The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-06 00:00:00

LAMBETH-STREET.

Yesterday, Thomas Prior, an old man 64 years of age,
who has been for some years a cook in the Parochial
Workhouse of St. Ann's, Limehouse, and who has been
always considered as a man of most rigid moral character,
was placed within the felon's bar, before Messrs. HARD-
WICK and COMBES, on a criminal charge of administering
arsenic to a female who was in a state of pregnancy by him,
with a view of producing abortion. The charge was
brought before the Magistrates by the Overseers of the
parish, who were in attendance, in consequence of some
communications which had been made to them on that

morning.
Rods Meade, a very ordinary female, of 32 years of
age, but who appears to be upwards of 50, for nearly two
years past was an inmate of the workhouse of St. Ann's,
Limehouse, and was generally employed in assisting in
the kitchen, where the prisoner was cook. About six or
seven months ago an improper intimacy took place between
her and the prisoner, and she in consequence became preg-
nant. On discovering the state she was in, she, about three
months ago, mentioned her situation to prisoner, who told
her she must have something to cause her to miscarry, and
brought something in a bottle for her to take. This was
about three months ago, and on taking a spoonful of the
mixture, which had a white sediment at the bottom, she
became very ill, and vomited a good deal ; but, owing to
the attention of the parish doctor, and taking what be had
administered, she became better, and recovered. She had
twice since, at the request of the prisoner, taken similar
doses from the bottle, but they had not produced the de-
sired effect.

Mr. Warring, the beadle of the parish, in consequence of
a communication made to him on that morning by a female
with whom the last witness had slept on the previous night,
questioned Meade, and she made a similar statement to him
as that which she had detailed in evidence. He then exa-
mined a cupboard in the kitchen belonging to the prisoner,
and there found the bottle which he then produced, and
which corresponded in every respect with the one from
which the last witness said the dose had been given to her
by the prisoner. He also found a paper containing a quan-
tity of white powder, and upon which the words " arsenic,
poison," were written. On asking the prisoner how these
articles came into his possession, he said that he had pur-
chased the arsenic to poison the black beetles with : he,
however, said nothing about the bottle.
Mr. Burn, the parish surgeon, about three months ago,
_ _

had been sent for to attend the female Meade, and on
going to the workhouse he found her labouring under what

he, at the time, suspected to be cholera. She appeared
to be very sick at the stomach, and reached violently. He,
on that occasion, administered those remedies usual in cho-
lera cases, and the patient gradually recovered. From the
circumstances described to him by Meade, as well as from
her appearance, he had no doubt she was five months ad-
vanced in pregnancy. He had no doubt also that the
powder produced was arsenic, and that the sediment in
the bottle produced contained a portion of that poison.
In reply to a question from one of the Magistrates, Mr.
Burn said that a portion of arsenic taken into the stomach
would have produced the symptoms under which the female
laboured when he had been first called in to see her.

Mr. HARDWICK, to the prisoner—What have you got
to say to the charge of administoring poison to this female ?
Prisoner—What I mean to say is that I did not give any
poison to her. Now Rhoda, I wish to ask you what I
said to you when I first showed you the paper with the ar-
senic in it ? Prosecutrix—You said you must not touch
this as it would do away with you.
The prisoner was remanded to a future day in order to
give time to Mr. Burn to analyze the contents of the bottle
produced.
It appeared that the prisoner had in the first instance
tried the effect of the poison on an old and favourite cat,
which he had for some years, and having administered too
strong a dose‘the animal died by the experiment. He is a
married man, and has always been considered not only very
moral but very religious.