The National Register.
London, England, 1815-04-09 00:00:00

MURDER.-FRIDAY.

W. Sawyer was indicted for the wilful murder of Harriet Gaskeg
at Campo Grande, near Lisbon, on the 27th of April, 1814. •
The Attorney-General said, at the time of the transaction, llse
prisoner was engaged in the Commissariat Department, in Lisboa,and in the same Department was a pi r on nateeJ Rikord, who bad
resided with the deceased. The prisoner and her had lived together
for some time, and that circumstance had created some uneasiness
to Mr. Ricord. Upon the day of her death, there was considerable
uneasiness in all the parties of the family, and this Mr. Rikord was
called out to walk by a Mr. Green, in order to tranquilize his mind.
On this occasion, the pri;'oner and this woman went likewise from
the house, and Mr. Green aid Mr. Rikord went into the garden Ist
search for them, but had hardly entered it before they be.srd the
report of a pistol, and soon afterwards a second. Oi a; pioac i
the place from whence the reports proceeded, they found ihe pri-
soner and the deceased lying upon the ground as dead ; it hutted
out, howeret, that only the woman was dead, basing re,eiveil the
discharge of a pistol through her head. It appeared also, that the
prisoner had attempted his own life, but had not effected hia pits.
.pose. I will now read the account given by the prisoner. which
was given without any inducements or threats held out. It eensisas
of two parts; the one was read over to him, and signed by him
upon the same day on which it was made; and the other was made
the next day with equal deliberation, and if these are confirmed he
the testimony of witnesses, there can be no doubt that the decease-4
came by her death through the means of the prisoner. which wilt
constitute the crime of murder. You will find that the prisoner
states, that the cause of her death was, " that she had taken part of
a bottle of laudanum, and that they had agreed that. they should
each destroy the other! and that site, not having effected her oh-
ject with the laudanum wished him to destroy her first, and Them
lodestroy himself." /slow, Gentlemen, it that • really be so, it is
unquestionably murder. The first paper signed by the unfiwtttnate
gentleman is dated the 28th of April. 1814, and lie therein says:—
" I do think it proper to declare, while being of sound mind., slue
the death of Harriet Gasketl was owing to her takingart of a hits
tle of laudanum, and my shooting a pistol at her head. I then took
the residue of said laudanum, and discharged two pi-tolo at my head,
which-were not effectual ; this was at the ',aril of imuse, whom
I endeavoured to do se without any ,person being eceessary to it;
and I further add,that it was agreed that we shou!d destroy eadcother
but that she sub,equently desired that I should destroy her first." Tie:
only remaining topic which it is nece,sary to allude to is,whetherthis
man could be in his right mind ? If a mats, accused of murder et
any other crime, shall be.shewn to have been at the time &person
not capable of knowing right from wrong, he is not deemed by the
laws of this country responsible for the acts he does; lint while, lne
is the law of the country, and of humanity, let the Jury bewavelhat
that they confound not the paroxysms of guilt, and the depravity uf
the human passions, with the weakness and errors of insanity. Ne
man discharges a pistol at the head of another, with that-compo-
sure which he would observe in the common transactions of
man-
kind. The question is not, therefore, whether the act itself he an
irrational, •improvident, and a frenzied act, committed in the-mo-
ment of extreme agitation, but whether the perpetrator were uwase
that it was an act prohibited by the laws of God awl man. du this
present case as far as I have been
.able to obtsin information. ii
have no reason to believe that any thing of that kind, amounting to
a plea of insanity, can afford the prisoner any detelice, but that he
has been merely carried away by the violence of his passions, and
from some attachment having been shewn to her by the other per-
sons alluded to. With these observations, I havt. no doubt you will
do ample justice in the case now before you.
Six witnesses on the part of the proseentien were examined, and
their testimony corroborated the opening speech Of the Attorney.
General. An attempt was made to prove the prisoner insane, hat
there was no evidenco to support that head.
The prisoner being called on fin his defence, said
Mar Loan—The severe wound in my throat renders me. incapable
of distinctly articulating; I have, therefore, reduced to writing the
very few observations with which I shall trouble the Court on this
melancholy hammy. No one could feel a more slut re ren.e►.d (of