The Sun.
London, England, 1837-04-11 00:00:00

EDGEWARE-ROAD MURDER.

CRIMINAL COURT.-(THIS DAY.)

OLD COURT.
The trial of Greenacre and Gale was again commenced this
morning at ten o'clock. The interest it excited had not at
all abated. The Court was again crowded, and with nearly
the same persons as yesterday. The Jury were entertained at
the London Coffee-house during the night, under the charge of
Mr. Harker, the officer of the Court.
The first witness called was Michael Callow Brown, a police

sergeant. On the 26th March he was at the station-hotise on
duty. The two prisoners were brought there, and put into
his custody. While he was getting the charge-book, he put
them into separate cells. Ho visited Greenacre at half-past
twelve, when he was lying on his back. A noose of a silk
handkerchief was round his neck, and the other round his
right foot. Witness found him stiff, and apparently dead. The
surgeon came and bled him, and he recovered in about three
hours afterwards. The first words he made use of were—" I
don't thank you for what you have done. Why did you not let
me die ? I want to die. D—n the man who is afraid to die.

I am not."
Cross-examined by Mr. PAYNE.—Was not examined be-
fore the Magistrate ; was in attendance, but was not called,
He was sure of the words ; he had a perfect recollection 6

them.
Thumas Tringham, Policeman 137, T.—Was in the cell
with Greenacre on the morning of the Ist of April. He be-
gan talking about people coming in to look at him, and that
this affair had caused more excitement than anything which
had transpired for some time. He said, " Many people run
away with the idea that this was moved in a cart." Wit-
ness said, " You mean the body." He said " Yes. It was
not in a cart, but in a cab." Witness asked him whether it
was on the same night that the affair happened. He said,
" No, it was not; it was in the morning—on the Monday
morning, I believe." Witness asked, " Was it after day-
light ?" He said, "No ; it was between the hours of two
and five." He said there was a great deal of mystery about
the head. People run away with the idea that it was thrown
over the tunnel at Maida Hill, and there is no proof to the
contrary. I don't want to satisfy public curiosity." He then
began to ask him if Captain something was coming forward,
as he had been informed that he was. If he did, he would
provide himself with questions to ask him. He commenced
writing, and, after some time, read over the questions he in-
tended to put. They related to a ship which he had sold,
and cheated the owners. There was something also said
about the cargo.
Mathias Ralph, the lock-keeper, was recalled.—Put the
bead he found in the bone-house, and locked it up in the same
state as it was when it came out of the water. He gave the
key to Mrs. Matthews.
Mrs. Matthews, wife of the gravedigger, received the key
of the bone-house from the last witness on a Friday. Gave it

to Jas. Barrett on the same day.
James Barrett received the key from the last witness. Went
to the bone-house, and saw Mr. Birtwhistle there, who saw
the head. Many persons came in and saw it, but no one
touched it on any of the occasions when he opened the door.
Mr. Fell, chief clerk at the Marylebone Office, proved
that the statement made by Greenacre before the Magistrate
was made voluntarily, and was signed by him after it was

read over.
[The statement was put in and read by the clerk of the
Court. The statement made by Gale was also read. Both
have already appeared in our columns.'
Mr. Birtwhistle, a surgeon in the Mile End-road.—On the
6th Feb. he saw a human head at Stepney church-yard,
which was taken out of the canal. He afterwards saw it at
Mile Ead-road. It had not then- been altered in any way
when he examined it the second day. He found that the head
had received a blow on the light eye, the coats of which were
ruptured, and the humours were let out. The surface round
the eye was all black from the rupture of some small vessel.
That must have been given before death. The face was cut in
various places ; the eye remained in the head devoid of its
humours. One of the lacerations was from incision, and an-
other was from contusion. He was of opinion that all the
wounds except the eye took place after death. He examined
the neck, and found it had been sawn through at the joint. A
saw was put into witness's hands; he had applied the saw to
the two bones and it answered the marks exactly. The head
was removed to his house after the examination. He packed
it in a small hamper and sealed it up, and gave it to two police..
men, and it was taken to Paddington Workhouse. He saw
it there next morning with the seal unbroken. Witness and
Mr. Girdwood then examined the head particularly. He then
found that the right ear had a notch in it. They opened the
head, and found_a wound on the back part of the head. There
was no wound on the outside, but there was an effusion of
blood inside. From the appearance of that wound he was of
opinion that it hid been inflicted before death. He
could not say that it necessarily had any connection with the
ound in the eye, but if the head came in contact with any-
thing on receiving the blow on the eye, it would cause it. They
fitted the head to the body, and found it belonged to it. The
head was entirely exhausted of blood, and he thought it would
not have had such an appearance had the throat been cut after
death. _ _ . .

Cross-examined—ln the case of sudden death the blood
will flow while the body is warm. After death from a blow
the body might remain warm for an hour or two. He had not
made any experiments on the flowing of blood immediately
after death. The witness underwent a long technical examine.-
den of no interest.
Mr. Girdwood, the surgeon of Paddington, had been in
practice twelve years, and was parish surgeon in Paddington.
He saw the head in question on the Bth of January, in presence
of Mr. Birtwhistle, and other surgeons. His notes were
given to the churchwardens, and he saw them published after
in the newspapers. The witness then gave a detailed descrip-
tion of the wounds on the head. The black eye was a very
extraordinary one for extent, and in its area were three
wounds. la his judgment, the wound in the eye, and the
bruise around it, were inflicted during life, and the three
small wounds after death. Such a wound would require great
force in the blow—it might have been done with a fist ; a
dull weapon would scarcely have done, it, as there was no
abrasion of the skin ; but it wus impossible to form any defi-
nite opinion as to how the blow was given. A blow struck
with the force necessary to cause such appearances as those on
the eye would most certainly deprive the party struck of sense
at the moment, and for a time. He. could not say how long,
because it would depend entirely upon the nervous system of
the party. The party being female, it would very possibly
deprive her of sense for time enough for other injuries to be
inflicted. The appearances behind were the result of some
injury inflicted. It was as if the head struck against some re-
sisting body. There was no anatomical connection between
the injury in front and the appearances on the back of the head.
The appearances in the eye certainly could not have been
caused by the blow or injury on the back of the head.
Whether the injury at the back of the head were caused by a
fall or blow, or any other means, it could not have produced
the appearances on the eye. The fifth hone of the neck was
partly sawn through. I fitted the head to the trunk, and it
corresponded exactly. The greater part of the anterior part
of the bone of the neck had been sawn through, and the pos-
terior part was broken off. There was no appearance of dis-
location of the neck. The fleshy part of the neck seemed to
have been cut with a sharp instrument. [A knife was here
produced.] Such an instrument would have made the
incision. The muscles of the neck which had been divided
were very much contracted. Such an appearance would take
place if the muscles had been divided after death. The con-
traction would continue as long as warmth remained in the
body. The contractile power is strongest in a case of violent
death at the moment of death, and becomes loss every mo-
ment. If much blood was lost at the moment of death,
the contractile power would not continue so long. All
the large blood-vessels of the head were empty. The same ap-
pearances were risible in the trunk. The terminations of the
wound on the neck were ragged, as if the cut had not been firm,
or as if there had been repeated small cuts. The first incision
appeared to have been made on the left side of the neck, a
little above the fold of the neck, and carried round to the
right side, directly under the car. The next incision cut
deeper into the muscles, and was lower down in the neck, so
that the incision which cut through the windpipe is two inches
lower down than the first superficial incision. The second
cut appeared also to have cut through the carotid artery.
By the COURT—What inference did you draw from these
appearances ?
Witness.—The cuts must have been inflicted either during
life, or immediately after death.
Cross-examined by Mr. Paica-I have described all the
wounds that I observed upon the head, both internally and ex-
ternally. I don't think I have forgotten anything. I ex-
amined the brain. There were two large wounds on the head,
and some smaller ones. Either a bruise or contusion, if in-
flicted with sufficient severity, will produce occhymosis. A
contusion after death will not produce the appearance called
ecchymosis. A bruise or contusion on the back of the head
might or might not produce a lodgment of blood under the
bone. A blow on the' back of the head might produce an in-
' jury in front in the internal part of the head. If blood was
effused into the anterior part of the brain, it would not be likely
to discharge itself by the cellular membrane or tissue of the eye or
nose. It is impossible to produce all the phenomena of ecchymosis
on the dead body. The eechymosis of a bruise or contusion will
produce an effusion of blood in all the tissues that have been
interested in the blow or bruise. It will also produce an effu-
sion in all the membranes in the minutest blood vessels, which
in health do not contain red blood—there is also swelling.
There are some other appearances, but these three are the
most important. lam the author of the report of "the exa-
mination of the bead of a female," in the Medical Gazette.
If I stated that the cut was made on the neck, exactly in a line
with the section of the vertebral column, it described
exactly my idea of it. Where death is occasioned by
any sudden violence, blood will flow from a divided ves-
sel for sixteen hours after death. I think that is the
result of some experiments that have been made. The
incision of the neck was not done as a surgeon would do it.
lam certain a portion of the bone was sawn through. There
was no appearance of injury inflicted during life upon the spinal
marrow. There was not the slightest derangement of any of
the bones of the vertebra. An accident producing pressure
upon the spinal cord would cause death ; that might be disco-
vered by examination, or it might not, In cases of tetanus or
hydrophobia there is no appearance that I know of produced
upon the spinal cord, although the nervous system is affected
by these diseases. I know of no injury to the spinal mar-
ro,v producing instant death which would not leave some
serous or bloody effusion, or some indications of the le-
sion or injury inflicted, which would be visible upon ana-
tomical examination. I don't think the immersion of tl e
head in water for eight or ten days would render the detec-
tion of the injury more difficult. A blow on the back
of the neck may produce death, but I cannot imagine
any case in which such a blow could be inflicted without