The Sun.
London, England, 1847-03-01 00:00:00

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lieved if
bad ex' to be in the handwriting of Miss Coutts. This lady
dared aibited articles of the peace against him, and had de-
"Por . that she believed her life to be in danger ; and yet,
coe this the judges had discharged him. What relianceiie
Jr' dd they now place on the oath of a party when t
.dges had discharged him from prison, where he had been
sent upon articles of the peace? as not Miss Coutts bound,
as a decent woman, as 'a lady, as a Christian, to tell him that
these letters were not in her handwriting, and that
he was under a deception? Would it' havedegrwoaudleddihtehravine
her dignity—would it have lowered her rank
been anything but common decency or common humanity to
have saidto Humphreys, who was snapping at everyopportu-
nity for 6s. Bd., to have said to him,"e and see ?,Ir. Dunn ; I
don't think he will take your I
. aassure
him
done I ha?
ve
Did
not
written any letter to him e ' liad. that been
they suppose that if he posted letters Miss Coutts did not
receive them ? And if the case stood upon that basis alone
he would ask this simple question,—had not Miss Coutts,
not hers,
if she received them, and the answers
wereand as unjustifiable com-
mitted upon him as gross, as wicked,fi a
fraud as had ever been committed upon man The first
letter which he had received from Miss Coutts in the
Fleet Prison was not so ridiculous as Sir F. Thesiger
wished to make. it appear. The commencement of it, which
would perhaps e
b sufficient, ran thus :
Art thou not dear unto my heart ?
Oh, search that heart and see,
And from my bosom tear the part
Which beats not true to thee."
If any one strove to play a trick upon him, the fact that the
letters were addressed by a strange hand, which he was able
to establish, would be sufficient to prove that intention. Who-
ever played such a trick must have had access to his letters.
His Lordship told him that he must not go into the origin
of the case, as the present inquiry was not connected with
it. lle, however, certainly did think it was, and he would
submit with all respect to the Noble and Learned Lord,
that the whole conduct of a party who did strange things, or
who was alleged to do strange things 'ought to be calmly and
dispassionately viewed, before the last act of the comedy
which Miss Coutts seemed to think it necessary to play at
his expense was consummated; and he thought that what
she did when he first had the misfortune to meet her—what
she did when he said, " Hand me back my letters, and I will
retire from your presence for ever," had very much the ap-
pearance of casting out an anchor to catch a man.—(Laugh-
ter. ) She was bound to have said to him, if she desired to
rid herself of him as an annoyance, "Sir, there is your trash ;
take it, and go home to your owa country ; I do not want it
—(Great laughter.) Mr. Dunn here entered into a long and
rambling defence of himself, in the course of which he
assailed the evidence of Miss Coutts, Mr. Marjoribanks, Sir
E. Antrobus, and the other witnesses called for the prose-
cution. He declared it to be still his firm belief that the
authority on which he acted was a good authority in point of
law, and he suggested, as a reason why Miss Coutts should
grant that authority, her compunction at the persecution he
had met with from her. The doggrel verses in which the
authority was conveyed he explained as originating in a de-
sire on the part of the prosecutrix to play fast and loose with
him. After a very long speech, the greater part of which
was spoken in a moderate tone of voice, he concluded by
imploring the jury, as they valued their own honour, to pro-
tect his.
The following evidence was then given for the defence :
Sarah. North—l was your servant in 1842 and 1843 in the
Fleet Prison. I know these two letters perfectly well. I
received them at your door in the prison from the post car-
rier, and gave them to you. I received three or four of
them ; one was a valentine. I recollect you sendiu replies,
and Captain Sutherland directed them, and you told me to
post them in Piccadilly, that it might not be known where
they came from. I did so. They were addressed to Miss
Coutts, 1, Stratton-street, Piccadilly. I lived with you in
the Queen's Prison also. I dare say I posted three or four
letters for you in 1842.
Cross-examined--One of the letters was a valentine. Mr.
Dunn used to show me his letters. I have heard him tell
Captain Sutherland about the letters.
Mary Turner—l, called upon yen at the Fleet, and you
asked me to poSt a letter, in 1812. I think I posted one to
Miss Coutts. It was directed by Captain Sutherland.
David Law—l am an accountant. 1 recollect your inter-
view with Wells in January or February, 1846, when two
letters were produced, .purporting to have been written by
Miss Coitus to Lord James Stewart.
Nathaniel Wells—l showed you two letters, purporting to
have been written by Miss Coutts, to satisfy you that the
letters you hail Were not in the handwriting of Miss Coutts.
I beg to state that the moment I produced the letters I
had Mr. Dunn said that those letters were not hers. The
opinion I formed was, that there was such a similarity in
the writing as there is between those of ladies who have
been taught by the same sort of master. My impression
was, that your letters were not in the writing of Miss Coutts,
and I have told you so from time to time. You told me
you should subpoena me, and I told you I did not wish to
appear, for I should be a witness against you. I said I had
seen .Miss Coutts sign one of the letters I had, which, how-
ever, wee untrue, but 1 did so to prevent finther annoyance.
Mr. Dunn wished to recall Mr. Law, to give a different
account of what took place.
Mr. Lew was recalled—Wells said that he could prove the
letters to Lord Stewart to be the writing of Miss Coutts, and
he then looked at your letters, and said there was a great
similarity ; and upon being asked by you if he was called as
a witness what ha would state, he said he would swear he
believed them to be in the writing of Miss Coutts.
Cross-examined—My acquaintance with Mr. Dunn has
been for seven or eight years, on very intimate terms. I
visited him twice at the Fleet and once at the Bench.
John Smith—l was post-master in the Queen's Prison.
There letters came through the Post-office.
Sir F. THESMER replied at some length, pointing out the
inconsistency of the defendant's speech, and the strong ad-
ditional reasons which that and the evidence supplied for
regarding his whole conduct as a deeply-laid scheme to ex-
tort money from Miss Coutts.
Lord- DEN3rA`.( summed up the'case. First, the jury had
to say whether- it was-the intention of the defendant to make
Miss Coutts a bankrupt, as that was laid in the indictment.
The rest of the indictment imputed to the defendant that be
falsely swore to those Verses being the composition of Miss
Coutts. That the oath was false, he (Lord Denman) took
to be completely proved, and the only question was as to the
defendant's knowledge of its untruth.
The jury at once returned a verdict of Guilty.
The defendant took some formal objection to the indict-
ment, which we did not distinctly catch, but which we un-
derstood to be that it had undergone material alteration.
Lord DEN3IAN having refused to sustain the objection,
Sir F. THESSCIER prayed for the judgment of the Court ; and
Lord DENMAN in a tone of great severity, and amidst the
most profound silence, ,aid—Eichard Dunn, you have been
convicted upon the clearest evidence of a most base and
malignant act, founded on the most corrupt motives, and
tending to the persecution of an individual who appears to
be in the highest degree entitled to respect, and evidently
incapable of doing that which you have imputed to her by
this affidavit; because, if there was nothing but the appear-
ance of the paper itself, no man in the possession of his
senses couli doubt that Miss Coutts never wrote that paper.
I cannot entertain the smallest doubt that that paper was
fabricated by yourself.
Mr. Dunn exclaimed— As I stand before Almighty God,
my Maker, I never did nor do I know whom' it came from.
May I never enter into the kingdom of God if I know who
wrote it.—(Great sensation.)
Lord DENMAN-7-It is very shocking to-hear a man utter-
ing 'such horrid imprecations. But you must remember
that a person convicted of perjury does not obtain much
credit for what he says.
Mr. Dunn—l know that; but—
Lord DENMAN (with increased emphasis)—Nobody can
doubt but that you have done it yourself, or put somebody to
• do it for you. You had no ground for supposing it was hers.
You have constantly persecuted her. I cannot forget what
I particularly know. Although legal defects may have
prevented your continuing in confinement, I cannot
turret the facts that were brought before us, and the
deep regret with which the judges of the land felt them-
selves bound to deprive that lady of the protection of the
law. That matter has been long before the public, and
• has gained 'a disgusting sort of familiarity. A person
during the course of eight years, from some absurd
imagination and perverted, judgment, but also from
most corrupt feeling throughout towards a pecuniary ob-
ject, seeks to persecute an individual by legal instrumentality.
This conduct no one throughout the country can think of
without some degree of shame, i hope we shall eradicate it,
and, in the present instance, I think it is most desirable that
the sentence should be immediately passed. I have doubted
whether it was nut my duty to pronounce sentence of trans-
portatien, but upon consideration, and particularly with
respect to the foiling of the public mind with regard to that
punishm nut, I stall pronounce a sentence of imprisonment ;
bat that must be severe. The sentence is, that you be im-
prisoned for eighteen months in the Queen's Prison, and give
securities at the and of that time, yourself in 1001., and two
sureties in 50/. each, for two years, and that you be then
imprisoned until those sureties be entered into.
The tip staff instantly removed Mr. Dunn from the Court.