Star. — London, England, 1820-07-24 00:00:00

i i health. The Surgeon saw a great number off different injuries on her body ; and I am afraid he will state to you, that no accident could have produced the in jtiri.rs of different kinds, and on different parts. The catice of her death was an effusion of blood on her brain. Tha. prisoner and the deceased were in the room together—in that room from which the cry of murder was heard, and to which blood was traced— and no other person was in that room. The prisoner' was aware of something violent; he was - cognizant of what was occurring in the room. When the alarm Avis made. and the prisoner was applied to, and told by Wheatley that his wife was lying murdered in her own blood, How can I help that? the d—d infer nal bitch,' was his answer. Afterwards the prisoner stated more fully what I shall not trust my feeling with repeating from memory. (Here the Learned Carmel read the prisoner's declaration, which set forth that she was drunk, fell at the foot of the bed, and left his room, and that he slept, and saw no more of he&). From this it appears he was aware of some injury ; but I am afraid that the mark on her left side, and the wound in another place, cannot be ac :-otintod for by any accident, and she could not by possibility go down stairs after receiving the injury which caused her death. There are other facts which I am prepared to prove, if the witness appears: he may or may not—but I say not one word of that part of the case. Whatever may be the result, I have no other wish but that justice may have its course." William Wheatley.—l know the prisoner ;he keeps the Horse and Groom, at Bradford. 1 knew Mary Oldfield to be his wife. I, my wife, and children, lodged there. The prisoner had two children at home Richard, nine years of age, and Anne, six years.— Robert Graham, a painter, was in the house ; and Penjamin, the prisoner's eldest sin, 1.5 years of age. One staircase rose - out of the passage, leading to the bed-room of the prisoner and his wife, and two other rooms. The other staircase rose out of the kitchen, and by it 1 went to my bed-room. You can't go to My room from the prisoner's bed-roam without going down the first stair. I went to bed at half-past-nine on the - 27th of June. The prisoner was not at home. I left his wife up. Her health was good. G: aham went to bed at the same time. He went up the same staircase I slept. A man of the name of Thomas %%heater came into my room' by mistake, wanting some more ale. I afterwards heard the clock strike two. About 20 minutes before 1 heard a faint cry of " Murder !" twice. I believe it proceeded from the prisoner's bed-room. I believe it was Mary Oldfield's voice. I had slept after Wheater came up before I heard the cry of murder. He came up about twelve. After the cry I heard two strike before I slept. I got up at five in the morning. The rooms were so near that I could hear a faint cry from one to the other. The reason I took no notice was, that I had seen the prisoner use his wife ill before. I saw a large quan tity of blood at the foot of the kitchen staircase. I looked, and saw Mary ')ldfield lying on the kitchen tide of the stair, about two yards from it. The staircase bends; you turn short to the left to go up. The left side of her head lay on the bar of a seat—a chair. I shook her, and found her dead. I raised the lett hand ;it was -cold, and fell down stiff. I called my family up, and the painter in the next room. I then went to Oldfield's room ; the door was locked ; I laid hold of the handle, and said, " For GOD'S sake, Mr. Oldfield, get up, for your wife is lying dead in her blood !" He said, " How can I help that ?—a d—d infernal bitch !" He did not open the door. I went to Benjamin's room and alarmed him. It ap peared to me as if the prisoner had spoken in bed. I traced blood from the prisoner's bed- room door down to the kitchen. I traced the foot-mark of blood in Benjamin's room ; the impression of a heel and toe. It was a toot going into the room. It was about a yard into the room. It might be a yard from Benja min's bed, near enough to have put anything into the bed while standing there. The child, Anne, was found in Richard's bed, which was in that room as well as Benjamin's. The step of blood was neiir enough to throw the child into the bed. All the doors of the hcnise were fast. The prisoner came down in five minutes, dressed all but his coat. He came to the body, his hands clasped behind him, and looked, at it for a moment. He then walked up-and down' the kitchen as if nothing was the matter. He ordered two tables to have the body laid on. Cross-examined by Mr. HARDY.—I left the Wife at the .fire-side. She was rather freshish, but not past her guard. I slept there only the night before., I knew her for five or six years. She was in the ha bit of taking liquor. I never heard her cry murder before. There was blood nearer the kitchen stair case than her body. I turned the prisoner's hasp back, and he answered me immediately. It was after I called him I traced the blood; they were drops ; I believe they fell from one walking. Re-examined by Mr. JONES.—She was not past her guard. The prisoner came down fully dressed but his coat. I found Benjamin, Richard, and the child, all asleep. John Stainesby was called on - his recognizances (1:40); and not appearing, his recognizances were entreated. John Gibson.—l aril deputy-constable of Brad ford. I was called on between five and six on the (2r3ti l . I found the body of the deceased with her Read to the chair. She had been lifted up. There was a coasiderahle quantity of blood. The prisoner was walking about. He told me that he had been at Halifax Fair, and came back about one o'clock in the morning: when he cane into the house, he got some beef and beer; he then went up stairs. I went up with him to the bed-room. He said he found his wife on the bed with her clothes on. I had traced drops ofblood from the foot of the staircase to the chamber. At the bed-foot there was blood, and in another part of the chamber. At the bed-foot it ap peared mopped up. He told me that „hen he had got into the room his wife was lying on her back with heaclothes on, with the young child beside her: her eyes were open: he began to shake her to get up.; she rose herself up, got to the bed-foot, and then tumbled down on the floor. She then strove to get up again, but could not. lie took her by the shoul ders, to assist her; she fell again, either against the wall or the drawers (I don't know %shish he said); she went down stairs, and he saw no more of her. Cross-examindd by Mr. HARDY.—He did not say she was drunk; I believe he led me to think she had been in liquor. The blood seemed wiped up as with some cloth. Her clothes night have done it, but I can't say. By the Courr.--I saw no blood near the wall or the drawers. The second blood near the bottom at the side of the bed. Mr. W. Sharp.--.I am a surgeon at Bradford. I was called in by the Coroner, to examine slw body of Mary Oldfield, on the 29th of June. It was lying on two tables in_the back parlour,. On the body I ob served a variety of bruises ; one on the outside of the right thigh ; one on the lefrbreast, small ; one on the left cheek ; one on the left arm, small, below the elbow ; one external and one internal wound on another part. I saw no other !nark. The wound of which he had spoken had broken the skin ; it had not been made by a sharp instrument." None of these could have accounted for death. Considerable quan tities of blood had escaped from the wound. All the bruises, save that on the right side, might have been occasioned by falls. The wound could not have been occasioned without falling on a stick or post. The same fall could not have occasioned all. I opened the head; I found a bruise•wound on thq, left side; a small bruise on the front, but no wound. On the right side, lying immediately on the brain, I found a large quantity of extravasated blood escaped from the vessels, and pressing on the brain. In my opinion it occasioned death; I have no doubt at all of it. The bruise had been on the opposite side ; it might have occasioned the extravasation. The • skull was not fractured. I believe a person after that extravasation could not have moved from - the bed-room to the kitchen. It must have been a very hard substance indeed that could have produced the injury ; the fist I think could not do it. There must have been a considerable impetus either of the body to a hard sub stance, or of a hard substance to the body. • Cross-examined by Mr. WILLIAMS.—The traces of blood had exactly the appearance of falling from one walking . ; they might have fallen from the parti cular wound mentioned. The cause of death un doubtedly was apoplexy, to which persons addicted to liquor are more disposed than others. 'The bruise on the left, and extravasation on the right side, might have been occasioned by a chair; a fall on a chair after the extravasation might have occasioned the bruise, The bruises did not appear to be all of the same date. .fte•examined by Mr. Jourts.—lt was not so likely to have happened by a fall. The extravasation was confined to one spot. Apoplexy without an external wound would • probably shew a fulness of all the vessels. In this case there was so much blood extra vasated that the vessels'must have been emptied. By the COURT.—I mean by the drops coming from one walking, that the body was in an upright posi tion: Force of any kind might have occasioned the injuries. Wheatley was recalled, and stated, that the head had been on the frame of the chair, the temple on the frame. It was lying rather to the left side, with the' knees bending up. There was nothing on the floor to cause a tumble—it was a level flagtfloor— there were no holes and no carpet. She could not have fallen as I found her, for her head could not have fallen into the frame, to my thinking. Cross-examined by Mr. HARDY . — I think the head would have been on the seat of the chair if she had fallen. There was blood between the body and the door of the kitchen. By the COURT.—The bar was in the front of the chair. I think the bar was too near the seat for the head to have fallen as it lay. She was fully dressed, excepting her shoes and cap. I did not see the cap. Mr. Sharp was again examined by Mr. WIL LIAMS.—The position, if I understand Wheatley cor rectly, was such as it would have been if she had been thrown violently against the chair. The mark on the head was in the form of a star, not longitudinally. By Mr. JONES.—If•it had been a fall, she must have been running violently. By the Counr—There were many bloody foot marks in the kitchen: according to appearances, they were a woman's. The prisoner, who was decently dressed in black, said he had found the back-door of his'house open when he came home. I found her lying on the bed, with her clothes on and her face red. I saw the sort of state she was in, and took her by the shoulders to make her rise : she fell between the drawers and the *all, head foremost. She did not offer to rise. I lifted her up, and then she made another tumble with her head against the wall : she got up and went down stairs. I took my coat off and made the bed. I went to bed, and put the door to, expecting that she would come back. I slept, and knew nothing more. John Ingram—l am a bailiff. I was at the•l{orse and Groom on the evening of the 27th June. Mrs. Oldfield was very much intoxicated. By Mr. Jowas—She served in the house all the time. Alice Broughton—l was in the habit of waiting on and nursing Mrs. Oldfield. On the 28th, I saw her foot-marks in the kitchen. Her stockings were bloody inside. By Mr. Jorms.—l washed all the things. The doctor ordered me to hide away the stockings and other clothes as soon as possible. It was Mr. Sharp. It was on the morning of the 28th, the day before the Coroner sat. I rather think no stockings were produced before the Coroner. I was not in the bed room till it was washed: Mr. Oldfield's boys washed the floor. I never did wash up any blood in the bed room, on my oath. I never told so to Mr. Gibson. I was not in the room before noon. My master had .the key in his pocket all the time. I was not on the stair at all. I saw the apprentice boy fetch water to wash the room. It was about eleven or twelve o'clock. I washed blood off the steps with a strange man, with a wet towel. It was about nine or ten; no body told me to do it. Oldfield was in the bar :he could not miss seeing it. I should not know the' strange man if I saw him. He scraped with a knife, and [washed. I don't see him in Court. He was about two hours there. I never saw him before or since. I saw by his apron he was a comber. By Mr. Wiwasts.—l meddled with nothing till the constables and the doctor bad seen them. Many had seen her and her stockings before I came. . By the Counr.—The blood had come in at the top of the stockings.. They wcre all bloody. Mr. Sharp, recalled, said, " I gave no orders to hide away or wash the things." Here the witness Broughton fainted, and was car ried out of Court. By Mf. HARDY.—Mr. Sharp had not particularly noticed the stockings. By Mi. Jo ....-On my oath I have dovetbilection of having ordered her to wash the bloody clothes. Mr. Justice PARK summed up.' It was a case of most infinite importance. The Jury -would give it the Most careful consideration. The Jury retired ten minutes before two. They returned again in twenty minutes to ask a question of Wheatley, who now said that the chair was against the wall, and the deceased's head on the front part of the chair; and the Jury pin retired. At three o'clock they returned a verdict of—Guilty. Mr. Justice PARK proceeded immediately to pass sentence.—" Your case has been considered with suit able attention by a calm, temperate, and intelligent Jury. They have found you guilty, and lam bound to say, that they have.given a cautious and correct verdict. Your crime is one ofthe very deepest heinous ness. Your wife, the mother of your children, whom you were bound to protect and cherish, you brought to an untimely and violent end. Believe me, un happy man, I wish not to give you unnecessary pain. From your station in life, and your appearance, you must be sensible, without any observations of mine, of the deep criminality Of your conduct. In a few hours you must appear before your Goo; yet you have longer time to prepare for death than you al lowed to the unhappy wife of your bosom, whom you hurried out of life with her sins unrepented of on her head. Let me implore that you will earnestly apply to GOD, if haply he may touch your stony heart, which at present, as far as I can discover, is impe netrable. Seek for the road of salvation—you may yet find it ; knock at the door of Divine Mercy— it may yet be opened for the Merits of Jzses CHRIST. The Word of Goo—of him who cannot lie—assures us that the sighs of the penitent sinner come be fore HIM in Heaven. With GOD there is mercy and plenteous redemption. The sentence of the law is, and I adjudge, that on Monday next you be hanged by the neck till you are dead, and that your body be. given to be dissected and anatomised; and miy GOD have mercy on your soul ?" The prisoner, who had stood without the least symptom of emotion, even when the verdict was re turned, and who looked at his Lordship during his most solemn address with a staid stare, deliberately said, as he was leaving the bar—" My Lord, I am a murdered manr The prisoner is large boned and ruddy in the face. His prominent nose, long cheeks, and grey locks, gave hint an appearance of gravity and respectability. It was remarked he had a very unsteady hand when ever he had not whereon to support it, and we ap prehend the mind was much more agitated than the face expressed. At the rising of the Court, Mr. Justice PARK passed sentence of death on the following prisoners : James .shelmendiae and Rickard Cook, convicted of burglary ; Patrick Murphy, convicted of highway robbery ; and George Graham, convicted of forging a Bill of Exchange. To the last prisoner, the Judge held out strong hopes of obtaining a mitigation of his sentence. LINCOLN, JULY st. CHARGE OF RAPE AT SPALDING. Richard Mitchell, an Irishman, aged 21, was in dicted for a rape on the Bth of July, in the parish of Spalding, on the person of Mary, the wife of George Andrews. Mary Andrews stated, that about eight o'clock in the evening of Saturday, the Bth of July, she was washing some potatoes at her house door, and the prisoner was standing opposite; she had some con versation with him, and had an opportunity of ob serving his person and dress; shortly afterwards her husband came home, and they got their suppers.— The family consisted of her husband, herself, and their daughter, a child about tea years of age. — After supper, a neighbour of the name of Lewis, came in, and he and her husband went out together; witness said to him, " Don't go away, if you do I shall go to bed ;" a little before ten she and her little girl did go to bed ; the prisoner had continued stand ing against the house all this time. She did not lock the door, expecting that her husband would shortly return ; and she lett a light burning in her bed-room. —A little past eleven she was awakened by finding some one in bed with her, whom she at first thought to be her husband, but afterwards discovered it was the prisoner. She then detailed the circumstances of the completion of the rape. On discovering that, it was not her husband that was in bed with her, she shrieked out " murder !" as loud as she possibly could. —After the prisoner had made his escape, some women; her neighbours, came in, having heard the scream she had made at the window; she did not relate to them the whole of the circumstances, but did to her husband when he came home. She could only swear to the prisoner by his waistcoat. Geoige Andrews, husband of the last witness, cor roborated her testimony respecting his going out with Lewis ; and further stated, that the prisoner was leaning against the pales in front of their house for a considerable time on the night in question ; and ' that he was engaged in tending beasts in a lane near thereto. Lewis and witness thought he had a very suspicious appearance, and that he was a man likely to steal their pigs, or to do any mischief in his power. They communicated their suspicions in the hearing of his wife. In order to get rid of the prisoner, they went and had his beasts pounded ; the conversation of his wife about going to bed, the prisoner might hear very well. Mr. Baron Gmutow considered some of the cir cumstances of the case as very suspicious and extra ordinary. Why did not Mrs. Andrews lock the door ' on going to bed, particularly when she heard the suspicions the prisoner's appearance had excited in 'the minds of Lewis and her husband ? It was also very strange that the man should be able to pass through the house, up the staircase, into the bed room, in the dark, without creating so much disturb ance as to awaken the woman ; and yet she had sworn that she was not awakened until she found some one in bed with her. The only thing, too, by which she had identified the prisoner, was his waistcoat, and he (Baron Garrow) would venture to assert, that sixty out of every hundred Irishmen that came to this conntry under such circumstances as the pri soner did, wore waistcoats very similar to his. . The Jury without hesitation acquitted the prisoner. Tuesday night the house •of Mr. GRANT, near Cheam, in Surrey, was entered by means of false keys, and robbed of plate, money, and apparel, to the value of nearly one hundred pounds. SURREY SESSIONS. • Saturday, an old decrepid man, who is so deformel that he has been from his birth unable either to drei.t or undress himself, having neither handi nor fe:.•!, stood indicted for'unlawfully intermarrying with Mary Staggs, in March last, his forn:er wife being then alive. Hercules Manning, the parish clerk of Plumstead, in Kent, proved the marriage of the prisoner witit Mary Johnstone, at Plum stead Church, in June, 'Ws. The ceremony was performed by the Curate, 'the Rev. S. Watson. • Mary Johrstone, the prisoner's first wife, came into the witness-box, and Mr. Manning swore that she was the woman the prisoner married in 1808. Mary Johnstone's appearance excited a good deal of men iment : she was attired in the costume of the last century, and appeared at lest 80 years of agc. She called to the prisoner, " Oh, you naughty vil lain I" Order being restored, Mary Staggs, a dece ntl y-d ressed woman, was called. She said she was 70 years of age. She was the law ful wife of the prisoner. She was married to Lill last March; ak a Church in the Borough. She did know the name of it. Prisoner.—" I only married her to dress and undress me." Witness.-- ,, You know better; you left me." CIIIAIRMAINo—" Were you married by banns or license?" Witness.—" fly banns." Prisoner:—" My Lord, have mercy. I am a poor helphcs old Man • quite a cripple ; I can do nothing; I was born A Brecknock ; the women know I am au innocent man, and rcver does anything to any body." • CHAIILICAN.—" You will be allowed to speak in your defence hereafter." - _ _ _ Mary Savage being sworn, stated, that she was at the marriage of the prisoner with Mary Staggs, on the 2d day of March last. CHAIRMAN.—" Now, piisoner, what have you :,t say in defence of your conduct ?" The prisoner then put in a written defence, com posed by himself, bet written by a fellow-prisoner, n form of an affidavi t , as follows: “ I, W. Thomas, do declare that I am unable to nut aty oem victuals, I having no ltat:ds or feet; nor am I able to dress ..r undress myself without help. I married Mary Staggs, but Qie did not long bide with me before she robbed me of ever y:hirz, Only what I stand upright in ; and she, Mary Johnstone, aiot..l and assisted in it, she living :.s housekeeper with me; the tes skirt: threatened to hang me because I would not give her atozay. . I gets my living by selling tuts about the country. Now, I pr.l you, Gentlemen, to do what you can for me, for Joktattcne tens me she has hung one and transported two, and will hang int.— . I hope Goo will forgive all my wrorge and you tuo, for I daily, and must soon die of old age. (Signed) " 4 norsessumger.lane, July, 1520." The CHAIRMAN recapitulated the evidence, and said a more extraordinary charge had not been :c -cently before the Court. The prisoner; interrupted the Chairman :••••••48 My Lord, I was pressed to marry; I did not want to marry. What could I do? She knew I only wanted her to undress me at night and dress me in the mot ning !" CHAIRMAN.—" The case is completely proved; it is . an unaccountable transaction: you will consider your verdict." The Jury immediately returned a verdict off.-u;h7, i ►ut strongly recommended the prisoner-to mercy. CHAIRMAN.—" Upon what grounds?" Juryman.—" His great age and infirmities." Another Juryman.—" The prisoner was not able to dress himself: it was necessary that be should have some person to attend upon him, as he has no handi or feet. We hope the Court will deal merci fully with him." CHAIRMAN.—" Your tended to." " WM. THOMAS. tion shall be at The Courtr sentenced the prisoner to three moaths imprisonment in the House of Correction. The I ri soner is possessed,of property in the funds an.ounttig to nearly two thousand pounds. UNIVERSITY A 7ELLIGENCE. OXFORD, JULY ea. Tuesday evening se'nnight, the Warden of New College, the Rev. Christopher Lipscombe, and John Coker, Esq. Fe of that Society arrived at Winchester College, or the purpre of holding their annual visitation. They were met at the Hr trance by the Bishop of Hereford (Warden) and othtrs, Meal bets of the College, and proce6dcd with them to Iheinner gEt, where the Dedasaatio ad Hargis WAS delivered in a very tordzi and energeiic manner by Mr. l'ears. The follow* morning a numerous and . bighlyirespectahle patty assembled in the school room to haw the recitation of the Prize Compositions, and select Speeches, the Odd- Medal' having been previously awarded to Mr. Gabell, for his English Essay—" Similar causes lead IS similar effects," and to Mr. Fearoo, for a.L.stitt Poena---‘. Gocr gins Quartus solium raternutn ascendit." The Silver Mee.s:s were adjudged to Mr. Brarnston, for his delivery of the .racii of " Galgaeus the General of tfie Caledonii to his army," 1-- citus • and to Mr. Pears for the Oration of " M. P. Cato Se Conjurations Catalina lochs," &Aust. ECCLESIASTICAL PROMOTION& Rev.. Ralph Spafforth, DI.A.. is preseotcd to the Vicarage of Eastringtoo, near Bowden, Yorkshire. The Archbishop of York has conferred upon the TICT. f. Wrargham, M.A. F.R.S. the Archdeacoary of CleveLtaL Rev. A. Luxmore, to the Vicarage of Barnstaple. The Hon. and Rev. Dr. Rice, to the Rectory of Cd.liniorl "'Gloucestershire, on his own prelentatiorl as Precentor of lora Cathedral. Rev. James Davies, M.A. to tire Vicarage of Barringtes Parva, Gloucestershire. Rev. Edward B. Lye, RA. to the Vicarage of Rao' s, Northamptonshire. The Rev. John Heysham, M.A. Miner Canoe of Catiuit Cathedral, to the Pereal Curacy of tietiergham. The Rev. Richard M. A. of Merton College, 0 11.01, to the Perpetual Curacy of Haps., and Vicarage of iiirat.trA in Cumberland. The Rev. J. R. Greetham is appointed Domestic CharLis to Lord Hood. The Rev. Terence O'Sbaugnessy, Pub& Priest of Kilns'', is appointed Roeian Catholic Dean of Killaloe, by the See of Roue. The Associate Congregation of Burntshields have given a bo monious call to Mr. William Scott Hay, Preacher of the L.c.' pel, to be their Minister. Thersday sennight, the Rev. Dr. A. Stewart, late of 11 : 1 .' wall, was introduced to the fine charge of the I'arbh of 1 :k nongate, Edinburgh. • • BIRTHS. July 10, at Toff Abbey, the Hon. Mrs. Clifford.DfaJogL ter. July 5, at Ilouiton, the Lady of the Rev. IL A. Iltr o b.h 4 a daughter. MARRIED. The 14th inst. at Llanfyllin, the Rev. Edward Dario, to 5 .' rah, only clat:e!ter of the Rev. George Lewis, D. D. July 20, John Haggard, LL.D. of Doctor' Commons, of Trinity Bail, Carobridge, to Caroline. daughter of the La 3lark Hodgson, Esq. of Bromley, Middlcs. • ',HEIL. %t the Vicarage Hou.e, I)ymock, the Rev. David Eva. At Slateford Manse, the 6th inst. Jolm Houston, tiu: • 411 - son of the 11ev. 1)r. Belfrage. Lately, at Bath, the Rev. John I.yster, Rector 44 tic 0. Inside living at Cloapriest,„ln the. 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