The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-16 00:00:00

rHE -.SUN, LONDON„ THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 16, 1858.

THE ANDOVER MURDER.

ANDOVER, WEDNESDAY EVENING.
This morning Thomas Alex. Banks and Emma,
his wife, were again brought before the borough
magistrates, on remand from the previous evening.
Mr. Poulden intimated that the evidence on the
part of the prosecution was exhausted, and he
should not offer any more on the present oceasion.
Mr. Lamb, the deputy clerk to the magistrates,
then read over to the female prisoner the evidence
taken in this case previous to her apprehension,
after which he asked the male prisoner in the usual
form if he had anything to say in his defence.
The prisoner replied, " I am innocent of the
charge, but I am willing to leave the case entirely
in the hands of my legal advisers."
The female prisoner, on being asked if she had
anything to say, replied, " I am innocent of the
charge."
Mr. Poulden then addressed the bench in an
able speech, dwelling particularly on the principal
points of the evidence tending to criminate the pri-
soners, and remarked, that although the evidence
was purely circumstantial, and was unanswered by
his learned friend, wha did not propose to call any
witnesses, he believed the case to be unanswerable.
It was laid down by our great authorities, that
" circumstantial was the best of evidence, as men
could lie, but circumstances could not ;" and where
many links of evidence were collected and formed a
complete chain, it constituted a sound principle on
which it was at all times safe to rely. The learned
gentleman then dwelt particularly on the fact of
the time at which the murder was committed being
the exact time which was totally unaccounted for
by the prisoners at the bar, even according to
their own statements ; and in order to show a
motive for the commission of the dreadful crime, he
went very minutely through the evidence of the
shop boy Webb, showing that an ill-feeling in all pro-
bability must have existed between the prisoners
and deceased, thereby inferring that the female pri-
soner was implicated in the commission of the
crime, and stated that no doubt could be enter-
tained that the object of deceased visiting such a
spot at such an hour of night was for an immoral
purpose. He was, therefore, content to rely on the
good judgment of the bench to decide whether his
case was fully made out or not.
Mr. Poland, in a speech that occupied nearly
three hours, addressed the bench for the prisoners ;
and contended that the prosecution had failed to
make out a prima facie case against the prisoners.
He most minutely dissected the evidence, pointed
out the discrepancies, and selected every point in
favour of his clients.

___ • _
The magistrates then adjourned to deliberate,
and after an absence of half an hour returned to the
court and committed both prisoners to take their
trial at the Winchester Assizes.
Mr. Poland made an application on the part of
the female prisoner to allow substantial bail, con-
sidering her situation, she being enceinte, when, on
the suggestion of Mr. Poulden, the matter was re-
ferred to the judges at chambers.

Both prisoners were in the evening conveyed to
Winchester.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT—LivERPooL, Dec. 15,
(Before Mr. Justice Hill.)

WIFE MURDER AT MANCHESTER.-SENTENCE OF

DEATH.

Henry Reed, aged 40, who had the appearance
of a cotton-spinner, was. charged with having wil-
fully murdered his wife, Susannah Reed.
Mr. Wheeler and Mr. Hopwood were counsel for
the prosecution; Mr. Cobbett appeared on behalf
of the:prisoner.
Mr. Wheeler opened the case.

Matilda Dickinson was then called. She said the
deceased was her sister and the wife of the prisoner.
For some years they had been living separate. In
September last deceased took a house in Copper-
court for herself and her husband, to live together
again. The only furniture was a chair and a chest
in the lower room; in the upper room there was a
d on the floor, a shake-down, which witness had
given them. On the morning in question witness
went to take her sister some bread and butter
Witness knocked and kicked at the door, but hear-
ing no response, she looked through the window,
and saw her sister lying at the bottom of the stairs ;
she then forced open the door, and found her sister
dead. There was no person in the room, and she
"Oh,
Henry, what have you done to this
prisoner The shouted from up stairs,
done it herself. She's hung herself from
cried
She's
mhea,ns out,
r,
the bannister-stairs." She then screamed, and the
neighbours came in. The prisoner came partly
down stairs, ancrput his head round the partition
to see who was in the room. Witness went for a
policeman, and on coming up the court she cried
out, " Oh, you villain, you've done it." There was
blood where the head of the deceased was lying.

Cross-examined by Mr. Cobbett—Was a married
woman. Had not seen her sister for three or four
months before the day in question. She lay like a
person who had fallen down stairs. Do not recol-
lect whether the prisoner, when he looked over the
stairs, was undressed or not.
Margaret Oakes, a married woman, a neighbour,
said about half-past 2 on the morning in question,
she heard a noise in the prisoner's house like a bang
of a door. She then heard a moan ; raising herself
in bed, she heard three distinct moans. She looked
towards the prisoner's house, but there was no light
to be seen. A few minutes after she heard the
moans she heard some one come'out of the prison-
er's house and go towards the water-closet at the
end of the court, and she then heard the water-
closet door bang. She heard the same footsteps re-
turning to the same house, and then heard the door
locked. She heard nothing more. She next morn-
ing saw Mrs. Dickinson come to the door. She
went across, when the door was forced, and heard
her say, " Oh, my God, what have you done ? you
have murdered my sister." She heard no answer.
The prisoner came part way down the stairs, and
bent round the partition, and put his head out to
see who were in the house. Witness said, " It's a
shocking bad job." Prisoner said she had done it
herself. Witness said, "if you knew she had done
it herself, why did you not make some alarm P" He
made no reply. She saw the deceased lying on the
stairs. She saw a deal of iblood on the floor, and
the deceased was bleeding from a wound on the
forehead. Her hands were held forward and breast
high. Witness suggested that a police-constable
should be sent for. The prisoner, who had now
come down stairs, got hold of the deceased by the
shoulders (when Mr. Dickinson was going for a
police-constable) to lift her up, but witness said,
" Let her be, man, till a policeman comes ; the
woman's dead enough." He then went and sat down
on an old tea-chest in the room. In coming down-
stairs he stepped past the body ; he did not move
it. There was no poker or tongs. She saw a rope
round the deceased's neck.

Mr. Johti Elliott, house surgeon at the Manches-
ter Infirmary, said it was not possible for the de.