The Statesman. — London, England, 1815-03-28 00:00:00

~_ TILE 9TATESMAN. all conspired to awaken those !4.inpathies Whith.for some moments seemed to overwhelm the whole as sembly. TLe witnesses called on the part of the Prisoner *ere altogether to character : Mr. Joseph Wood, an attorney at Leeds, said— " I hive known Mr. Blackburn upwards of thirty years—l have known him well, and I never knew rtt‘ thing of hint hut what was honest and fair. Fiona the knowledge I have had of his character I could not have conceived him capable of committ;ng the offence imputed to him." Air. IVilliam Carrett, the chief bailiff of the bo nne,. of Pontefract, said—" I have known Mr. Bin( kburn 27 or `2,S years : I have Iren intimate with him during that period : he has always acted like an honest and honourable man in his transac tions with tne. I had so gond an opinion of him that I placed toy son ander his care as an articled c'erk, and I should not have supposed him capable of committing the clime imputed to him." • Mr. Thos. Hill, a merchant at Leeds, said—" I have known Mr. Blackburn '2O years, and never beard any thing laid to his charge as to. his honesty and integeitv." Mr. Fenton, wool-stapler, of the same I have known Mr. Blackburn 22 years: his character, as to integrity, has been very good : I never knew him do any wrong action." Mr. Jeremiah Barstow, cloth-merchant, at Leeds, had known him in his profession many years, and always concidered him as a very honest honourable man, and this to his knowledge has been his general character. that the Jury had heard the evidence, and must find such n verdict as their consciences and the justice of the case should require•. _ The Jury retired about half-past three o'clock in the afternoon, and iu about u quarter of an hour re. tallied into Court, and pronounced the fatal verdict of Gu11 ?,,. 0,4 IVe.dnesday, about one o'clock, this unfortu nate Gentleman was brought up to receive sentence of death, it was with great difficulty that he walked across the Court-yard, supported by the gaoler. It is difficult to describe the sensation which was pro duced .be his a ppeurauce at the bar, The Court and numerous auditors were visibly affected, and the most profound silence reigned duiiog the time that his Lordship passed the awful sentence of the law upon him ; as to the Prisoner, his whole frame ap peared convulsed with agony. After this awful ceremony was concluded, be was conducted, we had almost' said carried again to prison. We understand that a Petition is intended to be presented to the Prince Regent, praying him to ex tend the Royal mercy towards him. SllRrwsßußy, NIA acu 24. THE KING r. THOMAS JESSON. The Prisoner, a nailer, aged 25, was indicted for the wilful murder of his wife's chill, Mary Birch, at the parish of Hales Owen, on the night of Saturday, the 28th of January last. The Counsel for the prosecution were Mr. PULLER and Mr. MALE; and for the Prisoner, Mr. HART. The following witnesses were examined in support of the prosecution : Mr. Joseph Moss, surgeon, near Oldbury, was , called in on Sunday, the 29th of January, to examine a child which had died the night before; when he came to the Prisoner's house, the child lay in a cradle up stairs. It was a fine female child, and op peared about a year and a half old. It was covered with a cloth : he examined its face and lower jaw, without taking it out of the cradle: it had a cap on which he did not then take off : the right cheek and temple were bruised very much, and the skin I was ruptured on the right side of the child : the lower jaw was broke exactly in the centre : the child was clean, except a little discharge of blood I from the nose : it did not appear otherwise bloody : the linen he saw was very clean. On the' 31st he was again called in, and went with the Coroner and Jury : he then fully examined the child : ; it was undrest : it appeared to be in exactly the same state before :he removed it out of the cradle ; and lobserved a large fracture on the back pert of the head, after removing the scalp; he robserved nothing t on the scalp : two large portions of the bone were I entirely detached and pressed upon the brain the integuments of the brain were lacerated with the pressure of the bone, and a portion of the brain had punctured through the laceration of the integument : the fracture continued to the forehead : this was cer• taialy the cacae of the death: it must have been done with great force against something blunt : a single Wow would not base cau s ed the fractures both of the jaw and the head : if the child had fallen from the lap, and any p•srsoil had fallen upon it, it could not have cased such nit appearance of the side of the face: the knees of the chi;.l seamed to have been pressed with fingers and a thuma : the marks seemingly remained : if the child had died immediately extravasation of blood had taken place, the marks would remain: if some person had taken up the child and dashed it against the floor, such would have been the appear ances.—Upon cross-examii.ation, he said, a wall, or other blunt instrument, would have produced the same effect as a floor; and it was possible, that the child might have been so dashed and pressed by a per son in an epileptic fit. ; John Stevens had known the Prisoner a long lime; he had been married a twelve-month to his wife.— He also knew the child ; it WAS her's before her mar riage with him. On the night of the '2Bth, between ' twelve and one, he was awakened by the cries of the woman slid the Prisoner. The partition between their hou'es was not very thick. The wife said, " My child is dead ! My child is dead !" The Pri soner ciieil, " Mary ! Mary !" This continued for ten minutes. Ile had seen the child in the day ;it appeared to be well. Upon his cross-examination, he said, that the Prisoner's exclamation was lameuta- tion for the death of the child, of which he was al ways very fond. It was a cross child ; and the wit- ness used to hear him pacify it in the night—' " Hush, Mary !" I John Hill lives 200 yards off the Prisoner. He saw him, and his wife and child, at the Crown and Anchor, on the evening of Saturday, the 28th, at eleven. lie left them there. In the night he was in the garden of his house, about two hours afterwards, and heard a woman cry, and say, " My dear hole ; baby is dead." He went to the woman; she was standing at Susanna Smith's door, about forty yards off. It was the Prisoner's wife ; he asked her what was the matter; she cried, and made no answer; Mrs. Smith's dour was unlocked, and she went in; the door was locked upon her ; after this, he he ar the Prisoner's wife say her dear little baby was dead; . then she and Mrs. Smith went towards the P r isoner's wife. Mr. Maryland, a merchant at Leeds, had known Mr. Blackburn sixteen or eighteen years : he had a very holiest character : the Prisoner had done busi ness for him in his profession, and entirely to his sa tisfaction. Mr. B. Musgrave had known Mr. Blackburn 20 yn:rs : had known him in his profession, and always considered him as a viwy honest man, and of the strictest seracity and integrity. Mr. J. Clough had known the Prisoner 10 years, and lived within 40 yards of him : had always been a good neighbour. _Mr. George Wilkinson, woolstapler, had known tits Prisoner a considerable number of years : knew vothing to the contrary of his being an honest de act wing man. Mr. R. Fowler, watch-maker, had known Mr. Rackbuni 15 years, and had lived near neighbour to Lim a long time, and never knew any thing of film but what was perfectly right, and should not have thought him capable of committing the offence im puted to him. Mr. J. Servant, joiner and carpenter, had known the Prisoner 10 years, considered him as a very open and very upright man, and he always employed him in his profession. Mr. R. Midgley had known Mr. Blackburn 15 years very well, and has lived 10 years within a short distance of him. Mr. George Thackray, lead-merchant, had known him ten or twelve yenis, and he employed him in his profes%ion, and always found him very ho nest and faithful in all the business he transacted for Mr. Henry Topham had lived in the neighbour- Loud of the Prisoner thirteen or fourteen years, had always considered hint as an honest upright man. Mr. John 04enhow had known Mr. Black burn eight or nine years : had employed him in his profession, mid he always behaved to him as a gentle man. Air. John Urquhart, linen-draper, said,--" have known the Prisoner ten or eleven years, and hate always f..und him to be perfectly correct and hottest, and that, in my belief, is his general cha racter." Mr. Joseph Sagden, glue-maker, had known the Prisonpr 12 years : had known him in his business, apd i never heard any th i ng but what was perfectly ho siZst of him. Mr John Scott, a broker, had known Mr. Black burn 20 o , 30soa rs: alloo r .s.; took him to he a very honest, sober, just man : witness has employed him as au attornev. Mr. Robert- Meek, a currier, had known Mr. BiacLburn three yea's, and never beard any impu tatiois upon his character with respect to honesty and integrity. Mr. Christ. Heaps, lead-de:dlr, shad known Mr. Blackburn 14 or 1 5 ears : al.Aays had a high opi ssir,n of the rectitude of his principle, and the good ness of his disposition. Mr. Jeremiah Barstow, of Acomb, near York, bad known Mr. Blackburn 1 or 14 years, and he always maintained a very good character : the Pri soner had done hu4ness for him, which he has trans acted very mucli to his satisfaction. Mr. Elliot Carrett was clerk in Mr. Blackburn'a office about siY years and a lialf, quitted him in Oct. 1809 : witness had known him since, its his business, and has always considered him as a very respectable and very upright. _ Itlr. Wm. Wrigglesworth, timber-inercbant, said, —‘• I have known Mr. Blackburn lt) years: I al mays cou.idered him much of a gentleman, and an holiest man: I do not know one more so in his pro fession." (PH. gravity of the Court suffrred a momentary in. terruption from this observation.) Mr. Justice LL 131ANc then charged the Jury ; he summed up the evidence with great particularity, but the tatigth to which this trial has run, prevents us from entoriiig at lei th into his Lordship's charge.—The question for the Jury to cmisider was this, whether the Prisoner Itrged, or procured to he forged, the essioit resew hling a two pound stamp—affixed to a deed which had been exhibited to them ; and on thi: part of the case, lie remarked, that the forging of a material part of the stamp, was as much a forgery in law as if the whole of it was false and counterfeit. The other question was, whether the Prisoner ut tered or published it, knowing it to be forged. The Jury would apply the eviden:e and consider how far it supported one or both of these charges. If the evidence left the guilt of the Prisoner as a matter of fair and reasonable doubt, the Jury would in that case suffer the good character the Prisoner had re. ceived to turn the scale in his favour ; but character could not invalidate facts, or operate in cases where the proofs of guilt were strong anti roorlusive against n prisoner. His Lardship coocluded with obsetaing, Susannah Smith knew the child : it was a year and nine months old: on the Saturday night she went with Mrs. Jesson to her house: nobody else lived there : it consists of one room below and one above stairs : the cradle was near the fire, andhhe Prisoner was leaning over it : the child was in the cradle ; she had heard the child was dead : she said, 44 Lnrd, Thomas, how ever happened this ?" fie said, " I Lin not know no more than you :" he appeared sober, and knew what she said: his wife asked her to take the child out of the cradle: it lay above the clothes, and had a clean nip ht-gown and shirt on : it had no cap : she took off the night-gown and shirt, sad looked for marks on them: they both had blood on them : she did not notice the child's body : she did its Pee : it was very black anti very badly bruised on the right cheek : a little blood came out of its nose, when she took it out of the cradle : she wiped it, and put a cap on : she put it in the cradle with a napkin over ir, and they took it up stairs : the Pri soner and his µire seemed very uneasy : she ob served blood o►► the 'floor, between the bricks against the lire.place, the floor was all brick : the Prisoner and his wife, were in the room, but she said nothing about it : she observed blood upon his clothes, down the fore part, upon the shirt, coat, waistcoat, and breeches. amemonamoia7 cry; witness said, it was the opinion offire and others, that his wife was innocent ; he ay p ; that there was not a doubt he had murdered his 06;0 1 and he was going to murder his wife also: wh o! , recovered from cr) je t !, he asked if he could sett h: s wife, to beg her pardon; that he had said very %cra mp things of her, and he would not say them aoy !meter. Witness said "he would etude:lv-nor to procut e hi a sight of his wife;" he said,' is she guilty o r not i , if she is, stick to it ; if net, when you come :wimp the Court, tell them she is in itoront :" he said he ea; very sorry for saying she was guilty, and he MI Tr would say so any more." The witness, thee said, "did you do it all yourself?" he said, "yet., I did ; my wife is as innocent as you are." Witne,:s the n asked if he struck it with any thing ? he said " Witness then said, "by what means dill you do it he hesitated : wittiest added, " there appear to he the marks of a fore-finger and thumb on the knee : did you lay hold of it i" he said " I did." Wi ta " said, " did you strike it against that large hooch is the house?" he answereal " no." ‘Titres tlu a asked 64 how did you do it ?" Mr. Pari s h As k ed if he took it with a swing in his Isand(t.hon ing hi m h e " ; he said " yes, Ike struck it thus against the floor. Witness asked him if he was apprehensive he killed it :" he said " he was; he picked it Op, put it to hi t bosom, found it was dead, and would have given all the world if he could have brought it to life At this time he was perfectly collected, and ; lint toxicated. Upon his cross-examination, the wham said, he did not encourage the Prisoner to confess: there were several other people in the room ; there was go drinking in the room at that time: the wit ness gave the prisoner a good character. [ l'he clothes were produced, and identified by Mr. Parish, the overseer, who found the shirt, on Tue.:- day, in the pantry ; the waistcoat, and the child's things, up stairs, amongst some old clothes ; and the breeches in the parlour. The shirt lay by the side of a tub of water ; it appeared to have been in water, and wrung out.] Susanna Smith did not tell the Prisoner to tell any particular story upon the subject. Upon cross-exa mination, she, said, she did not tell him to tell the truth. Ile always behaved very well to the child. Mr. Parish went to the Prisoner's house at ten in the morning, on Sunday, the 29th of January, in consequence of the death of the child. The Prisoner was puttieg clean things on—the witness took William Orton, the constable, with him—the Pri soner appeared a little confused. Witness said, 6 ‘ You bevelled a bad misfortune, I hear, to-night:" he said he had. Witness asked him how it was done ; he answered, he had been at work hard, and had just come out of the shop, and had sent his wife for a pint of ale, and in the meanwhile he fell in a fit, and tumbled down, and when his wife came hack, she found him in that slate on the floor. He said, when his wife had got him to himself, and came to pick the child up, it was dead ; he was nursing the child. Witness then asked th e wife, who told him the same story : witness told the Prisoner he must not do any thing to the child till he heard• from him again, for (here must be an inquest. Witness and the constable then left the house, and upon receiving some information ou the road, they returned to the • Prisoner's house five minutes afterwards. Witness then said, 64 Jesson, we must take you into cus- ! tody, for there are rumours about whether it was a murder or an accident :" he declared he was in a fit, the same as he had told before: he seemed very much confused, and witness told him if he were in nocent he had nothing to fear: he had not quite finished his breakfast ; he told the constable to let him finish it, and then bring him to his house. Ile asked the Prisoner where the child was: the wife said, 44 in the cradle up stairs:" he and the con. stable went up, and found it so, covered with a napkin : he turned the napkin down, and they looked et it : he observed its face very much bruised, and a mark on its belly, and some little marks on its knees. A third time, he returned and took the Prisoner up, leaving the constable to take his wife, they were locked up in different apartments till night, when he asked to speak to her: the wit tress took him to her, and they were all together a quarter of an hour : he did not see her then till Wednesday. On Sunday night witness put him to bed, and left a man with him till Monday morning. On Tuesday morning, between one and two o'clock, the man in attendance called witness up, and he went to the Prisoner, who said lie would tell him how it was : he said, " It wee murdered : but I did not do it all myself: I begun it : I had not finished 4 it when she came iu, and she finished it :" witness I asked how she finished it ? he said " she took it in ; Let lap and finished it with her fist ;" witness said i " you are telling me a story." He declared it earl sTro sr-os rtne v.—Yesterday Elizabeth Fen. ving, a yowls' eerie:in, who lived as Cook at Mr. the truth, and added, that she wanted him to drown Turner's, law - -stationer, GS, Citancery-taus, nag it three weeks ago, but lie told her he would not, brought up by Thisleton, ()Ulcer, f or rwarn i nnat i on , sad she might do it herself. In consequence of thi s , witness brought the wife, when he declared the being ch a r ge d, up on th e oa th s o f h er sa id mas t er an d Mr. John Marshall, surgeon, 12, Ilrilf-moonsstreet, same in her presence : she maintained her in n oce nce , Piccadilly, on suspicion of uitla w fully and wilfully and said it was dead when she c a me i n t o ti le h ouse . She said, when I came into the h o use, it was on mixing with flour made int o f oo d, a cer t a i n p o i son , c your lap, haggling up to your bosom ; [ b e liev e d it celled arsenic, with intent to mur de r M rs . T urner .— had fallen down, and you upon it : you put it to- Mrs. Turner is still in danger : the Prisoner is re wards me, and said, 44 I told y ou it wou ld b rea k it s mandeel to be brought up f o r r e-e xam i n atio n w hoa heart some day when you were -out :" when I to o k Mrs. Turner shall he able t o atte n d. it, I cried out "my child is dead." On Wednes- Mr. Thomas Wright, landlord of the Hunter's day the Constable brought him to witness's house Arms public-house, in Compton-street, Brunswick again, as he complained of the hole's being cold : he square, was summoned by I. Whitticar, a soldier is said he should be glad to speak to his wife : witness the First Guards, for refusing to take bins into quar. asked him what he wanted ? Samuel Brighton, who ters, being regularly billeted. The case being pr wed, was in the room, asked him if he wanted to beg her the Defendant was convicted in the penalty of -les. pardon :he said he did. Before she was fetched, QuEEN-SQUARE.--Yesterday, Ann Jones was Brighton asked him if be did it himself: he said, he charged, under very aggravating circumstances, with did : B. asked him what he did it with : if he did it sterling from Mrs. ilarlison, chair and sofa covers, with a poker ? Prisoner said, 66 Oh, them bricks !" gowns, and ninny other articles of Mrs. H.'s wearing and he looked at the floor. Witness asked him how apparel. The Prisoner having learned that Mrs. he did it? he said, " I don't know ; I was not in was a very benevolent character, went to her with a my senses: I stumbled somehow." wi tness sa id , story of misery. S;ie said she was literally stai sins ; " it appears you laid hold of it by the knees, and that she had four children at home, sick and destitute made a stumble and hit it against the bricks ; he said of every thing; arid that she had her husband lying he did. Witness asked him how he could tell him in the hause a corpse ! Mrs. H. instantly gave all the such a story at first : he said Suke Smith told him silver she had in her pocket,and relieved her several tiff to say so." Witness had the reputed father (White- : ferent times afterwards. Having buried her husband, house) of the child up with a warrant, and he and recovered somewhat from the shock of her situa agreed to pay so much per week for its mainte- tion, the Prisoner told Mrs. H. that she did not al liance. The Prisoner said to the witness, he was to ways want to live on charity ; that she could work; have 141. from Whitehouse to take the child wholly, that she would wash for Mrs. H. if her benefactress and he had not had quite so much; he had had 30s. pleased. She accordingly did some washing for Nil's. stopped, for the expenses. Upon his cross.examina- •H. regularly returning the three first parcels; hut the tion, the witness said, that when he first went to the teurth, beieg a large and valuable bundle, was never Prisoner, h e said, 44 Oh I Mr. Parish, I was cooling; returned. After considerable search, the Prisoner up to see you about it." When the Prisoner was at sees found, 'A ben it was ascertained that al l the witness's public-house on Sunday and Monday, a woe was a gross piece of imposition, for she hail nu the company gave him liquor and money; the wiliness . children, and her husband was alive and well. Pot sent him to bed on Surelisy at nine, and took him to of the . stolen property was found at pawnbrokers, and bed himself on Monday: but the man refusing to prodoced ; but the Prosecutrix wished only to pre sleep with him again, the witness called the Prisoner • "Pd f°'' the unlawfully pawning. up, and left him "by the fire with the man ; the wit-1 Mr. CoI.:VW/UN said the case was of a most odious mess left them drinking when he went to bed. When ' "Pest, tending as it did to check the impulse of the witness was caned up, he found him with tine Iternerolence, and c , i!ed for more severe pnislimcnt man :he said he was easier in his mind, and called for 'than awaited tse Pre:otter. She must pay a fine Of lielfa pint of ale, which the witness drew for him. f 4W., the money obtained from the paw n- Ile had know him 17 or IS yea r s, an d gave ja ma : brokers, or be imprisons( in Tothil-fields for threo good character for humanity. lie never heard of any j "wilt ; and when tie other property was found, fits the Prisoner had ; lie had never said he knew he another charge culil be exhibited. was subject to fits: he did pot say so when he de livered him to prison. Upon his re-examination be said, that during all the above conversations the pri soner did not appear intoxicated. • Samuel Brighton had known the Prisoner IS. or 16 years. He was sent for by Parish on Wednesday : he asked the Prisoner how he was : he said very well and happy, for he had made his pence with God : witness said he was very doubtful of that : the Pri soner was quite sober. Ile said he was sure Ire should make his peace with God, for lie was going to Hearten as fast as possible; witness asked him if he recol lected ,what he had told (he Coroner the preceding night : he asked nbout what ? witness said, shout in_ eluding his wife in the guilt, and added, he feared he must be deceived as to making his peace with God, if he persisted in calling his wife ssuilts when she was innocent. Prisoner then begati to The Prisoner being now called upon for his de. fence, said he was in a fit when it was done; he knew no more how it was done, than He who made him ; he fell on the floor in a fit across the child ; he had had li(s in the gaol. The following witnesses were then examined for him : • Susanna S:nith said, she did not think he did it thinkingly, on purpose. _ _ . . Mr. Joseph Mo , ,s said, that the child might hare been struck against the wall by the holder of it fall ing into an epileptic fit. Elizabeth Grig had known the Prisoner from a child ; he was an inoffensive boy, and had so grown up. There were two other witnesses to character. - Mr. Justice DALLAS then charged the Jury in a most impartial manlier; and they, in a short time, found the Prisoner 'Guilty. His Lordship, in pronouncing sentence of dea►h upon the Prisoner, said, it might be some console. lion to the Jury to know, that the Judge agreed with them in the propriety of their verdict. The Prisoner appeared perfectly insensible daring the whole trial; but when the verdict and setitccre were pronounced, he wept, and threw himself on the floor in despair. l'O LIGE. NIA21:11-11). March 9. at S toodm , ter. Thom.ui Gooldsonith, Fsq. of Hat ton-:.-;:rften. to Esther, ppiugett Ettughter of ,Ir.l flumpage• 01 Kitt _ . ...... . March Y. 5. at Darlington, Mr. firorge Johnson, of Kiag streei, Lon. riu, to E. Meggeson, )oungest daughter oiJ• Esq. of /e•idriegc. in the count of Durham. .1o41•11 Diitteu, ilsq. uC Biniitughain, to 11r=. M. Hatignod, d. March '2.7, ilttiinzhain Lawrence, Esq. of the Elsi India Co.n l oan s Broxiti Cis it •,•r, ire. tii Caret inn, third daughter or Charles Arturo, nlClLuido,-strert, I men fish' ;quare. • _ 1)!I.:) On the 240 of Marrh, Mr. Henry Parry, of Lcadeohall street, ag:11 47 year.. Ott the 'eith en, at Maid t-tale, near London, Mary. the wile of C;rifillt ; .q. of 'riory-kunse, ardigne.' On Ike Nib Ntat ch. 1.:(11,•,:d stack. Fin.hnry IlllN • et! tr.l 4Pd D Its 1., i.e Sr•TE%v v OrEics, 57, 4111 Nigro. 1' 1 li( t in Par A J 3 A air re+ Of S N fOII it N N N ew J. tl AN PI r N. 48, 3,1 k T. dw iir • P ril •ti N tr H. 4 11 lil 111 Si (I