocence of the crime, he could not be prevailed upon to make a confession. His demeanour throughout the trying scene of his receiving sentence, and from that time up to the period of his execution, was remarkable for the extreme coolness which it displayed. On Sunday his wife had her last interview with him, and although their meeting was of an affecting nature, the feelings of neither party appeared to be so much worked upon as is common upon such occasions. The wretched man conversed with her freely, and declared that from his boyhood he had always thought that he should die upon the scaffold. He had conceived the idea while playing with other boys in a churchyard, and it had never forsaken him.

His wife left him at an early hour, and he employed the remainder of his time in religious exercises and conversations with the ordinary. Before he retired to rest, he wrote a short letter to his wife; he appeared now deeply affected, but when it was concluded he became more composed, and declared himself to be quite comfortable. He took a great deal of rest during the night, but rose at an early hour to be ready to receive the attendant minister. At a few minutes before eight o'clock he was conducted to the press-room to be pinioned. His demeanour in the course of this trying scene was wild and hysterical; but as his last moments approached, he prayed with much composure. At eight o'clock he was carried to the scaffold, and there expiated his crimes.

Smithers, it appears, had carried on business for a considerable period in the shop in Oxford-street. He was insured for nearly 700_l._, which may in some degree account for his being guilty of the diabolical crime of which he was convicted. Miss Twamley, the victim of his foul machinations, had been a dancer at Covent Garden Theatre, and was a fine young woman. Her nephew, who was also killed, was the son of a deceased married sister. Miss Caroline Twamley was visited during a long illness, which succeeded the dreadful events which we have detailed, by many persons of distinction, who took a kind and generous interest in her welfare.

The prosecution of Smithers was carried on at the expense of the parish of St. Ann, Westminster. His execution took place on Monday, the 9th of July 1832.

JAMES COOK.

EXECUTED FOR THE MURDER OF MR. PAAS.

This diabolical murder of which Cook was guilty, attracted a very considerable portion of the public attention.

Mr. Paas, it appears, was a respectable tradesman carrying on a business at No. 44, High Holborn, London, as a manufacturer of such brass instruments as are used by bookbinders. Cook, his murderer, was a bookbinder at Leicester. Mr. Paas was in the habit of taking occasional journeys in the way of business, and in the course of his travels Cook became his customer, and ordered goods of him to the extent of about 25_l._ Cook at this time was twenty-one years of age, and he had only recently entered upon the business of his deceased master in a small yard leading out of Wellington-street, Leicester, upon his own account. In the month of May 1832, the usual period of credit had expired, and Mr. Paas wrote to Cook saying, that he should visit Leicester in a few days, when he hoped to receive the amount of his bill. On Wednesday, May the 30th, Mr. Paas accordingly arrived in Leicester, and put up at the Stag and Pheasant Inn. In the afternoon he quitted that house, and proceeded upon his rounds for the purpose of collecting the accounts due to him in the town. He called at several places, and amongst others at the house of Cook; but after leaving there, he was seen by one of his customers, of whom he made inquiries as to Cook's solvency, and whom he informed that he had already called upon him to pay an account, and that he had been requested to call again in the evening. Mr. Paas was not seen alive again after this; and the result showed that he had been wilfully and most diabolically murdered by his customer and debtor.

The only proof by which the unfortunate gentleman was traced to the workshop of Cook was that of his apprentice boy, Charles Wilkinson, aged fourteen years. He was at the shop of his master on the afternoon of Wednesday, and he saw a person come there, whose appearance, from his description, agreed with that of Mr. Paas. Immediately on his being seen by his master, he told him (Wilkinson) that he might go away and remain at home until he called for him--a circumstance quite unusual, and rendered the more remarkable from the great quantity of work which his master then had to do.

The circumstances attending the discovery of the murder, and the consequent apprehension of Cook, are of an extraordinary and interesting nature. The workshop which he occupied, it appears, was situated over a cow-house in the occupation of a Mr. Sawbridge, a milkman. On the evening of Wednesday, the 30th of May, a very large fire was observed to be blazing in his workshop; but as considerable heat was known to be occasionally necessary to be employed in his trade, no notice was taken of the occurrence. At about eight o'clock Cook visited the Flying Horse, a beer-shop in the immediate neighbourhood of his workroom, and having called for some drink, and played a game of skittles with an undisturbed aspect, he requested change of a sovereign. The landlord, Mr. Nokes, produced the coin necessary, and Cook on giving him the sovereign took from his pocket a silk purse containing money to a very considerable amount in gold, silver, and notes. This excited some surprise, but no remark was made, and Cook went away returning apparently to his workshop. After a short time, however, he went to Mrs. Sawbridge, and told her that he should work during the night in order to finish some articles which he had in hand, and desired her therefore not to be frightened if she should see that he had a fire. At half-past ten o'clock he returned to his workshop, being let in by Sawbridge; and from that hour until half-past four o'clock on the next morning nothing was seen of him, although it was evident that he remained in his room, as he was unable to quit the premises without the knowledge of his landlord. A strong light was observed in his workshop, and he was heard occasionally moving about, both in the house and in the yard; but although his father went to look for him and to inquire into the cause of his unexpected absence from home during the night, he made no answer.

At half-past four o'clock Sawbridge rose for the purpose of milking his cows. He found his tenant still in his workshop, attired in his usual working clothes, and apparently employed at his trade of bookbinding. Cook inquired whether he was going to milk his cows, and he answered that he was, at a place called Stoney-gate House, about four miles off on the London road. Cook declared that he felt faint and sick after sitting up all night, and that he should like a walk to refresh himself; and having locked his room, he walked away to the fields in company with his landlord and a man named Sumpter, who joined them. They talked upon indifferent subjects, and Cook employed himself in keeping the cows together, while Sawbridge milked them in succession; and then they walked back to Wellington-street, the former re-entering his own workshop, while the latter proceeded to his ordinary occupation of carrying out the milk.

On Thursday evening the murder was discovered. At about ten o'clock the appearance of an unusual degree of light in the workshop of Cook attracted observation, and the neighbours having assembled, fears were expressed that the premises had caught fire. The window-blinds were down, and from without no distinct information could be obtained of the existence or non-existence of any conflagration, and an entrance to the building was in consequence determined on. Mr. Timson, a broker residing within two doors, was the person by whom the performance of this work was undertaken, and reaching the top of the stairs leading to Cook's workshop, he burst open the door, and immediately entered that apartment. He found that the fire which had been kindled in the grate was extended far beyond its usual bounds, and a large piece of flesh was on the top of it burning. The flesh was taken off and put on the floor, and then the fire was raked out and extinguished. Many persons had by this time reached the spot, and great curiosity was expressed to know the nature of the flesh which had been found, as well as the reason for consuming it. Many declared their impression that it was horse-flesh; but Cook was sent for, in order that he might explain the mysterious and suspicious circumstances attending its discovery. He was found at his father's house undressed, and apparently about to retire to rest; but on his being informed of the nature of the inquiry which was proceeding, he immediately dressed himself, and accompanied the messenger who had been despatched in search of him to Wellington-street. On his way thither, he asked with great anxiety whether the flesh which had been found was scorched all over; and being answered in the negative, he exhibited much agitation. He, however, afterwards learned the nature of the supposition of its discoverers of its being horse-flesh, and appeared more easy. On his reaching Wellington-street he was questioned upon the subject of the flesh, and his answers showed the facility with which he was able to coin plausible excuses for the act of which he had been guilty. He declared that the flesh was horse-flesh, and that he had bought it for the purpose of feeding a dog, for the purchase of which he had been bargaining; but he added, that the owner of the dog having refused to allow him to become its purchaser, and the meat having become partially putrescent, he had determined to burn it to get rid of it. He was told that he had nearly set the house on fire in his exertions; when his answer was, "Well, it's all out now, so let us lock the door and go." In answer to further inquiries, he said, that he had purchased the flesh of a man, whose name he did not know, in the Humberstone-gate. The circumstances which had been ascertained, however, aided by the discovery of an attempt on the part of Cook to conceal his proceedings in his workshop by pasting thick paper over his windows, tended to attach considerable suspicion to his conduct in the transaction, and Measures, a constable, having arrived on the spot, he deemed it to be his duty to take him into custody. An undefinable terror appeared to pervade the minds of all upon the subject of the flesh which had been found, but none could fix any idea even in their own minds as to the real nature of the occurrence which excited at once their alarm and suspicion. The flesh was taken by Measures to his own house for better security, and his prisoner was conveyed by him at once to the mayor's office. Here, however, a difficulty presented itself. The mayor could not be found, and the constable was driven to act upon his own authority and responsibility. From his acquaintance with Cook he knew him to be a person to whom a good general character attached, and he was unwilling upon suspicions so vague as those which were entertained to lock him up all night. He, therefore, informed him, that if he could procure good bail for his appearance on the next day, to answer any charge which might be preferred, he would liberate him; and his father having become responsible for his re-production when he should be required, he was at once discharged out of custody.

On the following day he was sent for by the mayor, with a view to his examination upon the subject of the discoveries of the preceding night, but he had absconded.

The suspicions already entertained were now still further excited, and a surgical examination of the piece of flesh was determined upon. Its result was the expression of the belief of Messrs. Denton, and others, surgeons, that it was part of a human body!

Instant minute inquiries were set on foot with a view to its being ascertained whether any person was missing from the town; and the non-return of Mr. Paas to his inn at once led to a belief that he had fallen a victim to the barbarous machinations of Cook, and that he had been murdered, and his remains thus mutilated and consumed. A universal sensation of horror was created as this idea gained ground, and evidence confirming the general impression was soon obtained upon an examination of the premises of the supposed murderer. In the chimney of his workshop was found all that remained unburnt or unscorched of the body of the unfortunate Mr. Paas. Two thighs and a leg, separated from each other and from the main trunk of the body apparently with great determination by a knife and a saw, were found suspended from a nail by a cord, in the chimney, about a yard and a half above the fireplace, evidently awaiting only the favourable opportunity when they too might be consumed, and so all trace of the murder be destroyed. In the room were also discovered the leg of a pair of black trousers, covered with blood, together with a snuff-box, an eye-glass, a pencil-case, with the letter "P" engraved on it, and some fragments of cloth, much stained with blood. Among the ashes were found the horrible remains of the deceased, in the shape of calcined bones; but there was also discovered a gaiter, of a description known to have been worn by Mr. Paas. The floor of the room had evidently been recently scraped and scoured; but evident marks of some dark fluid having flown over it were still visible. Other evidence, presented by the discoveries in this room, pointed out the mode of the death of the deceased, and the method in which his body had been cut in pieces, in order the more readily to be burned. On the table was seen a bill, in the name of Mr. Paas, on Cook for 12_s._; and at the foot of this instrument was the word "settled," followed by the two letters "J. P." It had been the habit of Mr. Paas invariably to sign his name in full to such receipts, and in this instance it appeared as if he had not intended to depart from his custom, but that having reached the completion of the letter P, he had received a severe blow, by which the pen in his hand had been driven in a direction across the preceding letter "J," a deep and heavily pressed ink-mark being perceptible on the paper, as if such had been the case. The instrument of attack was discovered, in a heavy species of hammer used by bookbinders in their trade.

A new and minute examination of the fireplace proved that the murderer had not so far succeeded in his object of destroying the body of his victim as was at first supposed. A mis-shapen and most unsightly mass of matter, which no one would have supposed, upon an ordinary inspection, could ever have formed any portion of the human frame, was found among the cinders; and upon its being submitted to the scrutiny of surgeons, it was declared by them to be the lower part of the abdomen, and a part of the thighs of the human body; but all was dreadfully disfigured by the action of the fire, and it was evident that large collops of flesh had been cut from it, with a view apparently to its more speedy destruction and disfigurement. The fireplace was found to have been in some degree enlarged by the removal of one or two bricks; and across the top of it were to be seen two bars of iron, placed there so as to serve as a gridiron, on which the flesh might be placed in its progress of consumption. No trace of the trunk of the body or the head of the deceased, however, could be found, and it became the general impression that these had been removed, and had been buried somewhere in the outskirts of the town.

These new discoveries at once fixed the identity of the deceased, and the fact of his having been murdered, with intelligence of the melancholy occurrence, was immediately conveyed to the friends of the unhappy gentleman, in London, together with an intimation of the flight of the murderer. The feelings excited by such a communication to Mrs. Paas and her family were of a nature to be more easily imagined than described; but the firm of Barker, Denton, and Choffin, attorneys of Gray's Inn, was at once called upon to take the necessary steps to secure the apprehension and conviction of Cook. Mr. Barker, in consequence, applied immediately at Bow-street for the assistance of the metropolitan police-officers, and a warrant was at once issued, and placed in the hands of an officer for execution. A reward of 100_l._ was also offered for the apprehension of Cook, and every step was taken by which it could be hoped to bring him to justice.

On Sunday the 3rd of June, an inquest was held upon the remains of deceased, at the Dog and Gun, in the Market-street, Leicester. The facts which we have detailed were then proved in evidence, and the additional testimony of a person named George Cooke, living at Loughborough, and occasionally driving the coach between that place and Manchester, was obtained, which tended to confirm the suspicions entertained against Cook, and at the same time to exhibit the line which he had taken in his endeavours to escape from the pursuing hand of justice. Cooke stated that on the previous Friday morning, at a quarter after five o'clock, he was in the stable-yard of the Black Horse Inn, at Loughborough, when he saw a person who was a stranger (but who was now known to be Cook, from the description given of his appearance) conversing with the stable-boy. He appeared dirty, as if he had been up all night and in the roads; but as it was fair-time, he concluded that he had been larking, and did not take much notice of the circumstance. The witness joined in the conversation, and presently the stranger produced a small broach from his shirt-front, which he said he had picked up. He expressed a wish to sell it, and the witness finally bought it for two shillings. The man afterwards produced a silver watch, with a gold chain and seals, which he said his father had purchased for him for 40_l._; and then he declared his desire to procure change for a 5_l._ or a 10_l._ note. He brought a green silk purse from his pocket, and took a note of each denomination from a number of papers which it contained, and at the same time exhibited a large sum of money in gold. The witness endeavoured to procure change for him, but could not, and left him. He subsequently learned that the man had gone on by coach and railroad to Liverpool. The brooch was produced by the witness, and it was instantly recognised by several friends of the deceased gentleman to be one which he had constantly worn, and which he had received as a mourning token upon the death of a friend named Mancell.

Upon this testimony the jury returned a verdict, that the remains which had been discovered were those of Mr. Paas, and that he had been wilfully murdered by James Cook.

A few days sufficed to bring this atrocious malefactor to justice. Cummins, an officer of Leicester, had started in pursuit of him, and he succeeded in apprehending him on Tuesday on the point of joining a vessel just sailing from Liverpool for America. It had been ascertained by this active officer, that the object of his search had made for Liverpool; and he entertained little doubt that his intention was to reach one of the vessels which was then about to sail for America, after their quitting the harbour. For the purpose of more easily watching the anticipated movements of his prey, he and his assistant stationed themselves on the Chester side of the river Mersey, and, with a boat and crew always ready, remained anxiously awaiting the anticipated necessity for exertion. A constant look-out enabled them to criticise the appearance of every boat which put out, and their watch did not extend to a very long one. To the disgrace of the watermen of Liverpool, there were to be found among them men who, for adequate remuneration, were always ready and willing to succour those who were flying from punishment--no matter what their crimes might be--by carrying them off to the ships which should be lying in the channel, outward-bound. Cook had succeeded in procuring the aid of a crew of these men, and, at an early hour on Tuesday morning, the 5th of June, he put off from the shore. The movements of the party did not escape the vigilant observation of Cummins and his well-experienced assistants, and their object soon became apparent. They were allowed to get well out to sea, however, before any effort was made to pursue them; but then Cummins, with his active crew, immediately started in pursuit. They gained rapidly on the small boat in which the object of their search was; but he, finding himself in danger of being secured, at once ordered his men to make for the shore. They had already reached the shallow water, when the pursuing boat came close astern. Cook, who appeared frantic with desperation, jumped overboard, with an intention to drown himself; but the water was too shallow for his purpose, and finding himself disappointed in this object, he drew a phial from his pocket, the contents of which he was about to drink, when, however, his hand was seized by Cummins, and so forcibly compressed that the bottle was broken, and its liquid contents, whatever they may have been, lost in the sea. The wretched man was now secured by the officers and conveyed to Liverpool, and he there immediately underwent an examination before the magistrates of that city. The nature of the charge was stated, and his identity having been proved, he was at once ordered to be conveyed to Leicester.

At his own request, he was allowed to remain at the Bridewell that night; but on the following morning he was carried back to the scene of his diabolical crime by coach, in custody of five constables. On his way he exhibited the utmost levity, and frequently laughed at the people who came out of their houses to catch a glimpse of him as he passed by. He ate and drank heartily, and requested, at almost every stoppage, to be supplied with brandy-and-water and cigars--a demand which was complied with. The coach did not arrive at Leicester until near ten o'clock; but the streets were, even at that hour, crowded with persons looking for his coming. He was safely lodged in jail, without any disturbance taking place.

From the moment of his apprehension he made no attempt to deny that Mr. Paas had fallen by his hands; but he sought to palliate his offence by asserting that that gentleman had attacked him first with one of the implements of his trade, in consequence of his refusal to pay him a bill which he owed him. He declared that he paid him the twelve shillings on his first visit, and denied most positively that he had any previous intention to commit the murder.

At a meeting of the borough magistrates of Leicester, at the town-jail, on Thursday afternoon, Cook was brought before them for the purpose of affording him an opportunity of making any disclosure or explanation he might see fit.

Mr. Burbidge, the town-clerk, addressed him, and said that he was not bound to say anything to criminate himself.

The prisoner, after a short pause, replied in substance and words nearly as follows:--"I am innocent of wilful murder, and my conscience is not burdened in the manner that you gentlemen seem to suppose. Mr. Paas called on me in the morning, but what morning I cannot exactly say, my agitation of mind has been so great ever since. I paid him a bill of twelve shillings. There were two bills due. The other was for a larger sum. Mr. Paas wrote "Settled" on the twelve-shillings bill, and I told him I would strive to pay part of the other if he called again in the evening. Mr. Paas did call in the evening, but I was not able to give him anything. He was angry, and I was angry; disagreeable words took place, and a scuffle ensued, and in this manner I was brought to this shameful and disgraceful end."

Mr. Burbidge said they had reason to suppose that the upper part of the body had been moved from the premises, and probably buried, and they understood he had admitted as much to one of the constables. The prisoner, after hesitating a short time, said he would consider of it. In addition to the above, the prisoner had previously told the constables that, during the scuffle, Mr. Paas had thrown the great hammer at his head, and that it struck his shoulder, and that in the heat of the moment he snatched up the press-pin (a strong iron bar), and hit him with it on the back of the neck, and he fell dead instantly.

On Friday morning the prisoner was visited in his cell by Mr. Burbidge, accompanied by the governor of the jail and his son. He was found reading and extracting from one of the many religious books with which he had been supplied. Mr. Burbidge asked him whether he was willing to tell what he had done with the trunk of the body. The prisoner replied, "I know I shall suffer, and as there is a just God, I burnt the whole of it; but how I did it, I can hardly tell."

Mr. Burbidge asked when he burned it? He replied, "In the course of Wednesday night." Mr. Burbidge then asked how he did it; and he said that he cut it up into fragments, and so placed them on the fire. Mr. Burbidge told him that he had been informed by surgeons that it would be impossible for him to destroy the lungs by any ordinary fire. The prisoner, in a composed but melancholy tone, replied, "Ah, sir, they never tried the experiment." Mr. Burbidge next observed, that he was given to understand that it was impossible to destroy the intestines by fire, without their causing a stench that would be smelt all round the neighbourhood. The prisoner, in answer, said, "I know nothing about that, sir; it was a very stormy night, and a great deal of rain fell--perhaps that may account for it." Mr. Burbidge asked, if his story were true, how he could explain the circumstance of no remains of the bones of the skull or trunk being found? The prisoner replied, that they were all burned so that he could crush them with his foot easily. He added, placing the fingers of his right hand upon the palm of his left, "I could mash them thus."

Mr. Burbidge asked how he could think of such a horrible mode of disposing of the body? The prisoner answered, "What was I to do with it, sir? the dreadful deed had been committed: I must get rid of it some way, and I had no other mode of disposing of it." Mr. Burbidge observed to him, that if he had cut up the body as he had stated, a great flow of blood must have taken place, and yet there were very few marks of blood on the floor: how did he account for that? In answer, the prisoner said he had first strewn the floor thickly with hay and straw, which he afterwards collected and burned.

This gives the substance of the various statements made by the prisoner, although he was repeatedly questioned upon the subject of the murder; and, on the 9th of June, he was committed to take his trial.

The remains of Mr. Paas having been conveyed to his late residence in Holborn, they were, on the 11th of June, carried to their last resting-place, followed by a host of mourning friends.

During the subsequent imprisonment of Cook in Leicester jail, preparatory to his trial, every means was adopted in order to procure from him some further confirmation or contradiction of the statement which he had made with respect to the disposal of the head and body of Mr. Paas, the recovery of which, if they had not been really destroyed, would naturally have afforded considerable satisfaction to the friends of the deceased. All the efforts which were used, however, failed; and the prisoner contented himself with persisting in the truth of the story which he had already told. He answered all inquiries with the greatest composure, and appeared fully aware that his fate in this world was sealed. With regard to the money which he had taken from Mr. Paas, he asserted that it amounted only to between 50_l._ and 60_l._, 30_l._ of which was in notes, while the remainder of the amount was in sovereigns.

On Wednesday, August the 7th, the prisoner was put upon his trial at the Leicester assizes, charged with the wilful murder of his victim. The indictment alleged the murder to have been committed in various ways, in order to meet all the circumstances of the case.

The prisoner, on being called upon to plead, confessed himself guilty of the offence imputed to him. He declared that he was fully acquainted with the effect of his plea, and declined to withdraw it.

Sentence of death was then immediately pronounced by the presiding judge; and in order that the heinous nature of the crime of the prisoner should be more especially marked, he ordered that his body should be gibbeted in chains after his execution.

On the following Friday, 10th of August, the first part of the sentence was carried into effect, the convict being hanged in front of the jail at Leicester. His demeanour subsequent to his trial was in nowise altered, but partook of the same degree of calmness for which it had been previously remarkable. At his execution he was respectably attired in a black coat and waistcoat, and white duck trowsers. He betrayed but slight symptoms of emotion, and met his fate with becoming resignation.

Previously to his execution he made a confession of the circumstances of the murder more in detail than those which he had previously delivered. He said that he had had the murder in contemplation for a week before its commission; and that the visit of Mr. Paas to his workshop on the fatal 30th of May, was deemed by him to present a favourable opportunity for completing his sanguinary design. When Mr. Paas entered his shop on the evening of that day, he shut the door, and he then paid him the amount of a small bill in which he was indebted to him. Mr. Paas had receipted the bill, and, having risen from his seat at the table, was examining the binding of a book which lay on the press, when he conceived that the favourable moment had arrived. Taking up the press-pin (a heavy iron instrument), he walked behind his victim, and struck him a tremendous blow on the back of his head. The unfortunate gentleman raised his hands to his head, and staggering towards the door, cried out, "Murder" as loud as his voice, enfeebled by the attack which had been made on him, would allow; but his assailant, now terror-struck, followed up the blow which he had already dealt with others of equal severity on the top of his head. The third stroke was sufficient; and the unfortunate victim of his crime fell heavily to the ground. Turning on his back, his arms were convulsed for a few moments, when they ceased to move, and "all was over." His murderer now retired from the room, and locked the door, but returned again at night to dispose of the body. On his entering the workshop he stumbled over his victim, and his nerves were dreadfully shaken by this circumstance, but speedily getting rid of his alarm, he commenced the work of cutting up the body, and recovered his usual firmness; and so completely was he restored, that he declared that he could have continued the horrible occupation in which he was engaged for a much longer time than he did, if he had deemed it necessary to do so. He then declared, as a dying man, that he had consumed by fire every particle of the body and clothes of the deceased gentleman, except those parts which had been found; and he stated that pride had driven him to commit the crime, and that he was desirous of procuring money, in order to embark for America. He alluded, with seeming horror, to a connexion which he had formed with a society of young men, who professed Deism, in Leicester, and at whose meetings the works of Tom Paine, Carlile, and others, were read; and emphatically added, "Until I got connected with these persons, attending as I did some place of religious worship three times every Sunday, I considered myself a moral young man; but my heart was changed by their example."

When the body of the convict had hung the usual time after his execution, it was cut down and conveyed back to the jail, in order that the necessary preparations might be made to carry out that portion of the sentence which directed his remains to be gibbeted in chains. The head was shaved and tarred, to preserve it from the action of the weather; and the cap in which he had suffered, was drawn over his face. On Saturday afternoon his body, attired as at the time of his execution, having been firmly fixed in the irons necessary to keep the limbs together, was carried to the place of its intended suspension in Saffron-lane, not far from the Aylestone Toll-gate, a short distance out of the town of Leicester. A gallows, thirty-three feet in height, had been already erected; and the horrible burden which it was intended to bear was soon attached to it. On the following day, thousands of persons were attracted to the spot, to view this novel but most barbarous exhibition; and considerable annoyance was felt by persons residing in the neighbourhood of the dreadful scene. Representations were, in consequence, made to the authorities, and on the following Tuesday morning, instructions were received from the Home Office, directing the removal of the gibbet, and granting the remission of that portion of the sentence, by which this exposure, the remnant only of a barbarous age, was required. These orders were immediately obeyed; and the body was subsequently buried in Leicester.

WILLIAM JOBLING.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

At the Durham assizes, on Wednesday the 1st of August 1832, William Jobling was tried on an indictment charging him with the wilful murder of Mr. Fairles, a magistrate, on the previous 11th of June. Mr. Fairles, it appeared, had given offence to the colliers, from his spirited exertions to suppress their riotous proceedings. On the day in question he was returning from the Jarrow Colliery on his pony, when he was overtaken by the prisoner and a man named Armstrong, who, having first asked him for money, dragged him from his horse and beat him unmercifully with a bludgeon, and also pelted him with stones as he lay on the ground. Mr. Fairles was found in a state of insensibility, and, on his recovery, swore distinctly to the prisoner and Armstrong, as the persons by whom he had been attacked. He subsequently died of his wounds. The prisoner was secured at Shields; Armstrong escaped; the prisoner was found "Guilty," and received sentence to die on Friday--his body to be hung in chains.

This sentence was carried out to its full extent, the body of the criminal being suspended to a gibbet in the neighbourhood of the scene of the murder.

This exhibition, however, gave great offence to the colliers; and after the remains of the unhappy wretch had been exposed for several weeks, they were, on Saturday the 8th of September, suddenly missed, having been removed during the previous night. The deceased had been a collier; and little doubt was entertained that his late companions and fellow-workmen had done this service to his memory: all subsequent efforts to discover the place of concealment of his body proved unavailing. But although undoubtedly its unauthorised removal was a serious breach of the law, there were few to be found who looked upon it as matter for regret, or who did not view the circumstance as a convincing proof of the impolicy of reviving a practice so barbarous as the exposure of the bodies of executed criminals.

The law by which this exposure was authorised was enacted by the statute 2 and 3 W. 4, c. 75, s. 16. That act provides, "Whereas an act was passed in the 9th year of the reign of his late majesty (9 Geo. 4, c. 31), for consolidating and amending the statutes in England relating to offences against the person, by which latter act it is enacted, that the body of every person convicted of murder shall, after execution, either be dissected or hung in chains, as to the court who tried the offender shall seem meet, and that the sentence to be pronounced by the court shall express that the body of the offender shall be dissected or hung in chains, whichsoever of the two the court shall order; Be it enacted, that so much of the said last recited act as authorises the court, if it shall see fit, to direct that the body of a person convicted shall, after execution, be dissected, be and the same is hereby repealed; and that, in every case of the conviction of any person for murder, the court before which such prisoner shall have been tried shall direct such prisoner either to be hung in chains or to be buried within the precincts of the prison in which such prisoner shall have been confined after conviction, as to such court shall seem meet; and that the sentence to be pronounced by the court shall express, that the body of such prisoner shall be hung in chains, or buried within the precincts of the prison, whichsoever of the two the court shall order."

The legislature appears to have duly estimated the extent of the disgust created by the two exhibitions which have been referred to of the remains of Cook and Jobling; and, by the 4 and 5 W. 4, c. 26, s. 1, the provisions of the statute last mentioned are repealed, so far as they relate to the hanging of criminals in chains. That act enacts (after reciting the provisions of the statutes of 9 Geo. 4, and 2 and 3 W. 4), "That so much of the said recited act, made and passed in the ninth year of the reign of Geo. 4, as authorised the court to direct that the body of a prisoner convicted of murder should, after execution, be hung in chains, and also so much of the said recited act, made and passed in the second and third year of the reign of W. 4 as provided, that in every case of the conviction of any prisoner for murder, the court should direct such prisoner to be hung in chains, should be and the same is hereby repealed."

DENNIS COLLINS.

CONVICTED OF HIGH TREASON, IN THROWING A STONE AT KING WILLIAM IV.

This extraordinary attack on the person of his majesty took place at Ascot Heath races, for many years the resort of the royal family. The assault, for in common parlance it amounted to no more, appears to have originated in nothing more than an insane desire on the part of the person who was guilty of it to vent his anger on the king for a supposed injury, inflicted on him in the forfeiture of a pension which had been granted to him for past services in the navy.

It was on Thursday, the 19th of June 1832, that this attack was made. His majesty, accompanied by his consort, had just reached the grand stand on the race-course, and had advanced to the front window to acknowledge the respectful greetings of his people, when two stones, thrown in quick succession after each other, were seen to fly in the direction of the window at which the royal party was stationed. The first stone rebounded from the building to the ground below, but the second entered the open window and struck his majesty a somewhat severe blow on the front of the head. An instant alarm was raised, and a thousand arms were extended to seize the individual by whom the attack was made, whose act was attributed to an intention far more dangerous than it eventually appeared the unfortunate man had had. His majesty was much agitated, and retired to the inner part of the room, apparently in alarm lest any further violence should be attempted, and was observed to express considerable fear lest her majesty, or any of the females of the suite, might receive injury; but in a few moments he regained his self-possession, and presented himself at the window to assure the public of his safety. His majesty had received a slight injury only, owing to the stone having fallen upon his hat; and the royal party appeared perfectly re-assured long before the alarm created in the minds of those present had subsided, and they had become convinced that the attack was not the subject of some deep laid and villanous plot.

The wretched author of the mischief, as we have already stated, had been immediately secured, and he was now carried before Sir F. A. Roe, the chief magistrate of Westminster, who was always in attendance upon his majesty upon such occasions, and who held a species of court in a room under the Grand Stand. Gardiner, the Bow-street officer, had the prisoner in charge, and conducted him to the presence of the magistrate. In a few moments the room where the examination was held was crowded with persons in attendance on his majesty, or attached to the royal suite, who were anxious to learn the particulars of this extraordinary act, as well as to ascertain the station and occupation of the assailant of the king.

The prisoner was found to be old and decrepit, with a wooden leg, and wearing the tattered garb of a sailor. He gave his name Dennis Collins, and surveyed the assembled throng with a calm composure, while, however, there appeared to be considerable incoherence in the expressions which he occasionally let fall, produced apparently indeed by the confusion in which he was involved, consequential upon the somewhat rough treatment which he had received from the mob before he had reached the custody of the police-officers. The circumstances which have been already detailed were now proved in evidence; and witnesses were examined who had seen the prisoner on the race-course during the morning, and had remarked his demeanour. He appeared to be occupied in begging, but an angry resentment seemed to be exciting his mind. This had evidently reached its height at the moment of his attack upon his majesty; but his premeditation appeared to be exhibited beyond a doubt by his possession of the missiles which he threw, which must have been brought from a somewhat distant part of the ground.

The miserable old man was considerably below the middle height, and the general aspect which he presented was the reverse of pleasing, on account of the want of cleanliness of his person. His countenance was by no means ill-favoured, and a bright sparkling eye appeared to lend to it an expression of considerable intelligence. He made no statement before the magistrates, and was eventually committed to Reading jail for re-examination on the following Wednesday.

On that day the necessary witnesses to his crime were called, and their depositions formally taken, and the prisoner was then called upon for his defence. His address to the magistrates was highly characteristic of the old sailor, a station to which it appears the prisoner was entitled. He said, "I own myself in a great fault for throwing these stones at his Majesty. I was in Greenwich Hospital on the 16th of December last, as an in-pensioner. I had been there eighteen months. The ward-keeper was sweeping the place, and I told him he had no business to sweep it more than once a-day; the boatswain's mate abused me, and I returned it. A complaint was then made to Sir Richard Keats (the governor), and I was expelled for life. I petitioned to the Lords of the Admiralty to have the pension which I had before I went into the hospital restored to me. I am entitled to that pension by an act passed in the reign of George IV., which entitles a pensioner to have the same pension which he had before he became an in-pensioner, unless he struck an officer, or committed felony, or did anything of the kind, which I did no such thing; on the 19th of last April I petitioned the king to have my pension restored. He answered by sending the petition to the Lords of the Admiralty, and Mr. Barrow, the secretary, sent a letter to me at the public-house, the Admiral Duncan, with the same answer the king gave. The answer was, that 'His Majesty could do nothing for me.' This was part in writing, and part in print. I had neither workhouse nor overseer to apply to, and had not broke my fast for three days; merely distress drove me to it. His majesty never did me an injury, and I am exceedingly sorry I threw a stone or anything else at his majesty. On the 17th of the present month I went to Admiral Rowley's; he swore at me and kicked me. I can only say I am very sorry for what I have done, and must suffer the law. They had no right to take my pension from me, to which I was entitled by Act of Parliament."

This was all the wretched man said, and he was then fully committed for trial in the customary form, upon the charge of high treason.

His trial took place at Abingdon on Wednesday the 22d August, when he was arraigned upon an indictment, charging him with assaulting his majesty, with intent to kill and murder him,--with intent to maim and disable him,--and with intent to do him some grievous bodily harm.

The prisoner pleaded not guilty, and the case was immediately commenced. The evidence was conclusive as to the facts which we have stated, and a verdict of "Guilty" upon the last count was returned.

The sentence awarded by the law to the offence of high treason was immediately passed, the prisoner being ordered to be drawn and quartered, in obedience to the ancient and long existing practice.

It was directly known that a sentence so severe would not be carried into full effect upon a man whose only crime appeared to have been insanity, although there was no distinct evidence by which this supposition could be proved; and on the following Friday, a respite was received at Abingdon jail, by which the punishment of death was removed in the case of the wretched old convict.

Collins, at the time of his trial, was upwards of seventy years of age, and, as his defence before the magistrates imported, he had served in the navy for many years. His gallant conduct in an action was the cause of his losing his leg, and he was compelled to quit the service. He subsequently exerted himself to procure his admission to Greenwich Hospital, and eventually he succeeded; but he was expelled for the misconduct which he pointed out. From this time he appears to have supported himself by begging, and he was well known at the various fairs and race-courses, which, however, he had previously been in the habit of frequenting in a similar character.

His sentence was eventually commuted to transportation for life, and he was sent from this country to Van Dieman's Land. A short residence in that colony ended his days. He died at Port Philip in the spring of the year 1834.

WILLIAM KENNEDY AND WILLIAM BROWN.

TRIED FOR A MURDER COMMITTED ON THE RIVER THAMES.

This unfortunate case produced a deep sensation throughout the metropolis, and for a considerable space of time tended, in a very material degree, to prevent persons attached to the exercise of rowing on the river Thames from pursuing their favourite sport. The circumstances of the death of the deceased are singular, and deserve to be related.

It appears, that Mr. William Wilkinson was the managing clerk to Messrs. Williams, Jacob, and Co., merchants, of Hare-court, Aldersgate-street, and at the time of his death had reached his twenty-fifth year. He was fond of the sports of the river, and frequently enjoyed the exercise of rowing, either alone or in company with a friend. On the evening of Tuesday the 17th of July, accompanied by a Mr. Smales, a stationer, of No. 36, Aldersgate-street, he proceeded to the yard of Mr. Hodges, near Blackfriars-bridge, and there hired a boat for the purpose of proceeding up the river. They had reached Vauxhall-bridge, when through the falling shades of night they saw two boats advancing upon them, and as they supposed dogging or following them. They did not immediately take any notice of the circumstance, but pulling on through the bridge they reached a spot near to the lock or opening of the Grosvenor Canal. They found that the boats were still in their vicinity, and were drawing nearer to them: and Mr. Wilkinson remarked, that he did not like their appearance. At this moment Mr. Smales drew his watch from his pocket to see what time it was, and he found that it was ten o'clock. Mr. Wilkinson suggested that they could pull on for ten minutes longer, and then return with the tide and take a glass of ale at the Spread Eagle tavern, a much frequented waterside house. While this conversation was going on, one of the boats which had been chasing them passed, and they had just taken their sculls in their hands to resume their progress, and had pulled a few strokes, when they found that they had come in contact with the boat. Mr. Wilkinson exclaimed, "We are foul of a boat here, let us shove her off," and proceeded to clear the funny in which he was from the other boat; but he found that his efforts were unavailing, and that, notwithstanding his exertions, the boat came alongside. There were two persons in it, and one of them, whose appearance was remarkable from his wearing a blue and white night-cap, made a snatch at the coats of Mr. Wilkinson and Mr. Smales, which were lying at the feet of the former in the funny. He was successful in reaching them and drawing them into his own boat, which was a light skiff, and he and his companion then directly shoved off and rowed away with all speed. Mr. Smales raised his scull and endeavoured to strike the leading offender in this impudent robbery; and at the same moment, Mr. Wilkinson sprung from his own boat and seized the gunwale of the receding skiff. The second boat at this moment was observed to be rowed away with great speed, and Mr. Smales' attention was directed to his friend, who, holding the antagonist boat, was immersed in the river. He saw that his hands were pushed away from their hold by the same man who had before been active in the robbery, and then the same man and his companion struck him repeatedly and violently over the head and hands with their sculls. Mr. Smales cried "Murder," at perceiving the imminent danger in which his friend was placed, and exerted himself to save him by throwing to him two of the sculls in his boat. His efforts were, however, futile, and he saw Mr. Wilkinson sink, apparently overpowered by the blows which he had received. The boat in which their assailants were now rowed away as quickly as possible, and the waiter and jack-in-the-water at the Spread Eagle, alarmed by the outcry, put off to the assistance of Mr. Smales. He acquainted them with what had passed, and urged them to endeavour to save his friend, but they were unable to render any effectual aid, and were compelled to give up their search after a useless attempt to recover the body of Mr. Wilkinson. Fresh assistance from the shore was procured, and drags were employed, but to no purpose.

Mr. Smales, on his proceeding on shore, at once gave information of what had occurred to two friends whom he accidentally met at the Spread Eagle, and accompanied by them he secured the co-operation of Mitchell, a surveyor of the Thames Police, in endeavouring to secure the originators of the attack upon him and his friend, and the death of the latter.

In the course of the ensuing morning, the skiff which had been used by their assailants was found at Nine Elms, Vauxhall (on the opposite shore to that on which the Spread Eagle is situated), and it was discovered to belong to Mr. Moore, a boat-owner, from whose yard it had been clandestinely taken on the previous night by two men named Kennedy and Brown. Mitchell was perfectly acquainted with the persons and the character of these individuals, and he hesitated not to believe that they were the men who had been guilty of this outrage. Proceeding in search of them he soon succeeded in apprehending them, together with three of their companions, named Kitley, Lyon, and Flack, who, like them, were of notoriously bad character, and were well known as river thieves. Evidence was not long wanting to connect Kennedy and Brown with the transaction. Independently of the knowledge of their having possessed themselves of Mr. Moore's boat, on the Tuesday evening, at about the time when Mr. Smales and Mr. Wilkinson must have been passing the yard where it was lying, and where, a moment before, they had been in conversation with an apprentice of Mr. Moore, named Shearing; it was ascertained that they had been seen walking together from Nine Elms towards Lambeth Butts, at about half past ten o'clock, on the night in question, and that on their arrival at a beer-shop, which they frequented there, their demeanour was confused, and entirely different from its usual character. On the following morning they were seen at the same house, in company with the other prisoners, Flack and Kitley, and they all appeared to be intently occupied in the destruction of some letters or papers, which had been produced by Kennedy. They had remained thus employed some time, when all but Kennedy went away. Isbester, a Thames Police officer, shortly afterwards made his appearance in search of them, but Kennedy seemed to be instinctively aware of his approach, and speedily vanished. Bean, the landlord, presently discovered that he was hidden in an adjoining empty house, and having driven him out he was immediately secured. The other prisoners were taken into custody in the course of the same day.

It was not until Thursday morning that the remains of Mr. Wilkinson were recovered from the river. They were then washed ashore opposite the very spot where they had sunk. They presented in themselves sufficient evidence of the violence which the unfortunate gentleman had suffered. The nose was broken, and the head, face, and hands, were severely bruised. At an inquest held on the body on the next evening, Friday the 20th of July, Mr. Davis, a surgeon, was examined, who had inspected the body of the deceased. He declared, that the injuries of themselves would have been sufficient to cause death, but he suggested that in all probability they had created insensibility, and that the deceased, having sunk, had been suffocated by drowning. The facts which have been already detailed were proved in evidence before the jury, and a verdict of "Wilful Murder" against Brown and Kennedy was returned; the latter being recognised by Mr. Smales as the man with the night-cap, who had been most active in the attack. The other prisoners were declared to be insufficiently connected with the affair to admit of their being included in the verdict which had been given; but the further investigation of the case was directed to be carried on by Captain Richbell, the magistrate at the Thames Police Office.

The subsequent inquiries of the police-officer tended to confirm the suspicions which were entertained with reference to Brown and Kennedy. The papers, the destruction of which it had been shown Kennedy was anxious to procure, had been only partially burned; and some fragments of them which were secured, were proved to bear the hand-writing of the deceased. The coats too of Mr. Smales and Mr. Wilkinson were afterwards discovered at the lodgings occupied by the two prisoners. The ends of justice, it was considered, rendered it fit that Kitley and Flack should be examined as witnesses, and their testimony afforded conclusive proof of the premeditated guilt of their late companions of the crime of robbery; but they asserted their belief that in determining to commit that offence, they had no intention to cause the death of the persons whom they attacked.

The prisoners Brown and Kennedy said that the statement of these new witnesses was quite true, and they admitted that they had put off in the boat from Mr. Moore's yard, intending to rob Mr. Wilkinson, but they affirmed that although on that gentleman's jumping to their boat, they had pushed his hands off to prevent his any longer clinging to the gunwale, they had struck him no blows with their oars, but that the wounds which he had been found to have received, had been caused first by his falling, when he jumped with his face on their boat's stern; and secondly, by the ill-directed attempts of Mr. Smales to throw to him the sculls, with which he might assist himself, in keeping his head above water.

The prisoners were then committed for trial; Lyons, against whom there appeared to be no evidence, being discharged, and the other men, Kitley and Flack, being bound over to give evidence.

The further and final investigation of the case, before Mr. Justice Patteson and a jury, took place at the Old Bailey, on Friday the 7th of September. The evidence having then been gone through, the prisoners put in a written statement, reiterating the defence which they had made before the magistrate. A verdict of "Guilty" followed, and sentence of death was immediately passed on the prisoners by the Recorder, and their execution was directed to take place on the following Monday.

In the course of the trial, however, circumstances had arisen which induced a belief on the minds of the jury, that there might be some doubts whether the intention of the prisoners might not have been that which they had pointed out, and whether in fact the blows received by the deceased might not have been unintentionally dealt by the hand of his friend, Mr. Smales. The evidence which was adduced, compelled them to return a verdict of "guilty," but immediately after the trial a petition was prepared and signed by them, in which they prayed that some further inquiry might take place, with a view to the commutation of the punishment, to which the prisoners had been sentenced. The learned judge was equally uncertain with them, whether, in truth, Mr. Smales might not unconsciously have struck Mr. Wilkinson, while he was in the water, and whether the prisoners' account of the transaction might not be true; and these doubts being increased by the production of an affidavit, which was placed in the hands of the sheriff, that the deceased was intoxicated at the time of the occurrence, (although this statement was contradicted by Mr. Smales), sufficient grounds were deemed to be made out for a respite being granted. While, however, this measure of leniency was accorded, it was distinctly intimated, that it was only under the peculiar circumstances of the case, that the Privy Council had taken upon itself to recommend the exercise of the royal prerogative of mercy. The crime of murder had no doubt been proved, but the remarkable nature of the transaction rendered it advisable that, while justice was impartially administered, its dictates should not be obeyed with harshness. The respite was communicated to the wretched convicts, on Sunday the 9th of September, when they expressed themselves deeply grateful for the lenient view which had been taken of their case. During their imprisonment they had conducted themselves in a manner to show their sincere penitence for the crimes which had marked their previous lives. They admitted their participation in many robberies on the river, and on its banks, for which they had frequently been apprehended, and acknowledged the wickedness of their career.

Their punishment was eventually commuted to transportation, to which they had confessed themselves liable.

WILLIAM JOHNSON.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

This is an instance of murder, in which the depravity of the human mind is painfully depicted. The victim of the foul deed was a young man named Benjamin Danby, the son of a respectable tradesman, a forensic wig maker, in the Temple. Young Danby, at an early age, expressed a passion for a maritime life, and he accordingly went to sea. After making several voyages, he returned and found that his father was dead, that the bulk of his property was settled on his sisters, but that an allowance of a guinea per week had been secured to him during his life. These circumstances made a deep impression upon the mind of the young man; but his allowance having been increased by his sisters to two guineas per week, he became more settled. Towards the close of the year 1832, he took up his residence at the house of his cousin, a Mr. Addington, a baker, living at Chase Side, Enfield Chase. His manners were remarkable for all that freedom and eccentricity for which persons in his situation are proverbial; and with his pockets well lined with cash, and possessed of a warm and generous disposition, he soon became a great favourite among the villagers. His acquaintance among them was extensive, and he not unfrequently enjoyed his cigar, and a game at dominoes, at the "Three Horse Shoes," a small public-house in the village. It was here that he met with his future murderers. His attachment to frolic, and his easy good-nature, had led him to form acquaintances among persons of low character, and of abandoned habits, in the neighbourhood; but he dearly paid the forfeit of his imprudence.

On Wednesday afternoon, the 19th of December, 1832, at about four o'clock, he quitted Mr. Addington's house for the last time. He took his gun with him, saying he was going shooting, but promised to return at ten o'clock; he was carried back on the next day a corpse. The unfortunate young man, it appears, having enjoyed his favourite pastime, repaired to the Three Horse Shoes, where he met some of his companions. Four persons, named William Johnson, the son of a gardener in the vicinity; Richard Wagstaff, a baker; Samuel Cooper, a carter, who was quite a lad, and the son of a labouring man; and Samuel Sleath, or Fare, a person who appeared to have no determined occupation, were seen in his company, and they were engaged playing at dominoes (as usual), and drinking together, apparently upon excellent terms. At about a quarter past ten o'clock young Danby declared that he must go home; but he had now become somewhat intoxicated, and on his reaching the open air, he was observed by Mrs. Perry, the landlady of the public-house, to stagger. Johnson and Fare said that they would see him home; but their manner induced a suspicion in the mind of Wagstaff that they were going to rob him: he therefore called to young Cooper to come away; but his answer was, that he had been with them all the evening, and that he meant to "go up there" with them now. Wagstaff then went away in a direction the contrary to that taken by Danby and the others.

On the following morning, at half-past five o'clock, a man named Wheeler, a labourer, was passing through a place called Holt White's-lane, about half-a-mile from the Three Horse Shoes, when he observed a dead body in the ditch. He called a man named Ashley to him, and they discovered that it was the body of young Danby. His legs were towards the road, and the head in the ditch, face downwards; and on their turning it over, it presented a horrible and ghastly spectacle. The face was cut and slashed in a most dreadful manner; the flesh was scored out, as it were, in five places; and the right whisker was completely cut away, and hung suspended to the jaw by a small piece of skin. In the throat of the murdered man they observed a deep stab, inflicted in the manner which would be practised by a butcher in killing a sheep, the knife having been turned in the wound. They at once communicated the particulars of this horrifying discovery to the police of the town, who lost no time in procuring the removal of the body to a neighbouring public-house, "The Old Sergeant," and in conveying the dreadful intelligence to Mr. Addington.

Inquiries were instantly set on foot, and the circumstances above detailed having been ascertained, Johnson, Fare, and Cooper were taken into custody. The first-named person was found sitting in his father's house, deep in thought. He instantly consented to accompany the officer. Fare was found in the village in the course of the day; and on his being searched, eleven shillings were found on him, although on the previous day his poverty had driven him to procure two shillings, parish relief; and Cooper was found driving a brewer's waggon within fifty yards of the spot where the murder was committed, having unconcernedly just passed a crowd assembled at the place, gazing in horror at the scene of the transaction to which he had been a party. At the moment of his being secured, he was listening with well-feigned astonishment at a recital of the dreadful discovery of the morning, although at that moment he had upon his head a cap, the inside of which was stained with the blood of the murdered man.

In the course of the day the spot where the murder had been committed was minutely examined. It appeared as if there had been much struggling, and as if the unfortunate deceased had made a desperate resistance. On the ground near the body were found a number of shot, and a long strip of cloth; and at some distance the handkerchief, which the deceased had carried, was also picked up. The deceased was proved to have carried shot with him on his quitting Mr. Addington's house, together with the bowl of a tobacco-pipe to load his gun. Some shot, exactly similar to those found in the road, and the bowl of a tobacco-pipe also agreeing in appearance with that used by the deceased, were found on Fare; and the trousers worn by Johnson were ascertained to correspond in colour with the strip of cloth found, and to have lost such a piece of their original fabric.

Thus much evidence had been obtained, when the prisoner Cooper sent for one of the constables, and declared that he would tell him all. He then proceeded to detail to him the circumstances attending the murder; but as he subsequently repeated his statement before the coroner, it shall be given in the more authentic form in which it was there received.

The inquest first sat upon the body of the deceased on the day after the discovery of the murder, but its proceedings were continued from day to day for a week from the date of their commencement.

On Monday the 24th of December, Cooper made his statement in the following terms:--

"On the Wednesday night, about ten o'clock, I went to the Horse Shoes public-house, to get me a pint of beer, and there was John Taylor, Charles Jackson, Danby, and Richard Wagstaff playing at dominoes; William Johnson and Samuel Fare were also there. When they had done playing at dominoes, Fare and deceased began tossing for beer and gin; they gave me some of the beer and gin to drink. We all went out together about eleven o'clock, or a little after; I went out first, and Johnson, Fare, Richard Wagstaff, and the sailor (deceased) followed. The man who was murdered fell against the rails of the river, near the door of the Horse Shoes, and then asked some of us to lead him home; Johnson and Fare took hold of him, and led him as far as Wagstaff's. In going along, Wagstaff persuaded me to go home, but I did not go. I had got as far as Wagstaff's, and the others were a little farther on; Fare, Johnson, and the deceased had a scuffle, and Wagstaff went into his house just at that time. Fare fell down, when deceased took hold of me by the arm, and asked me to lead him home; I and William Johnson and the deceased went on, and Fare stopped behind. When we got opposite Mr. Addington's, Johnson persuaded the deceased to go on, and get a pint of beer; the deceased said, 'With all my heart;' and then me, Johnson, and the man went on. I thought he was going to Mr. Cutliffe's, but he went on to Holt White's-lane, or Chase-road, as it is called; a man and a woman passed us there, and I wished them good night; Johnson, the deceased, and me, went up the Chase-road, and I thought we were going to get some beer at the top of the hill; we went up until we almost came to Pinnock's (a beer-shop), when Johnson turned us round; I had hold of one arm of the deceased and Johnson the other; and on Johnson turning us round, I was next to the ditch, I having hold of the left arm; on going down the road, and when we had proceeded about eight or nine poles, Johnson said, 'I am cursed if Sam (Fare) harn't robbed me;' about half-a-minute after, Johnson put his foot behind the deceased and threw him down on me, and I fell in the ditch with the deceased upon me; my head was underneath the head and shoulders of the deceased; I drew myself from under the deceased, and my cap came off; I felt about for my cap, and found it underneath the man's head; it was all over blood; I said to Bill Johnson, 'What have you been doing with the man? Don't hurt him;' he said, 'I've done him;' when I got out of the ditch, and stood in the middle of the road trembling, Johnson came away from the man to me; when deceased lifted up his head, and said, 'O, don't, don't, pray don't, I know;' Johnson then said, 'Here, take this knife, and go and finish him;' I replied, that I would not; Johnson said, 'Don't say a word,' and shook his fist at me; he then went and killed the man directly; I should have run away, only I was afraid I should have been served the same; I saw Johnson pick up something from the side of deceased; he then took a handkerchief from the deceased, and gave me a piece of bread out of it, which I threw over the hedge; we then came away down the road, and Johnson several times said, 'Don't say anything to anybody;' I wanted to go to my own house, but he said, 'Come this way across the fields, don't go that way.' We then went across Mr. Corney's field, and over the New River bridge; Johnson washed his hands and his knife in the river; it was a black-handled clasp knife, which I have seen several times; after washing the knife, we went over the Horse-shoe bridge, and turning down by the river side, near Mr. Robinson's, Johnson took the deceased's handkerchief from his pocket, and threw it into the water; we then parted, Johnson again urging me to say nothing; I then went home; Fare left us near Mr. Cutliff's (near the house where Wagstaff lived); I did not see him again after I took hold of the deceased to lead him away."

The prisoners, Johnson and Fare, were introduced into the room before the case was concluded, and the nature of the evidence against them stated to them. They contented themselves with denying the truth of the allegations which were made, and conducted themselves throughout with extraordinary composure.

The jury at the conclusion of the proceedings returned a verdict that the deceased had been wilfully murdered by Johnson and Cooper, and that Fare had been accessory before the fact.

The prisoners were then committed to Newgate to await their trial Cooper being also detained in custody to give evidence.

On Friday the 4th of January, 1833, the prisoners, Johnson and Fare, were put upon their trial at the Old Bailey. The inquiry lasted during the whole day, and the court was much crowded. There being now no further evidence than there had been before the coroner, to implicate Fare in the actual murder, he was acquitted, and removed from the bar; and Johnson was then called on for his defence. He put in a written statement, commenting upon the prejudices which had been excited against him, and declaring that Cooper's must have been the hand by which the deed was done, for that he and Fare had left the deceased with him at the end of Holt White's-lane on the night of the murder, and had seen no more of either of them afterwards.

The jury retired to deliberate upon their verdict; but after an absence of two hours, they declared the prisoner to be "Guilty." Sentence of death was instantly passed, and the prisoner was ordered for execution on the following Monday, a doom which he heard with little emotion.

On the appointed day, the 7th of January 1833, the sentence of death was carried out upon the body of the malefactor. There was an immense concourse of spectators; and on the appearance of the culprit on the platform, the groans and exclamations of disgust on the part of the mob were deafening. The unhappy culprit was, however, lost to all sense of the misery of his condition, and was totally unable to stand without assistance. The rope was placed round his neck as quickly as possible; and at the usual signal the drop fell.

During the time intervening between his conviction and his death, the wretched man appeared to become alive to the awful position in which he stood. He was frequently exhorted by the worthy ordinary of the jail, to whom he declared his sincere repentance. On the Sunday he was visited by his wife, to whom he had been married about three years, and who was now in an advanced state of pregnancy. The interview was exceedingly affecting; and Johnson, who, it would appear, had not been a kind husband, seemed deeply to feel the harsh conduct of which he had been guilty, and entreated her forgiveness. After his wife had gone, he sunk gradually to a state of stupor, from which nothing could rouse him.

He had previously made a statement to Mr. Sheriff Humphrey, of which the following is a copy:--"I had with others been drinking at the public-house, and afterwards, about eleven or half-past, we left, accompanied by Danby, the deceased. On going home Fare left us, and then Cooper went with Wagstaff. On being left alone with Danby, he informed me that some one had robbed him, and I was so frightened for fear that I should be taken up for highway robbery, that I was determined not to leave, but to get him to some house of safety; and, on passing his relation's (the baker), I wanted to knock them up, but he would not let me, and said they were gone to bed, and so we passed on; but I now wish that I had stopped there, then this would not have happened; but it is now too late. As we were going on, Cooper came up; he had been away about five minutes, and the moment Danby saw him, he said, in great excitation, 'This is one of the chaps that robbed me,' and he flew at him (Cooper) like a tiger, and said he would serve him just in the same way as he served a black man in the East Indies, and in the scuffle we all went down on the ground, by the ditch, and I do most solemnly say, that I did not trip up the deceased; and he (Cooper) also was on the top of him (deceased); and while he was down, Cooper had a knife (a clasp-knife, I think, but the night was so dark I could not say which, and the point was as broad as my two fingers), and he was cutting the deceased. I do also most solemnly say, that I also took the knife, and cut Danby, and did help to kill him; but the knife was not mine, nor do I know where the knife came from. Cooper had it in his hand when the deceased was on the ground in the ditch. Knowing I must leave this world soon, I do most solemnly avow before God, in whose presence I must soon appear, that Cooper first cut the deceased, and I afterwards struck him; and afterwards I stood by and saw Cooper take something out of his pockets. He said, 'I have got three-halfpence,' or 'one penny and one halfpenny.' We were both very much frightened, and left the deceased in the lane, and went home across the fields. I do also most solemnly say, that when we left the public-house we had no idea of killing him. I do not know who robbed him, but suppose it must have been Fare, as the money was found on him, and it was proved he had been applying for relief from the parish. I can only say, I had no hand in robbing him, either directly or indirectly; and what possessed me to participate in killing him I know not; but, after the deed was done, I was ready to kill myself; and I now say, that I ought to die for committing such an act. The knife which Cooper said, in his examination, was mine, and that it was a black-handled one, and small blade, I do most solemnly avow I had lost some time before, and had no knife with me when we left the public-house. The night was so dark, I could not distinctly see the one the deed was done with, and after it was done I threw the knife into the ditch, and suppose (the knife not being found) that Cooper must have picked it up; and the reason of Cooper's confession I believe was made thinking I should tell of him first and have him convicted; but we both said, 'We shall be hanged.' I have no ill-will towards any man, and I now leave this world for a crime which I shudder at."

The unfortunate man, as we have already said, had been married about three years. He was a native of Enfield, and was brought up by his father to the business which he followed, that of a jobbing gardener. He attributed his misfortunes to his marriage, and to his inability to procure work sufficient to support him and his family.

His late fellow-prisoner Fare, was on a subsequent day put upon his trial, for stealing from the deceased the money of which he was known to have been possessed, and a portion of which had been found in the prisoner's pockets on his apprehension. A verdict of "Guilty" was returned, and the prisoner was sentenced to be transported for fourteen years.

Fare, it appears, was like Johnson a native of Enfield, and at the time of his apprehension lived with his mother, a widow in that village. He had been occasionally employed among his neighbours at jobbing-work of all descriptions, and was at the time of the murder in extreme poverty.

Cooper, the companion in guilt of the two convicts, having been detained in custody until the end of the sessions, was then discharged.

JAMES BERRYMAN AND THOMAS BERRYMAN.

CONVICTED OF BURGLARY.

This atrocious outrage was committed on the night of the 2d of November 1832, at a place called Tunley, within two miles of Disley and six miles of Gloucester, at a farm-house, the residence of Mr. Hancox. Mr. Hancox, it appears, had a family consisting of two sons and several daughters, who resided with their father and mother at the farm of Tunley. The young Hancoxes assisted their father, who was becoming aged, in the management of the farm, while their sisters were equally engaged in such occupations as befitted their sex and age.

On the night of the 2d of November, the elder of Mr. Hancox's sons was in the homestead or farm-yard attached to his father's house, when he observed three men approaching whose appearance was strange to him, and whose intentions he was disposed to believe were not honest, as the farm was considerably out of the main road, and nearly two miles from any other house. He determined, therefore, to retire to the cover of the dwelling to procure the assistance of his father and brother, in case of any intention to commit violence being shown, in order by their united efforts to repel any attack which might be made. To reach the house in a direct line he sprang over the garden fence, but in taking the leap his foot caught something, and he fell to the ground. The approaching strangers by this accident were enabled to come up with him at the moment he entered the kitchen-door; and the young man, now convinced of their evil designs, called to them to know what they wanted, at the same time advancing to the fire-place to reach down a gun which was suspended over the mantel-piece, in accordance with the custom of most farm-houses of the district. An observation was made by one of the party, the precise nature of which was not heard; and young Hancox turning round to ascertain what was said, suddenly received in his face and eyes the greater portion of the contents of a pistol discharged by one of his assailants, consisting of small shot and sand. The unfortunate young man blinded, and for a moment deprived of his senses, fell to the ground; but his father entering the kitchen at the moment of the discharge of the pistol, was also wounded by some of the shot. The disturbance created by this sudden attack instantly attracted to the spot the other inmates of the house; and Mrs. Hancox and her younger son directly afterwards entered the kitchen. They were, however, felled to the ground by the same ruffian who had fired the pistol; and then a second fellow armed with a sword advanced to them, and swore he would murder them if they made any outcry, or attempted any resistance.

Thus overpowered, Mr. Hancox at once perceived the uselessness of making any effort to prevent the object which he conceived his assailants to have in view--that of robbery; and the foremost villain, with the man who had hitherto taken no active part in the affair, instantly proceeded to ransack the house for valuables. Demanding that Mr. Hancox should first give him what money he had in his possession, they received from him a sum of 65_l._ in bank-notes and gold, and then they proceeded to the upper rooms to secure whatever portable articles they could find which might be worth being carried away. The daughters of Mr. Hancox had been dreadfully alarmed at the proceedings of the robbers in the kitchen, of which they had been partial witnesses, and terrified lest violence should be offered to them also, they had run in different directions from the house to the garden and out-houses, in order to conceal themselves. The two thieves on whom the task of searching the premises had devolved, had made their examination of several rooms, when they reached the apartment occupied as the sleeping-room of the eldest Miss Hancox. They had a light with them which reflected through the window, and the youngest Miss Hancox supposing that it was her sister going to bed, yet afraid to re-enter the house, which she knew the thieves had not yet quitted, threw a handful of gravel at the window. The boldest burglars, it is well known, may be easily alarmed, and so it proved in this case; the villains, whose consciences doubtless pictured to their minds the approach of powerful assistance to repel their attack, made a precipitate retreat from the house, carrying with them some articles of silver plate; and running in a direction contrary to that by which they had approached it, were soon lost to view in the darkness of the night.

Instant medical aid was now procured for Mr. Hancox and his son, who were suffering severely from the wounds which they had received; and the youngest son was despatched to Disley with intelligence of the outrage, and a request that assistance might be immediately afforded in searching for its perpetrators. The village soon sent forth all its male inhabitants to assist in the inquiry, but in vain; and after many hours' watching they were compelled to return home without having learned anything tending to convey any suspicion in their minds as to who were the guilty parties. Young Hancox, it was found, had been severely wounded both in the face and eyes, and to the grief of all it was ascertained that his eyesight had been destroyed entirely, and for ever.

On the following day information of the event was conveyed to London, together with such a description of the persons of the robbers as Mr. Hancox and his family were able to give. Their features had been partially concealed by red comforters which covered the lower part of their faces, and by black crape: but Mr. Hancox and his family had a strong impression upon their minds of the general appearance of the men, whom they declared they should be able to recognise if they were again to see them.

Upon the facts of the case being stated to the magistrates at Bow-street, Ellis, an active and shrewd officer of that establishment, was instructed to exert himself in securing the offenders. A few inquiries on the spot were sufficient to put him upon a scent, which in the sequel proved the correctness of his judgment. Three brothers of the name of Berryman, natives of Gloucestershire, but now resident in London, were the persons to whom his suspicions attached the guilt of the transaction; but he found that he had wily game to follow. The apprehension of one without the others would have been to destroy his chance of complete success; for to let it be known that they were suspected, would be only to cause their instant flight. To secure his object, therefore, he had to act with extreme caution. He found that James Berryman, one of the brothers, was engaged as a journeyman hatter in the service of Mr. Straight, in Charlotte-street, Blackfriars-road, while his brother William, the youngest of the three, was occupied in the uncertain calling of selling pies and sweetmeats in the streets, his usual haunt being the neighbourhood of Goswell-street. The third brother, Thomas, was to be seen occasionally with each of his relations, but appeared to have no fixed occupation or employment. Ellis, with an assistant, a lad named Goodison, was for several weeks intent upon watching his prey without being able to find the favourable moment to pounce upon them, and disguised in almost every variety of costume he continued his observations of them. At length, on Wednesday morning, the 5th of December, he succeeded in finding them all together in Goswell-street, and closing upon them he secured them and carried them to Bow-street. James and Thomas Berryman were then instantly recognised by the younger son of Mr. Hancox, who had been awaiting their apprehension in London, as having been parties to the robbery, and Ellis declaring his impression that he should be able also to procure evidence against the third brother in Gloucestershire, they were all three ordered to be conveyed to Disley.

Upon their arrival there they were examined by a local magistrate, by whom they were remanded until a subsequent day. On that day James Berryman was distinctly sworn to as the man who had discharged the pistol, and his brother Thomas was recognised as having been one of his associates; but the third brother, William, against whom there was no proof whatever, was discharged out of custody. The testimony of the family of Mr. Hancox as to the identity of the prisoners was not left wholly unsupported, but by the indefatigable exertions of the officer other corroborative evidence was procured. This consisted of proof of the absence of the prisoners from London on the day before and the day after the robbery; of their arrival at Cirencester from London on the afternoon of the 2d of November in a van, and of their almost instant departure from that place in the direction of Disley; and finally, of their presence at the Bird-in-Hand public-house, about twenty-five miles on the London road, apparently foot-sore and fatigued, at mid-day on the 3d of November; and of their departure from that place in the evening in the waggon for London, and their subsequent arrival in the metropolis.

Upon this evidence the prisoners were committed for trial at the ensuing assizes; but Ellis was still convinced of the practicability of securing the third man, who had been engaged in this atrocious outrage. He had reason to believe that he was a relation of the Berrymans, named Desmond, alias Hunt; and after considerable difficulty he at length succeeded in securing him by a stratagem, while he was working at his trade of a shoemaker in the Goswell-street-road.

This new prisoner, however, expressed his anxiety to disclose all he knew upon the subject; and although it was known that he was implicated in the transaction, the uncertainty of procuring his conviction operated in his favour, and he was admitted to give evidence for the prosecution.

On Saturday, the 6th of April 1833, the trial of James and Thomas Berryman took place. The testimony of all the witnesses tended at once to attach the guilt of firing the pistol to the former prisoner; and the latter was also positively identified as having been a party to the robbery. The statement of the approver confirmed the declarations of the other witnesses, and both prisoners were found guilty.

The superior atrocity of the conduct of the prisoner James Berryman, marked him as a fit object for the infliction of a punishment of a serious nature, and he was sentenced to death, while his brother received sentence of transportation for life.

The sentence of death was executed upon James Berryman at Gloucester, on Saturday the 20th of April.

RICHARD COSTER.

TRANSPORTED FOR FORGERY.

The name of Richard Coster will long be remembered in the city of London. A most accomplished and successful swindler, he for years succeeded in evading that punishment which was the just reward of his offences against society; but at length, like all other of his class, he over-reached his owning enuity, and met the fit return for his numerous frauds in a sentence of transportation.

We are not able to supply our readers either with the date or the name of the place of the birth of our hero, neither are we in possession of the mean of informing them who were his parents, or what was the sphere of life in which they moved. From the extent of the education of their son, however, it is pretty evident that their rank was considerably below that which may be denominated as the "genteel;" and the same conclusion may also be drawn from the very early period of life at which this most daring public depredator was placed "upon his own bottom," and sent forth to gain a living for himself. At an early age we find him at Oxford, and his first employment of any note was that of driving an errand-cart, between that city and London. In this humble occupation he continued for some years, and such were his industrious and penurious habits, that he at length realised sufficient money to start on his own account, in the "costermongering line," with a horse and cart of his own. In this business he soon found the importance of a connexion with the metropolitan trade, and ere long he located himself in London, a scene admirably adapted for the display of those peculiar talents which he possessed. He was not long there in forming acquaintances, and connexions with persons, whose advice and instruction were highly important to him, in the scenes in which he was destined to move. Horse chaunters, or copers, swindlers of all sorts, utterers of base coin, thieves, "et hoc omne genus," were his constant companions, and Coster now became the competent associate of all. He felt, however, that he had a genius above the situation in which he was placed, and that his present calling was beneath the position which he ought to fill, and he soon quitted dealing in apples, and, by the various gradations of a small horse-dealer, an occasional purchaser of the proceeds of the produce of his associates' plunder, and the other occupations commonly followed by such "men upon town," he at length started in the year 1810, in Queen-street, Bristol, as a general agent and bill discounter.

Here, however, he was unfortunate; for in the course of the year he became an inmate of Newgate, in that city, on a charge of obtaining goods by false pretences; but on this occasion he seems to have slipped pretty quickly through the hands of justice, for in the following year we find him at the head of the firm of Coster and Co., in Bread-street, St. Philip's, Bristol.

His retirement to Bristol appears to have taken place in consequence of the notoriety which he had gained in London; but in 1814 we find him again shifting his quarters back to the seclusion of the crowded metropolis, for a reason, apparently, no other than that which had before induced his migration from it; conjoined, however, with a desire to avail himself of the wider sphere of action which was presented to him in that city. At this period he located himself at No. 8, Eltham-place, Kent-road; but a short residence there satisfied him, and he removed to No. 204, High Holborn, from whence, in 1815, he again changed his quarters to No. 7, Bazing-lane. In the following year, as if to be as close to the good things of this life as possible, he carried on the business of an eating-house keeper, at No. 19, Noble-street, Falcon-square; but in the year 1818, he again appeared in the world of money, as a job-broker, at No. 5, Oat-lane, Wood-street, and at No. 22, Lower Smith-street, Northampton-square, while at the same time he acted as clerk to a Mr. Thomas Gray, provision merchant, No. 4, Berry-court, Love-lane, Wood-street.

In 1819, Coster removed to No. 3, Bridge-water square, Barbican, at which time he is still represented as acting clerk to the above Thomas Gray, at No. 1, King-street-terrace, Lower Islington, and No. 4, Cross-street, Finsbury. The following year (1820), he established himself (still retaining his locality in Bridgewater-square) at No. 4, Staining-lane, under the firm of Coates and Smith, and afterwards under that of Smith and Martin, of both of which he was the ostensible partner. In Staining-lane, he carried on business for a number of years; and only gave up this concern in 1829, to conduct, on a larger scale, his operations, under the firm of Young and Co., Little Winchester-street; and Casey and Coster, Great Elbow-lane, Dowgate-hill, Upper Thames-street.

In the course of these repeated changes of residence, and of avocation, however, Coster did not pass unnoticed, or unknown. In September 1825, he was indicted at the Old Bailey, together with a man named Frederick Wilson, described as of No. 35, Union-street, Moorfields, for a conspiracy to defraud; and at the same sessions, Wilson was convicted upon a charge of obtaining bills of exchange under false pretences, and sentenced to seven years' transportation. At the following sessions, too, Coster was also indicted for an offence precisely similar to that upon which his companion, Wilson, had been convicted. The prosecutor, in this case, it appears was a person named Marquet; and Coster, having first tried every means, and spent a large sum of money in endeavouring to escape from justice, at length succeeded in compromising the indictment with him, and in destroying all the evidence of his guilt which was in existence, namely, the bills which he was charged to have illegally obtained.

In February 1826, Coster was announced, by the report of the Society for the Suppression of Swindling, to have a warehouse in Little Britain; and in the May following his name was gazetted in the list of bankrupts. He had at the same time a counting-house at No. 5, New Union-street, Little Moorfields, under the firm of William Stoppe and Co., and was drawing bills on Messrs. John Heslop and Co., corn merchants and flour factors, South Town, Yarmouth, Norfolk; which were accepted, payable at Messrs. Esdaile and Co.'s, in connexion with Lacon and Co., Yarmouth Bank, indorsed "Major J. H. Montgomery."

In June 1827, Coster is proclaimed as circulating bills to a large amount in Bristol, and elsewhere; and in the report of the Society of the following September, we find it stated, that "Richard Coster, so often mentioned, has procured his admission, under the feigned name of De Coste, into the Honourable Society of Freemasons, at the Burlington Lodge, No. 152."

The Swindling Report for the 23rd of January 1828, localises our worthy at No. 111, Hatton Garden; and in the March following we trace him to the Queen's Arms-yard, Newgate-street, where he kept an office, while at the same time he had another place of business at No. 9, Parliament-street, Westminster, under the name of Davis and Co., together with a feather-bed manufactory, at No. 19, Macclesfield-street, City-road, under the name of Smith and Bruce; and a Wharf, at No. 11, City-road Basin, in the name of Smith. In the course of the same year, this most determined swindler is announced as having a house at No. 14, Dorset Crescent, New North-road; as having procured gloves and silk manufactured goods in the name of Wright and Co., Little Winchester-street; and as having premises at No. 2, York Wharf, Jew's Harp Basin, in the name of J. Smith; "And I am also directed to inform you (says the secretary to the Society for the Protection of Trade), that Young, Richards, and Co., No. 5, Upper Thames-street; Young and Co., No. 6, Little Winchester-street, Broad-street; Brown and Co., No. 3, Cushion-court, Broad-street; and Yates, Smith, and Co., No. 3, Cushion-court, Broad-street, are firms belonging to Richard Coster, so often noticed."

In the following July, Coster is again alluded to in this report, as having a residence at No. 1, James-street, Kent-road, and another at Myrtle Cottage, Goswell-terrace, Goswell-street-road; and in the following October there appeared in the Gazette a formal notice of the dissolution of partnership between Richard Coster and William Cunningham, of No. 4 Staining-lane, merchants, warehousemen, and general dealers.

It would be useless to go through the vast variety of places of residence and of business which Coster occupied, as well as of the denominations of trades which he carried on up to the year 1833, when he was taken into custody. A bullion dealer, in Little Winchester-street; he was driven thence to Great St. Helens, and to Primrose-street, Bishopsgate. A coral dealer at the latter place he was again discovered and proclaimed; and at length he pitched his stall in New-street, Bishopsgate, the most fortunate of all his speculations, so far as the extent of business which he transacted went, but the most unfortunate considering the result of his proceedings here, namely, his conviction and transportation.

While, however, we have thus described the wanderings of Mr. Coster from house to house, and from business to business, we have not as yet acquainted our readers with the measures by which he was so successful in his cheating schemes. The following copy of a circular issued by him, headed "Accommodation," in large black letters, supported by the emblems of masonry, gives a fair sample of his mode of raising the supplies.

He commenced his leading documents thus--with all the pomp and parade of a recruiting-sergeant at a country fair to catch his flats:--

"Merchants, manufacturers, farmers, graziers, tradesmen, and persons of respectability in England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, or in any foreign part, may have good London accepted bills of exchange procured for them, regularly drawn, accepted, and indorsed, and, if necessary, specially indorsed to them, at any dates and for any amount their circumstances may require; or they may be allowed to draw themselves on respectable and responsible houses in the city of London, and which will be regularly accepted when presented for that purpose, provided, the drawers advise of such bills being drawn, and enclose the commission of eight-pence in the pound (otherwise they will be disowned). These bills they get easily discounted at their country bankers, or amongst their private monied friends; and in some cases pay them for merchandise, even on their own respectability, and, when they become due, they remit to us, or any friend in London, the money to pay the same; and in case they are incapable of taking them up, they again apply to us in sufficient time to procure them fresh bills, say upon B, which they instantly get discounted, and with the proceeds thereof pay the first they negotiated upon A; and so they go on until such time as their own produce or property turns into advantage, so as to enable them to do without this accommodation or temporary aid. By this mode money to any amount may be raised, according to the circumstances and situation of the borrower, at about seven per cent., the object of which is trifling, when compared to the advantage a man of business may receive from being furnished with plenty of money to speculate and trade with."

The eightpence in the pound spoken of as being required to be transmitted, and not unfrequently bills to which the poor dupes were induced to put their signatures, were invariably disposed of by the London negotiator, who failed not to reap the profit himself, which he professed generously to give to his country agents.

The conclusion of this document is equally well worth perusal with its commencement, and serves at once to stamp our hero as the very prince and leader of all swindlers.

"He must be a bad merchant, tradesman, or agriculturist," says Coster, "who cannot always make from fifteen to twenty per cent. of money. Some persons, for want of knowing this system of raising money, are obliged to sacrifice their property by locking it up in mortgages for one half its value, and spend the other half in paying solicitors' enormous bills, and expenses of mortgage deeds, &c. We have particularly to observe, that the parties pay all expenses of postage, to and from, also bill stamps, and our net commission of eightpence in the pound, which commission, with money for stamps, &c. must be remitted before we send the bills. We also have respectable references from the parties, before we accommodate them, to some of their friends in London (if any), otherwise in the country (the strictest secrecy and delicacy being observed in the inquiry), to know if they are really respectable, and an acknowledgement or undertaking when they receive such bills of accommodation, stating that they received them for the express purpose, and will pay them when due. When any bills become due, if the money is remitted to us, or goods equivalent thereto, a day or two beforehand, we will at all times pay them here, without any extra charge whatever; and for any money which may be entrusted to our care, if the parties have not friends here, for taking up the bills when due, or any goods that may be consigned to us for sale, on commission, we can give security and references on our part of the highest respectability."

An instance of his success under this circular may not be uninteresting.

A farmer in Essex, taken off his guard by the apparent plausibility of this high-sounding circular, complied with the requisitions, and got bills accepted by Coster, in the name of one of his firms, to the amount of two hundred pounds, in two bills, at three and four months. When they became due, the honest hood-winked bumpkin, relying on the apparent integrity of the party, remitted a hundred pounds, the amount of the bill, which fell with the nicest precision into the hands of the swindler, who, indeed, anticipated nothing less. This circumstance only got wind through the medium of a lawyer's letter to the drawer, who hastened with all possible expedition to town to learn the cause of such an unexpected application, when, as he had assured himself, the bill ought to have been in the hands of his accommodating friends, for the hundred pound equivalent which he had punctually forwarded to them for that purpose. His astonishment, however, was not diminished on his reaching Little Winchester-street, when he was plumply told by Coster himself that no such letter as the one to which he alluded, containing the money, had been received, and, in short, that it was all "a humbug." "That the firm of Young and Company, the acceptors of the bill, had recently been bankrupts, and had gone away, the Lord knew where." At such tidings, the poor farmer looked as sheepish as an Essex calf; and finding all his applications accompanied with the same uncompromising negative, he was glad, to prevent an exposure of circumstances, which might have been the means of ruining him, to beat a retreat to his native place; not, however, without the reflection of having purchased a hundred pounds' worth of common sense to direct his future conduct in the bill line.

This, however, is far from being a solitary instance of the success of our hero's schemes, or the uncompromising impudence and determination with which he proceeded in his machinations.

The variety of the names and residences of the firms of which he was the sole proprietor enabled him to carry on his trade with great plausibility and success. Thus, when a transaction was to be carried on by Messrs. Young and Co. of Little Winchester-street, Messrs. Brown and Co. of Cushion-court would be perfectly able to speak in the highest terms of the respectability of that firm, and the delivery of goods, or the handing over of bills of exchange to be discounted, as the case might be, was looked upon as being secure, and as being perfectly warranted, by the reference. It would be as useless as impossible to go through one tithe of the speculations of this vagabond, by which he gulled various persons engaged in trade. In one case he obtained the whole stock of a celebrated wine-grower in Germany, who was about to sell off, to be consigned to him; in another he procured the possession of a very large quantity of Dublin stout; while, in a third, he became the consignee of a valuable stock of timber; in neither of which transactions, however, did he ever pay one shilling of the purchase money. The number of his aliases, and the impossibility of identifying his person, secured him from the consequences of arrest; for in no transaction in which he engaged did he ever appear personally to complete the terms of his contract, or to give any security for re-payment. All was done through the medium of agents, whom he had bound to him by some tie of more than ordinary firmness, and who acted either as principal or agent, as purchaser or referee, as the necessities of the case might require their employment. To these persons, who were mostly decayed tradesmen, he behaved with little generosity. They were retained at salaries varying from ten to twenty shillings per week, according to the extent of their usefulness; and he scrupled not, whenever an opportunity presented itself, to cheat them of their stipulated share of the plunder which he might procure. At the time of his apprehension, Coster had four of these persons in his employment, one of whom, named Smith, had long been in his service, and was now destined to become his dupe, and to be liable to the same amount of punishment as his master.

It is to Alderman Sir Peter Laurie, and to his indefatigable exertions, that the public are indebted for the riddance of the city of this notorious swindler. Sir Peter had long been aware of his existence, and of the mischiefs which he produced, and the frauds which he committed, and he determined to suffer no exertion of his to be spared to secure his apprehension and conviction. He soon discovered his residence in New-street, and had him taken into custody, with his man Smith. Coster, it appears, had not latterly confined his business to the ordinary routine of swindling by procuring goods under pretence of the solvency of his firm, but he had added to it that of putting off forged notes. In the month of February 1833, he and Smith wrote letters to a person named Clarke, residing at Honiton, in Devonshire, desiring him to transmit a quantity of lace to Mr. W. Jackson, at No. 84, Bishopsgate-street (the Four Swans), and inclosing three 10_l._ notes to pay for it. Mr. Clarke discovered that the notes were forged, and transmitted them to the Bank of England solicitor (Mr. Freshfield), with an account of the manner in which they had reached his hands. A scheme was determined to be put in operation to secure Mr. Jackson, whoever he might be, and fictitious parcels were made up and sent to the Four Swans, purporting to be transmitted from Honiton. Smith applied to receive them, and they were handed over to him, upon which he was immediately taken into custody. Coster was soon after discovered to be at the head of the transaction and was also secured, and the letter containing the notes was found to be in his handwriting.

After undergoing several examinations at the Mansion House, the prisoners were committed to Newgate for trial; and on Tuesday, the 16th of April 1833, were convicted at the Old Bailey. This result to the investigation was principally secured by the testimony of two men, who had formerly been instruments in the hands of Coster, and who gave an extraordinary account of the success of the schemes of their late master.

At the conclusion of the same sessions Coster was sentenced to be transported for life; but his servant, Smith, was unable to attend the court, in consequence of severe ill health, and his judgment was respited. At a subsequent period, however, he also received sentence of transportation.

JOB COX.

TRANSPORTED FOR LETTER-STEALING.

The offence of which this young man was convicted, at the time of its commission subjected its perpetrator to capital punishment. The particular case is not remarkable for any peculiarity, but it is fit that it should be mentioned in connexion with the observations made in allusion to the conduct of the learned recorder of the city of London, with reference to his neglect of the highly important duties entrusted to him. In the case of Hunton, who was convicted of forgery, it will be seen that the recorder, by a delay in conveying the result of his report upon the cases of capital felons to his majesty, suffered several wretched prisoners to remain in suspense as to their fate for many hours longer than was necessary. In the present instance, he actually signed a warrant for the execution of the convict, although at the privy council it had been determined that the life of the unhappy wretch should be spared.

Cox was a postman in the service of the General Post Office, and in the instance in which he was charged with abstracting a letter from those entrusted to him for delivery, and appropriating its contents to his own use, it appeared that on the 18th of March 1833, a Mr. Foreman, of No. 101, Grafton-street, Dublin, had sent a letter containing a 10_l._ bank note, addressed to his brother, Mr. H. Foreman, in Queen-street, Clerkenwell, which, however, never reached its destination. Inquiry being made at the post-office, Cox was found to have signed a book in the ordinary way as having received the letter, and it was subsequently ascertained that he had paid the same note to Mr. Lott, a publican in Lambeth, who had given him change for it. There were reasons to believe that Cox had been guilty of other offences of a similar character, and he was taken into custody.

At the ensuing sessions at the Old Bailey, held in the month of May 1833, the prisoner was tried and convicted of the offence imputed to him, and, on the 20th of the month he received sentence of death, in obedience to the requisites of the act of parliament.

At this time it was the practice of the recorder of London to report to his majesty in council the cases of the various prisoners in custody upon whom sentence of death had been passed. The case of Cox was reported, with others, as usual, and upon the return of the learned recorder to London, he caused it to be made known to the prisoner, that his execution was directed to take place. The unhappy wretch had looked forward with confidence to the result of the exertions of his friends in his favour, and received this intelligence with deep dismay. He was told to prepare for death, and the reverend ordinary of the jail proceeded to pay to him those attentions usually expected at his hands.

A blunder of a most extraordinary nature, however, was soon discovered to have been made. This discovery is thus described in a newspaper of Sunday, the 23rd of June:--

"On Thursday morning, Sir Thomas Denman, lord chief justice of the King's Bench, on casting his eyes on a newspaper, saw the paragraph representing the fact that Job Cox was ordered for execution on Tuesday. His lordship thought the statement had been published from false information, and he adverted to the circumstance in the presence of one of the under-sheriffs, as of a very mischievous nature. The under-sheriff, in some surprise, observed to his lordship that the paragraph was correct--that the recorder's warrant had been received on Wednesday evening, at half-past six o'clock, at Newgate--that the intelligence had been communicated to the unfortunate culprit--and that notices had been sent to the sheriffs and the other officials. 'What (said Sir Thomas Denman), Cox ordered for execution! Impossible! I was myself one of the privy council present when the report was made, and I know that no warrant for the execution of any one was ordered. Cox was ordered to be placed in solitary confinement, and to be kept to hard labour, previously to his being transported for life, to which penalty the judgment to die was commuted.'

"The under-sheriff repeated the extraordinary information to his lordship, who instantly requested that he would forthwith apply at the secretary of state's office, when he would be re-assured of the fact, and receive an order in contradiction of the learned recorder's warrant. It is needless to say, that the under-sheriff, who was very glad to be the bearer of such good tidings to a poor unhappy fellow-creature, very speedily executed his mission. He found that the correction of Sir Thomas Denman was accurate, according to Mr. Capper's books, in which the allotted punishment was regularly entered; and Lord Melbourne, immediately upon being informed of the mistake under which they laboured at Newgate, sent thither an authority to countermand the warrant with the black seal, signed 'Newman Knowlys.' Cox had just twenty-two hours previously been told, in the usual solemn way, to prepare for death; and as he had calculated largely and correctly upon the merciful character of the administration, he received the awful news as if he had been struck to the earth with lightning. The mistake, upon being mentioned to him, it is unnecessary to state, gave full relief to his heart."

Mr. Knowlys, who at this time filled the office of recorder, was immediately called upon to explain to the Common Hall of the City of London the circumstances attending the very remarkable error into which he had fallen, but having heard from him whatever excuse he had to urge, on Monday 24th of June, they came to the following resolutions:--

"Resolved unanimously, That this Common Hall has learnt with feelings of the deepest horror and regret, that the life of Job Cox, a convict under sentence of death in Newgate, had well-nigh been sacrificed by the act of the recorder of London, in sending down a warrant for his execution, notwithstanding his majesty in privy council had, in the gracious exercise of his royal prerogative of mercy, been pleased to commute his sentence for an inferior punishment.

"Resolved unanimously, That the mildest and most charitable construction which this Common Hall can put upon this conduct of the recorder is, that it was the result of some mental infirmity incident to his advanced age; but contemplating with alarm the dreadful consequences which, though happily averted in the present instance, may possibly ensue from such an infirmity in that important public functionary, this Common Hall feels it an imperative duty to record the solemn expression of its opinion, that the recorder ought forthwith to retire from an office, the vitally important duties of which he is, from whatever cause, incompetent to discharge."

The recorder, who was present, was received with deep groans. The resolutions of the Common Hall were followed by a Resolution of the Court of Aldermen, announcing the receipt of a communication from the recorder, that from his advanced age, ill-health, and debility consequent upon a late very severe fit of illness, he had felt himself bound, after serving the city for more than forty-seven years, upwards of thirty as common-serjeant and recorder, to resign the office of recorder.

The Hon. C. Ewan Law, son of the late Lord Ellenborough, was subsequently elected to fill the office which Mr. Knowlys had occupied, and the duties of which he has ably discharged up to the present period.

The useless form of reporting the cases of felons sentenced to death has since been removed, and the capital penalty in cases of letter-stealing has also been taken away, and the less severe punishment of transportation substituted for it.

THE CALTHORPE-STREET RIOT.

This affair, which produced much bitterness of feeling between the people and the Metropolitan Police, occurred on Monday the 13th of May 1833. For some time before, the streets of London had been placarded with bills announcing the intention of certain parties to hold a meeting in a place called the Calthorpe Estate, at the back of the Cold Bath Fields Prison, its professed object being to adopt measures preparatory to a National Convention being held; and in consequence, a government proclamation was issued, declaring a meeting for that purpose to be illegal, and warning all persons to abstain from attending it or taking any part in its proceedings.

This proclamation, there is little doubt, tended in a very material degree to produce the very evil which it was intended to repress. The intention to hold the meeting was little known, for the party by which it was called was an obscure though violent political sect; but the effect of the government notification was to excite the curiosity of many who were driven to the spot, to which otherwise they would have had no attraction, for the purpose of witnessing whatever might take place. Precautions were taken by the government to secure the public peace, which, had they been adopted in a proper spirit, would have been most praiseworthy. The very consequence, however, of the extensive preparations which were made, was to attract fresh curiosity, and to draw new observers to the scene of the proposed meeting.

The assemblage was appointed to take place at two o'clock; but long before that hour several hundreds of persons had collected upon the spot indicated as the place of convocation. Groups of idlers were to be observed dispersed in different directions, among which women and children were intermingled to a very considerable extent; and there were not wanting among them the partisans of the disaffected, to amuse them with declamations on the sufferings of the people, and the necessity of their taking strong measures to obtain redress.

The police force of the metropolis, in the meantime, were to be seen marching from all quarters of town towards the scene of action. Between two and three thousand men were placed on duty, all of whom were distributed at certain appointed places of rendezvous, under the orders of their superintendants and inspectors, while Viscount Melbourne, the Home Secretary, and Messrs. Rowan and Mayne, the commissioners of police, with a considerable number of police magistrates, sat as a species of council to direct their future movements, at the White Hart tavern, in Gray's Inn-lane. The formidable appearance of the police on their march created new food for curiosity, and they were followed by hundreds of persons anxious to ascertain the inducement for such an assemblage; and the numbers of the mob collected were thus every moment increased.

At one o'clock between six and seven hundred persons had assembled; and this crowd, comparatively insignificant considering the parade which had been made, kept gradually swelling until three, when a van was driven up at the end of Calthorpe-street, which a young man named Lee, who was afterwards taken into custody, mounted, together with three or four other shabby-looking persons. At almost the very moment of the van taking its station, however, the driver appeared to become alarmed, and, notwithstanding the entreaties of Lee and his companions, drove off. Mr. Lee and the others were in consequence compelled to quit their intended rostrum, and to adopt one somewhat less convenient, namely, a paling which stood on the spot. Lee was soon raised upon this new pulpit, and after a few prefatory remarks, he proposed that Mr. Mee should take the chair. It had been stated that, "The National Union of the Working Classes," a society of men bound together for the purpose of procuring the achievement of certain political objects, would attend the meeting; and their committee was known to be assembled at a neighbouring public-house, called "The Union," engaged in arranging the programme of the proceedings of the day. Mr. Mee was recognised as an active member of the Union, and he was immediately elected by acclamation as chairman.

Mr. Mee then got upon the paling, and after thanking the meeting for the honour which they had conferred upon him, proceeded to address them upon the objects with which they had been called together. He declared that he was thankful to the ministry for having given the meeting an air of importance, which, but for their proceedings it would have wanted; but the question which they had to consider was, whether, as they had met under such disadvantages as surrounded them they should go on, or whether they should adjourn to a more favourable opportunity? (Cries of "No, no! go on!") He was, he said, but a working man with a family, and if they were not prepared to give his family one-tenth of their earnings they should not cry "go on." He might fall a martyr in the cause, and in that case, he should expect his family to be supported. (Cries of "Yes! yes!")

The "Union," which had been expected every moment, and for which an anxious look-out was maintained, at this time appeared in sight. The procession, into which it was formed, consisted of about one hundred and fifty persons, and they carried among them eight banners. The most conspicuous of these was one which bore the motto, "Liberty or Death," with a skull and cross-bones on a black ground with a red border: others bore mottoes of "Holy Alliance of the Working Classes;" "Equal Rights and Equal Justice;" while there were also to be seen among them a tri-coloured flag, the flag of the American republic, and a pole bearing at its head the Cap of Liberty. The procession with these ensigns walked in good order to the spot at which the speakers had assembled; but they had scarcely taken up their position, when a body of police marched into Calthorpe-street with the greatest order and precision. Their formidable appearance seemed to make a momentary impression on the mob, but a person pointing to the flag bearing the motto, "Liberty or Death," cried out, "Men, be firm!" and shouts of "Go on! go on!" instantly resounded from all sides. The police had now reached the middle of the street, the crowd clearing the way for them to advance; and staves in hand they pressed forward to a man who was still addressing the mob. As they advanced near what may be termed the platform, however, they met with much resistance; a conflict ensued, and under circumstances respecting which the evidence was of the most contradictory nature, one policeman, named Robert Cully, No. 95 of the C division, received a mortal wound from a dagger and died instantly; and two others, Serjeant Brooks of the C division, and constable Redwood of the C division, were wounded, with the same or a similar instrument.

In the course of the afternoon a great number of persons were taken into custody, who had been observed to be active in the proceedings of the day, and all the flags were captured; and by six o'clock the whole of the mob had been dispersed, and quiet was restored.

Pursuant to the instructions of Viscount Melbourne, the prisoners who had been secured were taken to Bow-street on the same evening to be examined before Sir F. A. Roe, the chief magistrate. The whole street was filled with persons interested in the fate of the prisoners, and the proceedings excited a vast degree of interest. The result of the examinations taken on that night was the remand of a person named Robert Tilly, on suspicion of having been concerned in the murder of Cully, a charge, however, which subsequently proved unfounded; and of a man named Fursey, on the charge of stabbing Redwood and Brooks; while a great number of others were held to bail, or fined for the various offences of assault, or rioting, preferred against them.

On Thursday, Fursey was fully committed on the capital charge of stabbing Redwood and Brooks; and on the next day, a true bill was returned against him by the Grand Jury.

On Wednesday, May the 15th, an inquest was held before Mr. Stirling, the coroner for Middlesex, on the body of Cully. The investigation lasted for several days, and the inquest-room and the neighbourhood of the house where the jury sat, were crowded by persons interested in the proceedings. A great number of witnesses were examined, many of whom declared, that the police had acted towards the people with unwarrantable harshness, striking and beating them with their truncheons; making no distinction between active parties in the meeting and defenceless women, but conducting themselves with equal and undue severity towards all; and that they had been guilty of this misconduct without any provocation being offered. On the other hand, it was sworn, that the mob were violent, and that many of them were armed with formidable weapons. Truncheons loaded with lead were used by them in striking the police, and the pikes upon which their banners were mounted were headed with iron, in obedience to instructions published by Colonel Maceroni, which were contained in a book called "Defensive Instructions for the People." It was admitted, however, that there was no disposition to riot among the people until the arrival of the police; that neither the riot act nor the government proclamation was read; and further it was proved, that the deceased had struck the man who wounded him before the wound was given. In reference to this part of the case, indeed, there was considerable contradiction in the evidence, for one witness distinctly swore that the deceased was speaking to her, and desiring her to go home, when a man suddenly rushed from the mob and stabbed him; and grave and important doubts appeared to exist as to the proper result to be arrived at. At the conclusion of the inquest on Monday, May the 20th, the jury returned the following verdict:--"We find a verdict of JUSTIFIABLE HOMICIDE on these grounds: that no riot act was read, nor any proclamation advising the people to disperse; that the government did not take the proper precautions to prevent the meeting from assembling, and that the conduct of the police was ferocious, brutal, and unprovoked by the people; and we moreover express our anxious hope that the government will in future take better precautions to prevent the recurrence of such disgraceful transactions in the metropolis."

The announcement of this finding was received with immense cheering among the people assembled, but not without remonstrance on the part of the coroner. He urged the jury to reconsider their decision, but with obstinate pertinacity they refused to alter the determination to which they had arrived.

The verdict was, however, declared by the law officers of the crown to be at variance with law, and with the evidence on which it was founded; and on Thursday, May the 30th, upon the motion of the attorney-general in the Court of King's Bench, the inquisition was quashed.

On Thursday, July the 4th, the trial of George Fursey took place at the Old Bailey. He was indicted for having riotously and tumultuously assembled at Cold Bath Fields, on the 13th of May, with five hundred others, and with having assaulted and wounded Sergeant Brooks, and Redwood, the constable, with intent to murder them.

The evidence by which it was sought to bring home the charge to the prisoner was first the positive declarations of Brooks and Redwood, that the prisoner was the man who had stabbed them, and secondly, the allegation by a man named Hayles, a constable, that after the prisoner had been apprehended, he was conveyed to a stable, where he and Tilley were confined together. They lay down on some straw; and when they had been removed to a lock-up house, the witness found on the spot where they had lain, a loaded pistol and a powder-flask, which Tilley had acknowledged belonged to him, and also a short dagger apparently made out of a foil blade, which was alleged by Redwood and Brooks to be exactly similar to that with which they had been stabbed, and which besides was found to correspond in shape with the wounds which they had received. Here, as well as before the coroner's jury, there was much contradictory evidence as to the conduct of the police. Many witnesses were called for the defence who described their demeanour as having been extremely violent, and who said that they saw them strike many persons whose proceedings had not rendered such a course justifiable. The trial lasted until two o'clock in the morning, the defence being conducted by Messrs. C. Phillips and Clarkson; and Mr. Justice Gazelee having summed up, the jury pronounced the prisoner "Not Guilty." This determination was received with loud demonstrations of applause by the people assembled within and outside the court, which the judges and officers in vain attempted to repress.

Much ill-feeling was produced by this unfortunate affair towards the police and the government. The police at their establishment had been exceedingly unpopular, from the military constitution of the force; but their usefulness had now begun to counterbalance the feeling which had so unfavourably prevailed. Their conduct at the Calthorpe-street riot did much to make them hateful to the lower orders, who were unable to draw the distinction between the intemperance of a few, and the usefulness of the main body. The conduct of the mob can be justified only by the attack which it is clear was made upon them; but the act of murder, and the attempt made to kill or disable Brooks and Redwood, are offences which appear to have been quite unwarranted by the circumstances which preceded them.

Fursey, after his trial, recovered 40_l._ damages against the proprietor of "The Morning Chronicle" newspaper, for publishing a libel, imputing to him the murder of Cully. Tilley, whose name has been mentioned, was liberated on bail, on Fursey's acquittal taking place, the charge against him, as has been already said, being found to be without foundation.

JOHN CROFTS.

TRANSPORTED FOR BURGLARY.

The circumstances of the apprehension of this fellow are so singular that they deserve to be recorded.

On the 8th of February 1834, he was indicted at the Surrey sessions for entering the house of a poor widow woman at Cheddington, in the county of Surrey, and stealing therefrom all the little property she was possessed of in the world. The trial of the prisoner excited a considerable degree of interest. On the day mentioned in the indictment, the prosecutrix having occasion to go to the next village, locked up her cottage, leaving nobody at home. On her return, in a few hours afterwards, she was alarmed, on her approach, to see a man in the act of leaving the cottage, carrying a large bundle in his arms. The man, on perceiving her, made a precipitate retreat towards a wood in the vicinity of the place, and was soon out of sight. The widow remained almost motionless through fright while this was passing, when, at length, she walked towards her cottage door, which was open, and on entering the dwelling, she found that it had been ransacked of every thing of a portable nature that it contained. Her distress on this discovery was excessive; and in her anguish of mind, she rushed out of the cottage into the road, uttering loud lamentations. At this critical moment a pack of hounds, in full cry after a fox, happened to be passing that way, followed by Colonel Wyndham, Colonel Vandeleur, and several gentlemen of the county. The moment the sportsmen beheld the widow they made a dead stop to inquire the cause of her sorrow, leaving the dogs unattended in their pursuit after reynard. In a few broken sentences, which were rendered almost inaudible by grief, she told what had occurred, and, pointing to the wood, said that she saw the thief disappear a short time before in the thicket. Colonel Wyndham immediately suggested that the wood should be beat up, to try if the thief had not taken cover there--a proposition which met with the unequivocal approbation of the whole of the sportsmen. Arrangements were then made for securing the thief if he had taken refuge in the wood, which was surrounded in such a manner as to render escape impracticable, while Colonel Vandeleur, accompanied by the two whippers-in, entered the thicket for the purpose of beating up for the game they had in view. The whippers-in had not proceeded far when they discovered the prisoner squatted in the bushes, and the bundle containing the whole of the widow's little property close beside him. He was led from his place of concealment in triumph by Colonel Vandeleur; while shouts rent the air from those who were stationed on the outskirts of the wood, and who had placed themselves under the command of Colonel Wyndham, to cut off the retreat, in case one should have been attempted. The prisoner was then conveyed to the widow's house; and when the bundle containing her all was produced, she manifested the greatest joy, giving utterance to expressions of thanks to the gentlemen through whose exertions in her behalf her property had been restored, and the thief secured. In the course of the examination of the various articles taken by the prisoner on the occasion, the widow complained, in doleful accents, that she missed the wedding-ring of her poor dear first husband. Colonel Vandeleur, on hearing this, undertook the office of constable, and immediately proceeded to "rub down" (search) the accused, when, to the delight of the widow's eyes, he discovered the ring wrapped up in paper, in which it had remained for years, concealed in the prisoner's waistcoat pocket.

Colonel Wyndham and Colonel Vandeleur gave their evidence on the trial, and both those gallant officers said that the loss of their day's sport after the fox was fully compensated in being instrumental to the apprehension of the robber of the widow's little property.

The jury found the prisoner "Guilty;" and the chairman, after commenting on the aggravated circumstances under which the robbery was committed, sentenced him to be transported for life.

The prisoner was a stout, hardy fellow, but was unknown in the neighbourhood of the scene of his offence.

JAMES LOVELACE, AND OTHERS; "THE DORCHESTER LABOURERS."

TRANSPORTED FOR ADMINISTERING UNLAWFUL OATHS.

In the instance of the riot in Calthorpe-street, reference has been made to a combination or union of the working classes, confederated for the purpose of securing certain political objects. The system of "Unions," which was commenced in the metropolis, and the larger towns of the kingdom, was not, however, confined exclusively to those thickly populated districts, nor were the objects of these societies limited to those which were merely of a political nature. In various parts of the country associations were formed with a view of maintaining the prices of labour, and with other objects more especially connected with the social welfare of the community.

The case of the Dorchester labourers is one which has attracted a vast degree of general observation and attention. The evil effects of the system may be collected from the following statement of the charges preferred against them, at the Dorchester assizes, on the 17th of March, 1834, and of the facts which were proved in evidence upon their trial.

The names of the prisoners were--James Lovelace, George Lovelace, Thomas Stanfield, John Stanfield, James Hammet, and James Brine, and they were indicted for "administering and causing to be administered, and aiding and assisting, and being present at, and consenting to administer, a certain unlawful oath and engagement, purporting to bind the person taking the same not to inform or give evidence against any associate or other person charged with any unlawful combination, and not to reveal or discover any such unlawful combination, or any illegal act done or to be done, and not to discover any illegal oath which might be taken."--Mr. Gambier stated that the charge against the prisoners was, that on a certain day in December, they, all together, or one of them, administered an unlawful oath to a person of the name of Legg, for the purpose of binding the party to whom it was administered not to disclose any illegal combination which had been formed, and not to inform or give evidence against any person associated with them, and not to reveal any unlawful oath which might be taken. The first part of the charge was, that the purport of the oath was to bind the party to obey the orders of a body of men not lawfully constituted. The indictment was framed on an Act of the 37th George III., cap. 123, and his lordship would be aware that the preamble of that act related to seditious meetings, but the enacting part was of a more general nature, including confederacies not formed merely for seditious purposes, but for any illegal purpose whatever; and his lordship would be aware, that there was an authority which had decided that the enacting part of the statute was not restrained by the preamble, but extended to all societies the object of which was unlawful. One clause of the act related to oaths administered for the purpose of binding a party not to reveal an unlawful combination. The allegation in the indictment was, that the prisoners administered an illegal oath to certain persons, binding them not to disclose an illegal confederacy. It would be for them to see whether the facts bore out the conclusion to which he had come, that a combination formed under the circumstances that would be stated, was a combination which the law had pronounced to be illegal, and would depend on this--whether any member was required to take any oath of this description, or any oath which the law did not require or authorise. He should, therefore, show that the combination was illegal--that it was the practice of the association to administer oaths, and that they were administered, and that the members were bound to obey the commands of men not legally constituted, and that they were bound to secrecy. With regard to the form of the oath and the mode of administering it, it was proper he should call his lordship's attention to the 5th section of the 37th George III., cap. 123, which provided that any engagement in the nature of an oath should be deemed an oath within the meaning of the act in whatever form or manner the same should be administered.

The learned counsel then proceeded to state the facts of the case to the jury, and to call his witnesses, from whose evidence it appeared that the prisoners were agricultural labourers, and that on the day stated in the indictment Legg and others were conducted to the house of Thomas Stanfield, at Tollpuddle, and after waiting a short time, were blindfolded and taken into a room, when certain papers were read over to them while on their knees; on the bandage being taken from their eyes, they saw the figure of a skeleton, with the words "Remember your end," written over it. They were then sworn to obey the rules and regulations of the society, and not to divulge its secrets or proceedings. They were to pay a shilling on entrance, and a penny a week afterwards, to support the men who were out of work (those who had struck) till their masters raised their wages. The defendants were all present, and Lovelace wore a dress like a surplice. The general laws of the society were produced and read to the jury, from which it was collected that the society was to be called "The Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers." Regular officers and periods of meeting were appointed, and the mode of making collections pointed out. The twentieth and twenty-first rules were as follows:--"That if any master attempts to reduce the wages of his workmen, if they are members of this order they shall instantly communicate the same to the corresponding secretary, in order that they may receive the support of the grand lodge; and in the mean time they shall use their utmost endeavours to finish the work they may have in hand, if any, and shall assist each other so that they may all leave the place together, and with as much promptitude as possible."--"That if any member of this society renders himself obnoxious to his employer solely on account of taking an active part in the affairs of this order, and if guilty of no violation or insult to his master, and shall be discharged from his employment solely in consequence thereof, either before or after the turn-out, then the whole body of men at that place shall instantly leave the place, and no member of this society shall be allowed to take work at that place until such member be reinstated in his situation."

After the counsel for the defendants had addressed the court and the jury, contending that no offence had been proved, the judge summed up, enforcing on the jury that they must satisfy themselves as to the illegality of the oath which Legg had taken, and which had been administered to other members of the society. The precise formality of the oath, his lordship observed, was not under inquiry; but the Act of Parliament referred to an oath fixing an obligation on a party to whom it is administered. To sustain and prove this charge, the jury must be satisfied that the oath administered to Legg was to bind him not to divulge the secrets of the society; if so, it came within the meaning of the act. It was also a question whether the dress of James Lovelace, which resembled a clergyman's surplice, was not intended to give a degree of solemnity and additional force to the proceedings. The representation of a skeleton seemed also to have been intended to strike awe on the minds of the persons to whom the oath was administered. In taking the oath, if they were satisfied that it was intended as an obligation on the conscience of the person taking it, it clearly came within the meaning of the act. His lordship proceeded to remark on the rules of the society, which spoke of the violation of an obligation, evidently referring to the oath which was administered by the prisoners; and that such violation would be deemed by the society a crime. His lordship also read from a book belonging to the society the names of several persons (the prisoners among others), who had contributed to its funds; leaving the jury to draw their conclusions from these facts, and the whole chain of evidence which had been repeated to them.--The jury, after about five minutes' consultation, found all the prisoners "Guilty," and they were sentenced to be transported for seven years.

In pursuance of this sentence the prisoners were subsequently conveyed to New South Wales by the Surrey transport ship, the offence of which they had been convicted being deemed to be of a nature so heinous, as not to be expiated by an imprisonment in this country. This proceeding by the political supporters of the system of unions, was looked upon as one which was exceedingly harsh and unjustifiable under the circumstances of the case, and loud and repeated remonstrances were made, both within and without the walls of parliament, against it. For a considerable time the government declared its unwillingness to interfere to direct any amelioration in the punishment directed to be inflicted upon the offenders; but at length, however, they yielded to the constant exertions of the friends of the prisoners, and granted a free pardon to them all.

At the commencement of the year 1838, those who had chosen to return to England were landed at Plymouth--several of them, however, having preferred to remain in the colony to which they had been transported. An attempt was made to excite great sympathy in their behalf, and a species of public entry was made by them into London; but the whole affair turned out a failure, and the good sense of the general order of people was found to have induced a feeling not altogether in accordance with a supposition that these men had been martyrs.

ALFRED RAE.

CONVICTED OF A CRIMINAL ASSAULT.

This person, at the date of his trial, was a youth who had just attained the age of fifteen years only. He appeared to have been well brought up, and to have received a good education; but no effort could induce him to divulge the residence of his parents, or of any person with whom he was connected, or indeed to give any account of himself. He was a stout, well-made lad, and appeared to possess a degree of strength beyond his years. His offence undoubtedly is one of a most extraordinary description.

He was indicted at the Launceston assizes on Tuesday, the 1st of April 1834, for having assaulted Grace Brenn, with intent to commit a rape.

The prosecutrix appeared in court to give evidence. She was apparently in a state of extreme suffering. She stated herself to be a widow with two children, and to be thirty-one years of age. Her appearance denoted her to be of a delicate constitution, and gained for her much sympathy. Her evidence was to the following effect:--

She occupied a small cottage at a place called Botusfleming, near Launceston, which consisted of only three rooms--a front and back kitchen, and an upper apartment, to which access was had by a staircase leading from the latter. On the evening of Tuesday, the 11th of March, she was on the point of retiring to rest, at half-past nine o'clock, when she heard a knock at the door. She demanded who was there, and some one from without answered, "A boy--a lad," and said that he had lost his way. She was induced, by his representations of his distress, to open the door, and then, on her seeing him, she recognised him as having called at her house three weeks before to enquire his way to Corgreen. On his being admitted he at once assumed an authoritative air, locked the door and pocketed the key, and declared his intention to stop there that night. He called for tea and bread and butter, which were supplied by the witness, who was in a dreadful state of alarm, and then demanded that a bed should be brought for his use into the sitting-room. This, after some remonstrance, she consented to do, and then she retired to her own room, where, retaining all her clothes but her gown upon her person, she lay down by the side of her little boy. Unable to sleep, after a while she was alarmed to hear the prisoner suddenly ascend the stairs, and immediately afterwards he rushed into her room, to the side of the bed where her little girl lay. He took up the girl and flung her to the bottom of the bed, and in a moment threw himself across the bed, and laid hold of witness by the head. She exclaimed, "Good God, what have I done?" and got his hands off her head, and continued screeching. [Here followed evidence of the brutality of the prisoner, developing a series of the most shocking expressions and brutish attempts on the witness. Thrice he thrust a handkerchief in her mouth, to prevent her cries; repeatedly knocked her down across the bed and on the floor; the witness stating explicitly acts, the evidence of which was conclusive of the attempt, and all but accomplishment of his diabolical purpose. The prisoner had nothing on but his shirt at the time of the attack]. The witness at length succeeded in gaining the staircase, down which she rushed, when the prisoner, leaning over the rail of the stair-head, laid hold of her hair, by which he attempted to pull her up stairs again. Her hair gave way, and she fell through the staircase-door, at the bottom of the stairs. She got up and tried the front door, but the key was taken away. The prisoner had by this time also come down stairs, and he repeated the violence of which he had before been guilty. He swore that he had razors and pistols with him and would murder her, and he attacked her with the most brutal ferocity with a fire-shovel, with which he wounded her many times on the head and face. "All his aim now was," said the witness, "to murder me. He said he passed by the door a few nights ago, with three more of the gang. I said, 'Spare me my life for the sake of my dear little fatherless children.' He said, 'Will you promise me never to split, or to divulge, or to make it known?' I said, 'No, sir, I never will.' He said, 'I must put you upon your oath; if you divulge, and I am taken up and punished, the others will soon do for you; are you agreeable?' I said, 'Yes; anything to save my life.' He said he should be put to death himself by his gang. He said he never went through but one such case before, and then his life was a narrow escape to him, or something to that effect. I fell upon my knees, and he said the words over that I was to say. I cannot recollect them exactly, but the last were 'Holy Ghost.' I then thought he was going to spare my life. There was blood upon the floor. He said to me, 'You must wash yourself.' I said 'Yes, sir.' He said, 'You must, for you are all over blood.' I said, 'I will get some water,' and I took a basin, but he said he would get the water. He went out and returned immediately; I said I would wash up the blood from the floor, as when Mr. Fitzgerald's groom came to the stable close by he might notice it. Prisoner had thrown away the water with which I had washed; I took the basin out to the pump, and lifted the handle once or twice, and then ran away to William Summerfield's; the prisoner was brought there by William Summerfield and Mr. Fitzgerald's servant; they asked me if that was the person; I exclaimed, he was the rogue. The prisoner then fell on his knees; he said, 'My dear ma'am, if you'll forgive me, I'll never do the like again.' Before I left my house, he ordered me up stairs whilst he dressed himself; he ordered me down, and I came; he took the candle and said, 'I fear I have injured you too much to spare your life.'" Here the witness described her desperate condition, the dreadful effects of the assault. One tooth had been knocked down her throat, another broken off in the jaw, which was much swollen, her head had been cut with the shovel, her limbs much bruised by the fall over the stairs. Other hurts were also described of a nature not to be put in print.

The prosecutrix was cross-examined by counsel for the prisoner, but no part of her sad recital was invalidated.

Counsel addressed the jury on behalf of the prisoner, endeavouring to show that the youth for a time must have been possessed of a demon, or that the whole account of the prosecutrix was exaggerated, as it appeared more like a tale of fancy than an exposition of facts.

His lordship charged the jury, who, without much hesitation, returned a verdict of "Guilty," with a recommendation to mercy.

The learned judge, in delivering the sentence of two years' imprisonment and hard labour, explained that the prisoner owed his life to the courageous conduct of the prosecutrix. Had she not resisted to the life, and had he accomplished his guilty and brutal purpose, nothing could have saved him from an ignominious death.

JAMES PAGE.

TRANSPORTED FOR MALICIOUSLY WOUNDING CATTLE.

As yet we have presented our readers with no instance of the conviction of a prisoner for the offence of maiming cattle. The case of James Page is worthy of observation.

He was indicted at the Bedford assizes on Wednesday, the 16th of July 1834, for maliciously and feloniously wounding three cows and a mare, the property of Mr. William George, a farmer at Houghton Conquest, on the previous 1st of May. The prisoner was a pauper of the parish of which the prosecutor was overseer; and, having applied for relief, was set to break stones on the roads. This employment seemed to produce an ill feeling in his mind towards Mr. George, and he was heard to express his dissatisfaction. On the night of the 30th of April, Mr. George's cattle were placed in a particular field in his farm in good health and condition, but in the morning, at four o'clock, three fine cows and a mare were found to have been hamstrung, and so severely injured as to render it necessary that they should all be killed. The evidence by which this offence was brought home to the prisoner consisted of the repetition of observations made by him, subsequent to the 1st of May, in reference to the act, and the testimony of one Chappell, to whom the prisoner had proposed that he should accompany him to execute his base purpose.

The prisoner was found "Guilty," and sentenced to be transported for life.

JOHN EDWARDS, alias HEATH; PETER LECASSER; AND JEREMIAH WEEDON.

IMPRISONED FOR AN ASSAULT.

ON Monday, the 12th of May 1834, Mr. Gee, a respectable solicitor at Bishop's Stortford, appeared before the magistrates at Lambeth-street police office, to prefer a complaint of a most extraordinary description.

It appeared from his statement that he had been professionally retained for the estate of a gentleman named Canning, deceased, who at his death had bequeathed a life-interest in a sum of 2000_l._ to his widow, the principal of which, at her death, was directed to descend to his three children. Mr. Gee's occupation had been, under the direction of the executors of Mr. Canning's will, to invest in good securities the amount thus bequeathed, with a view to as good a rate of interest being procured upon it as was possible. A sum of 1200_l._ had been already invested, and 800_l._ only remained in his possession, which he had deposited in the hands of his bankers, Messrs. Gibson and Co., of Saffron Walden, for security. A few days before, he had received a letter signed "W. Heath," the writer of which professed his desire to have a personal communication with him in London, upon the subject of certain landed property which was for sale in the neighbourhood of Bishop's Stortford. He returned an answer, announcing his intention to visit London on that day (the 12th of May), and expressing his willingness to meet Mr. Heath in the coffee-room of the Bull Inn, Aldgate, at ten o'clock in the morning. Having received no negative reply, he accordingly proceeded to the Bull Inn at the appointed hour, and found a young man in the garb of a sailor waiting to see him. He presented him with a letter in the same handwriting as that which had been before delivered to him, and signed with the same name, in which he was requested to accompany the bearer in a coach, which had been prepared, to the residence of the writer, who was too ill to attend the appointment which had been made, an assurance being given of a desire to afford every assistance to Mr. Gee with a view to the saving of his time. On his reading the letter he had no hesitation in complying with the wish which was expressed, and the messenger having conducted him to a coach, he immediately entered it and was driven off. The carriage proceeded along the Commercial-road, and at length drew up at the house No. 27, York-street West.

On his quitting the vehicle and entering the house, a person met him in the passage, who told him that his brother was in the kitchen at his breakfast, but suggested that he would not, perhaps, have any objection to go there to him. The door was at this moment closed and the coach driven off, and, as he was about to descend the stairs, he was suddenly seized by the man who had delivered the letter to him, and who had followed him into the house, by the man who had accosted him in the passage, and by a third person, who made his appearance from below. Alarmed at this proceeding, he made considerable resistance; but, in spite of all his exertions, he was carried into the back kitchen, and from thence into a species of cupboard, or den, where he was instantly placed upon a seat and securely fastened. A chain, fixed to staples at his back, passed round his chest, under his arms, and was padlocked on the left side; and his feet being secured with cords, were so tightly bound to rings in the floor, as to prevent the possibility of his moving them. Having been thus confined, one of the party addressed him, and representing himself as the brother of Mrs. Canning, demanded that he should immediately give him a check for the 800_l._ of her money which he had in his possession, as well as an order, upon the presentment of which he might procure the delivery to him of the bond for 1200_l._ invested for her benefit and that of her children. Now for the first time informed of the object of his assailants, he remonstrated with them upon the illegality of their proceeding, and entreated them to release him. They answered, that they were quite aware that what they had done was contrary to law, but that they were resolved to brave the consequences, and that not only would they retain him in his present situation until he had complied with the demand which they had made, but until they had actually obtained the money and the deed.

They were then about to leave him, and lock him in the horrible den in which he had been confined, where he would be left in utter darkness, when, on reflection, he became apprehensive that, if he made any attempt to give an alarm or to procure assistance they might return and murder him, and calling them back he notified, that he was willing to comply with their demands. Pen, ink, and paper, were, in consequence, brought, and he wrote a check on his bankers for 800_l._, and a letter directed to Mr. Bell, at Newport, Essex, requesting the delivery of the deed in his possession to the bearer, for the inspection of Mrs. Canning.

The person, who had described himself as Mrs. Canning's brother, on receiving these documents immediately quitted the house, and being left by the other men also, the door of his cage standing open, he began to meditate upon the possibility of his escape. For three hours he found every effort which he made unavailing; but at length he succeeded, by a violent exertion, in shifting the iron chain which encompassed his chest a little upwards, and in freeing his body from it. Thus at liberty he was able to reach his feet, and he soon liberated his legs from the cords by which they were confined. His only remaining effort now was to quit the house; and stealthily making his way out of the back-kitchen into the garden, he succeeded in eluding the vigilance of the two remaining men, who were at dinner in the front kitchen, and escaped over the garden-wall into an adjoining street. He instantly despatched messengers to Mr. Bell, and to Messrs. Gibson's bank, with instructions not to obey the orders which he had signed, and then made the best of his way to the police-office to describe the treatment to which he had been subjected.

Mr. Walker, the magistrate, immediately afforded Mr. Gee every assistance in his power, and despatched Lea and Shelswell, two active officers of the establishment, to York-street, in order that they might apprehend the parties concerned in this most extraordinary conspiracy. On their reaching the house, however, they found that it had been already vacated, and that it was closed. An entry was soon forced, and then they discovered that the house had evidently been taken solely for the purpose of effecting the outrage which had recently been committed in it. It was devoid of any furniture, with the exception of a few chairs in the kitchen, and a blind to the window of the same room. The den, in which Mr. Gee had been confined, was situated in the back-kitchen; it was partitioned off from the room with boards of an immense thickness and strength. Its dimensions were about five feet by three, and outside the immediate walls of the cell, and within another exterior partition, a large quantity of earth had been placed, so as effectually to prevent any sounds emitted within from escaping or being heard in any of the neighbouring houses. The interior of the cell resembled a privy in its structure, although it had evidently been built expressly for the purpose for which it had been used. There was a seat at an elevation of about two feet from the ground, and at the back, about a foot above the seat, was securely fixed a strong bar of wood to which the chain with which Mr. Gee had been confined was still suspended, in the same state as that in which he had left it. On the floor there was also another bar of wood securely fixed; and attached to this were two swivels, through which a large quantity of sash line, which had been employed in binding the feet of Mr. Gee, passed. On inquiries being made in the neighbourhood, it was learned that the occupants of the house had only entered upon its possession on the previous Saturday; and that immediately after Mr. Gee had escaped, two men were seen in the garden anxiously looking right and left, as if in search of some person, and that on their being asked what they wanted, they declared that they were in pursuit of a thief who had escaped. They were observed to leave the house immediately afterwards.

The subsequent investigation of this singular affair induced a belief, that the person who had represented himself to Mr. Gee as the brother of Mrs. Canning, was a man named Edwards, who was blind, and who had taken the house of Mr. Wych the landlord. It was ascertained that Edwards was in the habit of visiting Mrs. Canning at her residence at No. 4, Providence-row; and after a short interval he was observed to quit that house, and was taken into custody. The apprehension of Peter Lecasser, his wife, Mary Lecasser, and Jeremiah Weedon, soon after took place, as they were about to enter the house in York-street; and the prisoners were on Tuesday morning taking before the magistrates. Mrs. Lecasser, it then appeared, was the sister of Edwards, and her husband and Weedon had been employed by him to assist him in his attack upon Mr. Gee. Edwards, it was proved, had admitted when he was taken into custody, that he had been the prime mover in this conspiracy; that he had tried by all legal means to get the money from Mr. Gee, and that having failed, he had determined upon procuring it at all hazards.

While the prisoners were under examination, a singular fact developed itself. The Rev. D. Mathias, rector of the parish of Whitechapel, recognised Edwards as having been recently married by him in the name of Heath, to a female named Elizabeth Jenkins, who, however, from the description given of Mrs. Canning, he was now induced to believe was that person. Edwards, upon being questioned, hesitated to admit the truth of this assertion, but made no attempt to deny that the statement made by Mr. Gee was correct. He made every effort to exculpate his fellow-defendants, declaring that they had been employed by him, and that he alone was to blame. Weedon, who was a smith by trade, had built the cell, and both he and Lecasser had acted entirely under his orders. He said, that he was acquainted with Mrs. Canning, and that he had become known to her about two years before, from his being recommended to her to tune her piano, an occupation which he followed for his own support.

On Wednesday the prisoners were again brought up, and on this occasion Mrs. Canning was in attendance. The three men were distinctly identified by Mr. Gee, as the parties by whom he had been assaulted; and Mrs. Canning was also recognised by Mr. Mathias, as the person whom he had united to the prisoner Edwards. This fact was, however, denied by Mrs. Canning; but after some questions had been put to her she fainted in the office, and her sister then admitted that the declaration of the clergyman was true. A reason for her denial of the fact was suggested in the circumstance, that her interest in the property left by her deceased husband terminated with her widowhood.

On the following Tuesday, the 19th of May, the prisoners, except Mrs. Lecasser, who was discharged, were fully committed to take their trial at the next Old Bailey Sessions. Their committal was made out under the provisions of statute 7 & 8 Geo. IV. c. 29, c. 6, which enacts, "That if any person rob another person of any chattel, money, or valuable security, every such offender being convicted thereof, shall suffer death as a felon. And if any person shall steal any such property from the person of another, or shall assault any other person with intent to rob him, or shall with menaces or by force, demand any such property of any other person, with intent to steal the same, every such offender shall be guilty of felony; and being convicted thereof, shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be transported beyond the seas for life, or for any term not less than seven years; or to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding four years; and, if male, to be once or twice publicly whipped (if the court shall think fit) in addition to such punishment."

At the Old Bailey Sessions on Monday the 12th of July, Edwards, Weedon, and Lecasser, were put upon their trial. Mr. Lee having stated the case for the prosecution, it was argued by Mr. Phillips, on behalf of the prisoners, that the indictment which charged them with felony could not be sustained. The allegation was, that the prisoners intended to take the security for 800_l._ "from the person" of Mr. Gee, which was inconsistent with the fact. The case was on this objection stopped by Mr. Justice Patteson, who declared that the prosecution could not be sustained, and a verdict of acquittal was, in consequence, returned.

The prisoners were then indicted for demanding from Mr. Gee, with threats and menaces, a legal security for 1200_l._; and also, an order for the payment of 100_l._, with a view to steal the same. Mr. Adolphus having opened the case, the Court declared that this indictment was also open to objection. The prisoners were alleged to have demanded the security "with a view to" obtain it. They had actually obtained it, as it appeared, and they must be acquitted. Mr. Gee, besides, never had possession of the papers giving up the security, and as there could be no robbery where there was no possession, the indictment could not be sustained.

The prisoners were then declared "Not Guilty;" but a bill of indictment having been already found against them at the Middlesex Sessions, together with Mrs. Canning, for an assault, they were all held to bail to answer that charge.

On Friday, the 1st of August, the whole of the parties were put upon their trial at the Middlesex Sessions. The case occupied the Court until ten o'clock at night, when it terminated in a verdict of acquittal as regarded Mrs. Canning, and of guilty of the offence of conspiracy against Edwards and Weedon, and of guilty of an assault against Lecasser.

Edwards was sentenced to two years' imprisonment in Newgate; Weedon to twelve months' imprisonment in the House of Correction; and Lecasser to six months' imprisonment in the same jail.

JOSEPH MOSELEY AND WILLIAM GARSIDE.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

This remarkable murder was committed on the 3rd of January, 1831, although the strong arm of the law did not reach its guilty perpetrators until August 1834. The case is worthy of note, not only from the length of time which intervened between the murder, and the time when the murderers were discovered, but also from a remarkable dispute having arisen with regard to the execution of the criminals, and the consequent delay of the sentence passed upon them.

The murder, as we have stated, occurred at the beginning of the year 1831, a period when there was much discontent exhibited by the labouring population of England, engaged in agricultural and in manufacturing pursuits. At Ashton, and many other places in the neighbourhood of Manchester, which were thickly inhabited by cotton-spinners, and other persons employed in the various factories of that district, the feeling of distaste towards the masters was almost universal; and "unions" were formed amongst the men, who were bound by the terms of the compact into which they entered, to work only at certain prices for their labour, which they desired to dictate to their masters, and to hold commune with no man who presumed to labour for smaller wages than those they chose to accept. Although there can be no doubt that in this case the murder which was committed by Moseley, Garside, and their companions, arose out of the prevailing system of combination amongst the workmen, it would be hard from such a fact to draw an inference, condemnatory of the whole system, and of all parties to it. Mr. Thomas Ashton, the victim of the murder, was the younger son of a master cotton-spinner at Hyde. It is remarkable that at this place little discontent was shown by the workmen, who were employed at the usual wages; but the master-spinners of Ashton justified their refusal to raise the wages of their men, upon this circumstance; and as this was known to have excited dissatisfaction among the workmen at the latter place, little doubts were entertained that they were the persons to whom the diabolical act would be traced.

The circumstances attending the murder were these:--Mr. Ashton had taken tea at his father's house at an early hour on the evening in question, and had gone to visit a newly-erected factory, about a third of a mile distant. He quitted the factory at half-past six o'clock, and his murdered remains were found on the road leading towards his father's house at eight o'clock. He had been killed by a shot through the heart; and the appearance of the body showed that the assassin must have stood close to him at the time of the murder. On his left side in front was one large wound, evidently produced by the discharge of slugs from a pistol, which had entered his body so immediately after their quitting the muzzle of the weapon as not to have had time to separate, as would have been the case had they been discharged at him from a distance. In his back were two wounds, a small distance asunder, which showed that the slugs had diverged in the body of the murdered man, and had thus passed out at his back. This event excited universal astonishment at Hyde, as well from the amiability of character of the unfortunate deceased, as from the absence of all apparent cause for the sanguinary deed; and rewards from the friends of Mr. Ashton, and from the government, amounting to 2000_l._ were immediately offered for the apprehension of the murderers, and for the evidence of any accomplice who had not actually fired the fatal shot.

Officers were despatched in all directions to endeavour to secure the offenders, but years passed ere the real authors of the diabolical crime were discovered. William Moseley, a convict in Chester jail, in the month of April 1834, disclosed the leading circumstances of the murder; and Garside and Joseph Moseley, the brother of the prisoner, its leading perpetrators, were shortly afterwards apprehended at Oldham.

On Thursday, August the 7th 1834, the prisoners were put upon their trial at the Chester assizes. William Moseley was the principal witness, but his evidence was corroborated in many important particulars. He stated that the murder had been committed at the instance of a man named Samuel Scholfield, a unionist, who gave as a reason for it, the unjust measure of wages paid by Mr. Ashton. The subject was broached by this person to them all; and for the trifling sum of ten pounds, they undertook to carry out the diabolical plot. In pursuance of the agreement, they all met near the mill belonging to Mr. Ashton, called the Woodley Mill; and stationing themselves in a quiet position, they awaited the coming of their victim. Shortly before seven o'clock, his approach was observed; and Garside rising and advancing to him, shot him dead before he had time to utter a word, or to offer the smallest resistance to the cowardly attack made upon him. The three murderers instantly ran off, without waiting to remove the body from the middle of the road where it lay; and as we have already said, at eight o'clock it was discovered. The price of the murder was paid on the same night, the three murderers and Scholfield going on their knees, and swearing to each other, that "they wished God would strike them dead if they ever told." The oath was strictly obeyed until William Moseley, being imprisoned in Chester jail for some other crime, disclosed all he knew of the transaction. The witness was subjected to a severe cross-examination, in which he admitted that his reputation was stained by a long list of the blackest crimes. His testimony, however, received so great confirmation from the statements of other witnesses, that a verdict of "Guilty" was returned against both prisoners, and they were ordered for execution on the morning of the following Saturday.

A difficulty, however, now arose upon the subject of the proper officer, by whom this sentence was to be carried into execution. The sheriff of the County Palatine, and the sheriff of the city of Chester, each refused to perform this painful duty, upon the ground that the other was the officer to whose lot it fell. The wretched prisoners remained up to Saturday morning in suspense as to the period of their execution; and on that day Mr. Justice Parke granted a respite until the 18th of the same month, in order that the difficulty might be settled.

This delay, the cause of which was intimated to the convicts, enabled the proper officers to hold communications with them upon the subject of the offence of which they had been convicted. Both admitted their participation in the murder, but denied that Scholfield was at all implicated in the affair. Garside declared that if an offer which he had made to become a witness had been accepted, the whole truth would have been arrived at; but, as it was, they had got nothing but a parcel of lies, and he should say "note" (nothing).

On the day after the trial, William Moseley was carried to Stockport, and there, upon the information which he had given, Scholfield was taken into custody. He, however, denied the truth of the assertions which had been made of his guilt, but he was detained in custody.

On Saturday the 16th of August, the prisoners were further respited until the 18th of September; and from that date they were again respited until the commencement of Michaelmas Term, in the following November, should enable the Court of King's Bench to determine the question in dispute between the sheriffs.

On Thursday the 6th of November, the Attorney-General moved for a certiorari, to bring the conviction into that court, and also for writs of habeas corpus, to bring up the persons of the prisoners, with a view to the question being discussed. The learned gentleman explained the objections made by the two sheriffs. Previously to the passing of the Statute 11 Geo. IV., all complaints in the County Palatine of Chester were tried by the Chief Justice of Chester, and rules of court were made for the execution of such prisoners as were condemned to death, which orders were carried into effect by the sheriff of the city of Chester. By the act in question, the court by which this authority was exercised, was abolished, and in its stead assizes, under commissions of oyer and terminer, were ordered to be held in Chester, as in other counties. By the sixteenth section, however, it was provided, "that nothing therein contained should affect the duties or obligations to be performed by the magistrates and citizens of Chester." In the present case, the sheriff of the city of Chester refused to execute the sentence on the prisoners, alleging that his jurisdiction in such respects extended only to the Palatine Court, which had been abolished, and that if there was any such obligation, it rested on the mayor and citizens, and not upon the sheriff. Under these circumstances, the learned judge had felt it to be his duty to respite the prisoners from time to time, and indictments had been preferred against both sheriffs, which, however, had been ignored. Ex officio informations would be filed against them by him (the Attorney-General) for their neglect of their duty; but as much time must elapse before the questions involved in those informations could be legally discussed, he was compelled to come to the court, with a view to the carrying into effect the sentence of the law upon the prisoners, an object which was of the highest importance. It would be in the power of the court to order the prisoners to be executed by either of the disputing sheriffs; by the sheriffs of Middlesex, or Surrey; or by their own marshal. Several cases were then cited, in which the court had interfered with regard to the execution of offenders, and the writs were granted.

On Tuesday the 11th of November, and Thursday the 13th, the prisoners were brought before the Court of King's Bench. Mr. Dunn, on behalf of Garside, contended that the court could not award sentence against that prisoner, because he had made a statement to the authorities of Cheshire with regard to the circumstances of the murder, which, by the proclamation which had been issued, offering a reward of 2000_l._ and a pardon, to any accomplice of the actual murderer, entitled him to be liberated. This fact having been pleaded by the learned gentleman, on behalf of his client, in obedience to the direction of the court, the Attorney-General was heard on the other side. He contended that the jury had distinctly found that Garside had fired the fatal shot; and that even taking the statement of the prisoner to be correct, he was not therefore entitled to his pardon.

Lord Denman held this good ground of demurrer to the plea, and execution having been prayed, the court awarded that it should be done by the marshal, assisted by the sheriff of Surrey.

The prisoners were then conveyed to the King's Bench prison, to await their death. A petition was prepared by Mr. Dunn, on behalf of Garside, setting forth the same facts which were urged by the learned gentleman in court, but it was declared to be of no avail; and on Tuesday the 25th of November, the wretched convicts expiated their foul offence on the top of Horsemonger-lane jail.

Garside had, during the latter portion of his imprisonment, striven to shift the guilt of firing the pistol upon the witness, Joseph Moseley, and it was not until the very moment of his being turned off, that he retracted this allegation. His conduct, as well as that of his fellow prisoner, during the whole period of their confinement, had been remarkable for its extreme coolness; and on the morning of their execution, their demeanor was in no way altered.

At nine o'clock in the morning the prisoners mounted the scaffold, Garside being first, and they were immediately turned off; Garside's last words being, "All the statements that I have made at different times since my conviction are false."

At the Assizes for the County of Chester, held in the month of April, 1835, a bill of indictment was preferred against Scholfield, but it was ignored; and he was, in consequence, set at liberty.

EDWARD CHALKER AND JEREMY KEYS.

TRIED FOR MURDER.

At the Bury Assizes, on Thursday the 26th of March, 1835, Edward Chalker and Jeremy Keys, were indicted for the murder of Bryan Green, on the 22nd of November.--The unfortunate man, whose fatal end led to the inquiry, was one of the under-gamekeepers of Miss Lloyd, the lady of the manor of Hintlesham; and on the night of the 22nd of November, he and a fellow-servant named Masterman, were on the watch in the great wood upon the manor, which was well stocked with pheasants; and which was separated from a smaller wood by a glade. Nothing particular occurred till half-past three in the morning, when they heard the whiz of an air-gun very near the place where they had posted themselves. The sound proceeded from the little wood, to which they immediately made their way, and on crossing the glade they saw a spotted spaniel dog and a man passing from one wood to the other. The man instantly ran into the little wood, and the keepers pursued and overtook him. He suffered himself to be taken without any struggle, but he was no sooner in hold than he gave a "signal whistle," and two other men ran to his assistance, one of them having in his hand an air-gun. The three men then assailed the two keepers, who were instantly struck to the earth, and Masterman was beaten with a club as he lay on the ground, until he became quite insensible. Green had at first threatened to shoot the men, unless they let him go unharmed; but they swore he should not escape himself, nor harm them, and presently he too was left in a state of insensibility. Upon Masterman's coming to himself, he heard Green groaning most piteously, and upon his crawling to him, he found his head in a pool of blood, which was still flowing profusely. After some time Masterman contrived to get as far as the head-keeper's house, and upon their returning to the scene of the outrage, they took the wounded man on a litter to the keeper's lodge, and sent for a surgeon. It was found, upon examining his head, that there was a wound on one side, through which the brain was escaping, and the skull was extensively fractured. A portion of the bone was pressed into the brain; upon removing this, the patient experienced some relief, and in a few hours could utter a few monosyllables; but he soon afterwards relapsed, and after fluctuating between life and death for a few days, he ceased to suffer. He had, on the night in question, a pistol and a gun with him, and upon searching on the spot on the following morning, they were found lying upon the ground. The cock of the pistol was struck down, but the pan had not risen, and the pistol, consequently, had not gone off. His gun was found with the barrel broken from the stock, and on the breech a piece of skin and hair and some blood were observed, and a recently killed pheasant and a bludgeon were lying close by.

It appeared that the prisoners were in the habit of frequenting a beer-house, called the "Fox and Grapes," at Ipswich, which was six or seven miles from Hintlesham; and a day or two before the evening in question, Chalker told a Mr. Frost, who was drinking there, that he would give him a pheasant for his Sunday's dinner. In the afternoon of the 22nd, one Upson, the village smith, went to the Fox and Grapes to repair the lock of the cellar door, and whilst he was in the cellar the landlady heard the peculiar sound which is made by discharging an air-gun; and it appeared that the prisoner, Chalker, kept his in the cellar. It was further proved that the prisoners and two other men left the house on that evening, and returned early the next morning, when some mysterious conversation was heard between them, respecting Hintlesham wood. Other corroborative facts were given in evidence, which clearly proved that Chalker had been concerned in the dreadful transaction. The evidence respecting Keys was not so conclusive. Chalker was found guilty, but Keys was acquitted.

The former received sentence of death, and was executed on the following Monday, the 30th of March.

MARY ANNE BURDOCK.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

Great excitement and extraordinary interest was created at the Bristol Assizes, held in the month of April, 1835, before the Recorder (Sir Charles Wetherell), by the trial of a woman named Mary Anne Burdock, who stood indicted for the wilful murder of an old lady named Clara Anne Smith, who had been her lodger, and whom, it was alleged, she had poisoned with yellow arsenic, to obtain possession of her property. The trial commenced on Friday the 10th of April, and was continued through the whole of that day and Saturday, and the Recorder did not proceed to sum up till Monday, the jury having been kept under the care of the proper officers during the whole of the time.

The evidence was circumstantial, but perfectly conclusive. It appeared that the deceased, a widow aged sixty, went to lodge with the prisoner at Bristol, in the year 1833, and was known to be possessed of considerable property, in sovereigns and bank-notes. She had a brother-in-law residing at Oporto, and a nephew in this country. She died on the 23rd of October. Shortly afterwards an undertaker, named Thompson, was sent for by the prisoner, who told him she had an old lady dead in her house, who died very poor, and had no friends, and who must therefore be buried at as little expense as possible. A coffin and coffin-plate, on which were the deceased's name and age, were in consequence provided, and the lady was interred in St. Augustine's church-yard, at eight in the morning, of the 30th of October. The prisoner, previous to this, was very poor, and lived with a man named Wade. Subsequent to the funeral of the deceased, she suddenly became possessed of wealth, and said she had been left a large property by her uncle. Wade went into business, but died in the April following, and made a will, by which he settled considerable property on the prisoner, including stock in trade, valued at 700_l._ She was also proved to have 600_l._ in cash. She told one of the witnesses that a rich old lady had died in her house, and left her property to Wade.

Matters went on thus till December 1834, when the relatives of the deceased, hearing of her death, went to make further inquiries respecting her fate and property. This led to investigations which created suspicions of foul play, and it was determined that the case should undergo a searching scrutiny. Inquiries had previously been made of the prisoner, who gave up some papers of the deceased, but denied that she had left any property. The body was exhumed, the place of interment and the coffin being distinctly sworn to by the undertaker, who also swore to the shroud and other articles on the person of the deceased. The body was then opened by Dr. Riley, the physician of the Bristol infirmary, assisted by Mr. J. J. Kelson, surgeon, Dr. Symonds, and Mr. Herapath, a lecturer on chemistry, and was found in an extraordinary state of preservation, notwithstanding the time which had elapsed since its interment. There was a quantity of water in the coffin, which covered part of the body and legs. The stomach and abdomen were laid open at once, and it was discovered that the integuments had been converted into adipocire, which is a hardening of the fat, or animal soap. The stomach was carefully taken out, and found to contain a quantity of yellow arsenic. The contents of the stomach were submitted to various chemical tests, all confirming the belief that yellow arsenic had been administered, and was, in fact, the cause of death--in all other respects the subject was healthy. A beautiful preparation of the stomach was produced in court.

This fact established, other witnesses were called to bring the crime home to the prisoner. A seaman, named Evans, proved that he lodged with the prisoner when she passed as Mrs. Wade; this was in October 1833. She asked him to purchase two-pennyworth of arsenic for her about six days before Mrs. Smith died, saying there were rats in the house (this was proved not to have been the case). He accordingly purchased the arsenic from a druggist named Hobbs, in the presence of two witnesses, all of whom confirmed his statement. He gave the arsenic to the prisoner, and she put it in her pocket. He was in the house when Mrs. Smith died, and heard Wade and the prisoner laughing during the night. The prisoner said the deceased died poor, and she should sell some plate she left to pay the funeral expenses. He had seen the deceased with a gold watch and chain about a month before.

The actual administration of a yellow powder (the arsenic no doubt) was proved by a girl named Mary Ann Allen, who had been engaged to wait on the deceased, and who saw the prisoner put some yellow powder out of a paper, which she took from her pocket, into a basin of gruel, which she subsequently gave to the deceased--shortly after which the poor creature was seized with dreadful convulsions and died. After her death the prisoner opened a cupboard and drawers, and applied abusive epithets to the deceased, and conducted herself in the most unfeeling manner, exclaiming, "Only think of the drunken old b---- having this," &c. She told witness never to tell anything of Mrs. Smith, or who she was, or what she was, nor that she had ever lived with her; and, if any one asked, to say she was a stranger and a foreigner, from far away in the East Indies; "Nor don't you ever tell any one," said she, "you saw me put anything into the gruel, for people might think it was curious."

These details were confirmed by other witnesses, including the mother of the girl, and a servant who at the time lived with the prisoner. Mr. Charles Read, a wine-merchant, who knew the deceased's brother-in-law in Oporto, then proved that in November after her death, he went to the prisoner's house and saw her and Wade. He made inquiries as to Mrs. Smith's property. The prisoner said she died very poor, and that her clothes were in so bad a state that she was compelled to burn them, and that she would not produce anything belonging to her till he paid the funeral expenses, which amounted to 15_l._; he went again the next morning, when Wade said there was a box which contained some papers belonging to the deceased; she ultimately agreed that they should each get a professional man to meet. They went again the next morning, and the box was at length produced and opened, and the papers were examined, and there was an old will of Mr. Smith's in favour of his wife. There were no deeds. Mrs. Smith had dressed very respectably since the death of her husband, five years ago. He knew she had possessed property. He had paid her 700_l._ in 1829. He paid her an annuity of 15_l._

The case having been brought to a conclusion, some witnesses were examined to the character of the prisoner, who strongly protested her innocence.

On Monday the recorder summed up the evidence with great perspicuity, going through the whole of the testimony of the witnesses, and finally remarking on such parts as required explanation. He observed in his address to the jury--"The issues of life and death were, by the constitution of the realm, committed to them, and not to him. The prisoner was charged with having murdered, by means of poison, a lady of the name of Clara Ann Smith, the poison being yellow arsenic mixed in water gruel. They would have to make up their minds upon the three following points:--First, whether Mrs. Smith's death was occasioned by poison; secondly, whether that poisoning was carried into effect by the prisoner; and, thirdly, whether the prisoner knew that she was poisoning Mrs. Smith. If they were of opinion that she did administer the poison knowing it was poison--if their consciences were made up on these points, however fatal and tremendous the consequences might be to the prisoner, they were bound to make a true deliverance between the king and the king's subjects, and they were bound to pronounce her guilty. They would have to exercise their judgment. The verdict was theirs, and not that of the court. They were charged with the duty of pronouncing the question of guilty or not guilty."

The jury retired for rather more than a quarter of an hour, during which time great and more than ordinary excitement was manifest in the court. The prisoner apparently retained the most perfect composure, her solicitors and other persons were crowded round her, with whom she appeared in most anxious communication; but her eyes were constantly wandering towards the door, in expectation for the jury's return, upon the countenance of each of whom she was observed, upon their leaving the court, to have looked with a steadfast wish to discriminate the opinion each had formed of her case.--Upon an intimation that the jury were about to return, there was a general anxiety to obtain a sight of the prisoner throughout the Court, which occasioned so much noise, and cries of so various a nature, that some time elapsed before order could be obtained, or the judge had any power to proceed. The noise having somewhat subsided, the names of the jury were called over, and they were then in the usual manner asked what verdict they had to return, when the foreman, in a most solemn manner, and evidently with a great degree of feeling, returned the verdict of "Guilty."

The prisoner's countenance at this interesting and awful moment was slightly changed, but she addressed the judge in an audible voice, although rather faltering, saying, "My lord, I am innocent, I am innocent. Standing at this bar, I call upon the Almighty to put his judgment upon me if what I am now saying is not true. I know nothing of it; I am innocent; and the Almighty, I hope, will put his judgment upon me at this moment if I am not innocent."--The learned judge then passed upon her the awful sentence of the law, directing her to be executed on Wednesday, and her body to be buried within the precincts of the jail. The prisoner said, in an audible voice, "May the Lord have mercy upon my soul." She was perfectly unmoved during the passing of the sentence. She was then removed, and immediately partook of refreshment under the dock. An immense crowd of persons was waiting in every avenue leading from the court; and, upon her departure from the Guildhall, on her way to the jail, she was assailed with the most frightful and discordant yells, the carriage in which she was conveyed being followed by a great concourse of people.

On Wednesday, the 15th of April, the unhappy wretch was hanged. During the religious service before execution she sat sullenly silent, never once rising or kneeling. At the conclusion of the sermon she got up without betraying any emotion, and left the chapel with firmness. But afterwards, when in the room under the platform, having her dress arranged, when the fatal cap was placed on her head, and the rope round her neck, she certainly joined in the prayers which the chaplain continued, with something like feeling--repeating the responses of "Lord have mercy on my soul!" "Christ have mercy on my soul!" with earnestness. In this room she lingered long, and appeared to lengthen the time, and it was here generally expected that she would have confessed the justice of her sentence--but, alas! she made no statement whatever. She ascended to the fatal drop with comparative firmness, but looked pale and ghastly, and evidently now felt intensely. She quickly dropped the handkerchief, and the fatal bolt was drawn at exactly twenty minutes before two o'clock in the afternoon. Her weight evidently caused instant death.

The wretched woman, it appears, was a native of Bristol, in which city she passed her life. She was forty years of age at the time of her execution.

PATRICK CARROLL.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

The circumstances attending the murder of which Carroll was guilty may be related in a very short space.

Carroll, it appears, was a native of Ballihoy in Ireland, and at the age of twenty-two years enlisted in the 7th regiment of Fusileers. He remained in this corps during a period of seven years, at the expiration of which time he received his discharge. He, however, almost immediately rejoined the army by enlisting in the Marines; and for the good conduct which he displayed, he was speedily raised to the rank of corporal. He had been in the marine service during three years only, when the melancholy event occurred which consigned him to the gallows. The company of marines to which he belonged was stationed at Woolwich; and the public-house which was commonly frequented by Carroll was the Britannia, which was kept by a Mrs. Browning, a widow. Carroll formed an idea that his attentions were not disagreeable to Mrs. Browning; and he repeatedly pressed her to marry him. It does not appear that she was altogether regardless of his suit; but Carroll having upon more than one occasion while in a fit of intoxication, conducted himself in such a manner towards her as to call for her displeasure, she refused any longer to listen to his addresses. On Sunday, the 26th of April 1835, Carroll went to the Britannia, and found that Mrs. Browning had invited some friends to tea amongst whom he was not numbered. Some angry words ensued between them; and with difficulty Carroll was ejected from the house. On the next morning he returned, and demanded that he might be permitted to address a few words to Mrs. Browning in private. This was declined, upon which he entered the bar where she was; and after having repeatedly struck her with his hand, at length drew his bayonet, with which he stabbed her in no fewer than eighteen places in the breast and body. The screams of the unfortunate woman soon attracted many persons to the spot, and the murderer was secured with all the evidence of his guilt upon his person; not, however, until the victim of his crime had died under the wounds which he had inflicted.

Carroll made no effort to escape or to deny his guilt; and a verdict of "Wilful Murder" having been returned against him by a coroner's jury he was committed to Newgate for trial.

On Friday the 15th of May, the prisoner was tried at the Central Criminal Court, held at the Old Bailey, for the murder, when a verdict of "Guilty" was returned. Sentence of death was immediately passed, and the prisoner was ordered for execution on the following Monday.

In pursuance of his sentence he was conveyed from Newgate to Maidstone on the same evening, the scene of his crime rendering it necessary that he should suffer execution in the county of Kent. The wretched prisoner made no attempt to deny or to palliate his guilt, and appeared to be deeply sensible of the painful nature of his situation. He maintained an unusual degree of firmness throughout the remaining portion of his life, which did not forsake him even at the scaffold.

His execution was attended by a vast number of persons, a great many of whom were soldiers or marines.

The execution took place on Monday, May the 18th 1835.

* * * * *

As this is the first case, to which we have alluded of the trial of a prisoner at the court constituted as the Central Criminal Court, it may be well to mention the change in the law, by which this alteration in the title of the "Old Bailey" was effected. The extreme inconvenience attending the prosecuting offenders, for crimes committed in the immediate vicinity of the metropolis, but not within the district to which the jurisdiction of the Old Bailey extended, involving, as it did, among other evils, the necessity of the attendance of witnesses at Maidstone, Chelmsford, or the other assize towns of the Home Circuit, had long been felt and complained of; and parliament had been called upon to provide a remedy by which the existing system might be improved. Under the superintending influence of Lord Brougham, the Central Criminal Court Act was prepared, and carried through both Houses of Parliament. The general effect of this important statute is all that it is necessary for us to state. Its provisions materially extend the district over which the judges sitting at the Old Bailey have jurisdiction. They render it necessary that there shall be at the least twelve sessions in the course of the year, thus rendering the delivery of the jail of Newgate more frequent than formerly; and they also give the judges of the Court jurisdiction over offences committed on the high seas, for the trial of which hitherto a Special Admiralty Session had been held. These are the main alterations of the law which are effected; and the experience of nearly six years has shown the operation of the new act to be attended with the most admirable results.

HENRY STANYNOUGHT.

TRIED FOR THE MURDER OF HIS SON.

This melancholy case excited, at the time of its occurrence, almost universal sympathy, as well for the unfortunate victim of the attack, as for the miserable parent by whom that attack was made.

Mr. Stanynought was a stationer in a respectable way of business, residing in Connaught-terrace, Edgeware-road. On the morning of Friday, the 4th of September 1835, his shopman was horror-struck at perceiving his master run down stairs in a state of partial nudity, bleeding profusely from a wound which he had inflicted on his breast with a case-knife, which he carried in his hand. Rushing towards Mr. Stanynought, he at once was informed by him of the death of his son by his hands. An instant alarm was given; and the declaration of the wretched father, that he had killed his son, was found to be true. Mr. Stanynought and his son, aged about twelve years, it appears, had retired to rest in the same room on the previous evening; and in the course of the night the former was heard moving about by his servant. The body of the deceased child presented a melancholy spectacle. It was lying with the face towards the bed, and the poor boy had evidently died of suffocation. There was, however, a deep wound across the forehead, which seemed to have been dealt with some blunt instrument. Mr. Stanynought, upon being questioned, at once declared that the dreadful act had been committed by him. He said that he had long meditated the destruction of both his child and himself, and that he had burned charcoal in the room in which they slept on two nights without effect. On the previous evening he had taken laudanum; and in the course of the night he had struck his son with the boot-jack; but finding his blows ineffectual, he had smothered him with a pillow.

Further inquiry at once elicited the fact that the wretched man was subject to occasional fits of insanity--a malady from which both his father and grandfather had suffered. The apprehension of the same disease displaying itself in his son, appeared to be the sole cause of the dreadful deed which he had committed.

At a coroner's inquest held on Monday the 7th of September, the circumstances attending the death of the deceased were elicited, with the additional fact of the insanity of the father. Proof of this feature in the case before the coroner's jury, however, was unavailing, and a verdict of "Wilful Murder," was returned.

Between this time and the period of his trial, Mr. Stanynought almost completely recovered from the effects of the wound he had committed upon himself. On Friday, the 25th of September, the wretched man was put upon his trial at the Central Criminal Court, when his insanity being clearly proved, a verdict of acquittal was returned upon that ground.

He was therefore ordered to be detained during his Majesty's pleasure, and was subsequently conveyed to a mad-house.

ROBERT BALLS, THOMAS HARRIS, AND MORDECAI MOSES.

TRANSPORTED FOR FORGERY.

The offence of which these men were convicted, was that of forging and circulating an immense number of notes which were forged, but which purported to be genuine notes of the Austrian and Polish banks.

The prisoner Balls was an engraver residing in the neighbourhood of Clerkenwell, and he had been employed by Harris and Moses, both of whom were of the Jewish persuasion, the latter being a native of Poland, to prepare fac-similes of the notes of the Austrian and Polish banks, with a view to the preparation and circulation of forged instruments of the same description. An immense number of these notes had been already put into circulation before the apprehension of the prisoners; and M. Salzman, a cashier of the Austrian bank at Vienna, was despatched to London, from which place it was found the forged notes emanated, in order to take the necessary steps to secure the parties guilty of these fraudulent proceedings. Ruthven and Fletcher, the Bow-street officers, were employed by him to assist him in his inquiries; and in a short time, they succeeded in discovering the connexion of Harris, Moses, and Balls, with the forgeries. Their proceedings were in consequence watched for some time; but at length Balls and Harris were secured on Monday, the 16th of November 1835, at the Star Coffee-house, Crown-street, Finsbury, having in their possession a quantity of unfinished Austrian notes, and the necessary plates and other instruments to complete fac-simile representations of genuine notes. In the house of Harris, in Sadler's-court, Gravel-lane, Houndsditch, other instruments of a similar description, but which had been prepared to print Polish notes, were found, together with evidence which left no doubt of his guilt on both charges. On the 9th of November, Moses was also apprehended at the Strand Coffee-house, near Temple-bar, with a parcel in his possession containing like evidence of his guilt of the crime of forging and uttering notes of the Polish bank.

After several examinations at Bow-street, the prisoners were committed to Newgate, and they took their trial at the following Central Criminal Court Sessions, on Friday the 18th of December. The first case gone into was that of an indictment, which charged Moses, who was described under the alias Marcus Warshaur, Balls, and Harris, with forging and uttering notes of the Polish bank. The evidence was insufficient to support this charge, and they were acquitted. On the following day, however, Moses was tried upon an indictment, charging him with feloniously possessing copper-plates engraved with a fictitious undertaking in the Polish language, to pay the sum of five guilders, (equal in value to 2_s._ 6_d._), and a verdict of guilty was returned, after a trial of several hours' duration. Harris was on the same day tried upon an indictment charging him with uttering forged notes on the Polish bank, and he too was found guilty. On Monday, the 21st December, Balls was also tried and convicted; but further proceedings against the prisoners upon other indictments were delayed, until the opinion of the Judges should have been obtained upon certain objections which were taken to the indictments upon which they had been convicted.

On Wednesday, February the 3d 1836, the prisoners were informed, that the objections taken in their favour were unavailing, and that they had been rightly convicted, and on the 10th of the same month, they were sentenced to transportation; Balls and Harris for life, and Moses for fourteen years.

WILLIAM SUMMERS.

TRANSPORTED FOR LARCENY.

This unfortunate young man was guilty of a very extensive robbery upon his employers, Messrs. Ashley and Co., bankers, of Regent-street. He held a responsible situation in the service of that firm; but in the month of May, 1835, he suddenly absconded, carrying with him a sum of 3240_l._ in Bank-of-England notes, four hundred sovereigns, and 40_l._ in silver. His accomplice in this crime was supposed to be a person named Jackson, a member of the New Police, and notwithstanding every exertion was made to discover their retreat it was without avail, and for a time they succeeded in getting clear off. Nothing more was heard of them until the month of November, when a paragraph appeared in the daily papers, copied from a journal published at Montreal, in which the fact was notified of the apprehension of Summers at Quebec. Handbills describing the persons of the runaways, and also the nature of the property which they had stolen, it appears, were extensively circulated after the robbery; and some of these reached the possession of the managers of the Montreal bank. In the month of September, a young man presented himself at the counter of that bank, and requested money for a 50_l._ note of the Bank of England. The particulars of the note were found, upon comparison, to correspond with those furnished of one of the stolen securities; and upon the person who presented it being questioned, he at length, after some hesitation, confessed that his name was Summers, and that he had committed a robbery upon his employers and had absconded with its proceeds, in company with an acquaintance named Jackson. Upon his being taken before a magistrate of the place he made a confession, of which the following is a copy.

"William Summers being charged on oath before me with having, on the 6th of May last, feloniously stolen a large sum of money belonging to his employers, Messrs. Ashley, bankers, London, voluntarily and freely declared that he was clerk in Messrs. Ashley's employ, and that on the day in question he did abscond with a sum of money, of which the notes now produced were a part; and that for this act, he being desirous of making all the amends in his power, by delivering up notes and gold in his possession, amounting to 1,300_l._, has done so; and further declares, that he had been acquainted with George Jackson (formerly of the Metropolitan Police) for about ten years; that they were in the habit of frequenting gaming-tables together, and that his salary of 36_l._ a year being insufficient to meet his expenses, he was instigated by the said George Jackson to commit the robbery; that George Jackson had said to him, he had ample opportunity of making his fortune; that with the booty he could obtain from Messrs. Ashley they might both go to America and be independent; that he did commit the robbery, and at two o'clock the same day he went to a coffee-shop in Long Acre, and met Jackson there by appointment; that he and Jackson took a private lodging at Dock-head, and remained for about three weeks, when both went to Dublin; that they remained there about two months, when Jackson, during the absence of witness, robbed him of three hundred sovereigns, and 2,015_l._ in notes, and left Dublin, and he had not seen nor heard of Jackson since; that it was agreed between him and Jackson they should go halves; that after Jackson left Dublin, witness took a passage to America, by the name of William Smith, in the Friends, Captain Duncan, in August last; that this statement was carefully read over to the prisoner, and he persisted therein and signed it."

The prisoner, therefore, was committed to jail for safe custody, until an opportunity should occur for his transmission to England.

On Saturday the 26th of December, he was placed at the bar of Marlborough-street Police-office, charged with the robbery, and he exhibited no hesitation in at once confessing himself guilty of the charge preferred against him. He was immediately committed for trial, and on Thursday the 7th of January, 1836, having been arraigned at the Central Criminal Court, upon an indictment charging him with stealing the money from the dwelling house of Messrs. Ashley, he pleaded "guilty."

At the conclusion of the sessions, he received sentence of transportation for life.

The unfortunate man, at the time of his conviction, was twenty-eight years of age. He was the son of respectable parents, who lived in Westminster, and who were remarkable for their religious demeanour. Their son was supposed to be equally devout; and it is worthy of observation, that notwithstanding the offence of which he was guilty, and the irregularities of which he accused himself, a memorandum-book was found in his possession, containing a vast number of quotations from the Scriptures.

* * * * *

This case is remarkably similar in its nature to one which occurred with reference to a person named Air, a clerk at Messrs. Brooks and Dixon's banking-house, in Chancery-lane. The consequences to Summers, however, were more severe than those experienced by Air; for while the latter succeeded in effecting his escape to America, where he was free from all criminal responsibility for his guilt, the former remained in Canada, exposing himself to the probability of apprehension, and of transmission to England, to suffer the penalty of his crime.

In the month of November, 1831, Mr. Air absconded from the employment of Messrs. Brooks and Dixon, carrying with him money to the amount of 2,400_l._ It was soon ascertained that he had immediately set off for Portsmouth, to join an American ship, bound for New York, which had sailed from the river, and only waited a fair wind to be off. On reaching Portsmouth he retired to rest, and had nearly lost his passage by over-sleeping himself; and, indeed, would have done so, had not the ship's boat, by a lucky chance for him, been upset, with the captain on board. Through the assistance of a pilot-boat, however, he reached the vessel and escaped. Scarcely had the American got clear away, when one of Brooks and Dixon's confidential assistants, and a Bow-street officer, reached Portsmouth, but they were too late, for the bird had flown. No time was to be lost in pursuing another course. Application was made to the American consul, who advised that an affidavit of debt should be made, and sent out, with a power-of-attorney, to an agent at New York, to act for the interests of Brooks and Dixon. This was done: a fast-sailing ship was on the eve of starting from Liverpool, and by this the documents in question were despatched. The latter vessel reached New York in a very few days after Air, who, on landing, invested his sovereigns in Ohio and Insurance shares, which he subsequently deposited with a banker. The moment the affidavit of debt and power-of-attorney, accompanied by a description of Air's person, arrived, he was arrested and thrown into prison, and the situation of his property being ascertained, an injunction from the Court of Chancery was obtained to impound it. Thus circumstanced, the fugitive had no alternative but to remain in prison, or consent to the restitution of his plunder; he preferred the latter course, gave up the shares, and was discharged. We have only to add, that by these simple means Messrs. Brooks and Dixon shortly after received back from their American agent upwards of 2,000_l._ of their loss, and at a very trifling cost, while Air was left pennyless, to reap the ignominious reward of his breach of trust, in poverty and disgrace.

WILLIAM JOURDAN, alias LEARY; THOMAS SULLIVAN; HENRY MOTT; AND WILLIAM SEALE.

TRANSPORTED FOR A ROBBERY AT THE CUSTOM-HOUSE.

The extraordinary robbery, for their participation in which these men were convicted, was committed on the 27th of November, 1834, and Bank-notes and money to the amount of 4,824_l._ were then carried off. The whole of the particulars of this most daring burglary were revealed at the trial of the offenders, whose names are above-mentioned, by one of the men who were concerned in it; and they exhibit, probably, more plainly than any case which ever came before the public, the system to which modern thieves have reduced their plans of depredation, while, at the same time, they show the success which but too frequently attends their enterprising attempts at robbery. Few among the "family men," as these experienced housebreakers are commonly called, appear to have been so successful as Jourdan and Sullivan, but few have been able to proceed with the same determination and ingenuity in the execution of their plots.

We have already stated that it was on the night of the 27th of November 1834, that the robbery at the Custom-house of London, for which Jourdan, Sullivan, Mott, and Seale, were eventually convicted and transported, was effected. This extensive depredation was committed in the office of Mr. Frederick Thomas Walsh, the receiver of fines and forfeitures. The office, on the evening before the robbery, was left securely fastened in the ordinary manner; but on the next morning, it was ascertained that the iron safe had been broken open, and property to the value of 4,824_l._ carried off. The consternation produced in the establishment by such an event, it may be easily conceived, was of an extraordinary description, and upon its discovery instant information was conveyed to the various police-offices in the metropolis of the circumstance, as well as of the numbers and dates of such of the notes as, by memoranda made of their particulars, could be identified. More than a year elapsed, however, before any of the perpetrators of this daring outrage were apprehended. Lea, an officer of Lambeth-street police-office, was the person to whom the duty of making inquiries into the case was deputed, and after the most arduous investigation, carried on with praiseworthy perseverance, he was at length enabled to bring the principal parties to this burglary to punishment.

On Wednesday, the 2nd of December 1835, Jourdan and Sullivan were taken into custody, and the circumstances of their apprehension deserve to be narrated. Lea, it seems, had been long convinced of their participation in the robbery, and had striven hard to obtain evidence confirmatory of his suspicions, and, at the same time, to procure such a knowledge of the "whereabouts" of the objects of his investigations, as to enable him, when a fitting opportunity should present itself, to secure them, and to bring them to account for the long list of evil deeds of which he knew they had been guilty. Keeping them in his eye, he at the same time was anxiously engaged in procuring testimony of their criminality; but, at the moment when this evidence came to his knowledge, he found that his birds had suddenly flown. For two months all his exertions to discover their retreat were useless; but at length chance threw him again upon their track. An assistant to the officer watched a well-known associate of theirs to the Red Lion, in King-street, Holborn, and in that house they were captured on the morning of the 2nd of December. Upon inquiry it was ascertained that they had been staying there during a short time only, and that they passed as mercantile men. They occupied an upper room, where they kept their trunks; and they appeared to be possessed of plenty of money, an excellent wardrobe, and, indeed, they seemed to lack nothing to render their appearance highly respectable. Upon the introduction of Lea to the "gentlemen," they appeared astonished to find that he had discovered them, and, without hesitation, consented to accompany him; but Sullivan declared, that if he had been armed, nothing should have induced him to surrender himself alive. They were instantly taken to Lambeth-street, and Lea then commenced a search through the apartment which they had occupied. In their trunks he found a great variety of housebreaking implements, of the most ingenious construction. Files, centre-bits, spring saws, and every sort of tool used by "cracksmen" were among those which were discovered, while a pair of scales, calculated for ascertaining the precise weight of metals and precious stones, was also discovered to be in their possession. These, of course, were instantly seized by the officer, who, having further examined the room, and satisfied himself that nothing was concealed, retired from the house. A gold watch and a 10_l._ note were taken from the person of Jourdan, as being calculated to lead to the discovery of further evidence against him; and the circumstances of the apprehension of the two prisoners having been detailed to the magistrates, they were ordered to be remanded.

In the course of the subsequent investigation of the case, information was obtained with respect to the two prisoners, which exhibited them to be most determined and successful thieves. They were both Irishmen, and many years had not elapsed since they were known as common pickpockets in Whitechapel, associating with the very lowest classes of vagabonds in that notorious vicinity. With regard to Jourdan, whose real name was Leary, it was ascertained that four years before he had introduced himself to a Mr. Brace, a baker in Goodman's-yard, Minories, one of the committee of management of an Irish free-school in the neighbourhood, and placing 12_l._ in his hands, had requested him to appropriate a weekly sum of five shillings towards the support of his mother (Mrs. Hart) and his half-sister, Mary Hart, who was then a pupil in the school. Mr. Brace at once consented to this, and Leary went away, saying that he was about to sail for America, but that he would soon send more money for the use of his mother, and to carry her and her daughter to meet him at New York. Some time elapsed before anything more was heard of him, but then a letter was received from him, containing a sum of money which Mr. Brace was requested to forward to Mrs. Hart, in order that she and Mary Hart might at once proceed to join him. The amount was amply sufficient to carry them to New York in good style, and thither they proceeded. From that time up to the year 1834 Mr. Brace had neither seen nor heard anything of them, but in that year Leary called to inquire whether there were any letters lying there for him from his mother. He came on horseback, was well dressed, and appeared to be in a respectable position in life; and he accounted for this change in his appearance by saying, that a Spanish gentleman, in whose service he had been, had died and left him a large sum of money; that he had taken the name of Jourdan, and had then just arrived from Virginia, having left his mother at New York. No letters had then arrived for him, and he went away; but shortly afterwards a letter was brought by the post from the landlord of a hotel in New York, announcing the death of Mrs. Hart. This letter was given to Jourdan upon a subsequent visit, and then he expressed his intention to send for his half-sister. Subsequently to this, Jourdan's wife called upon Mr. Brace, and saying that her husband was gone to Birmingham on a journey in pursuance of his trade as a travelling jeweller, requested to be permitted to leave with him a box of valuable papers, which she was afraid of having stolen from her house. They lived then in White-hart-row, Kennington, at a house which they had hired upon the representations of Mr. Brace as to their respectability, and Mrs. Jourdan declared that an attempt had been made to break into it. Mr. Brace expressed his willingness to take charge of the trunk, and it was sent to him; and, in the month of September 1835, Jourdan called upon him and deposited with him 100_l._ in 10_l._ bank notes, which he requested him to take care of for him until he should call for it, promising to give him six months' notice of his desire to have the money refunded. The box with its contents was given up to Lea, the officer, and the papers which he found in it, consisting of letters, memoranda, bills of parcels, and other documents, afforded him material assistance in tracing the notes which had formed a part of the booty in the Custom-house robbery, while, at the same time, they bore upon the face of them conclusive testimony of the fact of both Jourdan and Sullivan having for years carried on a system of plunder together, both in England and America, in which they had been highly successful, and by means of which they had amassed a very large sum of money.

Sullivan, it appeared, had been already indicted for a robbery at Macclesfield four years before, from the consequences of which he had escaped by breaking out of jail. He was apprehended in company with a man named Wilson, upon suspicion of having been concerned in a robbery upon the person of a Mr. Stephens, an Irish gentleman residing in Cork, in Vauxhall-gardens. The produce of the robbery, which consisted of notes and bills to the amount of 238_l._, was found in the pockets of Sullivan, and he was committed for trial for the offence. He managed, however, before many days had passed, to escape from the prison in which he was confined, and subsequently to America, where he joined Jourdan. Wilson, his fellow-prisoner, was tried for the robbery, but acquitted; but the indictment still remained in operation against Sullivan at the time of his apprehension on this charge.

The prisoners had undergone several examinations before the magistrate at Worship-street, when on Tuesday, the 29th of December, a piece of intelligence was conveyed to Mr. Hardwick which left no doubt of their having also been engaged in one or more very extensive robberies of jewels which had just before occurred. It was stated by Lea, that notwithstanding the pains he had taken to search the room which had been occupied by Jourdan and Sullivan at the Red Lion at the time of their apprehension, he now found that he had not done so effectually. Since the prisoners had been in custody at that office, infinite pains had been taken by their friends to procure admission to the room which they had occupied at the Red Lion. Persons, apparently recently arrived from a journey, would drive up in a coach and demand to be supplied with lodgings; but although this and many other ruses were resorted to, evidently with an object, the precise nature of which could not be discovered, all was in vain, and Mr. Proctor, the landlord, refused to admit any strange person to reside in his house. On Monday, the 28th of December, a Mr. Hanson, an old customer at the Red Lion, arrived in town, and, upon his presenting himself to the landlord, he was immediately shown to the long vacant apartment. A fire was kindled by the servant, and, in the course of the evening, the attention of Mr. Hanson was attracted to some brilliant substance which he perceived amidst the flames. With the tongs he drew it forth, and he perceived it to be a brooch, set with splendid pearls, which, however, was much injured by the fire. Further search presented to his view other articles of a similar description; and, in the course of a short time, he picked from the embers two other brooches, seven large brilliants, seven emeralds, one or two of which were of very great value, and about four dozens of small diamonds. This discovery, it may be supposed, excited great astonishment; but, upon its being communicated to the landlord of the house, the mystery was at once solved by his recollection of the former inmates of the apartment. Lea was instantly sent for; and, on his instituting a further examination, he found in a bag, suspended in the chimney, three massive gold chains of foreign manufacture, which he immediately recognised as answering the description of some chains which had been stolen from the warehouse of Messrs. Hall and Co., on the Custom-house Quay, in the previous month of February, when property of the value of nearly 8000_l._ was carried off. A renewed investigation brought other articles to light, and the anxiety of the strange visitors to the house was at once accounted for, while, at the same time, strong grounds of suspicion were excited that Jourdan and Sullivan had been parties to that robbery, and had secreted the produce of their depredation during their stay at the Red Lion, lest any accidental circumstance should reveal their possession of it.

It would be useless to go through the whole of the evidence which was from time to time adduced at the police-office against the prisoners. A great variety of minute facts were proved, which traced the possession of some of the stolen notes to them; but all doubts which might have existed as to their participation in the robbery, and as to the real circumstances of its commission, were at length satisfied by the confession of Mr. William Huey, a landing-waiter of the Custom-house, to whom also some notes had been traced. This statement was first made to Mr. J. Manning, surveyor-general of customs, and was confined to a declaration on the part of Huey, that he had received the notes which he was proved to possess at a gambling-house, No. 1, Leicester-square. Subsequently, however, a more minute and more truthful confession was made by him, in which he gave the fullest account of all the proceedings antecedent to and attendant upon the burglary. This confession led to the apprehension of Mr. Henry Mott and Mr. William Seale, who also held situations in the Custom-house; and, after repeated examinations, in the course of which an enormous mass of evidence was collected, all four prisoners were at length fully committed for trial, on Friday, the 12th of February, 1836.

At the trial of the prisoners at the Central Criminal Court, which commenced on Wednesday, the 2nd of March, Huey was examined at length as to the circumstances of the robbery.

He said that he was a landing-waiter at the Custom-house, and had held that situation since the year 1827. Soon after his appointment he became acquainted with the prisoner Seale, whose office was similar to his own. After about six months, however, they quarrelled, and it was not until June 1834 that their difference was made up. They were then stationed at the London Docks; and after business they were in the habit of frequenting various public-houses. The Duke of Sussex at Peckham, The Royal Mortar, and the Castle in the Old Kent-road, were often visited, but they occasionally went to the Three Kingdoms near the Custom-house. Shortly after their reconciliation, Seale mentioned to him a design which existed to "crack" the Custom-house; and on the same afternoon they met the prisoner Mott at the Three Kingdoms; he was a clerk in the king's warehouse. Mott spoke of the subject as if it were a familiar one to him, and he advised that they should delay the intended robbery until an opportunity should present itself, when they might obtain a larger booty than they could then procure. This was agreed to by all parties, and although they subsequently frequently spoke upon the subject, the execution of their plan was deferred. In the following August, the witness went to see his father at Drogheda. He had previously been introduced to Jourdan and Sullivan, and he knew that the object of their introduction was, that they might assist in the project which they had in view. He met them in Dublin, and they inquired whether he had any means of assisting them in robbing the Custom-houses at Drogheda and at Dublin. He answered in the negative, and returned to London the same day; and on the 4th of September he resumed his occupation. He soon after met Mott and Scale at the London Docks, and the discussion of the subject of the robbery was resumed. After a short time they proceeded to Jourdan's lodgings, at No. 3, East-street, Walworth, and acquainted him with their plans. He made various inquiries with regard to the contents of the strong box in the office of the Receiver of Fines, upon which it had been determined their attack should be made, and on the next day went with Sullivan to inspect the place. At a subsequent meeting they declared that it would be easy to commit the robbery; and Sullivan suggested that the best means of effecting their purpose would be to fit the locks with false keys. Mott said that he could procure impressions of one of the keys,--that of the outer door; and at a meeting which they afterwards held, he produced the key of which he had spoken, saying that he had taken it from the desk of Mr. Billing, in the king's warehouse, who was out on leave. An impression of it was taken in wax by Sullivan, from which subsequently a skeleton key was made. The assistance of a fifth person was now spoken of, and Seale introduced a man named William May, or Morgan, (a thief, and the former companion of Jourdan and Sullivan). At the next meeting Sullivan produced the skeleton key, and said, that he and Jourdan had tried it and found that it would fit, but it was not strong enough, and a new and firmer key was ordered to be prepared. Seale then also showed them some padlock keys, one of which he suggested would open the padlock with which the door was fastened; but after impressions of them had been taken, and trials made with skeleton keys made from the model, it was found that none of them belonged to the lock which they desired to open. A suggestion was then made, that the best way to commit the robbery would be by "stowing away," by which was meant, hiding one of the party in the house, who could, undisturbed, secure the booty and then make his escape. May volunteered to conceal himself, and a proposal was made that they should again inspect the place in order to ascertain whether this could be done. The king's sale was now approaching, and Jourdan said that he should like to know what would be the probable amount of the contents of the box. This, it was observed, might be easily ascertained. One of the party could buy a lot at the sale, and going to pay for it, he could see what money was in the chest, by presenting a note of such an amount as that Mr. Walsh would not be likely to be able to give change without going to the safe. This was agreed to; and a lot of rum having been purchased for 11_l._, Jourdan took a 50_l._ note to pay for it. On the 26th of November he informed his associates of his success in the project which he had undertaken. He said, that on his presenting the 50_l._ note, Mr. Walsh felt his pockets, and looked into his drawers, but finding that he had not got sufficient change, he went to the iron-chest. Having only one key, he was obliged to wait until the person who kept the other came down stairs; (it is the custom to have a double lock to the iron safes of public institutions, so that they cannot be opened except with the concurrence of two persons, each of whom has a key). He then took out a large cash-box, which he could only move with both his hands, and on its being opened there appeared to be about 5000_l._ in it at least. Jourdan gave his own name and address to be indorsed on the note which he paid; and having received the change, he went away satisfied with the observation he had made. Mott censured him for giving his own name, and observing that all the particulars were written in a book, it was agreed that when the robbery was effected, the book should be destroyed, by the leaves being cut out and burned. The final plans were then arranged, and it was decided that May should go to the Custom-house at a little before four o'clock accompanied by Jourdan and Sullivan, and that in the confusion which usually prevailed at the time of shutting the offices, the former should enter the Receiver's Office and conceal himself behind the door. On the next morning at nine o'clock, Jourdan and Sullivan were to be again in waiting, and having seen all safe, they were to give a signal to May, so that he might quit the place when the watchmen had opened the doors. Mott was also to assist in this design by keeping the clerks in his office, where they went to sign the appearance-sheet. If May got clear off, they were all to meet at Scale's house at Peckham on the same morning, to divide the booty. These arrangements being completed, they separated, and the witness remained away from business next day, on the pretended ground of ill-health. In the afternoon, Seale, and subsequently Jourdan and Sullivan, called on him and told him, that May had been safely "lodged;" that they had all walked into the passage together, and in the confusion had "flashed" an umbrella, under cover of which May entered the office. They afterwards waited on the esplanade for ten minutes to see that all was right, when seeing the doors locked, they went away. On the next morning, the 28th, witness went to Peckham, and meeting Seale, they went together to the Waterman's Arms, which commanded a view of the road by which Jourdan and the others must go to them. They remained there until they saw them coming, and then they went and met them, and they all proceeded to Seale's house together: Mott was not present. May then produced the money from his pocket, and it was divided into six equal parcels: it consisted of 4700_l._ in notes, 122_l._ in gold, and about 50_s._ in silver. May detailed to them the manner in which he had committed the robbery. He said, that as soon as he was locked in, he set to work: he found the key which opened the Receiver's lock to the chest, and employed it; but he was compelled to break open the other lock. Having done so, he took out the money and put it into his pockets. He next tore out the leaves from the book, and he now produced them. One of them bore the name "Leary, East-lane, Walworth," and that with the rest was burned. The whole party then tossed for choice of the lots of money, because some contained more gold than others; and the selection having been made, Jourdan and Sullivan claimed something for expenses. A 20_l._ note and some silver were paid them, as well as the 50_l._ note marked "Leary," and they with May went away. Seale then took the three remaining shares up stairs, saying, that he should send them out of town; and on the same evening he said that they were sixty or seventy miles off. In about a month afterwards, however, he told the witness that they were at Leicester, and he went and fetched them. The lots were then counted over, and the share of each was 745_l._ in notes. The witness further stated, that he disposed of all the notes under 20_l._ in amount to Jourdan at 20_l._ per cent. discount, and subsequently all under 100_l._ in value upon the same terms; and that having done so, he concealed the remainder in Camberwell churchyard, where they remained for several months. Seale then introduced a person who undertook to dispose of some of those which were left, on the Continent; and a portion of the notes was given to him, and he brought back cash. Seale took away what was left of his money, and the witness retained 900_l._ in three notes of the value of 300_l._ each. These he concealed in the panelling of one of the doors of his house, by boring a hole with a centre-bit, and then having introduced the notes, filled up the remaining space with a cork; and on his apprehension he disclosed the place of their concealment, and they were seized by the officers.

On his cross-examination, the witness declared that he had no object in making this disclosure, but that of saving his friends from disgrace. He did not desire to screen himself from punishment; but having committed so heinous a crime, he felt called upon to repair the mischief he had done so far as he was able.

In the course of this and the following days, a vast body of testimony was produced, which proved the transmission of a great part of the stolen notes to the Continent, and their negotiation there: the intimate connexion and acquaintance between the prisoners and Huey about the time of the robbery was also shown, and a great variety of other corroborative evidence was adduced.

The prisoners declared that Huey's story was untrue, and had been invented by him to screen himself; and attempts were made to show that at various periods of the transaction Jourdan and Sullivan had been at places which forbade their implication in the robbery. Other witnesses gave Mott and Seale a good character; but the jury, on Thursday night, found all the prisoners "Guilty," but recommended Mott and Seale to mercy.

On Tuesday the 8th of March, the prisoners received sentence of transportation for life; Jourdan and Sullivan being informed that they would be sent to a penal settlement, where they would be compelled to undergo the most severe and painful labour; while Mott and Seale were told that upon their arrival in the colony to which they were about to be sent, they also would be severely punished, by their being worked in road-gangs.

The distressing nature of Seale's position was rendered doubly painful by the sudden death of his wife on the Saturday after his conviction. The wives of all four prisoners were allowed a last interview with them on that day in Newgate. One of those who availed herself of the privilege was Seale's wife, who went there soon after ten o'clock on the above morning. She had a long interview with her husband, and appeared very much affected on being apprised by him that it was probable he would be transported for life. She afterwards proceeded home; but had scarcely entered the house where she had been lodging since her husband's incarceration, when she dropped down and almost instantly expired.

The convicts were subsequently conveyed to the penal settlements, where they were immediately placed in the positions of painful punishment which had been described to them by the learned judge at the time sentence was passed upon them. Reports afterwards reached England that Sullivan had escaped from custody immediately upon his arrival in Sydney. It appears that he secreted himself on board a Dutch vessel bound for England. But the period during which he retained his freedom was short; for the captain discovering him, put back to Hobart Town, and he was conducted to a place called Goat Island, from which no subsequent effort enabled him to retreat.

JAMES HILLS, WILLIAM HARLEY, AND WILLIAM FISHER, alias CURLY BILL.

TRIED FOR BURGLARY.

This burglary was marked by circumstances of very considerable peculiarity.

The men whose names appear at the head of this article were indicted at the Kingston Assizes, on Thursday the 31st of March 1836, for a burglary in the house of Mrs. Mary Anne Long, at Chipstead, in Surrey, on the night of the 2nd of September 1835, and for stealing therefrom various articles of property.

The circumstances attending the robbery were well described by Mrs. Long at the trial. She said, "I am sixty-six years of age, a widow, and reside with my sister, Mrs. Scholefield, at Mint House, Chipstead, which is a lone house, situate between Gatton and Reigate: on the night of the 2nd of September last, I, Mrs. Scholefield, her son (Mr. Rankin), and a female servant, were the only inmates; we retired to bed after having seen that all the premises were properly fastened; I slept with my sister, and about ten minutes past one in the morning I was awoke by hearing the dog, which was kept in the yard, barking violently; I got up and opened the bed-room window, and thinking that some persons were about the premises, I hallooed out that they had better keep out of the way, or I would put a bullet into their stomach, which was not a pleasant thing; I did so to intimidate them, and then retired to bed; shortly after I heard a noise, and again got up; on going to the window I saw a man trying to get in; he had smashed the pane, and was armed with a stake; I seized hold of the stake, and tried to wrest it from him, but he was too strong for me, and struck me a violent blow on the head, inflicting a wound of an inch and a half in length; he also struck me on the shoulder and hand, of which I lost the use for some time; I then called to my nephew, Mr. Rankin, and he came armed with a cutlass; he made a cut at the man, but the night being very dark, and there being railings at the window, he missed him, and he got down the ladder and went away; I then lit three or four candles, and went down stairs for my nephew's gun; I brought it up, but recollecting that I had left the powder and ammunition, I again went down for it, and locked the pantry-door after me; I returned up stairs, and my nephew loaded the gun; about a half or three-quarters of an hour afterwards we heard a great noise outside the house, and the panel of the south door looking out upon a meadow was smashed in; we heard the voices of six or seven men, who entered the house; they remained down stairs three-quarters of an hour; I slept in a room at the end of a passage, and my nephew's bed-room was opposite; there is a door at the top of the passage leading down the stairs; we placed ourselves in the passage; we then heard one of the men say, 'Now we will go up stairs,' and I heard what I supposed to be a man crawling on his hands and knees--I judged so from the scraping his toes made along the floor-cloth; Mrs. Scholefield was very much alarmed, and cried out for mercy; the men said, 'Give us 50_l._ or 30_l._ or 20_l._;' I told them that all my money was in the bank, and my plate at my banker's: one of the men said, 'I will murder you;' and another man said, 'We will murder you all;' they then forced in the panel of the door, and a man at the bottom of the stairs said, 'Go it, my boys:' Mr. Rankin dropped on his knee, and presented the gun through the panel; I could only see the rim of the hat of a man who appeared to be stooping down; Mr. Rankin fired, and the men fell back, and the candle went out; they all then went away; we waited for some time, and the dog having ceased barking, I and my nephew proceeded down stairs, he armed with a gun, and I carrying the cutlass; we fastened up the door as well as we could, and then went into the parlour, and found that the men had drunk two bottles of wine; we also found the cores of fourteen apples; they had taken away a watch, some cruet-frames, and other articles."

This statement of facts was corroborated by the testimony of Mrs. Scholefield and Mr. Rankin, who added their positive declaration as to the identity of the prisoners Hills and Harley. The former was the man who had been shot; and on his being taken into custody, shot of the same description as that which had been fired from his gun by Mr. Rankin were found in his breast. Fisher had been apprehended at the same time, and in company with the other prisoners; but there appeared to be considerable doubt whether he had been personally concerned in the burglary.

The jury found Hills and Harley "Guilty," but acquitted Fisher.

Mr. Justice Vaughan, in passing sentence of death upon the prisoners, remarked upon the great courage which had been displayed by Mrs. Long and Mr. Rankin, and directed that they should receive a reward as a mark of the high estimation in which he held their conduct.

After their conviction the prisoners were removed to Horsemonger-lane jail, where they paid the most assiduous attention to the spiritual consolation offered to them by the Rev. Mr. Mann, the chaplain.

On Monday, the 11th of April, the last sentence of the law was carried into execution upon the person of the convict Harley, a respite during pleasure having been granted on the previous day in the case of his fellow-convict Hills. The convict maintained a deportment of great firmness, unmixed, however, with any symptoms of bravado, or unnatural courage. He appeared sincerely penitent and met his fate with becoming resignation.

The sentence of Hills was eventually commuted to transportation for life, in consequence of some favourable circumstances which transpired.

Both convicts were men of an inferior station, but there was good reason to believe that in the course of the proceedings of their lives they had been guilty of more than one offence of considerable enormity.

ROBERT SALMON.

CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER, IN ADMINISTERING MORISON's PILLS.

This case arose out of the extremely dangerous practice of administering quack medicines. Morison's vegetable pills have been for many years an article from the sale of which immense profits have been derived; but it is to be regretted that in more than one instance the life of the patient has been sacrificed, from their undue and improper use.

At the Central Criminal Court Sessions, which commenced on Monday the 4th of April 1836, Mr, Robert Salmon, a medicine-vendor in Farringdon-street, was indicted for the manslaughter of Mr, John M'Kenzie, by administering to him certain large and excessive quantities of pills, composed of gamboge, cream of tartar, and other noxious and deleterious ingredients.

The deceased, it appeared, was the master of a vessel, and lived in the neighbourhood of the Commercial-road. He was induced to take some of Morison's pills as a purgative, upon the representations of a Mrs. Lane, a woman who was employed by his wife as a sempstress, who sold the Hygeian medicines; and subsequently Mr. Salmon's aid having been claimed, on account of his suffering from rheumatism in the knee, he recommended increased and still-increasing doses, until at length the deceased became so ill as that his life was placed in jeopardy. Medical aid was now called in, but it was too late, and death soon put an end to his sufferings. A post-mortem examination left no doubt that the medicine prescribed by the prisoner had been the cause of this termination of the case, and the present indictment was in consequence preferred.

On the part of the defendant a great many persons were called from all parts of the kingdom, who stated that they had taken large quantities of these pills, with the very best results, as a means of cure for almost every species of malady to which the human frame is subject. One person stated that he had taken no fewer than twenty thousand of them in two years, and that he had found infinite relief from swallowing them in very large doses.

Mr. Justice Patteson left the case to the jury, who had to decide upon the facts which had been proved; and after about half an hour's consideration they found a verdict of "Guilty," with a recommendation to mercy, upon the ground that the defendant was not the compounder, but the vendor only of the medicines.

On the following Saturday, the 9th of April, the defendant was brought up to receive judgment. The learned judge having sentenced him to pay a fine of 200_l._, added, "I think it right to caution you, that in the event of your being again found guilty of conduct of a similar description, the character of your offence will be materially altered. I hope that the punishment which is now inflicted on you will deter others from rashly administering medicines, with the nature of which they are unacquainted, in large quantities, as the result may be fatal."

The trade in Morison's pills is, however, still carried on to a very great extent, and Mr. Salmon continues one of the largest agents for the sale of the medicine in the metropolis.

HENRY WILLIAMS.

TRANSPORTED FOR BURGLARY.

The case of this prisoner is remarkable only for his singular and daring escape from Newgate after his conviction. He had been tried at the Central Criminal Court Sessions, in the month of July 1836, for a burglary at Islington, and the offence being clearly brought home to him, he was convicted and sentenced to death, in obedience to the requisitions of of the then existing law. On Friday the 22nd of July, he succeeded in effecting his escape from the condemned yard, in which he was confined.

The prisoner, it appears, had been brought up to the trade of a sweep; but naturally disinclined to follow a steady and honest course of life, he quitted the business to which he had been educated, but made his aptitude for it subservient to a new avocation. He joined with a gang of fellows of bad character, who pursued a system of plunder to gain a livelihood, and with them he adopted a means of effecting robberies, as remarkable as it was novel. Procuring access to the roof of an empty house, they would fix upon any other house in the row, from which they might hope to obtain a good booty, and one of them descending the chimney, he would generally succeed in carrying off such a prize as well re-paid his daring. The burglary for which Williams was committed, however, was one of an ordinary character; but while in jail he still found his powers of climbing of use to him. It appears that he was confined in the condemned yard, with two other prisoners, and on the 26th of July, the day of his escape, while his companions were reading in the room appropriated to their use, he managed to work his way to the roof of the jail by means of his hands, back, and knees, sweep-like, up the angular corner of the building. The ascent, to a person of his accomplishment in this particular line, was comparatively easy, by reason of the roughness of the face of the wall, and he had soon gained the top of the building, in spite of all the obstacles, in the shape of chevaux-de-frise, and iron spikes, which presented themselves. To traverse the roof of the prison and gain the houses in Warwick-lane was the work of a very few minutes, and availing himself of an open skylight, he dropped through it. To his astonishment, he found himself confronted with a woman who was at work in the room into which he had fallen; but speedily taking advantage of her alarm, he slipped past her, and had reached the open street before she had time to recover her scattered senses, or to give any intimation of her fright to the other occupants of the house.

Williams knew too well the value of his liberty to afford an opportunity for his re-capture, and he had soon quitted the vicinity of his late residence.

His want of means of support, or his unfortunate disinclination for an honest life, however, soon again placed him in the custody of his late keeper, Mr. Cope, the governor of Newgate. Within a fortnight after his escape, Mr. Cope received an intimation that he was in Winchester jail, upon a new charge of burglary, committed since he had gained his liberty in the extraordinary manner which we have described. He, in consequence, proceeded to that place to receive his prisoner back into his custody, and in a few days Williams was once again lodged in his old quarters.

A humane consideration of his case, subsequently procured for him a commutation of his punishment to transportation for life.

GEORGE EDWARD PEACOCK.

TRANSPORTED FOR FORGERY.

This unfortunate young man, at the time of his conviction, was only thirty years of age, and he had, for a considerable period, carried on business in his profession as an attorney, in Chancery-lane. He was of a highly respectable family, residing in Yorkshire; and the forgery of which he was convicted, was that of a power-of-attorney for the transfer of stock, which formed the subject matter of the settlement of his brother, the Rev. Mr. Peacock, on his marriage with Miss Selina Willmar.

On Wednesday the 21st of September, 1836, the prisoner was placed upon his trial at the Central Criminal Court, upon this charge.

The evidence adduced against him consisted of proof of the execution of the deed of settlement, by which the Rev. W. A. Fountain, Mr. W. Watkins, and the prisoner, were made trustees for Mrs. Peacock, for an amount of 7,814_l._, in the three per Cent. Consols; and it was further shown that on the 7th of December, 1835, the stock was sold out by the prisoner, through the medium of Mr. Clark, a broker, a power-of-attorney being produced, signed with the names of Mr. Watkins, the Rev. Mr. Fountain, and the prisoner. The two former names subsequently proved to be forgeries; and it was ascertained that there were no such persons in existence as those who purported to have affixed their signatures as attesting witnesses to the execution of the power.

The case for the prosecution being closed,

The prisoner proceeded to address the court and jury from a written paper. He began by declaring that he was fully aware of his offence, and had never attempted to deny it; and the feeling by which he was influenced in avowing his guilt thus early was to save his relatives and friends from the pain which a full exposure of all the circumstances of the case must have caused them. He could, however, assure the jury, that necessity, not inclination, had led him to the commission of the act. He found himself surrounded by pecuniary difficulties, and the ruin with which he was threatened would not only have destroyed his professional prospects, but his wife and child, his aged and venerable parents, and respectable family, would have been involved in his misfortune. To save them and himself, he was induced to adopt the desperate expedient by which he was placed in his present situation. He considered, however, that he was only making a temporary use of the money, and that fact, he thought, must be apparent to every one, because, had he contemplated a felony, he might have at once absconded, instead of which he kept his ground for several days before and after the discovery took place. He should not trouble his lordship and the jury with a detail of his complicated troubles; but he was desirous to advert to a few circumstances connected with his life, in order to show the difficulties in which he had been placed. The prisoner then went on to state, that he was admitted an attorney in the year 1830, and commenced business in London under the most cheering auspices, but he had not been long in practice when he lost 1500_l._ and was further compelled to pay 600_l._ in consequence of his having become security for a friend. He was then obliged to accept bills, in the hope of being thus enabled to extricate himself from his difficulties; but, unfortunately, this course only added to them, for when the bills became due, being unable to answer them, he was compelled to borrow large sums of money to meet his liabilities, and last year he found that he had incurred debts and suffered losses to the extent of 5000_l._ A great proportion, however, of the money he had borrowed was expended in the maintenance of his family and the support of his professional respectability. In order to redeem his losses, he conceived the plan of appropriating his brother's property to his temporary use; and such was his misplaced confidence in his own abilities, that he anticipated he should have been enabled, in a very short time, to emerge from his difficulties, and replace the money in the bank. He felt assured that, if he could prove to his brother his ability to do so, he would be perfectly satisfied, and he had not the most remote idea that the Bank of England would suffer any loss by the transaction. All his speculations, however, proved abortive. Loss succeeded loss, and at the time he was taken into custody, he was almost without a pound. Fallen, however, as he was from a situation of respectability to his present degradation, and sunk as he must appear in his own eyes and those of the jury, he nevertheless threw himself on their merciful consideration. His brother was now quite aware that it was his intention to have replaced the stock, and he most solemnly assured the jury that he had firmly resolved to do so. He begged leave to thank the Governor and Company of the Bank of England for granting him time to prepare for his trial, and he begged to repeat that he never contemplated a fraud on that establishment, and that, in fact, he had no intention to wrong any party. He did not, however, attempt to justify his motives, because, whatever might be the intention, it was neither an excuse nor a defence for an offence committed against the laws of God and man: that he had deeply suffered for his crime, the days and nights of remorse and mental agony he had endured might testify, and perhaps it might yet be his fate to suffer the still greater misery of being cut off from the world by a sudden and degrading death, to appear before his offended Maker with all his imperfections on his head, and all his sins to atone for. [Here the prisoner, who appeared deeply affected, was unable for some moments to proceed.] He trusted that the jury would humanely consider the awful situation in which he was placed, and the consequent disadvantages under which he unfortunately laboured. He implored them most earnestly to accompany their verdict with a recommendation of mercy, and that they would weigh and consider well before they decided on consigning a fellow-creature to a premature grave. He trusted that they would not forget he had a wife and child. (Here the unfortunate man dropped his head, and burying his face in his handkerchief, sobbed bitterly.) He hoped the jury would bear in mind, also, his two respectable and venerable parents, one of whom, bowed down by age and affliction, was tottering on the verge of the grave: and it was much to be feared that the grey hairs of his other parent would be brought with sorrow to the tomb. Besides these ties, he had a large circle of friends, to whom his disgraceful end would afford a lasting pang. Let the jury, then, consider all this. Let them weigh well the consequences of their decision, and he hoped that they would be influenced by that humane and merciful feeling which they would wish to see exercised in their own cases. In conclusion, he prayed that the great and merciful Father, who read the secrets of all hearts, would influence their decision in favour of the humble, wretched, and repentant individual who pleaded for mercy before them.

Several most respectable individuals, including clergymen, barristers, merchants, and solicitors, came forward and gave the prisoner an excellent character for strict honesty, honourable and upright dealing in his profession, and the highest respectability of conduct in every relation of life.

The Lord Chief Justice summed up the evidence.

The jury having retired for about ten minutes, returned into court and delivered the following verdict:--"We find the prisoner Guilty; but the jury are unanimous in their wish to recommend him strongly to mercy, on account of his previous good character."

On Monday, the 26th of September, the prisoner received sentence of death; but a subsequent consideration of all the circumstances of the case procured for him a merciful mitigation of his punishment to transportation.

JOHN MINTER HART.

TRANSPORTED FOR FORGERY.

The name of this person was long notorious in London, antecedent to the period of his conviction. He was well known as an advertising moneylender; and the schemes to which he resorted for the purpose of preying upon the unwary were as ingenious as they were iniquitous.

The offence of which Minter Hart was convicted was that of forgery. He was indicted at the Central Criminal Court on Thursday, the 16th of December, 1836, for feloniously forging and counterfeiting a bill of exchange for 500_l._, with intent to defraud the Rev. Charles Herbert Jenner.

It appeared that, in the previous month of July, the Rev. Charles Herbert Jenner, of Wenvoe, near Cardiff, Glamorganshire, saw an advertisement in the "Morning Post," offering to lend money, with a reference to Mr. Blake, 44, Haymarket. Wanting money, he directed a letter to Mr. Blake, and had an interview with the prisoner, who met him at Chislehurst, in Kent, where he was residing. He told him he wanted 200_l._, on personal security, for twelve months. The prisoner agreed to let him have it at five per cent. on his bill. He met him the next day at the house of his father (Sir Herbert Jenner), in Chesterfield-street, when the prisoner produced a stamp, at the same time showing what appeared to him to be a Bank-of-England check. The prisoner asked Mr. Jenner to write across the stamp, "Accepted--Charles Jenner;" but before he signed it, he saw the prisoner write something at the left-hand corner; he did not notice what, but subsequently saw it was figures denoting 200_l._ The prisoner then took away the stamp, and said he would return with the money in half an hour. By desire of the prisoner, he made the bill payable at the Bank of England. On the bill being now produced, the figures 500_l._ appeared to have been substituted for those of 200_l._ He did not again see the prisoner, nor get any money, although he received several letters.--A Mr. John William Edwards proved that he had received the bill in question from the prisoner, having agreed to purchase it at 5_s._ in the pound. It was then only a blank acceptance, but there was a stain at the corner. The prisoner said it was as he had received it. He said it had been obtained from Mr. Jenner by a person named Elliott, and that he had offered it for sale to a Mr. Pook, who would only give 100L. for it. If the bill was paid, he, Edwards, was to give 50_l._ additional. The bargain was finally settled at a public-house at the corner of a court in Jermyn-street, and witness received the blank acceptance, and kept it in his possession for a week, when it was given to the prisoner to be drawn and endorsed. He returned it regularly drawn and endorsed with the name of "C. Taylor."

Other witnesses proved a fact which exhibited the boldness and ingenuity with which the prisoner had effected his object. It appeared, upon a chemical examination of the paper on which the bill was drawn, that that part of it on which, according to Mr. Jenner's statement, the figures "200_l._" had been written, had been subjected to the action of a strong acid, the effect of which had been to remove all trace of the ink. The new figures, "500_l._," had then been written in their stead, and the bill had been put in circulation as a security for that amount.

An objection was taken to the indictment on the ground that the facts proved did not show that any forgery had been committed, although it was admitted that there had been a fraud; but the learned judge gave it as his opinion, that the indictment was sustained, and the prisoner was found "Guilty."

His case subsequently formed the subject of discussion before the fifteen judges in the Court of Exchequer Chamber, when the conviction was declared to be good, and on Tuesday, the 7th of February, 1837, Hart was sentenced to be transported for life.

The prisoner, as we have already stated, had been long known in London as a successful cheat. The instance above referred to is not the only one in which, by his acts, he got himself into a situation of difficulty.

On the 14th of October, 1833, a coadjutor and agent of his, named Henry Palmer, was indicted at the Middlesex Sessions, charged with receiving ten bills of exchange for 500_l._ each, accepted by D. Astley, Esq., well knowing them to have been stolen. Mr. Adolphus stated the circumstances as follows:--

Mr. Dugdale Astley was the prosecutor; he was the eldest son of Sir J. Astley, M.P. for Wiltshire, and married the daughter of Sir T. Lethbridge, by whom he would be entitled, at some future day, to a large fortune; he was also the heir to an extensive property in his own person. Mr. Astley, the previous July, saw an advertisement in the "Morning Post," stating that a gentleman retiring from business had a sum of 20,000_l._ to lend at four-and-a-half per cent. interest to gentlemen of known property, or on bills of exchange at a short date. Application to be made to Mr. T. Morton, 35, University-street, St. Pancras. He (Mr. Adolphus) should have thought that this was almost too vulgar to attract notice, but it caught the attention of Mr. Astley; and he being in want of a temporary advance of money, applied for the loan of 5000_l._, at the same time describing his own and his wife's family connexions. Mr. Astley, at the time of making this application, was at his country house, Basing Park, Wiltshire, and shortly afterwards he received a letter, signed "J. Morton," but by a person whose real name would turn out to be Minter Hart, stating that he (Morton) would visit Mr. A. in the country, which he had accordingly done. A great deal of discussion ensued between them as to the terms on which the money was to be advanced; it was ultimately arranged that Mr. Astley should give his acceptance at short dates, which were to be renewed from time to time on the payment of six per cent interest. Hart, calculating on the success of the plot, had provided himself with ten six-shilling stamps, which he requested Mr. Astley to accept for 500_l._ each. This he simply and foolishly acceded to, and wrote across them--"Accepted; payable at Messrs. Praed and Co., bankers, 195, Fleet-street." Hart, overjoyed at his success, put the bills into his pocket, and immediately started, assuring the prosecutor that the money would be forthcoming in a few days. When he (Hart) had got home, he found that the prosecutor had not signed his name to the bills. He accordingly wrote him a letter, requesting a second interview, as there was an irregularity. This was granted, and day after day passed away, but no money was forthcoming. Nothing was heard of Mr. Hart or the bills. At length a letter was received, stating that the business could not be completed for a short time. Some days after this a letter was received from the prisoner (which first introduced him into the transaction), dated Hertford-street, May Fair, Aug. 16, and was to the following effect:--

"SIR,--I have received in payment your acceptance for 500_l._, and have also been requested to discount another for the same amount, which, from the respectability of your family, I am inclined to do. Perhaps, therefore, you will have the goodness to inform me if the bills are all regular and right.

"I am, &c., "HENRY PALMER.

"D. Astley, Esq."

This letter Mr. Astley fortunately did not answer, but it raised his suspicions that all was not right; he accordingly made inquiries, and it was discovered that Hart and the prisoner were old friends--labourers in the same vineyard. This trick having failed, the prisoner then resorted to another; he thought that Mr. Astley would naturally wish to conceal the transaction from his own and his wife's family; he therefore sent him a copy of a letter which he (Palmer) said he intended to send to his (Mr. Astley's) father, and Sir Thomas Lethbridge, his father-in-law. The letter was to the following effect:--

"SIR,--Your son, Mr. Dugdale Astley, has, to my own knowledge, accepted bills to the amount of 5,000_l._, without receiving one penny value for them; part of them are in circulation, and the others shortly will be; but, from the circumstances that have come to my knowledge, they might be all bought up for a small sum, and thereby prevent an exposure of the transaction in a court of justice. If you think this proposal worthy your notice, and will put an advertisement in 'The Morning Chronicle,' addressed to O. P. Q., you shall hear from me.

"Yours, &c. "HENRY PALMER."

This not being noticed immediately, the letters were addressed to Sir J. Astley and Sir T. Lethbridge. These letters, it would be proved were in the handwriting of the prisoner. An advertisement was subsequently put into "The Morning Chronicle," requesting O. P. Q,. to meet the parties at the office of their solicitors, Messrs. Henson and Co., which he accordingly did, and had an interview. Mr. Henson asked the prisoner what he expected to receive by giving up the bills?--Palmer replied, with the greatest effrontery, "Twenty shillings in the pound; they are worth every farthing of it." This, of course, was indignantly refused, and he went away. The following day the solicitor of the prisoner called upon Mr. Henson, and asked if Mr. Astley would give 10_s._ in the pound for the bills? This was refused. He then offered to take 5_s._, but this offer was also refused, and the negotiation dropped.

To support this case, a clear and connected chain of evidence was produced, showing the connexion of the prisoner with Hart, and leaving no doubt as to the conspiracy which had been formed to rob the prosecutor. The prisoner conducted his own defence, and cross-examined both the prosecutor and the other witnesses; and from the answers of the former it appeared that he had become acquainted with Mr. Smart, of Bridges-street, Covent Garden, and other persons not strictly creditable. The main facts of the charge were, however, not shaken, and the prisoner was found guilty, and sentenced to be transported for fourteen years--a sentence which so shook his nerves, that he fell in a fit, and was removed from the bar in a state of insensibility.

Hart, it will be perceived, was intimately connected with the case to which we have referred, and he too was shortly afterwards apprehended upon the charge of his participation in the offence, of which his agent had been found guilty. Having undergone several examinations before the magistrates, he was committed for trial; but upon application to the Court of King's Bench, the indictment was removed by certiorari from the Middlesex Sessions to the Old Bailey. On Monday, the 2nd of December, 1833, Hart was put upon his trial; but an objection being taken to the indictment, upon the ground that there was no felony proved, by reason of there having been nothing stolen which was the property of Mr. Astley, a verdict of "Not guilty" was returned upon the direction of the learned judge. Hart was then discharged; and Palmer, whose conviction, it followed, had been illegal, was also subsequently liberated.

Having detailed the circumstances of these two cases, it is unnecessary that we should go into any further description of the habits and practices of Hart and his associates, because their proceedings were always so much of the same character, that their statement would be a mere repetition of the facts which we have related. Hart was, in pursuance of his sentence, carried to Van Diemen's Land; but a short residence in that colony, aided, doubtless, by change of habit and situation, brought him to the grave.

We regret that we are not able to present our readers with any minute account of the early life of this notorious person. At the time of his conviction he was thirty-two years of age, and he described himself as a solicitor. There is, we believe, good ground for supposing, that this description of his situation in life was a correct one, and that he had been actually educated for the legal profession, and admitted a member of the body of attornies. The nest of swindlers, with whom he was associated, was almost entirely broken up by his conviction. Their tricks and cheats had often been the subject of remark; and, considering the notoriety which their schemes had obtained, it is surprising that they should have been so long successful.

JOHN PEGSWORTH.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

The murder of which this unfortunate man was convicted, appears to be entirely unjustified by any of those circumstances, which, in some instances, form a palliative, small though it be, for offences of a similar description.

The object of his crime was Mr. John Holiday Ready, who carried on the business of a tailor and draper, at No. 125, Ratcliffe Highway. It appears that Pegsworth was a man in a decent station of life, occupying a situation as messenger in the tea-department of St. Katherine's Docks; and he at one time also pursued the trade of a tobacconist, in a shop opposite to that of Mr. Ready, No. 69, Ratcliffe Highway, which, however, only a short time before the murder he had given up. In the course of his residence here, he became indebted to Mr. Ready in the amount of 20_s._, for a jacket which had been supplied to him for his son; but although he had been frequently pressed to pay the sum which was due, he always declined upon some frivolous ground. At length Ready, determined no longer to wait for his money, summoned his debtor to the Court of Requests, and Mrs. Ready having proved the debt on the 10th of January, 1837, an order was made on the defendant to pay the amount with costs. On Pegsworth returning home, he expressed himself much exasperated at the conduct of Ready, and said that he would be "the death of him." His wife endeavoured to pacify him, but in vain; and he went out, vowing vengeance against the man who, he said, had injured him. Proceeding through Ratcliffe Highway, he purchased a large knife, such as would be used in killing a pig, at the shop of a cutler, and armed with this formidable weapon he went direct to the house of Ready. He entered the shop, and calmly and coolly conversed with Mrs. Ready; and her husband having invited him to sit down in the back parlour, he at once advanced towards him. For a few minutes he continued in conversation upon the subject of the debt, when presently he demanded to know whether his creditor intended to proceed upon the judgment which he had obtained? Mr. Ready answered decidedly in the affirmative, upon which he suddenly drew forth his knife, and stabbed the unfortunate man in the right breast. The murdered man exclaimed that he was stabbed, and instantly expired; while his wife rushed frantically into the street, as soon as she discovered what had occurred, calling loudly for assistance. Several persons instantly ran into the house, and they found Pegsworth in the act of withdrawing the knife from the wound, but making no effort whatever to escape. He was immediately secured, and surgical aid was called in, but it was found that the knife of the assassin had passed through the principal arteries into the lungs, and that the unfortunate Mr. Ready was quite dead.

At a coroner's inquest held on the body of the deceased on Thursday the 12th of January, a verdict of "Wilful Murder" was returned against Pegsworth, and he was fully committed to Newgate for trial. Before his trial Pegsworth confessed that he had been guilty of the act with which he stood charged, but he declared that he was intoxicated, and in a high degree of excitement at the time. He professed the most sincere repentance for his act, and declared his intention to pass the remainder of his short life in prayers for forgiveness.

On Friday the 3d of February, the prisoner was arraigned on the indictment which had been preferred against him at the Central Criminal Court. He immediately confessed himself guilty of the offence imputed to him, and notwithstanding the humane interference of the learned judge refused to withdraw that plea.

On Tuesday the 7th of February, the prisoner was brought up to receive sentence, when the recorder addressed to him the following observations: "Let me implore you (said he) to bethink yourself of the awful situation in which you stand, on the brink of eternity and of the grave, beyond which there is no room for repentance. The legislature, in cases of murder, has, by a recent statute, interposed an increased interval between conviction and condemnation, and between condemnation and the final execution of the dreadful sentence of the law. It has done so in its humanity, and consistently with sound policy; but it has extended to the murderer a mercy which the murderer has not shown to his victim. The rash hand of the guilty individual who, without warning, hurries a fellow-creature to another world, cuts off from him the opportunity of approaching his Maker in prayer, or of preparing for that judgment which is painful for the best, and overwhelming for those who are not ready. [Here the prisoner became visibly affected.] You will be afforded an interval for seeking that mercy at the throne of God which you cannot expect from the laws of man." The learned gentleman then passed the sentence of death upon the prisoner.

On Wednesday, the 1st of March, the case of the prisoner was reported to his Majesty, and he was ordered for execution on the following Tuesday the 7th of March.

On that day the sentence was carried into effect; the wretched convict meeting his fate with becoming resignation.

CHARLES W. PENRUDDOCK.

CONVICTED OF AN ASSAULT.

At the Central Criminal Court, on Wednesday the 1st of February 1837, Charles Wadham Wyndham Penruddock, was indicted for assaulting and wounding Mr. Thomas Hardy, with intent to maim and disable him.

The prisoner, it appeared, was a medical student, and a candidate for admission to practise as an apothecary. On the 22d of December 1836, he went to Apothecaries' Hall for the purpose of undergoing the customary examination, when Mr. Hardy, Mr. Este, Mr. Randall, and Dr. Merriman, were the examiners. The usual course of questions was taken, but the prisoner, by his answers, showed himself to be ignorant of many necessary branches of his profession. A question being put to him by Mr. Este, the prisoner did not immediately answer it, upon which Mr. Randall offered some explanatory observation. With considerable violence of tone and manner, the prisoner asked, "How the devil he could answer, if they all badgered him with questions?" And that question being passed over, the inquiry proceeded. Mr. Este, who was the chief examiner, put several points to him, upon which, however, he seemed unable to give any explanation, and which Mr. Este partly answered himself; but Mr. Hardy suggested, that this was not the proper course of examination, and that the real fitness of the prisoner to receive the certificate which he sought to obtain ought to be ascertained before it was granted to him. Some new questions were then proposed which he answered incorrectly; and the prisoner, apparently seeing that he should be turned back, declared that he never could answer questions, even at school. Mr. Ridout observed, that it was only by questions that the examiners could determine the qualifications of the candidates for certificates; that in the performance of their duties they were compelled to be strict, and that they could have no wish to injure him or any other young man. The prisoner remarked that Mr. Ridout and Mr. Este had conducted themselves like gentlemen to him, and he asked that they would examine him in anatomy, for he had studied that branch of his business with great care, and he had almost lived in the dead-house. This, however, he was told, was not within their course of examination, and that unless he was acquainted also with Chemistry, Therapeutics, and Materia Medica, he was not competent to practise. The prisoner remarked that in a pecuniary point of view their licence was of no importance to him, because he was going to leave the country; but he added, with much violence, that "he would not be disgraced in the eyes of his family by such a set of fellows as they were--he would rather die first, and would swing for it." Mr. Hardy at this moment was standing behind him, but seeing his excited state he moved three or four paces from him. The prisoner turned round to him, and looking steadfastly in his face, said, "You are one of those who have been hard upon me:" and then drawing a life-preserver heavily loaded with lead from his pocket, he struck him on the forehead, lending to the blow his utmost power. Mr. Hardy was stunned by the attack and reeled away; and Dr. Merriman and Mr. Este rushing upon the prisoner, they also received blows which were dealt with great force. The prisoner was immediately given into the custody of a policeman, when, on his being searched, a small bottle of gin, the exciting cause of his violence, was found in his pocket.

Upon subsequent examination, Mr. Hardy, Mr. Este, and Dr. Merriman, were discovered to have sustained severe contusions, the blood flowing rapidly from the wounds of the two former gentlemen.

The defence set up was, that there was nothing to show distinctly that the blows had been inflicted by the life-preserver, but that it was quite within the bounds of possibility that the knuckles of the hand only of the prisoner had come in contact with the gentlemen who had been assaulted. The prisoner was described as a member of a highly-respectable and honourable family in the West of England, and as being remarkable for the kindness of his disposition, and the mild quietude of his manners. Dr. Seymour, and other persons of high respectability, gave the prisoner a most excellent character for humanity, and the jury returned a verdict of "Not Guilty."

Mr. Penruddock, however, was immediately held to bail to appear to answer the charge of common assault, of which it was admitted he had been guilty.

For this offence he was tried at the London Sessions, on Wednesday the 5th of April following, and a verdict of "Guilty" having been returned, he was sentenced to be imprisoned for twelve months in Giltspur-street Compter, and on his discharge to enter into his own recognizance in 200_l._, and to find two sureties in 100_l._ each, that he should keep the peace.

JAMES GREENACRE,

EXECUTED FOR MURDER; AND

SARAH GALE,

TRANSPORTED AS BEING ACCESSORY TO THE FACT.

In few instances has the public mind ever received so severe a shock, as that produced by the discovery of the barbarous and revolting murder of which Greenacre was guilty. The mere mention of the name of this atrocious malefactor is a sufficient introduction to his case; and without farther comment we shall proceed to describe the dreadful circumstances by which his crime was surrounded.

The first cause of suspicion of the murder having been committed arose from the discovery of the mutilated remains of a woman in the Edgeware-road. It would appear that in the year 1836, some dwellings, called the Canterbury Villas, were in progress of completion, situated in the Edgeware-road, at a distance of about a quarter of mile from the spot at which the Regent's Canal emerges from under the pathway. Five of these had been finished, and the gardens in front of them were protected from the public highway by a wall about ten feet high, which had not yet been extended to those houses in which the workmen were still employed. The materials for building lay along the side of the footpath, and in one of the finished houses, the only one which remained unoccupied by tenants, a man was lodged by the builder as a superintendant of the works, and as general watchman over the property which lay there. The severity of the weather towards the close of the month of December compelled the labourers to desist from work, and from Saturday the 24th of the month until the following Wednesday few persons visited the spot. On the latter day, the 28th of December, a man named Bond, a bricklayer engaged upon the buildings, visited his place of work; and about two o'clock in the afternoon was proceeding in the direction towards Kilburn, when his attention was attracted by his perceiving a package enveloped in a coarse cloth or sack, which appeared to have been carefully placed behind a paving-stone which was resting there, for the purpose of concealment. He removed the stone in order to obtain a more distinct view of the package, and was terrified to observe a pool of frozen blood, in such a position as exhibited that it had escaped through the wrapper of the parcel. In a state of great alarm he called the superintendent of the works, and another person, to the place, and they determined at once to open the package to ascertain the nature of its contents. Their astonishment and horror may easily be imagined, when they found that it consisted of a portion of the remains of a human body. The trunk only was there, the head and legs having been removed. Fearfully excited by this shocking discovery, they at once called in the aid of the police; and Pegler, a constable on duty, took charge of the dreadful package, and procured its immediate conveyance to the workhouse of the parish of Paddington. It was there at once submitted to the inspection of Mr. Girdwood, the surgeon of the district, who made a most minute examination of all its parts. It proved to be the body of a female, apparently about fifty years of age, and who from the appearances presented by the arms and hands, had evidently been employed in a laborious occupation. The head had been severed from the trunk in an awkward manner, the bone of the neck having been partly sawed through, and partly broken off; and the legs had been removed in a similar irregular way, the one at a distance of about four inches, and the other at a distance of about five or six inches from the hip-joint. The body itself presented a healthy aspect, but exhibited a malformation of a peculiar nature, which eventually proved of material importance in proving its identification, but to which it would be indelicate more specifically to allude. The result of the investigation of Mr. Girdwood, however, clearly showed that the deceased person had not met her death from any illness, and that therefore the presumption was that she had been murdered, and that the mutilation of her body had not taken place until subsequently to her decease, when, in all probability, means had been adopted by the murderer to conceal the identity of the person, as well as to dispose of her remains.

An occurrence of so extraordinary a nature, it may well be supposed, excited a degree of consternation and horror throughout the metropolis of the most fearful description; and the dreadful mystery in which the transaction remained wrapped for a considerable time, the remains of the deceased and her situation in life being alike unknown, tended in no small degree to extend the universal anxiety which prevailed. Inquiries of the most minute and searching description were made with a view to ascertain the means by which the mangled remains had been placed in the position in which they were found; and suspicion seemed to attach to a chaise-cart which had been seen to draw up near the spot on the previous Saturday night; but all the vigilance of the police failed, as well to discover the owners of this vehicle, as the murderer. The body had been wrapped up in a piece of blue printed cotton, which appeared to have formed a child's frock, but which was worn to rags, an old towel, and part of a small white shawl, over which was placed a piece of sacking; but no marks were visible on either of the articles which could at all tend to afford any clue to their former possessor.

An inquest was held on the body on Saturday the 31st of December, at the White Lion Inn, Edgeware-road; but although every witness was examined, whose evidence tended to throw the smallest light on the occurrence, the jury were at length compelled to return a verdict of "Wilful Murder against some person or persons unknown." A minute description of the appearances and aspect of the body was then taken by Mr. Girdwood; and in the course of the ensuing week, it was committed to the grave in Paddington churchyard, no prospect being yet afforded of the discovery of the remaining portions of the murdered woman's frame.

The public excitement, however, was soon afterwards wound to the very highest pitch, by a notification being given of the finding of a human head in a place called the "Ben Jonson Lock," of the Regent's canal, which runs through Stepney fields. Universal credit at once attached it to the body which had been already discovered, and no time was lost in exhuming those remains, in order to ascertain the truth of the suspicions which were entertained. This new discovery had been made on the 7th of January 1837, under circumstances of a remarkable character. A barge had entered the lock for the purpose of passing through it, and the lockman was engaged in closing the flood-gates at the tail of the lock, when he found that there was some obstacle which prevented their completely meeting. He remarked that he had no doubt that it was the carcase of a dead dog, and called to his assistant to bring him a long instrument called a hitcher, shaped like a boat-hook, usually employed for similar purposes, to remove it. Having made several ineffectual attempts to bring it to the surface of the water, he at length fixed his hitcher in the substance; and upon raising it from the water, it was seen to be the head of a human being. It was instantly brought on shore, and the circumstance communicated to the police, by whom the head was conveyed to Mr. Birtwhistle, a surgeon, for examination. His report stated that the face was disfigured with bruises and lacerations, and that the lower jaw was broken--injuries which were without doubt the result of the exertions of the lockman, first to close the gates, and secondly, to bring the head out of the water, but that there was appearance of a bruise on the eye inflicted during life; and further, that the head appeared to have been severed from the body in an awkward manner; the cervical vertebræ being sawed through in a rough way, evidently denoting that it had not been done by any surgeon. The exhumation of the body having now taken place, the necessary comparison was made, and Mr. Girdwood at once declared that the head and the trunk were portions of the same frame.

Although some public satisfaction was afforded by this most singular event, still no clue whatever appeared yet to have been found to conduct the police to the murderer; for that murder had been committed there was no doubt. The expression of the face was so much altered and disfigured since the death of the woman, that little hopes were entertained of the possibility of its identification. Thousands of persons inspected it, prompted by curiosity or a desire to secure the ends of justice, by pointing out the individual who had been murdered; and although frequent reports were circulated, that the features had been recognised, no real evidence was obtained as to the person whose remains had been discovered. Decomposition in the head shortly commenced; and it was deemed advisable to adopt measures to prevent all remaining traces of the features being destroyed, and Mr. Girdwood was instructed to take the necessary steps to secure this object. The head was accordingly placed in spirits, and was preserved at Mr. Girdwood's, where it remained open to the inspection of all persons who it was supposed would be able to afford any information upon the subject.

The mystery which surrounded the case, however, seemed to become greater every day. The inquiries of the police for the remainder of the body were quite unsuccessful; and the difficulties which existed, arising from their total ignorance of the quarter to which their investigation should be directed, appeared to leave small hopes of its eventual dissolution. Until the 2nd of February this obscurity still prevailed; but then accident again interfered to bring to light the remaining members of the body of the murdered woman.

On that day James Page, a labourer, was employed in cutting osiers in a bed belonging to Mr. Tenpenny, in the neighbourhood of Cold Harbor-lane, Camberwell, when in stepping over a drain or ditch, he perceived a large bundle lying in it, covered with a piece of sacking, and partly immersed in the water. His curiosity prompted him to raise it, and he saw what appeared to be the toes of a human foot protruding from it. He became alarmed and called for his fellow-workman, who was only a short distance off; and upon their opening the package, they found it to contain two human legs. These, like the head, were transmitted to Mr. Girdwood for examination, and proved to be portions of the frame which had been discovered in the Edgeware-road. Thus had three discoveries, each more remarkable than the last, produced the component parts of the body of the deceased; but the further interposition of the all-powerful hand of the Almighty was yet wanting to disclose the name and character of the murdered woman, as well as to point out her inhuman murderer. Intense anxiety was universally manifested by the public to unravel the mystery in which the dreadful transaction was enveloped; and every minute circumstance connected with the affair was sought after with the most astonishing avidity. Investigations of the most searching description were carried on by the authorities, but every inquiry proved fruitless.

That discovery which alone was wanting to satisfy the public mind was, however, at length made. On the 20th of March, Mr. Gay, a broker residing in Goodge-street, Tottenham-court-road, applied to Mr. Thornton the churchwarden of the parish of Paddington, for permission to inspect such of the remains of the deceased woman as had been preserved above ground. He founded his application upon the fact of the sudden disappearance of his sister, whose name was Hannah Brown, and who having quitted her home on the afternoon preceding Christmas-day, had not since been seen or heard of. A request so reasonable was at once complied with; and upon Mr. Gay seeing the head, which had been placed in spirits, he at once declared his belief that it was that of his unfortunate relation. Other persons who had been acquainted with Hannah Brown also came forward to express their opinion as to her identity; and from the statements which they made upon the subject of her habit of body, and the opinions which they expressed in reference to the identity of the head, no doubt remained of her being the individual who had been so inhumanly destroyed.

From the inquiries of the police, it was elicited that the unfortunate woman had received with favour the advances of a man named James Greenacre, to whom she was about to be married; and that on Christmas-eve she had quitted her lodgings in Union-street, Middlesex Hospital, in order to accompany her intended husband to his house, in Carpenter's-buildings, Camberwell, preparatory to their union on the ensuing Monday. Greenacre was the person in whose company she had been last seen; and to him, therefore, the authorities naturally turned for information, as to the manner in which they had parted, if they had parted at all, before her death. A warrant was granted by the magistrates of Mary-le-bone Police-office for the apprehension of this man; and after considerable difficulty he was at length taken into custody on the 24th of March, 1837, at his lodgings at St. Alban's-place, Kennington-road, together with a woman named Sarah Gale, with whom he cohabited, and her infant child.

On Monday the 25th of March, an extraordinary degree of excitement prevailed throughout the parishes of Paddington and Mary-le-bone, in consequence of the apprehension of these persons being made known. At an early hour the greater part of High-street was thronged with persons who were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the prisoners. A coach was, at a quarter-past twelve o'clock, seen to approach the police-office, from which Greenacre and Mrs. Gale were taken, and conducted through the magistrates' private entrance to the office. Upon their being placed at the bar, Greenacre appeared to be a man about fifty years of age, of middle height, and rather stout in figure. His aspect was forbidding, and he conducted himself with considerable firmness of demeanor. He was wrapped in a brown great-coat, and returned the gaze of any one who looked at him, with an air of insolent bravado. Towards the close of the examination, however, he appeared to be oppressed with a sensation of weakness, a circumstance which was attributable to his having, during his sojourn in the station-house, attempted to strangle himself with his pocket-handkerchief--an attempt, the effects of which were only removed upon the introduction of surgical assistance.

The prisoner Sarah Gale was between thirty and thirty-five years of age; she was tolerably well dressed, and had with her a child between four and five years old; she seemed quite unconcerned at her situation, and was the object of as much, if not more attention, and interest than her fellow-prisoner and paramour.

In the course of this and the succeeding examinations of the prisoners, evidence extending to a very great length was procured. A succinct narrative of the proceedings, however, will be perhaps better understood than a lengthy statement of the testimony of each particular witness; and to such a descriptive account, therefore, we shall confine ourselves. The various witnesses having been examined, whose testimony was requisite to prove the circumstances attending the discovery of the body, the head, and the legs of the deceased woman, which we have already described, proof of the identity of those remains was given; and upon this subject the peculiarity of the formation of the body, to which we have already alluded, tended at once to dispel all doubts, if any such existed. Mrs. Brown, it then appeared, had lived for about a year-and-a-half before her death at No. 45, Union-street, Middlesex Hospital, where she gained a living by taking in washing and mangling. While in this situation she became acquainted with Greenacre, and the intimacy after a while ended in an offer of marriage on his part, which was accepted by her. Mr. and Mrs. Davis, of No. 45, Bartholomew-close, Smithfield, were friends of Mrs. Brown, and were made acquainted by her with the nature of her connexion with Greenacre; and they acceded to a proposition which was made to them, that Mr. Davis should give away the bride, and that their daughter should act as bridesmaid. The day after Christmas-day was fixed upon as the day of the wedding, and the banns were in due course put up at the church of St. Giles, Camberwell, preparatory to the nuptial rites. On the 22nd of December, Mrs. Davis last saw Hannah Brown. The latter then called at her house with Greenacre, and they at that time appeared perfectly happy and "sociable," and, as it seemed, eagerly wishing for the wedding-day. They remained to supper and went away together, having immediately before their departure spoken of an intention which they had, after their marriage, to settle at Hudson's Bay. On the afternoon of the 24th of December, Mrs. Brown quitted her lodgings in Union-street, with Greenacre, in a coach, and on the same evening they were seen together at the residence of the latter, in Carpenter's-buildings. Mrs. Brown had previously disposed of what little property she possessed; but as the coach would not contain all her personal movables, she took away the key of her door with her, saying, that she should return for them at night. She did not return, however, and Mrs. Corney (her landlady) did not again see her alive. On the night before Christmas-day, Greenacre called upon Mrs. Davis, and inquired whether she had seen anything of Hannah Brown? She answered that she had not; and Greenacre then said that he found, upon inquiry, that Mrs. Brown had deceived him as to her property, and that it would not do for them to plunge themselves into poverty by marrying. At this interview he appeared agitated and angry, and his countenance presented an aspect of such peculiarity, that it was remarked by Mrs. Davis to her husband. On the Tuesday after Christmas-day, Greenacre also called upon the brother of Mrs. Brown; and he acquainted him also with the fact of the postponement of the marriage, saying that he and his intended wife had quarrelled with respect to her property, and that she had in consequence quitted his house, and he had seen nothing of her since.

In the meanwhile, the continued absence of Mrs. Brown from her lodgings excited some apprehension in the minds of her friends; but it was not until the 27th of March, (as we have already stated), that they exhibited any fears of the probability of the murdered remains which had been found being those of their unfortunate relative. An inspection of those remains, however, at once informed them of the melancholy cause of her disappearance.

The apprehension of Greenacre and Gale took place under circumstances which tended to confirm the suspicions of their guilt of murder, and to give conclusive evidence of their perfect cognizance of the fact of the death of the deceased. Inspector Feltham was the person by whom this capture was effected; and he took the prisoners into custody at a small house, No. 1, St. Alban's-place, Kennington-road, accompanied by a police constable of the L division. He proceeded to that house and found them in bed together; and upon his entering the room, he informed them of the object of his visit. Greenacre at first denied all knowledge of any such person as Hannah Brown; but subsequently, upon his being further questioned, he admitted that he had been going to be married to her, although he did not then know what had become of her. The prisoners having dressed themselves, Greenacre declared that it was lucky that the officer had gone on that night, for that they were about to sail on the next day for America, a fact which appeared to be true, from the appearance of a number of boxes, which stood in the apartment, ready packed and corded for travelling. A minute examination of the contents of the trunks, afforded highly important evidence. Many articles were found in them, which were known to have belonged to Mrs. Brown; but besides these, some remnants of an old cotton dress were discovered, exactly corresponding in pattern and condition with the pieces in which the body had been wrapped, on its being first seen in the Edgeware-road.

Subsequent inquiries afforded additional proofs in the case, implicating both Mrs. Gale and Greenacre. These consisted in the discovery of evidence as to the proceedings of the prisoners, on the night of Christmas-eve, and the following days. Greenacre, as we have already stated, was observed on Christmas-eve to take home his intended wife to his house in Carpenter's-buildings. Previously to this time, Mrs. Gale had been living with him there as his wife; but she appears to have been sent away on the morning of the 24th of December, in order to make room for the new-comer. On that night some noise and scuffling was heard in Greenacre's house by the neighbours, but no notice was taken of it; and on the following day Greenacre was observed to go out, and the house remained locked up, and with the shutters closed all day. On that day it was proved that he went to dine with Mrs. Gale, at lodgings which she occupied temporarily, at Portland-street, Walworth. On boxing-day (Monday), Mrs. Gale was again in Carpenter's-buildings, and she seemed to be engaged in washing the house, as she procured some water from some of her neighbours, and she was noticed to be employed with a bucket and mop, as if she were hard at work. On Wednesday, Greenacre was observed to leave his home, carrying with him a blue merino bag, and it was ascertained that about a week afterwards he quitted the house in Carpenter's-buildings altogether, his boxes and furniture being removed by a man named Chisholm. About a fortnight afterwards the house was stated "to be to let," and several of the neighbours went to look at it. The floors of one or two of the rooms appeared to have been carefully scrubbed and cleaned; and besides this, there was observed to be a strong smell of brimstone, as if it had been employed in fumigating the house, and the fire-places were boarded up, so as to prevent the escape of the vapour by the chimney. Independently of these circumstances, various expressions were attributed to Greenacre and Mrs. Gale, from which it was inferred that the latter was aware of the murder; and it was also shown that the bag or sack in which the body was enclosed, had been stolen by Greenacre about a week before Christmas, from the shop of a Mr. Ward, a mangle-maker, in Cheyne-walk, Tottenham-court-road; whose shopman, Higgins, was enabled to identify it by a particular species of shaving, which was still adhering to its interior, and also by the cord, with which it was made to close.

Upon the statement of all these circumstances, the prisoners were called upon for any defence which they might have to make, and Greenacre thus addressed the magistrate. He spoke in a clear voice, and without betraying any emotion.

"I have to state, that in the evidence given there are many direct falsehoods. I distinctly told Mrs. Davis that we had had no words at all of consequence--that is, no quarrel. What I mentioned to her was, that I had found out Mrs. Brown had no money at all, and had tried to set up things in my name at a tally-shop. I merely argued the point with her but there had been no dispute worth speaking of. There may have been duplicity on both sides. I represented myself to her to be a man of property, as many other people do; and I found out that she was not a suitable companion for me, which may fairly be concluded from her conduct towards her brothers and sisters. I'll adhere strictly to the truth in what I am saying, although there are many circumstances in the evidence combining together against me, and which may perhaps cost me my life. One of the witnesses has said, that I helped to move the boxes on the Saturday; that is true, but I will precede that remark by stating, that I had this female (the other prisoner) in a room at the time, where she was lodging, and did my cooking for me. I gave her notice to leave previous to Mrs. Brown coming home, and she had left accordingly. On the Saturday night before Christmas-day, Mrs. Brown came down to my house, rather fresh from drinking, having in the course of the morning treated the coachman, and insisted upon having some more rum, a quantity of which she had had with her tea. I then thought it a favourable opportunity to press upon her for the state of her circumstances. She was very reluctant to give me any answer, and I told her she had often dropped insinuations in my hearing about her having property enough to enable her to go into business, and that she had said she could command at any time three hundred or four hundred pounds. I told her I had made some inquiry about her character, and had ascertained she had been to Smith's tally-shop, in Longacre, and tried to procure silk gowns in my name. She put on a feigned laugh, and retaliated by saying she thought I had been deceiving her with respect to my property, by misrepresenting it. During this conversation she was reeling backwards and forwards in her chair, which was on the swing, and as I am determined to adhere strictly to the truth, I must say that I put my foot to the chair, and she fell back with great violence against a chump of wood that I had been using; this alarmed me very much, and I went round the table and took her by the hand, and kept shaking her, but she appeared to be entirely gone. It is impossible to give a description of my feelings at the time; and, in the state of excitement I was in, I unfortunately determined on putting her away. I deliberated for a little while, and then made up my mind to conceal her death in the manner already gone forth to the world. I thought it might be more safe that way than if I gave an alarm of what had occurred. No one individual up to the present moment had the least knowledge of what I have stated here. This female I perfectly exonerate from having any more knowledge of it than any other person, as she was away from the house."

Mrs. Gale, after denying that she was at Camberwell at the time of the murder, or that she had participated in any way in causing the death of the deceased, said--"Mr. Greenacre told me I was to leave his house a fortnight before Christmas, but I did not then leave, as I could not suit myself with lodgings, and I went away on the following Thursday. On the Monday week after that I returned to the house, and he told me that the correspondence between him and Mrs. Brown was broken off. That's all I have to state."

During the whole of the time occupied by the police in prosecuting their inquiries, new and increasing interest prevailed upon the subject of the case, and every opportunity was seized upon by the public at which it was thought that a glimpse of the prisoners might be obtained.

The 5th of April was fixed upon for the last examination; but owing to the extreme difficulties which had attended every fresh inquiry before the magistrates at the police-office, arising from the crowds which were every day collected, they were induced to determine upon holding their final meeting at the New Prison, Clerkenwell, where Greenacre had been confined. Mrs. Gale had been kept in custody at the House of Correction; and the intention of the magistrates being soon made known to the mob, many of them proceeded from the neighbourhood of Marylebone to Clerkenwell, in the hope of catching a glimpse of her as she passed to the New Prison. During the examination both prisoners were much affected, and trembled violently.

The principal object of this meeting was the re-perusal of the whole of the vast body of evidence which had been obtained in the presence of the prisoners. The statements made by Greenacre and his fellow-prisoner were also read, and signed by them as true. Gale, when called upon to affix her name to her statement, appeared to be labouring under extreme trepidation. She got up from her seat, and walked with a faltering step to the table; she took the pen with a trembling hand, when Greenacre, seeing the agitation she was in, said to her, "Sign, sign; don't frighten yourself at what people say about your going to be hanged, and all that sort of stuff!" Gale at length appended her name, and resumed her seat.

The whole of the evidence having now been read over, the prisoners were fully committed to Newgate for trial.

The following lines were circulated by Greenacre among the reporters present at this examination, with a view to their publication in the newspapers.

"To a humane and enlightened public.

"New Prison, Clerkenwell, April 5.

"Everything that ingenuity and malice could invent to influence the minds of the ignorant, and to fill the minds of the good and religious with awe, has been the result of newspaper comment against me. It is said that the finger of God is manifested in bringing this horrid and wilful murder to light, the day only before my flight to America! I contend that this manifestation of Divine Providence is to serve my case, or the cause of a suffering mind, to prevent me from a life of continual dread of being fetched back from America upon this awful charge, and which would certainly have been the result, if the deceased had not been recognised until I had departed; thus it may be shown that Providence is on my side. Again, if in my crossing the Atlantic, or by any other means, my death had ensued, the fatal conviction of an innocent female would certainly have been the result--suspicion would have been too strong against her to have saved her; it was for God, and God only, to prevent this fatal termination--no human mind could have discerned anything in her favour, if my death had preceded this investigation. God is just; and God be praised for this timely interference to prevent my premature death through either my crossing the seas, or the distracted state of my mind. I hope, therefore, that my unfortunate situation may not be prejudiced by malice and perverted comments."

Monday, the 10th of April 1837, was the day fixed for the trial of these offenders, and on that day they were placed at the bar of the Central Criminal Court, and arraigned upon the indictment found against them. Greenacre was charged, as the principal, with the wilful murder of the deceased, and Gale was indicted for being an accessory after the fact, in comforting, aiding, and assisting her fellow-prisoner.

Chief Justice Tindal, Mr. Justice Coleridge, and Mr. Justice Coltman, were the judges who sat to try these offenders, and the court was crowded in every corner.

The evidence produced now was a repetition of that which had been brought forward at the various examinations at the police-office. Mr. Adolphus, Mr. Clarkson, and Mr. Bodkin, appeared to conduct the case for the prosecution; and Mr. Price and Mr. Payne defended the prisoners. The line of defence was consistent with the statements which had been made by the prisoners at Marylebone police-office. The witnesses who were competent to give any evidence as to the possibility of the truth of these declarations being cross-examined with a view to its being shown, that Greenacre's account of the transaction might be correct; and, further, that in the direction in which he stated Mrs. Brown to have fallen, she might have passed through a doorway, which was behind her, and into the back-room. This suggestion was, however, negatived by the declaration of the witnesses; and the testimony of the surgeons who were examined also tended to prove that the injuries which had been received by the deceased could not have been the result of such a state of facts. Mr. Girdwood underwent a long examination, and exhibited throughout an extensive acquaintance with those branches of his profession which were material to the inquiry. He declared his belief that many of the appearances of wounds or bruises on the head were the result of injuries inflicted during life; and, further, that the bloodless state of the arteries of the head exhibited that the process of disseveration had been commenced before life was extinct.

Mr. Price addressed the jury for the prisoners, urging those topics in his argument to which he had applied himself on his cross-examination.

The Lord Chief Justice began to sum up at a quarter past six o'clock on the second day of the trial. Having recapitulated the terms of the indictment in form, his lordship proceeded to observe, that the conviction of the prisoner Greenacre of murder or manslaughter would not necessarily involve the prisoner Gale in the charge, unless the jury were satisfied that the evidence was sufficient to bear out the allegation of her having been an accomplice in the transactions connected with the death of the deceased. He had no doubt the case would receive the most benevolent and patient attention of the jury. He would read over the evidence, and leave them to say whether they considered the prisoner Greenacre to have been the author of the woman's death, and whether the evidence amounted to proof of murder, or of manslaughter of an aggravated kind. There were certain undoubted principles of law which must be kept in mind. One was, that where a person met his death from the hand of another person, that other person was bound, either by direct evidence or out of the circumstances of the case as they appeared in evidence before the jury, to mitigate or reduce the charge to the lower or minor class of offence. But then some circumstance of alleviation, mitigation, excuse, or justification must be brought before the court and jury, or be derivable by fair inference from the evidence. What they would have to say, therefore, whether, looking at the whole of the case, they were satisfied that it was left on the broad ground on which it was started by the counsel for the prosecution--namely, the actual murder of the deceased individual, or whether there were any circumstances in the case to induce them to come to a conclusion of a milder character--namely, that of a felonious manslaughter or accidental homicide. The learned judge then proceeded to refer to the evidence which had been adduced, commenting with great minuteness and perspicuity upon every circumstance from which the guilt or innocence of the prisoners was argued. He observed that the male prisoner had, by his own statement, admitted that he was guilty of manslaughter, unless they came to the conclusion that by an act of carelessness, or of playfulness in tilting up the chair, the woman had met her death. If, on the other hand, they were of opinion that the prisoner had occasioned the death of Hannah Brown, either by premeditated malice or by a malignity of feeling, caused by conduct of an exasperating nature, thereby giving rise to a spirit of revenge, then they must find him guilty of the higher offence. They would observe that the doctors had given it as their opinion, that the knife had been applied to the neck during life; they would therefore have to say whether, being possessed of a malignant spirit, the prisoner had not taken the knife and completed that act which he had wickedly intended to effect. He would exhort them to weigh well the circumstances of the case, which was one of extreme difficulty. Above all things, it behoved them to turn a deaf ear to any manifestations of clamour which might have been exhibited on the part of the public; such impressions ought at all times, but more especially upon an occasion like the present, to be banished from a court of justice. They would enter upon the performance of their solemn and painful duty with feelings of patience and calmness, giving to every portion of the evidence such favourable interpretation as it would allow, and they would give any benefit which might arise therefrom to the prisoners; they would look into all the evidence watchfully and narrowly, and if upon mature reflection they entertained a doubt of the guilt of the prisoner of the charge of murder, they would let him derive the full advantage and benefit of such a doubt. If, on the other hand, the evidence was so clear and satisfactory as that in their minds it brought the commission of the crime home to the prisoner, they would doubtless do their duty. With respect to the other prisoner, Sarah Gale, if they found the male prisoner guilty, either of the crime of murder or manslaughter, they would say whether by her assistance and aid she had protected, comforted, and enabled him to screen himself from the justice of the country. If so, they would find her guilty of the charge for which she was indicted. If, on the other hand, they thought that she had not in any way acted as an accessory, and had had no guilty knowledge of the crime, then they would give her the benefit of such opinion, and return a verdict of acquittal.

The jury having retired from the box for the purpose of considering their verdict, after an absence of a quarter of an hour only, returned into court to deliver their decision upon the case. As they passed to their box, Greenacre surveyed each of them with a keen, searching, and eager glance, as if to read in their expressions the fate which awaited him, and of which the jury were now the arbiters. His countenance, however, remained unchanged; and he still appeared to preserve the same degree of firmness and self-possession which distinguished his demeanour throughout the whole of the trial, and seemed as a man who had already anticipated his fate, and whose mind was made up to the worst that could befall him. The prisoner Gale, on the contrary, seemed lost and bewildered, and almost unconscious of her awful situation: but with that feeling of attachment for her paramour which women will evince even under circumstances of misery, shame, and peril, she fixed her look during this painful interval of suspense and agony upon the countenance of him to whose fate she appeared to cling, even in this trying moment, when life or death was about to unite them once more, or sever their unfortunate connexion for ever.

The clerk of the arraigns having called over the names of the jury, said, "Gentlemen, how say you; do you find the prisoner at the bar, James Greenacre, guilty or not guilty of the felony of murder with which he is charged?"

The foreman of the jury answered, "Guilty."

The question was then asked with regard to the prisoner Gale, and the foreman of the jury again answered "Guilty."

The countenance of Greenacre remained unaltered. He exhibited no emotion, but leaned back in his chair and seemed perfectly indifferent to what might follow. Gale appeared almost unconscious of what was passing around her.

Upon the announcement of the result of the case outside the Court, the huzzaings of the crowd, who were impatiently awaiting its termination, were of the most deafening description; and several well-dressed persons were observed in elevated positions, waving their hats to the mob, as if upon the intelligence of some important victory.

The recent alteration in the law with regard to the period of the execution of murderers, rendered it unnecessary that sentence should be immediately passed on the prisoners; but on the following day, the 12th of April, they were brought up to receive the judgment of the Court.

Upon their being called upon in the usual way, to say any thing they had to urge why sentence should not be pronounced upon them:

Greenacre (in a husky, but firm tone) said--"My Lord, my unhappy condition in this unfortunate affair has given rise to abundance of evidence against me, such as might be collected in any pot-house or gin-shop, owing to the reports spread abroad to my prejudice, upon which the jurymen have acted. It is contrary to reason and common sense to suppose that I should have meditated the death of the woman, much less that I should effect it in the manner described, because of the property she had. If that had been my object, I could have had it all on the next morning, when our marriage was to have taken place, and then it would have been mine. What, then, was my motive for murdering of her? It is--"

The Recorder.--"This is all very proper matter to have been urged by your counsel at the trial, but should not be pressed upon the Court now. The only question now is, as to the matter of law. If there are the slightest grounds for questioning the verdict of the jury, your only course is to apply to the Secretary of State, the Court having no power of itself to interfere. Have you anything more to say?"

Greenacre.--"In the next place, my lord, I beg to say that this woman was utterly ignorant of the affair up to the time of my being taken to the police-office. She had no knowledge whatever of it, and is as innocent as any lady or gentleman in this court. This I say, as I am going into my grave--that she is innocent. I invited her back to the house after the body was removed, and she never knew anything of it. I deem it a religious duty to exculpate her from having any concern in this unfortunate affair. I have no more to say."

The Recorder.--"I shall make the same observation to you, Gale, that I have just addressed to the other prisoner. If there be any ground for a further inquiry into your case, you must apply to the Secretary of State, who will exercise his best discretion upon the subject, under the advice of the responsible officers of the crown."

The prisoner Gale was then led to a chair at the back of the dock, and the usual proclamation for silence, preparatory to the passing of the sentence of death, having been made,--

The Recorder, in a solemn and impressive tone, proceeded to address the male prisoner in the following words:--"James Greenacre, after a protracted trial, which endured for two entire days, upon a patient and impartial investigation of all the circumstances connected with your case, a jury of your country have found themselves inevitably compelled to find you guilty of the dreadful offence for which you were indicted. You have been convicted upon evidence, indeed the most satisfactory, of the crime of wilful murder. The appalling details of your dreadful case must be fresh in the recollection of all who now hear my voice, and will long live in the memory and (may I not add?) in the execration of mankind; and generations yet to come will shudder at your guilt. You have, indeed, acquired for yourself a revolting celebrity: an odious notoriety in the annals of cruelty and crime. The means to which you were prompted to resort, in order to conceal the mangled and dismembered portions of your victim, were for a season attended with partial success. You disposed of her remains, as you thought, in places secure from discovery, but that course availed you not; for after a short interval accumulated evidence and irrefragable proofs of your guilty contrivance became apparent. The amputated limbs and the dissevered body were united to the bloodless head of the murdered woman, and every injury by you inflicted after death has afforded the means of proving by comparison, beyond doubt, that the wound on the eye was inflicted by you while your victim was in life, and strength, and health. Horrible and revolting to humanity as was the spectacle presented by the mutilated trunk and mangled remains, fresh details and discoveries suggested both the means and manner by which you accomplished the destruction of the deceased. Both surgical skill and medical science came to the assistance of common observation; and it was clearly and beyond all doubt demonstrated that the wounds on the eye and skull were sufficient to produce death; and it was still further proved, that while the blood was yet in a fluid state, and circulating through the veins and arteries, you accomplished your horrible object, by severing the head from the body. Stupor of the senses and suspended animation were the effect of your blows; and then you embrued your hands in the gushing life's-blood of the wretched and unhappy being who was stretched senseless and unconscious at your feet. The still warm corpse was then barbarously mutilated and mangled by you, in the hope that the eye of man would not detect your guilt: but the eye of God was upon you. The natural disgust and horror which your conduct in this respect excites, compels me to throw a veil over the frightful and appalling particulars of that hideous scene. But even that scene, revolting as it is, may be useful in a moral point of view, for it shows how the hand of Providence points out the guilty, and proves both the means of detection and the certainty of punishment. The certain but unseen agency of Providence is exhibited in the development of the peculiar and complicated circumstances of your case. The curiosity excited, the alarm produced, and the peculiarity of each succeeding discovery of the mangled members of the body, and the seemingly impenetrable mystery in which the circumstances of such a murder were shrouded, all conspired to awaken suspicion, renew inquiry, and incite to fresh exertion, until at last the mystery was developed by the family of the deceased. The embalmed head was identified, the name of the murdered woman came to light, and sufficient evidence was produced to point out you as the author of her death, and bring you before the tribunal of public justice. The circumstances attending the discovery of this murder lead to the inevitable conclusion that neither cunning nor ferocity can shelter and secure a murderer; for although the crime may be hidden for a time--although delays may occur, and the mystery of the transaction almost preclude the hope of its discovery, yet the all-seeing eye of God is cognizant of the deed, and man becomes the agent of its discovery. Indeed, instances of escape from such a crime are so rare, that the detection is almost as sure as the punishment is certain. It is plain from the attention with which I perceive you are listening to what I now say, that I am addressing an individual not devoid of education, of reasoning faculties, and strength of mind. The occasion you must indeed be aware is, as regards yourself, standing where you do, and under the circumstances in which you are placed, awful and solemn to the last degree, both as regards your fate in this world and the world to come. I will not draw arguments from my own feeble resources alone, to endeavour to induce and implore you to repent before it is too late. Let me, then, before I proceed to pass upon you the dreadful sentence, entreat you to consider well your past life, and the chances which await you in the life which is to come. In making this last appeal, in attempting to revive within your breast the last remaining sparks of virtue and religion, let me refer you to an extract which I am about to read to you from an excellent work, called 'The Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed.' I have selected the passage because I think it may be applicable to your present state of mind, and because the sentiments it conveys are far better than I could ever hope to address to you from my own resources. The passage is as follow:--'Indeed,' says the learned author, 'when one has been recollecting the proper proofs of a future state of rewards and punishment, nothing, methinks, can give one so sensible an apprehension of the latter or representation of it to the mind, as observing the many disregard-checks, admonitions, and warnings which people meet with in the ways of vice and folly, and extravagance--warnings from their very nature, from the example of others, from the lesser inconveniences which they bring upon themselves--from the instruction of wise and virtuous men; after these had been so long despised, scorned, ridiculed--after the chief bad consequences, temporal consequences of their follies, have been delayed for a great while, at length they break in irresistibly like an armed force--repentance is too late to relieve, and can serve only to aggravate their distress: the case is become desperate, and poverty and sickness, remorse and anguish, infamy and death--the effects of their own doings--overwhelm them beyond the possibility of remedy or escape.' The limits of time and the span of this present life furnish no obstacles in the way of a repentant sinner. Turn, therefore, I implore you, with an humble and penitent heart, to the source of all hope and mercy--the blessed Redeemer of mankind, and employ the brief interval which is yet left you on this side of eternity in penitence and prayer, as the only means of obtaining that mercy hereafter which the laws of God and man deny to you in this world. It now only remains for me to pass upon you the dreadful sentence of the law; and that sentence is, that you be taken from hence to the prison from which you came, and from thence to a place of execution, where you shall be hanged by the neck until you are dead, and that your body be then buried within the precincts of the jail; and may the Lord God Almighty take compassion on your sinful soul."

The learned Recorder towards the end of this address was sensibly affected; and he could scarcely give utterance to the concluding words.

The prisoner Greenacre remained apparently unmoved, but he listened with attention, and never once changed his position or relaxed a muscle. He was then led back, and

Gale was brought forward to receive her sentence.

The Recorder said--"Sarah Gale, I will not aggravate the sufferings which you must now endure with any observations tending to increase those sufferings. The unhappy man who a short time ago stood beside you at that bar has declared that you had no guilty knowledge of the transaction in which he was involved. I cannot but observe, however, with regard to that remark, that you had united yourself to him, sharing his society and bed, and comforting, assisting, and sheltering him, without being joined to him by any moral or religious tie. As he has stated that you were ignorant of the dreadful transaction, I think it right to remind you that the ear-rings found in your pocket had belonged to the unfortunate woman who had been slaughtered by his hands; that duplicates of property which belonged to her were also found in your possession; and that in an adjoining room a box was found, proved to have been hers, besides other property. I cannot, therefore, as at present advised, entertain any doubt but that the verdict of the jury in your case was well and justly grounded. How far your attachment to the prisoner induced you to continue your intercourse with him, notwithstanding his possession of the property of the deceased under circumstances which I should think must at least have excited suspicion on your mind, it is not for me to judge. Perhaps you considered that what had been done could not be undone; but whatever feeling actuated your conduct in connexion with the circumstances of the case, I feel that I am bound to pass upon you the full sentence directed by the act of parliament; and if upon further investigation of your case, should you be disposed to apply to the Secretary of State for a revision of your sentence, any favourable circumstances should arise, that matter will be considered and disposed of by the competent authorities. At present I have only to pronounce upon you the sentence of the law; and that sentence is, and this Court do adjudge, that you be transported beyond the sea to such place as His Majesty, with the advice of his privy council, shall direct and appoint, for the term of your natural life."

The prisoners were then led away from the bar; but Greenacre, instead of being conducted to the condemned cell, as is customary, was re-taken to the apartment which he had previously occupied. The reason for this alteration in his case, was the necessity which existed for a strict watch being maintained over him, to prevent a repetition of the attempt which he had made upon his own life, which there was good reason to apprehend; and it was felt that the inclemency of the weather would render such a duty in the lower cells of the prison, a punishment upon the attendant turnkeys of no ordinary severity. The demeanour of Greenacre, after his conviction, partook of the same firmness and determination which he had hitherto maintained; and upon the day after his condemnation he requested to be supplied with pens, ink, and paper. His desire was instantly complied with; and from this time he appeared to be occupied in the fabrication of a new statement, bearing the impress of truth, in reference to the foul crime for which he had been tried. He industriously applied himself for several days to this task; but none of the productions of his pen appeared to afford him satisfaction, and each was committed to the flames almost immediately upon its completion. In the course of the day after he received sentence of death, he was visited by the sheriffs, and to them he made a new confession of the circumstances of his crime. The general facts which he now detailed corresponded with the story he had told at the police-office; but in one most important particular he admitted the falsehood of that statement. This was with reference to the immediate cause of the death of Mrs. Brown; and he now stated that the unfortunate woman, having accompanied him home, as proved in evidence, they had taken tea together. Mrs. Brown afterwards proceeded to wash up the tea-things, and while she was so occupied, they continued a conversation which had before commenced, upon the subject of her property. He became enraged at the deception which she had practised on him, and seizing a rolling-pin which lay on the dresser, he menaced her with it, and at length struck her on the eye. She fell to the ground, and on his going to her, he was shocked to find that she was insensible, and apparently dead. He paced the room for some time, in terror at the act which he had committed, as he conjectured that he should be charged as her murderer, and began to reflect upon the best means of screening himself from the consequences of his guilt. A variety of methods presented themselves to his mind; but at length he hit upon the horrible expedient of dividing the limbs from the body, and disposing of the dissevered members separately. He, in consequence, immediately set about cutting off the head, and having done so, he suffered the whole of the blood to drain from it. This done, he determined instantly to get rid of this portion of the frame of his victim, and wrapping it in a silk pocket-handkerchief, he quitted the house with the horrible burden. On reaching Camberwell he got into an omnibus, which conveyed him to Gracechurch-street, and without alarm for the discovery of the contents of his bundle, he carried it on his knee during the whole journey. When he left the vehicle he scarcely knew which way to turn, but a Mile-End omnibus overtaking him as he reached Cornhill, he jumped into it, and was conveyed to the East end of the town, still carrying his dreadful load on his lap, in the same manner in which he had supported it before. On his leaving this second conveyance, he walked on until he reached the Regent's Canal, and he pursued the course of it, until he came to the Lock at Stepney. An idea suddenly suggested itself to his mind, that this was the fitting place to get rid of the head, and without more ado he "shot it from the handkerchief into the water." He then directly turned back, and on his way home he called at Mrs. Davis's, in Bartholomew-close, with whom he entered into conversation, as described in the evidence. He slept in Carpenter's-buildings alone on that night, out on the morning he went to Mrs. Gale's lodgings, where he staid until the next day. At an early hour on the morning of the 26th of December, he proceeded to his own house, to dispose of the remaining parts of the body. He began by separating the legs from the trunk, and having done so, he packed them up in a sack and took them to Cold Harbour-lane (it being quite daylight at the time), and threw them into the osier bed. He then once more resumed his dreadful task at his house, in Carpenter's-buildings, the trunk of the body being now all that he had to get rid of. The sack and the remnants of a gown which were discovered with the body, were the only coverings in which he could wrap these remains, and having securely corded them up, he took the bundle on his back and went out, undetermined as to the course which he should pursue to dispose of this remaining evidence of his guilt. A carrier's cart passed him soon after he reached the public road, and his load being heavy, he requested permission to place it on the tail-board. This was acceded to, and he walked behind the cart as far as the Elephant and Castle, at Newington. The carrier there stopped to procure his dinner, and left him in the street to take care of the cart; but alarmed lest, during the prolonged absence of the driver, some accident might occur which should procure his detection, he called a hackney cab, and having thrown his bundle under the seat, directed that he should be driven to the Edgeware-road. On his arrival at the Pine Apple Gate, he quitted the vehicle, and paid the driver, and the man having turned back, he walked on towards Kilburn. A favourable opportunity soon presented itself for disposing of the load, and he deposited it behind the stone in the position in which it was found two days afterwards. This, also, he declared took place in the day-time, and he conceived that he underwent less risk in pursuing his operations thus openly, than in endeavouring to conceal them under the shades of night. On his return home, he burned the handkerchief in which he had carried the head, and he also wiped up the blood from the floor with flannels, which he disposed of by throwing them down the privy. This confession was not reduced to writing; but the evident object of the prisoner was to screen Mrs. Gale from the punishment which awaited her, and to raise a belief of her innocence. This, however, failed, for the evidence which was adduced with reference to her implication in the murder, was too clear to admit of any doubt being entertained; and indeed the general impression was, that the murder was the result of a pre-conceived determination, both of Greenacre and his paramour, in order to the accomplishment of which by the former, the latter only temporarily quitted his house. During the subsequent imprisonment of Greenacre, he appeared to be little anxious for the spiritual consolation of the reverend gentleman, who was the ordinary of the jail. He occasionally employed himself in the perusal of religious works, but was generally engaged in writing, although the result of his labours in this respect were, as we have already stated, usually burned. In the conversations which he had with the official persons, by whom he was visited, he complained loudly of the prejudices which had been excited against him by the circulation of a great many false accounts of circumstances which had occurred in his early life. He particularly referred to an allegation which had been made, of his having murdered one of his children, of which Mrs. Gale was the mother; and he asserted, and Mrs. Gale corroborated the truth of his declaration, upon her being separately questioned, that the child had died a natural death; although he admitted that he had disposed of it, by placing it at the door of a Mr. Dale, in Rupert-street, Haymarket, by whom it was sent to St. James's Workhouse, where it lived for nine months.

On Wednesday, the 26th of April, the case of Greenacre was reported to his majesty by the Recorder, and the following Tuesday, the 2d of May, was fixed for the execution. The intelligence was on the same evening conveyed to the prisoner, but he seemed to have made up his mind to the impossibility of there being any mitigation in his punishment, and was unmoved. He declared that he cared nothing for death, although he was sacrificed to the prejudices of the world; but he shuddered at the thought of quitting life with the brand upon him of a wilful murderer. He maintained that he had committed no murder, and that he was to blame for nothing except the mutilation of the body of the deceased. At his meeting now with the ordinary, he declined his spiritual assistance, and said that he could find no relief in anything but inward prayer.

On the following Sunday the condemned sermon was preached in the chapel of the jail by Dr. Cotton, and the most intense anxiety was exhibited on the part of the public, to procure admission to this ceremony. Greenacre throughout the service conducted himself with much propriety, and repeated the responses with accuracy and precision. During the sermon, however, in which he was spoken of as a murderer, he appeared to be much incensed; and on his being subsequently visited by the worthy ordinary, he complained of the application of that term to him, and not without warmth, he declared, that he thought the observations which had been made might have been spared. Subsequently, however, he resumed his wonted composure, and he appeared to receive the attentions of the clergyman with more satisfaction. On Monday night he was requested to join the ordinary in partaking of the sacrament, but he declined to do so; and in the course of a conversation which passed upon the subject, he asserted, that although he believed that the Saviour was a very good man, he placed no credit in the assertion that he was the Son of God. To further questions which were put to him, he said that he believed in the existence of a Deity, and in a future state of rewards and punishments, but that he had no doubt that he should be happy, for that the sufferings through which he had passed in life were a sufficient atonement for any faults of which he had been guilty. On Monday night he slept soundly for several hours; but about four in the morning he arose and dressed himself, and indited several letters. He had completed these by seven, and at that hour he partook of some refreshment, and now, for the first time since he had entered Newgate, he was observed to shed tears. As the hour of eight approached his agitation increased, but he remained absorbed in silent meditation. Upon the appearance of the usual officers he submitted with calmness to the operation of pinioning; and this being completed, he requested as a favour, that he might not be long exposed to the gaze of the multitude without. The last words which he uttered conveyed a request that his spectacles might be given to Sarah Gale; and then, unheeding the remarks of Mr. Cotton, he joined the procession to the scaffold.

The exterior of the jail meanwhile presented a wondrous scene of confusion. The mob had begun to collect as early as ten o'clock on the night before, and at day-break on Tuesday morning, every spot was occupied from which a glimpse of the scaffold could be obtained. At four o'clock the erection of the scaffold was commenced; and the appearance of this instrument of death, as it was wheeled from the prison-yard, was hailed with three cheers of deafening applause. The same terrible welcome was given, at a subsequent period, to the transverse beam when it was raised above the platform; and again to the executioner, when he came forward to fasten the deadly halter on the chain which is suspended from it. The pressure of the crowd as the hour of execution approached became terrific; and many persons were carried from it, exhausted by their exertions. At a quarter before eight the bell of St. Sepulchre's Church began to toll, and from that moment the screams and groans occasioned by the pressure from the two extremities of the crowd towards the centre were perfectly appalling. When the executioner again presented himself on the scaffold, however, to see that all the preparations were complete, every feeling seemed to give way to that of curiosity; but it became evident that there was a sensation in that immense assemblage, which would express itself in clamorous exultation as soon as ever the wretched criminal appeared, to atone for the blood which he had so unrelentingly shed. No sooner did those officers who usually precede the criminal to the place of execution, become visible, than it burst forth with a loud, deep, and sullen shout of execration against Greenacre, even before that miserable wretch came under the terrible ordeal of their indignant glance. As soon as he mounted the scaffold, the populace again exhibited their detestation of the bloody atrocity of which he had been convicted, by setting up a wild hurrah of approval of the retaliation which he was about to endure under the hands of the ministers of justice. He placed himself at once in the hands of the executioner, who was thus enabled to complete the final preparations for his death with unprecedented rapidity. The ordinary then read the commencing verse of the burial-service, and before it was concluded the bolt was withdrawn, Greenacre fell, and the vengeance of the law was accomplished. In two minutes from his first appearance on the platform he ceased to be a living man. One grasp of his hands was observed on the rope reaching its full tension,--nothing more, and then all but the relentless shout of the multitude, was still. In a few minutes afterwards the mob began to disperse; but a large concourse of persons remained until nine o'clock, when the body was cut down amidst a yell of triumph, which will live long in the memory of those who heard it. On the same night the body of the criminal was buried within the precincts of the jail, near to those of Thistlewood and others, who had been executed for high-treason.

Gale, it may be observed, during the latter part of her imprisonment, previously to the time of the execution of her late paramour, fell into a state of great despondency. She had been informed that an interview with Greenacre could not be permitted; and this, combined with the certainty of his death, and her apprehensions as to her own fate, reduced her to a state of the greatest mental weakness. The wretched woman, after some delay produced by the applications of her friends in her behalf, was, on the 26th of June, removed from Newgate to the Hulks, from whence eventually, accompanied by her child, she was transported.

Having now related the particulars of this atrocious case, we shall proceed to lay before our readers the sketch which Greenacre himself published of his life, during the period of his incarceration. It was in the following terms, and, as will be seen, was written before his trial.

"Having furnished my counsel and legal advisers with every true and particular statement of my case, I conceive it to be my necessary duty towards myself, my family, and a reflecting public, to pen a brief outline of my history, in the hope of counteracting the vindictive feeling and public prejudice which have been excited against me, through falsehood and exaggerated statements that have appeared in the public newspapers, and which it is my duty to refute, by immediately committing this narrative to paper, to prove to the world that I am not that bloody-minded character which is reported of me, to the prejudice of my character in the minds of those persons in whose hands my life is placed.

"I am not immaculate; neither am I without many sins of commission and omission; but that truth may appear, and that justice may be done to my name when I am no more, should the prejudice of my jury prevail over the extenuating facts of my case, I proceed to state the circumstances of my life.

"I was born in 1785, in Norfolk (at a village called Westwinch, two miles and a half from Lynn, we believe), of honest and industrious parents, who were farmers. I only, of a large family, relinquished the business of a farmer, and was put into business in the grocery line, in the parish of St. George, in the Borough, by my own parents, at the age of nineteen. From the moment I became a landlord, no tenant of mine ever questioned the kindness of my disposition; I have been many years in the possession of three cottages, which I built in Jane-place, Old Kent-road, and have had many tenants, but never distrained upon any of them for rent, but have always taken pleasure in assisting them in any difficulty, and have often, very often, given up to them their back rents or arrears that unavoidably happen to poor persons in cases of sickness, and the want of employment. I had also eight cottages in Bowyer-lane, Camberwell, but I never once distrained upon a tenant in my life, but have absolutely felt all the sympathy of a near relative, when my claim for rent has been met by an apology through sickness, in times of accouchment, and other causes of distress. I can with perfect safeness say, that of these eleven cottages, and those two in Carpenter's-place, I never distrained upon a poor tenant in my life.

"Now, as regards my domestic history, I will just refer to a few demonstrations of my disposition and general character, as a husband, a father, and a respected friend. I have been a man of affliction, in losing three amiable companions, with whom I always lived in the most perfect harmony. It may be added, that I was no fortune-hunter in these cases; but I always sought after the prospects of my issue, by forming an alliance where my children might reap the advantages of their mother's dower on the death of their parents; and I have much consolation in finding that my children, by each of my wives' parents, are amply provided for by legacies. Before I pass over this trait in my character as a husband and a father, the scandalous reports of my enemies make it necessary to refer to the deaths of my wives. The first was the daughter of Charles Ware, of the Crown and Anchor Tavern, Woolwich, to whom I was married at the age of nineteen; my wife eighteen. I was then in business in the grocery line, by the assistance of my own parents, who were farmers in Norfolk. My wife died suddenly of a putrid sore throat. She was attended by that eminent physician, Dr. Blackburn, who, and whose assistants, admonished me not to go near my wife to receive her breath; but such being the result of my feelings, that I could not resist the force of affection, and there are many persons now living who can bear testimony to the fact, I took the complaint, and it nearly cost me my life. I engaged a respectable woman as housekeeper, who, as nurse and housekeeper, has since been in my service at intervals for a period equal to thirteen years, and who is now living. My next wife was the daughter of Mr. John Romford, a considerable land-owner in Essex. By this lady I also had two children. This wife died of a brain fever, brought on by exerting herself, I believe, riding on horseback, whilst on a visit at her own relations; and having an infant at the time, her milk was affected by the fever, which caused her death. Mr. Culthred, now residing in the Borough, attended her. My old housekeeper, who nursed my wife at each accouchment, now became my housekeeper again. I continued a widower fifteen months, and married Miss Simmonds, of Long-lane, Bermondsey, with whom I also lived in harmony and affection up to the time I went to America (May 1833). This amiable companion, with whom I had arranged to come after I had provided a home for her, died in London, of the cholera, about three weeks after my departure. By this wife I had seven children, two only of whom are living. My old housekeeper always attended as nurse to all my wives, and upon all occasions of sickness, making a period of near thirteen years. As a sober and affectionate husband, no person living can deny but this has uniformly been my character. I have always abhorred a public-house, and the babble of drunken men. The society of my books, and wife, and children, have always been to me the greatest source of delight that my mind could possibly enjoy.

"As a master and a friend, I trust the following statement will show that kindness and liberality, and a desire to cultivate the friendship of my neighbours and the tranquillity of my home, have always been the object of my study, and a pleasure most dear to my heart. My apprentices and servants have always manifested much pleasure in their situations, and have always continued with me several years. My apprentices have always been the sons of respectable persons, and have generally been the means of recommending each other, through their connexions with each other's families. I always received a good premium with each apprentice, one only excepted, who was a cast-off apprentice from the Foundling, but who became a good servant under a kind master and mistress, and staid with us many years after her apprenticeship was expired. I have had seven male apprentices since I commenced business, in 1814. Two were brothers, the sons of Mr. Falls, who was then measurer in his majesty's dockyard, Deptford; and my last apprentice, in 1833, was the son of Mr. Green, of the Royal Oak, Sevenoaks, in Kent, whose eldest son had served his time, five years, with me, and with whom I received a large premium. I have always encouraged my servants and apprentices by very many indulgences and kind treatment, and have always found them obliging and assiduous in business. I had one who robbed me. This was the son of a highly respectable tradesman in London. I gave the boy in charge of the beadle, and, contrary to my wishes, he was remanded to Horsemonger-lane jail. I applied to the youth's father, to consult upon his son's escape. This gentleman's tears and distress of mind I most acutely participated in, and had near been brought into trouble by refusing to prosecute. No servant or inmate of my house can say that I was ever intoxicated, or that I ever lifted my hand against my wife, or caused a tear by harsh treatment. Now, as a friend, I think I can give the most incontrovertible testimony; and had it not been for the infamous lying and slandering newspapers, who glory in any crime for the sale of their dangerous weapons, I might have received the visits, advice, and assistance of hundreds of friends, but all are frightened by those horrifying falsehoods. I have received anonymous letters whilst in jail, which I have shown to the governor of the prison, and have handed to my solicitor, wherein the writers express their wishes to aid me, but durst not avow their names. My counsel also have received instructions to aid me by the receipt of anonymous letters enclosing money, with the like expressions of the writers' fear that their names may be known. Thus it is that I am compelled to give this brief outline of my life, in the hopes of defeating the power of falsehood and slander.

"I have continued in business twenty years in the parish of St. George, in the Borough. I have always lived under the same firm, or landlord, and have always experienced an increasing connexion of customers and friends. This manifestation of friendship was evinced by my numerous fellow-parishioners in their electing me to the office of overseer, on Easter Tuesday, 1832, by the largest vestry that ever assembled in the parish church of St. George. A poll was demanded, and my friends increased, and never before or since have there been so many parishioners polled. These numerous parishioners, with whom I had resided so many years, would now most willingly aid me by a subscription or other means, but that they are naturally frightened by the false and slanderous newspaper reports.

"As a debtor, when in business, no person was ever more punctual in his payments; and at the time I went to America, my debts, about 150_l._, were never before so trifling, and the number of my creditors were so few, I had left with my wife the invoices and the cash to pay them; but her illness and sudden death by the cholera caused the discharge of those bills to be neglected, when my creditors, who knew that I had houses, and who, misconstruing the cause of their not being called upon, proceeded by combining their small accounts to make me a bankrupt. Never before, I believe, was a person made a bankrupt whose debts were so trifling as mine. Had fraud been my object in going to America, I could have easily had ten times the debts and as many more creditors, with whom I had dealt for many years. I have one creditor only who has refused to sign my certificate, and from him I never demanded a stamp receipt, which has saved him a sum nearly equal to the debt I owed him.

"I have mentioned my abhorrence of public-houses; I trust, therefore, that the vice of drinking, the foundation of error and crime, may not be considered the cause of my unhappy accident and subsequent resolve to put away the body, which has produced my disreputable notoriety. It was the horror of my feelings, and fear only that took possession of my mind. I was actuated by no feelings of a felonious or malicious kind. The unfortunate deceased was evidently very much in liquor, when her chair went backwards; and had candidly avowed her poverty when I talked to her on the consequences of our marrying in deception, and of her having been to a tally-shop to obtain a dress upon credit in my name. Felonious intentions cannot be attributed to me, since it is well known, that if she had property it might have been mine in a few hours' time by the legal right of marriage."

With reference to this autobiography, there is no reason to believe that any of the main facts which are stated are incorrect, but it appears that, throughout his life Greenacre had been notorious among his acquaintance for the violence of his political opinions, and the unreserved manner in which he stated them. Rumours were afloat during the period of his imprisonment, that he had been a party to the atrocious plots of the Thistlewood gang, and that he had escaped from the room where his coadjutors were apprehended in Cato-street, at the very moment of the entrance of the officers. This was a story, the truth of which, however, he utterly denied; but he admitted his acquaintance with a person implicated in the conspiracy who was apprehended in his presence, upon an occasion when he went to pay him a visit. We shall not go into the particulars of the whole of the tales which were circulated in reference to his past life. The public mind was so much excited during the continuance of the proceedings against him, that it would be both unfair and ungenerous to prejudice his memory by the repetition of every unproved assertion which was made. The fact which he stated of his being about to start for America on the day of his apprehension with Gale, was found to be perfectly true; for it appeared that a portion of his luggage had been put on board the vessel, which, however, had sailed without its passengers on the 3d of April. The most remarkable part of his conduct after the dreadful murder of which he had been guilty, was that which referred to a new attempt on his part to enter into the bonds of matrimony, by means of an advertisement in the public newspapers. The specious nature of his disposition is well depicted in this transaction. On the 23d of January, one month after the death of Mrs. Brown, an advertisement appeared in the "Times" newspaper in the following terms:--

"Wanted, a partner, who can command 300_l._, to join the advertiser in a patent to bring forward a new-invented machine, of great public benefit, that is certain of realising an ample reward. Applications by letter only (post-paid), for J. G., at Mr. Bishop's, No. 1, Tudor-place, Tottenham Court-road."

Among the answers to that advertisement was one from a female of great respectability, whose name and address we, for obvious reasons, abstain from making public; who, having a little money at her command, indiscreetly wrote to him on the subject, and afterwards had two or three interviews with him, without, however, coming to any arrangement. Greenacre, with that tact for which throughout the proceedings he has rendered himself so remarkable, clearly saw that it would be more advantageous to him if he could form an alliance with the lady in question, and he accordingly determined, without delay, to make her an offer of his hand, which he did in a most specious letter, written on Saturday, the 4th of February, the very day on which the inquest was held on the limbs of his murdered victim, and probably at the very moment while it was sitting. The following is an authentic copy of his letter:--

"February 4, 1837.

"DEAR MADAM,--Having had several letters in answer to my advertisement, yours is the third to which I have applied for an interview, and is the last one I shall answer. I advertised in the 'Times' newspaper of the 23d of January for a partner with 300_l._ to join me in a patent to bring forward a new invented machine, of which I have enclosed you a printed specification from scientific gentlemen of property, each anxious to co-operate with me in it; but upon mature consideration, and by the advice of my friends, I have determined not to throw away the half of this most important discovery for the trifling sum of 300_l._, as it is certainly worth as many thousands.

"It is, therefore, my wish to meet with a female companion, with a small capital, one with whom a mutual and tender attachment might be formed, who would share with me in those advantageous pecuniary prospects which are now before me, and thereby secure the advantages of my own production.

"No man can have a greater aversion than myself to advertising for a wife; nevertheless, this advertisement was intended to give an opportunity, by which I might make propositions of an honourable nature to one whom I might prefer as a companion for life. It may be, however, that the first impression from our short interviews has left very different feelings towards me than those by which I am influenced to write this letter to you; I hope however otherwise, or at least that you will not yield to any unfavourable conjectures relative to the moderation of my views, as regards the sum of money I named in my advertisement. It is, I think, sufficient to convince you, or any of your advisers and friends, that property forms but a small share of my hopes and object, in turning my attention towards a partner for life.

"I am a widower, thirty-eight years of age, without any incumbrance, and am in the possession of a small income arising from the rent of some houses. I was sixteen years in a large way of business, which I relinquished about three years ago, but have lost much of my property by assisting others and confiding too strongly in the professions of pretended friends. Under these circumstances, I am induced to seek a partner, or a companion with a small sum, to co-operate with me in securing the advantages of this machine, which will be a great public benefit, and which has long been attempted by many scientific persons, and is certain of realizing a competency.

"Having given you this plain statement of my situation, I beg leave to add, that my mind is thoroughly fixed upon making you the future object of my affections and constant regard. If you should feel disposed to favour my sincere and honourable intentions, I shall take the liberty of calling upon you, and hope that you will divest your mind of any idea beyond that of the most sacred candour and honourable intentions on my part. Should you feel disposed to communicate any remarks on the subject by letter, I hope that you will do so.

"Excuse the dissimulation by which I have obtained an introduction to you, and believe that my present proposal is dictated by every honourable and affectionate feeling towards you.--I am, dear Madam, yours most sincerely,

"JAMES GREENACRE.

"No. 6, Carpenter's-place, Camberwell, Surrey."

The "new-invented machine" referred to in the advertisement, appears to have been an apparatus for washing linen, as an article of that description was found in his possession at the time of his being taken into custody. It was fortunate for the individual with whom the correspondence was commenced, that the intimacy proceeded no farther than it did, for inevitable ruin and misery must have followed upon a matrimonial connexion. The letters to which we have alluded as having been written by Greenacre on the morning of his death, were addressed to his relations and to his legal assistants, Mr. Price, and Mr. Hobler. In both these effusions he maintained the same ground which he had taken both before and after his trial, that the death of Mrs. Brown was an accident; and that Mrs. Gale was totally unacquainted with the death of his victim until she was in custody.

Sarah Gale, it appears, had received a moderate education, and at an early period of her life is stated to have joined the theatrical corps of an East-end theatre, under the name of Wiston. From this position she sunk to that of an "unfortunate," and in that station she is stated to have been a frequent attendant at the theatres of the metropolis. While thus circumstanced she became acquainted with a member of the legal profession, with whom she lived for a considerable time, and by whom she had one child which died in its infancy. The intimacy with her protector, however, being broken off, she was considerably reduced, and was eventually married to a hackney-coachman. She now applied to the gentleman to whose acquaintance with her we have alluded, and by his assistance she was enabled to commence business in the borough of Southwark in a chandler's shop. Her husband soon dissipated all her profits, and again reduced to poverty by his desertion of her, about two years before the period of the murder, for her participation in which she was convicted, she became acquainted with Greenacre, with whom she lived at intervals up to the time of their apprehension. Her maiden name was Farr; and the child which remained with her throughout her confinement, was understood to be that of her husband.

A short memoir of the life of Mrs. Brown shall conclude our notice of this dreadful case. Mrs. Brown, it appears, was born in the year 1780, within two miles of the city of Norwich, of respectable parents. Her maiden name was Gay. At the age of sixteen years she entered into service in the family of Lord Wodehouse, at Crimley-hall, but after remaining there for four years, she determined to come to London. For a considerable time she supported herself there as a servant, but at length she was married to a person named Thomas Brown, a shoemaker. This union proved an unhappy one, and at the expiration of two years her husband quitted her in order to proceed to Jamaica to claim some property, to which, by the death of a relation, he had become entitled. On his voyage he was washed overboard; and his wife, unacquainted with the precise nature of his claim, was unable to secure the bequest of her husband's relative. From this period she appears to have lived constantly in service, and it was supposed by her friends that she had amassed a considerable property by her savings. She was a person of reserved disposition, however, and communicated with few as to her position in life. Her acquaintance with Greenacre appears to have commenced only about three months before her murder, but the precise manner in which that connexion originated does not seem to have been known to her friends.

CHARLES SAMUEL BARTLETT.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

At the Gloucester Assizes on Thursday the 6th of April 1837, Charles Samuel Bartlett was indicted for the wilful murder of Mary Lewis, his mother-in-law, on the 10th of September, in the previous year, at Stapleton, near Bristol.

The case had excited an unusual degree of interest, and the court was much crowded. On his being called upon to plead to the indictment, the prisoner said, "With the word of God upon my heart and lips, I can firmly and truly say 'Not Guilty.'" This assertion, however, was satisfactorily and by indisputable evidence disproved. The circumstances which were detailed by a great number of witnesses were these:--The prisoner was a young man of decent parentage and education, but of a somewhat dissipated disposition; and he had followed a wandering life as a member of a strolling company of players, called Ingleby's Company, frequenting fairs, race-courses, and other such places of entertainment. In the month of August 1836, he visited Monmouth with his troop; and having become acquainted with the daughter of a shoemaker named Lewis, he was married to her. He received 45_l._ as her wedding portion, and a promise of a further amount upon the death of her father; and after a short sojourn with his wife's friends, he proceeded to join his party. On the 5th of September, hearing that her daughter and son-in-law were at Bristol, Mrs. Lewis went to see them, and she visited them there repeatedly, the prisoner being engaged in the usual manner in attending the fair. On the 9th of September, Bartlett was seen in the possession of a horse-pistol; and he sent a boy to purchase powder and percussion caps, and the boy saw him roll up a piece of lead in the form of a bullet. Previously to this he and his mother-in-law had had some difference; but on Saturday, the 10th of September, they quitted his lodgings together, and were seen walking on the Stapleton-road. They entered the Mason's Arms, and partook of some refreshment; and while there Bartlett borrowed a knife from the landlady, saying that he wanted to cut a piece of wood. He went out to the back yard with it where the firewood was kept; and on his return to the house, he was observed to be agitated, and he strove to conceal his features. Having then paid for the liquor which they had had, he and Mrs. Lewis went away, and they were seen to turn down a place called Tebbutt's-lane, leading towards the river Frome. Soon afterwards a shot was heard; and within an hour the murdered body of Mrs. Lewis was discovered stretched on the ground. Her dress was disordered, her bonnet and shawl had been torn from her person, and one of her legs was found doubled under her, as if in the agonies of death. She was instantly conveyed to the Mason's Arms; and upon an examination of her person she was found to have been shot through the back part of her head, the ball having passed through her bonnet. Bartlett went to the Mason's Arms to see the body; and on being introduced to the room where it lay, he exclaimed, with affected surprise, "Good God! it is my mother-in-law!" Suspicion had already attached to him, and he was now taken into custody; and upon his lodgings being searched, a pistol was found which had been recently discharged, together with a piece of wood newly cut into the form of a ramrod. The evidence extended into the most minute particulars in reference to the transaction; and the chain of proof which was procured, appeared to leave no possible doubt on the guilt of the prisoner.

The defence which was set up was, that Bartlett had left his mother-in-law immediately on his quitting the Mason's Arms, and that the pistol which had been found at his lodgings was one which he had been in the habit of discharging at the fairs, in order to attract attention to his employer's booth.

The trial lasted during the whole of two days, and then a verdict of "Guilty" was returned. Upon the unhappy man being called up for judgment, he threw himself into a theatrical attitude, and delivered a set speech of some length, which was distinguished by great force and vehemence both of style and manner, and produced an extremely strong and painful sensation throughout the court. He stated in substance that he should meet his death with firmness and resignation, protesting his innocence even in his dying moments, and calling upon God to visit with his awful retribution the murderer of his mother-in-law. Sentence of death was then passed, and the prisoner was removed from the bar.

On Saturday, the 15th of April, the sentence of the law was carried into effect upon the wretched criminal. He had been visited by the clergymen of the jail, but they could not succeed in making any impression on him; and although in his demeanour he was serious and respectful, he remained firm and prompt in his denial of the existence of any circumstances from which an inference of his guilt or even guilty knowledge could be drawn.

Throughout the whole of the preparations for his execution he maintained his characteristic steadiness; and he walked from his cell to the platform without any appearance of wavering, except that his face became fearfully pale. He held a bible in his hand, and bowed respectfully to the various officers presiding over this final operation of the law. When arrived on the drop he gazed on the assembled multitude, and looked as if he desired to address them. The executioner motioned for silence; and perfect stillness prevailing, he spoke in a calm and impressive manner as follows:--

"Englishmen and Fellow-countrymen--I have a few words to say to you, and they shall be but very few. Yet let me entreat you, one and all, that the few words that I shall utter may strike deep into your hearts. Bear them in your mind, not only now while you are witnessing this sad scene, but take them to your homes--take them and repeat them to your children and friends. I implore you, as a dying man, one for whom the instrument of death is even now prepared; and these words are, that you may loose yourselves from the love of this dying world, and its vain pleasures. Think less of it, and more of your God. Do this; repent! repent! for be assured that without deep and true repentance, without turning to your heavenly Father, you will never attain or can hold the slightest hope of ever reaching those bowers of bliss and that land of peace to which I trust I am now fast advancing.--I will say a few more words. All good Christians and repentant men that behold my disgrace here, shall--at least I trust they will--behold my glory hereafter; and my last words are--I am an injured man!" The cap was then drawn over his face, and in a few moments the drop fell from under his feet, and he ceased to exist. As an instance of the cool determination of this wretched man, we may mention, that on being locked up on Friday night, he inquired if there was a phrenologist in the town, and on being answered in the affirmative, he expressed a wish that his head might be delivered to him, and that his trunk, for the good of society, might be sent to the Infirmary.

JOHN SMITH, alias DAY; JOHN VARNHAM; AND GEORGE TIMMS.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

At the Norwich Assizes, on Thursday the 6th of April, 1837, John Smith, alias Day, John Varnham, and George Timms (all of whom were about the age of twenty-six), were indicted for the wilful murder of Hannah Mansfield, at Denver, in the County of Norfolk, on the night of Monday, the 1st of January, in the same year. The unfortunate object of this violence was a woman of about forty years of age, who resided alone in a house at Denver, adjoining a common, across which a path led from the high road to the residence of the deceased, and of a Mrs. Dungay, which was under the same roof. Being possessed of a small property, (of what nature it did not appear), this woman had eked out her subsistence by professing the mysterious trade and occupation of a conjuror and fortune-teller, in which she had gained much reputation among her neighbours and such was her success that she had become (unfortunately for herself), the possessor of a considerable quantity of silver plate, consisting of cream jugs, tankards, table and tea-spoons, sugar-tongs, and four salt-cellars. These articles she was wont to keep in a corner cupboard; and she had been known, on many occasions, boastfully to have displayed what, for persons in her class of life, was esteemed wondrous wealth; in addition to which her more intimate friends had frequently seen her take out her curious old leathern purse, and empty its precious contents in her lap, and count out her treasures. These latter consisted of various coins current in England, at the beginning of this century, which the poor fortune-teller used to take an especial pride in burnishing, and keeping as bright as they had ever been on the day they first issued from the Mint.

Such being the habits and situation of the deceased, Hannah Mansfield, it was shown that the prisoner Smith had, about fifteen months before, had an opportunity of becoming acquainted with them, for he was known to have called late one evening at Mrs. Dungay's house, when he asked, "for advice on some losses;" but being advised of his mistake, he was conducted by Mrs. Dungay to the conjuror. There he held a conversation at the door of the house, while two men, by whom he was accompanied, stood aloof. Satisfied with the result of his visit he went away, and nothing more was seen of him till about eight o'clock of the evening preceding the night on which the murder took place, when it was proved that he was seen, with two other men described in a manner corresponding to the other two prisoners, by a boy, on the high road leading to Denver, at a spot about three miles from that place. Thence they proceeded to a public-house at Hilgay, where they remained till nearly eleven o'clock, drinking and spending the evening in the public room. This was the last time they were seen that day. During the night a noise was heard to proceed from the fortune-teller's door, by Mrs. Dungay, and she got up, and opening her window, listened. Nothing more being heard, no further notice was taken of the circumstance till next morning, when it was discovered, about ten o'clock, that the poor creature had been most foully murdered, and her property carried off. Suspicion rested on the prisoners; they were traced through the snow, and, upon the clearest testimony, the atrocious deed was fixed upon them. They were found guilty, and received sentence of death.

During their subsequent imprisonment they confessed their guilt. They were all men of low station, and procured a livelihood as labourers; but occasionally employed themselves in the less creditable occupation of tramps. Lately before the murder they had been engaged as workmen on the railroad at Berkhampstead. Smith, it appeared, was the leader of the party, and he had persuaded his companions to assist him in the execution of his plot. He had obtained information of the riches of the deceased during a short residence at Downham, in the beginning of the year 1836. He then determined on robbing her, but was unable to put his design into execution until January 1837, when he procured the co-operation of his fellow-convicts. Both of them had expressed unwillingness to join in the enterprise, but Smith led them on, and he and Timms murdered the old woman, while Varnham kept watch. Varnham was respited, and his sentence commuted to transportation; but Smith and Timms were executed on Saturday the 29th of April, 1837.

GEORGE DARWELL.

CONVICTED OF EMBEZZLEMENT.

The scene of the very extraordinary case of this person was Liverpool, where he had for a considerable time occupied the situation of confidential clerk to Mr. Wolstenholme, a cotton-broker of that city. On Saturday the 14th of October, 1837, he was taken in the custody of Whittle, a police-officer, before Mr. Hall, the chief magistrate of Liverpool, charged with having embezzled a sum of money amounting to 8,264_l._ the property of his employer: and at the same time a fat and somewhat vulgar woman, named Frances M'Lean, alias Flood, alias Butler, and Richard M'Lean, were charged with having participated in the proceeds of the robbery.

The circumstances of the case were remarkable, and afforded a striking instance of the extent of delinquency which may be produced by the commission of one error. Darwell was about fifty years of age, and it appeared that some years before his apprehension he had formed an intimacy with Mrs. M'Lean, the result of which was the birth of an infant. Alarmed for the effects which a general knowledge of this circumstance might produce upon his character, he was induced to hand over to her various sums of money, to secure her silence as to the paternity of her child; and his own means being exhausted, he at length gave her money which was the property of his employer. Having thus taken one false step, every month served to increase his difficulties; and the new demands which were made upon him, accompanied by threats of exposure if they were not complied with, in the course of a considerable length of time, drew from him various amounts, until at length he had appropriated money to the extent of upwards of 8,000_l._, of his master's property. The abstraction of so large an amount, it may be presumed, could not long remain undiscovered, and at length Whitty having received certain information upon the subject, he took the prisoner into custody. Darwell at once candidly confessed to him his criminality, and explained to him the manner in which he had disposed of the money; informing him at the same time that he would find Mrs. M'Lean residing in Junction-street, Manchester. Whitty, in consequence, proceeded thither, and finding the male prisoner M'Lean, he demanded to know whether he was acquainted with a person named Darwell? He answered in the negative; but the officer having searched the house, found a great number of documents in the handwriting of Darwell, which appeared to be letters in which money had been transmitted to the female prisoner. M'Lean, it was ascertained, had been recently married to the woman, and it was also found that he had engaged largely in the business of brick-making, and had a stock valued at between 2,000_l._ and 3,000_l._ Mrs. M'Lean was not then in the house, and upon his return to Liverpool Whitty found that she had just before arrived there, having started upon another expedition to procure money from Darwell. Upon his finding her, he acquainted her with the fact of the apprehension of Darwell, when she declared her regret for what had occurred, and admitted that she had received about 8,000_l._ from him; but assured the officer, that she had always believed that the money belonged to Darwell himself, whom she took to be a person of property. She expressed her willingness to give up all that she retained, but asserted her innocence of any felonious intention. The officer added, (in his evidence), that he had found books in the possession of the female prisoner, in which the amounts, which she had received from Darwell, were regularly entered and posted up; and he ascertained from them, that since the preceding Christmas, he had paid her no less than 2,273_l._

These were the main facts of the case, and a legal gentleman, who attended for the two M'Leans, contended that there was nothing in the proofs to implicate them in the felonious charge. The prisoners were all remanded; but after another examination the M'Leans were set at liberty, and Darwell was committed for trial.

Between the period of the inquiry before the magistrates, and the final investigation of the case before the jury, upwards of 5,000_l._ were given up by the M'Leans to Mr. Wolstenholme; and a singular circumstance in the transaction was elicited, in the fact that Mrs. M'Lean, at the very time at which she was so unscrupulously receiving such large sums from Darwell, was in the possession of a handsome annuity, granted to her by a merchant resident in America, in respect of the same child, which had been the cause of the unfortunate Darwell's crime.

At the Liverpool sessions, on Friday the 27th of October, Darwell was put upon his trial. The facts of the case were clear and uncontradicted, and a verdict of "Guilty" was returned. Mr. Wolstenholme recommended the convict to the mercy of the court; and in consideration of the atonement which he had made, by his confession and interference to procure the return of the money, he was sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment only.

GEORGE FLETCHER, WILLIAM ROACH, AND THOMAS TAYLOR.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

These unhappy men underwent the infliction of the penalty of death for the murder of an aged pensioner of the 49th regiment of foot, named William Bennett, on Wednesday evening, the 28th of October 1837.

It appears that Bennett, the murdered man, had lived at Temen-green, a place about four miles distant from Hertford, for a great number of years, and he had a pension of one shilling and tenpence halfpenny per day, which he was in the habit of going to Hertford to receive quarterly. He went to Hertford for that purpose on the day of the murder, and called upon Mr. Duncan, the superintendant of the Hertford police, who accompanied him to receive his pension, which amounted to nearly ten pounds; and Mr. Duncan observed that at this time he had more money about him. He left Hertford about four o'clock in the afternoon, perfectly sober and collected. Nothing more was seen of him until about half-past four o'clock, when a boy named Bolton met him about a quarter of a mile from his own house, and he also observed four men in the wood by the road side, who were evidently watching the unfortunate man. The boy said to the deceased, "Who are those men?" The deceased replied, that he knew who they were very well, and he did not mind them. The boy went on his way, and the deceased was never more seen alive. A labouring man going to his work about half-past five o'clock on the next morning, saw the body of a man lying by the roadside at Temen, and on going close to it he discovered it was that of the deceased. He immediately gave an alarm, and assistance being procured the body was taken to the Feathers public-house, Temen-green, where Mr. Davies, a surgeon, was sent for. It was then discovered that the head of the deceased had been literally crushed by repeated blows of a bludgeon and kicks. It was found that the bulk of the deceased's money had been taken, as well as his watch and pocket-book, but in his waistcoat pockets were still a half-sovereign and a small quantity of silver, and some half-pence. The moment the knowledge of these facts came to the magistrates of Hertford, they took the most prompt measures to apprehend the parties who had perpetrated the horrible crime, and Mr. Duncan, the superintendant of police, received directions to institute the minutest inquiries upon the subject with that view. Accordingly Mr. Duncan, accompanied by Knight and Baker, two of his men, proceeded to the neighbourhood of Temen-green, and they there obtained information which led to the apprehension of two men, Fletcher and Sams, the former at Burling-green, near the place where the murder was committed, and the latter at a beer-shop in Hertford.

Subsequent inquiries led to the belief that two young men, named Taylor and Roach, were also engaged in the perpetration of the murder; and, in the course of a few days, the latter was apprehended. For some time after they were taken into custody, the prisoners persisted in denying their knowledge of the deceased or of his murder; but after about a fortnight's imprisonment, they sent for Mr. Carter, a magistrate, to whom each of them in succession made a statement. The story which they all related implicated them in an intention to rob the deceased, but they denied that they had attacked him with the object of committing murder. Sams, however, they stated, was no party to the actual attack, although he had consented to accompany them, for that he became alarmed before they came up with the deceased, lest he should recognise him, and turned back. The others then advanced, and, getting close behind the old man, tripped him up and fell upon him. He struggled violently on the ground, and exclaimed that he knew them, but they robbed him of his money and then beat him violently. After this they went away and divided the booty; and on the next day heard that the old man was dead. Roach now absconded to London, but was taken into custody in the crowd assembled to witness the procession of her majesty into the City on Lord-mayor's day, by a police-constable, who recognised him from the description of his person which had been circulated. They all stated that Taylor, who was now nowhere to be found, had been the most active in the murder and robbery; but that he, as well as they, had had no original intention to commit any violence upon the deceased.

On Friday, the 2nd of March 1838, the three prisoners were put upon their trial before Mr. Justice Vaughan, at the Hertford Assizes, and the jury, after a patient inquiry, found Roach and Fletcher "Guilty," but acquitted Sams.

Sentence of death was immediately passed on the convicts, and on Wednesday, the 14th of March, their execution took place. Both the culprits were mere lads, and the most strenuous exertions had been made to save them, but without effect. They conducted themselves with much propriety while they were in prison, but maintained a firm consistency in their assertion that murder had formed no part of their object when they first attacked the old man. They met death with much fortitude and resignation.

In the following month of September, Taylor was recognised at Plymouth, whither he had gone with the 15th regiment of foot, into which he had enlisted almost immediately after the murder, in the name of Evans. He was sent back to Hertford, and, at the ensuing Spring Assizes was tried, convicted, and executed.

RIOTS AT CANTERBURY.

These singular but mischievous riots occurred on Thursday, the 31st of May 1838, at a place called Bossenden Wood, situated about five miles from the ancient city of Canterbury, and were the result of the pranks of a madman who had assumed the title of Sir William Percy Honeywood Courtenay, Knight of Malta, and whose insane spirit communicated itself to the rustics, and produced severely calamitous consequences. The infatuation with which this insane impostor was followed, and even worshipped, by the peasantry of the district into which he intruded himself, affords a striking and melancholy proof of the magic powers of fanaticism. But while one is not surprised that among the lower orders he should find persons incapable of resisting his wily and specious arguments, and the impudent falsehood of his assertions, it cannot but be the subject of the greatest astonishment that he should have procured the countenance, during a very considerable period, of individuals of superior rank and education in the county.

The best mode of introducing this extraordinary event will be by detailing succinctly the circumstances of the early life of the supposed Sir William Courtenay. The real name of this pretender was John Nichols Thom, and he was the son of a small farmer and maltster at St. Columb, in Cornwall. While yet a lad, he procured employment in the establishment of Messrs. Plumer and Turner, wine-merchants of Truro, as cellarman; but after five years' service, the firm was broken up, and the business ceased. Thom now commenced trading on his own account, as a wine-merchant, maltster, and hop-dealer, and for three or four years he carried on his trade with great apparent respectability. At the end of that time his premises and stock were consumed by an accidental fire, and he recovered from an Insurance-office, for the losses which he alleged he had sustained by this event, the sum of 3000_l._, being a much larger amount than those judged him to be entitled to, who were well able to form an opinion as to his probable station in the world. Subsequently he re-built his house and continued his trade; but, after about two years more, he made a considerable sum of money by a successful venture in malt, which he disposed of in Liverpool. For two years after this event he was lost sight of by his friends, and it was presumed that he was out of England, and the first intimation which was received of his return was his declaring himself a candidate to represent the city of Canterbury in Parliament, under the name of Sir William Courtenay, in the month of December 1832. He was found to have taken up his residence at the Rose Hotel, Canterbury; and the splendour of his dress, and the eccentricity of his manners, soon gained for him many admirers, even among the respectable inhabitants of the town. During his canvass he increased the number of his friends, and his success in procuring supporters was most extraordinary. His effort, however, was not fortunate. His opponent candidates were the Hon. R. Watson and Lord Fordwich, the former of whom obtained 832 votes, the latter 802, while Courtenay polled 375. This attempt gained him many friends, and great popularity among the lower orders. His persuasive language was exceedingly useful to him; but the peculiarity of his dress, combined with the absurdity of many of his protestations, induced a belief among some of those to whom he procured introduction that he was insane.

After his defeat he did not confine his proceedings to Canterbury alone, but he passed through most of the towns in Kent, declaiming against the poor laws, the revenue laws, and other portions of the statutes of the realm which are usually considered by the poor to be obnoxious to their interests. By his speeches he obtained much éclat; but his exertions in favour of some smugglers led him into a scrape, from which he was likely to have suffered serious consequences. An action took place in the month of July 1833 between the revenue cruiser Lively and the Admiral Hood smuggler, near the Goodwin Sands, and, in the course of the flight of the latter vessel, and her exertions to escape from the Lively, her crew were observed to throw a great number of tubs overboard, which, on their being picked up, proved to contain spirit. The Admiral Hood was captured, but no contraband goods were found on board; and, on the men being taken into custody, Courtenay presented himself as a witness before the magistrates. He swore positively that he had seen the whole of the action, and that no tubs had been thrown from the Admiral Hood; and he further stated, that he had observed those which had been picked up by the revenue men floating in the sea all day. This was so diametrically opposed to the truth, that a prosecution for perjury was determined on, and he was indicted at the Maidstone Assizes on the 25th of July 1833. A verdict of conviction followed; and Mr. Justice Park, the presiding judge, passed a sentence of imprisonment, to be followed by seven years' transportation. The difficulty in which he was placed, however, having reached the knowledge of his friends in Cornwall, they made representations to the Home-secretary that he was insane; and, after having suffered four years' confinement in a lunatic asylum at Barming Heath, he was at length liberated, on bail being given for his future good-behaviour.

He now took up his abode at the residence of Mr. Francis, a gentleman of fortune, of Fairbrook, near Boughton in the neighbourhood of Canterbury, and he speedily resumed his wild efforts to gain popularity for himself. His dress now was similar to that which he had worn before his incarceration; and the following sketch of his personal appearance, extracted from the romance of Rookwood, by Mr. Ainsworth, well describes him. "A magnificent coal-black beard decorated the chin of this worthy; but this was not all--his costume was in perfect keeping with his beard, and consisted of a very theatrical-looking tunic, upon the breast of which was embroidered in golden wire the Maltese cross; while on his shoulders were thrown the ample folds of a cloak of Tyrian hue. To his side was girt a long and doughty sword, which he termed, in his knightly phrase, Excalibur; and upon his profuse hair rested a hat as broad in the brim as a Spanish sombrero. Exaggerated as this description may appear, we can assure our readers that it is not overdrawn; and that a counterpart of the sketch we have given of the ruffler certainly 'strutted his hour' upon the stage of life, and that the very ancient and discriminating city of Canterbury (to which be all honour) was his theatre of action. His history is so far curious that it exemplifies, more strongly than a thousand discourses could do, how prone we are to be governed by appearances, and how easily we may be made the dupes of a plausible impostor."

His impositions, unfortunately, proved as mischievous as they were plausible. He succeeded in persuading many of the ignorant peasantry that his origin was as high as that of the Saviour. His visits to the cottages of the labouring classes were numerous; and his striking appearance seems to have had considerable influence upon the minds both of men and women. An observation made by one of them, that he was like a picture which was suspended in a room where he stood, representing the Son of God, induced him to assume this holy character; and the infatuation of the lower orders forbade their disbelieving the stories which he related. He is stated even to have asserted that he was the Redeemer himself, and that the marks of wounds were still visible upon his hands and feet, and on his sides, but it can hardly be supposed that he could long have maintained this character, as his hands upon subsequent examination proved to be unscarred. Many of the poor people believed that he was in the habit of receiving barrels of sovereigns every week to meet his current expenses, and that he was the rightful owner of some of the largest estates in Kent, from the possession of which he was only driven by the violence and fraud of their present holders.

A misunderstanding with Mr. Francis compelled his retirement from that gentleman's house, and he took up his abode at the residence of one of his most devoted followers named Wills, from whence subsequently he again removed to the farm-house of a person named Culver, at Boughton. During these changes he was constant in his exertions among the poorer classes; and the influence which he obtained over them was extraordinary. The women excited their husbands and sons to join him, "because he was Christ, and unless they followed him, fire would come from Heaven and burn them." They asserted, as he had declared, that "he had come to earth upon a cloud, and would go away from it on a cloud;" and instances were not unfrequent in which the misguided people, the subjects of his imposture, had actually worshipped him as a God.

At length this excitement was destined to be brought to a conclusion; but not without the occurrence of events which are deeply to be lamented.

On Monday, the 28th of May, Courtenay, with about ten or fifteen followers, sallied forth from the village of Boughton, without having any very distinct or apparent object in view, and proceeded at once to the cottage of Wills. Here they formed themselves into a species of column; and a loaf having been procured, it was broken in halves, and one half of it was placed on the top of a pole, which bore a flag of blue and white, upon which a lion rampant was drawn. Wills having joined them, they all proceeded to Goodnestone, near Faversham; Courtenay, as they went along, haranguing them and the country people whom they met, and producing a great deal of excitement and astonishment at his proceedings. From thence they went to a farm at Herne Hill, where they received food, and then to Dargate Common. By Courtenay's desire they all went to prayers here; and after that they returned to Bossenden Farm, where they retired to rest in a barn. At three o'clock on Tuesday morning, they went to Sittingbourne, and Courtenay provided them with breakfast, for which he paid twenty-seven shillings; and then they went to Newnham, where, at the George Inn, they had a similar treat. After visiting Eastling, Throwley, Seldwich, Lees, and Selling, where, as at Sittingbourne and Newnham, speeches were made, and new followers obtained, the party again returned to Bossenden farm.

During these progresses, it appears that Mr. Curling, a respectable farmer, lost some of his labourers, who were enticed away from their work by the crowd; and disinclined to permit them to join the riotous proceedings of Courtenay and his party, he went before a magistrate of the district, by whom, at his desire, a warrant was issued for their apprehension. Nicholas Mears, a constable, and his brother, were entrusted with the warrant for execution; and on Thursday morning at about six o'clock they went to Culver's farm-house to secure the men. Upon their presenting themselves, Courtenay and several of his followers appeared; and almost before the unfortunate Mears could state his object, Courtenay drew a pistol from his breast and shot him dead. He returned into the house, exclaiming to the men who were there, "Now, am I not your Saviour?" and then going out again, he discharged a second pistol at the body of Mears, and mutilated his body with his sword.

This diabolical murder was communicated to the magistrates directly afterwards, and they proceeded to take steps for the apprehension of Courtenay. But the latter immediately called out his men, and marched them to Bossenden Wood, and there he administered the sacrament to them in bread and water. This over, a man named Alexander Foad, knelt down in the presence of the rest and worshipped him; and while on his knees, he demanded to know whether he should follow him in the body or whether he should go home, and follow him in the spirit? Courtenay answered, "In the body;" upon which Foad jumped up with great exultation, exclaiming "Oh! be joyful, be joyful; the Saviour has accepted me. Now go on; I will follow you till I drop." Another man, named Blanchard, also worshipped him; and Courtenay then, in answer to a question which was put to him, said that he had shot the constable, and had eaten a good breakfast afterwards; and added, "I was only executing the justice of heaven in consequence of the power God has given me." At twelve o'clock Sir William and his followers had shifted their position to the Osier-bed, and here he harangued them, informing them that he was invulnerable, and that they also could not be hurt by reason of the faith they put in him. He defied the attack of the magistrates, which he declared would do neither him nor them any harm; but then he proposed that they should take up a position in ambush in the wood. This was agreed to; and on their way thither, seeing the Rev. Mr. Handley, of Herne Hill, observing their motions, Courtenay fired at him, but happily missed his aim.

In the mean time the magistrates had been taking such steps as they deemed advisable, for the maintenance of the public peace; and in order to secure the person of the leader of these extraordinary proceedings, with his followers. Acquainted with the desperate violence of Courtenay, by his act of the morning, they deemed it unfit that an unarmed force should be brought in opposition to him and his party, and they in consequence despatched a messenger to Canterbury, requiring the aid of the military. A detachment of one hundred men of the 45th Foot, under the command of Major Armstrong, was at once placed at their disposal, and marched to Boughton. The rioters were known to be posted in Bossenden Wood, from the information of out-scouts; and in that direction the troops, accompanied by the magistrates and special constables, were marched. The position of Courtenay was ascertained to be about a mile from the road in Bossenden Wood. The wood was of very considerable extent, but was intersected by two roads; and it was found that the insurgent party were placed so that their front and rear were covered by the roads right and left. The military were in consequence divided; and while one party of fifty took the road nearest Canterbury, under the command of Captain Reed, the other was conducted by Major Armstrong, assisted by Lieutenant Bennett, and Lieutenant Prendergast, along the road next Boulton-under-Blea. Thus the insurgents were placed between the two bodies of troops, and their only chance of escape was to take a straight line through the woods. For this, however, the madman who was their leader, was in nowise disposed, and he soon presented himself to Major Armstrong's troop. He was required to surrender; but without waiting to give any answer, he called upon his followers, (now only between thirty and forty in number), as if to prepare for the approaching conflict, and rushed at Lieutenant Bennett, who was rather in advance of the soldiers. Lieutenant Bennett observing this movement, rushed forward also, sword in hand; but almost before he had reached his assailant, Courtenay presented a pistol, fired, and the ball entered the right side, and passed completely through the body of the young officer, killing him instantaneously. At this moment Courtenay was felled to the ground by a constable named Millwood, but he jumped up again, and at the instant of his regaining his feet, he was shot by the troops. The order to "fire," was then given by Major Armstrong, and being mounted, he dashed in among the peasantry. By the discharge eight men were killed on the spot, and several others were wounded; but the wretched peasantry fought desperately, until at length, perceiving the dreadful consequences which must result from persevering in their resistance, they at once dispersed, and scattered themselves through the woods. In the course of the afternoon twenty-seven prisoners were made by the military and constables, and of these seven were wounded, two of them mortally. Of the party who were employed in maintaining the law, George Catt, a constable, who acted with much determination, was shot under the mistaken impression that he was one of the rioters; and Lieutenant Prendergast received a contused wound on the head from the bludgeon of an insurgent.

During the remainder of the week the coroner of the county was engaged in conducting the necessary inquiries into the cause of death of the deceased persons. Evidence, the general effect of which was that which we have stated, was produced, and the result of the investigation fully bore out the course which had been adopted by the magistracy. Verdicts of "Wilful Murder" were returned in the cases of the constable Mears, and of Lieutenant Bennett, against Courtenay and his adherents; while in the case of Catt, the jury found "That he had been killed upon an erroneous belief that he was a rioter." In the cases of death which had occurred amongst the insurgents, the jury found a verdict of "Justifiable Homicide." The scene which presented itself, during the sitting of the jury, was distressing in the extreme. The Red Lion, at Boughton, was the place at which the coroner conducted the investigation; and there also all those prisoners who were suffering from the wounds which they had received were detained; while in the stable attached to the house, the bodies of the slain were extended. In the yard were the wives, widows, and children, of these deluded men, lamenting bitterly the position of danger into which the fanaticism of their relations had drawn them. During the sitting of the jury, two of the wounded men died, and upon their decease being communicated to the crowd outside, they gave vent to new expressions of grief. The body of Lieutenant Bennett lay in an upper chamber of the inn, and was a melancholy spectacle. The unfortunate gentleman was about twenty-five years of age, and had just obtained leave of absence, when the news of the riots reaching the barracks, he applied for and obtained permission to join the party.

At the conclusion of the proceedings before the coroner and the magistrates, the following prisoners were committed for trial, viz.:--Thomas Mears, alias Tyler, (the cousin of the murdered constable); Alexander Foad; William Nutting; William Price; James Goodwin; William Wills; William Spratt; John Spratt; John Silk; Edward Curling; Samuel Edwards; Sarah Culver; Thomas Myers, alias Edward Wraight; Charles Hills; Thomas Ovenden; William Couchworth; Thomas Griggs; William Foad; and Richard Foreman.

The names of those rioters who were killed, were, William Courtenay; William Burford; George Griggs; George Blanchard; William Foster; Phineas Harvey; Edward Wraight (the elder); William Rye; George Bonchett; and Stephen Baker.

The prisoners Mears, Alexander Foad, and Couchworth, were wounded. Foad was a respectable farmer, cultivating a farm of about sixty acres; and it was a matter of some surprise that he should have been implicated in so extraordinary a proceeding. The prisoner Sarah Culver was a woman about forty years of age, of respectable connexions, and possessing considerable property. She had been a devoted follower of Courtenay; but it was presumed that she, like him, was insane. The other prisoners were all persons of inferior station.

On Tuesday the 5th of June, the greater number of those who had been killed at the riot were interred in the churchyard of Herne Hill. Amongst these was Courtenay; and the funeral attracted a vast assemblage to the place. Considerable apprehensions were entertained lest the mob should use any violence to prevent the burial of their late fanatical leader, for many had been heard to declare their firm belief that he would "rise again;" but the whole affair passed off quietly, and no new outrage was committed. The bodies of the other deceased persons were buried by their friends.

At the Maidstone assizes, on Thursday the 9th of August, 1838, the trial of the prisoners commenced before Lord Denman.

The first persons who were tried were Mears and Price, and after a long investigation they were found guilty of being parties to the murder of Mears the constable, but recommended to mercy, on the ground of their having been led astray by their infatuation in favour of Courtenay.

Sentence of death was at once passed upon the prisoners, but they were informed that their lives would be spared.

On the next day, William Wills, Thomas Myers, alias Edward Wraight, Alex. Foad, Edward Curling, Thomas Griggs, Richard Foreman, Charles Hills, and William Foad, were indicted for the murder of Lieutenant Bennett; but upon their being arraigned they pleaded guilty, upon the same understanding as that which existed in the former case, namely, that their lives should be spared. The prosecutions in the cases of the other prisoners were not proceeded with, and they were discharged from custody.

On Friday the 17th of August, the extent of the commutation of the punishment of the convicts was made known to them. Mears and Wills were ordered to be transported for life; Price was ordered to be transported for ten years; and Wraight, the two Foads, Curling, Griggs, Foreman, and Hills, were directed to undergo one year's imprisonment and hard labour in the House of Correction, during which, each of them was to pass one month in solitary confinement. A pension of 40_l._ per annum was granted to the widow of Mears the constable, in consideration of the death of her husband.

The unfortunate Courtenay appears to have been a man by no means devoid of ability, and who had turned what little education he possessed to the very best account. His speeches were energetic and well put together, and he possessed an ample flow of language. He was abundantly supplied with scriptural quotations, and appeared to be fully and intimately acquainted with the Old and New Testaments.

Shortly before the dreadful affray in which he lost his life, he left off the picturesque attire in which he had hitherto been in the habit of dressing, and assumed one of a more homely character. This was a blouse or frock of brown holland with a black belt, in which he carried a brace of pistols; and a round bat. He was usually also armed with a sword and dagger; but his miserable followers possessed no other weapons than those which the hedges or woods through which they passed afforded them. It is remarkable that none of them were of so low a station as to render it at all probable that want had induced them to listen to the insane promises of their leader. The precise object which was held in view appears to have been unknown even to the misguided men themselves; but the general impression was, that Courtenay, by his power, would take possession of all the private estates of the county, which he would bestow upon his trusty followers. The Sunday after the riot, according to the statements and promises which he made, was to have been "a glorious but a bloody day," and some persons did not scruple to assert that it was his intention on that day to fire Canterbury. The distressing events, therefore, of the 31st of May, it is probable, served to prevent the occurrence of scenes even more terrible. The belief which existed among the lower orders that Courtenay would rise again from the dead was one which could scarcely be driven from their minds, even after they had seen that the process of decomposition had commenced in his remains. He had told one of his disciples, a woman, that if a little water were placed between his lips after his apparent death, he should rise again in a month; and so firm was the belief in his assertion of his and his followers being invulnerable, that the wretched men at the conflict in Bossenden-wood fought for a time with the most reckless carelessness of the consequences.

The visual proof of the existence of a degree of superstition so gross as that which is shown here to have been exhibited is almost necessary to induce its belief; but there can be no doubt that the lamentable ignorance and fanaticism of the peasantry was even more striking than we have described it to be. The general happy contentedness of the inhabitants of the county of Kent--the agricultural, and, therefore, simple nature of their employment--the proximity of their position to the metropolis, and the high state of cultivation to which the soil of that county has been brought, one would have thought would have tended to forbid the possibility of such occurrences among them. These remarkable details, however, only serve to afford an additional proof of the facility with which the human mind is moved, and how open it is to the operations of the allurements of fanaticism.

WILLIAM FRANCIS ADAMS.

TRANSPORTED FOR LARCENY.

This wretched convict there is too much reason to believe was guilty of the horrible crime of parricide, as well as that of larceny, of which he was convicted, although the evidence to show his participation in the more serious offence was deemed too inconclusive by the jury to warrant his conviction upon that charge.

At the time of his first trial, on the 16th of March, 1838, Adams had only recently reached his eighteenth year, and the charge which was then preferred against him was that of the wilful murder of his father. Upon this indictment he was acquitted; but within a few days of his liberation from custody he was again committed to gaol, upon a charge of threatening an old shepherd who had given evidence against him. Some new evidence of his guilt was obtained during this imprisonment of the unhappy youth, and on Thursday the 26th of July he was again indicted at the assizes held for the county of Buckingham, at Aylesbury. His acquittal upon the charge of murder rendered it impossible that he should be tried a second time for that offence; and the allegation in the indictment now preferred was, that he had stolen a pocket-book containing notes and cash, the property of his father.

The circumstances which appeared in evidence were these:--Old Adams was a man of some property, both personal and real, and lived at Burcot, near Wing, in Buckinghamshire. On the 28th of December, 1837, both he and his son (the prisoner) were seen by the workmen employed about the farm to go by different directions towards a place called the Fox-hill cow-house, which they entered about the hour of half-past two. From that time the old man was never more seen alive; but his son was shown to have ridden home at four o'clock on a mare on which his father had been seen at the hour first mentioned. In consequence of his non-appearance at nightfall, a strict search was instituted, which eventually resulted in the discovery of the body, cold and extended under some hay in the cow-house, with rifled pockets, and marks of injury produced by gunshot wounds in his head, which were quite sufficient to have caused instant death. At the time no suspicion was aroused against the prisoner, but on the following day he was taken up, and at the spring assizes tried for the murder of his father. Of this charge, however, after a trial of nearly fourteen hours' duration, he was acquitted, and, being set at large, returned to his home, but shortly after his liberation, in consequence of the further statements of a fellow-prisoner (who had given at the former trial the most material testimony of an ample confession by the prisoner, but who had been discredited, we presume, for want of corroboration by other witnesses), the young man was again arrested, and after an examination before the magistrates, finally committed to take his trial at the present assizes for the offence of stealing the pocket-book and its contents as above stated. To support this charge, the former witness, James Fuel, was now again called, who deposed to the fact of "Young Adams" having asked him, during the time they were in prison together, before the first trial, if he could get anybody to get him some money if he told him where it was to be found? Upon which, his brother Richard being sent for, Adams wrote two notes, which were given to Richard with directions to "go by them." These notes Richard now stated that he showed to three persons who read their contents to him, and who all now deposed that to the best of their memory (the notes having been burned and destroyed) they were to the following tenor:--"This is to inform you where to get the money. Go to Wing, at Burcot, and inquire for Adams's farm, and then look round and see where the privy is. On the right-hand side, over the door, in a hole betwixt the tilings and the loft, in the day-time, you will find a pocket-book; you will take the money out of the pocket-book, and let the papers remain in, and drop it down against the Cock Inn, Wing." The second note was as follows:--"The man you have got in hold is innocent. Them as done the deed find it out." Having possessed himself of this information, Richard Fuel quitted his residence on Pinner-common, for the purpose of going to Burcot and taking the money, in conjunction with two others. They, however, got alarmed, as they said, when they heard that Mr. Adams had been murdered, and desisted from their intentions; but afterwards, some other men, with more nerve, to whom they had disclosed their secret, started on the same errand, and sleeping together at an inn at Tring, chanced to be overheard by the landlord while they discussed the whole affair. This person immediately set out himself, and, going to the house, asked for the prisoner's brother-in-law, to whom he revealed all he knew of the matter. He, from a very pardonable motive no doubt, and a wish to keep secret so important a fact, for the trial of his relative had not then taken place, invited the landlord to dine, and sending for his lawyer, went in the mean time alone to the privy, where he found, just as he had been told, the pocket-book of his father-in-law. This was now produced, and its contents identified, by a long chain of evidence which we need not particularize, further than by saying that it was most conclusive.--Such is the outline of this extraordinary case, as detailed by the witnesses for the prosecution.

On the other hand, Mr. Andrews addressed the jury, in a speech of great acuteness and power, stigmatising the whole as a base fraud and conspiracy between the Fuels and their friends, who had got up this evidence, improbable and absurd as it was, against the unfortunate youth at the bar, with a view to secure the pardon of James Fuel, who having been convicted of felony since the last assizes, could only become a witness by the pardon of her Majesty. To obtain this wicked end this plot had been concocted, and to show its falsity witnesses would be called who would prove from Fuel's own mouth, that he had over and over again said that he had got a convict, named Mead, to write the notes, in order that he might say Adams had given them to him, and to induce the magistrates to take up the affair again and clear him from the penalty of his own offence.

To substantiate this defence two men were called, named Daly and Palmer, to the former of whom, when a prisoner, and to the latter also, who had seen him in the prison, he had repeatedly admitted that he had spoken falsely, and had got up the charge for the purposes above mentioned: while another man further swore that Fuel's character was such that he could not be believed upon his oath.

Mr. Byles having replied upon the whole case,

Mr. Justice Park elaborately, and with the utmost impartiality, summed up the lengthened chain of evidence in an address which lasted to a late hour. At the close of his lordship's address, which was delivered in a tone and with a manner which showed how deeply the mind of the learned judge had been affected by the painful nature of the inquiry, the jury, after a short time spent in deliberation, returned a verdict of "Guilty."

The prisoner was then immediately sentenced to transportation for a term of seven years.

FRANCIS LIONEL ELIOT, EDWARD DELVES BROUGHTON, JOHN YOUNG, AND HENRY WEBBER.

INDICTED FOR A MURDER COMMITTED IN A DUEL.

On the evening of Wednesday the 22nd of August, 1838, a duel took place on Wimbledon Common, which was unhappily attended with fatal consequences. The principal parties to this melancholy transaction were Mr. Francis Lionel Eliot and Mr. Charles Flower Mirfin; and they were accompanied, the former by Messrs. Young and Webber, the latter by Broughton and another person, whose name, we believe, was never ascertained with certainty, and also by Dr. Scott, a medical gentleman, who attended to render that professional aid which it was deemed possible might be required of him.

The circumstances which led to this duel are stated to be the following:--During Epsom races, 1838, both Mr. Mirfin and Mr. Eliot attended that far-famed sporting meeting. On the Derby-day they were returning to town, Mr. Eliot driving a phaeton, and Mr. Mirfin a gig, when, by some accident, the two vehicles came in contact, and Mr. Mirfin was overturned. In the fall some of his ribs were fractured; and, on getting up, an altercation arose, and offensive language passed, which ended in Mr. Eliot striking Mr. Mirfin a blow on his already injured side, of which injury, however, it is due to say, Mr. Eliot was ignorant. The pain at the moment was excessive, and Mr. Mirfin had only a faint recollection that the name of the party with whom he had come in contact was Eliot; but he had been unable to obtain his address, and therefore had no clue to his discovery, although extremely anxious to call him to an account. Months rolled on, and only on one occasion, till Tuesday night the 21st of August, had he obtained a transient view of Mr. Eliot, in a cigar-shop, but almost instantly lost sight of him. On Tuesday night, in company with two friends, he entered the saloon in Piccadilly, and while he was there he heard the name of Eliot mentioned. The name at once struck him, and, on looking at the party by whom it was acknowledged, he recognised him as the person whom he had so long sought, and from whom he had received a blow. He immediately requested one of his friends, Mr. Broughton, to address Mr. Eliot, and call the matter to his recollection Mr. Eliot admitted the fact, and offered to make an apology. It would seem, however, that neither party was in a situation to enter upon the subject then, and it was agreed that mutual friends should meet at the Opera Colonnade Hotel at twelve o'clock on the next morning to discuss the matter. Mr. Mirfin then proceeded to his residence, No. 2, Pleasant-place, West-square, Lambeth, where he retired to rest. At the time appointed the friends met, when an objection was made on the part of Mr. Eliot to meet Mr. Mirfin. A firm determination having been expressed, however, that such meeting must take place, on a second application to Mr. Eliot he acceded to the proposition, and a hostile meeting was arranged for the same evening, on Wimbledon-common.

The individuals whom we have named accompanied the principals to the intended scene of action; and a fitting spot having been selected, the parties proceeded to adjust the preliminaries. After some conversation among the parties, in which Mr. Mirfin refused to consent to receive a verbal apology, the ground was measured, twelve paces, and the principals being placed in their positions, each provided with a pistol, at a concerted signal both fired, when the ball of Mr. Eliot's pistol passed through Mr. Mirfin's hat, whilst that of Mr. Mirfin went harmlessly by his antagonist. Mr. Mirfin then impatiently demanded another pistol, having previously declared he would face a dozen shots rather than submit to the insult he had received. The second fire quickly followed, when Mr. Mirfin, placing his hand on his side, exclaimed, "He's hit me!" and then, staggering a few paces back, fell into the arms of Dr. Scott and his second. The former soon ascertained that the wound was fatal, and in a moment the unfortunate man breathed his last. The ball had taken a transverse direction, and had passed through his heart. The fatal result being ascertained, Mr. Eliot and the two seconds left the ground in the same carriage, and some casual passengers coming up, the body was lifted into a cabriolet, and immediately driven off the ground. It was conveyed to Pleasant-place, and, with the assistance of Dr. Scott, who resided in Rockingham-row, Kent-road, was laid on the carpet in the parlour, when another medical gentleman, a Mr. Smith, was sent for, and the body was stripped, but all hope of recovery had vanished. It would seem that application was subsequently made to Mr. Reed, an undertaker in the London-road, to prepare a coffin, and to convey the body for interment to a distant part of the country. This he declined; and finding the cause of death, he felt it his duty to inform Mr. Young, a constable in the neighbourhood, who communicated the fact to Field, a police-inspector, who placed the corpse in charge of one of his men until a coroner's inquest could be held.

On Saturday, the 25th of August, an inquest was held on the body of the deceased, which was continued by adjournment until the following Tuesday, when the circumstances which we have detailed were proved in evidence; and from the statements of the witnesses, the various parties whose names have been mentioned were shown to have been concerned in the affair. The duel appears to have been conducted, however, upon perfectly fair principles, and there was nothing in the conduct of any of the persons present to induce a supposition that any ungentlemanly advantage was taken on either side. Mr. Scott, the surgeon, entered into a detailed account of the whole transaction, which differed in no material degree from the general statement which we have given. The jury returned a verdict of "Wilful Murder" against all the parties concerned as principal or seconds; the verdict as to the latter, however, only referring to them as being accessory to the offence.

At the ensuing session at the Central Criminal Court, indictments were preferred against the various parties concerned; and it being understood that Mr. Broughton would surrender to take his trial on Friday the 21st of September, on that day the court was much crowded.

Upon Mr. Broughton being called, however, he did not appear, and his absence was stated to be accounted for by the indisposition of Mr. Clarkson, who had been retained as counsel on his behalf; but Messrs. Webber and Young presented themselves, and declared themselves ready to take their trial. They were defended respectively by Mr. Adolphus and Mr. C. Phillips, while Mr. Chambers conducted the case for the prosecution.

The whole of the facts were then again proved in evidence; and eloquent appeals having been made on behalf of the prisoners by their counsel, a great number of highly respectable witnesses were called, who gave them excellent characters for the general humanity of their disposition.

Mr. Justice Vaughan, in summing up the case to the jury, remarked upon the circumstances which had attended the duel. He observed, that it should have been the bounden duty of all those who had acted as seconds, or who were present, to have interfered to prevent this fatal meeting; and that, at all events, after the first shot, even supposing the mistaken ideas which might be entertained with regard to wounded honour might be deemed to have rendered the affair so far excusable, they should have positively refused to suffer any further proceedings. The principals in such cases were the mere tools in the hands of their seconds, and upon the latter rested the more serious responsibility. The learned judge having also offered some observations upon the omission of Mr. Scott to attempt to prevent the duel, said, that it sometimes occurred that the feelings of the man were in opposition to those of the judge, and considering that everything in this case appeared to have been conducted with what was deemed fairness, he could not but feel some compunction in stating, as he was bound to do, that persons who had acted under such circumstances as those which had been disclosed were guilty of murder. The question of the prisoners being connected with the case was one for the jury, and one upon which their decision was required. The jury, after some consideration, found the prisoners "Guilty," and at the same time declared their opinion that Mr. Scott himself should have stood at the bar with them. Mr. Justice Vaughan expressed himself to be of the same opinion, and sentence of death was then recorded against the prisoners.

They were instantly conveyed to the interior of Newgate, where they were placed, in obedience to the usual course, in the condemned cells. The application of their friends to the crown, however, soon procured their liberation from this disagreeable confinement; but the sentence of death was only removed upon condition of their undergoing twelve months' imprisonment in the House of Correction at Guildford, one month of which was to be passed in solitude.

On Friday, the 8th of February, 1839, Mr. Broughton surrendered at the Old Bailey to take his trial, and pleaded "Guilty" to the indictment. Sentence of death was recorded against him; but in this case, as in that of Webber and Young, the punishment was reduced to twelve months' imprisonment.

Mr. Eliot, the surviving principal in this affair, was a gentleman of highly respectable connexions--his father being a major-general in the army. Mr. Mirfin, it appears, had formerly carried on business in Tottenham-court-road as a linen-draper, but subsequently retired from business upon a competency. His connexions were of great respectability, his father and brothers being engaged in trade in the north of England of a similar character with that in which he had been concerned. Mr. Broughton, we believe, was a relation of Sir John Delves Broughton, Bart., a general in the army, and descended of an ancient family.

Mr. Eliot succeeded in making his escape to the Continent, and has not yet surrendered to the indictment preferred against him, which, therefore, still remains in operation.

CHARLES KINNAISTER, AND OTHERS.

EXECUTED FOR THE MURDER OF AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES.

The atrocious cold-blooded massacre of which these persons were guilty is scarcely equalled by any event of a similar character. The scene of the murder was the colony of New South Wales,--the victims were the unoffending aboriginal natives of the country,--the miscreants by whom the savage scene was enacted were Englishmen, who, however, from their sanguinary disposition, do not deserve that they should receive such an appellation. Fortunately for the vindication of humanity, the unparalleled barbarities of which they were guilty were discovered, and their perpetrators brought to justice.

The names of these monsters in human shape were Charles Kinnaister, William Hawkins, James Perry, Edward Foley, James Cates, John Russell, and John Johnson. It would seem that all of these were convicts, and had been transported from this country. They had been assigned as stock-men or shepherds to some of the settlers in the interior of the colony. In the month of June 1838, these ruffians, influenced or induced by what motive has not been discovered, beyond a determination to extirpate the unhappy natives, set out on horseback in pursuit of their helpless victims. They were traced in their progress inquiring after blacks, and at last arrived at a hut near the big river, beyond Liverpool plains, occupied by the first-named prisoner, Kinnaister. Here they discovered that a little tribe of about thirty natives, men, women, and children, including babes at their mothers' breasts, were congregated in the bush, unsuspicious of danger and unconscious of offence. This was on Sunday the 10th of June. They immediately approached their victims, who, terrified at their manner, ran into Kinnaister's hut for protection, crying for mercy; but they appealed to hearts of stone, who having thus caught them, as it were, in a trap, dismounted, followed them into the hut, and, despite of their entreaties, tied them together with a rope, with the exception of one woman. This was done without a word being uttered, and with a cool and bloody determination.

When all were thus secured, one end of the rope was tied round the body of the foremost of the murderers, who, having mounted his horse, led the way, dragging the terrified group after him, while his infamous companions guarded them on all sides. Groans and tears burst from the wretched beings, whose worst fears were excited. In vain, however, did the aged and youthful of both sexes appeal for compassion. Their doom was cast. Onward they were dragged till a fitting place in the bush was reached, and then the work of slaughter commenced, and, unresisting, were these hapless wretches, one after the other, brutally butchered. Fathers, mothers, and children, fell before the previously sharpened swords of these self-appointed executioners, till all lay a lifeless mass, in death clinging to each other with the throes of natural affection. But one shot was fired, so that it was presumed one only perished by fire-arms. The precise number thus immolated has not been accurately ascertained, but it is computed that not less than thirty lay stretched on the ensanguined earth. The demon butchers then placed the bodies in a heap, kindled an immense fire over them, and thus endeavoured to destroy the evidence of their unheard-of brutality. Fragments of the unconsumed bones, however, still remained; but even these were collected, and attempted to be hidden from human eye. But the vengeance of Providence was not to be thus thwarted; and although for a time these miscreants imagined they had effectually disguised their horrible work, circumstances led to their detection and apprehension. Birds of prey were seen hovering about the spot where the unconsumed remains yet existed, and stock-men in search of their strayed cattle were thus attracted to the locality, supposing they should find their carcasses. In this way it was that the ribs, jaw-bones, half-burnt skulls, and other portions of human skeletons were found--while symptoms of the conflagration in the vicinity were likewise detected. This led to inquiry, and ultimately to discovery of the horrible truth. The place was fifty miles from the nearest police-station, but the whole of the villains were apprehended, and their own admissions and conduct previous and subsequent to the bloody work, added to a chain of circumstantial evidence, left no doubt of their guilt. It chanced, too, that on the night previous to the murders, a heavy rain had fallen--and traces were thus discovered of horses' hoofs, as well as of the naked feet of the wretched natives, on the way to the field of death.

On the 15th of November, the prisoners were put upon their trial before the Chief Justice, Sir James Dowling, charged with the murder of a black, named Daddy, the remains of whose gigantic frame had been observed and distinguished among the discovered ashes. Every possible means had been adopted to secure the acquittal of these atrocious malefactors by an association, which had been formed with the ostensible object of preserving the property of the settlers from the incursions of the blacks. The pretence for the diabolical murders which were committed was the supposed aggressions of the natives in killing and spearing cattle; and every instance of violence of this description was carefully brought forward to secure the liberation of the prisoners, by a verdict of acquittal. The strong prejudice which was excited against the aborigines was not without its effect, and in spite of the evidence which was adduced, the jury found the prisoners "Not Guilty."

There were still other indictments against them, however, which remained to be tried, and in the month of December they were again arraigned. Upon this occasion they were not quite so fortunate, and the men above-named were declared to be "Guilty," and sentence of death was instantly passed upon them. Renewed efforts were now made in their favour; but their horrid guilt being proved beyond a doubt, Sir George Gipps, the governor, determined that the law should take its course, and on the 15th of December, 1838, the convicts underwent the execution of their sentence.

ARCHIBALD BOLAM.

TRANSPORTED FOR MANSLAUGHTER.

Few occurrences of the nature of that which is now before us, have attracted more marked attention than that of the dreadful and most mysterious death of Mr. Joseph Millie, assistant-clerk in the Savings' Bank at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. The discovery of this event took place at two o'clock in the morning of Friday the 7th of December, 1839, when flames and smoke were observed to be issuing from the offices of the Savings' Bank. The aid of the engines having been procured, the fire was in a short time extinguished, and the police then entered the house, for the purpose of ascertaining the cause of the conflagration, and that all danger was passed. Upon their going into the clerk's office, they were astonished at perceiving Mr. Millie lying extended on the hearth-rug, with such wounds upon his person as left no doubt that he had been murdered. His skull had been literally smashed in, and his brains were scattered about the room; and what was more singular, his pockets were found to be filled with coals, as if the object of his murderer had been to prevent the discovery of his dreadful crime, by securing the destruction of the body of his victim by fire.

In the adjoining room, they were more alarmed to find that Mr. Archibald Bolam, the actuary, was also lying on the floor, apparently insensible. He was lifted up, and some slight wounds were discovered in his throat, which passed through his stock; but before many minutes had elapsed he was sufficiently recovered to give an account of the mysterious affair. He said "I have lately had two or three anonymous letters, threatening to do me harm; and one was put under the door of the Savings Bank, last evening, after dark, saying that something would happen to me at home. In consequence of this, though I generally get my tea at the bank, I went home, the other clerk, Millie, having previously gone to his tea. I returned about half-past seven o'clock in the evening, and finding the door locked as I had left it, I opened it, and put the key into my pocket. When I got into the bank I saw Millie lying on the rug, and I thought he had fallen asleep. He also has a key, and sometimes locked himself in. I then went towards my desk, intending immediately to go and speak to Millie; but while I was about to open my desk, I thought I heard some one coming behind, and was in the act of turning round, when I received a blow on my right temple from a man in disguise, with his face blackened. I immediately started up, and ran shouting towards the window, intending to give an alarm, on which the fellow followed me, and said if I stirred, or made the least noise, he would serve me as he had served the other man. He struck me again when I was near the window; and when I was down, I felt a knife at my throat. Shortly after this I became insensible for a while; but afterwards my recollection seemed to return, and I heard somebody in the other office, as I supposed, going about and making a noise. I dared not make the least outcry. I burnt the threatening letters which I had previously received. The one which I found last night under the waiting-room door I left upon my desk. I cannot well describe the man, excepting that I think he was under the middle size, and spoke roughly, but apparently in a feigned voice. I had a few shillings in my pocket, and I think 4_l._ 10_s._ in my desk, which was left by Mr. Airey to deposit on Saturday. In the inner safe I had a further sum of 80_l._ of my own, which I kept to meet current expenses." Further than this, Mr. Bolam said he had no recollection of what took place.

A story so extraordinary at once excited suspicion, more especially when it was discovered that the apparent object of the supposed murderer, namely plunder, had been left unfulfilled. The greater part of the papers and books of the bank were discovered to be undisturbed, and uninjured by the fire; and although the outer door of the strong-box was standing open, the inner lock was still fast. The key of this lock was stated (by Bolam) to have been left by him in his desk, but it was now nowhere to be found.

At a coroner's inquest held upon the body of the deceased, Bolam was examined at great length; but the confusion which he exhibited, and the inconsistency of his declarations still further increased the belief which was generally entertained, that he had himself committed the murder, and had fired the house to conceal the act, while he hoped to divert suspicion from himself by a simulated attempt at violence on his own person. The inquiries and statements of the police confirmed this suggestion; and at the conclusion of the inquest, a verdict of "Wilful Murder" was returned against him, and he was taken into custody. The investigation, however, was still carried on by Stevens, the superintendant of the constables of the town, with the most praiseworthy diligence. At a search of the house of the prisoner new evidence was procured. This consisted of the discovery of the key which was missing from the Savings' Bank, and also of a considerable sum of money in gold, which was concealed behind some books. It was also ascertained that Bolam had been seen at his own house at a period later than that at which he stated he had quitted it; and many other minute facts were learned at variance with his declarations. A new and more extensive search at the Savings' Bank brought fresh cause of suspicion to light. The absence of blood on the spot where the prisoner had been found lying, and the evident fact of the blood having flowed down his clothes, as if the wound had been inflicted while he was in a sitting posture, clearly showed the falsity of his story in this particular; and the further circumstance that three of the most recent account-books were missing, tended in some degree to supply a motive for the commission of such a crime by him, although it could hardly be supposed, that where means so much more easy to procure their destruction, had such been his object, could have been resorted to, he would have been guilty of an offence so atrocious in order to attain so simple an end. The excitement which prevailed upon the subject throughout the kingdom was very great, and motives and reasons for the commission of the crime by the prisoner of all descriptions were assigned, but the most reasonable, and that which was eventually adopted by the jury upon the trial was, that some misunderstanding having arisen between Bolam and Millie, the former, in the heat of passion and anger, had assaulted the latter with the poker, and destroyed him; and had then arranged the tale which he subsequently narrated, and the appearances which were exhibited in order to conceal his guilt.

The sympathy which was created for the family of the unfortunate Millie was extraordinary. He had been left a widower with four children, and he had striven hard amidst adversities and vicissitudes of the most painful nature to maintain his children in a respectable station. Through the instrumentality of Bolam he was appointed to the situation which he held, the salary of which was 60_l._ a year, and he had performed the duties attached to it with great credit. The managers of the bank took care that his family should not be left entirely destitute in consequence of his death, and they liberally provided them with the means of immediate support; but an equally generous feeling was displayed by the public, and in less than one month 1000_l._ were collected by subscription to be appropriated to their use.

At the Spring Assizes of the year 1839, a bill of indictment was preferred against Bolam, for the wilful murder of the deceased; but in consequence of the very strong feeling which then prevailed against him, and the uncertainty which might be said to exist as to his obtaining a fair and impartial trial, the conclusion of the proceedings against him was postponed to the ensuing Assizes.

On Monday, the 29th of July, 1839, he was tried at Newcastle before Mr. Baron Maule. The case for the prosecution occupied the greater part of two days. At its conclusion, a great number of witnesses were called to the prisoner's character. The learned baron, in summing up, after having remarked upon the evidence produced to substantiate the crime of murder, said, "The prisoner may be guilty of the death of Millie under other circumstances. Some difference or altercation may have taken place between them. The evidence goes to show that there was no ill-will or malice; but among a thousand causes some spark of anger may have been kindled and blown up; a scuffle may have ensued, and the man at the bar may, in a state of excitement, have been the death of the deceased; and if he were so, and blows passed between them in conflict, he would have been guilty of manslaughter, and that would furnish motives enough for a statement which would, in his opinion, screen him from banishment from his native country and his friends. This view furnishes motives quite sufficient for the fire as well as for the other facts. I do not say that this is the inference you ought to draw, nor has it been suggested on either side; it is for you to consider it." The jury seem to have adopted this suggestion; and after having been absent considering their verdict for three hours, found the prisoner guilty of "Manslaughter."

He was subsequently sentenced to be transported for life, and quitted the country in pursuance of this judgment.

FRANCIS HASTINGS MEDHURST.

CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER.

Mr. Medhurst was a young man of highly respectable connexions, and the offence of which he was found guilty was that of the manslaughter of a schoolfellow, Mr. Joseph Alsop, at the Rectory House Academy, at Hayes, in Middlesex. It would appear that this establishment was kept by the Rev. Mr. Sturmer, a clergyman of the Established Church, and minister of the parish of Hayes. Mr. Alsop and Medhurst were his pupils, the latter being about twenty-two, and the former twenty-one years of age. Mr. Dalison, another pupil, had quitted Mr. Sturmer's establishment on the morning of the day on which the unfortunate occurrence, which was subsequently the subject of judicial investigation, took place. On Saturday the 9th of March, 1839, Mr. Sturmer was in his study with Mr. Alsop and a pupil named Bunney, when Medhurst entered the apartment, and complained to Mr. Sturmer, that Dalison, whom he designated as "a blackguard," had broken the glass of his watch. Mr. Alsop, who had been a constant companion of Mr. Dalison's, indignant at the language applied to his friend, and perhaps irritated at former bickerings with Medhurst, exclaimed, "You are a liar and a blackguard for saying so!" and thereupon Medhurst, who carried a stick in his hand, immediately struck him several severe blows over the head and arms. A scuffle ensued, in the course of which Alsop wrested the stick from his opponent, and they had separated to the distance of five or six feet, when just as Alsop was again advancing towards Medhurst with the stick upraised as if to strike him, the latter suddenly drew a clasp-knife from his pocket, and opening it, stabbed his unfortunate antagonist in the belly. Mr. Sturmer had quitted the room at the commencement of the affray; and Bunney, horror-struck at the dreadful act of his fellow-pupil, rushed from the apartment to procure assistance. Mr. Sturmer now hastened back to the scene of the affray, and he found that Alsop was on the floor, supported by Medhurst, while the latter appeared to be bitterly lamenting the act of which he had been guilty. They both of them declared that they had been in the wrong, and Mr. Alsop freely forgave his scarcely less unfortunate fellow-pupil. Surgical assistance was obtained; but it proved to be without avail, and after lingering a few days the unhappy young man died.

It was not, however, until Friday the 15th of March, that Medhurst was taken into custody; and on the next day, and the following Monday, an inquest was held on the body of the deceased. From the evidence which was then produced, it appeared that the deceased and the prisoner had quarrelled upon more than one occasion before the 9th of March, and that in all these misunderstandings the part of the deceased had been taken by his fellow-pupils. Expressions of a violent description had been made use of by Medhurst, as to using a knife in case of his being attacked; and he was shown to be in the possession of an instrument of a most dangerous character. It was his habit, it appeared, to carry a stick almost constantly in his hand; and Mr. Sturmer admitted that he had known him go about the house, armed with loaded pistols. In the course of the inquiry, facts were elicited which showed a great want of energy in the conduct of Mr. Sturmer, who by his interference on the morning of the 9th of March, might have prevented the melancholy result of the quarrel, the commencement of which he witnessed. A verdict of "Wilful Murder" was returned against Mr. Medhurst by the coroner's jury, and he was conveyed to Newgate to await his trial upon that charge.

At the Central Criminal Court on Saturday the 13th of April, the prisoner was put to the bar to be tried upon the indictment which had been preferred against him, and he was found guilty of the minor offence of "Manslaughter."

Upon this conviction he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment in the House of Correction.

Mr. Medhurst, as we have already stated, was a young man of respectable connexions, and of considerable expectancies. It is not a little remarkable, that his grandfather was also tried for murder, though he escaped the consequences of his act, by proof being given of his insanity. His wife, it appears, was the victim of his attack; and her death was caused by a stab which she received from the hand of her husband in a moment of passion. For this alleged murder he was tried at the York Assizes in the year 1804, but acquitted as we have stated, on the ground of his being insane. At that time the unfortunate man was a stock-broker of eminence, possessed of great property in Yorkshire, where he kept a large establishment and a pack of hounds. At the time of the conviction of his grandson he was still alive, and an inmate of a lunatic asylum at Hillingdon, Middlesex, but bowed down by age and infirmity almost to the grave, and unconscious of the guilt of his descendant. The father of young Medhurst died about two years before his son's conviction. He had married an Italian lady, and the unfortunate culprit whose case we have detailed was the offspring of the union. There were other sons, however; one of whom was an esteemed member of the Church of England at the period of his unhappy brother's trial.

WILLIAM JOHN MARCHANT.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

The criminal in this case held the situation of footman to Mr. Henry Edgell, a magistrate, resident at No. 21 Cadogan-place, Chelsea, and the victim of his crime was a young woman, named Elizabeth Paynton, who lived as under-housemaid in the same family.

The circumstances of the case are few and simple, and may be narrated in a short compass. On Friday, the 17th of May 1839, Mr. Edgell and his family quitted the house in Cadogan-place in their carriage, for the purpose of proceeding to Foot's-cray, in Kent, leaving Marchant, the deceased, the cook, and the upper house-maid, at home. The two latter individually also went out, and thus Marchant and the girl Paynton were left alone in the house. On their return they were unable to obtain admittance; and the coachman and upper-footman having now got back from Foot's-cray, they went to the stables and procured their aid. Middleton, the coachman, scaled the garden-wall, and with some difficulty burst open the back-kitchen door, and having let in the other servants they all proceeded to examine the house. On their reaching the drawing-room, they saw the deceased lying on the floor, and it was at first supposed that she and Marchant were lying there together. This idea, however, was immediately dispelled by the discovery of a pool of blood near the head of the unfortunate young woman, whose throat was observed to be dreadfully cut. A razor lay by her side, which was evidently the weapon with which she had been killed; and it being ascertained that Marchant had absconded, suspicion at once attached to him. Surgical assistance was at once called in, but in vain. The carotid artery and jugular vein had been severed by a most determined cut; and the wretched young woman must have been dead some hours. Upon an examination of the body it became evident that the deceased had struggled hard before the murderer was able to effect his object, as her hands were found to be much cut; but there were no appearances to justify the supposition which was entertained, that there had been any criminal assault committed upon her person.

On the Sunday after the murder, Marchant surrendered himself into the custody of a police-officer at Hounslow, to whom he at once confessed the murder, without, however, assigning any reason for its commission. He appeared to be terrified at what he had done; and as he walked into town frequently looked behind him, declaring that he fancied he heard the murdered woman at his back.

On Friday, the 21st of June, the prisoner pleaded "guilty" to the indictment for the murder which had been found against him at the Central Criminal Court, and sentence of death was immediately passed upon him. He appeared to be in a lamentable state of weakness and misery, and to be deeply penitent for his crime. He subsequently entered freely into conversation upon the subject of the murder, and confessed the circumstances attending its commission. He stated that he had found the deceased in the drawing-room of his master's house, and had made overtures to her of an improper character, which she had indignantly repulsed. He strove to force the unhappy girl to a compliance with his wishes, but she resisted with her utmost strength; and then drawing the razor from his pocket, which he had taken from the upper-footman's pantry on his way from the kitchen, in a moment of ungovernable passion he cut her throat in three places, with the greatest determination, amidst her cries for mercy and of "murder."

On Monday the 8th of July the wretched culprit was executed. He met his death with much firmness, and was apparently sincerely penitent. He was attended to the scaffold by the Rev. Mr. Carver, the ordinary of the jail, newly appointed in the room of Dr. Cotton, who had so long held that post, but had recently resigned.

The unhappy youth Marchant, at the time of his execution had only reached the age of eighteen years. He was the son of decent parents, and had been remarkable during the early part of his life, the greater portion of which he had spent in service, for his extreme humanity and gentleness of disposition. The victim of his crime was twenty years old at the time of her death. She was a young woman of prepossessing appearance and of sprightly disposition, and she had often laughed at her fellow-servant and eventual murderer, for a supposed affection which he professed for her. Up to the moment of their being last seen together, however, they were upon the best terms. The dreadful crime of Marchant could only be attributed to the cause which was assigned for it by its perpetrator.

LEWIN CASPAR, ELLIS CASPAR, EMANUEL MOSES, AND ALICE ABRAHAMS.

CONVICTED OF FELONY.

The extraordinary robbery to which these persons were parties, involved circumstances probably more singular than any other which ever came before a court of justice. The affair has generally been known by the name of the "Gold-dust Robbery;" the produce of the plunder being gold-dust of the value of upwards of 4000_l._; and the facts which attended the investigation of the circumstances most forcibly illustrated the adage, that "When rogues fall out honest men get their own." As will be observed from the names of the culprits, the persons who were convicted were of the Jewish persuasion; and truly, the proverbial cunning and habits of cheating of these people were most singularly exemplified throughout the whole course of the inquiry.

On Monday afternoon the 25th of March 1839, the robbery was effected. It appears that two boxes of gold-dust, from the mines of the Brazilian Mining Company in South America, had reached England on the 18th of the month, and had been landed at Falmouth from H.M.S. Sea-gull, from whence they were to be forwarded to London, consigned to Messrs. Marsh and Co., the agents of the Company. At Falmouth they were put on board the City of Limerick steam-ship, and on Monday morning, the 25th of March, they were landed at the wharf of the Dublin Steam-packet Company at St. Katherine's. On the same morning a letter was received by Messrs. Hartley and Co., the agents of the Dublin Steam Navigation Company, in John-street, Crutchedfriars, to whom the City of Limerick steamer belonged, purporting to be from Messrs. Carne and Co., of Falmouth, apprising them of the transmission of the gold-dust, and instructing them to hand it over to a person who should call at their office, and produce certain documents. This letter was opened by Lewin Caspar, a clerk in the establishment; and on the same afternoon a person drove up to the counting-house, and presenting certain papers desired that the boxes of precious metal should be delivered to him. From his manner no suspicion was raised, and the credentials which he produced, giving a description of the boxes and the marks upon them, tended to remove all doubt as to the authenticity of the character which he had assumed. His right to the boxes, therefore, being apparently established, he paid the wharfage dues, and the trunks with their golden contents were placed in the cab in which he had arrived. He gave the foreman of the wharf a shilling for his civility, and then drove away without the smallest suspicion being excited that he was not fully entitled to the goods which he had claimed.

In a few hours, however, an authorised agent of Messrs. Marsh, the consignees, arrived at the counting-house, and making known his character, and demanding the gold-dust upon the authority of vouchers which he produced, the fraud was discovered. The contents of the boxes were valued at 4600_l._, and as this loss would fall upon the Dublin Steam-packet Co., the consternation which was created among their servants at this event may be well imagined. Instant steps were taken to secure the individual by whom the robbery had been so ingeniously effected, and Lea, and Roe, police-officers, were engaged to pursue the necessary investigation. In the course of the same day the cab which had conveyed the thief to Messrs. Hartley's wharf was discovered, and the driver questioned, but the only information which he could afford was, that the individual who had employed him had hired him in Cheapside, and he had driven him back to Wood-street, where he had quitted his vehicle and had entered another cab, which proceeded in a direction towards Holborn. A clue so vague was not easily to be followed; but the officers pursued their investigation with unabated vigour and determination, and at length after infinite difficulty they traced the thief to No. 12 New-street, London Hospital; from whence, however, they found he had now removed to a house in Mansell-street, Goodman's-fields, with all his furniture, but from which again he had absconded no one knew whither. From the inquiries made by the officers they ascertained that the name of this person was Moss; and that he was foreman to Mr. Hyams, a watchmaker in Goodman's-fields; that before the robbery, as well as on the day of its commission, he had been observed to be in frequent and earnest conversation with Ellis Caspar, whose son, Lewin Caspar, as we have already stated, held the situation of confidential clerk to Messrs. Hartley and Co. No time was lost in taking these persons into custody, and then it was elicited from the servant of Moss, that both those individuals had occasionally visited her master;--that on the day of the robbery, Moss, contrary to custom, went out in his best clothes, and that in the evening he came home in a cab with two boxes corresponding in appearance with those which had contained the gold-dust, and the half-burned fragments of which she subsequently saw under the grate of the sitting-room. Some mysterious whisperings after this took place between Moss, and his wife, and her sister; and on the next morning they quitted New-street for Mansell-street. The description which was given of Moss exactly corresponded with that of the thief; and the exertions of the officers were now applied to secure his apprehension.

In the course of the inquiries which were now made, the circumstance of the purchase of a large quantity of bar gold by Messrs. Bull and Co., bullion-dealers in Cheapside, from Mr. Henry Solomons, a gold refiner at No. 58, Strand, was elicited, and Messrs. Bull and Co. instantly afforded every assistance to the police. On Saturday, the 6th of April, Mr. Solomons was examined at Lambeth-street police-office, when he admitted having sold 1200_l._ worth of bar-gold to Messrs. Bull; but he stated, that that gold was the produce of a large quantity of snuff-boxes and other articles which he had melted, the precise nature of which he could not describe; that he had received the 1200_l._ and had paid a great portion of it away; but finally, he protested against being further questioned, and refused to give any more information upon the subject.

At a subsequent examination Mr. Solomons was placed at the bar with the two Caspars as a principal in the robbery; and then Moss, who upon an understanding that he should be admitted in evidence against the prisoners, had surrendered himself into custody, appeared as a witness. The effect produced upon the prisoners, by his presenting himself in this capacity, was remarkable; and it was observed that Solomons, no longer confident, appeared to be applying himself to devise means to be placed in the position of his late coadjutor. The evidence of Moss explained the whole transaction, and showed the extraordinary workings of the system of villany which was carried on. For the present his statement was not published, as there were yet other persons to be secured; but it was understood that it amounted to a complete revelation of the whole of the circumstances attending the robbery.

On Tuesday May the 7th, two new prisoners were placed at the bar, named Emanuel Moses, or "Money Moses," as he was familiarly called, and Alice Abrahams, his daughter, who was a widow; but as there were still other parties not in custody, who had been participators in the transaction, it was deemed advisable that secrecy should still be observed upon the subject of the evidence which had been obtained. From other witnesses, however, the fact of the sale of a large quantity of gold-dust by Moses and his daughter to Solomons directly after the robbery was elicited; and it was also shown that the latter in melting it down, had thrown copper and silver into it, in order to change its exact character, and thereby prevent its identification.

On Saturday, May the 25th, another examination took place of the prisoners, when Solomons was also admitted in evidence; and at length, on Friday the 21st of June, the prisoners, Lewin and Ellis Caspar, Money Moses, and Alice Abrahams, were committed for trial.

On Monday, June the 24th, the trial commenced at the Central Criminal Court, before Mr. Justice Littledale, but it occupied a period of no less than eight days, only terminating on Tuesday the 2nd of July.

The prisoners were indicted together with one Isaac Isaacs, alias Davis, not in custody. The indictment alleged the robbery to have been committed by some evil-disposed person, and then stated that before the said felony was committed, the prisoners, Lewin and Ellis Caspar, did feloniously incite and encourage the said evil-disposed person to commit the felony; it then alleged that Ellis Caspar, Emanuel Moses, and Alice Abrahams, had received the stolen property, well knowing it to have been stolen.

Mr. Clarkson stated the facts of the case to the jury, and then proceeded to the examination of the witnesses.

The arrival of the gold-dust at Falmouth by the Seagull was proved, as well as its subsequent transmission to London by the City of Limerick, and its arrival at St. Katherine's on the morning of the 25th of March. It was then shown that on the 23rd of March, Messrs. Carne and Co. of Falmouth, despatched a letter to Messrs. Hartley, informing them of the valuable commodities which would be delivered to their keeping; and it was also proved, that on the arrival of the City of Limerick in London, the boxes were delivered into the custody of the younger Caspar, the clerk at the wharf, who promised to take care of them. It was shown that young Caspar exhibited great anxiety about the boxes, and that on the messenger coming for them, he at once delivered them over to him, although he had previously expressed some fears lest the papers which he brought should not be genuine documents. Caspar on that morning had gone unusually early to his office; and upon the letter arriving from Messrs. Carne, he opened it, and subsequently went out. He came back, however, before any application was made for the gold-dust, and remained until it was handed over to the messenger who went to fetch it. When the robbery was discovered, he affected great consternation and alacrity, and proceeded at once to give a description of the person by whom the boxes had been obtained; but he so falsified the account which he delivered, that but for the fact of his having been seen and observed by other servants in the warehouse, who correctly described his person, all clue to his identity must have been lost.

Henry Moss, the approver, was then called, and his evidence showed that a design, such as that which was at length completed, had long been in contemplation by the two Caspars, but that a favourable opportunity for putting it into execution did not occur until the month of March 1839. He stated that he had been acquainted with the elder Caspar, who was a watchmaker living on Finsbury Pavement, for about sixteen years, having for some time acted as his foreman. Young Caspar learned the business of a watchmaker from him; but subsequently he ascertained that he had procured employment as a clerk in the service of the Irish Steam Packet Company. He had been frequently in the habit of seeing the two prisoners during the last sixteen or eighteen months before the robbery; and in October 1838, at the invitation of Ellis Caspar, he called upon them at their house. He was subsequently frequently requested to visit them, but he did not avail himself of the invitations; and at length the cause of their apparent friendly disposition was exhibited by old Caspar saying that he wanted him "to do him a favour." He said that he was willing to do what he could for him; and then he desired him to meet him at Williams' Coffee-house, St. Martin's-le-grand, where a person would join them, who would explain the business to him. He went there and met old Caspar, but he took him away from the house; and having entered a cab with him, they drove to Charing-cross, where he said they should meet the person he had spoken of. They went into a coffee-house, and there they saw Lewin Caspar; but as the room was crowded the subject was not then broached, and they all walked out into the park. Here old Caspar desired his son to explain what he wanted done, and after some preliminary observations he began. He said that he wanted the witness to carry a letter for him to Crutched-friars, and to take away some boxes, which he was to deliver to his father. Old Caspar would give him the letter on the day when he was to carry it; and he (young Caspar) would give him the boxes. He added that if he would do them this service, they would amply recompense him, and that they employed him in preference to a ticket-porter, who could do the business as well as he, because the matter required secrecy, as his father must not be seen in it. The letter which he referred to was to be carried on the next morning; and he was to meet old Caspar at a coffee-house near Monument-yard. He went to the specified spot, and presently saw old Caspar; but he said that he had not yet seen his son, from whom he was to obtain the letter. He went out, but returned in about a quarter of an hour, accompanied by his son, who had in his hand what appeared to be a letter. Lewin Caspar then said that the box which he was to fetch was to come by a ship which had not yet arrived, and that they must all meet again in the afternoon; but on their second assemblage at the same place, he declared that an accident had occurred in two ships having run foul of each other, in consequence of which the delivery of the box, which was at the bottom of the cargo, would be delayed until the next day. On that day they met again; but then Lewin Caspar said that the box would be too heavy for him to carry, and having given him ten shillings, they dismissed him with an intimation that they should require his aid on some other occasion, and that they would write to him. He subsequently received several notes from them, and met them according to appointment, and he was then employed in copying various letters, which from his description of them, appeared to have had the same object of plunder, as that on which, in the present instance, the gold-dust had been delivered. At length, on the 24th of March, he met the two Caspars in Turner-street, Commercial-road. They went with him to his house in New-street, and then they told him that they should want him on the next morning, and they desired him to meet them at the corner of Mark-lane. He went there at half-past ten o'clock, and saw them together; but Lewin quitted his father, and the latter then came up to him, and said that he had something to give to him, but did not like to do so in the street. They, in consequence, went to a Coffee-house in Mark-lane, and there old Caspar handed a letter and a blue bag to him. He was desired to take a cab and go to Lewin Caspar, at his office, and he was told that he would there receive something which he was to carry to Wood-street, Cheapside. He accordingly proceeded to the office of Messrs. Hartley, in John-street, Crutched-friars, and having sent in the letter Lewin Caspar came to him. He compared the letter which he (Moss) had delivered, with another which he held in his hand, and then he said that he must go into the office. In a few minutes he gave him an order on the back of the letter, with instructions that he should present it at the Dublin Steam-wharf, Iron-gate Stairs, adding that he should be there as soon as he. The witness, before he proceeded to the wharf, delivered some articles for his master, and he also took a fresh cab in Cheapside, having left that in which he had before ridden in King William-street. On his reaching the wharf he presented the order, and two boxes were delivered to him by Mr. Bristoll, the foreman, which he put into the cab. He gave a receipt for them, signed in the name of Dunn; and he ordered the cabman to drive him to the Cross Keys, Wood-street. Ellis Caspar was not there, and the boxes were carried into the office, but in a few minutes he got another cab, and drove to the London Hospital. He took one of the boxes and carried it to his own house, where he deposited it in a cupboard, in his bed-room, and he was returning for the other, when he met Ellis Caspar. He told him that he had acted imprudently, in going so near home with the cab, and desired him to drive about for an hour before he took away the other box, and then to take it out at a distance from New-street, and carry it home. He accordingly did so, and having at length quitted the cab at the Iron Bridge, Commercial-road, he entered an omnibus with the box, from which he took it to his own house. There he found Caspar waiting for him, apparently in a great state of trepidation. He told him to send his servant out of the way, and that he must get rid of the boxes as soon as possible; but he (Moss) declared, that having received an assurance that he should suffer no harm from what he had done, he was not afraid. Caspar said that the officers were already on the look out, and that he must quit his house immediately; but he answered that he could not do so, as he had not given notice to his landlord. To this Caspar replied that he must sacrifice every thing, and directed him to meet him on the next evening, when he would pay him whatever he required. At eleven o'clock the boxes were taken into the back parlour, Ellis Caspar, Mrs. Moss, and the witness then only being present. The boxes were opened, as Caspar said, in order that their contents might be divided, to be carried away; but inside there appeared to be tin cases; and as these were small, it was decided that they should not be broken, but that they should be divided among them, and carried off. Caspar then went away; and after he had retired, the witness and his wife set about burning the boxes. It was daylight before they went to bed. On the next morning the witness opened one of the tin cases, and found it to contain gold ore. He wrapped all the boxes in paper, and put each into a separate trunk, and they were on that afternoon carried to Mansell-street, in a truck. On the same evening the witness met Ellis Caspar at the Horse Guards, and he told him that the boxes must be again removed. The witness wished him to remove them, but he refused, saying, that his son was already suspected, and he expected that his house would be searched. He advised him then to get his sister, Mrs. Levy, to take a lodging, and to carry away the gold in trunks to her. They were then to be sent down to Bath, to a direction which he gave, and the two Caspars were afterwards to go and fetch them. This plan, however, was subsequently abandoned, and by the desire of Caspar the witness went out of the way, because it was said that the officers were in search of him. He went to the house of his father-in-law Davis, in Coventry-court, and the gold was brought there to him. He kept it for some time in a cupboard, but then Davis would not let it remain there any longer, saying, that his (witness) house had been searched, and Davis and Mrs. Abrahams carried it away in small portions. Mrs. Abrahams subsequently told him that it had been sold to Solomons, for 2000_l._; but he complained that this was short of the actual value, and she declared that she had taken all she could get. She then handed over to him an I O U for 1807_l._, signed "H. S.", and money and bank-notes, which raised the sum to 2000_l._ The witness subsequently went out of the way to Peckham, and other places; but at length disclosed his knowledge of the transaction, and surrendered himself into custody.

It may be mentioned here as a singular circumstance in the case, that the witness was induced to give information of what had occurred in consequence of an apparent disposition on the part of Solomons to deprive him of the fair price of the gold. So far, too, did all the parties carry their schemes of mutual plunder, that Mrs. Abrahams "welled" 13_l._ which she procured for the shakings of her pockets in which she had carried the gold-dust, of which she gave no account to her father or any of the other parties to the transaction.

The evidence of Solomons distinctly implicated both Moses and his daughter. He stated that on Easter Tuesday the former entered his shop and intimated a desire to speak to him privately. They went to his sitting-room, and then Moses informed him that he had a quantity of gold-dust for sale. He agreed to purchase as much as fifty ounces, at 3_l._ per ounce, and Moses went away, saying he would send his daughter with some of the gold, and adding, "Mind, you don't know me, nor I don't know you." In a short time Mrs. Abrahams entered the shop and said, that she had brought what her father had spoken about, and she directly went with witness to his melting-room, which was on the ground-floor, at the back of his house. He put a crucible on the furnace, and she produced from her bosom and other parts of her dress a large quantity of gold. He melted it and then placed it in skillets, in which he took it into the shop and weighed it. There were one hundred and two ounces. He was alarmed and agitated; and Mrs. Abrahams perceiving his terror, took his hand and swore a Hebrew oath that she would never disclose what she knew. Before she went away, he gave her a memorandum of the weight of the gold, and paid her 350_l._ in notes and sovereigns for it. In about three-quarters of an hour she brought more, and she subsequently went and came six times, producing gold upon every occasion. The witness had to send to the city for money, and at the end of the transaction he was still in her debt to the amount of about 2500_l._ He gave an I O U for the amount, but that was returned to him, and then he gave her another for 1807_l._ He also paid her 13_l._ for some gold which she produced, and which she said were the shakings of the bag. The witness went into the minutiæ of the transaction between him and Mrs. Abrahams, and admitted that he for some time refused to pay his I O U, on the ground that there had been a great stir made about the gold, and that after his examination at Lambeth-street he had exerted himself to procure the notes which he had paid to her cashed. He had sold a part of the gold to Messrs. Bull and Co., and a part to Messrs. Cock and Johnson, and he had made "good profit" of the transaction. The total amount which he was to pay Mrs. Abrahams was 3700_l._

Both Moss and Solomons underwent long and searching cross-examinations by the counsel for the prisoners. Each admitted his knowledge of the felonious nature of the proceedings in which he was engaged, and neither attempted to deny the feelings which had actuated them throughout the transaction. A disposition had been shown to put off Moss with the paltry amount which he had received beyond the I O U for his share in the transaction. He sought to appropriate to himself the whole of the proceeds of the robbery in preference to handing it over to the Caspars: Mrs. Abrahams and her father, Money Moses, cheated Moss, by declaring that they were to receive much less for the gold than had been actually agreed to be paid: Mrs. Abrahams, again, cheated her father, by appropriating to herself the 13_l._ for the shakings; and Solomons sought to "Jew" the whole party, by retaining in his possession 1800_l._ worth of gold, for which he gave only his I O U, and for which he refused to pay, in consequence of the stir which was made about the robbery.

On Monday, the first of July, a variety of legal objections were taken by Mr. Serjeant Bompas and Mr. C. Phillips on the part of the prisoners to the indictment, the most prominent of which was, that until, by the conviction of the thief, the robbery had been proved, the receivers could not be found guilty. On the part of Lewin Caspar, however, it was also urged, that the indictment was bad, as alleging him to be an accessory before the robbery, which was stated to have been committed by an evil-disposed person, whose name was not mentioned.

These objections were overruled by the learned judge as being unfounded; but, upon the application of counsel, they were reserved for discussion in the Court of Error, and on Tuesday, 2nd July, the case was left to the jury. His lordship's charge occupied a period of eight hours, and at its conclusion the jury retired.

In about an hour, however, they again came into court, and delivered a verdict, declaring Lewin Caspar "Guilty of inciting Moss to commit the felony, and the whole of the other prisoners guilty of the offence of receiving the gold-dust, knowing it to have been stolen." Ellis Caspar was declared to have been an accessory both before and after the robbery, and Alice Abrahams was recommended to mercy, on the ground that she had acted under the advice and influence of her father.

On the 10th of November in the same year, the objections which had been raised on the trial were argued before the judges in the Exchequer Chamber. Their decision was not immediately made known, but on the 6th February 1840, the prisoners were ordered to be placed at the bar.

Mr. Justice Williams then addressed them, and said that, after a full inquiry into the objections raised in their behalf, the judges had come to the conclusion that the judgment upon Lewin Caspar must be arrested, and that with regard to the other prisoners, they had been properly convicted. The learned judge then sentenced Ellis Caspar, and Emanuel Moses to be transported for fourteen years, and Alice Abrahams to four months' imprisonment.

Upon the application of Mr. Clarkson, Lewin Caspar was ordered to be detained.

On the 6th of March 1840, Lewin Caspar was again placed at the bar, to plead to another indictment which had been preferred against him, in which the error which had been discovered in that on which he had been already tried was corrected by the "evil-disposed person" by whom the robbery was committed being stated to be Henry Moss. The indictment alleged that he had incited and moved Moss to commit the felony, and Moss was also charged as the principal. Caspar pleaded "Not guilty," but Moss, on being brought up, confessed himself "Guilty."

Mr. Clarkson intimated, that the prosecutors were not desirous of proceeding against Moss, in consequence of his having assisted the due administration of justice, by disclosing all he knew in reference to the transaction, and he was sentenced to twenty-four hours' imprisonment in Newgate.

On the following day Caspar was arraigned upon the indictment against him, which still remained to be tried.

The same evidence which had been before detailed was now again produced, Moss being the principal witness in the case, and the prisoner was found "Guilty."

The learned Judge, in sentencing him to be transported for seven years, expressed his sincere regret that he had not the power to inflict upon him a more severe punishment. The prisoner was then removed from the bar, and was sent abroad, in obedience to the judgment pronounced upon him.

The positions and rank of all the persons connected with this extraordinary transaction have been referred to in the course of the details which we have laid before our readers, with the exception of Emanuel Moses. There were few persons well acquainted with the vicinity of Covent-garden to whom the person of this man was not familiar, although his particular character and practices may not have been so well known. He was, as we have already intimated, of the Jewish persuasion, and he resided in the midst of a neighbourhood in which the fullest opportunities were afforded for his carrying on a system, the nature of which may be pretty well guessed from the circumstances disclosed in the case which we have just related. The landlord of "The Black Lion" public-house, in Vinegar-yard, Drury-lane--it was pretty generally known that he was one of the most daring and successful "fences," or receivers of stolen goods in the metropolis. The ramifications of his business were well ascertained to extend to every species of roguery which existed in London, and it cannot but be matter of surprise, that a person whose reputation was so universally known should have so long continued, in the very teeth of the authorities, to pursue his trade of plunder. Such an event as the conviction of "Money Moses," almost the father of his particular line of trade, produced an amazing consternation among his fellows; but the metropolis is to be congratulated, that a person whose character was so notoriously mischievous, should have been thus removed from the scene of his operations. During the period of Moses's imprisonment in Newgate, a striking change took place in his appearance. Originally exhibiting upon his person all the signs of indulgent living, his confinement reduced him to the shadow only of his former self; and there were to be heard amongst his friends, at the time of his receiving sentence, regrets at his faded aspect, and apprehensions that the voyage to Australia would complete the work which the air of a prison had commenced.

It will have been observed, that the manner in which the whole of the lost property was discovered has been disclosed in the course of our recital of the extraordinary circumstances of this inquiry. Messrs. Hartley and Co., upon whom the loss would have fallen in case of the non-recovery of the gold, suffered comparatively small damage. A very considerable portion of the gold itself was produced; and, for that which was not actually forthcoming, we believe there is good reason to suppose that an equivalent was eventually paid.

JACOB FREDERICK EHLERT.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

This diabolical murder was committed by Ehlert, the mate of the Norwegian brigantine Phoenix, upon John Frederick Berkhalt, captain of the vessel, while she lay in the river at Sunderland. The atrocious transaction was first brought to light by the discovery of the murdered remains of Berkhalt in the river at Sunderland, on Friday the 14th of June 1839, with such appearances upon his body as left no doubt that his life had been taken away by violent means; and suspicion at once attached to the crew of his vessel. They were all secured, protesting their ignorance of the murder, and alleging that the captain had gone ashore on the night of the previous Tuesday, since which they had seen nothing of him; but the discovery of marks of blood in his cabin left little doubt of his having been murdered on board the Phoenix, and then thrown into the river, in order that his death might be concealed. This belief was speedily confirmed by the confession of a boy named Daniel Frederick Muller, aged nineteen, who was employed in the ship, and who now voluntarily disclosed the whole of the circumstances of the horrible crime, implicating Ehlert the mate.

His statement was to the following effect:--On the night of Tuesday the 11th of June, he had the twelve-o'clock watch, and at about half-past one Ehlert came on deck and called him below. He asked what he was wanted for, but he was desired to ask no questions, but to follow whither he was led. The mate had a hammer and a lantern in his hand, and he went into the captain's cabin. When there he gave the lantern to Muller and desired him to hold it, and then he directly raised his hammer and dealt three tremendous blows on the head of Berkhalt as he lay asleep. The unfortunate man scarcely moved; but Muller, terrified beyond measure, exclaimed, "Mate, what are you doing?" and tried to run away. In this, however, the mate prevented his succeeding, and seizing him by his arm, he said that he must remain. The mate then took the body from the bed and slung a rope round the neck, and he partially clothed it in a pair of stockings and trousers, and then drew a canvas bag over it. The boy now again attempted to escape, but the mate threatened to murder him if he went away, and drew a clasp-knife from his pocket, as if to put his threat into execution; but he told him that if he remained he would give him 300_l._, for that there was plenty of money in the captain's cabin. The boy soon after went on deck and wept bitterly, and while he was there the mate came to him and took the skylight off the captain's cabin. He then cut a long cord off the gear, and going below again he tied it round the body, so that he could raise it by that means through the skylight. On his again reaching the deck, he ordered Muller to bring the boat round to the side, and while he was doing so, the boy saw him throw the body over the stern. Both then entered the boat, the mate holding the rope which was attached to the body of the deceased, and they rowed away to the opposite side of the river. The mate there picked up a large stone, and they pulled some distance up against the tide. As they went along the trousers and bag slipped from the body. At length they stopped, and then the mate fixing the stone upon the body let it go, and it sank to the bottom. They now returned to the ship, and Ehlert having called the next watch retired to rest, telling the boy that at four o'clock, the conclusion of the present watch, he would call him up as if to take the captain ashore, so that the crew might suppose that he did so. This was done, and he rowed away the boat as if he had the captain in her. The night of the murder was dark and rainy. The boy added, that he had done nothing himself in the way of assisting in the murder, but that he had tried very much to get away. The mate had, however, threatened him a great deal so as to prevent his escape, and having compelled him to aid him in the transaction, had given him instructions what to say in the event of his being questioned.

Upon this statement, Ehlert was committed to take his trial; and the boy was also detained in jail to ensure his attendance as a witness.

On Saturday the 27th of July, the prisoner Ehlert was put upon his trial at the assizes. The evidence of the boy was corroborated by that of other witnesses in many material particulars, and a verdict of "Guilty" was returned by the jury.

Sentence of death was instantly passed, amidst the unavailing protestations of the wretched convict of his innocence. Between this period and the day of his execution, Ehlert continued firm in his denial of his participation in the murder, and imputed the whole guilt of the transaction to Muller, who he said had destroyed the captain under the very circumstances which he had detailed, as having been those under which he had committed the foul crime. He said he had discovered the completion of the deed, and out of compassion for the boy had omitted to give him up to justice. Muller, however, persisted in the truth of his tale, and on the 16th of August the miserable convict was executed.

GEORGE CANT.

CONVICTED OF RAPE.

The case of this individual presents circumstances of so remarkable a character to our notice, that we should be guilty of a neglect of our duty if we omitted their recital.

At the Central Criminal Court on Thursday the 31st of October 1839, George Cant, a publican, aged forty years, was indicted for a rape upon Jane Bolland; and in order that the course which the case took may be understood, we shall repeat the evidence which was given by the witnesses at the trial, in preference to a general narrative of the proceedings.

Jane Bolland deposed that she resided with her brother in Solomon-terrace, St. George's-in-the-East. On the 30th of September she went to live as bar-maid at the Windsor-castle, public-house, Holborn, kept by the prisoner. She slept in one of the attics, and the prisoner and his wife slept in the room underneath. The prisoner called her on the morning of Thursday, the 3d of October; when she came down to the bar the prisoner patted her on the cheek with something; he laid his hand upon her breast, and insisted upon kissing her. She threatened to inform Mrs. Cant of his conduct, and he said, "What the eye did not see the heart would not believe." He then wished her to leave the door of her room open that he might come in when he came to call her in the morning; but she told him that she was not the sort of person he imagined her to be, and left the parlour. In the course of the day her brother and a person named Balfour called upon her, and she communicated to them what the prisoner had said and done to her. Mr. Balfour said, that after what had passed he did not think the prisoner would again attempt to use indecent liberties with her, and her brother, at the suggestion of Mr. Balfour, advised her not to leave her situation. Subsequently on that day she became unwell, and about eight o'clock in the evening she was conveyed up stairs to bed, but she was then so ill that she could not recollect who went up to her room with her. She was insensible when she reached her bed, but during the night she partially recovered, and then she found the prisoner at the bedside. He placed one of his hands upon her mouth to prevent her calling out, and a struggle took place and she fainted. There was a candle on the table in the room. About six o'clock in the morning she recovered her senses, and found her clothes, which had not been taken off, in disorder, and the bone of her stays broken. The offence charged in the indictment had been committed when she was in a state of insensibility. The prisoner was then standing at the door of her room, and she cried out to him, "You villain, you shall not come in." He answered, that she was a drunkard and should not again enter his bar. She went down stairs to inform Mrs. Cant of what the prisoner had done; but when she told that person that her husband had used indecent liberties with her, Mrs. Cant said, "I will not hear you, you drunken hussy." She immediately left the house, and went to her brother's, where she told what had happened to her. On the Saturday following she was examined by a medical gentleman.

On her cross-examination by Mr. C. Phillips, who appeared for the prisoner, she stated that a young man named Joseph Edwards had slept at her master's house on the night of the 3d of October, and that he accompanied her home on the next day. He was a friend of Mr. Cant's, and she had observed him in attendance at the Court. She was subject to a swimming in the head, and was suffering from this complaint when she went to bed on the evening in question. She was not intoxicated, and had taken nothing during the whole day, with the exception of one glass of half-and-half.

The brother of the prosecutrix and Mr. Balfour, a wine-merchant's clerk, corroborated that part of the evidence of the witness, which referred to her conversation with them; and Bolland further deposed, that his sister had some years previously suffered from a severe attack of erisypelas in her head, from the effects of which she had been for some time insane. She was still occasionally subject to determination of blood to the head.

The wife of Bolland, and the medical man referred to, both gave evidence which left no doubt that the offence which was complained of by the prosecutrix had been committed upon her person; and Mrs. Bolland declared that her sister-in-law, when she saw her on the Friday, exhibited all the agitation which might be supposed to be incident to such an occurrence.

The prisoner was proved to have been taken into custody by a constable named Wells, when he said that he had "only kissed the girl;" and this closed the case for the prosecution.

Mr. Phillips then addressed the jury for the prisoner, and disclosed a most extraordinary defence on his behalf. He disclaimed all intention of impeaching the young woman's character, and was happy that he had no reason for making even an insinuation against her in regard to her conduct previous to this occasion. That she was deeply to be commiserated he owned; and that she had come here to tell what she believed to be the truth, he had not the least doubt. He was sure, however, that both reason and a sense of justice would compel the jury (if the witnesses he intended to call for the prisoner should speak the truth) to say that they could not see their way through the case, and that such doubt was created in their minds, as would warrant them in acquitting the man at the bar. He approached the defence of the prisoner with the greatest anxiety of mind, because, if the evidence he intended to adduce should be discredited, the consequences to the prisoner would be truly awful. The giddiness in the head had induced those who had only been acquainted with the girl for four or five days to believe that she was intoxicated; and it was most natural, for the swimming in the head would produce all the appearances of intoxication. She was taken up stairs by a servant of the prisoner, who would describe her appearance at the time, and she would also state, that the young man Edwards came to the door with her. That she had been violated there was not the least doubt, but that the prisoner had committed the offence was by no means clear; and it would be his duty to call the young man, Edwards, who, if he (Mr. Phillips) was rightly informed, would state that he was the guilty party. The young woman had given her evidence very fairly, however, and had doubtless stated only what she considered to be truth. After Mr. Cant had been committed, Edwards had called at the office of Mr. Williams, the solicitor for the prisoner, and made a disclosure which left no doubt of the innocence of the man at the bar. He did not mean for an instant to justify the conduct of Edwards, and it was a pity that he did not make all the amends in his power to the young woman. He was a young unmarried man, and might have done so. It was unlikely the prisoner committed the offence, for, if he had been guilty, it was not probable that he would have conducted himself towards the young woman as she had stated he had done in the morning after she had recovered from her illness. He (Mr. Phillips) believed he had been a foolish man in using even the liberty he himself confessed he had done with the girl; and it would be a warning to others to beware of the consequences of the smallest deviation from a virtuous line of conduct. The liberty he had used in the morning had induced the girl to suppose that he had committed the capital offence upon her during the night. Unfortunately there were many cases in which the innocent suffered for the guilty, but there was no instance in which the innocent had actually come forward to place himself in the situation of the guilty. It was very unlikely that an individual, entirely innocent of a capital charge like the present, would come forward and put a rope about his neck, in order to free the man who had actually committed the crime. He could not, therefore, see any reason to throw doubt on the testimony of Edwards.

Jane Hollier was then called, and on being sworn stated, that she was at the Windsor Castle public-house, when this transaction was stated to have occurred; and at about eight o'clock she assisted the prosecutrix to bed. Witness thought she was in a state of intoxication at the time. About twelve o'clock witness again went up to the bed-room of the prosecutrix, accompanied by Joseph Edwards. Edwards remained at the door while she went in. She asked him to come up with her, as there was only one candle. The poor girl was lying on the bed, with her clothes on, asleep; witness covered her with blankets. Witness was in the room about five minutes, and the door was closed during that time. When she came out she found Edwards at the door, and she gave him the light, and he went towards his bed-room. She neither saw the prosecutrix nor Edwards again that night.

Cross-examined by Mr. Adolphus: The prosecutrix was not able to speak on her way up stairs. She heard the prosecutrix say to the prisoner, "You took liberties with me, you villain."

Mr. George Williams, the attorney for the prisoner, stated that he knew Joseph Edwards; that person came to his office after Cant was committed, and made a communication to him. The communication was made after the prisoner had been admitted to bail.

Thomas Shipton, pot-boy at the Windsor Castle, stated that the prosecutrix appeared to be intoxicated on the day in question. He saw her before she went up stairs, and she then presented the appearance of a person who had taken liquor.

Mrs. Sarah Goodchild, a washerwoman, stated that she was employed by Mr. Cant. She went up to the bed-room of the prosecutrix about nine o'clock on the night in question, accompanied by the prisoner and his wife. The girl was then lying across the bed, and witness, assisted by Mr. Cant, placed her straight upon the bed. They all left the room together. No light was left in the room.

Joseph Edwards was called and examined by Mr. Phillips: He was a boot-maker, and formerly slept at the house of the prisoner. He now resided at No. 2, Fenton's-buildings. He was in the habit of visiting the prisoner's family occasionally, and he slept there on the 3rd of October, when the girl Bolland was there. She went up stairs, he believed, between nine and ten o'clock. She appeared then to be intoxicated. He saw her the next morning about half-past six o'clock, and went to her brother's house with her. They went down Chancery-lane, along Fleet-street, and over Blackfriars Bridge. He told her that was the way to the Commercial-road, believing that she lived near the Commercial-road Lambeth; but it appeared that it was Commercial-road East, she wished to go to. After the prisoner was committed, he called at the office of Mr. Williams, and made a communication to that gentleman, which was true. He made a similar communication to a friend of the name of Murphy. He went into prosecutor's room about eleven o'clock on the night of the 23rd of October. He had no light with him. She was in bed. Edwards proceeded to state that he had criminal intercourse with the girl, and he felt it his duty, when the prisoner was committed, to inform Mr. Williams of what he had done.

Cross-examined by Mr. Adolphus: Witness was out of employment at the time of this transaction. He knew Mr. Cant, and the first time he slept at the Windsor Castle was on the 3rd of October. He had known Cant for four or five years. He had lodgings at Bartholomew-close on the 3rd of October. When he staid at the Windsor Castle late, he was asked to sleep there. The girl did not appear at all unwilling to submit to the intercourse; but on the contrary, appeared quite willing. He had not gone to bed before. She was not covered with blankets. He heard all that had been stated that day, when the prisoner was examined before the justices, but he did not then mention a word of what he had now said. On the way home on Friday, the prosecutrix said that Mr. Cant had called her a drunkard, and she would fix him for it. She then seemed happy enough.

Murphy corroborated this statement by declaring that the witness had told him of what he had done, after the time at which the communication had been made to Mr. Williams.

A number of witnesses were then called, who gave the prisoner an excellent character, and

Mr. Adolphus proceeded to reply. He rejoiced that Mr. Phillips had not attempted to cast any aspersion upon the character of the prosecutrix, and declared his belief that no attempt could be successfully made to show that she was unworthy of belief. The case depended entirely now upon the testimony of Edwards, and the simple question was, whether the jury would credit his statement in preference to that of the girl Bolland. No attempt was made to deny the advances which Cant had made to the girl on the morning of the 23rd of October; and he asked the jury first, whether having made those advances, it was improbable that he should have followed them up; and secondly, whether they could believe a person who came forward and told such an improbable tale as Edwards. The testimony of the prosecutrix was materially sustained in many particulars--that of Edwards received no important confirmation. True, he had gone to two persons to relate his story before he told it here, but at that time the prisoner was at large on bail; and it was to be observed that he might have done so for the express purpose of propping up an improbable story. He had said nothing about it at the police-office, although he had heard the prosecutrix examined there; and the whole relation bore so much of the impress of fiction, that the jury, he was sure, would attach no credit to his declaration.

The learned judge (Mr. Baron Gurney) in summing up contrasted the statements of the prosecutrix and Edwards with great force, and having instructed the jury upon the law affecting the case, informing them that the offence of rape might have been committed upon the prosecutrix while she was in a state of insensibility, although no resistance had been made by her, left the whole case to them for decision.

After about two hours' consideration, a verdict of "Guilty" was returned. The prisoner appeared somewhat astonished at this conclusion of the case, and loudly declared his innocence. Judgment of death was, however, recorded against him, and he was removed from the bar.

The very peculiar circumstances of this case attracted a large share of public attention; and a feeling was commonly entertained that the verdict was founded upon an erroneous view of the facts of the case. The persons who adopted this impression lost no time in conveying their opinion to the Secretary of State for the Home Department; but in spite of their most strenuous exertions in favour of Mr. Cant, the Government declined to give a decision in opposition to that which had been arrived at by the jury, although it was resolved that the sentence of death should be changed for a punishment of transportation for life.

In obedience to this determination Mr. Cant was subsequently sent out of the country.

WILLIAM LEES.

EXECUTED FOR THE MURDER OF HIS WIFE.

This melancholy affair was the result of an unfortunate excessive indulgence on the part of the convict in intoxicating liquors. William Lees was a hair-dresser, living at No. 1, Lower Chapman-street, St. George's-in-the-East, where, with his wife, he occupied a small house, the lower part of which he used in the way of his trade. Lees at the time of the dreadful occurrence was thirty-five years of age, and his wife was five years younger. They had been married a period of five years, but they had been known to quarrel frequently.

On Tuesday the 19th of November 1839, between two and three o'clock in the afternoon, Lees was observed to close his shop, and quit his house. He went directly to the residence of some relatives at Islington, apparently in a state of great perturbation; and after a few minutes' conversation, he disclosed to them the appalling fact, that he had murdered his wife on that afternoon, by cutting her throat with a razor. This was found upon investigation to be unhappily true. The body of the wretched woman was discovered extended at full length on the floor of her husband's shop; her throat being so dreadfully cut, as that her head was nearly off; her face being fearfully gashed and wounded, as if in the efforts of the murderer before he could effectually complete his design.

Information was immediately given to the police authorities, and Lees was taken into custody, and conveyed to the station-house in Ratcliffe-highway. He made no effort to deny his guilt, but stated that the horrid deed had been done while he was intoxicated, and in the midst of a quarrel when he was highly excited.

On Friday, the 28th of November, the miserable man was indicted for the murder at the Central Criminal Court. There could be no doubt of his guilt, and a verdict of conviction was returned.

The learned judge, in passing upon him the sentence of death, remarked, that the only supposed palliative circumstance in the case was that of his having been intoxicated at the time of the murder. As a warning to others, he thought it should be understood that this afforded no possible excuse. He then passed the usual judgment on the culprit, and he was removed from the bar. On the 16th of December 1839, the unfortunate man was executed at the Old Bailey, in obedience to his sentence.

THE REV. J. R. STEVENS.

CONVICTED OF SEDITION.

Mr. James Rayner Stevens was one of the most violent political preachers of his day. Originally a member of the body of the Wesleyan Methodists, and a minister of the particular creed which that respectable sect professes, he was excluded their church by reason of his interference with political subjects, in a manner which was deemed unbecoming his character as one of their clergymen. Already highly popular among the people of the district in which he resided, for his uniform opposition to those measures which they deemed harsh and hurtful to their interests, as well as for a mild and amiable disposition which, it appears, amidst all his violence on political subjects, he possessed, they were determined that he should not be without an arena in which he might display his acknowledged but dangerous powers of eloquence. The manufacturing inhabitants of Ashton, Dunkenfield, and Staley Bridge therefore quickly erected for him chapels in each of their respective districts, and here he continued to exercise his functions as a preacher, up to the period of his apprehension. As we have already said, mild, amiable, and charitable in private life, he was a universal favourite amongst his flock; but he unfortunately sought to gratify their tastes, at the same time that he obeyed the dictates of his own feelings, in disseminating doctrines opposed to the maintenance of the existing law, and subversive of the interests of society. The New Poor Law was his favourite topic of abuse; and in this he found a ready echo in the breasts of those who heard him. But from a subject which might be so easily made calculated to excite dislike towards the Ministers by whom the law was introduced, he turned to others of a more general character; and in his discourses in reference to these as well as the first object of his professed hatred, he was guilty of making assertions and employing arguments which eventually procured his indictment and imprisonment on a charge of sedition.

In his sermons Mr. Stevens boldly maintained his principles, and sought openly to make them known; he contended, not perhaps for their legality, but that they were such as he had a right to hold and proclaim; and he frequently loudly called upon the authorities, "if they dared," to impeach him of his political offences in this respect. This invitation was given once too often; and at length, on Thursday, the 28th of December 1838, he was apprehended at Ashton by Goddard and Shackell, Bow-street officers, on a warrant which had been issued by two magistrates of Lancashire, and placed in their hands for execution. Mr. Stevens made no effort to resist the law, and he was immediately taken to Manchester to be examined by the magistrates there, escorted by a company of the Queen's Bays. He was lodged in the New Bailey for that night; but on the next day a public investigation took place.

The charge made against him in the warrant was, that he did, on the 13th of November, at the market-place at Leigh--for his speech-making was not confined to his pulpit--with a great number of evil-disposed and disorderly persons, assemble together in a tumultuous manner with banners, flags, and ensigns, and that then and there, by loud shouts, and by the discharge of fire-arms, they terrified the inhabitants of Leigh; and that he did, by violent and inflammatory language, endeavour to excite the people so assembled to violence against the persons and property of divers of her Majesty's liege subjects in Leigh and its vicinity. This charge was sought to be substantiated by various witnesses, who, being inhabitants of Leigh, had heard his speech, and were able to give a general account of its tendency.

Mr. James Johnson, a linendraper, proved that on the day in question a meeting was held at the market-place in Leigh of between two and three thousand persons, at which the prisoner was present and made a speech. He described the general effect of the speech. The prisoner, he said, referred principally to the factories and the existing poor laws. He condemned the practices in the factories, and advised the people to arm themselves, and to get guns and pikes and hang them over their chimney-pieces; they were to have them ready, and then he would come over, and they should appoint him their leader, and he would tell them what they were to do. When the grand attack was made, they were to go to the factories with a dagger in one hand and a torch in the other. He referred to a particular instance of the alleged mal-treatment of a boy at the factory of Mr. Jones, and he talked of tarring and feathering Mr. Jones, and sending him as a present to the commissioners. During the meeting pistols were fired, and the people shouted. Mr. Stevens checked the firing of pistols, saying that there was too much cracking. He said that he had not done "cracking" yet, and that they might crack again by and by. The witness added, that he saw as many as twenty pistols among the crowd; and he also observed a person walking about with a pike, upon which a loaf and a herring were impaled.

William Coward, a constable of Leigh, gave a longer account of the speech than Mr. Johnson. He said that when he first went to the spot, Mr. Stevens was addressing the meeting on the condescension of our Lord in this world. He subsequently quitted this point and went to other subjects. He quoted the passage, "Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord;" and he added--"What I mean to say is, that God has perhaps raised you up to fire these buildings (alluding to the houses round about), and perhaps even that venerable church, which our forefathers have erected." He advised the people to take away their families from church, and to save their pennies to buy pikes, and guns, and pistols. At night there was another meeting by torch-light, at which Stevens again spoke in the same strain as that which he had employed in the morning. He spoke about the soldiers and officers, and said that there was nothing to fear in that quarter, for that the officers had admitted his writings into their mess-rooms, and that the soldiers had listened to his preaching, and loved to hear him. He spoke of the hardships which the people underwent, and declared that if he lived at Leigh, he would collect the people in parties of from six to twelve, and go to the poor law guardians and bring out one of their number; then he would take his coat and waistcoat and shirt off, and, having got a barrel of tar, he would cover him with it, and he would give him a pillow of feathers, and feather him, and then he would say, "Go to roost, thou devil!" At this meeting the same system of pistol-firing was kept up which had been maintained in the morning, and there were pikes to be seen, and many of the people carried torches. The witness added, that he had since seen between one and two hundred pikes in the cottages of the poor people, which had doubtless been procured at the instigation of Mr. Stevens's speech. The inhabitants of Leigh and its neighbourhood were much alarmed at the occurrences of the meetings. The witness declared his regret at being compelled to give evidence against a person whom he had known so long as Mr. Stevens, because he had been acquainted with him when he was esteemed a highly respectable member of the body of Wesleyans; but he felt bound to state what he had seen, for he was convinced that since Mr. Stevens had been in the habit of going to Leigh, there was more irritation among the people than he had ever known before. Arms had been collected, and he knew one or two smithies which were wholly employed in making pikes. These were made principally of steel, and they were fourteen or fifteen inches long; at one end was a screw, so that they might be fixed into a staff, and at the other the point was exceedingly sharp. Gentlemen in the neighbourhood had been threatened to have a pike or a ball through their bodies; and the people, on going to various shops to buy bread, had declared that they would "fetch the next at the point of the pike." The witness further stated, that there were banners at the meeting, on one of which was the inscription, "The murders of Peterloo shall never be forgot."

Both witnesses were cross-examined by Mr. Stevens with great tact and ingenuity, and eventually the conclusion of the proceedings was postponed until the following Thursday, Mr. Stevens in the meanwhile being admitted to bail.

The termination of this examination was awaited with great interest by a large number of Mr. Stevens's friends, and upon his liberation he was received with the greatest enthusiasm. On the following Sunday he preached as usual at Staley-bridge, without making any allusion to what had passed. In the evening he was proceeding to his chapel at Ashton, where he was informed that the congregation was so great that fears were entertained lest the building should fall; and eventually the service was read and the sermon delivered in the market-place by moonlight, no fewer than ten thousand persons being collected to witness this extraordinary scene.

On Monday evening Mr. Stevens attended a tea-party at Hyde, where one thousand persons were assembled. He took a review of the past year, and dwelt on the prospects of the future. He said that the factory system was doomed; and that the poor-law could not much longer continue to exist. He declared that it was so much opposed in Ashton, that a board of guardians could not be formed; and pointing to a flag which was suspended against the wall, he said that rather than it should be established, they should marshal themselves under it, and following the standard-bearer they would shout its motto,

"For children and wife We will war to the knife: Down with the bastiles, And Stevens for ever!"

On Tuesday evening a meeting was held in Manchester at which Mr. Feargus O'Connor and others addressed the people, urging them to attend the examination of Mr. Stevens in thousands and tens of thousands, but peaceably and without banners, in order to show their gratitude to their benefactor.

On Thursday at least four thousand persons were assembled outside the New Bailey, but their conduct was orderly, although they appeared to take great interest in the fate of their favourite. Mr. Stevens was in attendance precisely at the hour appointed, and he was loudly cheered, but there was no appearance of riot. There was one additional witness now examined, whose evidence was a mere repetition of that of Johnson and Coward, and on this charge Mr. Stevens was ordered to stand committed to take his trial at the next Liverpool Assizes. He was informed that there were other charges which might be brought against him with reference to the organisation of illegal societies; and it was also intimated to him, that he would be liberated upon his putting in bail to the amount of 2000_l._ for his appearance when called upon. The crowd immediately dispersed, and in the evening Mr. Stevens was discharged from custody.

On Thursday the 15th of August 1839, Mr. Stevens was put upon his trial. The indictment alleged the same offence as that which had been stated in the warrant, and it was fully supported by the same evidence which we have already detailed. At the conclusion of the trial, a verdict of "Guilty" was returned, and Mr. Stevens was sentenced to eighteen months imprisonment in Knutsford House of Correction, and was ordered on his discharge to give bail, himself in 500_l._, and two sureties in 250_l._ each, that he should keep the peace for five years.

Mr. Stevens was subsequently removed to Chester Castle, from whence, on the 1st of February 1841, he was discharged. This liberation took place eight days earlier than the term of his sentence; but, in consequence of the death of his father, the Rev. John Stevens, Lord Normanby kindly consented to the remission of the few days, to enable him to attend the last sad duties to the deceased.

THE BIRMINGHAM RIOTS--1839.

These disgraceful riots, involving the destruction of property to a very great extent, occurred on the evening of Monday the 15th of July 1839, and were the result of a long course of agitation created by the exertions of a body of men called Chartists, to obtain the adoption by Parliament of certain popular reforms of the constitution of the country, by which they conceived that the poorer classes of Englishmen might procure for themselves a better system of representation, and, therefore, a larger share of the government of the country than they had hitherto possessed. Throughout the history of every civilized state it is to be observed, that there are always parties whose desires of reform or alteration of the existing law more than keep pace with the changes which the legislature deems it fit to make. The violence of the views entertained by these persons, usually tends to render the immediate, or even the ultimate granting of their wishes, incompatible with the maintenance of those rules by which society is governed, so that whatever may be the eventual estimation in which, in the process of time, or by reason of the occurrence of events, their views may be held, a necessity exists for their being presently discouraged and checked. Of a class such as we have alluded to, are the Chartists. Denominated from the charter, upon the procurement of which they base their faith, their principles will be best comprehended by a recital of the articles of their creed; and as these have been described by themselves in a petition which they have presented to parliament, we shall have recourse to their own statement of their views, in preference to repeating in general terms that which is, in the ordinary acceptation, the ground-work upon which they proceed.

The petition to which we refer was presented by Mr. Attwood to the House of Commons on the evening of Friday the 14th of June, and was the result of numerous meetings held in Birmingham and elsewhere, at which the principles of the charter were advocated. It was denominated the "National Petition," and bore the signatures of a vast number of individuals appended to it; and it was so bulky in its form as to require to be conveyed into the house upon a platform constructed for the purpose.

It was in the following terms:--

"Unto the honourable the Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled, the petition of the undersigned, their suffering countrymen,

"Humbly sheweth,--That we, your petitioners, dwell in a land whose merchants are noted for enterprise, whose manufacturers are very skillful, and whose workmen are proverbial for their industry. The land itself is goodly, the soil rich, and the temperature wholesome; it is abundantly furnished with the materials of commerce and trade; it has numerous and convenient harbours; in facility of internal communication it exceeds all others.

"For three-and-twenty years we have enjoyed a profound peace. Yet, with all these elements of national prosperity, and with every disposition and capacity to take advantage of them, we find ourselves overwhelmed with public and private suffering.

"We are bowed down under a load of taxes which, notwithstanding fall greatly short of the wants of our rulers; our traders are trembling on the verge of bankruptcy; our workmen are starving; capital brings no profit, and labour no remuneration; the home of the artificer is desolate, and the warehouse of the pawnbroker is full; the workhouse is crowded, and the manufactory is deserted. We have looked on every side, we have searched diligently, in order to find the causes of a distress so sore and so long continued. We can discover none in nature or in Providence.

"Heaven has dealt graciously by the people; but the foolishness of our rulers has made the goodness of God of none effect. The energies of a mighty kingdom have been wasted in building up the power of selfish and ignorant men, and its resources squandered for their aggrandisement. The good of a party has been advanced to the sacrifice of the good of the nation; the few have governed for the interest of the few; while the interest of the many has been neglected, or insolently and tyrannously trampled upon.

"It was the fond expectation of the people that a remedy for the greater part, if not for the whole, of their grievances would be found in the Reform Act of 1832. They were taught to regard that Act as a wise means to a worthy end; as the machinery of an improved legislation, where the will of the masses would be at length potential. They have been bitterly and basely deceived. The fruit which looked so fair to the eye has turned to dust and ashes when gathered. The Reform Act has effected a transfer of power from one domineering faction to another, and left the people as helpless as before. Our slavery has been exchanged for an apprenticeship to liberty, which has aggravated the painful feeling of our social degradation, by adding to it the sickening of still deferred hope.

"We come before your honourable house to tell you, with all humility, that this state of things must not be permitted to continue; that it cannot long continue without very seriously endangering the stability of the throne and the peace of the kingdom; and that if, by God's help and all lawful and constitutional appliances, an end can be put to it, we are fully resolved that it shall speedily come to an end.

"We tell your honourable House, that the capital of the master must no longer be deprived of its due profit; that the labour of the workman must no longer be deprived of its due reward; that the laws which make food dear, and those which, by making money scarce, make labour cheap, must be abolished; that taxation must be made to fall on property, not on industry; that the good of the many, as it is the only legitimate end, so must it be the sole study of the Government.

"As a preliminary essential to these and other requisite changes, as means by which alone the interests of the people can be effectually vindicated and secured, we demand that those interests be confided to the keeping of the people.

"When the state calls for defenders, when it calls for money, no consideration of poverty or ignorance can be pleaded in refusal or delay of the call.

"Required as we are, universally, to support and to obey the laws, nature and reason entitle us to demand, that in making the laws, the universal voice shall be implicitly listened to.

"We perform the duties of freemen; we must have the privileges of freedom.

"We demand Universal Suffrage.

"The suffrage, to be exempt from the corruption of the wealthy and the violence of the powerful, must be secret.

"The assertion of our right necessarily involves the power of its uncontrolled exercise.

"We ask for the reality of a good, not for its semblance.

"We demand the Ballot.

"The connexion between the representatives and the people, to be beneficial, must be intimate. The legislative and constituent powers for correction and for instruction ought to be brought into frequent contact. Errors, which are comparatively light when susceptible of a speedy popular remedy, may produce the most disastrous effects when permitted to grow inveterate through years of compulsory endurance. To public safety, as well as public confidence, frequent elections are essential.

"We demand Annual Parliaments.

"With power to choose, and freedom in choosing, the range of our choice must be unrestricted. We are compelled, by the existing laws, to take for our representatives, men who are incapable of appreciating our difficulties, or who have little sympathy with them; merchants who have retired from trade, and no longer feel its harassings; proprietors of land, who are alike ignorant of its evils and their cure; lawyers, by whom the honours of the senate are sought after only as a means of obtaining notice in the courts. The labours of a representative, who is sedulous in the discharge of his duty, are numerous and burdensome. It is neither just, nor reasonable, nor safe, that they should continue to be gratuitously rendered.

"We demand that, in the future election of members of your honourable house, the approbation of the constituency shall be the sole qualification; and that, to every representative so chosen, shall be assigned out of the public taxes a fair and adequate remuneration for the time which he is called upon to devote to the public service.

"Finally, we would most earnestly impress on your honourable house, that this petition has not been dictated by any idle love of change; that it springs out of no inconsiderate attachment to fanciful theories; but that it is the result of much and long deliberation, and of convictions, which the events of each succeeding year tend more and more to strengthen. The management of this mighty kingdom has hitherto been a subject for contending factions to try their selfish experiments upon. We have felt the consequences in our sorrowful experience--short glimmerings of uncertain enjoyment swallowed up by long and dark seasons of suffering. If the self-government of the people should not remove their distresses, it will at least remove their repinings.

"Universal suffrage will, and it alone can, bring true and lasting peace to the nation; we firmly believe that it will also bring prosperity.

"May it, therefore, please your honourable house to take this our petition into your most serious consideration, and to use your utmost endeavours, by all constitutional means, to have a law passed, granting to every male, of lawful age, sane mind, and unconvicted of crime, the right of voting for members of parliament; and directing all future elections of members of parliament to be in the way of secret ballot; and ordaining the duration of parliaments so chosen shall in no case exceed one year; and abolishing all property qualifications in the members; and providing for their due remuneration while in attendance on their parliamentary duties.

"And your petitioners," &c.

During a considerable period antecedent to the preparation and presentation of this petition, the agitation which prevailed at Birmingham and throughout the neighbouring manufacturing districts was of a highly dangerous and mischievous character. Excited by the inflammatory harangues of their leaders, the people had not been averse to follow the advice which was given them, and to provide arms, ready to meet and repel any attack which might be made upon them, or to secure and maintain those privileges to which they deemed themselves to be entitled. Of the Chartists there were two classes; one, the more violent, whose hopes or designs were based upon "physical force," in preference to the quiet consideration and discussion of the question at issue; the other, who viewed "moral force" as presenting the more favourable means of procuring a determination of the existing evils. Pikes and other arms, as may be supposed, were the weapons of the former, while arguments of a more peaceable character, aided by the employment of such means as abstinence from labour, and the maintaining of a period "sacred" to the Charter, were the measures by which the latter sought to obtain their end.

The cause of violence had been too strenuously urged upon the minds of the people of Birmingham, to permit of their viewing with much satisfaction any arguments of a very peaceable character. The general violence of their tone produced apprehensions among the authorities that mischief might be anticipated; and unhappily their fears were realised in a manner as dangerous as it was destructive.

The undisguised and inflammatory language used by many of the Chartist leaders, rendered it necessary that the magistrates should take steps to prevent the increase of the popular irritation, by removing from the power of doing mischief some of those who were its chief exciters. A body of persons had assembled in London, who were styled "The Convention," and who were delegates from various parts of the country, charged to exert themselves to procure the adoption of their favourite Charter by the legislature; and when the sittings of this mock parliament--for it assumed the character and method of business of the House of Commons--ceased, its members dispersed themselves through the country, haranguing their "constituents" upon the subject of their labours, and engaging them to new exertions to secure the object which they all had in view.

Some arrests were made of persons, the violence of whose language had marked them as objects of public notice, and this served for a time to check the violence of the proceedings of the supporters of the principles of the Charter; but during the ensuing month it appeared as if the flame of sedition was smouldering only to burst forth with renewed vigour. In July new excitement was created. Meetings were frequently held, both at the Bull-ring and at Holloway-head, by the Chartists; and on the 4th of that month, a serious disturbance occurred at the former place.

For the better security of the town, a body of about ninety of the metropolitan police force had been despatched to Birmingham, under the orders of Superintendant May. On the day in question an unusually large meeting was held at the spot pointed out, when banners and flags, bearing mottoes and other insignia, were displayed. Speeches were made, in which the most inflammatory language was employed; but, in the midst of the meeting, the London police, who had marched direct from the railway-train to the Bull-ring, presented themselves, and required the dispersion of the crowd. The order was peremptorily given, but no effort was made to obey it, and force was resorted to, to clear the spot of its present occupants. The mob resisted with success, for although the police were a well organised body, and most determined in their efforts, the number of Chartists to whom they were opposed, and their evident preparation to meet any attack which might be made, led to their temporary defeat. For about ten minutes the conflict was dreadful, and individuals on both sides sustained severe and dangerous injuries. The police were driven back into Moor-street, and, for a time, an attack on the prison by the mob was apprehended. Fortunately, however, the 4th Royal Irish Dragoons, commanded by Colonel Chatterton, and accompanied by Mr. Scholefield, the mayor, arrived in time to afford assistance to the civil authorities, and to prevent the riot proceeding to any more dangerous lengths. The dragoons were soon aided by the Rifle Brigade, and their formidable appearance quickly inspired alarm where confidence the moment before had been displayed. The mob quickly took to flight, but to proceed only to Holloway-head, where a new meeting was held. Here Dr. Taylor and others addressed them, exhorting them to abstain from violence; but, in spite of the exertions of these persons, they committed some acts of serious mischief. During this riot no fewer than seventeen persons were taken into custody, and many of these were proved to have been implicated in the disgraceful proceedings of the evening.

The events of this day were not calculated to produce tranquillity, and during the remainder of the week Birmingham was in a state of high excitement. On the following Monday a crowd again assembled in the Bull-ring, rather from curiosity, however, than any other cause; but upon the police attempting to disperse them, they obstinately and pertinaciously refused to retire. The resistance to authority appeared to be mainly attributable to their dislike for the police, and the members of that body adopted a course of violence in order to procure obedience to their directions, that the mob should move on, not likely to increase their popularity. Blows were resorted to, and, in some instances, considerable injuries were inflicted upon individuals, and threats of violence in return were not unfrequently heard; but, by dint of perseverance, the officers succeeded in the course of the evening in pushing their way as far as John-street on one hand, and Holloway-head on the other, and thus procuring the observance of peace; but in the course of their exertions much violence, though perhaps it was not unnecessary, appeared to be done to the feelings as well as the persons of the people.

On Tuesday the town resumed its wonted appearance, and but for the presence of the London police, and the business-like manner of the magistrates, who were observed to be actively engaged in the execution of their duty, there would have been observed but slight evidence of the late commotions; and the peace of the town being on Wednesday and Thursday (as it was supposed) firmly re-established, fifty of the police on the latter day returned to London.

On Thursday evening an address was posted on the walls of the town from Mr. T. Attwood, M.P., which enjoined the maintenance of "Peace, law, and order," and in which the honourable gentleman announced, among other things, that he had fixed Friday the 12th of July instant, for bringing the national petition under the notice of Parliament.

To the consideration of this question all eyes seemed now to be turned; but on the appointed night, the motion of Mr. Attwood that the petition should be considered by a committee of the whole house was negatived, by a majority of two hundred and thirty-five to forty-six.

The following Monday witnessed the renewal of the excitement at Birmingham, and the enactment of the most disgraceful scenes of riot and plunder in that town. In the morning a meeting was held at Holloway-head, but it proved a failure; and a second meeting was called for the evening. This was most numerously attended, but at its breaking up, a very large number of persons proceeded to the Bull-ring, while others branched off on the road towards Warwick, by which it was expected that Messrs. Lovett and Collins, who had been sent to Warwick jail, in default of bail, on a charge of publishing a seditious libel, on the 6th of July, in the shape of resolutions condemnatory of the conduct of the police on the 4th of that month, and who were expected to be set at liberty on that night, would arrive at Birmingham. Between seven and eight o'clock the mob in the Bull-ring increased very considerably, and the police, limited in number as they were, received orders to procure its dispersion. Having met with some resistance, they were compelled to resort to violence, and they wounded three men somewhat severely; but now in order to avoid all further cause for irritation, they were recalled into the yard of the police-office, out of the sight of the mob, in the hope that the people would ere long separate. This most desirable effect, however, was not produced, but the crowd soon exhibited symptoms of tumult, and commenced breaking the windows of the police-office, and throwing stones into the yard where the police were drawn up.

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