The Sun.
London, England, 1834-04-07 00:00:00

THE SAME V. AYRES.

This was another action of the same nature, but the
trial was postponed to the next assizes in consequence
of the illness of one of the witnesses.

CHESTER, APRIL 4,

This afternoon Samuel Thorley, a tall and very
respectable-looking man, 30 years of age, a nursery
and seedsman, residing at Northwich, was put to
the bar, indicted for the wilful murder of Mary
Pemberton, a person to whom he was attached, 21
years of age, at Leftwich, near Northwich, on the
6th of December last. The intense interest mani-
fested by all classes to hear the trial was so great
that the court was crowded almost to suffocation,
and hundreds could not obtain admission. As the
officer of the court was about to arraign the pri-
soner, _ .

Mr. COTTINGIIAM, counsel for the prisoner, rose
and said he was instructed by the friends of the
prisoner to say that he was not in a fit situation to
plead, being up to the present moment labouring
under the same delusion as at the period of the
commission of the offence.

His Lordship knew nothing of the state of the
prisoner's mind. The indictment must proceed in
the regular way, and he must be called upon to
plead.
As soon as the prisoner waf arraigned, he, in a
firm voice, said, " I am guilty."
Mr. COTTINGHAM craved that a plea of not
guilty might be entered upon the record, as in the
case of Jonathan Martin, tried for the burning of
York Cathedral. If this was done, he thought be
should be able to prove that the prisoner had been,
when the crime was committed, and was at the pre-
sent moment, labouring under strong delusion.
Mr. Dunstan, governor of the gaol, was called,
and deposed that since the day he came into his cus-
tody he had not manifested any signs of insanity.
Sarah Pemberton—l am mother of the deceased,
a widow, and reside at Leftwich. I had perceived
there was an acquaintance between my daughter
and the prisoner, Samuel Thorley. He drank tea
at my house about five weeks before my daughter's
death, and, in consequence of something I said at
that time, there was a cessation of their acquaint-
ance. On the night of Friday, the 6th of Decem-
ber last, I went to bed at nine o'clock in the even-
ing. My sons were out. I had been in bed some
time, when I heard two voices, one my daughter's;
the other Thorley's. They were talking together.
I retired to bed again, and about eleven o'clock I
was aroused by a noise, and went down stairs. There
was no light in the house, but I fancied I heard
blood gushing from my daughter's body. My son
came down stairs at this moment.

Cross-examined by Mr. COTTINGHAM—I do not
know how long they kept company together. Ido
not know that my son-in-law was the cause of break-
ing up the acquaintance between my daughter and
the prisoner. My daughter was entitled to about
2,0001. left by her father, and was a very amiable
and affectionate girl.
John Pemberton—l am brother of the de-
ceased. I returned home, on the night of the
murder, at ten o'clock. My deceased sister let me
in. I took my coat and shoes off ; and while at
the foot of the stairs I heard the prisoner say,
" You know I always told you so." I went to bed ;
and about eleven o'clock, being alarmed by the
screams of my mother, I ran down stairs, and
found my sister with her throat dreadfully cut, lying
by the parlour door, in the lobby ; she was quite
dead at the time ; her head was nearly severed
from her body. A razor was found in our garden
on the Monday following.....
Cross-examined by Mr. COTTINGHAM—The pri-
soner had kept company with my sister about eight
months ; and from what I observed, I believe they
were attached to each other. I accompanied her
once to Northwich, and drank tea with the prisoner.
This was last summer. There was a cessation of
intercourse between my sister and the prisoner, in
consequence of the receipt of an anonymous letter.
By the COURT—Has the prisoner always appeared
to you to be in his right mind ? Witness—l never
saw anything to the contrary.
Peter Banks (a boy)--I was, in December last, in
the service of the prisoner. On Friday the 6th of
December prisoner came home about eight o'clock,
and said to me he never had disappointed the de-
ceased, and he would see her that night. I went
to bed soon after nine o'clock, and between 11 and
12 I was awakened by my master knocking at the
door. He asked for a light, and said " I have cut
her throat." I asked him with what ;he replied
" with the black razor." The prisoner had one
black and one white-hafted razor in his bed room.
He then washed himself; and asked for some fresh
clothes to put on. He said to me, " I expect you
can't believe me," and then he pointed my attention
to some blood on his right hand, his brow, and on ,
his shirt collar. He burnt his flannel shirt and his
collar. He then drew a sofa to the fire and lay
down about an hour. He told me he would go
again to the same place. He went out, and in a
short time afterwards he returned and lay down,
saying he could not see anything but a light in
Pemberton's house. He afterwards got up and took
some tea, and said he would go to Chester. I said
I would go and tell his father what he had done. I
I accompanied him ; and when we got near to Mrs. ;
Pemberton's gate be asked me to go to the house,
as he should like to know whether she was dead. I
went part of the way, but was so alarmed that I
turned back. When I came to the place where I
left the prisoner he was gone.
Cross-examined—The deceased and prisoner ap-i
peared to be always very fond of each other. She
took tea frequently at the prisoner's house. I saw
him take brown medicine out of a bottle several
times, a few weeks before this happened. He ap-
peared to be distressed and unhappy in his mind
shortly before this affair happened, and on the night
of the murder he said, speaking of the deceased,
" She is the sweetest creature that ever lived." He
neglected his business, and used to sit frequently
with his hands between his knees crying. The de-
ceased had visited my master about a month before
her death.

Joseph Pembei ton—l am brother to the deceased.

On the Monday before this unfortunate affair I was
in a public-house at Davenham. The prisoner was
there, and he called me out of the house and asked
me what was the reason that he could not see my
sister as before. He said, " I want to see her once
more, and I don't care if I go to the devil after-
wards " He wished to accompany me home
that night to see her, but I told him he had better
not do so ; and when I parted from the prisoner he
said, " Probably we shall not meet again."
Cross-examined—The prisoner went to his fa-
ther's, 1.5 miles from Northwich, soon after the
match was broken off. My sister felt uneasy at his
departure ; and, in consequence of the receipt of an
anonymous letter, I went to the prisoner at his fa-
ther's house. My sister and the prisoner appeared
to be on the most affectionate terms with one an-
other ; and when their acquaintance was broken
off, the prisoner appeared low spirited.
Mr. John Dunstan—About ten o'clock in the
morning of the 7th of December last the prisoner
came to the Castle ; and, as I understood he had
something to communicate to me, I went to him.
He then made a statement, which I wrote down,
to the effect that he courted a young woman named
Mary Pemberton, and that, in consequence of her
refusing to have him, on her letting him out at her
mother's door, he cut her throat with a razor,
which he had taken for the purpose. A magistrate
afterwards came into the Castle, and the prisoner
signed this statement in his presence. I have been
connected with gaols upwards of twenty years, and
it is the first case in which I ever heard of a pri-
soner surrendering himself. lam of
.opinion that
the prisoner is perfectly sane.
Here the case for the prosecution closed ; and
on the prisoner being asked if he had any thing to
say, he replied, " No, my Lord ;—I am guilty."

Mr. COTTINGHAM now called Jonathan Thorley,
brother of the prisoner. He said, on the 10th
December my brother came to my father's house.
He appeared as a man deranged. ' He got up fre-
quently in the night, and sighed and moaned. I
slept with him that night, and his behaviour was so
extraordinary that I wished to take him home to
my father's house. I left Northwich about five
o'clock in the afternoon.

Mr. Twemlow, surgeon, of Northwich—l have
known the prisoner four years, and always consi-
dered him a very humane and kind-hearted man. I
have known instances wherein persons have been
quite of sound mind on all subjects but one.
His LORDSHIP summed up the evidence with
great perspicuity, and
The Jury, after a few minutes' consultation, re-
turned a verdict of Guilty.
His LORDSHIP, putting on the black coif, said,
" You are, indeed, a melancholy instance of a man,
who had been previously esteemed by those who
knew you as a good and humane individual, coming
to an untimely end. Being disappointed in your
expectations yourself, you wreaked your vengeance
upon the person of her whom you appeared to re-
gard as the object of your affection. Your days are
numbered (here his lordship's feelings so overcame
him, that he could scarcely proceed). You must
soon appear before the bar of the Almighty, for
mercy on earth cannot be extended to you. I have
only now to perform a duty which to me is most
painful. The sentence of the Court is, that you be
taken to the place from whence you came ; and that
on Monday next you be taken from thence to the
place of execution, and there be hanged by the neck
until you be dead, and that afterwards your body be
interred within the precincts of the gaol ; and may
the Lord have mercy on your soul."
The prisoner, who throughout the trial had co-
vered his face with his handkerchief, and leaned on
the front of the dock during the whole time that
his lordship was addressing him, remained quite un-
moved durinc, this solemn address ; and at its con-
clusion he walked away from the bar with a firm
step. Great numbers of the auditory were deeply
affected during the progress of the trial, and while
his lordship was passing sentence.