The Express.
London, England, 1851-08-09 00:00:00

THE CONVICT SARAH BARBEL

The NottingAans Review publishes the following
statement of the circumstances which led to the successful
efforts which have been made to obtain a reprieve for Sarah
Barber:—

On Wednesday she asked to see the governor, and on
that functionary presenting himself, she said she had a state-
ment to make if he would take it down. As Mr. Halyard
saw she was inclined to make something like a confession,
he asked if she had any. objection to make her statement in
the presence of a tuamstsate. Raving expressed her ac-
quiescence with this arrangement, Captain Legard, of Len-
ten, one of the visiting justices, who was presiding in the
hall during petty se•Wons,was sent for, and, in his presence,
she made a certain statement. A material part of which was
to the following effect:—" The poison which Ingram pur-
chased at lluckoll's shop, on Sunday, at Bulwell, he mixed
with the medicine which was procured from Mr. Bowler, the
surgeon, as he and the deceased were riding from Bulwell
to Eastwood. She (Mn. Barber) administered this medi-
cine unconscious of its containing poison, and thus inad-
vertently killed her husband. Ingram did not tell her be
had put poison in the medicine until after the death of the
deceased. As soon as it was known that an inquest would
be held, she said to Ingram, ' You must go out of the way.'
Upon saying he nail no money she gave him two half-
crowns, and sent him off to NottinOam." During the time
she was thus discharging her conscience, Thomas Nixon,
Esq., of Nuttal, and tke high sheriff entered the gaol, and
remained upstairs in the governor's parlour until she hail
concluded. When it was afterwards read to them the
were by no means satisfied with it, and did not attach mach
credit to her story, our did the Rev. Mr. Plumptre' to
whom it was afterwards shown. The document was left
M Mr. Ildlyard's care. On Friday morning the govimier
sad one of the turnkeys was sitting with the condemned
woman, when Mr. Ilillyaril said "Sarah Barber, have
yon told the whole truth, is there anthing else yuu can
say? your statement is not believed." She replied that
as had told the truth, and that there was something
which could prove the correctness of what she had stated.
She then made a second statement, after which Mr.
Nfilyard waited upon Mr. Swann, the coroner, and told
hint the nature of the communication he had just

received. lie then asked him whether he would go with
himself and the chaplain to Captain Legard, one of the
visiting magistrates, to see what he would say respect-
ing it. They accordingly proceeded to Lenten, and ob-
tained an interview with the gallant captain, to whom
they stated the connection of several points with the
supposition that her first statement was a correct one.
Captain Legard instantly ordered out his carriage, and
the whole party went over to Eastwood, and put up at
the Sun Inn. The Rev. 11. W. Plumptre, fur whom they
sent, was out, but he soon joined them. Mr. Smith,
surgeon, was also present during the proceedings which
afterwards occurred. Mr. Ilillyard and the chaplain first
drove down to Langley-mill, in search of Ingram. They
found him standing at the door of hie reputed father, Mr.
Brierley. They asked him if ho would have any objection
to go to the Sun inn with them. lie said lie had none, and
was accordingly conveyed there, and a number of questions
put to him with a view of testing the truth of Mrs. Barber's
statement. lie was first asked how he went to Notting-
ham ? He replied, by railway. Where did you get the
money from to go by railway ? I had it. Mr. Hillyard
here said, "you know, Ingram, that you have been out of
work for a long time, and could have no money of
your own." lie then said his sister hid given it him.
\While Ingram made this statement, he called heaven to
witness that it was true, and said he hoped that he might
never enter the kingdom of heaven if it was proved to be false.
having heard thew assertions, Captain Legard imme-
diately sent down for the man's sister, and she declared that
she had never given himsuythiug of the sort. On the captain
re-entering the room the same questions as before were
again put to Ingram, but he repeated his former statement.
When it was proved, however, that he had spoken falsely,
he begged pardon The man also protested the truth of
other facts which he had stated, but apologised for them
and retracted them when they were afterwards found to
be false. On this occasion three or four parties came for-
ward to state that they heard Mrs. Shaw, who lived neat
door to the deceased, say she had actually seen Mrs. Barber
burn the poison which was spoken of at the trial. They
also asserted that there were several incidents to prove that
Mrs. Barber actually lost the poison en the road which she
purchased on the VCminesday night, as she hail stated ;
that the chief witness who could have proved it all was
Mr. Smith's assistant (Mr. Mather), who had gone away ;
that she went that same Wednesday night to Mr. Smith's
surgery to get some powders fur her husband, which
were to be administered to him either in or in conjunc-
tion with some linseed tea, also that at that time she put
her hand into her pocket, and said, " I have lost a packet
out of my pocket, and sd. in change ," upon which Mr.
Mather said he would lend her 4d. She accordingly bought
the linseed tea with it. In the second statement of Mrs.
Barber to Mr. Halyard she described the place where the
bottles were deposited, in consequence of which Mr.
Smith was empowered to employ parties to clear the
manure hole, in the out-house attached to the residence of
the deceased. This operation was duly performed, a
diligent search was made, and at last the police-
man found the two bottles containing sumo medi-
eine which had been obtained from Mr. Hawker's'
on the Sunday before the deceased's death. They were
taken to the hospital at Nottingham, and on analysatiem
by Mr. White, the resident surgeon, instantly produced
arsenic, and subsequently half an ounce was detected
On Saturday morning, Captain Legard embodied the re-
sults of these investigations in a long and elaborate state-
ment which he drew up with the intention of sending it by
mime trustworthy person to Mr. Baron l'arke, the learned
judge who presided at the trial. Mr. Hillyard being un-
able to leave the gaol at this peculiar time, Mr. l'atchitt,
the clerk to the magistrates, undertook the responsible
charge, and proceeded with the greatest possible despatch
to Warwick, where the judges of this circuit were then
stationed. lie sought and instantly obtained an interview
with the learned Baron, in the course of which his lord-
ship scanned the document with great care, anti went
through the whole of the arguments bearing upon the case
with Mr. Patthitt. A eonsiderrblc impression appeared to
, be made upon the mind of the judge, as the result of which
he forwardtsl such a recommendation to the Home-oflice,
that the authorities at once conseuted to vent a respite.

THE Con'lrr HENRY GROOM.—The execution of
Henry Groom, who was tried and found guilty at the last
Norfolk Assizes for an aggravated case of murder, il,fixed
to take place to day, at 12 o'clock, in front of NoXich
Castle. Since his condemnation the miserable culprit seems
to be perfectly. alive to the fearful nature of his position,
and has made in general terms a full confession of his guilt
to the gaol chaplain. Ile is most attentive to the religious
consolation offered to him, and admits the perfect justice of
his sentence.
REDUCTION 01 POSTAGE ON LETTERS BETWEEN
THE UNITED KINGDOM AND CALIFORNIA AND OkLOON.—
A reductioa having taken place in the postage chargeable
by the United States' Post-office upon letters transmitted
to California and Oregon, each letters will in future be
liable to the following rates of postage, via. :—tigon letters
transmitted by the West India Mail packets, mu Panama,
the combined British New Granadian and United States
postage will be—for a letter not exceeding on. in weight,
2s. 4d. ; for a letter exceeding t oz., and not exceeding loz.,
4s. Bd., and so on. Upon letters transmitted through
the United States, the combined British and United States'
postage will be—for aletter not exceeding j oz. in weight,
Is. Ad.; for a letter exceeding I oz., and not exceeding
oz., 2s. 5(1.; and so on, according to the scale for charging
inland letters. Newspapers, by either route, will continue
liable to a combined postage of 2d. each. The portage upon
these letters and newspapers must in all cases be paid in
advance, and it must be understood that all letters for Cali-
fornia and Oregon will be forwarded by the route of Panama,
except such as may be specially addressed " rid New
York," or "rid the United States." Postmasters will be
careful to bear in mind the above rule in taking the postage
upon these letters.
A FARM-YARD AND BUILDING, IN WHICH STEAM-
eowza is VIED to do all the work usually dune by
manual labour, exhibited at the Glass Palace, is of
interest. The model is designed by Mr. Isaac Tyson,
of Selby, in Yorkshire, and is upon a scale of two
inches to the foot. The object of this model is to show to
farmers and landed proprietors that a much more econo-
mical system may be pursued than has hitherto been
adopted in the arrangement of farmsteads and the carrying
on of every-day business. Tho plan proposed by Mr. Tyson
will, it is said, effect a very considerable saving in the an-
nual outlay of a farm. The model is designed for a farm of
500 acres, and is so arranged that the highest buildings are
placed on the north side, and the various offices open into
each other where necessary. The repository for fodder is
placed as near as possible to where it is consumed, and, by
tramways leading direct to the stables, as much can be con-
veyed on a track at once as will ;supply the whole of the
cattle for the day. In the same way the turnips, as they
are cut, fall at once into the truck, and are carried off to
' their destination. The stack-yards are also economically
arranged, end the carriage, stacking, and conveying to
market are managed without the intervention of manual or
horse labour. The whole of the buildings are supplied with
water by the engine, which is a fixed one of six-horse power,
of the simplest construction, and which besides performs all
the operations of threshing, grinding, straw-cutting, cake-
breaking, and bean-grinding. The engine can also be made
to crush bones, or saw, or perform any other work required
on the premises; and thus, by means of this valuable ser-
vant of man, time, money, and labour arc saved to a
considerable amount.
MALICIIITE is generally described ass green-
veined ramble : but this is a very loose description of mala-
chite ; for that mineral is neither a marble nor is it veined.
, It is a copper ore, seeming to have been formed by what
geologists call the plutonic action of the subterranean heat,
in actually melting, at some period of the world's history,
I the rock which contained the elements of the copper in
chemical combination with some other element. In the
native stns, it has the blistered, bubbled appearance of iron
or glass clinker ; and on cutting it into thin slices it is found
to be marked, as oarnelians or agates are marked, by syni- '
metrical stria of light and dark bands of all the shades of
green, from dm What olive, through the most brilliant
emerald, to the delieste_ye .
lbw green of the yro oungly-sputed
leaves on the Masa. We have it ourselves Cornwall and
Wales, but in awl skiable form that it will not work under
the tool of thAmseSiwy ; it is found also in the Burnt Barra
mines of eri there it assumes a texture that is
said to promise be art • but only in the Siberian mines
is it yet 611•1 am lord and brilliantly-coloured masses
which have beta tam' Is seek beeatiiel account in the
Mega Berieval the lime alieiwy