Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-17 00:00:00

THE LATE DRE‘DvITL MURDER, AT
WOODFORD.

Jonathan Geydon, who is suspected of haring murdered
Mrs. Mary White, at Chingford Hatch, near Woodford, on
Sundae, the 20th of Jane, has, up to the present time,
eluded the exertions of the police who are in pursuit of
him. but it is suppos'd that an important clue has been
obtained, which, if promptly followed up, will place him
in the hands of justice in the course of a few days. It
appears that immediately after the many effences which
Geydon had committed, he has invariably repaired to
Epping Forest, in th recesses of which he hes conceal-d
himself until he has conceived that the police have become
careless about his capture. There seems every reason to
believe that upon the present occasion he has resorted to
his old quarters, and that he is living as before in
hollow trees, depending treoa the gipsies for the supplies
of food he may require. Whenever the-police have " wanted"
Geydon before, they have gone in parties to heat the
bushes, and search the hollow trees in various parts of the
forest, and have generally returned with their prisoner.
The last time he was taken. his caeture was effected by
Sergeant H lden, who took him while riding on a horee
he had just st lee, and for which he was sentenced to 18
months' impri,wernent in Springfield gaol. Mr. and Mrs.
Geydon, the father and mother of the suspected murderer,
formerly lived at Welthamstow, and were on intimate
terms with Mr. Small, the farmer, in whose house Mary
White was murdered. In c)nsequence of Jonathan
Geydon's bad conduct, they were obliged to leave the
village. They then took a small farm at Tolding-
toe, in Gloucestershire (or Bedfordshir:), where they
now live. Ills brother is a master tailor, i❑ a good way of
business at Walth.mstew, and his two sisters fill situa•
tions in respectable families in the same village. An
amended description of Jonathan Gq.lou, bearing date
" Metropolitan Police, A division, July 13," says .—" The
f Mowing is a more correct description ofJonathan Geydon,
who is charged with the murder of Mary White, at Ching-
ford Heath, on the 20th ult., viz., fresh complexion, grey
eyes, dull countenance, thin, long visage, and has a twist
of the mouth while speaking."

A STRANGE INDICITURR CANCELLED.-At the petty
sessions, Rochdale, on Wednesday, Thomas Ogden sum-
moned Edward Briggs' hat m:nufacturer, Sudden-brow,
to show cause why the indenture between himself an,l
complainant, his apprentice, should not be cancelled, or
why he did not find him full work. Mr. Briggs ws
represented by Mr. Prince, one of his servants; and it
appeared from the indenture that it was made in 1831, but
not executed until 1856, and that c)mpl iinant had gone
on working five years previously. The terms of the cove-
/nut were, that Ogden should serve seven years, and that
he was to have ss. per dozen for hate, one third to go to
Mr. Briggs. Ogden was content, but Mr. Briggs refused
to find him regular work, and on occasions of slackness had
been told by a servant of Mr. Briggs to go and get work
elsevi here. He had done so, but when ho had coma back
Mr. Briggs had claimed to have the lost time made up.
Owing to shortness of work, he could not get wages that
satisfied him. Mr. Prince said his wages lied averaged
1:13 9d., and this year 163. I Id. Complainant said he
could earn 235. for himself with full work. Mr. Prince
admitted that Ogden had been a good servant. Mr.
Hartley contended that, according to the act of parliament,
there hsd been a misusage of this youth, and claimed the
cancelling of the indentures, as Mr. Briggs did not hold
himself responsible to find Ogden full work. The Bench
considered that the obligations ought to be mutual, but
not being so, the conduct of Mr, Briggs warranted them
in discharging the indenture.
CASH AND, ;DEED BOXES.—The next important thing to the posses-
sion of cash is, how (when you have got it) to keep it safely, either in
the counting-house or at home. The same remarks apply to deeds
and other valuable documents. We have seen a large and varied
stock of both these desirable articles, manufactured expressly for Mr.
E. T. Hall, of South John-street, that challenge attention. These
boxes are made on new and admired principles, and possess patent
locks, which defy the ingenuity of any 'pick-lock" in the world to
open, except with the legitimate key. To merchants, solicitors, and
others, these new safes, on a small scale, moat prove valuable ndeed
--Northern Daily Titnelp?lB; May, lea?,

MURDER TIIROITGII JEALOUSY.-SENTENCE

OF DEATH.

At the Chelmsford assizes, on Wednesday, Charlee Finch,
a sullen, determined-looking young man, was charged with
the wilful murder of Harriet Freeborn, by cutting her
throat, at the perish of Rivenhell, on the 24th of May.
Mr. Prentice and Mr. Bramsted conducted the prosecution.
The prisoner was defended by Mr. Woollett. It appeared
from the statement of the learned c Junsel for the prose-
cution, and the evideece adduced to support it, that the
prisoner was a labouring man belonging to Rivenhall, and
that during the Russian war he entered the Land Tran-
sport Corps, and was employed in the Csimea, and re-
turned from thence about a year and a half ago. The
deceased was a reepoctable young woman belonging to
Kelvedou. But a few days before the 211 of May,
which was on a Sunday, she had been in the
service of a farmer named Upson, at Rivenhall. The
prisoner and the deceased had been keeping
comp .ny together,, both before and after the prisoner
had been to the Crimea but it would seem
that shortly before the fatal occurrence he entertained the
impression, f which, however, there did not appear to be
the slightest foundation, that during his absence the de-
ceased had received attentions from another man, and he
was repeatsdly heard to declare that he would do her soma
injury. They were walking together on the 19th of May,
and the prisoner a day or two afterwards told one of the
witnesses that he had a. razor in his pocket at that time,
and that he was jealous of her in consequence of her
having been intimate with tome young man in London,
and that he would do ror her the first opportunity that
offered itself. On the following afternoon, the unfortunate
young woman left her mis'ress's house about thre o'clock,
for the purpose of g oing to church, and just as she arrived
at a stile in a field near the the town, the prisoner suddenly
jumped over the stile, and, without saying a ward, he in-
flicted a wound in her throat with a razor. He then went
away a short dictates, and returned and gave her another
wound in the throat, and subsequently a third, one of
them severing the windpipe, and being of a very danger-
ous character. The deceased continued to make her
way to her master's house. where Mr. Timkins, a surgeon,
of Witham, promptly attended and dressed the wound,
and for some time there appeared a prospect of her re-
covering ; but on the 26th of June she became worse, and
died on that day ; and upon a post mortenz examination it
was discove-ed that the injuries the deceased had received
had caused extensive inflammation of the windpipe, and
that this was the cause of death. The prisoner was taken
into custody sitting in a ditch neat* the spot where the
dreadful deed had bean committed, and his jacket and cap
covered with blood was found near him, and a razor, which
was the instrument he had made use of, was picked up
clo-e by him. He appeared to make no secret of his hsv •
ing committed the crime, and was originally committed to
take his trial for wounding with intent to murder, but
upon the event of the death of the deceased
subsequently taking place, the coroner's jury re-
turned a verdict of wilful murder against the pri-
soner, and he was now tried upon that inquisition. Medley,
one of the Essex constabulary, who took charge of the
prisoner, proved some of the above fects ; and he also
stated that, on the following day, while the prisoner
was confined in the Witham police station, he sent for
him to his cell, and when he went to him, he said,
" That -- girl has been the ruin of me. I got hold
of her, and gave her a cat with the razor, and she
said, Don't do that, Charles, you know I love you.'
She then adted me to kiss her, and I cat her again,
and then went away, and she said I was a blackguar
and I went back and cut her again." The witness said
that he saw the prisoner again on the 30th of May,
and he exclaimed, " Fifi een years transportation or life."
The prisoner then enquired if she was alive, and he
told him she was ; and he said, " I don't care a —.
I wish I had killed the and then I should have
known what I had got to stand to." Uoon being cross-
examined by Mr. Woollett, the witness said that the priso-
ner was swinging his arms about, and appeared excited
when he made these observations. He had known the pri-
soner for some time, and remembered his 'coming back from
the Crimea, but he never heard he had had an attack of
brain fever, or that his mind was in any way affected.
The statement made by the unfortunate young woman,
I shortly before her death, was then put in. It ran as
follows :—" I live at Kelvedon, but on the 24th of May I
was in the service of Mr. Upson, a farmer at Rivenhall.
'pa Sunr'ay afternoon I went from my master's house with
the intention of g dng to church, and was crossing a field,
and had got on to the stile. When I got to the stile
Charles Finch came over the stile and cut me with a razor,
and at the same time said, " Yon are a dead woman ; I will
be hung for you." I said, You blackguard ; " and he
came to me and cut me twice more. He came suddenly
upon me at first and I said "You made me jump." He
said " Why ? " and I replied, " Because I was making
haste to church." Mr. Woollett made an earnest appeal
to the jury on behalf of the prisoner, and he said he was
instructed that while in the Crimea he had suffered a
severe attack of brain fever, which bad effected his intellect,
and he endeavoured to show that he was not responsible
on accontat of the state of his mind, for the act he had
committed. He called no witnesses for the prisoner. The
Lord Chief Baron, in summing up, said that if there
had been any foundation for the suggestion made in behalf
of the prisoner, it should have been established by evi-
dence, and if any application had been made to him to
postpone the trial to procure testimony of that description
he should have granted it, but the jury must deal with the
case as it stood, and they would very much neglect their
duty if they acted upon any surmise, or were induced to
come to the conclusion that the prisoner was not criminally
responsible for the act he had committed, in the absence
of all evidence to support such a suggestion. The jury
retired, and in about 20 minutes they returned into court
and gave a verdict of Guilty. The Lord Chief Baron
then put on the black cap, and proceeded to pass sentence
of death in the usual form upon the prisoner, at the same
time telling him that his, crime was of such a nature that
his fate was inevitable, and that he must expect no mercy
in this world. The prisoner, who' did net betray the least
emotion, either during the trial or when sentence of death
was pronounced, was then removed from the bar.

ATTACK ON AN ALLEGED GAMBLING-HOUSE.

On Wednesday, Abraham Goodman, the proprietor of a
house, No 23, Coventry-street, was charged with Charles
Stewart, alleged as his assistant, before Mr. Bingham, at
Marlborough-street Police court, with keepicg it as a
gambling-house. There were several other persons at the
bar, who were charged with being in the house at the
time of the at'ack on it by the police. The evidence was
to the effect, that about one o'clock the previous morning
Inspector Lester, with Mitchell, 298 A, forcibly entered
the house, where they found a great many persons present.
Goodman was there playing at backgammon with another
man. Several were smoking. He (the inspector) made a
search, and found on Goodman twenty-eight sovereigns,
£5O in notes, and nineteen £5 notes. Altogether, he
found on the various prisoners a sum of about £2OO.
He discovered a pack of eighty-one cards in the shop.
Mitchell, 298 A, deposed to having watched the house
for the last two months, during which time ho had seen
many persons go in. Between Tuesday evening and
Wednesday he saw above 40 persons enter and leave.
The proprietor, Goodman, professes to sell cigars, but
witness never saw aey one purchase a cigar. He took
Stewart into custody on Wedneiday morning. He acts as
the door-keeper. As under the new Act of Parliament
witnesses might be c ALA from among the accused, Mr.
Lester proposed to call some of them as witnesses. Thomas
Thompson, No. 30, 011 Compton-street, the first celled,
was s worn. He went there to smoke a pipe. He neither
saw nor heard of any gambling going forward. He went
there about half.past twelve o'clock, and remained a
quarter of an hour. A witness named Powis was next
called, but he objected to give evidence. Mr. Bingham
told him that under the new ac-, which was very stringent,
an accused placed in the situation he was, could be called
on to give evidence. If he did so he was absolved from any
penalty whatever, but if he refused he was liable to be com-
mitted. Mr. Powis said that he was perfectly willing to suffer
any punishment, bat he could not be a party to give evi-
dence. He thought it quite disgraceful for a person, by
law, to be placed in such a situation as he was. Mr.
Bingham : For the present I must commit you for
ref asing 'to be examined. The assistant gaoler Bendall
then took Mr. Powis in charge, and who was, pro. tern.
lodged in his (Bendall's) room. Two other witnesses
among the accused were next examined, each of whom
stated that he saw no gambling going on. Each
noticed the backgammon board. Mr. Lewis contended
that there was no evidence to show that the house was
used for the purpose of gambling. Mr. Bingham
observed that as the act was very stringent in the
application of the law, he should take time. to consider
his decision, and should remand the prisoner for a
week. Bail was taken for the appearance of Goodman
(himself in £5OO, and two sureties in £250 each), and
bail in a smaller amount was taken for Stewart.

THE ATLANTIC TELEGRAPH.—We are informed that
the soundings obtained by her Majesty's ship Cycl"ps,
which has been engaged in checking for the Atlantic
Telegraph Company the soundings taken by the United
States steamer Arctic, are very tlatisfactorr, bottom having
been found all the way across the Atlantic. For the
greater part of the distance the floor of the ocean is con].
nosed of fine Bawl and small shells. Near the European
coast small pebbles were found mixed with the sand. The
greatest depth sounded was about two miles and sever-
eighths.

MERSEY CONSERVANCY BILL