The Sun.
London, England, 1838-12-17 00:00:00

THE HORRIBLE MURDER AT

NEWCASTLE.

VERDICT AGAINST BOLAM.

The investigation before the Coroner, that occupied
several days was resumed last Friday, when it terminated
by the Jury returning a verdict of " Wilful murder against
Archibald Bolam." Of the facts of this foul and most
mysterious murder, the public are already in possession.
It will, therefore, be superfluous to give more than the
principal parts of the evidence adduced at the adjourned
inquest on the body of the murdered man Millie.
A. N. Hall, a porter, deposed that he and a person
named Appleton, one of he fireman, were the first who saw
Bolam. Appleton held the lanthorn to Bolam's face.
When the lanthorn was first held towards Bolam, he was
lying in a resting position on his left side, with his right leg
extended, and his left leg bent under him. [Here the
witness extended himself on the floor in the position in
which he saw Bolam lying.] I cannot tell whether or not
when I first saw him his head was touching the ground.
When the light was held to his face, he raised his head up
a little, and supported himself on his left elbow, and looked
quite " brent" up with his eyes. At the time when he
looked up, Mr. Armstrong, who was also present, said,
" Bolam, Bolam, is that you ?" Mr. Alderman Dunn was
also present, and there were several others. Bolam made
no answer ; but just dropped his head and laid down
again. I mean by the term " brent up eyes," that his eyes
were quite open. He kept his eyes open a very short time,
and as soon as Mr. Armstrong spoke to him, he closed them
and dropped his head. He appeared to me to be in a
fainting state, from the way in which he lay down.
Mr. John Baird, surgeon, after describing the nature of
the wounds upon the body of the deceased, deposed—The
wounds which I have described were the cause of his death.
Upon the left arm of the deceased, on the external side, I
found an extensive mark of contusion, with two abrasions
of the cuticle. These two marks had been caused by a se-
vere blow, I should think, or they might have been caused
by falling on the fender. From the situation of the blow I
think it extremely probable that it was received whilst he
was in the act of holding up his arm to protect his head.
His left hand also bore marks of having been considerably
bruised. The right hand was in the same way, but in a
less degree. These were all the marks which I discovered
on his person. All the blows on the head must have been
given with great violence, more especially that one on the
upper lip. The poker is a likely instrument to have been
used in producing the wounds. The cuts had not been
made with a sharp instrument. I also examined Mr. Bolam
on Saturday, the Bth Dec. at one o'clock. I saw him at the
gaol, where I examined his person. There wasa wound on the
left side of his neck, running parallel with the base of the jaw.
[Here Mr. Baird exhibited a drawing of Bolam, exhi-
biting the cut in his neck.) The wound, I think, had
been made by some sharp instrument, and was about two
or three inches in length, and merely a cuticular wound ;
i. e., just going through the skin. There was a plaster
upon it at the time. There was a mark of contusion on
the left side, under the mamma, or lelt breast,
the skin was not broken. It was only a trifling
contusion, and it appeared to have been given by a blow.
On the right side, nearly in a similar situation, the skin
was broken by two or three scratches, apparently made by
the point of a penknife or other sharp instrument.
If Bolam had baen struck by any person with a
sharp instrument it would not have caused those marks ;
:here would only have been one wound, and it would have
been a much deeper one. To make such a wound as I
saw would have required as many motions of the hand as
there are marks. I examined the coat, waistcoat, shirt,
and flannel shirt which Mr. Bolam had on, and compared
the marks in those with the scratches on his body. lam
obliged, from the examination of his clothes, to come to the
conclusion that the marks on his body had not been
given through his clothes. My reasons for thinking so
ire that the holes in the waistcoat, shirt, and flannel
shirt are of a jagged square form. There are other cuts on
the coat shown to me as Bolam's, which must have been
made by a very sharp instrument—they are entirely unlike
the other cuts. I think, as far as I can judge, the scratches
on the body correspond with the jagged cut in the clothes.
There are several other cuts on the coat, but I do not
find any other marks on the body corresponding with those
cuts.—( The clothes were here produced, and were exa-
mined by the jury. There are six cuts in the shirt, two
in the waistcoat, and one in the flannel shirt.) I think the
blood on Bolam's shirt might have all come from the cut
in his neck. If, after receiving the cut in his neck, Bolam
had continued lying either on his face or back horizontally,
I am of opinion that the blood from the wound would not
have flowed down the breast of his shirt. On examining the
shirt close to the edge of the collar, I observed a cut on
each side of the collar, but I find no corresponding marks on
Bolam's body. I certainly think that those cuts in the shirt
were not made by the same attempt by which the wound was
given to him in the neck. The cut in the neck is so clean a
wound, that I think any person giving it could not have in-
tended to do him any serious harm. Judging from the
blood which appears on the shirt, and supposing it to have
proceeded from the wound in the neck, I think Mr Bolam
must either have been sitting or standing upright when it
was inflicted. A right-handed person cutting himself
would naturally cut the left side of the neck. If Mr.
Bolam had been lying on the ground on his face, and any
person had come behind him and lifted up his head and
cut his throat, he would most likely have cut it on the right
side. I think the person intending to do any injury to
Bolam would have made a much deeper wound, and
would have selected a more vital part. The wound is
more like an incised wound, such as a surgeon would make
in commencing an operation. I also examined Bolam's
head. He named to me that he had received blows on his
head, from which he was suffering pain, but I did not find
any appearances to bear that out. I found no effects of
contusion about his head. He pointed out to me two different
places where be had received blows. They were about
the temples, but I could see no effects produced by blows
there. I do not think that Bolam was in a state of insen-
sibility or derangment from the cut hi his neck or the other
marks which I have described. There was nothing to
have caused a loss of voice. Supposing him to have been
rendered insensible by the injuries which he received,
I think it impossible that he could have remained in-
sensible for hours. If the blows had been sufficient to fell
might have fallen
He could not
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athey
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inehis
own imbpuett
uhse.
have been rendered insensible except by concussion of the
brain, and in that case he would have remained insensible
for some time afterwards—he would have been incoherent
for perhaps a fortnight. It is possible that the wounds on
his right side might have been made through the clothes,
but I think they were not so made. If the blood from the
neck had flown while he was in a lying position, it would