The Express.
London, England, 1857-07-09 00:00:00

GLASGOW POlBolllll'o CASE.

TIM HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY, RHIN-
TWROIL—TFATIULDAT.
The Dean of Faculty, this mousing, withered the jury on
behalf of the prisoner. After tracing the history of the de-
aced, and commenting upon hie peculiarities of tempera.
matt, the Dean proorded to examine the ooneepon-
dance. He chsreeteeieed L'Angeller as an unknown adven-
Suer, poniard of peat woo& and vanity, and full
of the idea of his own ettractivener with ladles. He
had evidently had it in his mind to corrupt and seduce
the girl in the spring of 1856, and be sac-
, corded. On coming to the mast important
stage of the use, the Dean proceeded u follows :-
1 On the 28th of January, Mr. Minnech proposes, and, if I
understand the theory of my leaned iiiend's ere aright,
from that day the whole character of this girl's mind and
feelings has changed, and she set herself to prepare for the
perpetration of what my learned friend baa called one of
the meet fool, cool, deliberate murders that ever
was committed. Gentlemen, I will not say that
sock • thing is absolutely impossible. He will be
a bold man who will seek to set Inuits to the depths
of human depravity, but this at least experience Mathes us,
der perfection, era in dares ity, is not rapidly obtained,
and that it is not by such short and easy rages as the pro-
senator has been able to traps is the canard ll•delelae Smith
that a gentle, loving girl piers all at once into the savage
grandeur of a Medea, or the appalling Macanese of a
Borgia. No, gentlemen, such a thing is not possible. There
I I's limit to a certain program in guilt, and it is quite out of
fa human experience that from the tor of the letters which
I last read to you there should be • sudden transition—
I will not say from affection for a particular object—but
te the savage desire for removing by any means the ob-
struction to her sights mad purpose, that the prosecutor
blades to the prisoner. Think, gatthan, in your own
ards, how foul and unnatural • audit it is—tbe mindaref
me who within • very short spree as the object of bit
lire unheppy steett—aa Inhdy cyst—but yet whib
6 idai—ani les inimenwes w wee new brief—it wow •
amp, shehing, unnibk, dieeelai prim And the thirst
died prime tie asE usuirei the parpose of =Taming.
Dub le the Hoary thin pa ate inked to believe. Now,
bees* you will believe it, will you not ask for demonstration
of this? Will you be tenant with conjecture will yea
content with suspicion, however pregnant, or ;rill you bees
unreasonable as to put it to me is WY form, that the is.
having died of risen, the theory of the prosecutor is the
most probable that is offered ? Oh, gentlemen, firths& the
manner in which a jury should treat each a cue —le that
the kind of proof of which they meld convict in • sepal
offence? On the 19th of February, on the 22nd of !rebury,
and on the 22nd March—for the prameator has now abso-
lutely flied on these dates—he chum the prisoner with
administering poison. Observe, Mies sot ask you to ear
poee merely that by sores means sr ear the parer con-
veyed poison to L'Atigther, but he sae pa to eel=
on there three oossekas, she with Yr imale
teed the poison. fait OR lila sal woo if I knee
not comedy reprimand to pa alattheystatowler imule
at your Ueda. He says in the int Awe Hot she * whir
filly and felonieuely adaelaistered te nano L'ttel=
now deceased." Age* in the semi
_drip, ft
that the did "wickedly felariudysimialikr to lia •
quantity or quantities of arsenic;" endla the third einem
that she did " wickedly and kiosk,* sialwieter to, omen
to be takes by, tat dal shoesami SOB L'Angellow, •
quantity of omelet of whisk he disk NA was than awn
dead by Ea." Thee re dam app ene are of adeshies
testi" bat 1 pensler to Ames prod PLIPOOIogiOII MIN
which you wag theace fame mend leiddarationa. Tow
must always beer in mind tint eleesaslsaYl evident mit
conk up to this—that it must convince pee el the rape.
oration of the acts. Now, them, in with meek
circumstantial proof of suck facts as I have been speaking
of, what ahoilld you expect to and proved ? Of °ovine the
means were in the. prisoner's hands of committing the
crime. The puma= of poison will be the test thing that
ie absolutely necessary ; and, on the other hand, the fact
that the deceased on ore corers was ill from tbe cense-
gamier of paten. That on the assail acession he was ill
from the earns mule, and that ea the ihkd he died from
the effects of potion. But it will her most defective of
all preofs of poison to atop at seek aisle as time; for one
person may be in the posserka cilium wed eamber pervert
the from the effects of poison, eallet rot pear nothing.
You must have • third element. Yea Ewa Pt mod" lave
a ,dive—adl shall spat eta mew ispalby—yeannia '
not merely have • mulles, had opperanity, the red ire
portant at all elements. You must hart the oppottes=l
the parties coming into personal contact, sr of that
being carried to the murdered person through the medlar
of another. Now, we shall ere bow far there is the slighted
room for ouch a suspicion here. As naiad. the Oral charge,
it is alleged to have taken place on the census of the 19th
February, and the illness, on the same theory, followed
either in the course of that night, or rather the next morn-
ing. Now, in the first piece, as to date, is it by any means
clear? Mn. Jenkins—than whom I never law • more ac-
curate or more trustworthy witness—Mrs. Jenkins swears
that to the beet of her recollection and belief, the tint illness
r=the second by eight or tat days. Eight or ten days
"11.11: 22nd. which was the date of the emend illness, well
bring us back to the 13th February and he was very ill about
the 13th February, as was proved by the letter I read to you, ,
and proved also by the testimony of Mr. Miller. Now, if
the first illness was on the 13th Februar do you thick that
another illness coeld have Intervened between that and
the 22nd without Mrs. Jenkins being aware of it:' Certainly
that won't do. Therefore, if Mrs. Jenkins is correct, that the
firm ilines was eight or ten days before, that is one and a
moot important blow against the prosecutor's casein this seat
charge. Let us look now, if you phew, at what to rid ea
the other aide as to the date. It is rid by Mite Any _that
not ooly was that the date of his Illness, but that belied •
meeting with the prisoner on the 19th. Mks Pares a -
donee upon that pant I take leave to say is not wadi malt.
She had no recollection of that day when she wee awaked '
brat by the procurator-fiscal ; no, nor the earth lire, nor
the third time; and it was only when, by a meet improper
interference on the put of one of the clerks of the floral, •
statement was reel to her out of e book which has been
rejected as worthless In Being dates, plat she then fur the
tint time took up the notion that it was the 19th which
L'Angelier had reference to in the conversations which
ho had with her. And, after all, what do theec COUVer-
w kna amount to ? To Ibis—that on the 17th, when he
dined with her, he said he expected to meet the prisoner
on the 19111. But did he say afterwards that he bail met
her on the 19th? The Lord Advocate supposed that he
had, but ho was mistaken. She mid nothing of the sort.
She said that when she saw him again on the 2nd March
he did net tell her of any mating on the 19th. Well,
gentlemen, let smirk now, in that state of the evidence, as to
the probahilitiee of the ere. This Brat inner, you a3l
keep in new, whomsoever it took place, was a very serious
one, • very serious one indeed. Mn. Jenkins weary mock
alarmed by it, and the decreed himself 'offered intensely.
There can be no doubt about that. Now, if the theory of
the overeaten be right, it was on the morning of the 19th
that he was in this state of intense suffering, and that upon
the 20611, the next day. ha bought the largest piece of beef
that it to be found la his par-book from hie butcher; and
he had fresh herrings in sack a quantity as to alarm his
landlerle, and satin mate ermine quantity and variety of
vegetables. There is • dinner for • sick pawn: All that
took plus upon the 21st, when the man wen near death's
door on the morning of the 20th, by that irritation of
tmach, no matter how produced, which necessarily, leaves
elind it the most debilitating and eiekening effects. I
ay, gentlemen, there is reel evidence that the date is
not the date which the prosecutor says it Is. Bat, gen-
tlemen, supporting that the dates were otherwise, was
the illness curd by aerie? Such I understand to
lie the position of my learned friend. Now, that is the
question which I am going to put to you very urionsly, and
I ask you to consider the eensequouces of answering that
question in either way. Yon have It proved very distnetly,
I think—to an absolute certainty almost—that on the 19th
February the prisoner was not in possession of arsenic. I
may proved to • certainty for this resaon—beeauae when she
went to buy arsenic afterwards, on the 214 February, and
the 6th and 18th March, she went about it in so open
• way air it was quite imputable that It should reaps
°breath n, if it came afterwards to be inquired into. lam
not mentioning that at repent as an element of evidence in
regard to her guilt or innocence o!the proud or third charger.
But I wont you to keep the fact in view at present, for this
Freon, that, if the was so loose sad open in her parches of
arsenicon thresubseeptenteemaiona. there Inanely Duthie'
to lead you to exped that she should be more secret or more
Calliio6l.4 on the fleet cordon. How could that be P Why one
could imagine that a person entertaining • murdernar pur-
pose of this kind, end erattiang and comparing the death
of • frilow-ereatare, might go ea Increasing m caution as
she proceeded, but how the could throw away all idea of
caution or secrecy upon the seemed, and third, and truth
occasions if she went to purchase so secretly upon the fleet,
that the whole force of the prosecution hoe not been able to
detect that earlier percher, I leave ft to you to easier
it to your own mind'. It I. more than inercelthin I
think it is disprovedaltillievidence of the prosecutor
himarlf. He sant his I the whole iser
erne shop in Glasgow, sal ea=mbeir miles Is Sad
whether say arsenic had boss ho a person date sense of
L'Aawriisr. I seed not kit pa IN t the am* ei emeth
wee _ dee ht the >fateg pawn le le sercial kr ;
mai foolises, If the lei bra socks pashaes et lay
paint se the 1107eltreen, that dad wail have hew
pa pa se ow*, ani
ioPik se tell inanwelatisa,
es the puthwer at • Wiespies Tiose le •
lids or veal's of swiftest sa theperio pertd. of the preseedleada
that me • swim, was Ernie peke to the 19th, mod, Ohne-
=Ad rem& I wheat Esti:the and perk<
es weds that int that it was ales-
Ent amok lista alsebie-
to the `m
imed,Sl the mei, of
Es Ney, Eon is ems dr-
awable. Ewe Pim I haws dn- wick is worth
aliksing P. Sopa It taw re NO,
_that it was the
seeriala Eames to which IL am ten yes that whoa
the limesei pee hie ea arsitabei W lbw lei the way
ht tide 6ama, be 61116rn AP he INA tibia lire
pram ai ernkfily imuniasell wit Oa
asilea. 6o Oa 60 ewe la amais sem alowleiseorei
by bra, and ib lank wised mil gm fa tho

lodgings, but still more inconsistent with Mrs. Jearkines
count of the manner sad time at which Ulnas came an,
which, if I recollect right,wu at four o'clock in the meettim
after he had gone to bed perfectly well. Now, Unmet, I
say, thermion, you ere Mend to hold not mrely that them
Is a failure to maks out the administration on the 19th,
bat you an bound to give me the benefit of an absolute ne-
pito' upon that point, end to allow me to assume that
aremba was tot adzweintwed on the 19th by the pit.
Boner. Now, see the consequences of the position
which I have thus established. Was he ill from
the 'dote of anemia on the morning of the 20thP I ask
you to consider that question ss much as the prosecution
has -eked you; and if you can come to the onelumon, from
the symptoms exhibited, that he was ill from the effects
of arsenic on the morning of the 20th, what is the infe.
tepee f—that he had arsenic administered to him by other
hands than the prisoner's. The antimafia is Mailable.
irresistible, that these symptoms were the effects of arsenical
poison. Awn, if you are to hold that the symptoms of that
morning'. iilnem were not such as to indicate the presence
of arsenic in the stomach, are to lead to the conclusion of
'minket poisoning, what is the result of that P To destroy
the whole theory of the prosecutor's case—a theory of no.
ceradve adminietrations, and to show how utterly impossible it
is for him to bring evidence up to the point at an active ad.
minietration. When, as soon as you weigh the evidence,
test its application to the occasion to which it is intended to
Mimi Bed it not merely not conclusive, but find it proof
contrary, I give my learned friend the option of
being impaled on one or other of the hone of that dilemma.
Then he was ill from arsenical poisoning on the morning of
the 20th, or be was not. If he wee, he had received meth
from other hands than the Filmier's. If he was not, the
foundation of the case is earthen. So enough foe the first
charge. The first parcel of arsenic which is purchased by
the prisoner wee upon the 21st of February. It wee
bought in the shop of Murdoch, the apothecary, and the
preemie there purchased woo mixed with soot. Murdoch
was the person who °rennet:ly supplied medicines to Mr.
Smith's family, end she left the arsenic unpaid for.
The Dean of Fault y then contended that there was no
proof of any mating between the parties after any of the V.
prisoner's purchases of arsenic ; and that neither from the
internal evidence of the letters themselves, nor from their
dates, could there beany proof that they lad met ; that she
expected him on Saturday night, 214 March, and she did
not expect him an Sunday; and that it was not reasonable
to tampon that, having failed to keep the appointments fee
Thursday and Saturday, he should come on Sunday, when
not expected. Hs then commented on the fact of a person
answer tag L'Amelier's dean mtion having got laudanum on
Sunday, the 22nd March. The fact indisputable to bring
guilt to the prisoner—the administration—was Oct only
not proved, but ell the probabilities were against it. He
then suggested that, from the character of the man
and other reasons, more was to be said in favour of the
supposition that be died by his own hand than by the
e. But, the question foe the jury was, "Is the
essederts: The ',limner's object being to escape her
show her letters, to murder L'Angelier would trus-
t:Me that by throwipg the letter into other huh.
The Dean then referred to the case of Elite Fenning, who
was executed foe polio-nine, by arsenic, and was afterwards
cloned to be lemiseent. He conjured the jury not to attempt
sershly to mod the end that wrapped this mein mystery,
sad payed Urn to return a true, just, and honest verdict.
B. uftiwimil Is the following emirs .—" Does any man
Me—is dim at this moment a man preeent who
ea dere to tell me on the etidenco which is before
111 fog he has • clear opinion. I put it to you, MU
nearmonpinvieennagaitureneot treyprifUr ',Leone e
andrn yet if' ontanhytehibirg
short of clear opinion you should proceed to convict,
picture to yourselves the possible eons( quenem. Picture
to yourselves what may be the reflection and the torture of
you own °lnsolence hereafter if it Mall turn oat
to be a mistake. I never felt ee unwilling to
re with • liar!. I never felt so much under
the influence that I have said so little in • ease as I do
new after this long address. I cannot explain it to
myself otherwise than from my very strong eat.
victims of what your verdict ought to be. But I do feel a
=ad person.] interest in the remit ; for cannot help
that if there shall be a failure of justice hem,
It ea be attributable to nothing but my own incapacity
to conduct the defence; and I meted to you that
if it were so, the recollection of this day and
of this prisoner will haunt me as a dismal spectre to the end
of my life. (The Dean was here deeply affected.) May the
Spint of AU Truth guide you to an honeet, • )ust, and •
true verdict; but I pray you to remember that no verdict
wilt be tither honest, or just, or true ultimo it at once satidy
the oonecientious scruples of the revered judgment, and yet
leave undisturbed and =meted the tenderest consciene•
among us." The Dean sat down amid applause, which way
however, immediately suppressed by the Court.
Alter a brief interval,
The Lord Jtuitioe-Clerk summed up. He began by con.
damning the expression of personal opinion which the coun-
sel on both Beim, he regretted, had allowed thouselvea to
make in re: dto the prisoner's guilt or innocence. The
jury were , convict only on the evidence before theme
and not to be swayed by conjectures or suppositions. In
ordinery cases, the exact day on which the act was committed
did not much matter ; bat in • 01104 eo peculiar as the present
it was of vital importance! and unlers they were convinced
that the prisoner did administer poise to the deceased on the
very days fixed by the prosetheir, not so much in his indict.
went so in kin argument, they could not convict her.
While reading the potion or the landlady's mi.
deuce relating to pending for the doctor, he said they would
judge whether L'Angelier's anxiety for a doctor was Uku
the conduct of a man who hod taken arsenic to accomplish
his 016.1 death. His lordship nest read the evidence relatieg
to the letter found in L'Angelier's vest pocket in tba
lodgings, and which had been sent by Tbau to the
Bridge of Alan, leeinning, "Why, my own beloved,
did you not come,- and 61171/ on appointment for the nag
night. After reading this loiter, his lordship Now,
it is not proved that he got any other letter. He got this
letter on the Sunday morning. He had complained, in a
letter to Miss Ferry on the Friday, that be had lost an ap-
pointment which had been made for the Thursday evening,
owing to not getting the note till the Friday. And that this
mu, ardent to see this girl again, hoping to get
the ratishetety answer which she had promised to
give to his questions as to forming an engagement with
Mionoch, should he: ry home on the Sunday night, and go
out from his lodgings in the hope that he would find lase
waiting and that there was a poesibility of hie seeing hir,
hi, I think, the only conclusion you con emu to upon the
matter. He goes out apparently a. soon RS he changed We
coat, and makes some arrangements about tome tea or muse-
thing else. And it is for you to say whether you doubt that
that letter brought the prisoner into Glasgow on OA
Sunday night, taking the mail train, and walking from
Coabridge. But here the proof dope. And suppoung yon
ore quite satisfied that the letter did biting him to Bleelows
are you in a condition to say, with eatisfeetien to your
own consciences, that, as an inevitable And just remit
of that, you can find it proved that they met
that night P Thst is the point in the case,
That you may have the strongest womb simpleton thei
they met that you may believe that he was able,
atter all their clandestine correspondence, to obtain the
neon. of an interview, especially as she hod complained of
his not coming on the Thursday, said she would wait amit
to-morrow night, .ante hour and place, and talked of wide
ing him to clasp her to hie bomm—that you may suppose It
likely that, although be failed to keep hie appointment M
Saturday, she would be waiting on the Sandal,
which was by no means an uncommon maim
for their appointment all that may be very
true, and probably you all think re, but ensemble
you are trying this cue upon evidence that must be Win
factory, complete, and distinct. A jury may safely ink
certain facts from correspondence. 'they may even NMI
Infer that meetings took place when they find that
meetings either mutually appointed or arranged for by
the panes. But it is for you to say here whether
it ham been proved that L'Angebee wee in the home
that night. If you ran hold that that link in the
chain is supplied by just and satisfactory inference—
remember I say just and 'Midget°, y—and it is for you fowl
whether the inference is satisfactory and jute, in order to
complete the proof, if you really feel that in your ow*
minds ; you may have the etrengest simpleton that be saw
her, for really no one need hesitate to ray that, sea matter el
moralopinion, the whole probribilitito of the care are in fume
of it —but if that is all the amount that you can derive boo
that, the link still remains wanting—the catastrophe cad
the alleged cause of it are not found togwilicr• And
therefore you must be satisfied that you can here stand and
rely upon the firm fouidation, I say, of • just and sound,
and, perhaps I may add, inevitable inference. That a joy
is entitled often to draw such an inference there is no doubt;
wanbdomittiheejuLstnbecard
Audsev.youte belong t_o ,bat lass of ,
men
nomeaf
carte
ter w-lehincriscAlaPiadbbefle "titer ey"ourcisitone%Yitilerri—nltgret.nonttuhrt veryanit'se.
count that you are to put to youreelves the questin, " belle
salisfmatery and just inference If you Lind it en. I amid
tell you that you are not at liberty to act upon it, beagle
Moe of there matters occurring in life mud depend 1141
ehrtunstantial evidence, end upon the inferno
which • jury may feel bound to draw. Bat it
it
ea inference of • very serious character—it is se
lakeeuce upon which the lath of thin IsrtlAl
the hand of the prisoner molly must depend.
then, you will take all the other circumstances of the
eau into consideration, and see whether you can from then
biter that they met together. If you think they met top;
the that night, and he wne wind and token ill, and d w
the symptoms beginning shortly after the tins
b▪
lt her, It will be for you to say whether, in that ease, thee
Is my doubt as to whose hand admeeetered the poison. Be
den there is another part of the case to which yolz
de
tention has been directed. There is another elw
eumetanee spoken to by the policeman and seeder
Witri,P, which I shall efterwerds bring before on, "
to
where he wee going. His lordship, after quoting the rs
mainder of the landlady's aidenee, noticed the evidore
relating ht L'Angelier's journey from the Bridge of AIM
remarking that if L'Angelier howl turned ill and gone into
an druggists' ahnps on the road, Mr. Rose, 111 t
walked with him from the train, must have recollected its
He appealed to the counsel whether be Mould go ors the
long medical testimony proving that deceased died of anemia
The counsel haying intmieted that there was no dime",
as to L'Angelier having died from arsenic the Lord Justice
Clerk proceeded to comment upon Dr.' Penny's evidelr
with reference to the colouring matter in lot
arsenic, and said he did not think it coed
be supposed that the young lady was equal to that del*
roue manipulation muidte to separate the colourinf:p
from the auntie. Tire
ecomplexion could only be
led
by the long use of arsenic Warßalt