The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-18 00:00:00

_._rVENTNO Ti Off'

CRIMINAL COURT.-(THIS DAY.)

OLD COURT.
(Before Lord Chief Justice TINDAL and Mr. Baron
PARKE.)
TRIAL OF COURVOISIER FOR THE MURDER

OF LORD WILLIAM RUSSELL.
This morning having been appointed for the trial of
•
Courvoesier, wbo stands charged with the wilful murder
°f Lord William Russell, the Court was thronged in
"ere part ; not nook or corner, was unoccupied, but
(,)I,.aing to the admirable management of the Sheriffs and
Under Sheriffs, not the least d:sorder, confusion, or
tr_ owdingeoccureed. The outer gates of the Court-yard
were closed, and guarded by the police, both within and
without, and no admission could be obtained except by
tickets; signede, by the Sheriff or Under-Sheriff. The
number of tickets issued was limited to the number of
Persons who could be accommodated in the Court
Without inconvenience. The tnt ance to the Court,
Which
_is nearest the eetoior gates. was re-
served 'exclusively fur the ingress and egress of
Witnesses, the public being admitted by the further en-
trance only. At the foot of the steps leading to this en-
trance the thatet was again. inspected, and the bearer
Passed up the lobby between the Old and New Courts.
At the door of the Old Court the ticket underwent a
third revision) before the bearer was perraittsd to cotes.
Additional seats were erected in every part of the Court,
Where they could be placed so as to afford accomrnoda-
ten, and a row of chairs were placed in front of the
Bench. Toe accommodation for the reporters was excel-
!We and we beg to return our thanks to the Under
s§herifits for their urbanity in affording us every accommo-
dation 'and facility: which the circumstances would allow.
The police performed their duty with the utmost civility,
and tao general arrangements reflect, the highest credit
on alI the parties concerned. Many of the nobility who
applied for tickets during the course of yesterday were
!Wasted, accommodate 'Court could not aecomodate more than
the number who had already had tickets issued to them. The
Intense interest excited by this trial,, and the anxiety to
obtain admission to the Court, fire greater than has been
Omni foe years. At a quarter before ten, the Lord Mayor
and Sheriffs, entered the Court, preceding his 'Royal
Highness the Duke of Sussex, whom they conducted to
,!11 place on the Bench, The whole _Court rose to receive
his Royal Highfiese, who seemed to take the most intense
40m -hi-the proceedings,
On-eitteßerich we observed the Earl of Cavan, Lord
Lennox, Lady- A. Lennox, the Earl of Mansfield,'
Lady Granville Somerset, Lady Burghers'', Aldermen Sir
14,,• Wood, Harmer, T. Wood;Humphrey, D. W. Ilarvey,
.L4sq., Mr. Sergeant Arabin, &c &c. - The Judges entered
she Court shortly before ten o'clock.
At, ten o'clock, Francois Benjamin Courvoisier was
Place4tt'the bar.. He looked pale and thinner than when
ender examination at Bow-street, but be seemed firm and
nolleeted. Having been arraigned, he pleaded not
guilty in a low' tone of voice; and, in reply to the Clerk
of the -Arraigns, said that he would be tried by an English
Jury, waiving his right of 'having half the Jury composed
of foreigners.
Mr, Adolphus, :Mr. Bodkin, and Mr. Chambers, ap-
Peareti on behalf of the prosecution, and Mr. C. Phillipps
and Mr. Clarkson for the defence. Mr. HoWcr appeared
49 Solicitor for the prosecution, and Mr. Flower for the
Prisoner.
Mr. WING, Solicitor to the Duke of Bedford, was also
resent, aad was frequently in conversation with Mr.
nobler during the course of the proceedings. A model
of the House in Norfolk-street was on the table.
Before the proceedings commenced,
Mr. Boosuts made an application to the Court to fix a
day for the trial of Gould, when
Mr.. Baron PARK& fixed Tuesday next.
ThiJory in Courvoieier's case having been sworn,
, Mr. Anouttus proceeded to open his case, and said,
had he not heard ail that he bad heard during the last
konth, relative to this extraordinary case, the present state
of the Court, crowded as it was by the great and noble
°,l_ the 'land, would convince him sufficiently that he was
about to call their attention to one of the most im-
tenant, and extraordinary eases that ever ha I
171:11 brought before a Court of Justice. But he al
tided to these circumstances only to beseech the Jury
10 dismiss from their minds all that they might have heard
On the subject, and to come to a decision solely on the
e/Ideeee which might be laid before them. It was a moss
tta, loarliable circumstance that the father and the brother o'
unfortunauedeceased Nobleman had both come to an
,untiruely end, but their deaths bad been the effect of acei
'teat, whereas Lord William Russell, in the retirement and
seclusion of his own house, at the advanced age of 73
Years, had been most foully murdered, and it was the object
11.1 their present inquiry to determine whether that murder
:ad been perpetrated by the prisoner at the bar or not,
and whether it might be considered in strict accordance
With
rules or not, he was willing to make any witnesses
Who -Could throw any light on this dreadful trans-
'▪
etion his witnesses, so that the prisoner should have
ti cause for complaining of the manner in which
prosecution had' been conducted. The prisoner
had li7ed' with the deceased Nobleman as valet ; he had
been' in his Lordship's service only fie., weeks, but, in jus
nets to the prisoner, he would say that his Lordship had re-
eeived with him a most high and unexceptionable character,
the
that, up to the moment of the murder, there was not
'ae least shadow of an imputation on the character of the
Plisoner. The Learned Counsel then proceeded to detail,
al they .
subsequently came out in evinence, the transactions
o' the day previous to the murder, as they related to the
deceasedi and the prisoner, the manner in which the door
,P„' the house had been fastened on that evening, the state
hOWl'ichtlielrouse-maid had found the huse on the fol-
;wingetorning, the appearance and behaviour of Cour-
°isletv:lam called on that morning, the appearance pre-
eleatecitily Ow rooms of the house, which proved that the
1-'l'sonrwiter-had.committed the. robbery must:have been
Well acquainted with the house, and have known at once to
What places to go to find_ the.ealuables. He commented
strongly upon the, fact of the pencil-case, opera.glass, &c.,
eking found in the passage wrapped up, and contended that
a Illief'would undoubtedly have put these articles in his
POcket, and walked away with them ; and that the fact of
their being left in the passage was a proof that the bur-
glary merely one simulated for the purpose of hiding
lOrne Other crime. The Learned Counsel then animas'.
%rad :upon the conduct of Courvoisier in opening the
utteri of his Lordship's room without attempting to
wake his master ; and more particularly direoted the at-
ilention of the Jury to'the reinaikable expression, " There
tir'''lhotedsby --the prisoner, in answer to the exclama-
tionof--" My Lord f my 'Lord I" used by the housemaid
He theft described the appearances presented by the body
ec tne deceased Nobleman, which rendered the supposi-
-04 of suicide impossible. He then proceeded to com-
ment upon the state in which- the back-door was found,
lid contended that it was utterly impossible any entrance
hove been eff.cted into the house•by this door in
e manner the prisoner had induced persons to believe. In
"idol 14 render the case more complete, the door and door-
P.,st would be produced to them, and evidence of persons
tiderstanding these matters., which would show that the
tiu°°r, had been broken 'from the inside, and not
f
rete• the outside. The pantry poker and screw-driver
the
the masks in the c'oor would also be produced, and if
e door were broken open from within that was a most
damning fact against the prisoner. The Learned Counsel
"en proceeded to that part of the case connected with the
"elate in which the rushlight and candle were found. His
ordship had been reading the life of Sir Samuel Romilly,
anti
the book was placed with the spectacles in it, so as to
Vuee the idea that his Lordship bad been reading in bed.
nut cunning in this case had overreached itself, for the
candle was eso placed that as for any advantage to be
derived from it by a person reading in bed, it might as
teen
have been placed in the cellar. The Learned Counsel
'laid, that bad he been consulted, lie should have ad-
vised the police to have taken the prisoner into custody at
oitlee• He then proceeded to the circumstance of the 10/.
note,
found, as he contended, where no one but the pri-
soner could have placed it. That 101. note he should.
PY'ave bad been placed in his Lordship's hands for a elm-
-
pitahle purpose, and had never been out of his Lordship's
rS,Seafune; and the p risoner, had stated that his Lordship
t Nhadoathling
o/. note in his case on the day before the
was found in the prisoner's box when it was
searched, and he observed that that statement had
Produced an effect on the Jury, but he would
Put it to them whether a man of ordinary
cunning, who had been guilty either of burglary or murder,
would not carefully avoid placing any thing in his box cal-
culated to draw suspicion on himself, but he did not trust
to any thing connected with the prisoner's box, in this
case: The Jury probably had heard something of linen
marked with blood having been found in the pri.oner's
box, but he did not draw any conclusion from that, nor
attach any importance to the circumstance. He then pro-
ceeded:to comment on the fact of the rings and the 101.
note being found in the prisoner's pantry, concealed behind
the skirting-board—that 101. note bad been in his lordship's
silk note-case, in Lis bed-room, on the night of the murder.
He coptewled tha: no one could have placed it there but
the prisoner, who had been roaming about the
house the whole night, with a wax-candle, to conceal
thesei, articles, in order to induce a suspicion
`'at• a burglary had been committed. All these
discoveries had been made before any reward was offered for
the discovery of the murderer. He then proceeded to corn-
me" upon the finding of the locket, on the Saturday, un
derneath a heart: -stone in the butler's pantry. That locket
antained the hair of his Lcr 'ship's deceased lady, and had
been missed by his Lordship while on a visit at Richmond,
:'cee°rnUanied only by the prisoner. Search was made for
„
„"',.°Y desire of his Lordship. It could net be found ; and
:iter the murder it was found in the prisoner's pantry, con.
:ttated as he had stated. No one could have stolen it but
the prisoner; no one could have concealed it but the pri-
ner, and he who concealed that concealed the other art
The hearth-stone had not been moved, but there
was a small opening between it are" the floor, through
which the locket might have been, and most probably had
been, thrust. The Learned Counsel then related the
circumstances attending the finding the watch and the
Other art lie must now probably anticipate what
be ti,e defence. It night be said the pri-
vAier was without motive. Now that was a very
fallacious ti fit—what motive could be assigned for
1110 dreadful attempt ohich Lad recently been made upon
41:1 illevrieus personage, and which, if successful, would
avt, plunged the whole nation in distress. But there was
not
al:coetlier an absence of motive. It would be in evi-
ktice t 174 the prisor.er was unhappy, and had a desire to
return to hia own country. He also :supposed, as fo-
reigners generally do. th: Noblemen always have
41"i•le.alile sum of money about them. The natural
-uPPusit:on from seeing the 'Russia box with the ivory rouleaus con-
stantly. in his. Lordship's possession was, that they were filled with
gold,ate and if so,iicre was sufficient motive. Foreigners, unfortu.
n
3r, generilly map) murder the prelude to robbery, and the
Pilsoner imdouLiedly expected to get a large plunder in ready
money, which would have enabled him to escape at once, but being
disappointed in this expectation, he adopted the measures he had
c_oonie,,to induce the supposition that a burglary had been committed.
btless, the 'Jury would be warned agairst convicting on sir.
cowstantial eiitAence, and he would read to them what had been
said by Patch, who was tried for murder thirty.six years ago, on
the subject of circumstantial evidence. (The Learned Counsel
then read the passage, and was proceeding to read what had been
said by Chief Baron 3PDonald,
wai‘strii. it_e.rropted by in reply to that address, when he
Yuumirs, who objected to the reading of anything re.