The Sun.
London, England, 1833-03-25 00:00:00

LANCASTER, MARCH 22.

Peter Sharpie:, William Smith, and Leonard Green
were put to the bar charged with having telonioumly as-
saulted Nathaniel Cook, at Layton, near Preston, in this
county, and given him several mortal wounds and bruises,
whereof he died.

The three prisoners had been at Chnrley on Sunday, the
25th of November, drinking, and returned late at night
towards Preston, and met with the unfortunate deceased
in Layton-lane. A a itcess sp,ke to having pissed the
deceased, and shortly after meeting with the three pri-
soners going in the direction toward him. After the wit
ness had passed them a little way he beard a scuffle and a
cry our, and afterwards all three of the prisoners came
running hack. The deceased went on, arid was heard to
say. t. You villains, I know you all, I will make you beg
to me for mercy to- morrow, as I have begged for mercy to
you to-night." He went a little further along the road and
expired. Some persons came up, and a woman who hid
heard a scuffle procured a lantern, but the poor man was
quite dead.
The Learned JUDGE summed up the case, and the Jury
found all the prisoners Guilty.
Tory were sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment
and hard labour.

William Kay and George Morley were charged with
having, on the 16 h of °wither last, assaulted Henry
Longworth on ti e highway at Duxbury, and robbed him
ot 10.4 and a box ; and also with having. on the same
night, assaulted and robbed one John Rosthorn, on th-
highw .y at Heat.. Clam ek, and roblied him of two
handkerchiefs and a rule, his property. Morley pleaded
" Gulf)," to both charges, and Kay pleaded " Not Guilty."
Toe Jury, afer a coOsideratde thliberation, fund them
The prisoner K immediately burst into an agony of
grief quite unusual in such cases, and implored the Judg
to make a fort, er inquiry into the truth of his statement,
for that if be had power to develop the truth his innocence
woudi appear. . . .

The JUDGE told Morley hi 4 life would he spared, hut he
must not expect turfher to rcy, and promised Kay to make
every inquiry in his power to ascertain the truth of his
atatement.

surgeonl,:iwing
NORFOLK CIRCUIT.—NoRwIcir, ALutcH 22.
Many Wright was indicted for the murder of her hus-
h 'Lid, by «dmiiiis «ring arsenic ro him in a plum-cake.
Mr EvaNs conducted the case. The deceased w is a
Idibiiurer in the employ of a per•on of the name of %Vales,
at
Wig iton, in this county, and on the Is' day of De
e.d.mber last was sent by his master to the village of
Clay, with a lad of c ire.
About two o'clock in the
afterndin, just as he was about to return home with his
empty team, he was take. violently ill, and was re
moved in a state of great agony to a public-house. A
was sent for and proper remedies applied, and the
possible attention was paid to him, but, in spite
utmost
these endeavours to save him, the man died on the
following
,l
morning, the 2di of December, which was on
Sunday. It was at first imagined that he had died 01
cholera, and he was therefore buried on the day afrer his
death. In the course of the same day, however, the fa-
ther of the prisoner died also, under very suspicious cir-
cumstances, awl as he lived with the prisoner and her
husband, the suspiciiin rested on her. The body of the
husband was in consequence disinterred, and the Coroner's
Juries returned verdicts of wilful murder aeainst the pH
soner. On examining the sromach of the deceased, it
was found to contain an appearance of some acrid matter.
The tests for ascertaining the presence of arsenic were ap-
plied by competent medical men, and the result was such
as to leave no doubt in their minds that the husband apd
the father of the prisoner both died of poison, and that
that poison was arsenic. In order to connect the pri-
soner with this atrocious double murder, it appeared that
about a month before the death she had applied to a girl
of the name of Anne Cross fir some poison, for the
purpose, as she alleged, of killing rats. This girl gave her
some white powder, but what it was, or what b« came of it,
was tact at all eatisfactorily shown. It was attempted, on the

part of the prosecution, to show that the prisoner was about
that period jealous of her husband, whom she imagined to be
too intimate with a woman named Bright. Two days
before he died she observed to another woman that " she
should not mind running a knife into him, or doing his
business in any other way." On the same day she went
to the shop of a druggist, but, as there were other persons
there at the time, she said to a woman who was with her.
that " she would wait till they came out, when she
would go in and ask for the arsenic for Frost, the rat-
catcher, who had gives her sixpence to buy some." Frost, on
his examination to-day, said he never authorized the prisoner
to purchase any arsenic or other poison for him. She then
went to the shop of Mr. Bull, a chymist, and asked for
sixpennyworth of arsenic; anti, on being told that that
quantity would poison all ther its in the country, she pur-
chased three-pennyworth, weighing three ounces. She
told a person on the following day (two days before the
death) that she had bought some suet at Mrs. Leader's to
make a short cake. This person replied, " What, then,
you've a short cake for dinner ? ' To which the prisoner
answered, " No, not fur dinner ; I shall have to look for
my hush nd and father, and shall make a short cake, sure
enough, bu' net for dinner." This chain of circumstances
constituted the principal evidence against the prisoner.
In ad iirion to a denial of the fact, a defence of insanity
was put forth by the accused ; and Mr. SYDNEY TAYLOR,
who was counsel for her, proved that her mother had been
fur a lonz while confined in a lunatic asylum. Besides
this, a Mrs. Frost, who hod assived the prisoner in the
delivery and nursing of her family, proved that about.
Easter last she (the prisoner) was confined, and after a
very severelthour was seriously ill—so much so as, in the
opinion of the witness, to produce insanity. S!,e burst
her child's cradle, set fire to the chairs and bedding in the
house, and could never bear to nurse het infant. Once,
during the harvest, 'he went to the nurse in the field.
mod tuulf her th it she was going to gavier a quanity t f
kidney-beans, and invite all the beat r folk to have a fuelic.
She then returned home and took a raz it., and proceeded
to the fieds with it ; but byinz followed by her husband,
she turned hack. She frequently told the witness that slue
haul seen the devil sitting a-top of a tree. Before this
malady coming upon her she had been very neat and c can
in the management of her house, but since then she could
not hear to have it cleaned.

Mr. Cross, an eminent surgeon in this city, and one of
the witnesses for the prosecution, stated that, supposing
the account of this witness to be true, and looking to no
other circumstances, he was of opinion that doting the
period spoken to by her the prisoner was not in a sound
state of mind. The period, however, was only from
Whitsuntide to Michaelmas (when the witness quitted her
service), and cohsequently did not bring the alleged in-
sani•y within two months of the death of the prisoner's
husb ind : and the other witnesses in the case had not ob-
served ahy symptom of insanity at all.
Toe Jury found eh! prisoner Guilty, and that she was
of sound mind at the time of committing the murder.
The Leaned BARON immediately pissed sentence of
D •ath on the wretched woman, in an address which, from
the impressive terms and manner in wh ch it was delivered,
had a very powerful effect upon the feelings of the woman
awl the auditory.
This being over, Mr. TAYLOR, on behalf of the convict,
put in a plea in bar of her execut on fur the present,—
thatshe was in a state of preenam.y.

Mr. Baron BOLLA ND then direc•ed the sheriff to sum-
mon a jury of matrons to try the truth of the plea, and
after some delay 12 married women were put into the
jury box, and sworn " to try according to the best of their
aoility and skill whether the prisoner was pregnant with a
quick' child," and to deliver a true verdict on the pre-
mises. The jury retired, and after an h ,ur's examina-
tion of the woman, they returned into court with a verdict
that the prisoner was not pregnant with a " quick" child.
This unusual proceeding excited great interest in court;
no one, probably, of the spectators having ever before wit-
nessed a similar scene.

Mr. TAYLOR Okayed to the Court, that the supposi
tion of a •' qu ck child," upon which the old law was
founded, was an ancient error,swhieh the progleis f
science in modern times had exploded, and the best me
decal jurists repudiated. It would be a serious responsi-
bility if an innocent life were taken because law rejected
the light of science—medical men were better authorities
than unlearned women.

The Learned JUDGE observed that the I,w impose 4 cer-
tain dude.; upon him which he mu•t perform, but he
would take the su ject into his -erious consideration.
This day (Saturday) Mr. Baron BOLLAND informed
Mr. Taylor that he had considered the objection which
he had made the evening before, and had consulted three
eminent medical men, and the result of the inquiry we-,
that he had come to tbe determination not only to stay
the execution, but to respite the sentence generally.
We omitted to mention that during the trial the pri
sorter fell upon the floor suddenly in strong fits, and was
carried out of Court. where she received medical assistanc,.,
which delayed the proceedings for some time. When
sentence of death W4B pronounced she spin fell in a si
nrlar fit, and her •bricks and apparent agony produced a
general sensation of horror throughout the Court.