The National Register. — London, England, 1819-11-01 00:00:00

...~ S3B OLD BAILEY, Flt MAT, Ocr. 23. The Recorder sat at nine this morning, and despatched prune business before the Judges arrived. Ile was attendee iAto Court by Mr. Sheriff Parkins, who soon after retired. and did not make his appearance for the remainder of the day. On the arrival of the Judges there being only one Sheriff (Rothwell) pre.eut, the junior Judge. Mr. Justice Park. *vas ushered into Curt by Mr. Under Sheriff Turner. CONVICTION OF JOHN H()LMESBY FOR THE MURDER OF HIS WIFE. .1 , 411 Ite'llorob t wa. istdi. ted tor the wilful murder of Ann 11,,Imesby, hi. wile, on the :Nth of September, in the parish of St. John, Hackney. by strik'ng her with all axe upon the head, of which wound she died. the unfortunate p.isoner was a mild-looking decently &eased young man, and be 'Lived himself at the bAr with great tomposa re. He shook hands with some frikuds whom be recoquised in front of the duck. Mr. WA troito opened the pleadings. Mr. AL ICY stated the case for the prosecution, and de tailed the nature of the evidence he h.td to adduce against the unfortunate prisoner, exactly as it was given in the I.,lltioviug evidence:— The fist witness was Esther Surrey, who gave her evi dence as follows:-1 am a single woman now residing at the workhou-e at Homerton. In September last • I lodged in the same house with the prisoner; it was his wiles fa ther's house In the latter end of that month, I believe the !lath, on Tuesday. prisoner and his wife went out together about three ticlock in the day. file prisoner here ex claimed, •• Please you, my Lord, that's false."J I did not tee them attain until they returned about half-past six o'clock At the evening; but I do not know whether they came in Loth together or nut, I first saw them at the stile 'milking before the door with another man, where they stayed about a quarter of an hour before they entered the house; but the man did not come in; his name was John Lawrence, and the prisoner was very jealous of him. for he afterwards said Ile had caught him that evening with his wife; he said this when he Caine in doors, and when he had some words with the deceased, whom he called a w , and charged with being with this man; she replied he was a liar. He then asked her to go to bed; she said .` Yes." They both went into the bed room together. as I thought to go to rest They then both undressed cud went to bed .At th s time the deceassd's little brothel and sister were in the house in led; their father• who was a watchman, was out. I was in the act tit going to bed with the children, who s'ept in the adjomine room. Prisoner soon after came out from his wife room into ours, and Sat himself down on the bed where the children were He said to me .• e you going to bed 1" My reply was. • I believe I shall." He then went hack to li.. wre s rochn, and in a minute or two re starred and sat a;i.ain upon our bed undressed, when I asked him whether he wishes to sleep with the children Hi. wife, who we, in the nex, r.em, and who cou/d et erheer hoc.. to his wi'n's room, end then I heard a blow. as 1 thots•ltt then .aitl. • Ell get up." He went tack a second time p.m the ...into], if from his fist. I immediately got ts; and vent to the dime, and the lithe tiny in the bed I had just quitted 'oared out •• Murder! When 1 go• • o the dour the prisoner came out from hi. wire's room, hearing an axe i.; his hand, and said, if the boy roared out :‘,,lii.uer again i.e would murder him; he .hen returned into hi. bedroom, still carrying the axe while he was there at that time I heard the deceased cry on: very faintly. Lord have mercy noon me!" 1 think she said this about three tomes. The prisoner then came out into the room, and said he had done four her, anti should be hung He then asked the little boy (the deceased's brother) fur his father's money. and the boy paid he did not know where it was he prisoner then took a chisel, opened the father's box. and took away the money; at;er that, he asked me fur the pen and ink, with which he wrote two notes. the paper of which he tore out of the baker's book. Whim he did this, he brought the axe, and held it up to me, and said, that if we ever spoke a word we should be dead. He then said he must go :p.a . ...And that he would go by the back door and listen, if like heard us speak a tr word, he would come .r.1.6a do for n.` I gave au alarm a,s soon as L c,cettf at Mr. Colt-nit's. SlC'er the way, the l : ;tftalted"Billet. Is was a moon-shining N ic h t . Cross examined by Mr. CVIIWOOD...-1 ISin no relation to the deceased, but was a mere lodger inLhe house. They went out together on the gsth of Septembisr ; whether they continued together or not I don't know, btlt the first I saw tit them after was in the deening when I stew them talking with another man, near a spur where ta le was a cuss/- house. I did judge from the tone that an ingry conversa tion was pesduig between the at. and I overheard prisoner taxinghis wife with having caught her its a ce-twin situation with the man (Lawrence) in that cow-hours. , ,His words svere—'• I have caught you in the fact.' Thi s ,*,u outside the door; and the conversation was continued altrrily after they entered the house, into which he shoved l"r in an angry manner. Atter she had gone into the ruontafie came out of it two Of three 6:nes, and fir seemed to be VS-v tin cow. I overheard er say to the prisoner that she wet; ear eta into the cow-house by Lawrence; the prisoner r lied, it si.e would swear a rape again.t the Iran he sveuld - take h Worshqs street ; she replied she would not stiu it 1 did s.: Lear her 4.4 V she loved his little finger better t h an her hwbar.d's whole cony, nor that she would get tip re ad to Law:ence. Re t tandued.—The woman did say when he pe„„i her of being a w—, that he wag a liar. Thomas a boy About twelve year; og re. the bro ther of the deceased, corroborated the tai/ witneu.s tunny. Robert Prescott. a const>ble. resa. cte d the alarm of raider on the night in e, teNtions, he repaired w•th M r . Coltbon, a neighbour. to the h , trge, where he tau:id near th e Jour Itt.lae twu puddles ileilotid, and on turni his cle 11,• the deceased 'yin/ jii her back in the Led, (pile de:ut the right &Agee the bed there was a great deal of tt...t.d quite cou,teard. He then produced a Lrge ate, w huh lie funiffin the children's bed-room ; it v..* till of tataktbsek part when he found it. which was mirk at.d !awry t there was tio blood on the sharp edge of the "list tuty Soles provel this to be his father's ate• wh eh w ,,. i the enpUnatd under tha %Nora. J tit Yruuurr , %vial) led upon tor Lis defence, spoke s folivw ue tune, :Vitas - day, the d v before, I saw my wife, who west, tits, ti.e,e. a pail of Witlet and Mai gone' hang time; un rater,; I.:itaat.,ett het out, knowing she had been d.nrig wrung; the tolluwi•,g day she said site was gumg out, istid suspecting her tv be going to act improperly, I tollovt ed hti to the cow house, heat which I taw, her with this lolati i„,,,,sar a nce ; and on Isar retui n, when I accused her of it, she yon pay 4c asisi wiati:cl kko as she liked. '• Ut THE NATIONAL REGISTER. The following day I to'd her I wanted to buy a pair of shoes, and asked her to accompany me; she refused. and went off by herself halt' an hour before. I sought her for some time, and at length met her near Bishopsgate; she at first refused to go with me. but ultimately consented, and soon after left me. and when 1 came home she refused to tell me where she had been; I was very angry and we had words all the time of tea. I told her 1 had not money enough to get shoes, and she wanted me to go to Church street, Newington, where she said I might get them ; I went there. and found neither shop nor shoes. On my return 1 found her again train home. and tried for her in the coach yard, where she sometimes went to the men, hut she was not there. I then went to the cow house. where I heard her breathing." He then minutely described the situation in which he found his wife with Law rence on the evening of the 128th of September ; her en treaties to be forgiven because the man forced her in; he stated his offer to prosecute the man, her refusal, and decla ration that she loved that man's finger better than his (the husband's) whole body. He then admitted his having had a continued altercation with her in the bed-room, and Ilia being at length provoked ; and in the height of her abuse of hint, and threats to go out again to the man whom she loved, and also her imprecations that she would be the death of him or herself; lie then struck her once, twice, or thrice, with the ace which he tricked up in the rooni; and after hav ing done so. he drew her head towards him and kissed her sayiug. " Aou were once my comfort ; I have now beep your death ; and you, my dear, will be the death of me ' fie admitted his having taken the 11. from his father-in law's hot, and threatened those in the house not to stir. in the course of his address, which was rather long and in some parts unconnected, the prisoner more than once adverted to acts of infidelity on the part of his wife, which according to his account, he was aware of before the night of the murder. He said she had been in the habit of going with married mien in the neighbourhoed, and that he had long suspected her. On the night on which he alleged. he had detected Lawrence and his (prisoner's) wife in the cow house, he said he upbraided her; but af. erwards consented to forgive her, and forget what was passed, rovided she would ga and' live with Lawrence or Tucker, ur with any oue else she loved bet er than himself, awl not come to him any snore It also appeared from his statement, that the man (Lawrence) had joined them (prisoner and his wife) before thi y got home from the cow-house. on , he night in quesoon, and had called for sonic drink for them, acknowledging that the .whole transaction with prisoner's wife was his (Law rence's) fault. Prisoner said he would not drink. bet (we think; only tasted it, and threw away the glass From :Mk- ther nart of his speech it appeared that he had on a former occasion been bound over to keep the peace fur ill-treatment of his wfe This he •Ileged as a reason fur not witting her when she crovoked him so by saying, (as he stated,) that s',e wo .id do as she liked, and he might go and bed —d ; .r. he k.f.ied he was afraid sh would send him to prison a rot there From the whole of his defence, ad. mi.ting it , ii be rue, we could infer. that th' life he and his wife two leil lic:ore the melancholy conclusion of hers was a aoostatit scene of quarrel and reeonciliat on On the present occasion lie rested his case chiefly on the great oroveicati,,n he had received from one whom he said he loved so dearly A number of witnesses were then calledTwhogavetheiiri em er an escchent character for Inunani y. Mr B.ron WOOD summed up the evidence to the Jury, and rental ked. that had the prisoner committed the act of which he stood charged, at the moment he caught another man in adultery with his wife, then the law had humanely provided a palliation for his cr i me; b ut h ere t h e act was d e liberate.) , committed at a subsequent period, when the pas sions had time to cool and therefore the prisoner had discn titled himself to the benefit he might otherwise have had in the eve of the law The Jury. after six minutes deliberation. found the pri saner G-tity, and the Recorder immediately pronounced upon him, in the most solemn manner, the awtul sentence of the law, which was, that he be hanged on Monday next. The prisnaer bore his fate with the utmost composure, and retired from the bar iu the act of coolly wiping the.dust from the top of his hat. The Court was at an early hour crowded, particularly with females. ALLEGED' MURDER. Moroi L ofl was lieu put to the bar, charged with the wil ful murder of Anne Jackson. In this case (the particulars of which we have recently Riven to the public is the account of the proceedings at the Coroner's inquest ), bills of indictment had been sent to the Grand Jury, who threw them out for want of sufficient evi • dence. The prisoner was now. therefore, arraigned on the Coroner's inquest. Mr Acres% who was retained by the parish (qt. Mar tin's in the fields we belly.),t.tatrd the case to the Jury. He de•cribed most of the circumstances as they were detailed on the coroner's inquest, arid added, that from the statement in the deceased, at a time when she must have believed she was dying, there was nothing elicited which could in any degree inculpate the prisoner, The learned gentleman wa. proceed ing,when Mr. Justice PAR t observed, he understood that he (Mr. Alley) had no evidence against the prisoner, but that which was adduced before the Coroner—no evidence which could bring home any thing to the prisoner. Mr. A r.t.tv said he had no ouch evidence, hut appeared there by direction of the guardians of the parish in which the verdict of the coroner's inquest bad been returned. Mr Justice Pa aa sa.d , the parish had :wad very properly in setting the inquiry on foot. Where blood had been shed, it was their duty to endeavour to find out the cause; but he and his learned brother (Mr. baron Wood) had read the de positioos taken before the Coroner which he had no doubt were correctly given; and though he did not mean ta ques tion the motives which had induced the verd ct on that oc casion, yet he should observe, that for any thing which ap peared, they might as well have named any other person in the kingdom as the prismier. Under such c4ciimsrances, and where there was no additional evidence to he offered, it would be only a waste of time to go on with the case. Mr A or. sr repeated, that he had no furthsr evidence; and hi. Lordship told the Jury, that as throe was uo evidence, they most acquit the prisoner. A verdict of acylitsi was accordingly given. and recorded, and the prisoner was discharged. CASKS OP PfOrGERY. Mr Serjeant BMA I. I appeared m Court.and on his MO. firm several prisoners were put to the bar, accurcd of littering forged notes knowing them to in (urged, (A capital offence), and alsoorlhav mg in their pos.ession knowinglygurged note,. purporting to be of the Bauk of Imgierid,(an offence which 'objects the party, if convicted, to 1.1 yearY transportation ) '1 here were 18 persons in all. Ot thew the tullowing per m,,, pleadtti rtt.try re the minor offence, with the untlet.t.itut- NOV. I. ing that the capital indictment would be abandoned by the Bank The nature of their plea, and the pu n i s h ment at tached to it. were c l ear l y and humanely explained to each by Mr. Bantu Wood and Mr. Justice Park: —Vt'illiam Turnbull, Edward Moore, George Wilson, John Butler, George Wil liamson, Hannah Green. William Jones, John Green, Daniel Ping, Lade Titterton, John Webster, and Thomas Dubbin:. The tollowing prisoners pleaded it a guiity to both offences, and of course remain for trial:—Richard Jennings. James Harrison. Mary Anne Croft, John Bailey, Jas. Stubbs, and Tlitimas M`Dermot. The 1.2 prisoners who had pleaded guilty to the minor of fence were then severally put to the bar, and given in charge on the capital indictment, when Mr. S.:rje.int BosANquET stated, that after their plea of guilty to the lesser offence, it was not the wish of the Back to of any evidence on the other charge. They were there fore each acquitted on this indictment, and remanded for bell. tence on the other. ARSON. Jane Co , k was put to the liar, charged with having on the d of October feloniously set fire to a certain house in the pa rish of St. Marylebonc, the property cf John Campbell Esq. Mr lA' ALF orto opened the case, and Mr. Boi.eastri stated it to the Jury. on the part of the Sun Fire office, who had insured the house George Wilkinson, a coachman, remembered the morning of the :id of October. Lived near Seymour.place, and from his own door could see the house. No, 69: saw it on fire about 7 in the morning, the fire coming out of the first floor wind. w. Went with sonic others to get the servant out. They went from room to room, and in the back parlour they saw a bed, but did not perceive at that time any person in it. They went out; but were induced to return, when they foiled the prisoner in a state of insensibility. They spoke to her, but she did not znswer. The corner of the bed was on fire. They wok her away, and soon after returned to get a Led for her to be hid upon. After the fire was nearly extin guished, they went to see how the prisoner was. She had then recovered in a great degree, and talked rationally, but was a little convulsed at times. He asked her how the fire had happened. and she said that she was the only person roiliv, and she knew she must suffer .she added, that her friends had all turned their backs upon her, that her charac ter was blasted, and she had no remedy whatever to get rid of all her enemies. but to be burned in the flames. %Votness asked her whether she had been advised by any one. She said no; not in particular; that every one was her enemy, and she wished to get rid o' life. She had done the act, and no one else was to blame She then described the way in which she had set Pre to the house. She got up about three o'clock, and took some laudanum and some hollands out of her master's cello-, And drank it She had cut up some sheets an l set fire to them, in the back kitchen Cress-examined by Mr Cuawoori. -Prisoner appeared Ike one deranged, What she said abou: setting fire to the bark kitchen could not be true, front all he had seen. By the Coo • —Shy had some scratches on her throat, as if she had attempt -d to make away with herself- She said nothing toiliim shout them Mr. John North. a surgeon, saw the prisoner on the morn ing in quesion. She was a good deal convulsed at intervals, He examined her throat, and found a few very slight inci sions, but they were of no consequence, being only on the skin In the c-iirse or an hoer or two after, lie vosi•eci her again and found her compara.ively tranquil, but rill much agitated Here this witness corrobora ed the regionally of the former one, as to her concession o' the fact of ing fire to the house. She denied that a soldier had any hand in the tran-action ' • but soon after added, that she c o uld n ot te ll t h e whcle truth, for fear of the peop e Wanes. gathered from some other parts of her converaation that she had liven ill treated by her husband. •he told witness that she had at tempted to emit her throat, and the wounds bore the mark of a very sharp instrument. She also acknowledged to having taken some laudanum. In his cross-examination, he said, if called in to give his opi nion as to her sanity he would hesitate in giving it under the circumstanees of agitation in which she was. However, judging from what he had seen he could not say that she ap pea-ed sane then She was sent to Maryleboue Infirmary. Mr. Goodger, the apiehecary to the Marylebons Infirmary. saw the prisoner when brought in there She was then in a very stupid state That might have been occasioned by lan• damns or other opiates. He saw her several times after, and she talked a great deal of nonsense. As soon as the effect of the laudanum had subsided, he had no doubt from her man ner that site was deranged she wa► insane upon one point. She always .magined that some persons wore scandalizing her, and sometimes she conceived that she was go:ng to lose her heed. Mrs. Frances Stowe knew the prisoner; used to pay her board wages for keeping Mr. Campbell's house t witness saw her in the Infirmary, where she confessed she had made away with some of the property she told her where they were to be found: witness went to one of the hou es, where she found a silver cream pot and sugar tongs, and some tea Toot's. Witness saw those articles, but d d not esamine them ; she went to rifler places, but could not find any articles of Mr. Campbell's property. Mr. Thomas Webb. the surgeon to the Rouse or Correc tion in Cold Bath-fields, saw the prisoner wh , nshe:camethere, and every day whilst she was there; and to the best of his skill, she did rot appear to be any thing deranged in her mind. She appeared a good deal debilitattd in her bodily system. She had been sent from the Infirmary to Cold Bath•6elds house. The care had gone thus far, and no legal objection was made to the indictment, when a gentleman of the name of Owen was called by the counsel for the prosecution. The ob ject in calling this gentlem a n was to give legal proof that the house, de-crilseil in the indictment, was the property of John Campbell, Esq. For this purpose Mr. Owen produced the probate of a will, made by a Mrs. Eliza Stapleford, in which the house, No. 69, Seymour-place, was bequeathed to Mr. Campbell. But the term. of the bequest ran thus—" To her dear friend John U Campbell, Fey ;" wh the indictment laid the lonise as the property of John Campbell, Esq., with out any other name being prefixed or added. Upon hearing this, Mr. Jos . . Pena ktopped the evidence. and sent for Baron Wood, who had been out of Court for a short time. Having consulted with Baron Wood for some minutes, Mr. ludic; Park was suffering she case to proceed, when Mr. Cnawimo submitted, that the indictment could not stand, in consequence of the misnomer. 7be indictment charred the prisoner with hiving set fire to the house of John whereas it now appeared, that the house was the propel ty or John Cenipbell. This, be contend. . ed. mubt render the indictment void, as if the prisoner was acquitted on it, she could not urge such acquittal as a plea in bar to any future indictment which might describe the property as that of John graham Campbell. It was held that U