The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-07-21 00:00:00

CONCLUSION OF THE
PROCEEDINGS

THIRD DAY'S

(FROM OUR OWN REPORTER.)
[The following evidence for the defence was adduced after
our parcel had been despatched.]
Mr. Jenkins : I am one of the senior Masters of the Col-
lege, at Madras. I knew very little of Dove before he
became a suitor of my sister. I saw him several times
before I went to Madras, on the 20th July, 1854. From
my knowledge of them both they lived affectionately, some-
times marked by intense and foolish affection—intense in
ardour and foolish in its tone, more like ihe fondling of
children. I went over to my brother-in-law a few months
after they had been married. She came to me, and told
me of a dreadful circumstance—that he had a pistol, and
was acting strangely. I went to Bramhall Moor. My
sister spoke. to me, and introduced the subject as quietly as
sbe c?.utd, and said that William had a pistol. I said,
what does he ask for it ? I believe he stated lie gave 60s ,
and I gave the same. They had not been very long married
before I was disgusted with his insanity. This was what I
beard. I found him invariably incoherent in his ideas. There
was scarcely a subject upon which his ideas were coherent.
*When I was at the farm he talked about clearing £7OO at
the end of the year out of 80 acres. His character was
altogether impulsive. Sometimes he was elated, sometimes
miserably depressed. His character was altogether of an
impulsive kind. He appeared to be most religious, read
portions of Scripture, and often sang hymns. I have heard
of my sister's death, and the symptoms of it. If I had not
heard of Palmer's case, I should have believed her to have
die,i in one of the extreme fits to which she was subject.
Cross-examined : I had no approbation to give to my
sister's marriage. She was of age, and I knew nothing of
him, not even his name. My sister asked my advica about it.
said I had none togive, but his family was so excellent that
I saw no objection. I never thought the prisoner clever ;
far from being a sensible man. I have never seen him
drunken. He has never been so in my presence. He was
a reprobate ; that is, he used improper language to the
servants. He was sometimes depressed and sometimes
elated. So am I. He was elated without any reasonable
cause.

Charles Hanmer : I live near Normanton, and am a
schoolmaster. I was engaged as assistant teacher at a Mr.
Highley's school, near Leeds, where the prisoner was. I
had opportunities of observing him, as he was under my
care six hours a day. I always looked upon him as of a
low order of ittellent. In addition to embecility of mind,
he manifested a great want of moral power; there was no
resistance to evil or the indulgence of vicious inclinations.
There was a certain liberality about him. On one occasion
saw his father in reference to a pistol he had at school,
and r;'aich I took away from him. In consequence of a
Complaint made to me, I went to William Dove and said to
him, " The boys say you intend to shoot your father ; is
that true t" He made no answer. I said, " You shall not
go home to-night unless Igo with you." I was deputed to
go to him, and went to Christopher Dove and said, "I took
this from your sob William, who has avowed his intention
of shooting you as you come down from breakfast in the
morning." He was very much shocked. My opinion now
is that he was then of an unsound state of mind, and had a
decided tendency to insanity. He was always at the bottom
of his class. He was very frequently corrected ; he did not
seem to regard it in the least ; he took fifty lashes as com-
placently as one.

Cross-examined : I thought him insane then. I did not
tell the head master that being insane, he ought not to be
flogged. He was flogged by the master for incapacity
when he examined morning classes. He might have re-
mained a year or more. I have never seen or known any-
thi.ng more of him since, until I saw his name in the public

Mr. Richard Hiley : I keep a boarding school at Thorp
Arch. I know the prisoner, who was in my school. I was
led to discover his capacity after he had been with me some
time. I had reason to believe he was " not altogether
there." (Laughter.) He was not teachable, generally, and
his conduct was bad. He appeared to be fond of mischief
fet mischief's sake. His reasoning powers were extremely
limited. His temper and disposition were bad. He had
no idea of consequences, of which he was quite regardless.
Punishment had no effect upon him. He never took it
well. I paid attention to his use of religious terms, but
there was no idea attached to the use of them. On one
occasion he was charged with stealing drawings from his
sister. He said they were his own production. I said,
" sit you down and produce something like them." He
tried, and presently said, " Oh, sir, I forget." I said,
" You never knew." He was punished for that. I recom-
mended his father to procure him some employment in the
country, and that he was not fit to be his own master. I
was convinced then that he laboured under an an aberration
of intellect. 1 heard he had a pistol after that, to shoot me
and his father. He was expelled the school.
Cross-examined : I had a large school then He did not
stay a year after he had the pistol.
By the Judge : There was a low cunning about hi He
would not hesitate to perpetrate his crime openly. m.
I can-
not say whether he generally did it slyly. He had same
glimmering of intellect.
Rev. John Manners : I am a clergyman of the Established
Church. I was principal of the Wesleyan College, Shef-
field, about the year 1839 or 1840, the prisoner was placed
there, and remained there about a year. He was exceed-
ingly foolish, and seemed to partake more of the animal than
of a rational nature. He would put on a sort of vacant
stare. The impression upon my mind was that Dove was
very different to other youths.
Cross-examined : At the time he was there there might
have been 150 pupils.
Mr. Frankish : lam a farmer, residing at Therburn. I
have been there about five years. I had a farm previously
where I received the prisoner as a pupil. He remained
with me five and a-half years. From what I knew then, I
think now, and I was led to conclude, he was of unsound
mind. While he was with me I had five or six cows and
two calves, and he put oil of vitriol on the cows and on one
of the calves. When I charged the prisoner with it he
wanted to deny it at first, but at last he made a full confession
of the truth. The reason he gave for not burning the other
calf was, that it was a favourite with him. The servant
came in one night, and seemed horrified and frightened, and
said the cats had come in ; they were horrid sights. She
said there was something on them that seemed alive. The
next morning two kittens were found with their eyes burnt
all around with vitriol. He said then he was very sorry
for it. I also had occasion to examine the water trough,
out of which the horses would not drink, and found in it a
bottle of oil of vitriol. He also elevated some beasts through
the agency of a beam, so that the beast rested entirely on
the fore leg. Some of my fences were also burnt. I spoke
'to him about it, and he said he was sorry for it. I heard he
went afterwards to America. There was something said by
him about a tribe of red Indians. I remember one thing,
he said the premises was on fire, and, pursuing him, he toak
some matches out of his box, and made a fire before him
which he followed, and which burnt a way through, and
then the fire behind him stopped. I remember one night
his staying with me after he was married, he asked his wife
to play a tune. She declined because it was late. He got
quite out of temper, and called for a candle. Soon after
Mrs. Dove went to bed, the door was fast, and he would not
open it. My wife said if he did not open it she would burst
it open, and the door was opened. Next morning he aplo-
gised to both of us, and soon after I saw him with Mrs.
Dove in his arms, and saying, " My love and my dear."
During the time be was with me he used to associate with
the ploughboys. I was giving him a talking to one night
and often did, and next morning Mrs. Frankish told me, in
Dove's presence, that he bad said to her, " You ought to
be thankful you have a husband this morning, for I bought
this knife to destroy him."
Cross-examined : He brought the oil of vitriol with him
when he came to my house. The burning of the fence he
did not say was an accident. He had not been with me a
week before I thought he was a curious lad, but I thought
he might grow better. He grew worse. He was cunning,
and would try to deceive you in every posssble way.
Re-examined : He did not deny that he had burned the
hedge designedly. I never trusted him to buy and sell for
me; he was not capable of doing so. He knew very little
more about farming when he went away than when he
came.
By the Judge : I had great difficulty in teaching him
about the succession of crops.
James Powell said : lam a farm labourer, and was ser-
vant to Mr. Frankish when the prisoner was on the farm. I
was with him three years. I remember his putting a bottle
of oil of vitriol in a horse trough. He attempted to stab
me because I would not let him have some straw I required
for the horses. If I hadn't slipped oat of the way he would
have bit me. He ran at the door, but he did'nt want to
hit me. I remember the hedge being on fire.
The Rev. William Lord was then examined : I am the
governor of Woodhouse Grove School, near Leeds. I know
the prisoner, and have known his father forty years. I in-
vited him before the death of his father to give him religious
instruction. I endeavoured to ascertain the character of his
mind, but I could not make any impression upon his heart
or his head. I could not make any impresson
Mis father consulted me as to what provision upon him.
he should
make for him. At that time he was not, in my opinion,
capaole of disposing of property to any amount. He had
not visited at my house for a considerable time, because he
could never be introduced to the company without great
mortification to us all.
Cross-examined : I knew him before his marriage. I
:vas not informed of his paying his addresses to Miss Jenkins
until a few weeks after that engagement had commenced.
I mentioned to her brother that I objected to him on account
of his general strange conduct. He would never read, talk,
or follow an action to its conclusion. When he conversed
he was always irrational. I have conversed with him about
farming. I can't recollect any single instance. He was
not only crude in conversation, but contradictory.
Re-examined : He manifested an ignorance on the ordi-

nary topics of conversation. I had known him fourteen

years

Matthew Cooper examined : I was a farm labourer at Mr.
Frankish's when Dove was theie: He confirmed the last

witness.
John Gibson examined : I am a tenant of a farm, and
know the prisoner. He was with me as a pupil. I formed
an unfavourable opinion of his mind. I was not successful
in teaching him to be a farmer, He was twenty-one when
he left me, and he then went to America. After his return
I saw him. The Tann was taken in his father's name. I
went on the farm for a few months after he had taken it.
He did not farm it in a workmanlike manner.
James Shandon examined : In the year 1852 I went to
live with the prisoner as his servant. I Was there about
nine months. There was something that attruted my
attention to the state of his mind. A man was passing .
they were at prayer. He asked him to come in and stop
while they were at prayer. Some time after that he got a
gun of his own, and used to carry it about in a most extras
ordinary way. After that he had pistols, with which he
alarmed the charwoman. I remember his riding too; one
day he gallopped through a ford of water when his horse
was in a'sweat, saying it would do them no harm, as it was
cold. He also had a bull dog, and one day a man was in
one of his carts, and he went with the ball dog in one hand
and the pistol in the other, and pointed the pistol in the
man's face. I said. " Take care what you are doing or you
will shoot the man." He said. " That is what I intend." I
remember being sent to Apperley for him, but missed him.
The horse that he rode was cut in the leg.
Crosssexamined : I have seen him the worse for liquor.
Re-examined : The opinion I now entertain is that he
was not of sound mind.
By Mr. Overend : He was very careless with firearms.
Mary Peck said : I was housekeeper at Dove's farm. He
acted in a very foolish way. Ile set my Cap on fire in two
instances on purpose. It was oh my head on each occasion.
He threw a handful of water over me another time. I was
moving at the time. He came in and said be had been
waylaid by four men—suspicious characters—and he (Dove)
knocked a man down. On the occasion of saying that, he
loaded the gun full of powder, and placed it near a candle-
stick, in which was a lighted candle,
Robert Tomlinson: In September, 1852, I was with the
prisoner at the farm. For the first month I did not observe
anything particular there, but afterwards I saw him carry
his wife about on his shoulders and in his arms. He cried
when they had a little bickering. I have seen him cry for
nine or ten raloute'S. In September, 1853, I remember
coming home, and finding my wife very much frightened.
Dove had a loaded pistol, which he pointed at me. I said,
" Master, what are you going to do ?" He said, " I'll blow
up the whole place." I said, "Hush, hush Eventually I
got it away, but before r did so he put the moss le of the
loaded pistol in his mouth. I fired the pistol off as soon as
I got it away. I think he was rather drunk then. After
that he got a six barrelled revolver, which he carried about
with him—three barrels loaded with powder and three with
ball. I have seen him pull up and cut apple trees.
Cross examined : I say he was not a sound minded man
when he was sober. I mean that he was not a sound minded
man. I can't explain it in any other way. I did not
observe him particularly the first month. I an not sure that
his mother blamed him for his conduct to his wife,
Re-examined : There often appeared to me to be danger
in the mode in which he handled the pistols—they were
on full cock. I never saw any other man behave as he
did.
William Tomlinson : I am now a mason's labourer, and
was a farm labourer. I remember the month of June,
1853. The prisoner once came to me in a field with his
shoes and stockings in his hand. The next morning,
at five o'clock, I found him in the granary, buried in oat
sheaves. The following morning he told me he had
" signed the pledge." He sent a lad also to borrow two
linseed cakes, saying they would fatten the beasts by the
next morning.
Cross-examined : I don't know whether he had a quarrel
with his wife that day. I don't believe he was drunk at
that time.
By the Judge : When he was sober he talked like other
men.
Emma Spence : I went into the prisoner's service. in
December, 1853, as housemaid. I have seen him serve my
mistress like a child. On one occasion I saw him with a
brace of loaded pistols, which he pointed at his own mouth,
and also threatened to shoot me. I would not look at him,
for I thought they were going down his throat. She spoke
to general violence of this nature, which she described.
He has often helped her to cook and assist in woman's
work. I was frightened of the man when I was there.
I did not think he was a sound man. Mrs. Dove was a
very jealous woman.
Cross-examined : I might have remained until March, as
the shooting I refer to took place in December.
Emma Wilkinson : I was servant in July, 1852, to Mr.
Dove, three weeks before his marriage, and six months
afterwards. He did not appear to me to behave like a
reasonable man. I have known him get up sometimes in
the middle of the night. When he has left the house in this
way he has been sober.
Hannah Wilson : I was sent to Mr. Dove in December, I
1853. I was there five months. I have seen him cry like
a child, and was sure that he was not right in his mind.
Mr. Joseph Adams, a schoolmaster at Normanton, said
I knew the prisoner, and in reference to conversations T
had with him, I formed an opinion that he was of unsound
mind. He told me that he had grown some black ;
potatoes. He never acted like a rational man. I insisted
it was a mistake, but he said it was true. He talked r
about his extensive property, which he said he should
leave to Mrs. Dove. The last time he was at my house
he was sober. I left him in a room for a short time, and
when I came back I heard a jingling, and my impression
was that he was drinking. He appeared not to be a man
of ordinary prulence, and of acting in his business like
other men.
Cross-examined by Mr. Overend : I never saw any black
potatoes.
His Lordship said he had a most undeniable authority for
the existence of black potatoes.
William Watson: lam a postmaster. The prisoner
introduced himself to me on the 29th March, 1855. He
met in my class as a Wesleyan. I did not think him per-
fectly right. On one occasion, I have heard him converse
about his property. He said he was as good as worth
£5,000 then, and that he intended to be worth £20,000
before he died. When he desisted from coming he gave us
notice, and assigned the noises in his house as a reason for
not coming. He had got up several times in the night and
had gone about the house, but could not find out what they
were.
The Rev. J. Woolmer, Wesleyan minister : In September,
1852, I preached at Leeds. I was in the habit of visiting
Mr. Dove's family. I saw the son occasionally. I re-
member going there one day and finding the family in a
state of great alarm. The prisoner was in the house some-
where with a loaded pistol, and had threatened to shoot his
father and mother, and also to destroy himself. I went in
search of him ; he had been in a laundry, and from there he
got into a small shop adjoining, and very much alarmed a
poor family there. I sent for two policemen, and he was
taken away ; that act and others confirmed the opinion that
he was a man of unsound mind, and ought not to be at
large. From the short conversation I had with him, he
seemed to be very low in intellect, and was restless.
Cross-examined : In August, 1854, I saw him with the
pistol. I could not determine myself that he was drunk ;
his gait was perfectly steady.
Sarah Furness: I live at Normanton. I remember Mr.
and Mrs. Dove living next door to me. lam of opinion
that, from what I saw of him, he was a man of unsound
mind. He put vitriol on the cows, and cut their tails off.
I have seen him wheel Mrs. Dove in a wheelbarrow.
By Mr. Overend : I don't think he wheeled her more
than twice.
The court adjourned at seven o'clock.

FOURTH DAY.-SATURDAY.

CONVICTION OF THE PRISONER, AND

SENTENCE OF DEATH

YORK, SATURDAY NIGHT,

Mr. Baron BRAMWELL took his seat at nine o'clock,
when the examination of witnesses for the prisoner was
resumed.

John Thompson called : I am a schoolmaster at Aber_
ford. I have known the prisoner from 1853 to the pre-
sent. I have frequently seen him wild, incoherent, and
inconsistent. He never talked rationally on one subject,
but kept flying about. I have heard him speak about his
journey to America. He said he had engaged with Red
Indians, and had got to be their chief. He afterwards
met with a bear. who caught him in its paws and endea-
voured to suffocate him with its breath. - He pulled a
knife out of his pocket and plunged it into its bowels. On
his return from the woods, after killing the bear, the
Indians crowned him with laurels. One day in July 1 saw
him lying on his face in the middle of the high road lead.
ing to his own house. He was crying. On another occa-
sion I saw him on horseback. He was pricking the horse
with a nail. There was a crowd of people following him,
and he said he was showing them how expert 110 was at
horsemanship. In the latter part of 1654 I was at his
house, when he said he had given notice to quit the farm,
and wished me to take it. He said he had employed the
Wizard to charm the steward that he might leave him
(witness) the farm. He said he believed in the power of
the Wizard to control human events. One day I went
with a farmer to his house to look at some sheep. The
prisoner got a bottle and some liquid, and gunpowder, and
began playing tricks. He afterwards shewed us some
needlework, which he said was his own. I have always
believed him to be a man of insane mind.
Cross-examined by Mr. Bliss : He had met with the
prisoner, and the Wizard stayed at a publichouse. The
Wizard was talking about the formation of man. He (the
Wizard) said that if he had made man, he could have
done it much better, as he would have placed the calves
of his legs in front, which would have prevented him
knocking his shins as ho went up a ladder.
By the Judge : There is a probability of the story about
the bear
gbin eintghetrnueei.ghbHoeutrohlododit. in a romantic egotistical
ma
nayntnhei rn
Mr. John Noble, governor of York Castle, examined :
The prisoner was brought to York Castle on the 17th of
March. ,J produce a letter written by the prisoner to

Harrison, the wizard. The letter was produced, and
was about to be read, when
Mr. Overend objected to the letter being read, in con-
sequence of there being no proof that it was the prisoner's
handwriting.
The prisoner's brother-in-law was then re-called, to
prove that the letter was in the prisoner's handwriting,
as also btherS which were fdund in the possession of the
prisoner When he was searched in the gaol.
[The letter to Harrison, the wizard, was then read by
the officer of the court. The writer asked the wisard for
his opinion as to whether he should get off or not, stating
that he (the wizard) knew better than any one else. The
letter addresssed to the devil, and another letter found in
the prisoner's possession, were also read.]
Examination of Mr. Noble continued : When the letters
were handed to me by the gaoler, I consulted the magis-
trates as to what I should do with them. A copy of each
he ultimately supplied both to the prosecution and the
prisoner's attorney. I produce another document found
on the prisoner.
The document was handed in, and was about to be read
when Mr. Bliss objected, on the ground that he had not
tendered it in evidence.

Dr. CalehWilliards, a member of the Society of Friends,
examined : I am a medical practitioner in York, and one
of the visiting medical officers of the Quakers' Retreat
(Lunatic Asylum). I have given my special attention to
cases of insanity for thirty years. I have repeatedly
seen the prisoner whilst in custody 1 consider the pri-
soner a person of unsound mind. I have formed that
opinion from what I have heard in court. I believe that
murders and suicides are often the result of imitation by
persons of weak intellect. The letters written by the
p: ironer to Harrison, and to the devil, prove to my mind
that he is insane. I believe the delusions on the mind of
the prisoner, that he had sold himself to the devil, to be
genuine. I believe that when the prisoner produced the
bottle, the liquid and the gunpowder, referred to by a
former witness, that he thought he was under the influ-
ence of supernatural agency. Talking about strychnia in
the way he did, indicates his feeble powers of mind. I
do not think the prisoner has the power of controlling
his emotions and faculties. He seemed to labour under
an uncontrollable impulse to injure or take life. I judge
of this by his killing the cats. From all I have heard, I
should say that during the week of his wife's death, the
prisoner's inclination that week was to take life. lie was
probably influenced by a belief in supernatural agency.
He might retain the power of judging of the means to an
end, and its consequences. Under this feeling, he would
not have the power to resist impulse.
Cross-examined by Mr. Overend : I have not expressed
any strong objections to capital punishments. I do not
believe them to be wrong. I never heard of an insane
person taking:away life by'small doses of poison. Assum-
ing that the prisoner administered poison six or seven
times in succession, I should not call that impulse. I
should call it an uncontrollable propensity to destroy life.
That state of mind might last for an hour, or a day, or a
week. Ido not think that a person with such a propen-
sity would not know he was doing wrong. Ho might not
be sensible of the punishment which would follow if he was
detected, and yet have a desire to conceal what he had
done. ft is one of the texts of insanity that, when an in-
sane man commits a crime he acknowledges it, and gives
himself up to justice. The propensities of the insane
sometimes come on very suddenly. I think that a man of
weak habits and cruel character wishing to get rid of his
wife, would be actuated by vice. I believe that a man
who had admistered poison to his wife six or seven times,
and prepared her friends for her death, would be actuated
by vice, and not by insanity, more especially if he denied
that he had administered the poison. I believe that
when a man obtains a propensity to kill, which he cannot
control, he becomes insane. Supposing a man entertains
a notion to kill his wife for a week, or a month, and
nourishes that feeling for such a time, his condition of
mind at the end of that period, by encouraging such a feel-
might amount to a state of moral insanity. I consider
that the prisoner talking about strychnia as he did, indi-
cated an evil power of mind. I assume that when he so
talked about strychnia, he knew he had poisoned his wife.
Supposing him then to have poisoned his wife, or talking
about strychnia, would indicate an evil power of mind.
Re examined by Mr. Sergeant Wilkins : I think no one
can speak with certainty as to the sanity or insanity of
an individual, without knowing his antecedents. Re-
peated acts of cruelty from youth to manhood, with the
fear of special punishment are, I shall say, indications of
unsound mipd. I have known lunatics in the Retreat,
attempt to escape, and mature their plans for several
days. Having heard the history of the prisoner, and his
various and unaccountable acts, I would have no hesita-
tion in signing a certificate that he was a person of
unsound mind, and ought to be committed to an asylum.
A propensity to steal and deny the theft is an indication
of insanity.

By the Judge : I think that a person who nourishes a
desire to destroy the life of a certain individual, is
labouring under monomainia until he accomplishes his
purpose. The whole system of the government of lunatics
is one of moral control.

Dr. Smith examined: I am a doctor of medicine,
residing at Leeds, and am the proprietor of a lunatic
asylum there. I have heard the evidence in this case,
and I believe the prisoner to be of unsound mind. I
think he was of unsound mind from the 25th of July last
to the Ist of March, and that he has been insane for
twenty years.

By -Mr. Oyerend : I think he was able to judge right
from wrong. _

Re-examined by Mr. Bliss : A man may be decidedly
insane, and yet know right from wrong, and still be
regardless of duty consequences.
Mr. John Kitchen, a member of the Society of Friends,
and the superintendent of the York Retreat, examined . I
have heard the evidence in this case, and I am of opinion
that the prisoner is of unsound mind. I have examined
him with Dr. Caleb Williams, since his incarceration.
Cross-examined by Mr. 0 verend : I have no doubt
that if the prisoner committed the murder with which he
is charged, he knew he was committing murder, and that
if he were found:out he would be indicted and punished.:
Re-examined by Mr. Sergeant Wilkins : The previous
life of the prisoner suggests to my mind that he was a
person who would commit some deed of violence. I think
he has been mad all his life.

A Juror: Do you adopt the theory of Dr. Williams as
to irresistible impulse ? "Witness : I do, generally, but
not in this case. I account for the murder, if the prisoner
committed it, on different principles. I think the prisoner
was originally deficient in mental powers, and that he is
insane. This; condition of mind renders him liable to
commit any cruel, malignant, absurd, irrational, or
vicious action that may present itself to his mind. By
" vicious " I mean not " virtuous." I think when a
woman trusts herself as a wife into the hands of a man
such as the prisoner is described to be, a result like
this is just the catastrophe that might be expected.
(Laughter.)
Cross-examined by Mr. Overend : I think the prisoner
considered that he was violating the law when he com-
mitted the offence with which he is charged, if he did
commit it.
This closed the case for the defence.

Mr. Overend then commenced his reply on behalf of the
prosecution, at half-past one o'clock. He said that his
duty was a plain and simple one, namely, to see that the
jury arrived at a right conclusion on the issue before
them. As far as he was personally concerned he would be
glad that the prisoner should be acquitted, but he had a
duty to discharge to society, and that was to bring to
justice a man whom he belived to be the perpetrator of a
foul and cold-blooded murder. The defence set up on
behalf of the prisoner was that he was insame, but the
jury were bound by their oath to decide according to the
law, and the law declared that the insanity of a man
would not avail him if he knew he was doing wrong at the
time he committed the offence with which he was charged.
The crown was bound to shew that a murder had been
committed, and that the prisoner at the bar was the per-
son who committed the murder. The counsel for the
defence had called a host of witnesses to speak to the
early habits of the prisoner, when a child and a youth,
but the issue which the jury had to try was whether the
prisoner was insane during the fatal week expiring on the
Ist of March last. His learned friend had not ventured
to call any witnesses who were with the prisoner day by
day during the fatal week of the illness of Mrs. Dove,
neither had he cross-examined the witnesses for the
prosecution to show that he was wild, mad, and irrespon-
sible. If the prisoner was insane, as it was alleged,
why had he not called Mrs. Witham, or Mr. Morley, who
saw him day by day during the illness of his wife ? The
prisoner's counsel knew too well, that they dared not put
Mr. Morley into the witness box, although he had known
the prisoner all his life. But the case did not rest there.
His learned friends never even ventured to call the sur-
geon of the gaol, or the governor of the gaol, who minutely
scrutinised the conduct of the prisoner during his incar-
ceration, but they called witnesses like Mr. Williams and
Mr. Kitchen, to show that in their opinion the prisoner
was to be excused from his acts, on the grounds of unac
countability. He cautioned the jury how they received
such evidence, as if it were once supposed that medical
testimony, based upon vague and theoretical scientific
opinions, could avail to save a criminal from justice, there
was not a single hearth in the country which would be
safe from the deadly manipulations of the prisoner. It
was idle and absurd to hold that, because the prisoner
was a mischievous and bad boy twenty years ago, that he
was now insane. The antecedents of the mau showed
that, from his earliest youth, he was a violent. vicious,
ill-conditioned boy, but it was from such boys that bad
and cruel men were produced. His doing acts of cruelty,
only showed the bias of his natural character, but
no acts of cruelty had been spoken to of late years,
and it was monstrous to say that, because he flung
a cat out of the window by the tail when he was
seven years of age, and tied cows tails together at sixteen,
he was insane and irresponsible for his acts at 32. Why,
the letters which the prisoner wrote to Mr. Morley dur-
ing the period when Dr. Williams and his other witnesses
deposed to his insanity, were better written than most
Yorkshire farmers could write, and he believed there was
not a farmer on the jury or in the court, who could have
written better. He declared that in the whole records of
crime, he never heard of a more cold blooded and cruel
murder than that with which the prisoner was charged.
Day atter day he witnessed the anguish of her whom he
had sworn to protect—day by day he witnessed the deadly
throes of his victim, and then with the malignity of a
fiend he foretold the hour of her death, and speculated on
the woman who was to succeed her as his wife. He (the
learned counsel) would admit that the prisoner had been
a dull and stupid boy, and was not an intellectual man,
but he had managed to farm for some years ; he had paid
his rent, ho had bought and sold cattle, and he had con-
ducted the whole affairs of his household without the
suspicion even having been raised that he was a lunatic.
The steward of Mr. Markham, who let him
the farm, and who collects the rent, had not
been called to prove that he was insane. The
defence of insanity was only an after thought,
and now, at the eleventh hour, the old friends
of the family were callednipon to depose to boyish