Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-07-09 00:00:00

HIGH COURT OF JUSTICIARY, EDINBURGH.

SEVENTII Dar—TUESDAY.
The court resumed at ten o'clock.
The Lord Advocate then began his address to the jury. The case
was one, he said, quite unexampled in the length of the investigations
it had necessitated; and it presented a state of social depravity and
degradation which the imagination of the novelist and dramatist hal
rarely, if eaer,paralleled. Then adverting to the observations which
had been passed, in the course of the trial, on the conduct of the
agents for the prosecution in Glasgow, he defended them from
the charge of unfairness and irregularay. He did not mean to
say that the steps taken were altogether such as he could have
wished, but he ventured to say that the fullest opportunities possible
had been afforded to the prisoner and her advisers, in respect to all
the documents in the case, at a period as early as was tompatible with
the course of justice. All these letters were of the most vital
importance, as it appeared to them, to the course of justice, and
't was absolutely necessary that the agents should have them at
hand, for reference to dates, aid other matters. Even putting aside
the postmarks, he did not hesitate to say that the date of almost
every letter could be distinctly proved by its contents.. His lordship
then proceeded to give a general narrative of the relations between
the deceased and the unfortunate lady at the bar, dwelling on the in-
contestible proof, adduced in venous shapes, of a criminal intercourse
having been carried on between them, and on the desperate nature of
the sob which she had so fat illy woven for herself. He illustrated
his narrative, in the earierpart, by quotations from the prisoner's
letters, the general tenor of which, he said, rendered it quite unfit
even for production in a case of this kind, and which displayed an
ut er abeence of all moral sense and even common delicacy and
decency, which it was pitiful and appalling to c mtemplat a la
the course of his remarks he referred to the plan of the sunk
floor, with the door under the front door to Blythswood-square, with
the boys' room on the left, and the kitchen, and farther on Miss
Smith's bedroom on the right, and with the passage extending to the
back area, from welch a person could enter, without its being known
in the kitchen. Besides, Miss Smith could leave her room, pass
upstairs, and open the front doer, and a ?mit L'Angelier into
the drawing room, witeou, having to pass any bedroom, or attract
anyone's attention. His lordship then replied to the letters
written in January, full of terms of endearment to L'Angelier,
although at the end of that month, the 28th, she accepted Mr.
Minno h. Then foliofoilowel a coolness between her and L'Angelier,
attested by Mr. Kennelay in his evidence, and the demand for a
return of letters, and the breaking off of the engagement. See was
to have returned his letters, but did not; and what became of them
is not known. She was to have returned his photograph, bat did not ;
it was food in her chamber. What a labyrinth of bewilderment the
unhappy girl was getting into ! She had pledged her word to another,
but she simply professed that her affection for him had cooled. She
remembered that her letters placed her entirely in his power, End
hence her anxiety to get them back again. She male two appoint-
ments for L'Aegelier to deliver up the letters, but he refused to give
them up, or to give her up. It might be ungenerous in him ; that
was immaterial; if h considered her as his wife, as he evidently did,
he was justified in his refusal, and he evidently threatened to commu-
nicate with her father, with the view of obtaining lawfal sanction to
their marriage. Teen she wrote the imploring, despairing letter, be-
seeching trim not to expose her to her shame, and entreating him to
meet her again. Her character, her reputation, her fame, were now
at stake. He did writs to her, and she wrote to hies another appeal
not io betray her secret. " She had put on paper what she should
not." She saw the danger she was in. She craved his forgiveness,
end prayed him not to denounce her or make her a public scandal.
But even in that prayer there was falsehood;—she said there was none
other htid her love, while she was even then engaged to anothar. His
lordship never in his lie load such a harrowing task as going over the
sufferings of a wounded spirit when asking L'Angelier to give back
her letters. Bat there was this important circumstance,—whatever
were L'Angelier's faults, he was true to her. Hs wanted not revenge ;
he wanted his wife. Ano.her important circumstance was,—in the
second week of February she requested the page to obtain some prus-
sic acid. For what purpose earthly catad she want i. ? See said for
her hands. Was prussic acid ever heard of as a cosmetic for the hands?
It would be seen that her mind was now running on poison. She did
not get prussic acid. Soon after that, L'Angelior and the prisoner
were together for an hour in the servants' bedroom, although to M.
de Mean she positively denied he had ever been in the house. What
took place at that interview cannot be told. The feud, however, had
been made up, but not on the footing of the letters being givers ue or
her engagement given up. The reverse; she after that time renewed
the former tone of love and affection, although she was still engaged to
Minnoch. Then she wished to see him again to give her back, not
all her letters, but " four cool letters," for which she promised to
give him others. On Thursday the 19th of February, he appointed
' to meet her, and on that nigbt he had the dreadful aaack of illness, in
which hs fell on the floor and was unable to ring the bell. He
recovered, and went to the Oleo on the 20th. Oa the 21st, prisoner
purchased arsenic at the shop of Mr. Murdoch. A very singular
urchase far her to make ! But it was net the first time she had
attempted to buy arsenic, and the reason she gave for it, poisoning
rats, was altogether false. The night after the 22 id he was again
seized with violent sickness, and all the symptoms of arsenical poi-
son. L'Angeller told Mrs, Parry that he had been twice ill, and
that after receiving coffee one time, and chocolate another, at the
hands of the prisoner. On Wednesday, 25th, she wrote condoling
with him on his illness, and rererred to seeing him on the Sanday
night and Monday morning, and saying shs thought he had been
sick from waking so far home without food, and she would next
time make him eat a loaf, which, in her declaration, she said was
" a jocular observation." No doubt the first illness of L'Angelier
occurred when it could not be proved that the prisoner had arsenic
in her possession; but all the circumstances identified the first
illness of L'Angelier as caused in the same way as the second. Then,
as to the alleged use of arsenic as a cosmetic. She first heard of it
in 180.3, but never applied till February, 181,7. Was it when she was
quaking for her reputation that she would cast about for
a new cosmetic? But arsenic used as a cosmetic was swal-
lowed, and not washed on the lase, which had never been
reccommended, and was highly dangerous. There could be no
doubt that this aliegel use of arsenic as a wash far the face was a
falsehood. L'Angclier recovered, and on the 27th, prisoner wrote to
him congratulating him on his getting batter. But he was entirely
changed ; he never recovered his former losers ; hls strength and
colour were entirely gone. A conversation at this time took place
between L'Augaler and Miss Perry, in which, alluding to the
prisoner, he said, "Eves if she were to poison me I would forgive
her"—these very remarkable words indicating tae suspicion that ho
had been poisoned. But she renewed her protestations of love, and
induced him to drive that phantom from his brain. After that she
wrote saying she was going to Stirling for a fortnight ; but ehe urged
him to go to the south of England—the Isle of Wight, instead of
going to Stirling where she was. He then evrete remonstrating with
her for her evasions; her connection with Mr. Miunoch, and the
brevity and coldness of her letters; insisting on having a satisfactory
ease er as to her latent ioiis ; asking who gave her the trinket she had
shown him ; and what her object was in asking him to go to the Isle
of Wight. "If you evade answering me this time, I must try some
other mews to ascertain the truth." Next day she bought r nether
ounce of arsenic, but wrote to him that there was no truth in the
rumour o her marri age, although at that vary time she was arrive.
gag for it to take place in June. It might be said , what did she do
with all the arsenic she obtained? The probability was that after she
had used a quantity, afraid of the danger of its lyial about, she
destroyed the remainder. L'Angelier,ataer his second illness, went
to Ediubargh, and gradually got better. He dined with the Towers's
and mentioeed again his suspicions respecting the cocoa and coffee.'
On the 17th March he returned to Glasgow expecting a letter, but
none came. On the 19th he went to the Bridge of Allan, and a letter
which had come after ho had left was sent after him. 01 the 20th
L'Angelier wrote to Miss Perry, that if he had received. the letter
sooner, he should have gone to Glasgow "to see somebody." A fter
that she wrote :agaia, makineatan appointment for the Saturday,

previous to which she had bought her third package, of arsenic,