The Express.
London, England, 1849-06-30 00:00:00

MURDER AT WESTBURY, WILTS.

Another of those cases of poisoning which have of
late been bef• re the public with such psinml tr. opener has
just occurred atWestbuey,Wilts. Rebecca Smith, wife of Philip
Smith,labourer, standscharged on very grave evade nee with the
murder of ter i.tfant, Richard Smith, who was born on the
16th May, and died on the 12th inst. The accused has been
married 18 years, gad has given birth to 11 c, i dren, all of
whom, except the eldest, have (lied in their hifancy. Some
suspicions having been created on the death of the last child,
the body was exhumed, under a coroner's warrant, on Salta-
day last, when a post morton examination was made by Mr.
G Shorland, in the presence of Mr. Gibbs, another surgeon.
On Monday a jury was sworn before Mr. 0 Sylvester, one
of the coroners for Wiltshire, when evidence was given as to
the identity of the body of the deceased
Prudence Mead also deposed that on the 7th of June (five
days before the child died), the mother came to hr r, and re-
quested witness to accompany her to the shop of Mr. Tsyl,r,
druggist, of Westbury, to purchase some arsenic, which she
said her sister, who lives at Breton' near Westbury, wanted
to destroy some rats which infested her house. The sister,
who was subsequently ailed, denied the' she had ever re-
quested Rebecca Smith to purchase any poison for her for
such a purpose, as she had not rats or mice in her house,
nor had she ever heard her sister complain of having any.
The purchase of the poison by the mother of the deceased
was proved by Mr. Taylor's apprentice, who served her with
it properly labelled, and, at the time, warning her of its deadly
properties.
Mr. G. Shorland, surgeon, and reetstrar of births and
deaths ter Westbury, deposed that the child's death was
registered on the 15th of Julie, the day following that on
which it died. The prisoner said she hardly knew the cause of
death ; the child had been ailing for a little time, and that
Mr. Britten, the surgeon, had seen it once. Finding that no
satisfactory cause could he assigned, the cause of death wee
registered as " unknown." A post nicrtem examination of
the body was made on Saturday by witness, in the presence
of Mr. Gibbs, surgeon. There were no remarkalce external
appea-ances. The brain was healthy, and the lun;ss and
heart entirely free from disease. On opening the abdomen the
covering of the stomach was found to be in all illfillned state.
Some teats were applied by Mr. Shorland, which convinced
' him that arsenic caked in the contents of the stomach ; and
finding no disease to account for death in the coulee of his
examination, he gave it as his opinion that the cause of
r death was the adintr.istration of arrenic. The viscera snd

its contents were staled up and delivered to Mr. litrapath,
who completed the snalysanan.
Mr. W. Herapath, chemist, of Bristol, deposed to having
received the contents of deceased's stomach from Mr. Shoe.
land on the 24th inst. On subjecting the contents of the
stomach to analysis, I found it to co• sist princ.pasly of milk
and arscni, us mid in solution, and txecedingly slight trace
of arsenic not tlksolyed.

After some other evidence, the Coroner recapitulated the
facts to the jury ; and the court having been cleared for a
short time, they returned a verdict of " Wilful muruer
against Rebecca Smith, who was committed to take her
trial at the ensuing Wilts assizes.
The prisoner, who is about 45 or 50 years of age, main-
tained the most indifferent behaviour throughout the whole
proceedings, and was removed from the jury-roem in cus-
tody apparently less excited than any of the parties who had
been engaged in the inquiry.