The Sun.
London, England, 1841-09-10 00:00:00

tions of grain are not only abundant, but what has
wen thrashed is of good quality. Pastures were
never more rich and abunda,)t at this season of the
year ; in consequence of which, hay is selling at a
lower price than when put into the rick. The second
crop is in general, this season, fully equal to the first
—Scotsman.

SHOCKING MURDER.
(From the Bath Chronicle of 3 eAterday.)
The village of Box, and the little hamlets of Kings-

down and Box Ashley, were thrown into a state of uni•
versal excitement on Sunday morning, by the report
that a savage murder had been committed in Kingsdown,

on the previous night. The perpetrator of the foul
crime was in custody at Box, and the unfortunate vic-
tim was still lying in the cottage where the had lived
with her murderer. A post nzortenz examination of the
body was made by Mr Goldstone and another profes-
sional gentleman. A Jury (H. J. Mant, Esq., foreman),
had viewed the body, and the Coroner (Mr. Whit-
marsh), had given directions for the examination in
question. The Jury adjourned from the cottage to the
Grove public-house, at Box Ashley, where the several
w:tnesses were examined ; from whose evidence it ap.
peared that a man named Isaac Smith, a labourer, had
been living for some time with the deceased, whose name
was Ann Little, at the cottage in question. She was
about 40 years of age, Bed during the time she had co-
habited with Smith she had borne him several children,
one of which was an infant at the breast at the time

the savage outrage took place. They had been in the
habit of drinking together, and of quarrelling to a me-
lancholy extent for some time previous to this occur-
rence. On the evening of Saturday last they bad se-

veral pints of beer together at the Grove public-house,
which they left at about ten o'clock without any appa-
rent ill-feeling between them. On their way home,
however, they came to high words, and Smith re-
peatedly struck and kicked the woman, and when
she cried for mercy, the brute only struck and kicked
her the more. Soon after twelve o'clock, however,

they reached home, and the unfortunate woman was
placed in a chair, the inhuman brute who had so grossly
abused her, retiring to bed with some of his children.
About four o'clock in the morning one of the boys stole
out of bed and went to look at his mother, when he
was horror-stricken at finding her sitting in the position
in which they had left her when they went to bed—
stiff and cold ! The man aroused, and on the alarm
being given, Mr. Goldstone, the surgeon, was sent kr,
but his assistance was of no avail—the vital spark had
fled ! The man manifests a sullen indifference about
the melancholy occurrence. He is a tall athletic fel.
low, possessing a remarkably repulsive countenance.
The post mortem examination not having been con-
cluded, the inquiry was adjourned until the following
morning at ten o'clock.
On Tuesday morning Mr. Goldstone deposed that
he went to the cottage on the Sunday morning and saw
the deceased. He was called in to see her, and found

her in a sitting position, dead, in a chair, by the fire-
side. Her face was much bruised, and her clothes wet,
dirty, and bloody from the hips. He observed marks
of blood in the middle of the room about two feet

square, as if wiped or washed up. Her hands were not
stiff. She might have been dead three or four hours
when he saw her, which was about halt-past six. About
seven o'clock the same evening he was present when
her clothes were taken off. Her stockings and her
under garments were saturated with blood. He ex-
amined her shift, and found on the back of it a cut
an inch and a half long—cut as if with a sharp in-
strument. It was saturated with blood an inch from
the lower edge. On Monday he made a post mortem
examination of the body, and found the brain, heart,
lungs, liver, and intestines healthy. He found several
lacerations on the lower part of the body. He was of
opinion that they were recent. No disease could have
produced the appearance. They appeared to have been
produced by external violence, by perforation. It might
have been done by a knife, and with such a one as now
produced. He believed the haemorrhage resulting
from this laceration to have been the cause of death.
Found a bruise at the bottom of the abdomen, as if pro-
duced by a kick.
A knife belonging to the father, and one also belong-
ing to the son, were produced at the inquest, and were
taken in charge by Mr. Goldstone.
This being the whole of the evidence, the Coroner
summed up, after which the foreman, J. Mant,
Esq., addressed the Jury. He said, " Gentlemen, the
abandoned state in which the prisoner and deceased
have long lived is known to you all ; that such acts of
depravity as have been familiar to the parties must
cause less wonder at the awful termination of the life of
one of them. The expressions. used by the prisoner
enables me to form my opinion as to the verdict to be
given. Had not such or similar expressions been used,
I should have advised you to bring in a verdict of man-
slaughter ; but the words I allude to are those the
witness heard. After describing the kicks and blows,
she says he said to her, " D—n your eyes, get up, or
else I'll kill you directly." She said, " Isaac, help me
up—l an't able to bear it." He replied., " Don't be
so false, or I will throw you into the Itedge." They
then proceeded further on their way, and came oppo-
site the house of James Gale, wb 0, although he
was in bed, heard her cry out, Oh, my dear
Isaac." He then describes her lying on the ground,
which he saw from his window by th,e light of the moon.
Isaac Smith standing by her side erasing her. He then
saw him drag her along the road, and let her fall. He
then said, " D—n your eyes, if you fall in that way, I
will black both your eyes." Re then beat her with
both fists, and kicked her on the ground several times.
This witness heard the blows in his house, and heard
her groan three times, and watched them till he dragged
her out of sight. We have no further evidence as to
this than that he got her home, and carried and dragged
her there. You have, then, the evidence of the medi-
cal gentlemen who saw her. Of the verdict, gentle-
men, I think. there is only one opinion, that it should
be that of " Wilful murder."
After a short consultation, the Jury returned a ver-
dict of Wilful Murder against the prisoner, and he was
sent, up der the Coroner's warrant, to Devizes gaol.
The, following is a brief history of the deceased and
the -accused :
The accused is a widower, named Isaac Smith, known
as .‘ crafty Ike," a mason. The murdered woman is
Ann Little, with whom he cohabited, an unmarried
woman, of most abandoned character, the mother of
five illegitimate children, by different men. She was,
in her younger days, in good circumstances, but being
of a depraved turn of mind, went to London, and was
on the town. She returned to Box, and was latterly
residing at a cottage of her own at the point of Kings-
down, near the three firs, so prominent a land-mark
from the London road. The house has for some years
been the receptacle for thieves and persons of bad
character, and too often the produce of the night's
plunder—sheep and lambs having often been lost by the
neighbouring farmers, and traced to this locality.
Ann Little was not very long since convicted at the
Warminster Sessions of stealing potatoes, and
found guilty, fur which she was sentenced to three
months' imprisonment. Smith has himself five children,
but although given to habits of drunkenness is a hard-
working man, and bore a good character before the
death of his late wife, although it is reported he starved
her to death. The children, as it may be supposed, are
as ignorant as any heathens. Smith and the woman,
Ann Little, went to Box Church to be married ; the
banns were published, but they either had not the
money to pay the fees, or drank it away on their road
to Church—it is not known which—but they returned
home without the ceremony being performed, and con-
tinued to live together till the above fatal act put a
period to their illicit intercourse. A brother of the ac-
cused has been transported, and the eldest son of Little
is now in gaol. A report is current that the man was
jealous of the woman for. going to Bradford Fair, and
that he gave her a black eye.