The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 8, 1862.

stitntes for small change would be laughed at in
America as heartily as it will be laughed at in Eng-
land. Perhaps the next novelty to be introduced
by this great financier will be a gutta percha coin-
age ! Cowries have not yet been tried in civilised
communities, and who knows but that Air. Chase
may even give them a turn? unless, indeed, there
should be a demand so much greater than the supply
as to send them, and all other descriptions of shells,
oysters included, up to a premium as high as that
upon silver. New York made itself merry a month
ago at sight of a few Confederate notes for 10c.
that had been rifled from the pockets of the slain on
the battle-field, and brought North to be exhibited
as curiosities of the war. But the Confederates, in
all their distress, never issued notes of a lower de-
nomination than 10c. It was reserved for Mr.
Chase to set a new example, and to make 500 little
bits of printed pasteboard, with the head of Ben-
jamin Franklin upon them, a legal tender for a sum
representing an English sovereign. The Americans
are a docile and a long-enduring people, and it is
possible they may endure even this. It is just as
possible, however, that they may revolt against the
indignity, and insist upon a copper currency if they
cannot have a silver one. The whole project is
absurd and mischievous, and, as far as regards the
90c. stamps are concerned (blue, with the head of
Washington), will afford an ample field of easy cul-
tivation to the forger and counterfeiter.

THE EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF
WHOLESALE POISONING.

Last evening Constance Wilson, alias Catherine
Taylor, was again placed at the felons' bar, at the
Lambeth police-court, before the Hon. G. C. Nor-
ton, for further examination on the distinct and
separate charges of having caused, by the admi-
nistration of poison, the deaths of Mrs. Anne
Atkinson and Mrs. Soames.
The court, as on the former occasions, was
densely crowded, and the utmost interest and ex-
citement prevailed during the whole of an unusually,
protracted inquiry. That interest was greatly in-
creased vy2en, in the course of the proceedings, a
third charge was ventilated in relation to the death
by poison of a young gentleman named James
Dixon, with whom it was proved the prisoner had
cohabited, and who died two months before the
late Mrs. Soames.

Mr. Chipperfield, as before, appeared for the
prosecution, and Mr. Neale was again in atten-
dance to watch the proceedings on behalf of the
prisoner, who, notwithstanding her late attack of
illness, seemed to have regained her accustomed
health.

Mr. Chipperfield, on opening the proceedings,
said that to-day he should propose to give further
evidence relating to the death of Mrs. Soames, and
that evidence would be of an important character,
as it tended to show a motive for the commission of
the offence with which the prisoner stood charged.
In cases of this kind where it might be somewhat
doubtful as to the immediate cause of death, motive
was of the highest importance. He should show
that as early as Dec. 10, 1855, within six weeks
after the prisoner had gone to reside at Mrs.
Soames', she commenced borrowing money from the
deceased lady. He should prove that she had pledged
almost everything, and on Christmas-day she had
alleged that she had been robbed in the street of be-
tween £6O and £7O, and sent to Mrs. Soames a rer-
son whom he should call, to borrow a sovereign.
This she obtained, and in January following she
was still more pressed for money, and having in-
duced the deceased to join her in a security, she ap-
plied to a loan society, and subsequently, in April,
obtained a loan of £2O. There could be no doubt
that the prisoner had obtained from the deceased up
to the 15th of October no less than £BO ; and the
£9 which the deceased had that day obtained from
her brother, Mr. Barnes, had got into the hands of
the prisoner, for after the death only a few shillings
were found in the house, and therefore if he showed
that the prisoner was living extravagantly, having
an income that he should prove was only £49 per
annum, which she derived under the will of the late
Captain Mower, of Boston, who died under her care,
there was more than an inference that the money
she was spending was irregularly and improperly
obtained. About the commencement of 1856, she
was cohabiting with a person named Dixon, who
used to be visited by a friend named Scott, with
whom the prisoner opened a correspondence, and
he should put in six letters addressed by her to
Scott, in which she stated teat she was expending
a large amount of money on this Dixon, and declared
that expenditure to have amounted from the pre-
ceding Michaelmas to £9O every farthing of it. In
another she spoke of an expenditure of £27 on Dixon,
while his earnings were only 255. a-week, Dixon
died in 1856, precisely 2 months before the late Mrs.
Soames, and the prisoner declared in one of her
letters to Scott that the cause of his death was rapid
consumption. The learned gentleman here read ex-
tracts froth a correspondence, commencing March,
1856, and continued down to July 18 in the same
year, to corroborate the statement he had made, and
also to show that the spelling in them were similar
to those in the remarkable one received by the family
of Mrs. Soames, subsequent to the death, and the
contents of which was a mere fiction. That letter,
the Court would recollect, purported to emanate
from amen with whom the deceased lady had formed
a connexion, and was, as the prisoner alleged, on
the point olmarriage.
The letter was couched in the following language :
cc Dear Maria,—l hope you was not very hurt at my not
being at home on Friday i was surprised to here a lady in
black wanted me I cant let you have the 80 pounds now
but if you will let me have £lO more i will by next Monday
come to the corner and dont say any of what you are
going to do to any body Send me word if you was not well
after you got home on Wednesday as you was unhappy in
the afternoon direct the letter as the first used to be for the
old Postman found fault in the street be chereful and come
on Wensday I will be there write by return—Yours."
In comparing this letter with those he (Mr. Chip-
perfield) had q'ioted from, it would be found that
in no less than twelve particulars were they inden-
tical in many leading features, He should now call
the daughters of Mrs. Soames, who would state all
that had passed from the Wednesday when their
mother had visited their uncle, and obtained from
him a loan of £9, up to the time of her death, and
this would negative the story the prisoner had set
up, that the deceased lady formed some connexion
with this unknown and nameless man, which had
been kept back from her daughters; that she had
gone to her brother and obtained the loan of £lO ;
that she had afterwards seen this man, and that he
had made some disclosures which troubled the mind
of the deceased, and thereupon she had come home
and committed suicide.
Mrs. Meacke was then called, and examined by
Mr. Chipperfield. She deposed that she was the wife
of Mr. Herman Meacke, who was a watchmaker,
residing at Brunswick, in Germany. She was the
daughter of the late Mrs. Soames' and was living
with her mother in Alfred-street, Bedford-square,
when the prisoner came to lodge there in Novem-
ber, 1855. The prisoner had the first floor unfur-
nished, and became very intimate with her mother
almost immediately after she came there. Witness
did not know of any pecuniary transactions be-
tween them, and her mother had never told her of
any. Up to the night of Wednesday, the 15th Oet.,
1856, the night she was taken ill, her mother en-
joyed extraordinary good heath, suffering only
from a bilious attack every now and then, which
gave way at the end of a day. On the day just
mentioned she recollected her mother visiting her
uncle at Holloway, and returning about four in the
afternoon, when they had tea together, and she was
then in her usual health and spirits. After tea the
prisoner came down stairs, and asked the deceased to
go upstairs to her room, saying she wanted her.
The deceased went up, and she saw no more of her
until six o'clock on the following morning, when
she came down stairs to call her (witness) and her
sister. The deceased said at the time that she had
got one of her bilious attacks—a very bad one—that
she was very ill, and that she must go to bed again.
Witness did not see her again until a little before
dinner time, when she found her very ill and very
sick. She complained of pains in her chest as well.
The prisoner was in attendance on the deceased,
emptying the basins, and talking to her. The attacks
of vomiting came on very frequently. She should
think every ten minutes. Witness wished her to
have a doctor, hut her mother said "No ; Pm sure
I'll get better soon." At nine o'clock the same even-
ing:the vomiting was still continuing and her mother
was, if anything, worse. The retching was as vio-
lent as in the daytime until the witness went to
bed. On that night she was frequently in the
room and always found the prisoner with her mother,
attending her solely as her nurse. Her mother
complained, besides sickness, of pains in the chest
and great weakness. The doctor, Mr. Whidborne,
was sent for on the Friday morning, but witness was
not present at the interview of the doctor and her
le4,riday)
mother, but the prisoner was. Medicine was sent
ttaun
_ni.).fiter the doctor left, and witness saw it
veered several times, and always by the pri-
adnajuistnra took it down stairs with he,r after every
having tail.°ll. In the course of Friday, after
mother on thant
the deceaseTtnaeajci"' it did not seem to relieve
the least. Witness sat up with her
said she felt easieratu
of the family night, and when the rest
about 12 o'clock, the deceased
was present, said, P,°,ll,,which the prisoner, who
Are must take some more
medicine; it is time."
a bottle of meainine,t,hen went down stairs,
into a glass, and atr?ilie which she poured
soon after she had takeit t.o d,
n it became very
awhP°o fetchedr
vt ie°r ny

much worse, complained of violent pains in her
chest, and said, " She was sure it was the medicine,
and that she should not take any more of it."
Mr. Norton—Did you ever hear your mother say
anything about the medicine being hot and burn-
ing to the mouth ?
Witness—No, sir, I cannot say I did.
By Mr. Chipperfield—The colour of the medi-
cine was a light brown, or duskish yellow. When
the deceased said she would take no more of the
medicine the prisoner said to her, " Oh, it is sent
to you to do you good." Her mother became much
worse, and she went for the doctor and returned in
half an hour, and found her mother worse, and the
prisoner told her that the deceased had been so ex-
tremely ill while she was away that she did not
think she would live till she came back. Her mother
appeared in great agony, and to be suffering
dreadful pains in her chest, and she died in half
an hour after witness's return. The prisoner did
not say anything to witness as to the cause
of death. After the inquest, or rather very soon
after her mother was buried, the prisoner told wit-
ness that her mother had borrowed £lO from her.
Witness said she did not know anything. about
that before, upon which the prisoner replied she
could produce a receipt, and she gave her a piece
of paper, on which was written, " I promise to
pay the bearer or holder the sum of £lO on de-
mand," That paper was lost or destroyed, but it
was signed in her mother's handwriting, and wit-
ness gave her the £lO. After her mother's death,
witness discovered that there were only a few
in the house, and she was therefore obliged at
once to borrow a sum of money from her uncle to
pay the necessary expenses. Her mother had
complained that her property, which consisted of
houses, had been very worrying to her. She, how-
ever, paid her way very regularly up to within the
last six or seven weeks before her death. The
tradesmen's accounts, which used to be paid
weekly, were kept back. Her mother's property she
estimated at £l5O a-year, exclusive of what she
made by letting lodgings, while their expenditure
did not exceed 30s a-week. In cross-examination
the witness said that she had attended the inquest
on her mother with the prisoner, but was not in
the room when the latter was examined. When
asked whether she had any reason to find fault
with the prisoner's attention to her mother
she (witness) burst into tears, and replied,
" No." The first circumstance which occurred
to raise a suspicion in her mind against the pri-
soner was a letter which her uncle had written to
her to Germany. At the time of her mother's death
her uncle had suspicions about the prisoner, but she
(witness) had no suspicion herself at that time. She
never knew her mother to lend the prisoner money,
or that the prisoner had lent her mother money,
until the prisoner made the demand for the payment
of the £lO Remembered something being men-
tioned about a pork pie of which her mother had
partaken. 'Witness's sister said that she (witness)
had partaken of it also, but she had no recollection
of having done so. Her mother conducted her own
affairs in an economical manner, and was not in the
least extravagant. On re-examination the witness
was asked how it was that the prisoner had left her
residence, and she replied that it was because the
prisoner had alleged that a robbery had taken place
in her apartments, that no one in the house believed.
The prisoner came home one night, and called out
to Mrs. Hawkshead, who was in the kitchen down
stairs, that her apartments had been entered, that
her drawers had been ransacked, and that a large
box containing valuable property bad been stripped
of its contents. On going up it was found that
various articles were scattered about, and a watch
was lying on the floor inside the doer. At first wit-
ness thought there bad been a robbery, until she
took up a dish which the prisoner said had held a
goose, and which the witness found to be perfectly
clean. She was also strengthened in her belief that
there had been no robbery by the circumstance that
Mrs. Hawkshead declared that the large box, said
to contain valuable property, had been brought into
the house perfectly empty. The police were sent
for, and it was their opinion that no robbery had
taken place.
In reply to Mr. Norton,
The witness said that neither before nor after
her mother's death did the prisoner say anything to
her about poisoning.
Elizabeth Hill was the next witness called, and
this witness, who had been servant to the prisoner,
and came to town with her from Boston, deposed
to the prisoner's pecuniary position before and after
she had taken her about at the house, and said that
her circumstances were so straitened at times that
she was obliged to pawn her property, although in
the receipt of £B9 a year. After leaving the pri-
soner's service, witness once called on her, and
found her in newly-furnished apartments, and the
prisoner said she had been able to procure the fur-
niture by a loan of £2O, for which Mrs. Soames had
been security. The witness was also shown the
letters produced and commented upon by Mr.
Chipperfield, and identified one of them as being
positively in the handwriting of the prisoner; and
said that four others, to the best of her belief, were
also in prisoner's handwriting, while the last was
in the handwriting of a person at Boston.
Mr. Blakey, of 23, Argyle-street, King's-cross,
proved that he had known the prisoner since 1854,
when she lived as housekeeper to Captain Mower,
of Boston, and he remembered her coming to live
in London in 1855. At first she was in good cir-
cumstances, but towards the end of that year her
means were very straitened, and to his surprise he
found her residing near his own residence in Liver-
pool-street, with Dixon. Shortly after Christmas
the prisoner called upon him and asked him to join
Mrs. Soames in being her security tor £2O, which
he refused. She afterwards came to him to an-
nounce the death of Dixon, and subsequently
brought him information of the death of Mrs.
Soames. She • did not state of what Mrs. Soames
had died.

Dr. Whidborne called, and examined by Mr.
Chipperfield, said he was a surgeon, and resided in
Guilford-street, Russell-square. About two months
or six weeks before the death of Mrs. Soames he
was called in by the prisoner to see Dixon two
days before his death. The prisoner told him that
Dixon had been ill for some considerable time, and
that she understood his constitution, for that he
was her brother. She stated that he was a great
drinker of brandy, and had been long subject to
rheumatism, for which he had been in the habit of
taking colchicum. Witness remarked that colchi-
cum was a very dangerous remedy, unless admi-
nistered under medical authority, upon which the
prisoner said, Oh, yes, I understand all about it ;
for I have been accustomed to use it as a remedy
for gout and rheumatism." Witness cautioned
her against using it, as likely to do serious in-
jury to him. He found Dixon labouring under
sickness, pains in the stomach, severe pains about
the body and limbs, like rheumatism of a very vio-
lent and inflammatory character. His system was
altogether out of order, and he appeared as if he
had been a drinking man. The first time he saw
him witness thought him dangerously ill; so seri-
ously so that he visited him three times that day.
Witness prescribed for him iodide of potassium, hut
not colchicum. There was nothing the matter with
his lungs, for he was a strong, broad-chested man.
He died of inflammation.
Mr. Norton—And yet the prisoner told his uncle,
Mr. Atkinson, that he died of galloping consump-
tion.

Mr. Chipperfield—Yes, your worship, and that
statement is repeated in some of the letters I put
in to-day.
Examination continued—To the best of witness's
belief Dixon's lungs were not in the least effected.
Besides the pain in his body he was cramped and
had violent retebings. All these symptoms might
have been produced by overdoses of colchicum.
Witness was called in to attend Mrs. Soames on the
18th October, 1856, and was informed she had been
taken ill on the day before by a bilious attack. In
his opinion an egg beaten up with brandy would
not be a proper thing to administer to
.a bilious pa-
tient. It would, however, be a form in which col-
chicum wine could be administered without being
tasted. Mixed with egg and brandy colchicum
might be given in large doses that would produce
great pain and sickness, and every dose would con-
tinue the mischief. Colchicum would be likely to
produce all the symptoms he found to exist in the
case of Mrs. Soames when he was called in to attend
her on the Friday preceding her death.
Miss Sarah Soames, another daughter of the de-
ceased, was next examined, and corroborated the
evidence of her sister in its leading particulars. In
addition she proved that during the Thursday she
saw the prisoner give her mother brandy with eggs
mixed up in it, which the prisoner prepared and
brought up with her, and her mother was no better
after taking it, for the sickness continued. This
mixture of brandy and eggs was administered three
times by the prisoner,
and it might he oftener, but
witness did not recollect at what intervals. Her
mother did not object to take the mixture, but coal-
plaited frequently
of thirst, and called for tea,
which witness prepared for her.
In cross -examination the witness said her atten-
tion was first tilled to this prosecution by reading
the vitriol case, and she immediately thought the
party accused was Mrs. Wilson, the prisoner
With
respect to her mother, witness never suspected that
the prisoner hRd poisoned her ; but when she read
the vitriol ease she felt certain of it.
the deceased for years, proved that on the day be-
Ril
charwoman, who had worked for
foi7e atih'yedeath, oaf Mrs. Soames she went to that
lady's house, Ft rid
the prisoner, who was in attend-
ee on her, said the deceased had emptied out hern
ow slops.
once
Mr. E. Mathews deposed that she had known the
deceased for nearly 20
years, and had been on

friendly terms with her. She had taken tea and
spent the evening with her on the Friday prior to
her death, when she was in her usual health and
quite chee.l•ftf.. On the Saturday following she re-
ceived a note acquaintaing her with the death of
the deceased, at which she was mrech struck. She
went there on Saturday and saw the daughter, who
was so affected as not to be able to speak to her,
She also saw the prisoner, but had no conversation
with her on that day, but on the Sunday she went
again and expressed a wish to see the corpse. The
prisoner, who had the key of the room in her
pocket, took her upstairs and showed her the body.
Witness remarked how bad the corpse looked, upon
the agonising appearance of the face and the fact
of the hands being closed, as all indicating great
suffering, and said it was very shocking. The pri-
soner remarked, in a very peculiar way, " Yes, poor
dear, but you do not know all." Witness said,
"What do you mean by saying, ' not know all ?'
On which the prisoner replied, "The man, the
man, I mean." The prisoner proceeded, with
the most mysterious air, to say that the deceased
had formed a connexion with some man, to whom
she was about to be married very shortly, and
that the man had deceived her with regard to
his circumstances, after borrowing large sums
of money from her, which had caused her
great grief, The prisoner stated that the deceased
received letters from this man once or twice a-week,
but to keep the matter a profound secret from her
daughter the letters always came addressed in her
(prisoner's) name. She added that another letter
would come, with the old tale, asking, and men-
tioned the time it would arrive.
Mr. Norton—When the prisoner said that this
grief affected the deceased, did she say anything
about the deceased having poisoned herself?
Witness—No, not a word, but she spoke in a
very significant manner and mysterious way.
Examination continued—Witness went down to
tea with the daughter, when the prisoner, who ap-
peared to have been out, brought in a wine bottle
half full of some liquid, with a label on it, marked
" cough mixture," which she said she had found on
the door step, She refused to allow any of them
to examine the bottle near the light, alleging that
it would explode, and darkly insinuating that
there was some improper design on the house.
The bottle was corked, was about half full, and, as
far as witness could see, the liquid in it was quite
clear. The prisoner put it into the road, and it
was seen to be picked up by a cabman who was
passing. The prisoner subsequently endeavoured
to bring the daughter of the deceased and witness
to believe that the deceased had formed some league
with some man, and witness thought she had stated
she had seen the man and Mrs. Soames frequently
together. Witness was greatly surprised to hear
this, because she knew Mrs. Soames to be of a
very different character. A short time before the
death of Mrs. Soames there had been a robbery
from the house of silver spoons and plate while
the deceased was at Deptford ; and further,
while the deceased was lying dead a silver pepper
castor was taken some days after the affair of the
bottle. Witness saw the prisoner and asked her if
the letter from the " man" had come, upon which
the prisoner replied, "Oh, yes, it came right enough,
and as I told you, it was for some more money."
The prisoner also told her the deceased had borrowed
£lO from her to give to the man one day, and that
she would give the poor dear thing anything she
asked for.

As the hour was far beyond the time to which the
Court ordinarily sits, Mr. Chipperfield applied for
and obtained a further remand.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT.—GUILDFORD, August 7.

The business for the county of Surrey commenced
this morning, at 10 o'clock, in the New Courts.
They are exceedingly commodious, and appeared
to give satisfaction to the Bar, the Judge, and all
persons having to attend the assizes. Baron Martin
sat on the Civil Side, and Baron Bramwell presided
in the Crown Court. There are only 19 prisoners
for trial, and most of the offences are of an ordinary
character.