The Press.
London, England, 1856-01-26 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

Mr. Palmer gave to the groom at the Junction Hotel,
Stafford, upon the same day, end which he was seen
to use on the day following, could not have been
identical. Mr. Ward then read over the other
portions of evidence, and at twenty minutes past
six left the case in the hands of the jury, who
retired to consider their verdict, and after au
absence of two hours and eight minutes, they
returned into court with a verdict, " That Wal-
ter Palmer died from the effects of prussic acid, and
that such prussic acid was wilfully administered by
William Palmer;" and this protracted inquiry termi-
nated.

An official inquiry, we believe, is about to be insti-
tuted with respect to the conduct of Mr. Webb
Ward, the coroner, who acknowledges to having re-
ceived one letter from the prisoner Palmer, upon the
subject of the inquest upon the late Mr. Cook, and
is charged by the witness Bates with having re-
ceived two. Other circumstances connected with the
conduct of Mr. Ward tend to throw an air of mys-
tery over the whole transaction, which the authori-
ties are determined to sift very closely.
The friends of Mr. Bladen, the collector, who died
so suddenly in Palmer's house, in May, 1850, from
certain circumstances lately come to their know-
ledge, have laid the case before Sir George Grey,
with the view of obtaining permission for the body
to be exhumed and subjected to a careful anal} sis,
to discover, if possible, the cause of death.
Upon the side of the prisoner, his friends and
relations allege that all the evidence yet produced
against the prisoner in support of having adminis-
tered poison to Mrs. Palmer, Mr. Cook, and Mr.
Walter Palmer, turns upon a question of science, on
which they are prepared to prove a difference of
opinion among the highest authorities. It is also
the intention of the prisoner's friends to make an
effort to remove the case, if possible, to the civil
side by certiorari, and to endeavour at the same time
to change the venue, so as to obtain a trial by spe-
cial jury before the Court of Queen's Bench, upon
the plea that the accumnlation of prejudice is so
great at Itugeley and Stafford as to rendkr a fair and
impartial hearing most doubtful.

THE CASE OF PADWICK V. PALMER, tried on Mon-
day last, at the Court of Queen's Bench, Westminster,
gave rise to unusual excitement among the public
from the announcement that the Stafford prisoner,
William Palmer, would be brought into court as a
witness. Westminster-hall from an early hour was
densely crowded, while the struggle for entry into
the court as soon as the door opened was painfully
ludicrous. Outside the hall the crowd—almost
entirely of men—was also very great, and the utmost
anxiety was evinced to catch a glimpse of the prisoner
as, rapidly driven up in a cab, he was taken into
Colin through the judges' private entrance. The
action was brought by Mr. Padwick (a gentleman
weil known upon the turf), as indorsee, against Mrs.
Sarah Palmer, as acceptor, of a bill of exchange, of
July 3, 1854, for 2,0001., payable three months after
date. There was also a count for money due on
account stated. The defendant pleaded that she did
not accept the bill of exchange ; and as to the second
count, never indebted. Mr. Edwin James and Mr.
Macnamara appeared for the plaintiff, and Mr. Ser-
geant Wilkins and Mr. Grey for the defendant. The
case was simply one of "accommodation." Mr.
Padwick had advanced 2,0001. to Palmer upon this
bill of exchange, drawn by Palmer upon his mother,
and endorsed by him to the plaintiff. Since then
Palmer had paid off a thousand pounds, but failing
to keep his word for the balance, and having given
two cheques, both of which were dishonoured, Mr.
Padwick on the 12th ult. arrested him, and, hearing
of several forgeries being abroad of Mrs. Sarah
Palmer's name by William Palmer, brought the pre-
sent action. The defence rested solely upon the
denial by Mrs. Palmer of her signature, and the
evidence of several witnesses, who swore thst the
acceptance was not in the handwriting ot. the defend-
ant. The case for the defence having closed, Mr.
James said he would now call Mr. William Palmer,
who would state by whom the bill was signed.
Mr. William Palmer was then called. He is a
man of a florid complexion, light hair, stout, and
about five feet eight inches high. He stepped lightly
into the witness-box, did not appear to feel his posi•
tion, and gave his evidence with an air of cool firm-
ness .

Mr. James (handing the witness the 2,0001. bill) : Take
that bill of exchange in your hand. is the signature to
that bill and the body of it in your handwriting?
Mr. Palmer • Yes.
Mr. James: Did you ask the plaintiff, Mr. Padwick, to
advance money upon it?
Mr. Palmer: I did.
Mr. James : Who wrote the acceptance, " Sarah
Palmer"?
Mr. Palmer : Anne Palmer.
Mr. James: Who is Anne Palmer?
Mr. Palmer : She was my wife—she is dead.
Mr. James: Did you see her write it.
Mr. Palmer I did.

SATURDAY,

The witness then retired strongly guarded by the police.
Mr. James having intimated that Mr. Padwick with-
drew the case, Mr. Justice Erie directed the verdict
to be entered for the defendant. At the close of the
case the prisoner Palmer was removed in a cab to
Clerkenwell l'rison, and from thence to Stafford, by
the train.

THE ADJOURNED INQUEST UPON THE BODY OF Mr.
WAUGH, the solicitor shot in Bedford-row last week,
was resumed on Wednesday before Mr. Waklcy,
when the prisoner Westron was brought before
the jury for the purpose of being identified. The
several witnesses were then examined, repeating their
evidence given before the Clerkenwell Police court
last week, and each recognising the prisoner as the
man who fired at Mr. Waugh. lespector Checkley
further deposed to having found fifteen bullets and a
mould at the prisoner's lodgings. At the conclusion
of the evidence, the jury. after a brief consultation,
returned a verdict of Wilful Murder. Upon the
same day the prisoner was brought up on remand
before Mr. Tyrwhitt, at Clerkenwell Police-court.
The only fresh evidence adduced was that of Mr.
Wilcox, of the Minories, who deposed to having sold
the pistols produced to the prisoner some fifteen or
eighteen months ago, and also that of Grove, one of
the r division of police, stationed at Notting hill,
who stated that on the 15th inst., Mr. Waugh, on
getting out of an omnibus near Notting-hill Gate,
requested witness to keep a look out upon the
prisoner, who was standing near, as he had sent
threatening letters to the deceased. On the same
evening Mr. Waugh came to the station-house and
cautioned witness to the same effect. Mr. Lewis,
who appeared for the prisoner, reserved his defence,
though he remarked en passant that the prisoner's
father and uncle had both committed suicide, and his
aunt had died in a lunatic asylum. At the conclusion
of the evidence the prisoner was fully committed to
Newgate upon the charge of wilful murder. During
the examination, both before the coroner and magis-
trate, Westron evinced remarkable coolness and non-
chalance, and did not appear to present any outward
appearance of insanity. The funeral of Mr. Waugh
took place on Wednesday at the Highgate Cemetery.
The plea of " insanity " will, it is reported, be set up
in defence on trial.
ANOTHER DELIBERATE AND BRUTAL MURDER has
occurred this week at Liverpool. A vagabond
named Ferguson, while at a low haunt in Prince
William-street, in a drunken fight with Sarah Drum-
mond, the girl he cohabited with, deliberately held
her down on the ground and cut her throat. The
deceased jumped up and attempted to walk away,
but in a few moments fell down dead at the corner
of Wolfe-street. A coroner's inquest was held upon
the body on Tuesday, and the evidence of the different
witnesses who saw the fight and found the body of
girl, and of the police who arrested the prisoner upon
his own aemission of having murdered the girl,
having been heard, Mr. Royston, the surgeon of the
Southern Hospital, deposed to the cause of death,
and the jury after a brief consultation returned a
verdict of Wilful Murder.
THOMAS ROBSON, the man lately remanded at New-
castle for an attempt to poison his wife by adminis-
tering sugar of lead in gin to her, has been fully com-
mitted for trial on the charge of intent to murder.
A POISONING CASE, in which a surgeon and three
men are implicated on a charge of having poisoned a
man with the view of obtaining 3001. as his life insu-
rance, has this week been brought before the notice
of the magistrates at Manchester. It appears from
a statement made by Mr. Holland, the surgeon to
the Diadem Insurance Office, that some time in Set-
tember last the three prisoners, Dunn, Monaghan,
and Barry, after effecting an insutance upon Mona-
ghan's father for 3001. with the Diadem Society,
asked Mr. Holland to show them how to mix a solu-
tion of white lead in whisky so that it should be co-
lourless. Mr. Holland showed them ; and the death
of the elder Monaghan taking place about the same
time, or shortly after, there was strong reason to be-
lieve that he had been poisoned. Mr. Holland, who
contradicted himself several times, gave his evidence
with great reluctance. The case at present is enve-
loped in mystery, and an application was about to
be made by the insurance society for a post-m,rtem
examination of the body. The solicitor acting on
their behalf requested the remand of the prisoners.
ANOTHER CASE, in which the parents of two
children are suspected to have poisoned them for the
sake of the burial fees, is also at present under inves•
Ligation at Manchester.
THE INQUIRY INTO THE SUSPECTED MURDER
ANNE PEACOCK and her child, off Kingston, by
drowning them in the river, was resumed on, Wed-
nesday before the coroner of the county. Is o new
facts were elicited to throw any light upon the in.i-
terious death of the woman and her child. Maria
Bish, a friend of the deceased, deposed to her having
expressed an intention to go on board the prisoner
Ford's barge on Monday night, the 7th inst ; Joseph
Hammerton, the bargeman, swore to having seen
Mrs. Peacock and her child in bed on board Ford.

IN

JANUAttIt 26, 1856.

(one of the prisoners) barge on Tuesday morning the
Bth inst., and that Ford took the barge away down the
river with the deceased and her child on board ;
while Henry Jackson, a son of the other bargeman
in custody on suspicion, stated that on Tuesday
morning he went with his father on board the barge,
and found only Ford on board ; there was no woman
or child on board at the time, or during the voyage
that week. At this stage of the proceedings the
inquest was adjourned for further evidence. The
re-examination of the prisoners, Ford and Jackson,
will be resumed before the magistrates at Kingston
this day.
A BRUTAL MURDER was llommitted at Bath last
Saturday. A costermonger, one Howell, i❑ a fit of
jealousy or ill-humour, kicked his wife so severely in
the stomach that, being enciente at the time, she
died shortly afterwards. An inquest was held on
Monday, and from the evidence adduced it appears
that the prisoner Howell, after inflicting the blow,
became so alarmed at its evident effect that he ran
for a midwife, who, on arriving, found the poor
woman at the point of death. Mr. Cox, the surgeon
who was called in, and afterwards made the post-
mortem examination, stated that the deceased died
almost immediately after he arrived, and that her
death was caused by frightful wounds upon the
lower part of the stomach, which must have been
produced by kicks or stamping, as it was impossible
under the circumstances that the woman could have
inflicted such injuries on herself by a fall. An
attempt was made to save the child by the Caesarian
operation, but the child was dead. Other witnesses,
lodgers in the house, deposed to having overheard
the prisoner in his room swear that he would "do
for his wife as soon as she returned home ;" and that,
on her return, the prisoner came out and pushed
her into his room, when the sound of two blows and
s heavy tall was beard, the woman screaming out
that she was murdered. The inquest terminated in
a verdict of "Manslaughter" being returned, while
the examination before the magistrates, at which the
evidence of the witnesses was mainly similar to that
given before the coroner, resulted in the committal
of the prisoner on a charge of " Wilful murder."
As INQUEST was held, on Thursday, at Gray's-inn,
upon the body of Jacobs (the coachman to Mr.
Parnell, solicitor), who met with his death on Mon-
day under peculiar circumstances. While drivin4
Miss Parnell from Clapton to town in the carriage,
the box-seat and footboard of the carriage suddenly
gave way, throwing him and the footman upon the
horses' backs. The animals, frightened and un
controlled, dashed off at full gallop, and ran
into a shoemaker's shop, when the decased and
the footn.an got dragged down under the horses and
were trampled on and kicked. Miss Parnell was also
severely injured, having been partly thrown through
the window by the violence of the shock. After great
trouble the horses were got clear, and the two men
rescued. The coachman, however, had suffered so
severely that he died after a few hours. The jury
returned a verdict of "Accidental death."
THE LEA-BROOK BOILER EXPLOSION INQUIRY has
terminated in a verdict of " Accidental death " upon
the bodies of the five men killed by the accident.

Sport ins.
OUNDLE STEEPLECHASES-TUESDAY
THE FARMERS' AND TRADESMEN'S STEEPLECIIA

About three miles.—Mr. Moore's Little Yeomen, I—Mr.
Price's filly by Cranbrook, 2. Won by four lengths. Two
lengths between the second and third.
THE FOXHUNTERS' STAKEs.—About three miles.--Mr.
Allenby's York You're Wanted, 1— Mr. Percival's The
Times. 2. Won by a length.
THE GRAND HANDICAP STEEPLECHASE About four
miles.—Mr. Thorpe's Tom Gurney, I—Mr. Golby's Plough.
boy, 2. A fine race . Won by a length.
THE SELLING STEEPLECHABE.—About two miles.—Mr.
J. Henderson's Lincoln, I—Mr. Price's Cheddiugton,
Won by two lengths.