The National Register.
London, England, 1809-08-20 00:00:00

THE NATIONAL REGISTER.

ATTG. 20.

placed b v friends in the haute. of tne M.; i.e had no,
lour. been there hefor.. he seduced th,• aff•cii n; of the Plaintisrs
wife ; hilt, 115 it 41 les not uneommouly ppet:, an injured hos-
band Iti the last person to he informed of the wrong that is dont-
him. It so with the Plaintiff; he had nut the most remote
suspicion that he was injured in lac tenderest poit,t, until he him-
self on:' day cidentailv discovered his wife and t Defeudnot
in the net of criminal intereonNe ; and Oleo, as lie had no wit-
neS•'S near hint, he rooki ot)1: do that n hick he did, namely,
dismiss; ;loth his faithless wire and her paramour from his house.
He under-food the subservient conduct of the Plaintiff was to he.
ur4ed av-tins!, but when that vondurt come to be explained, it
would add to his honour, in the mind of every feeling man. It
seemed the unhappy and womao. soon after her detection,
from remorse of conscience, he hoped. was xed to a bed of sick-
ness, from which .he never more wa expected to rise, and ou
that ores:-ion 'he solicited an interview w ith her husband —Mud
at such a moment who could have refused even a: guilty wife that
Si» All con-olation in the supposed hour of death? Yet .:he un-
dersto:id, that that act was this day to he urged as a reason for
diministiing• the d..mages, which, by the present action, besought
to recover. He should prove the case, and he %aS sure the
Jury would give a verdict which would answer the demands of
Justice.
A \lrs. Johnson and a Mr. Ili;chen, proved, that the Min-
Or and his wife lived togrtherin great apparent affection and
harmon v.

Ann Bell, servant is the Plaintiff, said, she remembered the
Defendant coming to live with the Plaintid*, in 1&Yl. One day
in the n►onth of Elebruarv, she saw her u►iatress and the Defend-
ant in a very unequivocal situation. She did not speak, but int-
rne.liately retired ; on two other occasions she also saw them id
like sitnatiors, out she never said a word to her master, or any
one else, until after she quitted the family; she. then told it to
several perso►►s, when she heard that the Plaintiff had one day
detected his wife. She did not tell, she said, because she did
not like to disturb the peace of the family. The Noble and
Learned Judge observed to her, that her morality did not seem
tope of the soundest sort. The Defendant, she said, appeared
about el or 21, and her mistress, she supposed, was 40.
William Hopkins deposed, that he met the Defendant about'
twelve months ay.) in Tooley-street, when be told the witness it
was a lucky thing for the Plaintiff,. as he would get rid of s
d—d baA wife. 'rho Jury found a verdict for the Plaiatif—
Damages 4901.

MONDAY, Aus. 14.

MURDERS.

James Cooper, and Mary Cooper, his mother, aged 71, were
iedica.d far the wilful murder of Joseph Hollis., at Compton, in
this rounty, on the 4th of May last. The first count of the in-
dic:ment stated the murder to have been committed by fracturing
the skull, and the second by cutting the throat.
Mr. Gurney and the Common Serjeant prosecuted the ease,
which woof rather a singular nature, and depended on circum-
Stances which were proved by a number of elitTerent WitIIPNWS.
and the investigation lasted nearly the whole,day. The deceased
vas a tnaa possessing more property than is asnal with persons
in his cla%s of life. He lived in a small cottage adjoining tio the
prisoners; indeed it had been formerly but one cottage. and had
lately been divided into !wo tenements, the one occupied by the
deceased, and the other by the two prisoners. Tipere was a door
Af communication between the two tenements; but it was proved,
that whatever pa3sed in one hou-e, could be distinctly heard in
the other, and, as our of the witnes,ses stated, the dock could be
heard to tick. The olecea,ed, [Lillis, was an old man of near
70, but on% Pale and hearty; he was of very penurious habits,
and had saved money, which he was fond of dbplayitg. One
of the witnes>es de-cribed him as always carrying three canvas
bags, in one of which he kept notes, in another gold and silver,
and in a third copper mime% ; and if he wanted to pay only a
5.1 rpence. he would tip all the gold and silver into his hand ; and
the w itne,s added he had seen hien with 100'. in his possession.
The whole cottage in which he lived was his property, and the
prisoner Cooper was his tenant for the part 1% hich he occupied.
Nohody lived in Cooper'.. pill hut himself and his mother, and
the deceased, lived alone; a woman of the name of
Wisdo.o coming to him daily t.. perform his little honwhold ar-
rangements. On Wednesday the third of May, the day preced-
ing Guildford fair, he desired a person of the name of Goddard
to o with him to the fair, as Ito wanted to buy some sheep :
Coddard to\l hi n lie could not go with hint, but advised him to
be early. Oa this be declared his iateatioa of breakfasting and

lit 7

„ toe ur x t morning. by four o'clock I and !raving dc.
► tared this to Uary Wisdom, tie told her she need unit c iR. to
him the've%t day, as he shook( be at the fair s she therefore did,
not on rite Thursday make her daily, visit, hnt on the f !day.
iliout ten, she. sent her daughter, a girl about 13. TL, child
found the door unfastened, and on opening It site saw Rallis I vial;
dead on tile floor, with a great deal of blood about him. She
, rust out, anti saw Moore, the constaoie, cr siting the Come
Innis, and he immediately returned with her. A surgeon was
sent for, and soon several people came. The body was lying oie
the floor with the legs crossed, and the head lying on the Arm,
evidently composed to that attitude by the murderer after the
deed. A cup of coffee, half drank, was int the table, a piece of
toast before the tire, smother piece, partly eaten, lying on the
',earth. the butter bison broke, and the pat of butier on the
floor near the feet of the deceased. The chair in which be had
been sitting was overtnrned, and his hat lying near, from whence
it appeared he • had been attacked while he was sitting at his
breakfast. The body was most shockingly mangled—the' scull
was fractured in two places, the jaw broken, a Gager broken,
• tile arms bruised, and the throat cut so as almost to severe the
head from the body. Under the body was found a clasp knife,
elinost covered with blood, and a poker, which tilted the bruises
made in the chimney piece : and as from those circumstances it
appeared that some struggle must have taken place, which the
prisoners must have heard in their cottage if it•had been done
by any stranger, etey were apprehended on the Friday evening,
and their house searched, but no evidence of their guilt MIS
found. The trunk of the deeen4ed had been rummaged, and
as only two shillings were found on his person, it was presumed
that the murderer had carried off his money. The Magistrates,
one =atninatt ion, finding nothing but suspicion against the prisoners
discharged them, but on subsequent inquiries, they wereagnia
apprehended, and the fallowing circumstances were given in
evidence : About a fortnight before the murder, the deceased
and the prisoner James Cooper had been quarrelling, upon which
the deceased declared, as Cooper bad Dot paid his rent, he would
have him out of the cottage, and he actually appliedlo a person
to distraiampon him.- In this quarrel,as Cooper went in doors.
be said to his mother, ” that once within a fortnight be would
be upsides with him"—his mother exclaimed, " God forbid 1.1,
His answer was, if she did not hold her tongue, he would serve
her so too : to which she replied, • • Well, it is uo great matter,
for noboby likes the old fellow." in fact, the murder was per-
petrated within that time.
Mary Wisdom proved, that on t:e Wednesday evening she told
Dame Cooper that Master Hollis was going to the fair the neat
• day, and she should not coma again until the Friday, and she
also mentioned that be was going at four in the morning. When
the knife was found in the room tinder the body, the prisoner.
Mary Cooper, exclaimed " That is Old Hollis's knife ;" upon
Which a Mr. Smallpiece in the room, observed, " 3ou cannot
have seen enough of the knife to km • it ;" and iodeed it was
then so covered with blood that no person could have recognized
it,.in its then state. Mary Wisdom proved it was Hollis's knife,
and that his knife was found in the corner of the room, probably
knocked out of his hand in the scuffle:
A person of the name of James IA ipnan said, that he verily
believed the bloody knife to be the prisoner's ; that he had
borrowed Cooper's knife a few days before, 'vli.era they were at
work together, to cut seine tallies; and he verily believed that
the bloody knife produced was the same knife which the pH.'
soner then lent him.
The poker was thee produced, and Mary Wisdom said, she
never knew Master Hollis to have any poker.
Another woman, named Elizabeth Hart, said, slie dined. twice
a week at Cooper's, acid she believed it to be the same poker
which she had seen at Cooler's, especially as slues the murder

she had missed Cooper's poker.

Colinghourne, an officer trotu town, searched the house awia
on the Ilth of May, on which occasion he found a frock, which
had been lately washed, ant ahout the sleeves were sta!us of
blood. This the old woman said was, probably occasioned bt
her tiou's having cut his kg, but the son afterwards d2nitbd that
any blood was. upon it. Upon these circumstances the pri-
soner, were fully committed, and then it was that the old yip-
man made a confession to seleval witnesses; but as it was not
made in the presence of her RIM, it could 11.1 t be received in
evidence as fur as it went to ntlect him. She described it to have
been done between three and four o'clock in the morning : that
the person w hL, did it (her son) was folly heat upon it. She
was asked by the witness (lilt. Hart) why she did not make it
lino IN 4. kit • said, she cultist not du it; that he went, in u sinock