The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-12 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT—DERBY, Dec. 11.

George Victor Townley was indicted for th 3 murder o:
Miss Goodwin.

Mr. Boden, Q.C. (specially retained), and Mr. Bristowe
appeared for the prosecution; and Mr. n,eaulay, Q.C.,
and Mr. Sergeant O'Brien (both of whom were specially re-
tained), with Mr. Stephen, defended the prisoner.
The court was densely crowded with people anxious to
heat this remarkable trial.

The prisoner, who was described as a man of very quiet
and refined mancers, a good linguist, and an accomplished
musician, and who was apparently about 25 years of age,
on being arraigned pleaded not guilty in a low but firm
voice.

Mr. Boden, in opening the case for the prosecution, after
adverting to the painful interest it had excited in the county,
and asking the jury to dismiss from their minds the rumours
which were floating about, and to attend to the evidence
only, stated that the prisoner was a member of a respectable
family living at Hendham-vale, a mile or two from Man-
chester. His father was a commission agent at Manchester,
but the prisoner had no employment, unless it was that he
acted as a clerk in his father's office. Miss Elizabeth Good-
win, with whose death he was charged, was the daughter of
Mr. Henry Goodwin, and granddaughter of Captain Good-
win, who had long lived in the county and acted as a ma-
gistrate there. Mrs. Henry Goodwin lived at Chester, and
up to the last three or four years Miss Goodwin had lived
with her mother, bnt about that time she left Chester and
went to reside at Wigwell-grange, or hall, with her grand-
father, who is an old man upwards of 80 years of age. Miss
Goodwin was nearly 23 years of age, Captain Goodwin's
eldest son was a physician at Manchester, and Miss Good-
win
fawoc
ueq
erun: ietnha t a:sup:
prisoner
os e dnt
he
ert oya
btnhedec
at fier me e inngg ago
ef
deceased,d
win while on a visit to him had formed the acquaintance of
the To
ultimately,
attachment
1 a b
e ao Thatub
et
a
satnrdonuim
g
Owing to Townley's want of means to support a wife the
engagement was not approved by the lady's friends, and for
some short time it was broken off. It had been renewed,
however, shortly afterwards, and continued to exist to within
a short time of her death. Miss Goodwin appears to have
writtento the prisoner on the 14th August to break off the
engagement. Her letters, however, had, with one excep-
tion, been given up by Townley to her friends, who de-
stroyed them. On the 15th of August Townley wrote to
Miss Goodwin as follows :

" Hendham-vale. Sunday.
"My dearest Bessie,—Dearest:you will always be to me ;
to say that I am not terribly cut up would be a lie, but, at
any rate, you know I am not the man to stand in your way.
I answer nothing to your last letter, except that I wish to
hear from your own lips what your wishes are, and I will
accede to them. You know me too well to suppose that I
should give way to any unnecessary nonsense or sentimen-
talism. I have had a singular run of good and bad luck
lately; it suffices to say that I have an offer to leave Eng-
land. Before Igo I wish to see you once again, and for the
last time, though God knows what misery it gives me to
say so. You will admit that my desire to see you is but
natural. Say in your next where you will meet me. I
will come by the first or second train from Derby on Tues-
day or Wednesday morning, whichever suits you of course,
without any one knowing, The sooner it is all settled the
better for both parties.
"Ever, dearest Bessie, your affectionate

" GEORGE.
" P.S.—I arrived too late from Bolton to answer yester-
day. Will you write by return ?"
On the Monday he wrote again :
" Hendham-vale, Monday.
"Dearest Bessie,—lt is doubtful whether you will get
the letter I wrote you yesterday till to-morrow. I posted it
myself last night at 11 o'clock at the general office (I could
not'before), and being Sunday, could not make out about
the mails, so I put it into the extra stamp box for the chance
of its going.
"This is simply to say that in my haste I mentioned
Tuesday or Wednesday, forgetting that I should have to
leave here to-day in order to see you to-morrow--that is, if
I see you in the m ,rning, as on the last occasion ; but if! it
suits you better Ilcould arrive by the same train that Kate
and I came by, and you could meet me the same evening, I
returning the following morning. I suppose it would not
be possible the same night. I think if we say Thursday
evening or Friday morning it will be best, as then there will
be plenty of time for you to say which you prefer, so at any
rate in your next say at what time and whereabouts I can
see you. I suppose anywhere between your house and
Whatstandwell would do. lam ill and thoroughly upset,
and Ido not wonder you are. We shall both be happier
and better in mind, as well as body, after this last inter-
view. Address, care of W. Arrowemith, Gilnow•mills,
Bolton, where I am going back to-morrow. Of course, if I
hear to-morrow, and you fix time and place of meeting, I
shall be at your appointment, mite qui cor4te! Always
your affectionate, " G.V. T.
" Train.—l can arrive at Whatstandwell-bridge at 4.2
afternoon, or at 9340r11 37 in the morning, whichever
you like."
On the following Wednesday, the 19th, the prisoner
wrote again as follows :
" Gilnow-mills, Bolton, Wednesday.
"My dear Bessie,—l will only say here that I will arrive
by the train you mention (1137 a.m., Friday morning), and
that I hope, dear liessie,you will not bother yourself unneces-
sarily about all this as far as I am concerned. For my own
peace of mind I wish to see you, which I hope you won't
think selfish. Du rests, I only repeat what I have already
said —I have but to hear from you what your wishes are, and
they shall be complied with,and that I have sufficient savoir
vivre not to make a bother about what cannot be helped.
You can write to the Midland Hotel, Derby, where I shall
stay to-morrow night, or leave a note at the inn at What-
standwell-bridge for me. Don't let me be the cause of ,any
row between you and your G. P. If you like to call at the
inn I will not stir out till you come; but I leave all this to
your judgment.
Ever affectionately, " G. V. T.
" Miss Bessie Goodwin, Wir,mwell-grange, Wirks-
worth, Derbyshire."
On the same day Miss Goodwin wrote a letter to the
prisoner, which had been preserved, mad was as follows :
"My dear George—l write this in the greatest haste to
tell you not to come on (any) account. I leave here to-day,
and can't tell when I shall or can be back again. Ido not
wish to see you, if it can possibly be ;avoided, and indeed
there will be no chance now, so we had better end this state
of suspense at once, and say ' Good-bye' without seeing
each other. I feel sure I could not stand the meeting. If
you write once more within the next three days I can get
it, but not later than that time without its being seen, for
my letters are strictly watched, and opened,
" Yours truly, " BESSIL
t, Wednesday, " Immediate.
" G. V. Townley, Esq., Hendlam-vale,
Smedley, near Manchester."
This letter reached Hendlam- vale on the Thursday morn-
ing, and Townley's mother, perceiving from whom it came,
opened it, and immediately telegraphed to the prisoner,
who was then staying at Mr. Arrowsmith's, at Bolton :
" Letter from B, [Bessie]—Come at once. Will meet you
at the station. Will wait. Immediate."

Immediately on getting this telegram tha prisoner seems to
have left Bolton and gone to Hendham-vale. From there
ho went on the same day to the Midland Hotel, at Derby,
where he slept. On the following morning, Friday, Aug. 21,
he left Derby, and went to Whatstaniwell, the nearest sta-
tion to Wigwell-hall, which is about a mile and a half dis-
tant. He reached this place about half•past 11, and went to
the Bull's Head Inn, which is close to the station. The
learned counsel then detailed the facts of the case as they
appear in the evidence of the witnesses below. He added
that it was clear that Miss Goodwin met her death at the
hands of the prisoner, and it seemed to be equally clear that
if the prisoner was responsible for his acts, the offence
amounted to murder. He was not in a position to antici •
pate the defence that would be set up on the prisoner's be-
half; but if that defence was that the prisoner was not re-
sponsible, the jury must be satisfied that he was labouring
from such a defect of reason, from disease of the mind, as
not to know the nature and quality of the act he was doing;
or, if he did know it, that he did not know he was doing
what was wrong.

After proving the facts already stated, Mr. Boden called
Ann Burley, who said—l keep the Bull's Head Inn, at
Whatstandwell-bridge which is about three miles from Wig-
well-grange. The prisoner came to my house on the morn-
ing of Aug., about half-past 11, and asked if them was a
note for Mr. Townley. On hearing that there was not, he
asked,o for a glass of brandy and water. After walking about
, roe little time he came back and asked if he could have a
Zed as he said he might probably want one that night, and
too:..trohad another glass of brandy and a pill, which he
wi'w_!3, his carpet bag, ho left the house in the direction of
It 41r,i•eitrange.
prisoner,
..."1 from the evidence of the next wiiness that the
past wi'gZaell leaving the Bull's Head Inn, must have gone
Bull's Heed 4.ltaage, which is about half way between the
The Revairt,Wirksworth, to the last named place.
Wirksworth, „wiZti liarris—l kep the gammar school at
well-grange. The tail as about a mile and ar half from Wig-
August, at half•paet 14ter came to my house on the 21st of
a friend of Miss Goodw4:4 said, "I have called on you as
engagement between /1e.., 1 suppose you know there is an
an engagement,
en to m
writhatttbute to it hbraeaid "I understood there was
"She
lea broken off." He said,
S
declines to see me. I want to kuoff.the engagement, and
said, {f Anything I know is in ,0,,,tw dew matters stand." I
cannot satisfy you.,, He said, “1 "4
17 ", and, therefore, I
111 ace •
was -ad it out
someh ow
or other." He then asked who aa the tie
•at Wigwell. I said "There,_
s'gFman who had
been staying ."4 been en oast
but I declined to give his name." I hadhem, . e ere,
between Miss Goodwin
and
that there
was an engagement 'A th 1
three weeks or ee erg y.
man who was staying there
___. a month a
He then asked if Miss Goodwin was at Wlgwen, and
_gol.
thought any coercion had been used towards her. 1 Id
had been used t
she was at Wigwell, but no coercion °wards
her that I was aware of. He said " Sooner or later I must
see her. I have written to relasc her from the engagement,
but I must hear from herself that she gives it up. She is of
age and must please herself. I know I am not a good match,
and have no wish to stand in her way." I then told him I
must leave him as it was my school-hour (2 o'clock), butie
if he would call at half-past 4 I would see him again' his
best left and came again at half-past 4. I told him
best course was to write a note to Miss Goodwin, and send
it by post, requesting her to see him in the morning. Ile
said he had already written and without effect. I said if
you were to call at the house perhaps Miss Goodwin would
see you. He said he would do so, and get it off his mind.
He left, saying he would call again, but did not do so. His
manner was that of an ordinary man,and
perfectly calm
\
collected. There was nothing to attract my attention.
_ro U ss-examined—l had only
That Was at Mr. Good
with the clergyman
dav
• before her death.
Elizabeth Margaret P
Wig-
well-hall. The • seen the prisoner once before.
win:s. I was told of the engagement
by Miaa Goodwin herself the Wednes-
day
am the housemaid at Wig-
prisoner came to the hall on Friday even-