The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1877-10-02 00:00:00

REMOVAL OF THE PRISONERS TO MAIII.TONE GAOL.

... .......
On the removal of the prisoners Wednesday night to
their several cells each of theta seemed to recover a certain
degree of composure very POOII. hot they all showed
syniptoins of prostrattio ; the natural effect of their eirht
days exhausting enthirance in the dock. They required
no refreshment but that of a simple repose, awl declined
the offer of food. Their rest was short, considering the
great need they must all have felt for it. At • quarter to
.in Thursday morning they were awakened and told to
dress, in order to he conveyed at once to Maidstone Gaol.
By a quarter to seven they were ready to start, and,
accompanied by the Governor of Newgate (Mr. Sydney
Siolth), the prisoners left the gaol in two cabs, which
were driven to the Viadect Station of the London,
Chatham, and Dover Roilway. Though much dejected in
appearance, all the nrisoners were much calmer than they
appeared to the speetalors of the distressing scene in co irt
last night. Their meeting this morning ass a Painful
one, but tad no such visibly agonising effect as that pro.
slimed by the verdict and sentence. Louis Staunton wore
• look of haggard ilevair, and be was to all appearance
the greatest sufferer. The fact of the removal being to
Maidstone and not to Horsenionger L .ne Gaol is owing to
mere accident. The house at Penge is just a few yards
out of Surrey, and belrrigs rather to Beckenham district,
whirl) It in Kent. Very few persons were present at
Maidstone Gaol to witness the arrival. The two male
prisoners were at once placed in the condemned cells, hut
the women were placed In solitary confinement in the
female prison. Alice Rhodes bad her child with her:
Mrs. Staunton's child is in the cont.!y of friends.
The Penge convict, have made little reference to the
crime of which they are convicted, since being in Maid-
stone Gaol, lott still urge their innwence of any intention
to cause Ilarriett Staunton's death. They have made a
statement to the chaplain saying that sh.. was only taken
seriously ill on the Monday he-fore the Thursday on which
she died.
_

"ine.rittte of their execution is not yet fixed.
OPINIONS OF TIFF. PRESS.

The TIME 4 Says : —The loathsome character of the whole
story is no naturally revolting that one of the most diffi-
cult ta.sks for the jury in such a case was to approach an
examination of the evidence against the prisoners without
a vehement bias. In the actual process of doing Harriet
Staunton to death Alice Rhodes had hardly any partici-
pation. Her presence on the 12th of April would only
compromise her on the supposition that she knew every-
thing that had preceded, and was now assisting at the
finishing stroke, and of this knowledge there is only
inferential evidence. But she was naturally the person
most interested in the success of the murder, and she was
indaily and intimate association with th e actual murderers.
We presume that the jury, though they have strongly
recommended her to merry, were so influenced by the
supposed strength of the interest she had in the death as
t come to the conclusion that they could not separate her
guilt in degree from that of her sister, who hat reduced
the woman to this dying condition, nor from that of the
brother., who had laid the scheme,
The Daily News observes: —1 he case has been one of the
most striking and perhaps in sonic respects one of the
most difficult of recent times. Thcre were features in it,
quite apart from any sickening or harrowing details likely
to tempt a diseased appetite, which were yet sufficient to
attract attention and keep it fixed. The unusual number
and the youth of the criminals, their relationship to one
another and to their victim, the character of the crime
itself, and many other points combined to give the case
this distinction. Rut what is still more remarkable is that
the decision at which the jury had to arrive could be
reached only or almost exclusively by a calculation of
pronabilities. The amount of direct testimony was
exceptionally smalL Their own estimate of probabilities
way in fact, what they had most to trust to: in regard to
many of the incidents of the case they had nothing else to
trust to at *IL No possible explanation could clear the
prisoner's of moral guilt of a very deep dye. They must
have conspired to keep the unhappy wife "out of the
way, and out of her rights." The painful interest which
the public has taken in the case will probably not be
diminished by the recommendation of the two wcnien to
mercy : though we think that, on • careful review of the
evidence as presented in the Judge's summingoip, even
those who have felt most doubtful as to the guilt of the
prisoners will be satisfied that substantial justice has been
done.

The inli,lard remarks :—We wish to take the earliest
opportunity if expressing a feelinx whit. we believe will
be very generally shared, that the condemnation visited
upon Alice Rhodes is more severe than wa, wari anted by
the evidence, and that there are, at all events, decisive
reasons in her caw for a reconsideration and modification
of the verdict. We say this in no way as an imputation
upon the jury, whose attention to the case has been most
praiseworthy, and whose finding is entitled to all respect
but there are, beyond all doubt, certain points in the
wretched girl's favour which, coupled with her extreme
youth, will make it proper that her case should be con-
sidered apart from that of the other prisoners. The re-
commendation to mercy applies to both the women, but it
Is obvious that it does not, and cannot apply with equal
weight to both. That Louis Staunton should thus slowly
destroy his wife almost passes belief; that his brother,
who had no interest in the wretched woman's death,
could aid him is more unaccountable still ; while it is
simply appalling to think that Mrs. Patrick Staunton
could look on in cold blood while another woman, partly
through her agency, died a cruel and lingering death. In
the terrible annals of crime this Penge CIAO will stand
out aa one of the darkest on record, and it is but a poor
consolation for the et sin upon our civilisation to reflect
that justice has been done to the offenders
The Daily Telegraph asserts: It is impossible when the
nature of the evidence against them is taken into account
to feel any surprise at the finding of the jury. It was ex-
pected, or rather hoped, by the friends of some—if not,
perhaps, of all the prisoners—that they would incline to •
merciful view. They, however, have had the courage to
discharge a painful public duty, and, following the advice
of Mr. Justice Hawkins, have been guided by the facts of
the case alone. A more hideous crime has seldom figured ix
the annals of criminal justice. Nothing is more calcu-
lated to rouse indignation than cruelty towards a child
or a woman, weak, helpless. and incapable of self-pro-
tection. In the present instance, however, the crime,
horrible as it is in itself, is aggravated tenfold by the
circumstances under which it was committed, and more
especially hy the motive. While the unhappy Harriet
Staunton is being slowly done to death by inches in the
abominable dents which she is confined, Lens is living
in open adultery, at Little Grays, with Alice Rhodes. He
has got his wife's money, and her life is now the only
thing that stands in his way. Patrick is list too ready to
help his brother. Alice Rhodes and her sister have obvious
motives for lending themselves to the scheme. Nothing,
they argued themselves, can possibly be easier than to
starve the wretched woman to the point of death, and
then, while the breath is still just in her body, to take
her to some out-of-the-way place and get a medical man
suddenly called in, without any particular knowledge of
the rase, to give a certificate of death from natural
cau_ses. The foul scheme was so far successful ; but it has
been detected, and terrible vengeance has overtaken
those who lent themselves to it. It is almost impossible
to believe—it still seems too terrible to be true—that four
human beings should thus deliberately set to work to
murder by the slow agonies of starvation a helpless woman
who had never harmed one of them, and whose sole
offence was that she stood in the way of a guilty and
profligate intrigue. Such, however, has been the case, and
the Penge Mystery serves to remind us that, exactly as
there are more things in honwen and earth than are
dreamt of our philosophy, so, too, there are crimes so

black and foul that even when brought me, to face with
thorn we ran scarcely realise their existence.
The MorningP.4 considers that the result is abet every
one most have anticipated who watched the progress of the
trial and notesl the damning evidence adduced against
each of the prinoners. The law was laid down for the
assistance of the Jury with great care by the learned
judge ; whatever dillieultiea might exist in Ito application
to the case before them, there could be no doubt about the
rourpine+s of the principles enitnicatel. The jury in
effect convicted the prisoners withholding food from
Harriet Staunton ith the deliberate intenti-n of killing
her. Never in the Old Bailey was a more terrible narrative
recounted, or one presenting human nature in • more
hitieo. aspect. Whether we regard it as an entirety or
dwell on its many loathsome episodes, we are equally
taught that the depths of human depravity. heartkasaaaa
and crime are indeed unfathomable.

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