The Express.
London, England, 1849-03-16 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE

HOME CIRCUIT.—MAIDITONII, Mimes 14.
than AlDlL—Befor• Sr. Justice Migistman.
TUB Sraoon MVaDIII.
Thomas MOW, 47, fisherman, Maria WOW, 42, his
wife, Jaws MOW, 22, his son, also described as a fisher-
man, were indided for the wilful murder of Mary Abbott,
by suffocating her by means of a piece of carpet, which it
was alleged they f 'ably pressed and held over her mouth
sad nom. In another count the cause of death was alleged
to be drowning.
This ease occupied the court for 13 hours and mita 10
o'clock at night. A great number of witnesses were eau.l
maid ; but the nature of the charge will be better under-
stood in the fora of a narrative than if the evidence wore
&Tuck: dotal At the commencement of the trial, Mr.
absadoned the count is the indictment afloat
charged the death to have boon maimed by drowning, ad
the evidences was directed to the charge of smothering the
dememd with a eared.
It aggseen that the older prisoner and his wife occupied
ese Mimed mull tenements upon the high road, at Strad,
seer Ithetheeta, and which abutted upon a field liana as
the " ffna rield," at the bottom of which ran asst
dines he which it would appear the garden of the pthemer's
house offered the readiest scene. The ditch in quake did
not wattle MINI than a few inches of weber, and es the eta
face these was &quantity of green stagnest train sad ea
the eacreisig el Sonny, the Bth Oct., the Oman _Theme
M`Gill, was observed to be a the act of takiag the dead body
of a finale eat of this ditch. An alarm was raised, and the
body, whin tamed eat to be that of the deceased, Mary
Abbott, was 7.11111.04 ; and at first It would seem that the
general imprecise was that her death was occasioned by
drowning, and that it was her own act. la due cane an
inquiry took pion before the coroner, and as there was then
no suspicion Of any foul play, the prisoner Thomas and his
wife were nemined as winsome', sad in the evidence they
gave they dean all knowledge of the deceased, and the
forme enemensil that he had dboovered her accidentally in
the dftsk, gad that all he knew of the matter was that he
mselsevenred to a t her out. Circumstances after this very
seen came to light which roused suspicion that the deceased
had met her death by foul means. In the first
plass, it appeared that the head of the deceased
was aver more than partially immersed in the
water ; and, from the appearance of the green
vegetable matter that was on the surface it seemed that the
body had been laid quite gently in the water, sad it was
very different frcm what would have been presented if the
deceased had jumped In, The pod mortal examination
likewise showed that although the death had no doubt
been occadosed by salkostion, yet it was not produced by
deo an from the fort of some shreds of carpet being
found so denied is can of the heads of the unfor-
tunate wawa as to reader it necessary to force the hand
open babes it could be removed, it was in faired
that a pass of carpet bad been forcibly pressed
over her math sad nose so as to cause same-
tics, and that she hid torn away the porno
that was fond inberAand in her denude efforts to disen-
gage herself from her: assailants. The inquiry into the oe-
canoes, was continued before the coroner, also aided by the
of the borough, and it was very soon ascertained
Vire tn
deceased was a woman who. had been in service at
Oravusssd. She rem a widow, and it appeared that she had
left her assts thertly__lisfore October, and had gout to reside
with a amid Wee/horn, and en the 7th of October
she hs& smaged es leave that person's house and go to
Kellam es visit gene relations. It would appear that the
primer Am= Weill lived at Gravesend, and while the de-
emend raided WOO he had spoken to her, and they were on
fliaMy kimeissether; and cae of the strongest circumstances
against him wee, that after the discovery of the dead body
he denied all knowledge of her. Proceeding, however, with
the narrative it seemed that the dewed left Gravesend
about nid-diy, and proceeded by the omnibus to Rochester,
where she alighted at the Silver Oar public house, and paid
her few with hall a sovereign, and received the change. At
this time she appeared to be poorly, and at her request she
was shown into a bedroom, where the lay down for an hour
or two, and she then left the Silver Oar and went out, stating
that she was soles to visit a hiend, and thee she would send
for her box, which she left behind.
About this time the prisoner. James arrived in
Screed by the train ; and although their persona
were not positively identified, it appeared pretty
clear that he sat the demand as she was
en her way from the Silver ear, and that they joined com-
pany together. Fan this _rein all UK* was lost of the
prisoner James, fir a essio period, but it appeased
that about six o'clock theism mains, a woman who there
was no doubt wee the deemed, was man at oottage
occupied by the two elder reamers. The woman was seen
on the same evening in the pram sad item that win
nothing more was known of Aar via .MS heal dead
the next morning in the ditch under the eirommeamese that
have been described, and the suggestion leads to the jury
we. that the murder, it murder it really were, must have I
been committed daring the swaging, the body an the next
meaning being peeked, to sod geld, and death evidently
having alma ple peat many bars before • and as no
notes was heard it was inferred that the 'unfortunate
deceased had been suddenly attacked and overpowered, and
that the carpet being placed over her mouth and fan pro-
venud her from giving any alarm. The chief evidence
against the prisoners consisted of the decluallons made by
them when quieten were pat to them, upon supine
being at leg& amused ato their share in the transit:aka.
It would appear that when the female prisoner was asked
who the was= was that had been seen in her base on the
7th October, she at first stated that it was a servant who
lived at Braaten (Kent), and that the did not stay with
her two minutes ; bat she 'unequally gave a contrary
statement, sad upon the constable going to her
and requiting her to tell him who the woman
was, an Wass where he weld fled ha, she refused to
answer say quitiona, and said she shale' give him no in-
formation upon the intan The last time the female pri-
soner and the deseassa were seen together, It appeared, was
at Soo o'ciook be the afternoon, and at six o clock it was
shows that Jameell•Gill and his mother were In eanunat-
salon together, sad on the same morning the body was dis-
covered. It was proved that James Weill and Ids father
were seen at Rochester, but there was no evidence what-
ever to show what became of the deceased item the time
as we. Ist seen in the company of the bath Fiona
until she was found dead. In acidities to thin then
it also appeared that when James wee quatigned be
denied that he was at Inwood, or that he left Gravesend
on the 7th October, and he likewise denied all knowledge of
14:47 which was clearly proved to be untrue. It
she when the female prisoner was taken into
thatmer James was heard to say that "if kis
maker eras taken hie father would soon let him know," and
he added that " he wined his father bad not laid his bards
on the body, the some of their necks would suffer, and
he sidepal wig likely be the boy." The statement made by
the Misr gamer when he was examined was, that on the
eight In quirt= he went to his club at six o'clock, and did
sot:entre till 12, and he knew nothing of deceased until
he fond her in the water. The only motive that
appeared to be weeded for the crime, it a crime of the
description alleged had really been committed, was that it
was to obtain possession of the little property belonging to
the deceased, as it appeared that the change of the half
sovereign, sad some other money which was known to have
been in her possession, as well as two shawls, had been
stolen. The evidence, as will be seen, was entirely of a Cir-
cumstantial character, the principal points relied upon to
'thew the guilt of the prisoners befog the false deolarstions
they kid made upon the subject of their knowledge of the
assessed.
Mr. Malan for the prisoners, while admitting that
thetillmiltetwkithaat str"g rose
there nooft 'Ma
Otpidoe,uraN .4117:Stililtheonjrto
slim the& they bad committed the crime imputed to them,
sad at aides such oftaintstances the only safe and Batis-
tes*/ dares they could adopt was to say that the crown
bid art clearly made out the guilt of the primness, by re-
inisg • maid of not guilty.

Mr. Justice Wightmau they summed ut., going carefully
ever the whole of the evidence that had bees adduce,' for
the prosecution; and the jury, after deliberating for about
half an hour, returned a verdict of Not Guilty.

OXFORD CIRCUIT:STA/701D, NAZCA 15.
Mon Kr. Ilona Platt
_ _ CZASOF OP WIL701.11l171:D1i.

Martha Jotter, aged 23. was arraigaed on an indictment
charging her with the wilful murder of Edwin Jones and
Mary Spencer, on the 13th September last, at Lane Head,
near Wolverhampon. • •
The ;primmer, who is a married women, aced is lived
with her husband at Lasso !lead. Sear Willealsidl: A
child, aged (at the time of the horrid Vanseeties) about 18
months, was the Mat Of their marriage; and, in addition to
this, the also had confided to her care a niece, aged 12, the
ether victim to her marderous hand. The strongest
maternal affection was 'eldest In the primmer
towards her offspring ; but ter some thee previon to
the perpetration of the grime the anketanate woman's
Edna showed undoubted symptoms of aberration and de-
rangement, but attended with lengthened lucid intervals.
Them symptoms were streastlumed by a religions phrer ',—
far the winner, who had been brought up as a protestant,
bad malineed the doctrines of Boman catholicism, which
at length manifestod themselves to such an extent, that, sa
she mime* she was impressed with the necessity of ex-
piating seen crime, hy murdering the helpless victims to
ensue the Segraie Being. Is gensequense of her strange,
aid at times violent behaviour, her friends sent her, by the
dile:donee a medical attendant, *the union workhouse,
where the goon recovered the apparently right nee of her
seams. Her husband and friends, anxious to receive her
again to their Dome, she was taken from the workhouse to
her house, and two days afterwards. on the evening of the
13th September, a person named Hadley was alarmed by
breams coming from the direction of the prisoner's dwell-
ing, and upon proceeding up stairs he there saw the prisoner
in her night-drem with a knits at her throat. After the
knife had been tau frau her, and she woe secured, it was
discovered that underneath the bed-defies was the body of
Mary Spence* with bet head (connected with the trunk of
the body by a alight Hoare) hinging ever the bed-side, and
oa the other ride of theledeteed, upon the Sorg, was the bead
of the prisoner's son,Beivria Jones, the body bine underneath
the bed clothes. A pool of blood wastes** Soar, and the bed
was completely saturated. The primmer, who was raving
asl very violent, was secured, and conveyed away, confess-
log that her own hand had perpetrated the deed.
The defame was, the: the rummy, at the time of the la-
mentable occurrence, was insane ; and this was so gel!-vi-
dent front the evidence adduced, that the learned counsel
for the pecomaties declined calling more than two wit-
nesses._ _ _ _

The learned judge having summed up in a sinner favour-
able to the prisoner, the jury returned • verdict of Nog
Guilty on the ground of insanity; and she was ordered to be
confined in the gaol during her Majesty's lure.
—The prisoner was then consmitted, bail accepted.