The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-30 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

CIRCUI I.—Bury St. Edmunds,
March 27.
CROWN COURT.—([..fore Sir F. POLLOCK.)
Catherine Foster. aged 18, was arraigned upon an in
diciment charging her with the wilful murder of her
husband, John Foster, by administering to him arsenic,
at Acton, on the 18th of November last.
Mr. Gurdon and Mr. Sanders were counsel for the
prosecution ; Mr. Power defended the prisoner.
This case, which has excited much public attention in
this and the adjoining c unty of Essex, being specially
appointed for this day, the court was greatly crowded
before the usual hour. From the opening statement of
the Learned Counsel fur the prosecution, and the evi-
dence of the witnesses called in support of it, the fol-
lowing narrative of this domestic tragedy might be
gleaned :—The deceased, who was an agricultural la-
bourer, was a native of Acton, a small village near Sud-
bury, where also lived the prisoner, for whom, though
of no prepossessing appearance, he early in life con-
ceived a warm affection. They went to school together
in early youth, and worked together till she went to ser-
vice at the age of 16, when his boyish penchant ripened
into manly love. During her absence he frequently
visited her, and matters progressed between them
in this way till the autumn of last year, when the pri-
soner being about to pay a visit to, her aunt at Paken-
ham, a village on the other side of Bury, and twenty
miles from Acton, the lover became most desirous that
the marriage should take place, possibly because, like all
lovers, he fancied that every man would fall in love with
the lady of his affections, and he might lose his prize. Be
that as it may, according to Mrs. Morley'a testimony, he
earnestly urged the propriety of his being at once mar-
ried, and promised that he would allow his bride to pay
her promised visit to her aunt as soon as she pleased
after the ceremony—all he wanted was to be married
at once ; and being backed in his suit by the prisoner,
the ceremony took place at Acton Church on the 28th
or October, after which the young couple took up their
abode in the house of Mrs. Morley, with whom was
then living, besides her daughter, a son, Thonaav, aged
three years. John Foster having thus gained the long
eheristted object of his heart, was as happy in the pos-
session of his youthful wife as man could well be. On
the third morning they parted according to his promise.
lie handed her into the carrier's cart, and bidding
adieu to her, asks d if " she thought she would stay all a
.nonth?" To which she replied, " No, John. I'll be back
before." After the lapse of ten days she returned to
her home, and her husband's cup of happine,s seemed
filled to overflowing. He was happy as the was
long; worked with zeal, alacrity, and joyousness, in the
daily discharge of his " lot in lite." Ile was then, as be
had ever been, according to one of the witnesses, "
strong and blooming a young man as ever you seed;"
though he had, about a fortnight before, met with an ae-
sinent while leading a waggon of hay, but that hid Duly
produced a slight headache, a thing which his friend as-
ired him would soon pass off—as he " eaten had it on
Monlays—after a day's rest." This remark was fatly
verified. The deceased soon resumed his wonted cheer-
tuluess and strength, and on the 17th of November re.
turned from work to his evenieg meal with his friend,
singing all the way to that house whence he never de-
parted alive. On his arrival he partook of supper witty
his wife and her little brother, their homely meal con-
sisting of dumplings, potatoes, and tea. The milt had
no sooner partaken of his dumpling then he was taken
violently sick at the stomach, and obliged to go into the
yard. Soon after this his mother-in law, who had been
out all day washing, came home, and round him retching
violently in a basin, the contents of which she three
into a neighbouring ditch, where some fowls Mere in
the habit of picking up their scanty subsistence.
inning the whole of the night the poor man remained
in great pain; at four o'clock he tried to get up, but fell
down trim weakness, and on the following morning his
wife went to Melford for a doctor, whom she told her
husband had got a " bowel complaint," and asked to
come and see him that day. Deeming from her account
that his patient was suffering from English cholera, then
very prevalent, the surgeon prescribed accordingly, and
the prisoner took away the medicine, some of which she
gave to her husbaird. On her return she found him
worse than when she left him, and he finally died in her
arms at tour o'clock, soon atter which hour his mother
and the surgeon arrived. On the same day the fowls ad
died, and a post-mortem examination of the body of the
deceased was made by Mr. Jones, of Meltord. At
chat time no suspicion was engendered, and thus,
gentleman gave it as his opinion that the deceased came
to his death from English cholera; but suspicion being
afterwards excited by the death of the fowls in a sudden
Ind mysterious way, a further and more searching in•
quiry was deemed necessary by the coroner, and the con-
tents of the stomach of the deceased were taken to Bury,
where they were subjected to analysis by Mr. Image and
Mr. Newham, who unhesitatingly pronounced the pre-
sence of arsenic in great quantities, not only in the sto-
mach and its contents, but also in the crop of the fowls,
and a pudding bug, in which the prisoner had boiled the
dumplieg of which the deceased had eaten the night
nefore his death. Under these circumstances recourse

was had to the family for further information, and it was
ascertained that the prisoner had spent the day with the
mother of her husband " very comfortably," from twelve
to four, when she stated that she " must go home, for it
was dumpling night." Her brother was also called before
the coroner, when he stated that his sister had made one
dumpling for supper, of which they all partook. After-
wards, however, .he varied his statement, and then,
as was stated to-day, deposed to having seen his sister
make two dumplings on the night in question, into
one of which she . bad pat some powder out of a
paper, after which she burnt the paper, and put that
dumpling into a pudding-cloth. He is also repre-
sented to have stated that he and his sister supped
off a different dumpling, and did not partake of the
dumpling of which the deceased ate. In addition to
this it was shown that after the unfortuoate occur-
rence the prisoner had stated that " she wished she
had gone to Bury before she had married, for then she
would not have been married at all, and would have got
a good place." This she statt don the day after her
return from Bury, and also on that after her hus-
band's death, when she had gone into a neighbour's
house in tears, and asked .or leave to stay there
" while the doctor's opened John," which she could not
bear to witness These Nei* were for the most part
proved to-day, but the boy, when examined, though
he stated that he had seen his sister make the two
dumplings, and boil one for the deceased in a bag, de-
nied that he had seen her put anything into it from her
pocket, or burn any paper, and insisted in saying, that
ooth hie sister and himself, who had not exhibited any
symptcws of Illness, bad partaken of the same dumpling
with the deceased.

on this suojeet Mr. Image and Mr. Newham both de-
posed, that if the deceased had taken the poison in that
eumpling it was impossibl.. that any one else could have
tasted it without experiencing great Hitless and danger to
life from it.

At the close of the case for the prosecution, which oc-
cupii,d the entire day.
Mr. VOWER addies,ed the jury on behalf of the pri-
soner, strongly commenting on the extreme improba
bait), that. a Yong and recently married girl would per-
petrate so diabolterl a crime as the murder of bee hus-
band. Ile contended that there was an utter eb.ence of
all motive ou her part to commit such an outrage on
human nature ; and without direct proof that she had
bought any arsenic, or been known to be posse,sed of
any, the more reasonable inferen e was that the fiusb.ind
must have taken the poison, of which it was impossible
to deny he was the victim, elsewhere than at his own
home, and at some other meet Than the supper.
The CHIEF BARON most carefully and minutely went
over the whole evidence to the jury. pointing out to
them the peculiar features of the case, and calling their
attention to the facts which bore in favour of the
prisoner, as well as to those which went to support
the serious charge now under their consideration.
In his opinion it was not essentitlly necessary to
prove any motive in such a case, but it was for the
jury to say whether, uner all the circumstances which
had been deposed to, tbfl were of opinion that the de
ceased had come by his death from poison administered
to him in the dumpling at the Supper prepared for him

by his wife. If they thought that propo:iti.)u established,
the terious que.tion was, by what tu,ans th,,, poison catnv
into that dumpling, of t%hatever the boy might
sly. no ore could b-lieve that any one c ul l have eaten
•wi:hout !eelieg the iil tffi-ets of poison, as had b,en de
postd to intizt unhesitatingly by two eminent surgeons
wh, had been examined to day.
The jury retired for about twility minuteA to &Übe•
rate, and after that time returtei a verdict of Guilty.—
Se n rile., deferred.

The pristiner, who had stood unmoved duri: g th,
whole trial. received the verdict of the jury with a 61: gt
quit...ring of the lips ; 13,1 beyono that expression ut
feeling, which was .botnentary, she exhibited nut the
least emotion from th, first to the last moment rf the
inquiry which was fraught with such awful consequenc,s
to her.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT— t# al wick ,March 27.
This morning the Le-ivied Judges. Mr. B,aron Pa, ke
and Mr Justice Paite.son, attt-tided prayer, in St Mary's
Church; and at i,alf past nine o'clock Mr. Baron P,rk,
took his seat on the oeuei at Nisi Prius. Mr. Justice
Matteson did not enter the Crown C“urt until elt-wn
o'clock.

There wcre 25 cAuses entt•red, and tin, calendar
enumerated no fewer than 82 criminal charges, or 114
Frisonr•rs for trial.

CROWN COUR .'.—(l3efore Mr. Justice PATTESON).
SENTENCE UPON WELCH, TUE LATE TREASURER To THE

BIRMINGHAM BOARD OF GUARDIANS.
At the conclusion of the &limed Judge's charge to
the grand jury.
Joseph Mercy Yeomans Welch was placed at the bar to
receive sentence.

Mr. Just.ce PATTESON, addressing the prisoner, said
he was tried at the la,t assiz-s and convicted of emtaz
clement; but doubts being entertained upon one or two
points of law, th.) were reset d for the consideration
of the judges. I've judges were unatiimoasly of opinion
that the evidence was properly received, and that the
offence did come within the meaning of the Act of Par-
liament, and that consequently the conviction was good.
Considering all the circumstances, it was his duty to puss
the sentence which Mr. Justice Coleridge said he should
have passed at the last assizes had he nit reserved the
points submitted by your Learned Counsel—that is, that
you be transported for ten years.
The prisoner, who has apparently suffered much in
body anti mind since toe last assizas, was then removed
from the bir apparently in a state of stupefaction.
ATTEMPT TO MURDER E. WIFE.— WaS
plact d at the bar charged with cutting and wounding his
wife with iht,..nt to kill, murder, disable, or do her some
grievous bodily hat m.
Tile offence was stated to have been committed as far
back as the 24th of January, 1845. He was apprehended
at the time, but such was and has been the state of his
mind since that period, that it was not deemed proper
to put him upon his trial, or call upon him to plead.
To day, when placed at the bar, the prisoner pre-
sented a collected, ruddy, and healthy appearance ; bu
mare than once during the trial he betrayed symptoms
ot s ill existing insanity.
Sarah Bonney was then called. On her appearance
(her tacit still strongly seamed, the effects of the wounds
inflicted) the prisoner fixed his eyes upon her, and burst
into tears. tike deposed as fidlows:-46 I was married to
the prisoner in 1845, and lived at the Rainbow public-
house in High- street, Bordesley, Birmingham.
We lived together for three days after our
marriage. We were married on the Tuesday,
but I did not observe anything particular in his manner
until Friday. On the evening of that day we went to
bed as usual. Between two and three o'clock on Satur-
day morning I was disturbed by finding my husba.id
very restless. He sat up in bed, and appeared much
confused. He took his clothing from under the pillow,
and I saw he had a knife in his hand. When I observed
this I got out of bed, and went towards the doer. I first
of all tried to get the knife out of his hand, but I could
not succeed. Before I went to the door the prisoner
wounded his own thro,,t with a knife. When I Kent to
the slaor, he wounded me. He said, We have lived
together, we have loved together, and we will die toge-
ther. I found the loot. lock, d. lie wounded me with
a penknife in the throat, the face, and other parts of
the body. I fell on the floor. I had not at first my
senses, but I recovt rel myself a little, and ran to the
window. I broke a pane of glass, and cried out, Mur-
der,' w},en somebody brought a ladder to the window.
My husband also called cut, 6 Oh, see what they have
done !' When the window was opened my husband
got through. It was on the second floor that we
slept. Mr. White and Robert Fletcher came, and
also Mr. Archer, the surgeon. The morning after
our marriage the prisoner said he thought all his
friends were against him. His manner was much ex-
cited."

Mr. Justice PATTESON asked the prisoner if he wished
to ask his wife any questions?—The prisoner (almost
laughing outright') replied that he bad none.
Mr. John Archer, suro.on, of Deritend, Birmingham,
being sworn, stated that he was called in to Mrs. Burney
on the morning in question, and found her with a
wound 2i inches long on the throat, and an ther wound
2} inches long on the cheek. The wounds were inflicted
with a sharp instrument. He afterwards saw the pri-
soner ut Fletch, r's. He had a superficial wound in the
throat, one of his fingers was slightly cut, and there
were several slight stabs on the chest. The prisoner ap-
peared to be in a state of great excitement. He said,
"bee how they l.ave served me; they brought me three
days ago from a distance to be married." Heard him in
conversation with other persons, and from his manner
thought the vrisoner at the time was insane. He at-
tended Mrs. Bunney for several weeks afterwards. The
wound in the throat was dangerous.
The evidence 'of several medical men as to the -pri-
soner's state of mind was then taken. They stated that
he was decidedly insane.
The jury immediately Acquitted the prisoner on the
ground of insanity.