The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-07-31 00:00:00

ROME CIRCUIT.

I.I:WES, FaIDAT, JULE 28.
CROWN SIDE.
[Before Mr. Baton 611.1111A141.1
PETIT TREASON—MURDER.
Veonah Thote'l was indicted for wilfully, floninusly, traitor-
rally, and of het malice aforethought, murdering Benjannn Russell,
her late husband, by admitaistreing to him a quantity of arsenic,
at Brightling, on the lith hay last; and D. L.Nsmu was indicted as
an accessary to the sante murder.
Th% case excited an uncommon degree of inters-t. The Cour
was coward to excess with both sexes during the whole trial,
which 1 mud neatly twelve hourr. The female prisoner, who ap-
peared to he about 40 years of sp. was, in fact, only 31 ; and the
man, who aepeared to be about 30, was in reality but 19. Both
were persona of 11l favoured aspect, and in the low at condition er
life. During the whole trial, trey conducted themselves with: es
wepelety, ar.d listened to the proceedings wi h apparently i
btimeting attentlan. The female was aceoinmetlated with a •
but seldom availed herself of the iadulgence.
Mr. Asionews (with whom was Mr. Danny) stated the ease
fur the pro•ecution at con-iderable length. Ile opened it as a case
depending entirely upon circumstantial evidence, and invited the
most serious and anxious attentian of the Jury to an inquiry so
fearful in its probabletesult to the prisoners. The deceased Ben-
lamin Russell, was a men In the prime of life, being, at the time
of his deaths about thirty-six years of age, a man of lofty stature
sad great personal strength. 11e had, however, been for some time
prey ouely •n alt health, and was in the month of May fast recover-
mg from) i a tom; I det. The female prisoner and he bad been mare
rift] five or six yews, and maintained themselves by I.:tilling, at
Ii wash, 113 this county, tinceetoined gin and beer without a
Pee tee. The? hod had three children, nil of whom were! now liv-
ing. It would ep•eear, beyond the possibility of doubt that the
deceased bad lust his life by poison ; sled the question was, whe.
their the prieenets were the eteliy participators in so heinous a
crime. lie p opened to establish inch circumstances at strong sus-
piei n as must pal y a reasonable mind that both prisoners were
trot nmental ego his death. The male prisoner had lodged in the
house of the deceased about live or six weeks previous to hat death.
With respect to the female prisoner,. the circumstances of suspicion
in which he mainly relied, as showing an adequate cause for the
commission of so foul a crime, were, that she and her husband had
lie d unhappily together; that she had frequently used expresiona
of reeentutent and towards him, amounting to an intentirm
of deetroying life ; that there was strong reason to believe an illicit
Intercourse had subsisted between her and the other prisoner, that
shortly before her htieband's death she had purchased a quantity of
ar e de, under the pretence of using I. to destroy mice ; that bane
hi. death she had used mysterious expreesione anticipating that
suet, an event was likely to happen ; and that after the fatal event
ha I recurred she ciadueted herself in a manner ireomistent with ,1
the id:a of perfect innocence oe so melancholy an occasion. As to
the case against the male prisoner, the eireumetances of suspicion
against Mtn were hie belief that a eriniinal intercourse subsisted
between him and the wife; that he was the first person to commu-
nicate the death or the deceased ; that he gave various accounts of
tl e manner in which the d a It was supposed to hare happened, and
chit he had dropred expressions, from time to time, importing a
kn twledge th it the deeetuied hail come to Ida death by foul means.
—Aber minutely &tailing the circumstances from which he called
I.p n ts..e J Ley to draw au info ence of guilt, lie produced the fol-
io .i •e body of ev dente:-
11'.n. Rau -11, the tither of the deceased. sal I he saw the deceased
rest his oen Naas; in the evening of Sunday, 7th May He
w o het quit. pert, was cheerful, and in good spirits. Witness
lived 'nut a quarter of a mile from his sen's house, in the same
p iridi of llurwa.h. On the Monday morning. about one o'clock,
h • was aroused from his sleep by some dirt being thrown at his
window. Ile got up, and opened the Casement ; it was dark. The
let ale prisoner was outside, and desired him to conic down and let
bier ie. ti:ie said that Benjamin, his son, had dropped down in a
fit. or was dial. The other prisoner, who was immediately behind
h:-, • a:.I the na.ne thing. They appeared to hare come together,
and w.shed wenes• to help to get Benjamin home. Witness
thee e I himself immediately, and accompanied Leans, about three
mks into ills parish of Bnghtling, and teeny brought him to a
Lot aft, wee w they found the deceased lying wretched on his back.
Ile w.s then dead, cold, and stiff. His clothes were on, anti there
was a handle chief tied round his body. The sent was not far from

the house of a Mr. Holloway, a farmer, about lid or iU rods from
(Reddish Wood. The deceased was lying stretched on his back
atraight, the hands close to the body. l'itc prisoner Lenny then
said, ihat he and the deceased had been stealing soma corn from
Mr. Holloway's barn, and had divided it into two parcels. The sack
hick the decered was carrying was the heaviest, and he complained
of a pain in his heart at the time. The prisoner then offered to take a
t so n ul Ilia load. The deceased declined. and advanced up the Held with
the load on his back, and prisoner, on coming up is him, Mond him
dead, but he did not know whether he dr.mped down in a fir or
si.,d a natural death. It was then so dark that witness could not
P.M the dress of the deceased mimic ly. 1f fitness and l.eany then
snored the body into Gleildisli ‘Voosl, and placed it on some oat
; r rain or stubble. Witness's motive fur so doing was to hide the
•ham: of a transaction in which the character of his family might
be inj•ired, by thing discovered that a son of his had been guiliy
of a r IVitness returned home between four and five o'clock,
letting Letny to f.dlow him a: some distance. In his way he saw
a de s•ni n interl Thomas Hawkins, and spoke to him. • Ali itners did
no know he cause of his son's death until the following NVetines-
d..y, wit n tie Co: °lees Inquest was held. When examined bee
Ire the inch st he dil net give the same account of the transaction
wit cot Ise n itr did, because he understood that those who helped to
move the body would share the Fame fate as those by whom the
de, e .sed was p intoned.
0 t his cross-examination by Mr. PLATT, the witness said he
had r.o recollection of what he had aid before the Coroner. He
was n a seen. The testament was put i •to his hand. Ile held It
up to his mouth but did not kiss it. Did not say that he got np on
the 31 obey morning about lire o'clock. and that he was going after
a tot of spirits when he saw the body of the deceased.
'l'i'mas 11 twkins proved seeing and conversing with the last
witness on the 31onday naming, between four and five o'clack, on
hi, w y hems, being then about half a mile from his house. He
adte i him if any thing was the matter but Its said nothing was
the matter particularly, only that his wife was very poorly. He
said nothing abort his son. In about a minute afterwards witness
s;.ir 1, any following the last witness.
Joh t Wondvell proved that, about eight o'clock on the morning
of the fib of May, lie MIS going into (Reddish Wood, and saw
Lea iy there. He was then about six yor seventy rods from the
Woe: wit re the body was found. In about a quarter of an hoot,
l.esrey muffled, and approached towards witness, and told him he
!mind a dead man at the top of Irleddish Wood. Witness
asked hint who it was? He said it was Benjamin RusaelL Wit-
ness a-le_sl lrm how he can:, there ? Ile said that Benjamin Bus-
soli was going for a tub of gin, and that he (Leant?) was to meet
him ti :ere at eight o'clock. I.eany said he had found the body in
consequence of his having occasion to go into the wood for a neutral
p,:rpuse, Vierwise he should not have seen him. Witness aske
hiun :f he :h sught Benjamin had made away with himself? Lean
said he thou:ht he had not. He said nothing about robbing
Hallo ai* b _ _ .

Joh;l;ihesiher proved, that about nine o'clock on the morning In
quesCo ), whilst he was talking to a man named Crowhurst, the
prism er Leahy came te•wards them from fileddi•h Wood. Mr.
Crasher:A spoke to Leany, and told him that a Mr. Hopper wanted
t 3 see Benjamin Russell. Leahy said he could not sec him, for he
bad just found him dead, in the tipper part of Gledilish Wood.—
Witness asked hint how he came to find Benjamin dead up there ?
Lenny replied, that he was going there after a load of smuggled
goo,:s, and that he (Lenny) was to meet him np there at eight
onl lie said he found him when he was going into a coppice
no a return-I purpose. He took hold of his hands, and found hint
dead and lying on his back. He then add that he was going to tell
Hannah Russell of it—and lie started away, as if fir that purpose.
lie said be had been up rather late, that he had been up that morn-
ing at seven tne:ocht. Saw Leany again, about two o'clock in the
,:., moon, going towards (fiendish Wood. Ile asked him then how
ri. tnenht Mrs. Russell would get her living, now that Benjamin
w dead—whether she would carry the house on in the same way as
•ad done ? He said, " yes, for that he could get gin and beer as
. as Ben cou:d." •
nanutl Cluttenden, a farmer, of Burwa.sh, proved. that in conse-
queuce of hearing of the death of Russell, he went, about eleven on
the ono ning in quesCon, and found the body in (Reddish Wood,
lying in some nny hind grass, among some brambles, at the dia.
lance of five or six rads from some oat-stubble. Ills temples were
shscoleund; he was also discoloured about the collar-bone. The
grass did not appear to have been trodden before, the weather being
very dry. There was then no handkerchief about the body. The
riecvabc.. was then about three miles from his own house. H c was a
heavy min. The face was while, and nut discoloured. Witness
Ca,ract the belly to he removed to a barn at hand.
Robert Hoehn, a blacksmith of Burwash, proved that he heard
of the deaths of RuMell about the middle of the day. About seven
sneion< in the morning he called upon hers, Rum% Leahy
came in immediately after. Mrs. Russell said she had been very
much alarmed that morning with a noise up stairs: a blunder-
mg noise, as if somebody had jumped out of the bed. That she
wno up stairs and saw nothing was the matter: every thing was
in its place; the child in bed fast asleep. She said she con-
sidered it might be a token of somebody's death. She hoped
nothing had happened to her husband; but it might be a rela-
tion at a distance. She said that her husband went out early in
the massing, between four and five o'clock ; that Ire went some-
where towatils the (Reddish Wood, after a tub of spirits she ex-
pected. Site said that her husband hail ordered Lenny to come
up after biro in about half an hour. After witness had heard of
the death tef iluseell, he welt up to Mrs. littrasell'e house again,
and found Lenny and her together, sitting round the fire-place.
Witness asked lawny how he found the man? Ile said he ti und
hint lying on his back, wills his arms stretched oat ; and he went
to lift him up, and Lard a gurgling noise in his throat. IVitness
said, " Perhaps the torn may not be dead; Ire may have dropped
in a fit." Inany sail he was certainly dead ; nlrs. Russell said
nothing during this conversation ; she was honing with her hands
ver her eyes. The prisoner Leany ha:l bilged in Russell's house
about sin weeks.
Elaabath Elliot saw Leany towards ten o'clock on the lith of
May, a little on this side of Barmaid], going towards Russell's
house. I said, " IVrll, old chap, how is your temper ?" He made
no answer; I asked him whether he was wild ? lie said, yes. I
asked him bow his mistrees's(Russell's) temper was ? Ile said he
del to knew, it wand be woe►e when lie got home I asked him
'tinnier they were going to be arfortned aranst t•gani e said no ;
r was worse flu her than that; he hail just been and found her old
f!n dear!! He (Russell) was up in the Gleddish Wood; he was
Vmg wr'ne some spirits; Re did not knew w:len he went away,