The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-02 00:00:00

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LODON, THURSDAY E
AUGUST 2 1849.
k

TELL GWYNNE TAVEitN and CHOP-
HOUSE, Bull Inn-court, strand, for Luncheons, Dinner.a,
and Suppers, Three Doors -East of the Adelphi Theatre, and opposite
Adam .screel.

after eating
suPPith my mother Q.nd my brotherz
and si:teTs. They
itipetred to partake ot the ''time
food end I was nokr, of auvtoing being put int,)
"v"h:at:azertic tieing m.tle uLe .).!*
to
get horses di into
con,
The drawers were open to

murder him, she mile :7tatematt to the effect that she
vas innocent of a:lrainistering anything wrong either to
her husband or her ebil4r.,n, and declaring at the l'ame
time CLIO.. she had no: bad poison in the house for
months, and that she had given nothing to her children
but what the doctor had sent them.
Mr. E. W. Stubbs, a chemist at Hastings, proved that
about last June twelvemonth he sold the prisoner arsenic
upon three occasions. The last time was in Juno. She
had a pennyworth each time, which was about 60 grains,
and she said that she wanted it to poison rats.
Charlotte Thrubsell deposed that she was in Mr.
Stubbs's shop upon another occasion when the prisoner
purchased some arsenic.
Mr. Pittman, another chemist at hustings, proved
that upon four several occasions since the autumn of
1848 the prisoner purchased arsenic at his shop. The.
last time was about the month of February in the pre-
' sent year, and she then purchased twopennyv‘ orth.
A witness was then called, who deposed that about
three years ago he frequently heard the prisoner and the
deceased quarrel.
Another witness spoke to hearing the prisoner say
that she did not like her husband, and she never should;
and she hoped she should pass one year without him.
Sarah Benney, sister to the deceased, deposed that in
1846 she accompanied him to the savings bank at Hast-
ings, and saw him deposit a sum of 20/, there, and the
book which had been produced by the constable was the
hh,bienlaBn%d4k,r7i.te,nwetlhssnsefs
Mouatrcohe bythe bank.
The one
possession; but
a few
prisoner came to
her and took it away, saying that her son Allan wanted
to look it over.
direction chbt ei
oomonko received
on f
months
thehass after
deceased,fl fromtwear always
me
atlefthr March,
she
Mr. Bishop, the actuary of the savings bank, proved
that during the year 1847-8 the prisoner drew out the
whole of the remainder of the 201., with the exception of
a balance of Is. 4d. The whole of the money was given
to the prisoner herself.
By the COURT—Where they knew the parties the
_
production of the savings bank book by any member of
the family was considered sufficient authority to pay the
money.
Jane Brown, a married daughter of the prisoner, e-
posed
fraeign.-etn htelyre
had "t "o r a
disputes'
posed that after the funeral of her father, the prisoner said
Hdecere"faecti hewr a iShnedd he
it
o o em
and then it was to be equally divided between the family.
this money.
By- Mr. HURST—Prisoner bad been in the habit of
purchasing drugs for other people since she (witness)
was a child, and people frequently got her to purchase
arsenic for poisoning rats, because she was known to the
chemists.
Joseph
Honeysett, the steward of the Guestling Benefit
Club, was then called to prove that upon the
death of Richard Geering, he carried 51. 33. 4d. to the
prisoner, to which sum she was entitled as the widow of
a member of the club. The prisoner applied lo him for
the money on the same day that her husband died. It
was the rule of the club that one shilling should be given
by each surviving member.
This was the case for the prosecution.
Mr. HURST then addressed the jury for the prisoner.
The Learned Counsel commented at considerable length
upon the absence of any adequate motive for the com-
mission of the crime, and also upon the improbability, if
the prisoner really entertained the horrible design im-
puted to her, that she should have gone openly to pur-
chase the deadly ingredient from persons who were well
acquainted with her.
The Learned JUDGE then summed up the whole case,
and the jury, after deliberating a short time in the box,
expressed a wish to retire. They were not absent more
than ten minutes, and at a quarter past seven o'clock
they returned into court, and gave a verdict of Guilty.
The CHIEF BARON then put on the black cap, and
passed sentence of death upon the prisoner, who was re-
moved from the bar apparently very little affected at her
awful position.

Messrs. ARCHER and HOLT most respectfully invite their
friends and the public to patronise the Nell Uwynne Coffee-room,
which has been fitted up in the style of the period in which she lived.
Visitors to the Theatres, Citizens, and Gentlemen connected with
Somerset House, and the Banking Houses in the vicinity, will find
the Table d'llote, which takes place at /LIU-past Five precisely, the
most comfortable and reasonable in the metropolis.—Fish and
Joints, hs. per head. hot Joints until Eight, and Suppers unti. One
o'clock. Private Dining-rooms. excellent Beds, superior Wines and
Spirits, fine Ales, and Barclay and Perkins's Stout.

By Mr. CREASY—
every one in the how
to supper on the nigh' the 6th of April.
Mary Anne Geeriraid—l am daughter of the pri-
soner, and urn fourn years old. My father used to
:mother carved and helped us all
take his dinner with 1 when he went out to work, in
a basket or a bag, ani have seen my mother put it up
for him. I never sasny rats in the house, and my
mother has never confined of them, or said anything
about getting arsenic give them; and I did not upon
any occasion hear myother James say that he wanted

N.B. An Entnacce also from Maiden lane.

any arsenic for his go's,
By the COURT—Dag the week my father was taken
ill, my mother put thenner for him every day.
Alban Geering saidx am twenty-four years old. The
prisoner is my mother. In September last I was not
living with my father a mother. My father was very
ill in June and July, h did not at that time keep his
bed. I saw him when e was taken bad the last time,
and he complained cf hying been sick. My father had
some money in the
Eavg's Bank, but I do not recollect
ever asking my motietto let me see the deposit book.
About a month after mfather was buried, I asked my
mother if he had dravr all the money out of the bank,
and she said he had rat, and there was 121. there. I
had no knowledge thtt here was arsenic in the house.
I have heard my brdha.s say there were rats in the
cottage, but I never stw any myself. Just before my
brother James died, Isav some medicine for horses in
his possession. I knew t was medicine for horses, be-
cause he told me so.
Edwin Geering, anothr son of the prisoner, sixteen
years old, said that in lecember, while he was sleeping
with his brother James,he heard the sound of rats, but

never saw any.
Mr. John Pocock deptsed as follows—l am a surgeon
and apothecary at Witrhelsea, and under a charitable
bequest I attend the pcor people of Gurstling profes-
sionally without any charge. I saw the deceased on the
10th of September. He was in bed, and the prisoner
was in the room when I went in The. ap,,peeed was
very i...enw0....rj eaboing,..arupsan in tbeAkest and
l
stomach. f sent- him &blue pind'an opening mixture,
and when I called on the second occasion I found him
dead. I treated him for a bilious intermittent fever. The
prisoner, after his death, told me that her husband had
been suffering from a disorder to which his family were
subject ; and, in consequence of her representation I
gave a certificate that death was occasioned by disease of
the heart and pericardium. There was no arsenic in
the medicine I administered. . .

By Mr. HURST —I had no suspicion that there was
anything wrong in the case.
Judith Veness deposed that she assisted the prisoner
to lay out the body of the deceased, and, while they
were so engaged, the prisoner said it was a disease of the
heart that her husband died of. Some months,,be-
fore the death took place, the prisoner said that her
husband was a great trouble to her, and she wished he
was dead.
Evidence was then given that the body which had been
exumed was that of the deceased, and that when the
coffin was taken home the prisoner wished the body to
be screwed down immediately.
John Hawkins, sexton and gravedigger of Guestling,
deposed that on the occasion of the burial of the de-
ceased the prisoner looked out a piece of ground in the
churchyard, and wished h m to ask the Rev. Sir John
Ashburnham to allow her to have it, as she said she had
a large family, and she should wish them all to be buried
together. She at the same time requested that her hus-
, band's grave might be six feet deep, and that a piece of
plank should be put over the coffin to keep the earth
from it. Four feet was the usual depth of a grave in
that parish.
By Mr. HURST—Had no doubt that the effect of put-
ting the plank on the coffin was to preserve it.
George Hawkins, father of the last witness, proved
that the cost of the funeral, without the church fees,
was 21. ss. The deceased and his two sons were buried
close to each other, in accordance with the request of the

prisoner.
Alban Geering, recalled by Mr. HURST—I heard my
father say before his death that he should like to be
buried in a six-foot grave, and have a slab placed on his
coffin, to keep the earth from it.
Mr. F. Ticehurst, a surgeon at Hastings, deposed that
on the 26th April, he was present when the bodies of the
deceased and his two sons were dng up, and he after-
wards examined the body of the deceased. There was a
considerable quantity of fluid in the coffin, and the body
was almost swimming in it. The head and face were
very much decomposed, but the external portion of the
abdomen appeared in good preservation. The intestines
were of a pink colour and were not decomposed. The
right lung adhered to the pleura covering the ribs. The
heart appeared healthy, as also did the liver. The pink
appearance of the intestines indicated severe inflamma-
tion, and he had no doubt that the inflammation was the
cause of death. Witness afterwards placed the contents
of the abdomen, the stomach, the pericardium, and the
liver in a jar, which he sealed, and afterwards delivered
to Professor Taylor on the Ist of May. The witness
then proceeded to state that upon examining the other
two bodies, those of George and James, he discovered
.....ioitect in the body
of the deceased ; and he said that ho placed those
portions of the internal organs which he consi-
dered necessary in different jars, and handed them
also to Dr. Taylor. The witness likewise expressed his
opinion that the deaths were occasioned by the exhibi-
tion of some irritant poison to the deceased. Mr. Tice-
hurst also deposed that the vomit of Benjamin was like-
wise given to Dr. Taylor for analysis. The witness then
read the statement which he took down from the witnes
Benjamin with regard to his symptoms, and it appeared
that after describing what he himself suffered, he said
that his father and brothers suffered in exactly the same
way immediately before their deaths. He added that,
upon hearing what Benjamin said, he called to the pri-
soner and told her that he had just received an account
of the circumstances connected with the death of her
husband and sons, and he wished to know if it was cor-
rect. He then read to her what he had taken dowthand
she said it was all right. The symptoms he had de-
scribed were those which would result from the taking
of arsenic; in answer to a question he put to the pri-
soner she said that she had not had any arsenic in the
house for twelve months, but said that she used to keep
" the stuff" at one time for the mice. On the follow-
ing day he again asked the prisoner if she was sure she
had not had any arsenic in the house, and she said she
knew she had not had any for several months, as during
that time she had kept a good house cat. Upon a
subsequent day a large pill or bolus was delivered to
him by Jeffrey, the policeman, and he gave that
also to Dr. Taylor. Witness analysed a portion of
this pill, and in his opinion it contained arsenic.
By Mr. HURST—lrritant poisons were sometimes ad
ministered in medicine, and arsenic itself was given, but
never to a greater extent than a quarter of a grain, and
then always in solution. If a person were to die imme-
diately after the administration of such a medicine, the
in
By
hye
mb ord. yc,
tf rEoAms
rt—h eTs
hmea ll
pilln e stso o fwthhiec
hq uhaen t
referred
ty .
arsenic, in witness's opinion, would not be discovered
was
net such a one as would be made by a medical man. It
was a sort of irregular bolus.
Mr. Pocock was recalled—He said, I administered no
arsenic either to James or George Geering. I attended
George for several weeks, and gave him a considerable
quantity of mercury. He had, during most of the time,
as much as twelve grains of blue pill per day, which
would bo equal to four grains of metallic mercury.
By the COURT—I am a member of the Royal College
of Surgeons.
Mr. Duke, another medical gentleman from Hastings,
corroborated the evidence of Mr. Ticehurst with regard
to the appearances presented by the bodies of the de-
ceased upon the post mortem examination.
Dr. Taylor was the next witness. He deposed that
on the Ist of May he received some jars from Dr. Tice-
hurst, and analysed their contents afterwards. He then
proceeded to state that with regard to the organs and
viscera belonging to the deceased, the result of the usual
scientific tests to which he subjected them was the pro-
duction of arsenic, both in a metallic and crystalised
form. The whole quantity of arsenic which he actually
discovered was seven grains; but a much greater quan
tity must have been taken, as the whole of the body was
impregnated with the poison; and he could not attribute
the death, from all the appearances he observed, to any
other cause than the administration of arsenic. Witness
afterwards subjected the contents of the jar which con-
tained the viscera of George Geering to the same che-
mical process, and ascertained the presence of quick-
silver or mercury, but no arsenic; and he considered it
possible that, if the person had lived for some time after
the administration of the last dose of poison, the arsenic
might have been entirely expelled and have left no trace
in the stomach. From the appearances of inflammation,
however, that were presented, he bad no doubt that the
death in this case was also the result of the administra-
tion of arsenic. Upun examining the viscera of James
he discovered the presence of arsenic, and that poison
was no doubt the cause of his death. Upon examining
the vomited liquid of Benjamin, he discovered that it con-
tained two grains of arsenic. He likewise examined and
analyzed the pill or bolus that had been referred to, and he
found it was composed of arsenic, opium, and some ve-
getable substance, probably linseed powder. The effect
of the mixture of opium with the arsenic would be to
deaden the pain and to check vomiting, but it would not
in any way prevent the deadly effect of the poison.
George Jeffrey, a constable belonging to the East
Sussex constabulary, deposed that he was stationed at
Guestling, and resided near the prisoner's cottage. On
the 24th April, he asked the prisoner if she had got any
arsenic in the house, as the mice bad gnawed his peas
in the garden. She told him she had not had any
arsenic in the house for twelve months. He took her
into custody on the 26th, and she then said if she had
had any arsenio she should have given it to him, but
she had not had any for twelve months, and when she
did use it she used to burn what remained before the
children came down stairs. The witness then spoke
to finding the pill in one of the drawers, and also a
savings bank receipt book.
Mr. J. G. Shorter, clerk to the magistrates for the
Hastings division, deposed, that while the prisoner was
under examination upon the charge of feloniously ad-
, ministering poison to her son Benjamin, with intent to

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