The National Register.
London, England, 1818-08-02 00:00:00

EVIDENCE.

Da% id Thomas lives neat door to the late Mr. Bled, inLon-
don-street, G. eenwieli was acquainted with Mr. Bird, who
was e 3 yours of age, He latterly kept only our servant,
Mary Si 11111 l ons. On the Sunday morning of the Sib, lie ob-
served the house of Mr. Bird slint,abont Yt minntes before l•
o'clock at noon. Mr. Bird's brother gave him information of
his alarm at th.• house being shot up. Mr. Bird asked him to go
toll's- back of the premises, and see it' all was secure. All was
secure ; the windows closed ; and he recommended to Mr.
Bird to pick the lock of the front door, which could:nut he
done because the key was inside. They then tried a.door
between Mr. Bird's house and witness's, and broke It open ;
a passage communicated from that door tootle hack part of
the bottle. Throneli that passage witness and Iwo or three
others proceeded to the back part of the Loose. They then
raised up the sash of the kitchen window, and broke open
the -hotter+. He then went through the. window to the
kitchen. When in the kitelitin,he went to the hall through a
passage. tie insetted the back door.to let in Jigitt, auJ then
saw the body of Mary Shemin's; lying in the passage, with
her head towards the stairs and her feet towards the street
dour. Witness stepped over her body, and opened the hall
window, and then saw Mr. Bird lying dead on his back in the
parlour. The dour between the hall and parlour was open.
Upon examiniug further, lie observed . blood ou the floor of
the Iran. It was near the body of Mary Simmons. Theme was
a track of blood by drawing the body. The head was cut,.
the ear was slit in two, part of the banisters was broken by
her ; a candle was lyiusr beside her, which was nearlyu whole
one. About one eighth of the. candles-was burnt. When lie
saw Mr. MO, lie saw a candlestick veer knees; between
his arms lay WS uecbtcks, Wilieil were. broken; on the table
was a small poci;el-book and a lottery ticket. There was no
watch in his fob. His pocl.sts were. Scathed, and .n.a.
thing was in them. While/us afterwards went up stairs into
the little room over the parlour, and observed there a large
tin box, and a padlock on it, and some papers lying loose on
the door. Sonic of the drawers of the sect etary were open..
Witness did not examitt:i them. He went to Mr. Bird's bed-
room, and found a double chest uf drawers open, and. every
dre wer.wits half open. The things la them appeared to have
beeretorned ever,and left in disorder. On the bed there were
two or Once keys, and near them, on the counterpane, marks
of blood. The bed was made and oilmen' dawn, ready for
•eleepues tn. He did slot go. into the servuut's remit. On lilt
betel dour of :le house there was a ehate, which (WI not ap.
rat. have teem ter that ui,iht. 'file lock was a spring•lock,
rod bad not heel' locked beyond the spring. Witness remarked
in die kits heir the servouVe needlework on time table, ands'
prilicitife or two, and the table-cloth folded on one coruer of
it, as if fur present use. These was a pair of slippers on the
feeder, and in the oven roasted potatoes, and the tea-kettle
was full of water, lie looked Low the burcae, auth saw a

'45

gentleman take some plate out of the bureau, which woe
open.
Croce-examined by
Mr' Nolan.' It was about ewe o'clock
that he went to Mr. Bird's house. .gr,.l banister bad here
broken as it' Mary Siommes had Ws
bold of it. There were
several wounds on her head, made alMal•--te by a blunt In-
strement. Mr. Bird was in the parlour; his pin:keit were
t
empty, but not turned altogether out. All the places which
he entered appeared to have been examined. He could not
say so of the back parlour. The thief, whoever be wasomist
have inspected the rooms.
Examined by Common Sergeant.—llichard Smith is a Mr
gistrate. Heard of the discovery of the murder about rim
o'clock, immediately after morning service, when he was tu
the vestry room. He then went immediately to the house,
where he arrived in about two minutes.. Mr. Themes the
last witness, let him in. He described the house. Ile observ-
ed a woman lying on the flour iu the passage. There was
much blood on the fluor, which was spread over it by • the
moving of the body. The body lay in the way to the front
door. tier head lay put at the foot of the staircase, and tie
noticed that the lower banister was broken, and this was
part which could net be laid hold of by a person in an ere 't
position. There was a candle lying near the body in the hail
which appeared new, only to have been lighted and tuen
blown out, He went into Mr. Bird's parlour:found Mr. Bird
lying on his back evidently dead, his feet near the door.
scarcely enough to let the door open, and his head near the
fire place below a chair. There was a little table ow..ethe-
hind the door, and on the table. near his heal witness saw is
pocket beak. The spectacles lay on the ground, and din
pockets appeared to have been rifled. On searching about,
he foetid below the door of the parlour the mark of a hammei
which had just grated the lintel, and left the mark of blood.
He marked several wounds on the bodiesof both, apparent y
inflicted by the same instrument ; some of the wounds belt.;
seemingly inflicted by a hammer head, andrbe other a mo-
derately sharp end. lie saw the hammer afterwards, and
such an instrument must have been employed toinflict these
wounds. There were several wounds on the head of the we-
man, sad on Mr. Bird's. The skull of Mr. Bird was fractured.
Witness went up stairs, first into the small reading room,
where Mr. Bird had a bureau desk. He thought thaw per—
son sitting near the window of this room, as he must do When
the flap of the desk was down, might be seen front the Tiaper's
Head. There was a small table with a portable desk uponeit
nearer to the window. The flap of the bureau was down
when witness saw it. Many papers were scattered about
on it, and some down ou the floss. They appeared to have•
been scattered about as if done in a hurry to inspect the•
drawers. Thor bereau had a secret drawer, from which 31
one pound Bank notes were taken out in the presence of wit •
ness. He afterwards saw plate taken out in a bed roosts,
which had escaped the notice of the person whohedvplandered-
the other things. Mr. Bird's bed was made and turned dome
In that bedroom thieve had been the same search for articles.,
of property, and the seine -confusion as in the other pat ts of
'the' house. Witness went then to the stiles, which exhibited.
the same scene of confusion. Witness then .exandseAtke
premises on the ground floor, beginning with the back par-
, lour, and it did nut appear toshave beronntered at all. There
was a sideboard kbere with some plate, which had not been
dheurbed. After that, wit.tess went to the kitchen, where be
:iv/ the servant's work on the table, a tinder box on the tab*,
and a table cloth on a chair in the room, and. Mr. Bird's
slippers near the fender. Two watches were delivered to
wi mess on the 13th of March, by Goriwya, a tailor at Peokliatn,
who represented himself to be poisonorn.brother iu law. Wit-.
lies., produced the watches, but.could not speak to their pre-
vious ownership. He was present at the examination of.
Hussey, when prisoner emittedn statement which was taken
down from his lips, by Mr. Bicknell, which the prisoner was
requested to sign, but which he refused to do.
Cross-examined by Mr.Adelplins.—Witness- said he list,
examined the house and the deceased peesons. The bans'.
.trade was drown down by a person straggling on the ground.
Five rooms had been ransacked; and at least a dozen drew ete-
examineiL So much• bad been done that it took witnen;auree
time to examine it—about an hour. Witness said, that sellers •
he mentioned that Mr. Bird's room could be seen. froin the •
Tiger's Head, lie meant train the front of the Tiger's Head..
and not from any of the rooms of the inn. /Rainer went into
the tap-room to try whether be could see from it or not.
Frederick Finch is a surgeon. Resides at Greenwich.—
Went to Mr. Bird's house on the 7th of February last. lie
found Mr. Bird slaughtered in the most horrible manner. He
observed two remarkable indentations on the forehead about
the size of a half-peony. He observed a fracture faun the
front to the occipinim. Any of the wounds wond have pro-
duced death,and from the parietal bone, the h;iiiie had es.
.caped. He had no doubt t hat the wounds were inflicter: by
an instrument, like a hammer, with a blunt cutting edge, mid
a smooth. lie observed also the head of Mary Simmons.—
He observed a depression on the os frontia which won:II
have,produced death. He observed other severe wounds.—
They were evidently pioduced by the same instrnment as
the wounds were of the side of the cottingydge of Co/thane
mer. He had since seen the hammer and Ale thought it
would exactly produce the wounds Ire had described. Ho
saw the hammer id the posses.ioti of Hodges, the cons:able..
The servant was woonded in the jugular vein, and bad evi
dently vomited from the sympathy betweeu the head and the
stourarit.

Cruss•examined by Mr. Nolan —There wan a member of •
blows on buth..the deceased.personi. He thought aoiustrti-
:tient but a ha aaaaa ier could have produced these wounds.
• thesiali Bell deposed, that she lives at .orecUViCll; is a
washerwoman ; used to go to Mr. Bird's to assist in cookieg
before his wile's death, which happened niore dam two years
ago. Mx. Bird generally ser lied at 9 o'clock. His meal was.
potatoes mid sometimes soup. He went to bed at 10 o'clock..
He pulled cif his shoes biter souk or,,it hen the.cluth was re-
moved. Witness attended every washing ..in Mr. Bird's
on the Monday before the niurder,ool had washed lb shirts.
She saw two shit ta produced by ilentet s, the constable, alter •
rite murders,and she was very sure she had washed them un
the blenday met:butted. A haturaorchiel was litiewiso pro-
duced, which she.thought Mr. Bit:l'n.
Crossoexemined by Mr. Noian.—Deposed that Mr. Bird
was a regular man, wean to bed at 10, a lew minutes out or
in, but never long.
lm,l7Alr. Hints
nahe r
house. Si on the ~Vnolwsch fowl, oboist 1r if
te r. mile
fro •
uh;ht, a litile past ti o'clock. T!:e mg ,it way foggy. She left her
bows at it o'clock, and mightanea 21) neentetes en going the &s-
-law 3 man talking to a woman,apar weitnotlwyasastilft 2spe•houakseikn
tance. She knew Mr. Bird by sight. Site saw the door open.
geePeL'to kbeghserevanal7
I‘'l4l'rit'aßtsair'l)4..%l nedi°uttil;endlvrill.igig'ain at half past tencand•saw the door shut,
am! nottung particular au out the house. She knew Mr. Bird quite
well ; he was her father's !Radice-1
C;teSi4.44Aint.t) ty Mr. Nol.4l.—Dqw3sed that she could not ins.