The Sun.
London, England, 1847-11-10 00:00:00

SUSPECTED POISONING-
TIVERTON, MONDAY.—The magistrates have, been
again occupied a considerable time h.! investigating
the supposed murder of Richard Pis her, a farm
labourer, at the village of Morchard, a few rail es dis-
tant. Two other persons, Thomas Leach and Mary
hHodge, sister-in-law of the unfortumate del .-:eased,
ealedeen apprehended on suspicion or beim con- yin apprehended
his death, and, with the -widow,
Ann Fisher, have been committed to the county gaol
for trial at the ensuing assizes. It was ascertained
beyond all doubt that he died from the efli ,cts of
arsenic. He was 71 years of age, and his wife 32,
a•nd at the time of his death they had not been mar-
ries
three months. It may be mentioned, that she
had been married previously, and her husband, John
Lee, died as late as February or March last. The
deceased rented a small piece of land in the above_
named village, and occ:cts;ionally worked for a Miss
Partridge, in the neighbO,athood. It would appear
that they lived comfortably together until the 25th
of August, when she left her house, tat. ing with her
some papers of importance ack . an account of the
amount of wages due to him iyalm Miss Partridge,
V- or 61. The latter she endeavour f'd to obtain, say-
ing that her husband was:ill and wb:ntei the cash,
but Miss Partridge having been cautioned' :not to
give it to her, she failed in getting it. As subse-
quentlyamertained, he had quarrelled with' her about
a young xuan named Thomas Leach. He susp, acted
that a certain intimacy existed between them, and
found fault with her for allowing him to kiss her.
Notwithstanding this ill-feeling, deceased eux*,yed
Leach on the 26th to reap, and in the evening Ise was
permitted to sup in the house with the other la-
bourers By this period the wife had returned: home,
and she joined the party. The deceased probab7l: y from
a desire not to continue in their company, ret:i red to
bed at an early hour, and they kept it up until be aween
one and two o'clock in the morning, the wife c..; iusing
Leach to be seen home in a cart. The poor d man
again complained of his wife sitting up so late with
the party in question, and on the morning of the 27th,
after breakfast, he complained of being unwell. He
went to bed and remained in a bad state all day. At
four o'clock on the next morning (the 28th) the wife
called her sister, Mary Hodge, up to attend tl ie de-
ceased, as he was seized with a violent retching; , such
was their statement before the coroner and magis ti ate.
Upon Hodge arriving, the wife begged her to I ook
after him, as she was going to Woodford f .)1 • a
doctor, adding that she had made some tea in a h a If-
pint cup, which she was to give him if he was thirs Cy.
He died at half-past six o'clock. Mr. Haley, s
surgeon who was called upon to visit the poor ms tn,
did not see him till eleven o'clock, when he
was dead. He was told that the decease d
had died at half-past six o'clock, but, frog
az
the condition of the body, he thought that
life had been extinct more than eight or nine hours...
The post mortem examination of the body, and the,
analysation of the contents of the stomach, detectecE
the presence of arsenic sufficient to produce death. It.
was also shown by a Mr. Wood, druggist, of Tiver-.
ton, that she called at his shop, accompanied by as
woman, about the first Tuesday in August, and pro-
cured half an ounce of white arsenic, to destroy rat::.
These facts induced the magistrates to commit the
widow for trial on a charge of having administered
the poison to the deceased. The police then sifted
other suspicious facts, which told considerably against
the sister-in-law, Mary Hodge, and Leach. Their
apprehension was determined on, and, on being exa-.
mined before the magistrate, they, as previously an-
nounced, sent them also for trial at the assizes, to be
holden in March next.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.
BETTING AT MANCHESTER—TUESDAY.
CHESTER CUP (enter or not)-1000 to 12 agst Mathe-
matician (0-1000 to 12 offered agst any other.
MANCHESTER TRADES CUP (enter or not)-1000 to
20 offered on the field. Offers to take 15 to 1 about
Scott's lot.
DERBY.-1,100 to 100 offered on the field-20 to I
agst Springy Jack (offers to take)-25 to 1 agst Load-
stone (offers to take).