The Sun.
London, England, 1857-08-22 00:00:00

SLIMMER ASSIZES.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—LivEnrooL, Aug. 2:
CIVIL COURT.

(Before Mr. Baron Channell and a Special Jury.

THE QUEEN V. SPENCE.

This was an indictment for a nuisance, removed
by certiorari, and brought down to be tried on the
civil side. The defendant pleaded " Not Guilty."
Mr. Wilde, Q.C., Mr. Monk, Q.C., Mr. Asp-
land, and Mr. Owens appeared on behalf of the
prosecution ; Sir F. Thesiger, Q.C., (specially re-
tained), Mr. Atherton, Q. 0., Mr. Hill, Q.C., and
Mr. Manisty, Q.C., for the defendant.
The defendant, it appeared, is a manufacturing
chymist, carrying on the manufacture of alum at
Pendleton, near Manchester, and from the tall
chimney of his works issues a white vapour
of an exceedingly offensive character. It was de-
scribed by the witnesses as " pungent, foetid, and
offensive." Some described it as having the smell
of "rotten egg-4," and others said it smelt like
"Harrogate water," his Lordship remarking that
this was two similes for the same thing. One of
the witnesses said the vapour " set his teeth on
edge."
Sir F. Thesiger, in cross-examination, asked him
if it injured his appetite ?
The witness replied, " No."
Sir F. Thesiger—Then it was rather an advant-
age to you, as it sharpened your tooth ? (Laughter.)
This pungent stench was described as pervading
the houses in the neighbourhood of the defendant's
works and for a mile round it, producing a sensa-
tion of nausea, and giving the children sore Viroats.
After various ineffeotual attempts to come to an
arrangement as to the future management of the
works and the abatement of the nuisance the else
went on, and is likely to occupy a very considerable
time, there being a large bo ly of witnesses yet to
examine.

CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Baron Watson.)
Bridget Cochrane was indicted for the murder of
Margaret Cochrane, at Liverpool, on the 21st o:
December last.

There was also a second indictment against the
prisoner for the murder of Catherine Cochrane, bith
of them children of the prisoner, aged 6 years and 4
years respectively.
Mr. Aspinell and Mr. E. M. Fenwick conducted
the prosecution ; Mr. Davison (assigned by the
Court) defended the prisoner.
The prisoner, who had recently given birth to
a child in the gaol, earnest!y persisted iu taking her
trial this assizes, in spite of the humane obk:ctions
entertained by the learriel judge, who this morning
cleAired that she might remain boated.
The charge against the prisoner was that she had
pes;.,--,--11---1.-- .1,12--- I-, -.1......:—:-L--:.,42, 1.- al---
oxalic acid in buttermilk,

It appeared that she and her husband, who was
a dock labourer, and the two children, lodged in a
room iu St. Martin's-street, and that on Saturday,
the 20th of December, she returned home after her
usual avocation of selling fish, and proceeded to
boil some potatoes for her children, at the same
time sending the elder child, Margaret, to a neigh-
bouring shop for a candle and half a pint of butter-
nelk, and upon the child's return the prisoner
divided the milk into two portions, which the child-
ren drank with the potatoes. These circumstances
were deposed to by the landlady of the house, who
left the children eating, but did not observe that the
mother took any part of the milk herself. The land-
lady having gone out to market the prisoner and
her two children were seen about hilt an hour after-
wards going up the stairs to bed by a lodger, whose
room was opposite to that of the prisoner. The
children at that time walked upstairs and ap-
peared perfectly well and healthy, and the pri-
soner was seen to leave her own room and go
downstairs, taking the candle away with her. In
about an hour's time the landlady returned and
found the prisoner alone and seated by the fire in
down exclaiming that the moms up-
tiehdegkeirtschraenn, and in about 20 minutes one of the
steers were filled with smoke, upon which the pri-
soner at once exclaimed " Oh, my children are
dead," and hurried upstairs and was afterwards met
coming out of her room with her eldest child in her
arms quite dead, and, banding it to one of the
lodgers, she returned and brought out the second
child, who died !very shortly afterwards. There
were no marks of violence upon either of the bodies,
nor were their chemises at all burnt. Assistance
having been obtained the people in the house went
into the prisoners bedrcom, and there they found
a bed on which the parents generally slept, and
which lay on the floor, completely burnt from the
centre of it through the floor and ceiling of the room
und a
ernetatt while the bed on which the children
slept, opposite corner of the room, remained
untouched. The beds were composed of shaving 4,
and coneequently
easily ignited. An inquest was
then held upon the bodies of the children, and the
circumstance of the prisoner and her husband hey-
ing suddenly withdrawn afer the first day's in-
quiry, and the suddenness of the death of the chil-
dren aroused various suspicions, which end€d in a
post-mortem exatnination, the result of which was
that 42 grains of oxalic acid were detected in the
body of the elder child, and 20. grains in that of the
younger child, a quantity, in the opinion of various
medical witnesses, amply sufficient to account for
death, assuming that a large portion of the dose
had been absorbed into the sytem.
After a very long and elaborate examination and
cross-examination bf the medical witnesses, who
were unable to speak with any certainty as to the
time at which the poison was administered.
The learned judge, who had previously enter-
tained some doubt as to the sufficiency of the evi-
dence, interfered, and inquired whether the counsel
for the prosecution were prepared with any evidence
that the woman had ever been proved to have had
poison in her possession, and on being answered in
the negative at once stopped the case, adding that
uo doubt there were circumstances of grave sus-
picion against the prisoner ; and by his lordship's
direction, a verdict of "Not guilty was taken upon
both in ic rne cats.
post mortem examination
The prix iner, who laid left her house suddenly
after a vaen seareh, ihmutreedeimatmeleyneaefdte, r
wt
ah
se,
ulti-
mately taken into custody in Ireland in April last.