The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-26 00:00:00

THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.
- -

The Marquis of CLANRICARD E called the atten-
tion of the Postmaster-General to the condition of the
clerks in country post-offices. A committee which sat
some time ago recommended a revision of those offices
with a view of placing the salaries of the clerks in those
offices on a more satisfactory footing. Those clerks
had very difficult duties to discharge, and the salaries
received for such duties were very small, and the men
were now in an unhappy state of " hope deferred." He
therefore wished to ask whether the recommendation of
the committee would be carried out, and whether it was
likely that the post-offices throughout the country would
soon be revised I

The Duke of ARGYLL said that there were about
200 of those post-offices altogether to which the recom-
mendation of the committee referred. The revision of those
offices was nowgoing on. About 103 of the largest of them
had been already revised, and the salaries put on a more
equitable footing than before existed. There still re-
mained about 90 offices which had not yet been reached
The revision was still going on with as much expedition
ae was possible under the circumstances. He thought
the country postmasters ought to have the appointment
of tbeir clerks, as they were responsible for the acts of
their subordinatee. He assured the noble marquis that
the whole of the subject was being proceeded with with
the greatest possible speed.
THE INDIAN CIVIL SERVICE.
The Earl of ALBEMARLE rose, to move for a re-
turn showing the yearly amount of all salaries paid to
the covenanted civil servants of the Hon. East India
Company under the several Governments of Bengal, the
North-Western Provinces, Madras, Bombay, and the
Straits Settlements, distinguishing each, together with
the number of persons under each of the above
Governments receiving such salaries in the re-
spective years 1820, 1830, 1840, 1850, and the
latest year for which the return can be furnished :
a return showing the yearly amount of all pensions paid
in England or India to the covenanted civil servants of
the Hon. East India Company under the several Go-
vernments of Bengal, the North-Western Province.,
Madras, Bombay, and the Straits Settlements, distin
guisbing pensions of 1,0001. a-year from those of a lesser
amount, in the respective years of 1820, 1830, 1840,
1850, and the latest year for which the same can be
furnished : a return showing the yearly amount of all
salaries paid to the uncovenanted civil servants of
the Honourable East India Company, together with
the number of persons receiving such salaries, in the first
year of the establishment of such civil uncovenanted
service, for the last year for which the same can be fur-
nished : a return showing the amount of pensions of un-
covenanted civil servants, and the number of persona
drawing the same for the years 1840, 1850, and the
latest year for which the satae can be furnished : a re-
turn showing the amount of all civil salaries paid to
military officers, and the number of persons recevin,
such salaries for the respective years 1844 and 1854 :
a return showing the number of natives of India, beine
MahomerlanS or Hindoos, in the civil service of the Hon
East India Company, drawing salaries of 5,000 rupees a
year or upwards, together will the sum total of such sa-
laries fer the respective years 1844 and 1854: a return
showing the amount of absentee allowances paid to the
covenanted civil servants of the Hon. East India C,m-
pany in the respective years 1320, 1830 1840, 1850, and
the latest year for which the same can be furnished :
a return showing the amount of the annuities of the
Madras civil fund of the year 1818, and the number of
persons receiving such annuities for the respective years
1320, 1830, 1840, 1850, and the latest years for which
the same can be furnished : copies of all minutes of
Council, documents, and correspondence between the
Governor-General and Court of Directors, as well as
between the several Governments of India among them-
selves or their subordinate officers, which led to the
establishment of pensions and absentee allowances
of the covenanted civil service of the Hon. East.
India Company ; and also to call the attention of the
house to the recommendation of the Madras Torture
Commissioners, that a greater number of European
fuctionaries should be employed in the civil service
with the view to the suppression of torture ; and to sub-
mit to the judgment of the house whether an efficient
European civil agency be compatible with the present
lavish remuneration of civil services in India, consider-
ing the deficient and falling condition of the revenues of
that country and the proved poverty of its people.
[LEFT SPEAKING.]

HOUSE OF COMMONS—(tIds Evening.)
The SPEAKER took the chair at the usual hour.
PRIVATE BUSINESS.
The following bills were read a third time and passed :
—Ely Tidal Harbour and Railway ; Glasgow Paving ;
London, Tilbury, and Southend Railway (Extensionand
Branches); and Vale of Clwyd Railway Bills.
The order of the day for the reading of the Aberdeen
and Scottish Midland Junction Railway Companies
Amalgamation Bill was discharged and the bill ordered
to be recommitted.

THE MILITIA.
In reply to a question from Mr. GROGAN,
Mr. F. PEEL said that when the militia was disem-
bodied no person connected with the militia would con-
tinue to receive pay but those on the permanent staff' of
the Adjutant and the Quartermaster-General at the time
of the disembodiment.
PERCUSSION CAPS (CRIMEA).
In ansner to a question from Col. Nonni,
Mr. MONSELL said that no report had been re-
ceived upon 6,000,000 of waterproof percussion caps sent
to the Crimea, but when it was it should be laid on the
table of the house. The number mentioned by the gal-
lant officer was larger than was really the case.
THE COAST GUARD AT FOWEY.
Mr. PALK asked the First Lerd of the Admiralty,
whether the gallant conduct of Commander Norcock,
Inspecting Commander of the Fowey district, and two
• Coast Guardsmen named William Peppin and Charles
Hen wood, and a man of the name of Johns, son of a
Fowey pilot, in conducting the descent of a boat
down a clifl2oo feet in height, launching her, and under
circumstances of great dariger rowing to and saving the
sole surviver of a vessel wrecked close to Fowey, had
been brought before the notice of the Loris of the
Admiralty ?
Sir C. WOOD said it had, and that measures were
• being taken to reward them for their gallant conduct.
PAROCHIAL SCHOOLS (SCOTLAND) BILL.
Sir J. FERGUSSON asked the L e.d-Advocate, whe-
ther, by the Parochial Schools (Scotland) Bill, in the
event of the person elected to the office of schoolmaster
being a member of the Established Church, the exa-
inination before the Presbytery would still be necesary;
` and whether the judicial powers of the presbyteries
over schoolmasters accused of heretical teaching, and
their visitation and examination of the schools, would
be retained?
The LORD ADVOCATE said that no doubt their
must be such an examination as that alluded to under
the bill, and with regard to the latter portion of the
answer the bill would not touch on it.
JOINT STOCK. COMPANIES BILL.
On the motion for the house going into committee on
this bill,
Mr. SPOONER moved, as an amendment, that the
house go into committee on the bill this day six months.
Mr. LOWE resisted the amendment, and, in reply to
Mr. Spooner's remarks, said that he had materially
altered the bill of last year.
The amendment was negatived without a division,
and the house went into committee on the bill.
Clauses 1,2, 3, anti 4 were agreed to without die.
cussion.
Clause S, relative to registration, after discussion
and some verbal amendments, was also- agreed to.
[LEFT SITTING.]
_ _

THE RUGELEY POISONINGS.

TRIAL OF WILLIAM PALMER.,

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT (TEM DAY).

ELEVENTH' DAY.

The trial of William Palmer was resumed this 'morning
at the Central Criminal Court. Intense intereatwas felt
this morning as to the result of the trial, it belts known
that Lord Campbeltwould conimienee the d4s pro dings
by summing up the evidence,•and the' prOlability kthe
jury returning a verdict almost immediately following its
conclusion.

• At a very early hoar the avenues to the Court were
(linnet, evowded by persons having the necessary colollred
bf admission in their hands, and tho Cort was

speedily filled after the opening of the doors. Every avail-
able space in the Court was occupied long before their
Lordships took their seats on the bench.
The congregation of persons in Newgate-street, probably
owing to the fineness of the weather and the near approach
of the termination of the trial, was greater than on any
former day, and anxious inquiries were made by many of
them of persons who left the Court, " How is it going
with him ?" &c.
Their lordships, Lord Chief Justice Campbell, Mr. Jus-
tice Creswell, and Mr. Baron .Alderson took their seats
on the bench precisely at ten o'clock, accompanied by
the Recorder, Deputy-Recorder, and several of the
aldermen. The Earl of Derby and the right hon. W. E.
Gladstone were also on the bench.
On their lordships taking their seats, the prisoner ap-
peared in the dock and walked to the bar dressed as on
each former occasion, in black with black kid gloves on.
He keeps up in appearance remarkably well considering
the immense amount of anxiety he must feel, and the ex
citement it must be to him from the protracted nature of
the proceedings necessarily long from the circumstances
connected with the case, and the importance of the result
of the trial to the prisoner. He stood the whole of the
day, and for the greater portion of it leaning on the bar
with his right hand in front of his mouth, and paid the
greatest attention to Lord Campbell's summing up—
scarcely taking his eyes off his lordship during the whole
of the time it occupied. •
Before Lord Campbell commenced the summing up Mr.
Sergeant Shee applied to be allowed to put in an accept-
ance for 5001., drawn by Palmer and accepted by Cook,
dated September, 1855, which was granted.
His Lordship immediately after proceeded to charge the
jury, but in a very low tone of voice, which, unfortunately,
is now become a habit with him, and more particularly in
proportion to the great importance of the case under con-
sideration. In many instances during his summing up he
was quite inaudible, and it was with difficulty he could
be heard at all. He commenced by saying :—Gentlemen
of the Jury,—We have at length arrived at that stage in
this solemn inquiry when it is the duty of the judge who
presides to explain to you the nature of the
charge brought against the prisoner at the bar, and to
direct your attention to the evidence upon which you
are to return your verdict ; and I begin by conjuring you
to banish'from your minds all that you have heard relative
to the charge before entering that box. Strong prejudice
has, no doubt, prevailed in London and elsewhere against
the prisoner at the bar, and particularly in the county of
Stafford, where the offence for whieh he has to answer was
alleged to have been committed, and which was so strong
that the Court of Queen's Bench made an order, at the
request of the prisoner's counsel, for the s emoval of the trial
from that county to tie Central Criminal Court, in accord-
ance with the terms of an act of Parliament especially
passed to attain that object. I feel, however, that on this
occasion the prisoner will have a fair and impartial trial ;
and whilst I warn you against being improperly in-
fluenced by what you have heard else wh ere, I
must also warn you against being improperly in-
fluenced against the prisoner by the evidence that has
been laid before you implicating the prisoner in bill trans-
actions of a discreditable character, and allow to be
introduced into the case to raise the probability of motive
on the part of the person accused for the commission of
the crime with which he stands charged. It affords me
great satisfaction to know that the case has been fully
laid before you. Everything has been done that can be
accomplished for the purpose of assisting you in coming to
a right conclusion. The prosecution has been taken up
by the Government of the country, so that justice might
be effectually administered, and the Attorney-General, the
first law officer of the Crown, has conducted the prosecu-
tion as a minister of justice. Again, I am much pleased
to think that the prisoner appears to have ample means of
preparing and conducting his defence. Evidence with re-
gard to the scientific part of the case has been very pro-
perly brought from all parts of the kingdom, and the pri-
soner has had the advantage of having his case conducted
by one of the most distinguished advocates at the English
bar, and I must strongly recommend you to attend to
everything that has been so eloquently, and im-
passively urged by him on the part of the prisoner, with
the exception of his own private personal opinion of the
innocence of the prisoner. That by no means ought to
influence your minds in arriving at a just conclu-
sion, if you are to try the prisoner upon the evidence
and not by the opinion of the learned counsel en-
gaged on either side. It would have been better
if the expression of such an opinion by the learned coun-
sel for the prisoner been had abstained from, and it would
be a lamentable-and unfortunate thing for the ends of
justice if permitted. A prisoner's plea of not guilty goes
for nothing, and ought not to influence a jury, and if fol-
lowed out must, as I have already said, lead to disastrous
consequences. An advocate might be mistaken as to the
innocence or guilt of his client, and he ought to rest his'
arguments of innocence on the facts of the case as pre-
sented in evidence, and not rely on a verdict of not
guilty from an expression of his own opinion
to that effect. I will now in a few words state to you the
allegations on one side and on the other. On the part, of
the prosecution it is alleged that the deceased John Par-
sons Cook was first tampered with by antimony, and that
he was afterwards killed by strychnia.; that his symp-
toms were those of poisoning by strychnia, and that the
prisoner having a motive for snaking away with him, took
an opportunity of administering strychnia to him, and
that the oircumstances were so suspicious as to fall on him
and no one else; that within a few days of the deceased's
death, and when the supposed poison was administered to
him, he actually purchased a quantity of strychnia, and
that the prisoner's conduct, previous to the death of John
Parsons Cook 'and subsequently, was not dictated from
feelings of humanity towards the deceased, bat for the
purpose of being the better able to accomplish his purpose.
On the other side it was contended, and you are to say
whether or not it was so, that the prisoner's con duct before
thedeceased's death was dictated purely by motives of hu-
manity towards him—that he had no interest in the death of
she deceased, but on the contrary, that ho had the greatest
interest in his life. Further, it was said that Cook did
not die by strychnia, but from natural disease, and that
the symptoms preceding death we're those of death from
natural causes, and that no part of the evidence that has
been given shows anything at all consistent with death
from poisoning by strychnia. It is for you, however, to
decide whether the allegations on one side or the other
aro proved, and a most anxious task is imposed on you
thereby, for if you fined the prisoner guilty he will have
to expiate his crime on the scaffold. It is of the greatest
importance, not only to him but also to society, that you
should thoroughly investigate the charge, fur if persons
so acting are to escape with impunity, there would be no
safety to life, and society, in its present state, would be
hardly able to exist. Unless you feel fully convinced
that the proof of the prisoner's guilt is beyond all doubt,
it is your bounden duty to acquit him, but in cases of this
kind you cannot expect that witnesses should be called
who saw the deadly poison administered by the
poisoner openlyto the world. Evidence has been called ne-
cessarily of a circumstantial character tending to the con-
ehision of the guilt of the prisoner; but before you return
that verdict you must be satisfied that the evidence fully
justifies you in arriving at that conclusion. With respect
to the prisoner's motive, it is of great importance that you
should oonsider whether there was a motive or not suffi

ciently strong enough to wish him to get rid of the deceased,
for in either case it was of the greatest importance. At
the same time you must bear in mind that the experience
of our criminal courts shows that acts of this kind have been
perpetrated from very slight motives indeed, and to gain a
small pecuniary advantage. It appears to me that the
question you will have to consider is this—whether the
symptoms presented by Cook's death are consistent with
death by strychnine, for, if not, and you believe that death
arose from natural Causes, the prisoner is at once entitled
to your verdict, and ought to have it ; but if the symptoms
are consistent with paisening by strychnine, then you
have another important question to answer whether
the evidence which has been adduced is sufficient to
convince you that the poison was administered by the
prisoner. In cases of this sort the evidence is naturally
and generally confined to racily.' and moral evidence.
The medical evidence being tbat of the scientific men,
and the moral evidence the circumstantial facts connected
with the case; and it is impossible to separate them,
because it,is only by a comparison of the two that a verdict
ought to be returned. In this case you will look to the
medical evidence, and say whether the deceased did die

by strychnia ; and to the moral evidence, and say whether
tho prisoner not only had the opportunity, but did actually
avail himself of that opportunity, and administered the

poison to the deceased. With these preliminary °laser-

vations I will now proceed to read over the evidence

which has been given, and I most earnestly hope that you
will not be led away in the slightest degree by any observa-
tions that I might make, but that yon will be guided en-
tirely by the evidence. The verdict must be yours, and
in your hands must this case rest. I shall begin reading
the evidence at that part of the case as opened by the At-
torney-General, respecting any motive the prisoner might
have had to induce him or to wish for the getting rid of
the deceased, and which, if it existed, must have arisen out
of certain pecuniary transactions the nature of which has
been laid before you. It appears that the prisoner bor-
rowed large sums of money upon hills of exchange which
he
drew, and which purported to be accepted by his
mother, one of which was in the hands of a gentleman
'named •Padwick. • It was for 2,000/„ 1,000/. had been
paid,-and there was 1,000/. remaining due on it. A soli-
cite'. of the nanie,Of Pratt had also advanced large sums
of m len'irisioner on similar bills amounting to
12,5Z7' nd
-Saeve'rlal c'f.hese'leills had been renewed, and
'there were two or Area for 2:,000?.. each doe on the
25th of October, 18.55., and the other on 27th October,
1855. One-half of 5001„ and another of 1,0001. was
over due, and held over from. month to month. Besides
these large sums advanced by Pratt to Palmer, he had con-
tracted very large debts With an attorney of Birmingham,
and 10,0001; was due to,'..kini on them. Tho prisoner ex-
pected to pay the bills owing to Pratt by the proceeds of a
pplicy of insurance effected on his brother Walter's life.
The law; of this country wisely forbids the insurance of a
Rial" by another person who has no interest in it ;
bntthe 'law, unfortunately, does not prevent a man who
insures, his life from transferring it to another person.
The PolicY on,Walter Palmer's life was assiined by bina to

the prisoner, and he having died, it was expected that the
proceeds of that policy, which was for 13,0001., would be
the means of enabling the prisoner to take up the accept-
ancesheld by Pratt; but the insurance office refused to
pay the amount on the policy, and hence arose the most
pressing demands on the prisoner. Pratt urged imme-
diate payment, and unless that were complied
with, in all human probability those forgeries
which had been so long hid would be discovered and
brought to light. His lordship then proceeded to read the
evidence of Mr. Espin, Mr. Padwick's solicitor, relative to
the bill for 2,060/. and the two letters written by Palmer
in reference to it ; one dated the 12th November, which
was on the Monday of the week of the Shrewsbury races,
and the other dated the 25th, the Saturday after the death
of Cook. Mr. Espin, in his evidence, said—l produce a
bill for 2,0001., which was placed in my hands by that
gentleman to enforce payment from the prisoner's mother.
The bill was due three months after date, but 1,0001. had
been paid off, and the bill was placed in my hands on the
12th of December to enforce the payment of the remainder.
I received two letters from the prisoner; one contained
a cheque for 1,0001., with a request that it might not
be presented till the 28th of November ; and the other
related to a sum of money, 350/., about which there
was some mistake about the remittance, and in which
Palmer stated he would shortly bo in London. I
produce a cheque for 1,000/., inclosed in the above letter
of the 12th, dated the 28th. I presented it on that day
and payment was refused. I also produce a cheque for
6007., dated Bth December, in prisoner's handwriting, pay-
able to Mr. Padwick or bearer, which was also dis-
honoured. It was forwarded in consequence of the cheque
of 1,0001. having been dishonoured. 1,0001. still remains
due on the 2,0001. bill. Execution was issued against the
person. The prisoner was taken on the ca sc. This was
strong evidence to show the state of the prisoner's circum-
stances at the time, and the pressure that was being
put on him. We then come to the evidence of
Mr. Pratt, which was most important for their con-
sideration. Mr. Thomas Pratt said—"l am a solicitor,
practising in King-street, Mayfair. lam acquainted with
the prisoner. It commenced in Nov., 1853, when I ob-
tained a loan of 1,0001. for him.. That was afterwards
paid. In Oct., [lB5l, I was employed by him to make a
claim on two policies, both on the death of Ann Palmer.
I received 5,0001. from the Sun, and 3,0001. from the Nor-
wich Union. The money was applied in payment of
three bills amounting to 3,500/. or 4,0001. ; 2,0001. of
it was due on acceptances and loans obtained subse-
quently to the claims on the policies ; the remaining
1,5001. was not so applied. In April, 1855, ho applied
to me for a loan of 2,0001. I obtained it on an accept-
ance dra.wralay himself and accepted by his mother. On
20th November I and my clients held eight bills that I had
discounted for Palmer. I held four of them myself. There
were two others then overdue. The bills aro as follows :
June 5, 1351, for three months after date, drawn by Mr.
Palmer, and accepted by Sarah Palmer, for 5001., and en-
dorsed by him; Aug. 2, 1854, a similar bill for I,oooe,
payable three months after date; July 22, 1855, for 2,0001.,
three months after date ; July 24, 1855, for 2,0001., three
months after the date, endorsed by Palmer to Thos. Pratt
(both of those becoming due in November) ; Sept. 27, 1855,
for 1,0001., for three months after date ; Sept. 29, 1855,
fur 2,0001., for three months after date; Oct. 2, 1555, for
2,0001., for thre3 months, indorsed by Palmer to Thos
Pratt ; and one, Oct. 12, 1855, for 2,0001., for three months
after date. The whole of the bills purported to be
drawn by Mr. Palmer, and accepted by Sarah Palmer,
payable to the order of Palmer, and indorsed by him. The
whole amounted to 12,5001. 6,0001. had been renewed,
and would become due in January; two bills were only
overdue on the 20th of Nov. for 2,000/. One bill for 1,000/.
and another for 50C/. was held over from month to month,
as was the interest. The interest charged for discountine
the bills wa% about 60 per cent. In August, 1855, Walter
Palmer died, and I made an application to the Prince of
Wales office for 13,0001., the amount of the policy. Sarah
Palmer, as the acceptor of these bills, had frequently been
written to at Rugeley, but no replies had been received.'
And there was every reason to believe that none
of these letters reached Sarah Palmer, the mother,
probably from some understanding between Palmer
and the Rugeley postmaster, that they should not be
delivered to her. His lordship then read the lengthener'
correspondence that had passed between Palmer and Pratt
relative to these bills, and the non-payment of the amount
on the policy of insurance on Walter Palmer's life by the
Prince of Wales Insurance Company, all tending to show
the pecuniary pressure the prisoner was labouring under
at the time, which was near the period of Cook's death,
and the probability there was of the forgeries on the mo-
ther being known if the prisoner was unable to meet them.
At the conclusion of the reading of this correspondence.
the learned judge proceeded to say, that having read the
letters in which Cook was not concerned, he would new
read some in which he was. The letters concerning the
raising of money for Cook, which letters were directed by
Palmer to be sent to him at the post-office, Doncaster, were
then read. In cross-examination the witness Pratt said
Cook was represented by Palmer to him as a person of re-
spectability, and on writing to him at Lutterworth re-
specting a bill for EOO/., which had not been paid, Cook
came up from Lutterworth and paid the amount himself.
After referring to other parts of the evidence, he now came
to that of one of the witnesses, a butcher, residing at
Rugeley, in which a conversation took place concerning
the raising of a sum of 251. Ou the 9th of November the
prisoner had only a balance of 91. at his bankers; and it
certainly did appear that having to meet a cheque for
1,0001., due on the 28th, and nothing to meet it with, he
was in a very desperate state. On the 21st of November
the Messrs. Weatherby received a letter from Palmer, en-
closing an order for 3001., and asking them to send him a
cheque for the amount for Cook, who, he represented, was
ill of bilious attack. On the 22d he again writes to Messrs.
Weatherby, directing them to send cheques to Earwacker
and Pratt. On the 23d Mr. Weatherby wrote to Palmer,
telling him that there were not funds enough to Meet it
with, and therefore they could not comply with the request
of Palmer; the efore his cheque had been sent to Wea-
therby, and returned by him to Palmer. Mr. Weatherby
received a letter on the 24th from Palmer ordering them
not to part with any money they had or might have be-
longing to John Parsons Cook. The cheque alluded to
had not been produced. They also had the evidence of
Butler to show that the prisoner, previous to the Shrews-
bury races, was short of money ; and if he (the prisoner)
had no funds at his control, how was it possible for him
to have bought Polestar, whose value, after winning the
Shrewsbury race, was estimated by the witness Butler at
700 guineas ? and the mare was afterwards sold at Tatter-
sail's for 750 guineas. A document had also been spoken
of, to which the late postmaster Cheshire was asked to
sign his name. Why was not that produced ? The wit-
ness Burgers stated that the whole of the papers of the
prisoner were taken possession of, and on examination
neither that paper nor the order that purported to be signed
by Cook, and which the Messrs. Weatherby proved was
returned to Palmer, could be found amongst those papers.
These papers, after they had been examined by the soliei-
tor, had been sent to his brother, Mr. G. Palmer, yet they
had not been discovered. Burgen stated that he had care-
fully searched for the papers, and ho could not find either
of them. These papers ought to have been produced.
He would now proceed to the circumstances that took
place at Shrewsbury, and the jury would have to draw
their own conclusions. The first witness called was Fisher,
who stated that he was a wine merchant, and knew Cook,
and saw him at the last Shrewsbury races, when
Pelestar won. Cook seemed well on that day. On the
evening of Wednesday he said he stepped at the Rainbow,
where Palmer and Cook were stopping, and new com-
menced the tampering with Cook. Cook had some brandy
and water, and he asked Palmer to have some, but he said
ho si mild not until he had drunk his. Cook did so, and
immediately after ho said there was something in it. The
glass was handed to Reid and Fisher, and the latter said
there was a strong scent. Iu ten minutes after taking this
brandy Cook loft the room and was taken ill ; and Fisher
deposed that on Cook coming to his room he told him he
had been sick, and that he received from him about 7001.
to take care of. The next morning Palmer said to Fisher,
"Cook Bev I have been putting something in his brandy,
but he was d— drunk." It important to recollect
the evidence on this point. Fisher had always been in
the habit of settling Cook's debts, and he also said he saw
on the Shrewsbury race course Cook's betting-book; and
it was an extraordinary circumstance that, as a large sum
of money had been won by Cook, the betting-book could
net be found. - The learned judge then went through the
other part of Fisher's evidence, and came to that given by
Jones. He deposed to hearing the deceased make the re-
mark about the brandy and water. Gibson, the assistant
to a surgeon in Rugeley, said he was sent for, and
when he arrived he found Cook in a very bad condi-
tion, and be sent him some pills and a draught; and
the evidence of the witness Brooks would finish the
evidence on that portion of the case which related to
Shrewsbury. This witness stated that she saw the prisoner
with a glass in his hand shaking the contents of it round ;
she also stated that she saw him hold it up to the light,
and she also stated, in her cross-examination, that a great
many of the people attending the Shrewsbury races were
taken ill. The next point to be considered was the evidence

of Elizabeth Mills, which appearca in The Sun of the 15th

and 16th inst. [lt will be recollected that it related to

Cook's illness, the administration of the pills by the pri.
_ _ _

soner en the Monday and Tnesday at the Talbot Inn, at

Rugeley, also the whole proceedings a few minutes prior

to the death of Cook, and also as to having seen the betting
book in Cook's room on the Monday previous to his death.]
He (the Lord Chief Justice) did not think there was the

slightestgronnd to supposethat this witness had been bribed

to come forward to givo her evidence. She also stated she

had seen Mr. Gardener two or three times, but he was a
highly respectable gentleman, and it could not be supposed
that be would attempt in any way to prejudice the witness,
or give her directions as to the evidence she was to give.

The evidence of the witness Elizabeth Mills, as given bo-

fore the coroner, was then read by Mr. Straight, the clerk

of the conrt, which cliffared only from that given before
this court by the omission to state upon that occasion that
the Moth had made her sick. The jury had heard the ex.
planation which she had given, and it was fur them to
determine whether they thought her evidence was not to
be believed in Consequence of that omission, particularly
its they found her evidence corroborated by the statepents

of her fellow-servants. His lordship then went through
the evidence of Lydia Barnes and Sarah Bond, contending
that they entirely bore out the truth of what she said.