The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-07 00:00:00

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Du'Attu zortwo I:o4=tuti4o.44.4tivili
OA Thursday told Friday an inquest was holden 41,.
Cambridge before Mr. C. H. Cooper, on the Codyt
Elizabeth Howe, an unfortunate girl, who had be en
living in BarnwelL A good deal of interest was excitt d.
in consequence of it being understood that death resulted
from the deceased having caught a violent cold at. the
Spinning-house, by being put into a damp bed. Tie
Rev. Mr. Kingsley, of Sidney College, the junior proctor,
was present during the examination.
Mr. Newby, surgeon, stated that he was called in to
attend the deceased. Her complaint was rheumatic
fever, and she was unable to move. Her pulse was beat-
ing 120 a minute. She told him that she had been put
in the Spinning house, where she had slept in a damp
bed. She stopped there, however, only one night, and
was liberated in the morning. Ile considered the cause
of her tit ath to be rheumatic fever.
thaEtdEwlaizradbeWthilsiionw'kepe
eweasr of the Spinning-house,
eoturnittedonthe.eveni sangli
of
theti'" 6PrhocotforNs.ovAemnboethr
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girlthe nß:ivn.eAdlrkliinigngus.alesyk,,rtzg.
brought
with her. They were put in the same ward. The w in-
flows of the room are cased with iron. One of the iron
easements has a piece of glass to admit light. Toe
whole used to be glass, but the gir:s break them, and
now the windc,w is sheet iron except a square. This
square was not broken the night deceased came in. The
room is well protected from the weatnr. If it is a wet
night there is generally a fire. I believe there was no
fire on the night of the 6th of November.
By a juror—I am acting both fur Mr. Wright and the
University.
The Rev. Mr. Kingsley examined—l am one of the
proctors. :I recollect apprehending Elizabeth Howe.
She was not behaving disorderly or indecently. I ap-
prehended her because the constables, who were with
me, knew her to be a prostitute. It was between eight
and nine o'clock. I did not know she was a prostitute
of my own knowledge. She went quietly. I am but
partially acquainted with the internal arrangements of
the Spinning-house. It appears to me to be a proper
place to confine females. I don't know how females
are accommodated in gaols.
CORONER-Have you instructions as to your duties,
otherwise than the statutes of the University? Wit-
ness—l refuse to answer.

CORONER—You must, sir. I have a duty to perforn.
which, as judge of this court, I will perform.
Witness.—l have no other instructions. I have never
read the charter of Queen Elizabeth, giving the universiTy
power to apprehend disorderly persons. Deceased was
reprimanded the next morning and discharged. The
deceased came so quietly that I recommended her dis-
charge to the V ic.-Chancellor. One other girl was with
her, who did not go orderly. There were no members
of the University in their company when we apprehended
them.

By a juror—l am not certain that I have seen the in-
terior of the cell. I believe I was in it a few days ago.
I merely delivered her to the keeper. The glass was
broken the last time I saw the cell. I believe the Uni-
versity have power to cause the apprehension of prosti-
tutes in the streets, although they may not be mi,,con-
ducting themselves.

Eliz; Wright said—l was in the Spinning-house on the
sth of November. I was taken on the 4th. I was locked
up in a small cell. I was by myself. The bed was not
made. I could not see to make it, so I lay down with
my clothes on. The bed clothes were very damp; they
consisted of three blankets and a quilt. I was not ill
when I was taken to the Spinning-house; but when I
was there I was taken ill with a bad cold and pains in
my bones. Eliza Green was brought into the Spinning-
house when I was there. We both asked Wi!son for rs
fire. He said he would not have a fire for two girls. I
knew Elizabeth Howe. I saw her the morning she came
to the Spinning-house. She looked cold, and put her
hands to her chest as if she were ill. Saw her afterwards
at the house were she was lodging, but she was not sen-
sible then.

Some other witnesses who had been confined at the
same time spoke to the cold and damp condition of the
cells, and that the deceased appeared very ill on leaving
the place in the morning.
The evidence,being now closed, the Coroner proceeded
to sum up. In the first place they would consider whe-
ther death had resulted from exposure to the weather
in the Spinning bouse ; and if they were satisfied
on this point, they would ascertain whether any party
was criminally culpable. The circumstances under
which the deceased was apprehended appeared to be
these. She was beyond doubt a person coming within
the description of a common 1 risti ute, but it was
proved that at the time she was taken into custody she
was not conducting herself disorderly or indecently.
With respect to prostitutes so misconducting themselves
the Legislature bad provided that they should be deemed
idle and disorderly persons, and punishable as such
under the Vagrant Act, but the University officers
claimed the extraordinary power of apprehending with-
out warrant, any prostitute whatever found within the
town and precincts of Cambridge. The Rev. Mr.
Kingsley had stated that he believed the University
officer had the power to do so, but referred to no autho-
rity, and mentioned it only as a matter of opinion. This
power was really claimed under a charter of Queen
Elizabeth, granted to the University in 1561,
by which she empowered the masters, &c., to search
and scrutinize in the town and suburbs, and in Barnwell
and Slurbridge, for all common women, vagabonds, and
others suspected of evil, and should they be found guilty-,
to be imprisoned, banished, or otherwise, as the chancel-
lor or his vice-regent should deem fit. This grant was
clearly bad of common law, but ten years afterwards the
University obtained an Act of Parliament, by which it
was confirmed in a more ample manner, and in effect the
charter became an Act of Parliament. Large as the
power grouted was, he (the Coroner).had great doubts
if its powers were ample enough to justify, an arrest
without warrant ; but still, looking to the practice
which had prevailed for so many years, he was not
prepared to say that in point of law the arrest of the
deceased had been illegal. If it were, it would in-
volve Mr. Kingsley in a charge of manslaughter, inas-
much as it would be a violation of the liberty of the
subject, and the law was, that if death resulted, though
unavoidably, from a trespass, the trespasser was guilty of
manslaughter. The Learned Gentleman then adverted
to the place in which the deceased was confined, and ob-
served that the evidence fully showed the miseries to
which the poor creatures who were committed there were
subjected. He hardly thought they would be justified
in returning a verdict which would affect Wilson, the
keeper. The fault appeared to him to be rather in the
system than in the individual.
The jury after a lengthened consultation returned the
following verdict:—" We find that Elizabeth Howe died
of rheumatic fever, caused by a violent cold caught at
the Spinning-house, on the night of the 6th of November,
she having been conveyed thither in the custody of
William Townley Kingsley, proctor of the University,
and confined for that night in a cold and damp cell,
from the effects of which she died. The jury cannot
separate without expressing their abhorrence at a system
which sanctions the apprehension of females when not
offending against the general law of the land, and con-
fining them in a gaol unfit for the worst of felons. The
jury also request the Coroner to forward a report of the
whole of the proceedings to the Secretary of State for
the Home Department."