The Sun.
London, England, 1838-04-10 00:00:00

CRIMINAL COURT.-(THIS DAY•

OLD COURT.
EXTRAORDINARY CHARGE OF MURDER.—Benjamin Alison, aged 1::t
was indicted for feloniously administering to Emma Cripps a ifrn-,
quantity of laudanum, well knowing the same to be a deadly P°':.;;:
whereby the said Emma Cripps became mortally sick and afterwards 01
Mr. ADOLPHUS briefly stated the case to the Jury, characterisinratt
as of a most extraordinary nature. He believed it would be hOW3 t,
the prisoner and deceased had agreed to poison themselves, and that
the prisoner was present and administered the poison to the decea",d..
And though the deceased might willingly have taken the poison,
the prisoner was guilty of murder in administering it. In a CiTht
tian country it could never be admitted that a party had the eight
to deprive himself of existence. Much less could any one
at liberty to take away the life of another, even with that other P-
son's consent.
the'
Witnesses were then called, who proved that the prisoner an-A
wit',
deceased (who was only 17 years of age) lived together as man and
in Leonard street, Shoreditch ; that some time previous to the unfor;cl
nate catastrophe, they were living in most unhappy circumstances, 3 of
a very depressed state of mind. On the night of the ist
March, the deceased was heard moaning, and the prisoner vTjhe
lently retching. Next morning prisoner left the house. was
discovered was discovered dead, and on opening the body It
ty-,s
discovered that she had died through the effects of laudanum. It
also proved that the prisoner had several days previous bough_t%cors'
various pretences, small quantities of laudanum at different cheof
n"
shops, thus procuring sufficient to effect his object. The confessientbe
the prisoner was put in evidence, in which the prisoner stated that
the
deceased and he had agreed to die together; that he procurer,'
poison, and they took it at the same time, 10 o'clock on Weue-dal
yery
night; deceased died on Thursday morning; prisoner became ,„,
sick soon after he took the poison, but recovered the following morn
This This closed the case for the prosecution. the
Mr. DOANE, who defended the prisoner, called Mrs. Alison,
me
prisoner's mother, who deposed that his father had beets for sie to
time confined in a lunatic asylum—and that the prisoner was liab
fits of high excitement. Ile was very much excited when he ca-
the witness, the day on which deceased died. for the
Mr. DOANE then addressed the Jury in a most able speech
hat the
defence. He argued that the Jury must not only be satisfied that
and
prisoner was at the time of this unfortunate event quite calves; de_
sensible of what he was about; but that he wilfully and
sired to put the deceased to death. And lie contended that neither
these suppositions were borne out by the evidence; he therefore argued
that the Jury could not find a verdict of guilty of murder.
;d 'rho que''
Mr. Justice PATTIsON then charged the Jury. He sa•--' per-
tion was whether there was evidence of the prisoner's
"t
being
it down,
fectly sane at the time of the act in question. For the -n`c laid
that if two persons went to die together, though
; the oth,
and the attempt succeeded in one ease,—not -n 'n
the survivor was guilty of murder. There was a c'''" 1 will
reign of James 1., where a husband said to his wire,
_.„ lie
rid myself of life ;" to which she replied, " I will, then, die Woo,
it
to.
persuaded her to buy poison, which the did, and both partook
tried for
gether. The husband died, but the wife recovered. She was -be
-
t
murder, and convicted. Now the law as regarded insanity flog he
perhaps concisely expressed thus :—That in order for a person tO
Of
exempted from the punishment of an offence on the ground
insanity, he must be unable to distinguish right from wrong--
deprived of understanding, memory, &c. There was in the
by voluntary
cr.
present case no evidence that the prisoner had ever committed an act
that manifested insanity. The fact of his father's having been insan,,
;
was not of itself sufficient, because insanity, though very often, "as n°
invariably, hereditary.
The Jury found the prisoner Guilty.

NEW CUURT.
YN
TRIAL OF THOMAS 'WILLIAMS, ESQ., FOR FORGERY (SECOND DA„
The Jury, who had been detained at the London Cotree.house,r urY_
order of the Judge, during the night, entered the Court shortly be o c
ten o' loc.
Back, and answered to their names. the
Mr. PARKE shortly after took his seat on the bench, and
prisoner was placed at the bar. en
"."111r. Hugh Williams Price, comptroller o fCustoms at Beautrlari-'teo
then called, and deposed that he had known the deceased for fonrreat
y ars before his death, and that he appeared to him to entertain 3 gt
thi
affixtion for the prosecutor, his wife, and child. He told hitnof
bad provided handsomely for them in his will. Was at the lion' e
vici
Mr. Panton on the 7th of May, and slept there the night previous.
not see Mr. Williams there at all that day. Walked in the gardcn
a while, but was not away from the house for more than half an h°,,-1.
a time that day.
Cross-examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL—The 7th of ~3•
,art
the Sunday before Whitsunday. Walked out with the old gentle-the
that day, but did not go more than four hundred yards, or so, from
house.
eo'
Grace Haxley, a servant in the family of the deceased, was nea „iiot
mined through an interpreter, and deposed that her master was ~.--tiote
about the 7th of May, and did not leave home for any length
that! day. Did not see Mr. Williams (the prisoner) at Brasvil.. °
that day.
Elizabeth Humphreys, J. Humphreys, Hugh Thomas, " of
Pritchard, Anne Farrell, and W. Williams, domestics in the service
the
Gosling, the evidence of the last witness. thaf
Mr. the Deputy Register of Doctors' Commons, deposedei,de,
on the 22d July last, he received the papers produced front 31r.
who
Cross- aced for Mr. Wadeson.
fir ttexamined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL—When he - Or
the scrips, he observed that No. 7 was in pencil ; did not obserc'
pencil marks on the other ; looking at scrip No. 2 now, there certao
did appear pencil marks; thinks they could not have been there Rh
they first passed through his hands. sche
Sam uel Brooks stated that Ile was clerk to Mr. Wadeson, the pr
to tle prisoner ; received the' scrips from his employer ; as C3l. lirca
knew they were taken from the office in the state in which he re"

them.
Cross-examined by Mr. JERVIS—Took a copy of them, and eX3
them accurately. Observes now that there marks of black lead Po,.
on No. 2. Did not see them at the time he copied it. Has no rec°4o 00,
Lion of seeing the now apparent marks on No. 8e when in his posseisT.•
By Sir W. FoLLErr—Observes some letters and lines drawn and :$l,
The greater part of them appear to be tracings of a pencil. 1137,,,Cle-
mined the papers before, but not so minutely. Copied them bY c`-oto.
light. Has observed some pencil tracings on three of the PaPer.
sealer. There was a will in duplicate, on the right side of which
are observable,
that Sc
Mr. Henry Adlard, an engraver, was next called, and stated A
rdS
o.
o.i;
had examined the documents charged to be forged. With the $
a glass he could discover ground plans, tracings, and portions Of
3to-
and figures, amongst which were " Cursitor-street," " BishoPsf be
street," the word " Map" at the top of the document purporting 1°
the will, and various other tracings. Id
The witness's examination lasted for a considerable time, 'u

not concluded when our Reporter left at Two o'clock.

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T. COX SAVORY'S,
Working Silver and Goldsmith, 47, Cornhill, London,
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N.B.—Second-hand Watches purchased in exchas___2.s:,..iee

On the 6th inst., at Blackwall, Mrs. W. P. Bain, of a sciiploW-
On the 7th inst., at Richmond, Surrey, the lady of Wra'
den, Esq., of a daughter. cruses
On the 7th inst., at Watkins's-terrace, Pimlico, Mrs. D.
of a daughter.
On the 6th inst., at Greenwich, Mrs. Henry Thompson, °f
daughter.

M.IRIUR.
On the sth inst., at Claines, Worcestershire, Robert Muter:
Esq., of London, to Elizabeth, daughter of the late John Jenkins
Esoq.n, ottifeL7etdhbuhrlysL,
at Highgate, Wm. Harrison, Esq., ofPerovrn:
shire-street, Portland-place, to Caroline, daughter of A. r • "
son, Esq., of Highgate. ookc
On the ith inst., at St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington,
Harr rette
-
Turner, Esq., of Charlotte-street, Bedford-square, to
fourth daughter of Wm. Stockley, Esq. uth"
On the sth inst., at Kirkstall, the Rev. John Bowers, of —0
stark, to Eleanor, daughter of James HargreaYe, Esq., of Burley,
near Leeds.
i,

DIED. •of
At Woodside, Plymouth, on the sth inst , to the great grief
her afflicted husband and family, after giving birth to a daughter,
Mary Ann, the beloved wife of Captain Atkinson, and eldest daug_
ter of Mr. Ottley, late 60th Rifles. Her kind and amiable diset
tion was ever appreciated by all her relatives and friends, to wb?r.":
she was endeared by all the social qualities which could adorn tilts
frail life.
On the 6th inst., Mrs. Teresa Pinchen, widow, of Norris-street,
Haymarket, aged 72.
On the 6th inst. ,in Upper Baker-stye: aged 58, the Rev. Geo.
Wheeler, ,11. A.

•
London; Printed and Published by MURDO YOUNG, °f
112, Strand, at The Sun Office, No. 112, Strand, in the county
of Middlesex.—. Tuesday, April 10, 1838.