The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-31 00:00:00

rHE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JULY 31, 1865.

child had said there was a wart); it had been gone from

her a month. She west to the cell where tho child was ;

she took up the right hot and said it was not the child, for
it had not a wart on th 3 toe. She then looked at the head
and said it was not Mary's child. On another occasion
Harris said to the prisoner, " Is the child mine ?" The pri-
soner said, " I can hardly tell you, ithas been dead so long;
you will not hang me or transport me, will you ?" Mrs.
Wansey corroborated Barris as to her having asked permis-

sion to go out. The primer ca.rne to herhouse to see Harris,
and she told her she was taken away in custody. She said
she was sure the child was not Harris's, as the aunt had

taken it away. Mrs. Wansey corroborated Harris as to her
having had Is. 6d. from her. She said that on Feb. 9 (the
day of the murder) Muria had a holiday, as she said, to go
to Exmouth. Mr. Stabb, the surgeon, and another surgeon
stated that they saw the child on February 16 ; the stomach
had food in it which had only begun to be digested ;
the heart was congested ; there was no trace of poi-
son. They had first cone to the conclusion that the death
had been caused by exposure to cold, but the appearances
were consistent with suffocation in tho mode stated by
Harris. The body was not decomposed, but that must have
depended very much upon the temperature, and the weather
at that time was extremely cold. His lordship said that
they would observe upon the statement of Harris that she
was an accomplice, and the question was whether they
thought she was speaking the truth. If they had a fair and
reasonable doubt of the guilt of the prisoner they would
give her the benefit of it, but if the evidence brought home
to their minds the conclusion of her guilt they would not
flinch from their ditty, but bring in a verdict to that effect.
The jury retired at a quarter after 12, and returned at 35
minutes past 1. They then found the prisoner guilty of
murder. The prisoner sobbed bitterly.

Mr. Justice Keating then put on the black cap and ad-
dressed the prisoner—Charlotte Winsor, you have been
found guilty of the crime of murder—of murdering this
poor little child you had under your care. It is true, quite
true, that you were assisted in that murder by the mother
of the child, but that can be no justification or afford the
slightest excuse for the act you have committed. If the
statement of Mary Jane Harris be true--and the jury, to
whom is intrusted the province of deciding upon the con-
duct of every witness, have believed her—your case is one
of most serious aggravation. It is to be feared you have
on various occasions acted hi the same nefarious manner
that you nave done in the present instance. 1 have no wish
to harrow your feelings or to aggravate the horror of your
present position by dwelling upon your crime, bin it is my
duty to advert to it for the purpose of warning you to re-
linquish all hope of mercy or commiseration. You showed
no mercy to this unfortunate child, and you can expect to
meet with none at the hands of justice. I would entreat
you, therefore, to use the time that yet remains to you in
endeavouring to seek for mercy where alone it is to be
found, and I trust you may obtain that hereafter which you
cannot hope for here. For me the duty only remains, that
duty which is imposed upon me by the law, to pronounce
upon you its sentence. The awful sentence of death was
then imposed upon the prisoner, and she was led away in
a pitiable state.
Edward Osborne was indicted for forging an allotment
ticket for the payment of seamen's wages.
Mr. Sergeant Kinglake and Mr. Poulden prosecuted ;
Mr. H. T. Cole defended the prisoner. •
From a very long statement it appeared that the accusa-
tion against the prisonerwas that of having forged or uttered
an authority purporting to be that of Harriet Stewart for
the payment of various mils of money which were appor-
tioned to her by her son-in-law, Edwin Stewart, who was
an able seaman on board the Caledonia. The prisoner had
been a sub-messenger in the pay-office in the Dockyard at
Devonport, and was well acquainted with the mode in which
persons who were allotd. a portion of seamen's wages ob-
tained payment. Harriet Stewart had an allotment for the
payment of £1 ss. per month. Sho was in London from
December to May. Sho had left her allotment ticket locked
up in a chest in her rooms at Devonport. On the 11th of
April, during the time Mts. Stewart was in London, the pri-
soner went to the pay-ofice with an order purporting to be
signed by Stewart, and there being a large crowd of people
there waiting to be paid he said he was in a hurry, and a
woman named Pearce, who was there, offered to get the
money for him, and he produced a paper which he told
her to sign, and he also produced a clergyman's certificate of
the illness of Mrs. Stewart. Harriet Pearce went into the
office and produced the order, but the clerk said it was not
properly filled up, and she must call the next day at two
o'clock ; he returned her the papers and she gave them back
to the prisoner, who asked her to come back the next day
and get the money, as the poor soul was at home ill and
wanted it. Harriet Pearce said as that was the case she

would come, and accordingly the next day she went
again to the pay-office and saw the prisoner, who gave
her the paper again, aed she went into the office and
drew £5 for four months' pay, and sho handed the money
and papers to the prisoner, who gave her 6d. for her trouble.
On the 15th of May Mrs. Stewart came home, and found
her chest had been broken open and her allotment ticket
gone ; shortly after iiarriet Pearce accidentally met the
prisoner, who told her that the woman for whom sho had
drawn the money had been making a bother about it, and
if any ono called and asked her about it she must say she
Na`rtAv., .7,461 t;ts relLUtllett ttuew
she found a policeman had been there,:and she went directly
to the Police-office and told the whole story. It was shown
that the son-in-law had in truth obtained the money.
Mr. Cole made an ingenious speech on behalf of the pri-
soner, urging that there was no fraud, as in truth the man,
who was entitled to his pay, had received the money.
Thelighest character was given to the prisoner.
The learned judge having summed up—ono of the
greatest questions was whether the prisoner intended to
defraud, and whether he had forged the document or utterod
it, knowing it to be forged with such intention—
The jury returned a verdict of not guilty.

The Execution of Dr. Pritchard.

:n addition to the complete details of the execution o.

this criminal, which we published on Saturday, a report from
Glasgow states that after an interval of three-quarters of
an hour Calcraft ascended the scaffold and prepared to lower I
the body into the coffin underneath. his appearance was
the signal for a mingled burst of hisses and cheers, the lat-
ter ultimately prevailing. Either from indifference, or ex-
cited by the cries which greeted him, he lowered the body
far too quickly, the result of which was that it came down
with a crash, and broke the bottom of the coffin prepared
for its reception. The body was immediately taken out
and stretched on the ground by some of the joiners pre-
sent, who afterwards as speedily as possible repaired the
coffin. While this operation was being proceeded with, Cal-
craft coolly entered the interior of the scaffold, and catch-
ing hold of the body by the back of the neck, something in
the same fashion as a butcher would take hold of a sheep,
lifted it into a sitting position, and after removing the straps
which bound the arms took off the cap which covered the
face. The countenance did not present any unusual ap-
pearance. Like the hands, it was ghastly pale, but there
were no indications that the convict had undergone much
suffering before death. Calcraft, after wrapping a hand-
kerchief, which he took from the inside pocket of the de-
ceased, round the lower part of the face, removed the
straps which bound the legs. On removing the rope from
the neck of the corpse, which was not, so far as we ob-
served, discoloured or swollen, he cut off a portion
of it a little above the noose, and handed it to one of the
head warders of the South Prison, who received it without
remark. Calcraft having put his straps into his pocket,
turned to leave the interior of the scaffold. Bailie Wilson
asked if he was done, to which he gruffly responded in the
affirmative, and walked away, leaving the body lying on
the ground. The coffin having by this time been repaired,
some of the joiners, at the request of the bailie, lifted it into
the shell, which was carried into the old Court-house, and
through the trap into the room underneath, where Mr.
Bryson, of Edinburgh, Mr. Ewing, sculptor, and another
gentleman, were in waiting for the purpose of taking a
cast of the head for the Phrenological Society of Edin-
burgh. This was anoperation which occupied about an
hour, and while it was conducted no other person was
present. We believe, however, that they took a careful
phrenological measurement of Pritchard's skull, and are of
opinion that the results, looked at from a phrenological
point of view, harmonise with the facts which have been
disclosed as to his real character.
At the conclusion of this process the coffin was closed, so
as to be in readiness for interment at one o'clock in the
flagged court-yard, the burial place of felons. It is part of
the punishment justly due to Pritchard's crimes that no
respect was to be shown to his remains ; and accordingly
the rude deal coffin in which they were enclosed was de-
posited by four labouring nten in the grave which had been
dug for its reception, close beside that of Riley, the last
murderer executed in Ghsgow. The corpse was laid in
the grave or hole which vas five feet in depth with the
clothes on it which the convict had worn on the gibbet.
Some little time elapsed before the hole was filled up and
the flags were restored to their original place, but when
this was done there was nothing to indicate what had just
taken place.

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE AT ST. JOIIN'S-WOOD.—An
inquest was held on Friday cvening,by Dr. Lan-
kaster, at the Clifton Arms, Clifton-road, St. John's-wood,
on the body of Mr. Robert Sweeting, aged 54 years, who
committed suicide by cuttinc his throat on Tuesday morn-
ing last. It appeared that cecensed was a solicitor, and in
very excellent circumstances. Latterly he had become de-
pressed and exhibited stralgoness of manner. Ho was
conducting a law case for sone friends, and it so affected
him that his nights were disturbed, and he got but little
sleep. Ile was constantly opressing his intense sympathy
for those clients, and fregtently asked his partner, Mr.
Lydall, for advice relative tc them, And also asked him to
join with him in prayer. Ch Tuesday morning he went
outside the house. After rigging the bell he returned up-
stairs, and immediately afterwards his wife found him in
their son's room, bleeding, from the throat. Mr. J. C.
Whaley, surgeon, deposed ic• seeing deceased lying on the
bedroom floor, with a wound across his throat. Ho had
divided the tongue and trachea. He could not speak, but
groaned. He had no doubt the wound was inflicted with
the razer produced, and by his own hand. The cause of
death was the hemorrhage Rid suffocation from blood going
into the chest. The jury
returned a verdict of " Suicide
while in an unsound state of mind."