The Sun.
London, England, 1841-10-12 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 12, 1841.

THE MURDER AT AMPTHILL.

On Saturday an inquest, which had been twice pre-
viously adjourned, was resumed before Mr. Eagles,
Coroner for Bedford, at Ridg-mont House, the residence
of Mr. Crouch, an opulent farmer of ilidgmont, near
Ampthill, Bedfordshire, to investigate the circumstances
connected with the death of Miss Mary Anne Crouch.
aged 19, his niece, and daughter of Mr. William Crouch,
of Chalfont.

The deceased, together with the whole family, had
been poisoned, and suspicion alighted on Ann Lee, the
cook in the service of Mr. Crouch, who was about to
leave her situation, and a male servant named George
Peppot.
Mr. Greene, solicitor, of Woburn, was in attendance
on behalf of the family of Mr. Crouch; and Mr. Richards,
solicitor, of Ampthill, on behalf of the prisoner Ann Lee.
Peppot had no adviser.

From the evidence read over by the Coroner, it ap
pears the circumstances were as follow:

On the morning of Saturday, the 25th ult., the cousin
of deceased, a young lady, named Dover, who was on a
visit to Mr. Crouch's family, at Bidgmont, prepared to
make some cakes, as the deceased and other friends were
expected on a visit the following day. The batter being
prepared, Miss Dover required some yeast, but being
unable to procure any, she desired the cook, Ann Lee,
to let her have a little soda. The accused, Lee, said she
had some ready for use in the spice-box, and handed it
to Miss Dover, who mixed it with the batter. On the
same day the family dined off rump-steaks, partridges,
and sago-puddings, which were partaken of by the whole
of them. Shortly after dinner the whole of the family
were taken very ill, and vomited violently. On the fol-
lowine day (Sunday) the deceased, accompanied by a
friend, Miss Ann Gazlee, arrived oa a visit from Chal-
font. They partook of wine, and ate a considerable
quantity of the cakes which Miss Dover had made.
Miss Gazlee, however, ate the most, and shortly after
was seized with violent fits of vomiting, and brought
great deal off her stomach. The deceased, however,
was unable to du so, and, notwithstanding medical aid
was called in, she died on the day following. A post
mortem examination of the body was subsequently made,
and the contents of the deceased's stomach subjected to
chemical analysation ; and it was discovered that they
were impregnated with a large quantity of arsenic. The
remainder of the steaks were discovered to be impreg-
nated with the same deadly poison, which the medical
men declared to be the cause of the deceased's death.

Betsey Galon, the housemaid, deposed to having eaten
a small quantity of the batter with which Miss Dover
was making the cakes, and being . very ill for two or
three days afterwards, but %% as unable to account for the
cause of it.

Mr. Roberts, a grocer of Ampthill, proved that the
prisoner Peppot, a few days before the occurrence, had
purchased a quantity of arsenic of him at his shop, say-
ing it was for his master, Mr. Crouch, to destroy rats
with. He had since, however, ascertained that he had
purchased it without the slightest knowledge of his
master.

The CORONER asked the accused parties if they wished
to say anything in the matter ? They both declared
their innocence, and Peppot stated that he dined on the
remainder of the partridges after they came from the
dining-room on the Saturday ; and Lee, the cook, said
she ate some of the steaks, and neither of them felt any
ill effects from having done so. They could not account
for the soda and pepper being mixed with arsenic. Pep-
pot declared that he bought the arsenic of Mr. Roberts
to kill rats, and nothing else; that he never put it in the
cupboard where the spice or pepper was kept, and that it
was all used for the purpose he stated.
The CORONER sanim(l up at considerable length, ex-
pressive of regret that there was no distinct evidence to
convict any party of having committed the horrible and
inhuman crime which had led to the deceased's death.
The Jury then retired, and, at a late hour, returned
the following- verdict :—" That the deceased Miss Mary
Anne Crouch, on the 27th of September last, (lied from
the effects of poison, in eating a cake in which soda was
used instead of yeast, which soda contained arsenic wil•
fully and maliciously put into the same, by some person
or persons unknown, for the purpose of destroying life."
On the delivery of the verdict, Ann Lee exclaimed,
" If she had done it, it was by. accident, and not wil-.
fully and maliciously ; that was wrong."
The prisoners were then told by the Coroner, as far as
he was concerned they were released from custody.

THE LATE STORM.

The storm which raged here with so much severity in
,he beginning of the week, was felt with equal force along
the east coast. At Berwick, on Tuesday night, a vessel
from Bremen came ashore at the Magdalen Fields, and,
melancholy to relate, all on board perished ; a few frag-
ments drifted ashore from the wreck, and which were
found next morning, were all that remained to tell the
tale. On the same night another vessel attempted to
take the harbour, at no time a very easy undertak-
ing, and peculiarly dangerous in a rough sea, such as
then raged along the coast ; in the boiling flood the
helm lost its power, and she was driven ashore on
Spittal Beach. The crew were got out in safety, and
next morning the vessel herself was got off the beach,
and brought up to the quay. On Thursday morning
a small schooner trading between Hull and Glas-
gow, through the Union Canal, and which had encoun-
tered the gale of the previous day, attempted to take
Berwick harbour, with four feet water in her hold ;
after much difficulty she succeeded, the storm having
' somewhat abated of its violence. It is also reported
that the Eclipse steamer, trading between Newcastle
and Hull, was lost in the gale, but we have not been
able to ascertain the particulars. The streams on the
east coast were much flooded. The small rivulet, the
Eye, which, taking its rise among the Lammermoors,
fails into the sea at Eyemouth, had burst its banks on
Thursday, and had made sad havoc amongst the tur-
nips and stocks in the fields on its sides. Some of these
were standing amongst the water, and one field of tur-
nips, a little way above Ayton, was entirely immersed
in the flood. The Esk, the Water of Leith, and the
other streams in our own vicinity, were also much
flooded.
GLASGOW.—Since Monday the weather has been very
ungenial ; throughout Wednesday rain fell in torrents,
and yesterday was dull and showery. Fortunately little
grain is out in this district, if we except the high lands
in the precincts of Cumbernauld, where much oats, barley,
and black victual, are still exposed. A single week of
dry breezy weather would, however, take every thing
from the field, to the stack-yard.—Herald.
ROXBURGIISIIIRE.—Since Sunday last this district of
the country has been visited by constant rain, accom-
panied by violent gusts of wind, which have proved very
injurious to the crops still lying out. On Wednesday
morning the Tweed and the Teviot rose to a great height,
and the other tributaries of the Tweed, particularly the
Eden, have swollen to such an extent, as to overflow
the adjoining banks and fields.—Kelso Mail of Thursday.
DuxDaE, OCT. B.—From Friday till Monday we had
fair weather, with moonlight ; but on Monday night it
began to rain. On Tuesday the rain continued, with
the day exceedingly stormy—so much so, that the mail
was an hour and a half later than usual, and the Edin-
burgh steamer did not venture to brave the boisterous
surge ; in fact, it blew a perfect hurricane. Through-
out the night it cleared up ; but it rained again yester-
day, and it is to be feared that the late weather must
prove detrimental to those crops still outstanding.
LEEDS.—On Monday night the rain fell in such tor-
rents that the Bradford Beck overflowed its banks, and
the lowest parts of the town were in consequence inun-
dated. The water, however, subslilel without doing any
material damage. The barometer on Tuesday night
sunk to the exceedingly low point of 28. 15-100ths.
Heavy rain fell in the night, which caused the rivers to
overflow their banks. In the south and west of England
the weather has been extremely unfavourable during the
last fortnight.—Leeds Mercury.
KEITH.—GREAT FLOOD.—On Wednesday week, this
neighbourhood was visited with a very heavy fall of rain,
from which the crops have suffered severely. The rain
fell in torrents, such as we are little accustomed to (ex-
cept, perhaps, occasionally for a few minutes during a
thunder-storm in summer), and continued, without in-
termission, till nearly eleven. The Isla and her diffe-
rent tributaries became rapidly swollen, and by the time
the rain began to abate, had assumed rather an
alarming aspect—the I; hole baughs, from brae to brae,
where the Burn of Haughs joins the Isla, being
under water. The consequent destruction and loss of
crop was great, the rise being so very sudden that it
was in many cases impossible to save the crops within
reach. At times, the water might have • been said to
be covered with corn, giving active employment to the
people along,the banks, who were intent on saving as
much as possible from destruction. Here might be seen
a couple of houacks;as they are called, going bodily down
the stream, and nodding to each other as they passed—
there a whole bevy of stooks leaving their quiet rest ;
and, instead of to the stackprd, betaking themselves to
the stream, where, after being tossed for a while on the
troubled waters, they sought shelter in some turning of
the stream, or went far beyond their owners' ken.
Owing to the late unfavourable weather—which has
prevented the crops from being housed, though nearly
the whole are cut—there was much more at the mercy
of the waters than we remember to have seen at once on
any former year ; and several of the owners have suffered
severely. But, great as the loss of crop is, we would
be happy were this all. We regret, however, that we
have to add the loss of life, in circumstances of a pecu-
liarly distressing character. The sufferers were a bro-
ther and sister of the name of Wilson, children of a
small crofter in Cairney, the eldest being but about four-
teen years of age. It would appear that, having to pass
over the Burn of Ardonald, they found it much swollen,
too much so, as the boy, the eldest of the two, must have
thought, for his little sister to be able to wade. The poor
fellow, therefore, took her on his back and entered the
water, but even he was not able to resist the increasing
force of the stream ; and, rather than lose hold of his
sister, strugeled till the current carried both down, and
they perished together.—Aberdeen Herald.

BRIGHTON, SUNDAY.— Another dreadful
gale from the south came on here this morning. Some
eighteen fishing-boats were out, but fortunately they
arrived all safe in the course of the day. Such a con-
tinuation of hurricanes and rain has not been witnessed
here for many years.
THE STRIKE OF MASONS.—The 16 men
who worked on Friday and Saturday, together with
eight youths, went to work again yesterday morning ; but
five men, who arrived from Newcastle on Thursday
night, returned yesterday, having refused to go to work.
They were-told that seventy of the men who had struck
bad returned to work, which induced them to come to London. Two men who have been to work since the strike and left it, applied yesterday for their tools,
but were refused them ; and they will, it is said, apply
at once for a summons fur Allen to Appear before the
Magistrate to show cause on what ground he refuses the
application. The men seem determined not to return to
work unless Allen is discharged.