The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-02 00:00:00

THE STEPNEY MURDER.

EXAMINATION OF MULLINS AT THE THAMES
POLICE COURT.—(THIS DAY.)
James Mugins, aged 50, who stands charged with the
wilful murder of Mrs. Mary Emsley, a widow lady at No.
9, Grove-road, Mile-end-road, was brought before Mr.
Selfe, at the Thames Police Court, this afternoon, at one
o'clock, upon remand. _
The prisoner arrived soon after 11 o'clock from the House
of Detention in the police van. A great number of per-
sons had then assembled in the street near the Court, and
the mob continued to increase until the prisoner was ar-
raigned in the dock, at which time the Court was crowded
to excess.

Mr. Wontner, solicitor, conducted the prosecution for
he relatives of the deceased ; Mr. T. W. Ratcliff, solicitor,

of Dean Co let House; and Mr. Rose, solicitor, were also
in attendance.
Since the last inquiry Inspector Thornton and Police
Sergeants Tanner and Thomas of the detective police, A
division, have been pursuing their inquiries and endeavour-
ing to strengthen the chain of circumstantial evidence al-
ready brought against the prisoner.
It may be necessary to state that the barbarous murder
of Mrs. Emsley was committed on or about Monday, the
13th day of August last, She was last seen alive on that
day, collecting rents of the tenants of sundry small houses,
and she is supposed to have received about £lO on that day,
and it is believed that this money was the object of the
murderer's cupidity. The prisoner was formerly attached
to the Irish constabulary, and acted on many occasions
as a spy and informer in the prosecution of Ribbonmen
and others in Ireland. He was afterwards a sergeant in the
K division of Metropolitan police, and was superannuated
on a pension of £35 per annum. He subsequently obtained
employment on the South-Eastern Railway, and com-
mitted a serious robbery, for which he was tried, convicted,
and sentenced to six years' penal servitude. After the ex-
piration of his sentence he sought employment of Mrs.
Emsley, to whose late husband he was known, and she not
knowing his antecedents employed him occasionally in the
repairs of the numerous tenements belonging to her. He
became well acquainted with her habits, and although she
was very cautious with strangers, and would not admit
anyone without first looking through the window, or going
into the area and inquiring their business, Mullins
would have no difficulty in procuring admittance,
as he was well known to her, and in the practice
of calling at her dwelling on business, and to receive pay-
ment for his services.
Tho attempt of the prisoner Mullins to implicate an
innocent man named Emma, who was also in the employ of
the deceased, by depositing a parcel, containing a cheque
given to the deceased on the 13th of August by one of her
tenants, and some other property belonging to her, and
then giving information to the police, must ever stamp him
as a villain of the deepest dye. The object of Mullins was
to obtain the reward of £3OO offered for the apprehension
and conviction of the murderer or murderers of the unfor-
tunate Mrs. Emsley. The circumstantial evidence already
given leads to the strong conclusion that Mullins was the
murderer of the old lady, and that he would have
been guilty of another murder by the conviction
of an innocent man, but for the tact exhibited by Thornton
and Tanner, the detectives, who saw thrcugh the plot, and
after the prisoner had pointed out the parcel in the shed
belonging to Emms, took Mullins into custody. It may
be said that Mullins " was hoist with his own petard,"
while the chain of circumstantial evidence produced verifies
the truth of the beautiful passage of Shakespeare, " Murder,
though it hath no tongue, speaks with most miraculous

organs."
Mr. Herbert Wood, solicitor, again attended for the pri-
soner, who, on being arraigned, appeared very collected,
and in better health and spirits than he was on Wednesday
last, upon his third examination at this court.
Mr. Wontner, for the prosecution, said the course he in •
tended to pursue was to complete the evidence against the
prisoner on the charge of murdering Mrs. Emsley. Tho
witnesses to be called to-day speak to the prisoner being in
the neighbourhood of the Grove-road on the night of the
murder, and the only pp in evidence was the time at
which the murder was committed, which could not be ac-
*muted for, and that the prisoner would have satisfactorily
to account for. In addition to that there would be one or
two pieces of evidence of a miscellaneous description, such
as the finding of the boot which had some human hair
upon it, but he did not attach any very great importance
to that circumstance, as the prisoner was a plasterer, and
that being so the hair would easily be accounted for. In
his opinion it would be too violent a thing to assume that
the hair so found was that of the deceased Mrs. Emsley.
He should also call witnesses to prove that Emms
could not have been in the house when the murder was
committed. In the evidence he should offer to-day he
shoull ask for the committal of the prisoner for murder.
The following witnesses were then examined :
James Clark—l am 15 years of age. I live with my
father at 10, Temple-terrace, Bethnal-green. I know the
prisoner by sight. I last saw him on Monday, the 13th of
♦ugust, at my father's house. He was at work there. Ho
began at two and loft off at four. The job was finished
then.

Cross •examined—l am a cooper. I work at home. I
was not at work all that day—not in the afternoon. I was
at home the whole of the time from two to four o'clock.
Isaac Tyrrell—l live at 1, Temple-terrace, and am a
shoemaker. The prisoner Mullins worked at my house on
Monday, the 13th (the day of the murder.) He left at
about six o'clock. Ho was engaged in knocking down a
portion of the ceiling. He used a chisel-pointed hammer,
such as plasterers used. Exactly like the one now pro-
duced. It seemed sharper on the edge then than it is now.
He was using mortar. He went out to get some hair to
mix with it. He did not finish the job that night. He
came again on Wednesday. I expected him to finish on
the Tuesday, the next day, but he did not come.
Mr. Wood declined to ask the witness any questions.
James Raymond—l live at 12, Heston-square. lam a
tailor by trade. I know Grove-road, Stepney, and was
there on Monday, the 13th of August. I was at a public-
house at the top of the road at ten minutes to eight in the
evoning. I saw the prisoner there, I am certain of that.
He went round the corner as if going to the Grove-road. I
have not seen him since the 13th until this morning. There
were several persons in the room. I picked him out from
among them.
John Mitchell—l live at 3, Eden-place, Heaton, a sea-
man, but I occasionally work at the docks. I worked in the
dock on the 14th and 15th of August. I had to pass through
Stepney-green to go to my work. There can be no mistake
about the prisoner being the man I saw in an agitated state
at about 10 minutes past 5 on Tuesday morning, the 14th.
It was close to the Baptist Chapel, Garden-street, Stepney-
green. Mullins was going towards the Mile-end-road, when
he met me. His eye balls seemed to be coming out of his head
—his whole frame trembled and his knees knocked under
him, and his lips quivered. His appearance excited my
curiosity. As ho got near me ho crossed the road and
passed close by me. I stepped on one side and took my
hands out of my pockets, and then he stag-
gered back. What I had seen induced me to commu-
nicate with the police at Robert-street, about 10 days before
he was taken into custody. I afterwards went to the House
of Detention, and on being shown the cells in which the
prisoners were confined, one in each, I found the prisoner
in one of them. lam certain he's the man I saw en the
morning I have referred to.
Mr. Wood said he did not wish to ask any questions.
By Mr. Selfe—lt was on Stepney-green I saw Mullins.
It was at the end of Garden-street. I was going to tho
East India Dock. The prisoner was coming up the Mile-
end-road. The prisoner would have to come round by the
Gas-house to get to the spot 'where I met him. Mullins
would have to go out of the direct road from Grove .road to
get to where I met him. I have not been examined before
the Coroner.
Caroline Brimson—l live at 33, Barnsley-street, Bethnie-
green. I went to live there the day before Mrs. Ems
was supposed to have been murdered. The prisoner lodged
in the same house. He occupied a back room on theogoror ground
floor. There was no proper fastening to the front
d,
the lodgers came in and out as they liked. I sew him the
first time on the Wednesday night.
Sergeant Thomas, 8 F, re-called
entered the room
kAeuygu which .
wI shaewn
isnp byotkheenhtoous e
ot the e
thelast
deceasedNtn
Vl
ess n
. I
kper
I took the prisoner into custody, he 108
haem a d
no key of his lodg-
ing upon him. I had authority to break open the door of
o tdtahof
his room. I have tried the key I hold in my hand with
the prisoner's room door. It both locks and unlocks it. I
also produce a spoon which I found at the prisoner's lodg.-
ings at Chelsea. It corresponds with one I found in the
parcel found at Emma'. It bears the same stamp, and also
is marked by the initial of the maker " W.
By Mr. Selfe—l found the key I have spoken of in de
ceased's bedroom.
Elisabeth Fulre—l reside at 17f, James's-street, Com-
mercial-road East. lam tenant of a house, No. 14, in that
street which belonged to Mrs. Ernsley. The prisoner set a
copper in that house some days before Mrs. Emeley's death.
He told me deceased had sent him to do the work, but had
not allowed him materials to do it with, I asked what he