The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-21 00:00:00

,

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.—TAUNTON, DEC. 20.
(Before Mr. Justice Byles.)
THE EXMOOR FOREST MURDER.

Wm. Burgess, 43, was arraigned on an indictment
charging him with the wilful murder of his daugh-
ter, Hannah Maria Burgess, a child six years of
age,at Exmoor, on the 25th July.
Mr. Karslake and Mr. King prosecuted, and Mr.
Rotton and Mr. Murch defended the prisoner.

The prisoner pleaded not guilty. -
Mr. Karslake stated the case against the prisoner,
which was, in brief, that he had taken the child
away with him mysteriously on the 25th July last,
that it was not again seen alive, that portions of its
clothing had been found destroyed by fire, and that
the body of the child was afterwards discovered,
with marks of violence upon it, at the bottom of a
shaft of an old mine in the district where the ac-
cused had resided.

Thomas Hughes proved pumping the water out
of a deserted mine called Wheal Eliza on Dec. 2,
and finding the body of a child at the bottom, en-
veloped in a bag and an oil macintosh, afterwards
satisfied as having belonged to the accused.
George Taylor, a police constable, described the
clothes found on the body, whith were subsequently
identified as having been worn by the deceased
when taken away. He also produced some rem-
nants of child's clothing which had been burned,
and which he had received from Sarah Marley on
the 16th of August.
Crescent Jeffs, superintendent of • the Somerset
county police at Wivilscombe, proved apprehending
the accused. He said—l got information, in conse•
quence of which I went to Swansea, and found him
working at the docks. When I saw him I called
him aside and said, " Burgess, I want to speak to
you concerning your youngest daughter." He
turned very pale, and appeared much confused, and
said, " It's all right." I then told him I should
arrest him on suspicion of murdering his child.
Prisoner—You never said no such thing till this
day, you lying thief. I will go and die for it, and
that will make my words true.
Examination continued—He said, " I did it, and
shall never be happy any more. My box that is at
Exmoor I should like given to my daughter that is
at Okeham ; the money that is in my pocket and my
clothes you give to my boy. I would have saved
you the trouble to come and fetch me by making
away with myself. I ought to have done so before."
He then said—" Have my other children seen it ?"
I took him to Swansea and searched him, and found
£2 6s. Old. I afterwards searched at his lodgings
at Swansea, and found a pair of child's boots in his
bag. On the 21st of August I produced these boots
at Dulverton before the magistrates. The prisoner
said, " They are a pair of boots bought for my boy."
I showed those boots to Sarah Marley and Wm.
Smith.

Mr. John Collins, a surgeon, living at Dulverton,
described the appearance of the body when found.
There was a fracture of the skull caused by a blow
with some heavy blunt instrument sufficient to cause
death. There were other blows inflicted during life.
Sarah Marley, wife of John Marley, said—l live
at Falcon-cottage, opposite the Falcon House Inn,
Exmoor. The prisoner came to lodge at my house in
the beginning of June last. He had lodged with me
before. He got his living by working at mines on
Exmoor. Some little time after he came the last
time he brought his little girl to live with him. It
was three weeks before the 25th July when she
came. She was about six years old. He was to pay
me 2s. 6d. a week for her keep, The last time he
paid. me he asked whether I should charge him the
same for the child, and I said, " Yes." This was a
few days before he took away the child. On the
24th July he told me to clean the child and get her
ready to go away with him, as he was going to
take her to his sister at Porlock.. I did so, and saw
the child go to bed in his room that evening. I
never saw the child alive after that Saturday night.
When I got up next morning the prisoner and the
child were gone. About 3 o'clock in the afternoon
he came back without the child. I asked him how
his mother was, and he said, " Near the same : sh•
will never be any better." A few days after I asked
him if there were any children where his little
said was ? and he said, " Yes, but she is not going
to stay there long." He then asked me if I
was going to charge him the same for the child, and
I said, "Yes." He did not pay me what was due for
the child when he took her away till a few days
afterwards, and it was then he asked me whether I
was going to charge the same for the child. He
left my house altogether on the 10th of Aug.
The witness identified the clothes found with the
body.
Win. Cockram—l work on Exmoor as a miner.
In July last I lodged with the prisoner at the house
of the last witness. He worked at Pickettstone's
mine, on the surface, and I worked underground.
The little girl slept in the same room and bed with
me and the prisoner. On Sunday morning, the 25th
of July, the prisoner getout of bedand asked what
time it was. I looked at my watch, and told him it
was half-past 3. It was getting light then. He then
dressed himself. He looked out of window, and said
it was raining. I asked him if he was going to take
away the child in the rain, and he said, " Oh, yes,
this is nothing." The little girl got up. I did not
see her dress herself, but they both went away. I
saw the prisoner again in the evening, about nine
o'clock. He continued to live at the cottage till
the 10th of August, and he then left. He had left
off working on the Saturday before. I knew that
he had a macintosh. I saw the macintosh which
was found round the body of the child, and know
it to be the prisoner's. I saw him wearing it on
the 27th July, while he was at work.
John Moore—l am a labourer, living at Porlock.
I married the prisoner's sister. His mother, who
is bedridden, lived with me. I remember the pri-
soner coining to my house on Sunday, the 25th of
July, between 7 and 8 o'clock. It had been a wet
morning. He was very wet when he came. He
stopped about three-quarters of an hour, and left
after breakfasting with me. There was no one
with him. I had never seen his little girl. I saw
the prisoner about three weeks or a month before
that. He had not made any arrangement to bring
his child to live with me. He wanted me to take
her when his wife died, about two years ago ; but
she did not come, and he never talked to me about
it after. I knew his wife and two of the eldest
children—two girls, one about 17, and the other
about two years younger. Ido not know the other
children. I did not seevery much of the prisoner
or his family.
Cross-examined—When I married the prisoner's
sister her father was dead ; I did not know him.
I knew two of the prisoner's brothers ; one is alive,
and the other died, I believe, in the lunatic asy-
lum. Ido not know how the prisoner and his wife
lived together. I cannot say whether he was of
sober habits before or since his wife's death. I did
not refuse to take the child when he talked about
it ; I and my wife were willing to take it, but he
made an arrangment with some one else. I never
had any quarrel with the prisoner. I was never
afraid of him. I once took a stick to protect my-
self from him ; I took it because he said I was like
a Withycombe man. I was not afraid he would
make an attack on me.

By the Judge—l cannot tell what time he got
to my house on the Sunday morning, the 25th of
July. I did not observe tfhything particular about
him. He ate a very hearty breakfast.
This was the case for the prosecution.
Police-constable Taylor was recalled and exa-
mined by Mr. Rotton—l was present on one occa-
sion after the prisoner was in custody at Dulverton.
I took off the handcuffs to give him his breakfast.
I turned round, and he took up a pair of scissors
and thrust them into his throat. He inflicted a
wound on himself an inch-and-a-half long, and
and nearly an inch deep. I seized him. He tried
to_pull open the wound in his throat. Ho told me
after that if he could see the chance he would make
away with himself. I sent for a surgeon who at-
tended the prisoner.
Mr. Karslake said that Mr. Collins was the sur-
geon who attended the prisoner on the occasion in
question ; and if his learned friend (Mr. Rotton)
liked to examine that gentleman as to the state of
the prisoner's mind at that time, he (Mr. Collins)
was present, and could be asked any questions on
the subject.
Mr. Rotten then briefly addressed the jury, con-
tending that if the jury should come to the conclu-
sion that this dreadful crime was perpetrated by
the prisoner, the utter absence of motive or pre-
meditation might well suggest that it had been
committed in a sudden paroxysm of insanity. The
attempted suicide of the prisoner afterwards might
confirm this view, and suggest such doubt as might
make the jury pause before they returded a ver-
dict which would forfeit the life of the unfortunate
man at the bar.
The learned Judge then summed'up, and
The Jury having consulted, found the prisoner
guilty.
His Lordship, in an impressive address, passed
sentence of death.

THE LATE CALAMITY AT WESTON.--We are sorry
to have to state, on what we believe to be reliable authority,
that the distressing circumstances arising out of the fearful
accident at Weston, the seat of the Earl of Bradford, have
not yet come to a termination. It will be remembered thaS
Lord Newport, in his endeavours to extinguish the flames,
which ultimately proved fatal to his lamented sisters, was
himself seriously injured in both hands. It is now stated
that the injury to one of them has proved much more im-
portant than was at first imagined, and that latterly the
wounded part has become so much worse as to occasion
great uneasiness not only to the noble lord himself, but to
his lordship's family and friends. We sincerely hope the
gloomy accounts which have reached us may prove exagge-
rateds—Artningham