The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-22 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
.HOME CIRCUIT.—Lewes, March 20.
(Before Mr. Baron PARKE.)
Sarah Anne French, aged 27, was indicted for the wil-
ful murder of William French. The triel was commenced
on Friday and terminated on Saturday night.
Mr. Johnson and Mr. Creasy. conducted the prose-
cution. The prisoner would not have bad any pro-
fessional assistance, but, at the request of the Learned
Judge, Mr. Rodweil undertook to watch the evidence on
her behalf.

The Learned COUNSEL for the prosecution, in opening
the case to the jury, said that the prisoner now before
them stood charged with the dreadful offence of wilful
murder upon the person of her husband, and when they
considered the awful nature of the charge, and also that
it was suggested by the prosecution that the unfortunate
deeeksest.,l4cl4„a *Nituiructst-pe4asaaselse was sure they
.144AkTirKqutre-xtte ..'servations from hlin to induce them
to give the most patient and careful attention to the
Yaws ho should lay before them in support of the charge.
He then proceeded to give a short outline of the facts of
the case, and the following evidence was adduced:—
. John French said—l am a labourer at Chiddingley,
in this county. The deceased was my brother. The
prisoner was his wife, and they lived together at Chid-
dingley. They had one child. No one but themselves
lived in their cottage. My brother worked at the same
farm with me. Thelast time I saw him alive was last
Cbristmas-eve, Ho was then in very good health. On
the morning, of the 7th Qf January
I saw my brother
dead. I had never heard he had been ill, but I was
0,010,up pn-the night of the 7th, and upon goiog to his
cottage .I folind he was dead,The prisoner was sitting.
by the fireqn thekitchen with a.neighbour named Mrs.
Pilling. I asked the prisoner how her husband went off,
and she said he " Went off" very easy. I then wished to
know what he said to her, and she told me be said to her,
.• You be my..wife-.-beant you?" and then turned round
and died. She told me at this time that her husband was
ruptured; and she likevvise saki that he had been very
sick, and kept constantly retching before he died. My
brother was a strong able bodied man, and I never heard
before that ho was ruptured. I went up to see my
•brother's body: He was lying on his right side, and I
thought his throat appeared to be swollen. I felt his
hands and face, and found they were cold, and the bed
appeared as though only 'one person had slept in it.
When I came down stairs I asked the prisoner why she
did not have a doctor to her husband, and she said that
et, told her hb should get 'better without, and that he
had eaten a beerty supper and kept it down. My
brother was buried after an inquest was held upon him,
and he was taken up again alter that, and a second in-
quest held upon' his body. My brother was 35 Yeats
old when he died.

Cross-examined—l am not able to say on what terms
iho piisuner End my hrother lived together. The pri-
Oner was crying when I got to the cottage, but I ex-
pected to have been her hurt a good deal wore. I was
so distre.isitd at se-ing my brother's dead body that I
hardly knew what I t•alci myself, but I am quite sure the
prisoner said what I have stated.

saChiddingleyroy with the
with my
pri
hus-
bandi‘irist; FaitileinnLBeanhtitTnidelirve at
te
m o
sorer and her husband. We were on friendly terms,
and I often saw the deceased. The last time I saw him
alive was three days before his death. He was coming
up the road with the prisoner, and ho looked as usual,
and there did not appear to be anything the matter with
him. On the morning before the deceased died I heard
Funnell, one of his fellow-labourers, go to the prisoner's
cottage, and I heard the prisoner tell him that her hus-
band was not well, and that he could not go to work
that day. I was' away from my home nearly all the rest
of the day, and when I came home I went into the pri-
soner's h use, and I asked her how her husband was,
and she told me that he was very sick. Oa the tollow-
iog day I saw the prisoner again, and she said, in
answer to my inquiries, that her husband was better.
After this I heard the deceased retching in his bed-
room.. I went again to the cottage about five in the
afterndon, and the prisoner then told me her husband
was better. About halt-past eleven at night the pri-
soner rapped at my wall end told me to make as much
haste as I could to her, and I did so, and upon
entering her cottage I found the prisoner down
stairs, and she told me she thought her husband was
dying. We both then went upstairs, and I saw the de-
ceased lying on the bed and very pale; but I could not
tell whether he was dead or alive. I then went out to
some of the neighbours, and afterwards went back to the
The prisoner had never asked me to
on I once
onc-cahsi d .bo h
heard the prisoner say that herlithtluea d
before Christmasaagt ata
spereisotnheerd'sereattsyde.
on any previousb
halfpennyworth of arsenic a
Mr. Noakes's for tne purpose of destroying mice. I
don't know what led to her saying this to me. lam sure
I did not ask her anything about arsenic.
By the JUDGE —She did not say whether the arsenic
was coloured or not. Mr. Noakes was a shopkeeper at
Chiddingley.
cottage a little more than a week after her husband's
Examination
a
ncmmtinilie off.ted—rhe prisoner remained at the
death, and she went to live in the adjoining parish of
Cross-examined—I had had arsenic myself to kill
mice with

By the COURT—My arsenic was white. It was not
colound in any way.
By Mr. RoDwELL—I knew a person named James
[liekman. Ile was at tho deceased's hour© on the night
before he died, and I have seen him there on several
other occasions.

Re-ext=ined—The prisoner bad a sister named Jane
Piper. She used sometimes to 00Ene and stop a few days
at the cottage or the prisoner. I have never seen Jane
Piper and Hickman in company together.
By the COURT—The prisoner was crying very muob
when I went into the cottage. She told me to go for a
surgeon, and be came soon afterwards. Hickman used
to e,,tne to tno prisoner's cottage mostly of an evening.
M,iry Funnel! saiu—l lived in a cottage near that oc-
I cupid by the deceased. I had known him for seven
3 care. fie was not a very ailing man. The last time I
gaev 'Lim alive was on the Sunday before he died, when
he was going to chapel, accompanied by the p:isoner.
On tho 7th of January I WIN called up,AO W9nt