The Sun.
London, England, 1853-08-12 00:00:00

It appeared that on the night of the 18th of April two
men, named George Blackburn and William Swarbrick,
went into the Shovels Inn, in Hambleton, when the pri-
soner, who was in liquor, came in about a quarter-past
six, and having sat down, asked for a glass of beer, and
said " I've killed our Bet." The two men upon this
left the inn and went to the prisoner's house, and shouted
"Heigh, Bet ;" but no, one answered. They then went
to the back of the house, and in the garden they found
the body of the deceased lying on her back, with her
head on one side, her hand up to the side of her face,
and one leg a little drawn up to the body, and blood on
her cheek. Blackburn then went away, and while Swar-
brick was standing by the body, the prisoner came up.
Swarbrick asked him how he did it, and he (prisoner)
said, "I shot her, and I will shoot myself." He then
fetched a gun out of the house, and got some potato
forks, and fixed them in the ground near the dead body.
He then put the stock of the gun on the ground, and
laid the barrel against the forks, with the muzzle towards
himself, as the witness Swarbrick dared not stop with
him any longer, but watched, and saw the prisoner leave
the forks, and go and jamb the butt of the gun into the
bush, with the muzzle towards him. This he did twice,
and then left the gun and went into the house. Swat--
brick then went to the gun, which the prisoner had left
on the ground, and, trying it with the ramrod, found that
it was loaded, upon which he drew the charge, and found
that it was loaded with No. 2 shot, but had no cap on.
Shortly after the prisoner came out of the house, and
laid himself down by the side of the body, laid his
arm over it, and wept, and after lying about ten
minutes he returned into the house. Swarbrick followed
him into the house, upon which the prisoner asked him
what he wanted ; he had another gun in his hand, which
he was loading. Two men, named Jackson and Hill,
then came in, and took the gun from the prisoner, and
the prisoner then went out, and dragged the body into
the house, and said, " She must not lie on the garden
all night." The body was then placed on the sofa, and
while they were sitting with the prisoner, he said, " I
have shot her--I won't deny it," At half-past eight a
policeman named H. Cooper, who had been sent for,
arrived, and found the deceased dead on the sofa, bleed-
ing from shot wounds on the left side of the face. The
officer apprehended him, and the prisoner sa'd, " I did
it ; go with you quietly." On his way to the sta-
tion he said, " I shot her out of the kitchen window. I
took good aim. lam a capital shot. lam happy that
I did it." The officer asked him what he had done it
for ? and he replied, " I don't know." He also said
that he aimed at the killing place, and shot her dead.
Mr. Blair addressed the jury on behalf of the prisoner,
and contended that the whole case rested upon the in-
coherent statements of the prisoner himself, and that
those statements, coupled with his conduct, showed him
to have been in a state of mental distraction at what had
occurred. This state of mind and conduct was incon-
sistent with the supposition that he had committed wil-
ful and deliberate murder, but was the conduct which
might be expected from a man who had, either by acci-
dent or recklessness in discharging his gun through a
window, caused the death of his wife • and if the jury
were of that opinion they would find the prisoner guilty
of manslaughter only. But if they thought that the
death had been occasioned without recklessness, they
would acquit him altogether.

The jury returned-a
verdict of " Guilty of Prilful
Murder," but recommended him to mercy.
His Lordship—On what ground, gentlemen ?
The Foreman—The inconsistency of the case.
His Lordship—l do not understand you. Do you
mean, if consistently with justice he can be recommended
to mercy, you wish to recommend him ?

Foreman—Yes.
His Lordship put on the black cap and proceeded to
pass sentence. He said—Richard Pedder, you have
been found guilty of a most foul and deliberate murder,
upon evidence which has satisfied the jury, and must
hays satisfied every one who has heard your case. What
cause or motive it was which induced you to take the
life of your wife, whether it was some secret malice, or
whether it was from mere brutal and reckless indifference
to human life and suffering, remains a mystery to us,
and is only known to God and your own heart. But
mere recklessness and disregard of human life and suf-
fering, if such the cause, can never be admitted as an
excuse for a crime like this. So far as we can judge
from the evidence and your own declarations, you deli-
berately deprived your wife of life, and by the law of
both God and man you have incurred the penalty of
death. It is not my duty, and certainly not my inclina-
tion, to aggravate the horror of your situation by any
observations of mine; but it is my duty to tell you that
for you, on earth, I fear there is no hope. The jury
have recommended you to mercy, but only provided
your case is one which consistently with justice deserves
it. I have no power to hold out the hope of mercy to
you, and I therefore earnestly implore you to prepare
for the worst. I have but one duty to perform, and that
is, to pass upon you the dreadful sentence of the law,
which is, that you be taken from hence to the place from
whence you came, and from thence to a place of execu-
tion, and that there you be hanged by the neck until
you be dead ; and may the Lord have mercy on your
soul.

The prisoner, who appeared quite unmoved, was then
,aken from the dock.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.

MANSION-HOlTSE.—Jeremialt. Madden, who was
on Monday last charged with having stabbed Charles
Connor
in a lodging-house in White Horse-court, Wide-
gate-street, Bishopsgate, was brought before Alderman
Wire for final examination.
The prosecutor and prisoner, and other Irish tailors,
had been drinking together on Sunday night at a public
house in the neighbourhood of Petticoat-lane, and some
unintelligible dispute had taken place. The prosecutor,
not being able to get into his own lodging at the unsea-
sonable hour of breaking up, accepted the invitation of
a friend, who was of the party, to take share of a room
in which, it appeared, the prisoner also had a bed, and
the moment the prosecutor entered the room he was
struck with a pair of scissors by the prisoner, whb issued
from his bed with the weapon.
Mr. G. Allcard, house-surgeon at the London Hos-
pital, said,—When the prosecutor was brought in on
Monday morning I examined his person, and found a
wound under the left nipple. The scissors produced
might have inflicted the wound, which, though in itself
not dangerous, might have been fatal if deepen
the
weapon went through the waistcoat, which checked
effect of the blow.
• William White said that be and Connor, the prose-
cutor, and Ragan, also a tailor, met the prisoner at a
publichouse, where, while they sat, they were on good