The Sun.
London, England, 1832-01-19 00:00:00

THE MURDER OPMES. WALSH.

EXTRAORDINARY INTERVIEW BETWEEN BOY
EDWARD COOK AND Hls FATHER.
Since the liberation of Cook, who was tried with
the unfortunate woman Eliza Ross, for the murder
of Caroline Walsh, he has been every where so-
-nnly prottisting the innocence both of her and of

imself;andTdeclaring that the son had been tutered

either by his schoolmaster e.nd mistress, or by Lea
the officer, or some other person or persons, to state
in evidence against him and his wife a pure inven-
tion. Among others on whom he called to express
himself in this manner, he visited the parish autho-
tities of Lower Aldgate, to whose/ charity-school
the boy belonged; in consequence of this, and of
the determined manner in which the female Ross
professed her innocence to the last moment of her
existence, coupled with the request of a respectable
relative of the boy, who is anxious for his future
welfare, the churchwardens, overseers, and other
gentlemen connected with the parochial school, de-
termined upon confronting Cook and his son in
their presence. A meeting of these gentlemen
was accordingly held in the workhouse on Friday
evening last, to which place Cook was invited at the
same time, for the professed purpose of allovviej
him to have an interview with the boy—a favour
he had repeatedly and urgently besought the trus-
tees of the school to grant him. Cook was first in-
troduced to the gentlemen alone, to whim he re-
peated his solemn protestations of innocence on his
knees, accompanied with awful and horrid impre-
cations of divine vengeance on his head if he lied.
The boy, who had co previous intimat'oa of the
presence of his father, or of the object of the meet-
ing, was then brought into the room. He did not
at first perceive his father, and Mr. Brown, ..11•
churchwarden, directed his attention to that part of
the room where he sat, and pointing to him, said,
"Do you know who that is ?" The boy replied,
coolly, " Yes, it is my father." Cook immediately
called out, in a loud tone, " Ned, is not what yen
said against me and your mother all false ?" "
replied the boy, in a firm manner, " it is not, father,
and you know it is not." Cook then altered, and
reiterated the question, "'Who told you to say all
that ?"—" I said it because it was true."—" Who
persuaded you to say it ?"—" Nobody persuaded
me ; I was miserable until I confessed it."—A
gentleman asked him how he felt after he had cone
fessed ? to which he answered, that he felt quite
happy, and could sleep then, but before he could
not sleep. The father said, "Ah Ned, if yen
don't say I am innocent, I ehan't be able to get a
living, but if you say I am innocent, I shall get week
and money to buy yeu and myself clothes si d
victuals, and you will live comfortably with me
again." The boy replied energetically, " L's true,
it's all true, father, and you know it." Several
of the gentlemen then put various questions to
him on the leading points of his evidence, and cross-
examined him with great severity, but did not suc-
ceed in shaking a tittle of his testimony ; on the
contrary, the answers he gave tended more and
more to confirm them in the belief that his state-
ment was perfectly true. The father also put dif-
ferent questions, and by turns threatened, implored,
and caressed him, but it had no other effe.et than to
occasion repeated asseverations that he had spoken
the truth. The father asked, " Didn't your school-
master tell you to say so ?"—" No; he told me to
speak the truth, and told me the awful consequences
of telling a lie." The father, " Didn't Lea :el! you
what to say ?"—Boy, " No, he never told me to say
anything; but to speak the truth." Mr. Harris,
(one of the churchwardens,) said, " -What did I tell
You ?"—Boy, " You told me, Sir, that if I did
tell lies, I should have a guilty conscience, which
would make me unhappy as long as I lived, and that
I should be miserable here, and through all eternity."
The father then took a book from his pocket, and
opened it at the title page, which he held full in his
sun's face, telling him his mother eerie it him the
night before she was hanged. The' book was
" Baxter's Cell to the Unconverted ;" and he asked
his son to read the title. The boy, either from
inability, or, which is more probable, trepidation,
felt some difficulty in pronouncing the word " Un-
con' :!rted," on which Cook remarked, " You see,
gentlemen, the boy can't read, now whet nctioe
can he have of an opth ?" He then took a smell
paper parcel from his pocket, and suddenly opening
it, put a lock of hair in the boy's hand, vociferating
" There, there is some of your poor mother's hair;—
your poor mother that you didn't hang—but
murdered—your poor murdered, murdered mother."
The firmness of the boy now give way in
some degree, his countenance changed, and he
stood trembling and unable to speak. The
gentlemen present fully expected that something
new would now be disclosed, but in a few
minutes the poor fellow begin to sob, and burst
into a flood of tears, which gave him relief;
and looking in his father's face, he exclaimed
in a plaintiff tone, " Father, you know as well as I
do that it is all true." Cook then fell on hie knees
and said, " Before God, and our Saviour the Lord
Jesus Christ, it is not true ; and I pray God to make -
me an example, to let the earth open and swallow
rne, if I now speak false." The boy still rejoined,
"It is true—it is true." He then proceeded to re-
mind his father where he stood, and what transpired
both before and after the horrid deed. He
particularly dwelt on the fact that Cook fol-
lowed his mother down stairs on the night of
the murder, and that neither of them returned
until late the next morning. He also recalled
to his recollection the observations he made to
him respecting the screams of a feaaale (supposed
to be Sarah Karey) which he heard. Cook,
in answer to this, observed, the screams the boy
heard proceeded from a female in the court where
they lived, whom her husband ev,s heating. Fintbng
he could not work upon the boy's feelings this way,
he suddenly changed the tone of his voice, and said,
" Oh ! Ned, you know she (Ross) was altvays a
bad woman to you, and me too ; and many a time 1
heat her for spending the money in gin; but did I
ever use you ill ? Boy.—" No father." " Thera
why don't you say I am innocent ?" The gentlemen
now expressed their satisfaction at the conduct of
the boy, and considered that more than enough had
been said and done br the fattier to shake his testi-
mony if it had been in the slightest degree false. In
tahnastwßerotsona greuaelstniaomn
epuwt
alsiy
EMI
ir. zallbreot
hwnß, C„tiorok stated
den,at
d
that he picked her up in St. Giles's sixteen years
ago, a few days after she came from Ireland, and
that they had lived together ever since, but had
never been married.

The boy was then dismissed, and neither he or his
father made any observation on their separation.
Cook begged a few shillings of the gentlemen
present, saying he could get no work in London, and
was anxious to go and seek it in some part of the
country where he was not known.

Yesterday Mr. Harris and 'be relative of the boy
had an interview with the Hon. G. C. Norton, at
Lambeth-street, to whom they communicated the
above particulars. Mr. Norton expressed him-elf
ah-seed that the boy had stood so severe a test
without wavering, and commended the exertions of
Nit. Harris and the other gentlemen of Aldone,
40d spoke in terms of approbati.in of oft ability
situ which Mr. Henry Alfred Harris, the sui%eyoa,
had disehaiged his duties. Mr. Hardwick nbsee.ed
hat he never had a doubt of the ba.y's veiny, but
hew facts might certainly be satisfactory to some
aerso”. Some conversation took place respecting
,he future destiny of the buy, who is des:rous of
becoming a sailor, and bath the worthy Magistrates
leclared their readiness to promote his welfare, and
;guested his relative to wait upon ttiern again to
onsult on the best mode of doing so.
The boy is foil: teen years of age, but small made.
He is of a mild and quiet disposition, and is spoken
veil of by his schouimaster.
In dissecting the-bodyof,
R.,
the, serefemale discovered
Ros,ltt
the
&spiral, the initials "E.
;narked with gunpowder on her right arm. The
,iece of skin containing these letters has been cab_
.tined by a curkmo, who intends to have it framed
and glazed.