The Sun.
London, England, 1813-08-30 00:00:00

NORWICH ASSIZES.

•
At the Norwich Assizei, James Maxey, was
tried for poisoning his Ivife and her daugilter by a
former husband, at atinfortl;in Norfolk
Mr. Chandler, 'surgeon, of St. Faith's, sworn.
On Wednesday, the 19th of May, 1813, about
three or four o'clock in the afternoon) I went to
the house of James Maxey and found Dinah Maxey '
and Elizabeth Smith,' bar daughter by a former
husband Jahouring under the most excruciating pain
with violent retching, and in spite of medicine
their symptoms increased. My opinion was, that
their illness was occasioned by poison. Oct the
following morning early I again visited them, and
found their,symptoms much' exacerbated, and I
had no doubt then but poison had been admini-
stered. In the afternoon Of this day Elizabeth
Smith died. In the course of the evening, Moat)
Maxey told .me she was certainly, poisoned and
dying ; I asked he whether she thought she. knew
who had poisoned her ; .she said, she would ac-
cuse no one. About 12 o'clock that evening she
died. The two bodies were opened the next day,
and there eannot be the smallest doubt but that
poison had, been tAken. The Judge asked, what
poison ? I cannot say more than that it was a mi-
neral poison, the stomach being So drenelted by
vomiting that a suffici.mt quantity co4ld not be
collected to ascertain what poison it was. •
John Futter, of Hainford.'deposed—l Went to
see Elizabeth Smith, at o'clock, on the evening
.at the 18th of clay. I drank ten there ;. the tea
.was made in my presence---,Dinah Maxey did not
drink tea with us, 110 I receired .bad effec
9 Welock James Maxi.), came,
front it. About
home, and sat dorn in his great chair about half
an hour, and I,:ien went to bed ; I staid there un-
till near 11 O'clock. The witness then produced
the tetit_irct de which the-water was boiled in when
he druk tea there, and the Sallie that was used time
His Lordship. then
n,..st morning for breakfast.
asked Mr, Cliamlker -"ether the kettle was ex-
amined, when it was discovered that these `people
had been poisoned,. Yes, the kettle had been
avttstieti out, *and somepersons had drank tea from
water boiled in it since.

The Judge then inquired Of John Futter, the
situation of the cottage that James Maxey lived
The cottage, with three others, formed an
octagonal figure, and there was a general passage
through the ,building, The cottages, however,
though adjoining, were unconnected with each
other, and there were several' ehildren'eOnstitnting
the families which dwelt in theta. Viittersaid, it
was impossible' that any one should have entered
the house during the time he was there without his
knowledge. .
Elizabeth Furniss, of Hendon!, said, that on
Wednesday .morning, about half past six o'cinek,
she Went in, and Dinah Maxey and her daughter
were going to breakfast.' Maxey took the tea-pot
and poured the water into the caps, when' she ex-
claimed,—" Lord have mercy upon us, how white
the water looks ;',' the water looked as if the ket-
tle had been filled from a milky jug. The daugh-
ter MIA answer, " the water looked white in-
deed," still they went on getting their breakfasts.
Martha Itrennus, the sister of Diarta Maxey,
sworn .—Undei stending that Dinah Maxey and
Elizabeth Smith were very ill; I went on the
Wednesday night to fee theta; I asked my sister
how. she clad ; she answered, she was 'very bad; I
asked her what was the matter with her, she anif
swered, oh, mydear sister; lam poisoned—l am
dying—l ant poisoned with something that was
put into the kettle; it appeared white. I asked
her who she thought put it in; she said she thought
it was, her husband, and, she could not think 'it
was any body else, because there had been nn one
there'but themselves. I Was there when Eliza-
beth Smith died. James Maxey, the husband,
came up just after, making a sad lainentation.to
think the girl was dead.. :The wife said, James,
.what do you make that piece of work for, when
you know .yon clicl it to us both ; if you meant to
do it to we, yon did pot want to do it to my child;
he made no reply. The witness was asked what
time Maxey was up on the .morning. Ise had
'risen on the Wednesdaf.morning beffore his wite
and daughter-in-law ; and-conceiving 4.hat he
heard the latter get out of bed, he went into his
garden. A short time_ after he had been at week
there, twO• inishandrimea, who knew him, passed
by, and asked whether he was going to work.
lie complained of feeling' himself unwell ; he
asked what was o'clock ; they answered liVe ; he
said, then 1 must go to work, and went with them.
Ann Futter sworn. I was going to work about
seven, o'clock on the Wednesday winning, and
hearing these poor creatures were in distress,
Went in, and found Dinah Maxey very. ill. Eliza-
beth Smith was taken ill abont, a quarter of an
hour after 1 went in. I called again th.e nest
morning' after breakfast ; she still continued very
ill, and said she was poisoned by drinking the tea
Ott the Wednesday morning : in time conrse,of that
day they both died. On the Friday morningl was
sent for to wash some linen at Maxey's' hOuse,
when Martha Yemins shevt;ed me a little White
powder, which she had found in a drawer in time
kitchen ; this
lot
powder) was. left nth the sbelf near
time Ore-place, anti was) afterwardii •to he found.
A aiiiatt quantity of corrosive sublimate .was pro-
duced in Court and sl!eY011 to the witness, and she
much, like time powder
thought it ;.,speared Fiery
found. in the paper. IVitness was asked. tilt what,
terms they lived Ohtrepiiiid,"iletititas wall ammo
guiuctitues

Martha YernMs. was again callccl, and asked
whether She had foiled in 'Maxey's:house any pow-
der in a paper ; 'site said yes ; it was' found in a
thawer.---4!is Lord-ship asked this witness if the
dri wer, was kept locked no, the drawer was used
by thefamily, and never locked. His Lordship
.asked if Maxey bad a box in.his room with a lock`
on yes, he had.
Wm. •Remmingtnn, of }Wilford, krriei and
blacksmith, was the next witness called, and de-
posed that J. Alaxey had worked for, him for 15
years, as a blackStnith, and during that time •be
had behaved himself very well. He was .asked if
be Used any corrosive sublimate in his business.--,-
I purchased 1 ounce of corrosive subliMate I used
part of it then, the remainder I pain a cupboard
in the workshop. About a week after the death
of 'these persons .I examined the copboord, as I had
beard of a cat and dog being pois7ned near the
shop where we wOrked, and I missed about a

quarter of an ounce. The Judge asked the wit-
ness if ever the prisoner applied to him for poison ;
never. I heard him ask Mr. Crowe, a farmer, ht

Haiutord, forsome small wheat to poison spar-
rows with, Q. How bug had you this poison )y
you before this melancholy circumstance oc-

-cured About two mono►s.

1 used it iu a

case of a horse. The cat and dog were poison-
ed before this happened, but I did not know
of it until after the death of Maxey and, Smith.—
Q. Did the prisoner know of the properties of this
medicine ? No , I believe the prisoner did not
know the properties of this medicine. Q. Did the
prisoner make use of any improper language whilst
at work I heard the prisoner say, after shoeing
a vicious donkey, I will be damned if I don't do
something to be hanged for before I will shoe
dunkies.

James Cooke, farmer, at llainford; went to
Alaxey's house, and sa►v him leaning on the door-
post crying. I asked hint how his wife did ; lam
sorry to hear she' is poisoned ;. I am afraid she is.
I told Maxey. that understood he had poisoned
them ; she had accused him ; I hope it is not true.
Ile,said he was as inns ernt of it as I am. I have
knovirn theta about eleven yeas, and they lived

inditrfaently It times, which 1 supposed to be
3wing to )flaxerS wife supposing he cohabited

with another woman.

Henry Abbott, tanner, at Hainford, said, 1 went
to Maxey's house on the Friday morning, about
ten o'clock, and I understood that he was at Fut-
ter's (a labouring man in the parish) ; 1 Went
there, and was told that Maxey was in bed ; I re-
gliested him to be called, and he 'came dawn,. and

1 asked, him if his wife had accused any one of
poisoning her. Ile' said she had not. I then left
hitn, and saw him repeatedly iron' that time until
the Monday following, when he was committed.
I have known them five .years, and I never heard
they lived uncomfortably.

Sarah stewnrd was called. I went on tlic Wed-
neSday morning to Max.ey's hoose, to ask Vow
time went. The daughter said seven o'clock ;

heard a heavy groan ; she said she was very ill.—
I tried to get hereto the door ; she said she was
very sick, she was dying ; she had told some f.tki-
ties in her life, but she hoped the Lord would not
look at her with an angty face ; Ma?tey was then
got up stairs. I made some peppermint water,
taking the water out of the'kettle the tea was made

with, and pat the peppermint water into a pint
mug; I tasted the peppermint before I gave it
them ; in a kw
,minutes after my stomach was
fit to fly open, and. I could not get about for near-
ly a month afterwards; I have known them some
time—they lived upon ordinary terms.
Ann Hodge and Mary Smith deposed that they
did not live happily together.
The prisoner being called on for his defence,only
said, that such a thing as poison he never had in
his life, anti knew nothing at all about how they
came poisoned.
His Lordship, 11-1,,a singularlyitiminons and con 7
cise charge to the Jury, began by eXplitining to
them,the nature of circumstantial evidence, which,
when complete in all its parts, he certainly cOIISk
tiered to be a most satisfactory species of testimo-
ny. But all the links of 'Abe chain must be en-
tire, and its connection with the. accused party
obvious and necessary, before a Verdict of guilt
can be justly and conscientiously. grounded Upon
it. He defined a satisfactory circumstantial evi-
dence against any. criminal to be such a, series of
circumstances as could'not possibly have occurred
or be. Accounted for, otherwise .than by,the guilt
of the-prisoner.: HoW far the evidence which had
b'en adduced conformed with this definition, it
Was the province of the Jury to decide. His Lord—
ship then said, that Dinah Maxerunonestionably
did receive-an impresSion that it was her husband
Nvho had administered' the poison.; at first, hoW-
ever, she seems to have bail no suspicion, altho'
she after Wards said she could WA think it was
any one else, because there hid been no person
there,- NoW it. was clearly proved by John Flit-
ter, that he drank fen there op the evening be-
fore, and remained there -until eleven o'clock;
and in the course oltrial it 'was ascertained that
the cottage'where MaXey lived there were three-
others, and that' the four cottages tornied an octa-
grin, and that there was a► general passage through.
them • that the surgeon asked lierwhet‘her she
thought she knew who had poiSoned-lier, and her
answer, was, that she Would accuse no one, and
that. from the Wednesday'inorning until the Mo-
nday following, although such a report was afloat
that Maxey had poisoned them, yet he never at-
tempted to get away:; moreover he had slept in
the house with the dead: bodies Which was ulna in
favoiir of the prisoner; for,' if he hittl been
of the crime, his conscience' would not have al.
lowed him to have done so ; and inrespectof the
expression made use of after shoeing the donkey,
it meant nothing ; he was irritated by the vicious-
tress of the donkey, His tordShip proceeded to.
remark, that the law very properly received the
testimony of adying person, or rather of a per=
son Who conceived himself to be on the point of
death ..; but u broad distinctiOO was to be observed
between testimony ns. to a fact, and testimony al
to an opinion ; the lattee.was entitled to very lir-
tie attentian, .although too much credit could
silareely ir paid to the former. On the 'Whole,
his Lordship eonsidered that there was not eVi-
ileime -sulieieut to , prove Maxey's guilt, anti in
01)1"iiin they must aceplithini. In a few mi..
mutes tit* Jury prunoujnOti a veittict'uf acquittal.