The Sun.
London, England, 1831-11-03 00:00:00

LAMBETH-STREET.

Yesterday Edward Cook, Eliza Cook, alias Ross,
and Edward Cook, their son, who have been in cus-
tody since last Friday, on suspicion of haimig
" Braked" Elizabeth Walsh, a female of 84 years
of ilge, were brought up to Lambeth-street Police-
office, for further examination. Since their commit-
ment the prisoners have been kept apart, and no
communication ellosved to pass between them. The
boy, who is about 12 years of age, since Friday, had
made such disclosures to his fellow-prisoners at the
House of Correction, as left no doubt of the guilt
of his parents of the horrible offence alleged against
them ; but his statement, which Nets committed to
writing, and which was handed to the magistrates,
was unconnected and unsatisfactory. While in one
of the strong rooms belonging to the officeyesterday,
Lea, the officer who had apprehended the prisoners,
sent for the master and mistress of Aldgate parochial
school, at which the boy was in the habit of attend-
ing for two or three years past, arid left them with
him for some time, when he disclosed to them the
outline of the appalling statement of the occurrence
which he subsequently made on oath before the ma-
gistrates in the presence of his parents.
At three o'clock Cook, anti the female Ross, who
had always passed as his wife, were placed at the
bar, before the Hon. G. C. NORTON and J. HARD-
wicKE, Esq., and their astonishment on perceiving
that their own child was about to be admitted as a
witness against them was quite apparent.
The Magistrates asked the boy if he was quite
willing to make a full disclosure of what he knew
as to the disappearance of the old lady, Elizabeth
Walsh, and he having answered in the affirmative,
he was sworn, and made the following statement,
which was taken down by Mr. Osman, the chief
clerk lie recollected the old woman Elizabeth
Walsh coming to his father and mother, at No. 7,
Goodman's-yard, Minories, about ten o'clock on
a Friday morning (Friday the 19th of August la,t),
and bringing some bread in a basket, a part of which
she gave to him for his breakfa-t. She went away
shortly afterwards arid returned about tea-time in
the evening, when she as well as his mother and
himself had some coffee. His father was not present
at the time, though he was when she came in the
morning. They had coffee about half-past nine
o'clock on the same night for supper. He (wit•
ness) took part of it, and it made him sleepy, but
not sick. The old woman also took some of it and it
seemed to make her drowsy, as she shortly afterwards
stretched herself on his father and mother's bed, and
placed her hand under her head. She did not at the

rime complain
peared in good health. Some time after he saw his
of illness, on the contrary she ap-
mother go towards the bed, and place her right hand
over the mouth of the old woman, and her left on her
body. (The boy here burst into tears and said he was
sorry to be obliged to state such things against his own
mother.) When his mother placed her hand on the old
'atly's mouth, her arm fell down, and she laid flat on her
,lack on the bed. And his mother continued to
keep one hand on her mouth, and the other on her
person for at least half an hour. The old woman
did not struggle much, but her eyes stared and rolled
very much. Ite, (witness) stood by the fire at the
line, and his father, who was in the room at the
ime, stood looking out at the window. His father
..tool so all the time, and he was sure he never
nice turned round to see what was going forward,
,nd that he had nothing to do with it. In about

PRICE 7D.

in hour afterwards, his mother rase I the body of
•he old woman from the bed, an l carried it down
-tairs, hut where he did not know. The body was
not undressed at the time. He and his father went
to bed sometime afterwards, and he could not say
what time his mother returned, as he had not seen
her again on that night after she left the room with
the body in her arms, nor did he see where she had
aken it to. On the fallowing mottling he got up
shout seven o'clock. His father and mother were
then up, and in the room. He had occasion, previ-
ous to his going to schoOl at eight o'clock, to go
'eta the cellar to the privy, and while searching
!trough the cellar he saw the body of the old
woman in a sack which was placed underneath the
•tairs, a portion of the head was out of the sack,
and the body appeared to be partly bent, and
-eclining against the stairs. There was sufficien
light in the cellar for, him to discern the colour
rf the hair on the head. It was part'y grey and
black ; but he could not say. whether or not tin
body was dressed or otherwise. The. sack
,shich it was in was one belonging to a person
named Jones, with whom his farther worked. H-
had frequently seen it in their room, and he though
it was there on the night before. He went to
school shortly afterwards, and never mentioned a
word th n or since about what had occurred, or hi
seeing the body in the cellar. On returning home
at twelve o'clock in the day, he found his Gale,
heating his mother. He thought the cause to b.
that the latter h.rd been out drinking with a young
woman, the grand-daughter of the old lady who had
ealled to inquire after her. His mother, he believed,
while his father was beating her, c riled him a vil-
lainous murderer, but he had no recollection of her
threatening to give any information of him. He
(witness), after getting his dinner, went out to
and did not come home until late. Himself,
his father, and mother, supped together on the Sa-
turday night, and about ten o'clock his mother lef
the room, and.in about half an hour afterwards he
was standing at the window, and saw her go past
with the body in the sack on her shoulder. It stis.-
,n the same state in which he saw it on that morn-
ing, except that the mouth of the sack was tied :
he body appeared to be partly bent.—(The female
prisoner, in an audible voice, here exclaimed—
" Good God! how could I have borne a son to
hang me ?") The !ad again burst into tears, and
said he could not help it ; that he was telling an
truth. He then proceeded with his statement. H
did not know at what time his mother had returned
in Saturday night, as he and his father, who re-
mained in the room, went to bed, and he was asleep
when she came in. On the Sunday morning hi,.
mother told him that she had taken the body to thi
London Hospital. The boy here, as in many parts of
Iris statement, said his father bad nothing whatever
,o do in the business. The magis!rates examined him
very minutelyas to what had taken place on the Fr:day
night, and vt hat conversation, if any, had taken plaer
between his father, mother,or himself, previous to ant!
after the horrid deed had been perpetrated. He said
that no words or quarrel had taken place; the old
woman and his father and mother, were on good
terms, and nothing particular had occurred during
the eyeeing, until his mother placed her hand, as
he before described, on the mouth of the old lady ;
nor did she say a word to hint or his father while
she so held her hand on her mouth. He recol-
lected she had been saying something to herself
about taking the body to an hospital. He did not
see his father lay a gingle hand on the old woman
The magistrates expressed some surprise that the
prisoner should for a whole day leave the body in
the cellar of the house, which was accessible to all
the inmates; but this was satisfactorily explained
by the landlady, who said, that in consequence of
its being so dark, and so infested with rats, the
lodgers very seldom indeed entered it. This wit-
ness also deposed to have seen the old woman
Walsh enter the house on the Friday, and go up to
the apartment occupied by the prisoners. This
was the last time she was seen alive.

Other witne-ses deposed to the old woman tak-
ing her bed and bedding to the prisoners' room,
and to the prisoners having solicited her to go to
lodge with them for a length of time before she
wen•.

It being now very late, and there being several
witnesses to be examined, some of whom were no•
present, the magistrates remanded the prisoners to
this day. Previous to their being taken from the bar,
they were asked if they had any thing to state.
The male prisoner declined saying any thing at pre-
sent ; but the female with the most solemn impre-
cations declared her innocence, and said that the
whole of the statement of her son was from begin-
ning to end a lie. She added, that on the morning
of Saturday she had left the old lady and her hus-
band (the other prisoner) after breakfast smoking
their pipes at the fire when she went out, and from
that time until the present she had not heard of her.
They were then taken from the bar, and the magis-
trates gave directions that they should be kept se-
parate as before.

It is said that the Lisbon mail, the letters
by which were delivered on Tuesday, has brought the in.
tignia of a Portugto se Order, and an autograph letter
from Don AIIGuEL, as a mark of respect to the Marquis
of LONDONDERRY, for the part which his Lordship took
in the recent delortcs in the House of Lords on the affairs
of Portugal.

TIVERTON.—We are glad to learn that tran-
quillity has been resumed in this town, and that an arrange-
ment has been entered into between Mr. ITICATHCOTE and

the work men, who returned to their work on Friday.
S veral persons who took part in the rioteus proceedings
have been committed to gaol, some of whom do not appear
to have been at all connected with the factory.

HUNT TURNED AUTHOR.—A correspondent
has sent us a publication entitled 6` An Address to the
Radical Reformers on the Measures of the Whig Ministers,
by HENRY HUNT, M.P." and—what? '6 Blocking
Maher 2" No, God help us ! "Esquire." We under-
stand that this precious piece of ta umpery has been pub-
lished at the expense of the Tories, and thus it happens
that it is distributed to all who will take it, for just as
much as it is worth, and no more—that is, for nothing.
The Tories have become so enamoured of rubbish and radi-
c diem, that they have actually published Huisia's lucubra-
tions gratis. We cannot help thinking (and we have
no doubt Orator Black-ball is of the same opinion) that
they would have given a much more substantial proof of
their pro'essed friendship for their new ally, if they had
laid out their money upon his blacking. But of course
they care not a straw about the blacking or the blacking
man. Their very grooms would scorn to black their boots
with the one, and, as for the other, they know well
enough that there is no making a silk purse out of a sow's
ear. Their object is plain and obvious. They are striving
to rouse the dregs of the community into opposition to
that industrious and respectable class
.t to whom it is pro-
poed to extend the electivefranchise by the Reform Bill :
and ti ey seem to have considered that HUNT would make
a capital cat's-paw for them in the performance of this
dirty work. Hence the Address to the Radicals, which,
to use one of the elegant expressions of its author, " goes
for to try to succeed in deluding of the people." The
mpe,toplyien, however,
fasrecancontgrsaopieia;_sily deluded.theym.. The
spteiendTtohreieiis
money in disseminating his nonsensical trash gratis, and
they may club their ingenuity to his malice and impudence
for the concoction of lies ; but they might as well expect
that the people will believe the puffs in the labels on their
friend's blacking-bottles, as that they will give credit to
this slip-slop tissue of folly, and falsehood, anti abuse. As,
however, the foolery is distributed gratis, and as it has
the additional advantage of being printed on soft paper,
we have no doubt it will have a very extensive circula-
tion,— Times.

ASSESSED 'TAXES;
If it were necessary to addtrti,-,ny :ever
facts than those that have --breett.,,giVeii'
show the paramount necessity, of Reform, the:
exceedingly improper mode in which the duty
on houses, being a part of the Assessed Taxes,
is assessed and collected, "presents a strong
one. We last week maintained that übsti-
rteugtiunigatrinagtintghse
ifnraitilc'ehispeoo urndbearotkhse floierwreltnteafol,rian
Bill, was not unworthy consideration, concluds
that some degree of affinity subsisted -betweel
the two ; we are, however, greatly surprised on
finding, that if that principle be adopted, New,
port, in the Isle of Wight, would not furnish
lhote 130 voters, and even Brighton would be
reduced to a very confined constituency. A
correspondent at Newport asserts he pays an
actual rent of 501., but that he is rated in the
000 r book at 121., and pays house duty for 201,
only ; whilst at Brighton another correspondent
avows he pays a rent of 901., and is for the
Assessed Taxes charged only at the rate of 201.,
and in the poor book at the extraordinary low
sum of 91. We cannot understand upon what
principle the inhabitants of Newport and
Brighton should be thus favoured, compared with
the people of Portsmouth, in which town the
house duty is levied on very nearly the rack rent,
unless it be that the close Corporatitin of New-
port has always been represented by Ministerial,
while that of Portsmouth has invariably returned
Opposition Members. It will be at once seen ,
what an injustice has thus been. practised upon
this town. We have been paying double the •
amount paid in other places ; and if equal justice
had been administered, either this tax might have
been reduced, or some other impost removed.
In making these observations we do not 113e7111
to reflect on the assessor for Portsmouth, for on
looking at his instructions, we find he is ordered
to charge all houses at the « full and just yearly
rent at which the same is really worth to be let."
—Hampshire Telegraph.

POUR ASYLUMS.

(Fiom the Morxing Herald.)

Our readers are probably aware that certain
inhabitants of St. George's in the East, aided by
certain Lambeth-street Police Magistrates, are
attempting to shut up those receptacles of misery
and wretchedness provided by those excellent
individuals composing the Society for the Relief
of the Houseless Poor. The pretence for pro-
ceeding against these asylums is that they have a
tendency to generate contagious diseases. Now
one would think that the gising food and shelter
to the poor must have the opposite effect. To
enable our readers, however, to form a judgment
of the merits of this Society we will lay before
them a short history of its proceedings It WAS
established in 1819, and the subscriptions made
to it by the charitable from its commencement
amount to 18,3091. It is managed by a Com-
mittee of 48 persons, of whom 10 belong to the
Eastern or Wapping Asylum. The labours of
the Committee are very severe, acting, as they
in the most inclement season of the year ;
but they are altogether partisans. The Wap_
ping Asylum receives none but seafaring men,
or men connected with water occupations. It is
open only during a particular period of the year,
hen the employment of such men is either alto-
gether or partially interrupted by the laying-up
of ships, or by ice in the river. The Society
has, in the twelve seasons of its labours, afforded
lodging, food, fire, and medical attendance to
the following extent—namely, 274,335 lodg-
ings, and 668,960 rations. During the last
season it only afforded 53,625 lodgings, and
135,043 rations, in 100 nights. Out of the
many thousands relieved at Wapping only one
died of fever, although an epidemic fever was
raging last winter in the neighbourhood. Dur-
ing this epidemic part of the asylum was con-
verted into an hospital, for the purpose of afford-
ing more effectual medical superintendence, and
to prevent the sick from creating alarm or spread•
ing the disease. At the time the epidemic was
in existence the asylum was visited by Dr. Con-
quest, Dr. Roupel, Mr. \Vithington, and several
other medical gentlemen, all of whom highly
approved of the arrangements, and the medical
treatment of Mr. Bowie, the Society's surgeon,
and gave it as their decided opinion that the
Society, by their operations, had prevented the
spreading of the disease. In 1822 a donation
from the funds of this charity of 100/. was made
to the London Hospital, and in 1827 a further
sum of 25/. was given. In 1819 it appropriated
no less a sum than 1,000/. to relieving the poor
and indigent at their own habitations. Yet this
Society, which has been productive of so much
good—which has, probably, saved the lives of
hundreds, who would have died of want in the
streets, and which has prevented the spreading
of contagious diseases, is to be put down—be-
cause some wiseacres have taken it into their
heads that it is calculated to generate sickness.