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London, England, 1824-01-08 00:00:00

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on being reproached with their former inconstancy, they promised
ptver to desert or recriminate upon their foreman any snore.
" Upon these assurances they proceeded again irto Court, and .
ißaia aneoplstia the primes tag lips**. Thostaditot • unnhle. is
cosi-cal his rage at a verdict width appeared to Mm lb the meal
iniquirqua light, reproached diem severely, and dismissed them
with the cutting reflection, s That the blood of sue deceased lay at
their doom.'
tt • kiireltinffilth
" The prisoner, on h part, sp. up.
lifted eyes and hands to tiod; thanked hini roost divinely for Ms
delirevance and adding •hirnitilf fit The Jadges. dried. 011 t.
VOL are, my Lord, that Ood and a good conscience ars the hem
trinnia/mhe .1
" T circumstance made • deep immersion on the mind 'of the
t'"(iftet Sod'as noon as he hid retired (him Court: he entered in:o
root crestflOta with the Viet Sheriff tenon what had passed, and par-
tieularly, ha to his knowledge of the foreman of' the
Jury.. "011' !Nitre/end his Lordship, that he had been
rcq airiviOsars that he had a freehold estate of
owb ribleggeg and that he rented a very considerable
(inn ; that weer knew him charged with an ill action.
sad dna jia wail dial) beloved and esteemed in his neigh- I
information, his Lordship sent for the minister ref
„N")+0l ho
Rave
the same favourable amount of his parish-
t"garnbeT
wtibtthis addition, that he was a constant churchman and a
devote nolomnnicant.
•• Thee 'accounts increased his •Lonhhip's perplexity, from
*Melt hettobld think of no expedient to deliver himself, but by
lisvingr nomference in private with the only pennon who could give
hi osatisfacdon g this he retruested the Sheritlio procure, who sea.
lily afferie 'his service, and
,without delay brought about the de-
slind interview.
'" Upne the Foreman of theohry being introduced to the Judge,'
10 'Lordship retired with him into a closet, where his Lordship
tweed MI MOODS for desiring that visit, nicking no scruple of ac-
Trimledging the uneasiness lie was under on account of the ver-
diet. and majoring- his visitor frankly to discover his reason fix
aegnitting the prisoner. The Juryman returned for answer, that
Ise lied sufficient reasons to justify his conduct, and that he was
neiiiier ashamed nor afraid to reveal them ; hot as he had hitherto
'keel thtm up in his own breast and was under no compulsion to
divine, them, he expected his Lordship would engage, upon his
hnnour, to keep what he was shout to unfold to him, a secret, as he
himself had done. Ilis Lordship having done so, the Juryman
proceeded to give his Lordship the following account. The de-
emed being the Tythe-inan where be (the Juryman) lived, be had,
Hu morning of his decease, been in his (the Juryman's) grounds,
a. angst his corn, and had done him great injustice by taking
more than his due, and acting otherwise in a most arbitiary man-
ner. When lie complained of this treatment he had not only been
ginned with scurrilous language, but the deceased had struck at
him several times with his fork, and had actually wounded him in
two places, the scars of which wounds he then shoved his Lord_
ship. The deceased seemed bent on mischief, and the farmer
hating ro weapon to defend himself, had to other way to preserve
his own life but by closing in with the deceased, and wrenching
Vie fork out of lira hands: which having effected, the deceased at-
ttmpted to recover the fork, and in the scuttle received the two
wounds which hail occaSioned his death. The farmer was inex-
peensibly concerned at the accident which occasioned the man's
death. and especially when the prisoner was taken up on suspicion
of the murder. Rut the assizes being just over, he was unwilling
to surrender himself and to confetti the nutter, because his farm
and affairs world have been ruined by his lying so long in gaol.—
ese was SUM to have been acquitted on his trial, for he had con-
nuked the ablest Lawyers upon the case, who all agreed that as the
41traf.ed had been the Kremer, he could only have been guilty of
rnanslivighter at most. It was true he had suffered greatly in his
own mind en the prisoner's account; but being well assured that
imprisonment would fie of less consequence to the prisoner than
40 manitif, lie bad suffered the law to take its comm. In order,
itewever, to redder the prisoner's confinement as easy to him as
Platildee • be. had given him eery kind of assistance, and had
Arbon, supported his family every since. And, to get him clear of
'lbw charge laid against him, be had procured himself to be sum-
inonedon the jury, and sat at the heed of them ; having all along'
eletterotirted in his own breast rather to die himself, than suffer'
any hvm to he done to the prisoner."
His Lordship expormcd great satisfaction at this account; and
after thanking the fuoier for it, and snaking this farther atipula-,
that intim his Lordship should survive him, he might then
brat liberty to.relate this fact, that it might be delivered down to
posterity—the conference broke up.
Se ..horrame lived' fifteen years afterwards ; the Judge in_
haired after him every year, and happening to survive him, deli-
lend dig above relation."
" A wen was tried fur and convicted of the murder of his own
*moans' The evidence against him was merely circumstantial, and
*he principal witness was hinaister. She proved that her father
a small income, which, with his industry, enabled him
.live cpmfort; that her brother, who was his heir at law,
:bad often expressed a great desire to come into possession of his
laekts's effects ; end that he had long behaved in • very uidutiful
.1•11/1•1 to him, wishing, as the witness believed, to put a period
she lie, existence by uneasiness and vexation ; that on the evening
Alba impeder was committed, the deceased went a small distance from
-Abe house to atilk a cow be bad for sonic time kept, and that the
riwitness also went out to spend the evening and to sleep, leaving
.seedy her brother in the house; that returning house early in the
. battening, and finding that her father and brother were both absent,
esdas was much alarmed, and sent for sonic of the neighbours to
„insestult with them, and to receive advice what should be done ;
vast in company with these neighbours she went so the hovel in
aaebidrlter father was accustomed to milk the cow, where they found
slime murdered in a most inhuman manner; that a suspicion imnie.
diately falling on her brother, and there being then some snow
vinpois the ground, in which the footsteps of a human being, to
and from the hovel, were observed, it was agreed to take one of
Aar brother's shoes, and to measure therewith the impressions in
rides snow ; this wee done, and there did not remain a doubt that
stem impressions were made with his shoes. Thus confirmed in their
• Miquelon/4 they then immediately went to the prisoner's roain, and
t after diligent search, they found a hammer in the corner of a pri-
o.isate drawer, with several sputs of blood upon it.
" The circumstance of finding the deceased and the hammer,
sande* Identity of the footsteps, as described by the former wit-
- sae, were fully proved by the neighbours whom the had called;
.inoi upon this evidence the prisoner was convicted, and suffered
o alsath, but denied it to the last.
see S'• About tour yea *Aker, the sister, who had been chief witness,
aslenneatremely ill; and understanding that there were no hopes et
1:1re neovery, she cenfemed that her father and brother having
.eirsided her, she was determined they should both die; and I
i. memedingly, when the forms went to milk the caw, she followed
I. rim with her brother's hammer, and in his shoes ; that she felled
..,her father with the hammer, and Lid it where it was afterwards
Mind ; :hot she thea went from home, to give a better colour to
.i•tha hoed transaction, and that her brother was perfectly innocent

atf the coigne for srlitib he bad suffered.
" tale was immediately taken into custody, but died before she

• Amid be brought to trial:"
• ••Anitloll4flti of the name of Wm. Shaw. who was residing at
Edinbur in the year 1731, had a daughter Catherine who lived with
him, an who encouraged the addresses of John Lawson, &jeweller,
••• contrary to the wishes of her father, who had insuperable objections
against him, and urged his daughter to receive theadresses of a eon
at Alexander.Hobertson, a friend and neighbour. The girl refused
. moat rerempiakily. The father grew enraged. Passionate ex.
proesions arose on both sides, and the words ' barbarity, cruelty,
and death,' were fregaently pronounced by the daughter. At
length the father left her, locking the door after him.
• The apartment of Shaw was only divided by a slight partition
. from that of one Morrison, a watch-ease-maker, alto had indistincl
. :beard the conversation and quarrel between Catharine Shaw and
wear father; and was particularly struck with the words she heel
.•iikunouneed so emphatically. for some time after the father had
1-. gene out all was silent; but presently Alorrison heard several
'roans from ebcdaughter. Ile called in some of the neighbours,
' and these, listening attentively, not only beard her groan, but also
faint exclaim Cruel father, thou art the cause of my death !'
• Strut* withiligsgapressiou. they got a constable, and forced the
door of Sharlirosartmeat, where they found the daughter welter-
ing in. horebinod, and a knife by her side. She was alive, and
spaechl t on questioning her as to owing her death to her
fah just able to make a motion with bee head, arra-
rentlrbethe nffirntative, and then expired.
"At this moment Shaw enters the room. All eyes are upon
ideal Ile art his neighbours and a constable in his apartment,
tad seams much disordered ; but at the sight of his daughter he
turns pale, trembles, anti is teDdy to sink. The first surrrise, and
the succeeding horror, leave little doubt of his wilt in the breasts
of the behokkams and even that little is done away, on the m-
umble discovering that the shirt of William Shaw is bloody.
•• He wa' instantly. hurried before a Magistrate, and upon the
deposition of the parties committed for trial. In vain did he pro.
mat his ianocesce, and declared that the blind on his shirt was oc-
casioned by his basing blooded himself some days before, and the
haulage having become untied. The circulate:axes appeared so
• arcing against him, that he was found guilty, was executed, and
hang in chaiLs at Leith. His last words were, • I sun innocent of
hay daughter's murder.'
There WAD scarcely a person in Edinburgh who thought the
father innocent t but in the following year, a man echo had he.
vane the occupant of Shaw's apartment, accidentally discovered a
piper, which had fallen into a cavity on one tide of the chimney.
It was folded as a letter, and on opening it, was found to contain
o follows: 6 Barbarous father 1 your cruelty in having put it out
of any power ever to join my fate to that of the only man I could
love, and tyrannically insisting upon my marrying one whom I
• always hated, has made me form a resolution to put an end to an
existence which has become a burthen to me.'
" This letter was signed • Catharine Shaw' ' and on being 'hewn
.9 her relations anti friends, it was recognized es her writing. The
Maiistraey of Edinburgh examined it, and on being satisfied of
kw authenticity, they ordered the body of %Villiain Shaw to be
taken from the gibbct, and given to his family for interment;
and as the oily reparation to his memory, and the honour of his
surviving relations, they abused a pa's of cukurs to be waved over

intOkeitof rds innocenie."
• In the year liZg. Mr. Hayes, a gentleman of fortune, in
huge/ling, etopt at an inn in Oxfordshire' kept by one Jpnathan
111radfovd. lie there met with two gentlemen, with shorn he
*speed and in conversation unguardedly mentioned that be had
then with him a considerable sum of money. Having retired to
net, the twa gentkuien, wno slept in a double-gelded room, were
awaloved by deep molls in the adjoining chamber. They in-
stantly rose anti pnieeztied silently to the room wiirace the groans
were heard. The tins VIP bait open, anti on entering they per-
ceived a poWoon we ring in his blind, in the bed, and a man stand-
ing ever biro, with e 'dart lantern in one hand and a knife in the
otger. They somidisenvered that the gentl.mian murdered was the
one wish whenvfietY list strived, and tint the man who wasetand—
ing over him was their host. They instantly seiztd him, disarmed
bins of the knife, and charged hits with being tic tutaJcza. Ile