The Sun.
London, England, 1847-08-07 00:00:00

SUICIDE OF A MURDERESS. ,
LINCOLN, At:G. s.—At the recent assizes for this
county Mary Ann Millner was sentenced
.to death by
Mr. Baron Rolfe for poisoning her mother-in-law, sister-
in law, and niece, in the village of Barnetby-le-Wold, by
mixing arsenic in food which they partook of. Her
execution was appointed to take place on Friday. last, at
noon, and crowds kept flocking into the city from all
parts to witness the dreadful ceremony. She, however,
avoided so ignominious a fate by hanging herself in the
cell she was confined in during the night. The sentence
of the law not being carried into effect at the usual place
and hour, led to the rumour that she bad been executed
within the walls of the prison.
The inquest on her remains was held on Saturday,
and the Rev. Mr. Ritchie, the chaplain, stated, that he
last saw her on Thursday night about eight o'clock, when
she seemed reconciled to her fate. She had made a con-
fession, and declared that she had nothing more to confess.
She said she felt that she bad made her peace with the
Almighty. She evinced deep sorrow for the crimes she
had committed, and sympathy for those she had sent un-
prepared out of the world. She wished him to write to
her husband and give him the best account he could of
her, and beg of him to take care of her child. On this
occasion she certainly betrayed more dejection than at
former times, but it was not of such a character as to
lead..him to suspect that she would destroy herself. He
had no doubt of her perfect sanity. Ile did not order
her a candle.

Mrs. Johnson, the matron, deposed that she last saw
the deceased on Thur.:day evening, about a quarter past
nine o'clock. She then seemed as well as she had been.
Did not notice anything particular in the room. De-
ceas..4l kept her clothes on an arm-chair by the side of
the bed. She had no person to sit up with her. There
as no candle in the cell. There was no order for wit-
ness to visit persons condemned to death more frequently
than others. She had been 18 years matron of the
prison, and during that period had had no order to have
a person to sit up with prisoners. She was the first
person who opened the door of the deceased's room, and
found her suspended against a cupboard door by a
handkerchief which she had round her neck. It was
affixed to a screw, which was used to secure books in a
closet.
- Mr. Nicholson, the governor, said that during his
governorship there had been no instance of a prisoner
having on the night previous to execution a person to
sit up in the cell. There was no order on the books for
a person condemned to death to have a person to attend,
and in this case there had been no departure from the
prison discipline. The magistrates intended to adopt
some regulation for the future. He had noticed the
handkerchief by which she had suspended herself. She
had formed a knot of such strength that, having once
put it round her neck, strangulation would inevitably
follow. He had heard the opinion of the public execu-
tioner, who stated that the knot was made in the
most dexterous manner.
W. Millsom, one of the principal turnkeys, assisted
in taking down the deceased. He felt her neck ; it was
cold and hard, as if she had been dead for some time.
There were two chairs near the cupboard door, and, by
jumping off either, she would suspend herself.
This being all the evidence, the jury returned a ver-
dict of b'elo de se, and the body was interred within the
precincts of the prison.
The Rev. Mr. Ritchie, the chaplain, has caused to be
published a correct statement of the confession the
wretched murderess made. He says, "On Wednesday
morning, the 21st of July, she confessed to me that she
did poison her brother's wife, by inviting her into her
house to eat a cake made of batter, into which she put
arsenic for the purpose. No further confession was
made till the morning of July 26th, when the prisoner
said she poisoned the infant daughter of her brother's
wife ; and when on a future occasion she was asked
how ? she said she put arsenic into its drink (tea, she
thought), and fetched the child into her house to give
it to her. In the evening of the same day she confessed
that she had intended to poison her husband's father,
by putting arsenic into a rice pudding ; but she de-
clared solemnly she never intended to poison her
husband's mother, and that if she died of poison it
must have been by accidentally eating some of the rice
pudding that was put away after the father had partaken
of it. This is the amount of her confession; and she
gave the following reasons for perpetrating the crimes:—
The prisoner said, that with regard to her brother's wife,
there had been much disagreement between the husband
and wife in which she herself was mixed up; that the
wife was continually vexing herself, and making herself
very unpleasant to her; and that, in revenge, she deter-
mined to rid both herself and brother of the wife and
child. When asked what induced her to attempt to
poison her husband's father, she said that his father and
mother did not treat her well; that they came to her
house on all occasions, as though it was their own, and
took and did what they liked, without regard to her, and
also that her husband gave them money and things,
which so exasperated her that she told him she would
leave him if he continued to do so; and that, finally,
she determined to poison his father. The prisoner could
give no other reason, and constantly declared that she
did not intend to poison his mother, that she had made
away with no one else, and that no one else was con-
cerned in the crimes she committed and which she had
confessed."
• The Secretary of State will doubtless direct a strict
investigation to be made into the affair, so as to ascer-
tain if any of the gaol authorities were guilty of neglect
while having charge of the culprit.

ALLEGED MURDEROUS ASSAULT
AT N E PORT.
On Monday evening last, about nine o'clock, a large
mob of men and boys came down High-street and on
towards the station-house, yelling vociferously ; and in
their midst, guarded by two men, was pushed onwards
a p,or half famished Irishman. At the last step from
the street into the . station, some gentle Christian be-
st,,wed a curse and a heavy blow upon the unlucky
Irishman'; head, as a threw-ea token of popular favour.
In an hour after down came the mob once more, :Aso-
!wily frantic, and shouting more than ever. " litre are
the other two murderers 1" they cried ; and in their
midst, tightly hemmed in by the mob, were two other
Irishmen, in rags, and very pale. To the station they
were also taken. And then rumour, with her thousand
tongues, cried out that these villanous Irishmen had
almost murdered a poor inoffensive navvy ! On Wed-
nesday, it was rumoured that the navigator died ! On
Thursday, accordingly, the examination was ordered to
come on. But the charge was only against one, John
Sheehy, the person who was said to have committed the
murder.
The first witness examined to-day, however, was the
murdered man himself, stout and strong. Aaron Goss,
sworn, stated as follows:—I am an excavator upon the
Pontypool line of railway, and on Monday evening last
was coming down the Marshes-road towards Newport,
about seven o'clock. I went to a fire on the side of the
road near the toll-gate, to light my pipe. Three or four
men, amongst whom was the prisoner, were sitting
against the wall, near the fire. I asked them to allow
me to light my pipe. I stirred the ashes about to see if
there was any fire. The prisoner said something,
and made a motion with a knife and fork
he had in his hands, as if to cut my boot, and I put
my hand to his arm to prevent it. I believe the fork
was in his left hand, and the knife in his right. He stuck
the fork into my bead on the left side. I believe he struck
me twice in the head with the fork. The knife and
fork produced by ThomasMedlam, constable, are the same.
He held the knife pointing at me, as if to stick me, and
he gave me a stroke with it, which cut my right hand
little finger. The blood from the stabs in my head ran
down the side of my face. My finger bled much. 1
caught hold of the prisoner by the arm, and seeing I was
cut, I got away from him. I came to Newport, and went
to the doctor. I am sure I did not push myself against the
knife or fork. The prisoner struck at me in the head
with the fork. Prisoner said he would cut me when
first went to the fire.
Cross-examined—I was not drunk. I did not ask you
for tobacco. I did not follow you to the farmer's house
or to any other house. I did not strike you. You said
you would cut my boot. I did not pull you down on your
back, because you would not give me tobacco. You did
strike me with the knife and fork. I did not see you
eating anything.
Mr. Win. Brewer, surgeon, sworn, said, on Monday
evening, somewhere about seven o'clock, the last witness
was brought to me. On examining his head, I found a
wound, which I am certain had not been done with a
fork. There was an incised wound on his finger. Ile
was very drunk. The cut on his finger might have
been done by seizing hold of the knife.—The case was
dismissed.
[lt is said that the " navvy" grossly insulted those
homeless people, while eating their miserable meal,
kicked out their fire, broke up their cooking apparatus,
and with drunken brutality gave them kicks and oaths,
and dragged a feeble old man along the road en his
back. If this be true—and it is stated to be—we cannot
wonder at the case being dismissed].
Henry MacMahon, surgeon in the 87th regiment, w. as
taken into custody under a judge's warrant, for fogng.
aker, at
a receipt for 271. 14s. 2d. on Luke Horner,
Pill.—He was removed in custody
Monmouthshire Merlin. to :lte'emtation.—
----

STATE OF TRADE.
YORK WOOL MARKET, AUG. 5.--There was but a
small show of wool at this day's market, and few buyers
being in attendance very little business was done. Prices
without alteration.
ENGLISH WOOL MARNNT, ALTO. 6.—The supply of
wool at market remains light for the season, and prices
here are not so high in proportion as those recently ob-
tained by the growers. There is a steady demand ; but
the buyers say they cannot afford to give an advance,
and therefore buy very cautiously.
LEEDS.—There was more business done at the Cloth
y'
Halls, both on Saturday and Tuesday, than on the two
previous market days, but principally for goods of low
quality and heavy winter goods. There is no alteration
in prices, nor do the stocks accumulate, although more
goods have been supplied from the country during the
last few weeks. Business has been dull in the ware-
houses this wf ek, but from the splendid harvest weather
we have had, and the fall in the price of corn in con-
s( quenee, there is a very general opinion prevailing
that business will improve as soon as the elections
are over.

BRADFORD MARKET, THURSDAY.—We have nothing
fresh to report from the last few weeks. This market
is very bare of wools, and will continue so while the
farmers demand the prices they are doing, as it is im-
possible to realise on them from the prices the _
manufac-
turers are offering. Noils and brokes are in pretty
demand, and a shade higher in price. Yarns—There
1 week.
is nothing fresh to report in yarns from last
general
Pieces—With respect to the p
dullness is complained of; whichiemccayrnbare attributed to
temporary causes. In both yarns and pieces prices are
without alteration.
MANCHESTER, THURSDAY EVENIII.G.—W
a very dull market for doth this week, e hare had
and prices are