The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-18 00:00:00

MRS. BACON'S CONFESSION.

It was stated in the report of the trial of Bacoh
and his wife that, at the close of the proceedings,
Lord Campbell, after the jury had returned their
verdict, in an emphatic manner expressed his entire
concurrence in that portion of it which exonerated
the male prisoner from any share in the transac-
tion, and he at the same time said that it would no
doubt be satisfactory to the jury to hear that the
woman had admitted that she, and she alone, had
committed the dreadful crime, and that her hus-
band had nothing whatever to do with it. It has
already been stated. that Bacon has all along as-
serted that this was the case, and he had taken
every opportunity to urge upon his wife to retract
the statement she had made at the police-court, in
which she as-erted that her husband was the mur-
derer, and which was no doubt the foundation of
the proceedings that were ultimately taken against
him. She, however, maintained a dogged silence
until the end of the first day's trial, when, shortly
after she bad been taken back to her cell, she ex-
pressed a desire to make a statement, and upon
some of the authorities of the gaol going to her she
at once said that the statement in question was
false, and that she bad herself destroyed her chil-
dren. She stated also that it was quite true that
Bacon had left ber in bed when he proceeded on
his journey to Reigate, and that very soon after-
wards the idea of destroying her children came
into her mind. She first took the little boy out of
his bed and cut his throat, and then carried him
down stairs and placed him in the chair in the posi-
tion in which he was found, with the toys before
him. She says the child died almost instantaneously,
and uttered a very slight cry when she first cut him
with the knife. She states that she then determined
to kill the baby, but she felt great reluctance to
destroy the youngest child, and she did not do so
till after the boy was dead'; but at length she could
no longer resist the desire for destruction, and she
cut the second child's throat in the same manner
she had done the first, but this child she left in the
room where the deed was committed. She says she
has little recollection of what occurred afterwards ;
but she remembered Mrs. Munro knock at the door
in the afternoon, but was afraid to let her in ; and
she remained in the house with her dead children
all Monday and the succeeding night, and on the
following morning went out with the intention of I
paying her rent ; and upon meeting Mrs. Munro
and her mother the thought suddenly came into her
mind that she would tell them that a man had got
in it the window and murdered the children, and
she expected that this would avert suspicion from
herself. She said that, finding it did not have this
effect, and that she was taken into custody, she then
became alarmed and her mind began wandering,
and after the women had been t dking to her, and
told ber that if she did not clear herself she would
in all probability lose her life, she resolved to ac-
cuse her husband, and accordingly made the state-
, ment which led to his being taken into custody and
to his being committed to take his trial together
with her for the murder. At this time the learned
judges bad left the court, but on their arrival on
the following morning a communication was imme-
diately made to the Lord Chief Justice of what bad
taken place; but as there were no means of legally
bringing the matter before the jury (a statement of
this description, made by one prisoner in reference
to another, not being legally admissible), the only
course that remained open to the learned judge
was to point out the entire absence of anything like
positive 'evidence against the male prisoner, and he
summed up the case very much in his favour, and
the result was the, acquittal of the male prisoner.
On Friday afternoon, before Bacon was removed
from Newgate' he expressed a desire to have an in-
terview with his wife, and therequPst being acceded
to, the interview took place in the presence of Mr.
Weatherhead, the governor of the gaol, and the
ordinary. They were both very much affected, and
Bacon, at the close and several times during the
interview. earnestly entreated his wife to speak the
truth, and clear him from the suspicion of being
concerned in committing such a dreadful crime, and
she replied that she bad done so. In the course of
the afternoon the male prisoner was removed by
Mr. Reed, the chief officer of Stamford, under a
warrant charging him with the murder of his
mother. Although this step has been taken, the
probability is that Bacon will be brought back to
be tried at the Central Criminal Court. The
coroner's inquisition has already been removed,
under Palmer's Act, to the Court of Queen's Bench,
and when the grand jury, at the ensuing assizes,
have returned a true bill, that will also be removed,
and the prisoner will in all probability. be tried at
the August session of the Central Criminal Court.
Mrs. Bacon has not yet been renaeved from New-
gate, but she will eventually be conveyed to the
criminal ward of Bethlehem Asylum.

EXAMINATION OF THOMAS FULLER
BACON ON THE CHARGE OF POISON-
ING HIS MOTHER.
On Saturday Thomas Fuller Bacon (who had
been conveyed from London the previous night, in
custody of Superintendent Reed and Inspector
Young), was brought up before the Stamford bench,
on the charge of having administered arsenic",to his
mother, Mrs. Ann Bacon, of which she died on the
15th May, 1855.
The prisoner was accommodated with a seat, and
only once during the day did he make any observa-
tion. Upon perceiving a. professional gentleman
with pencil andpaper, apparently engaged insketch-
ing his portrait, he rise and with considet able
warmth, protested against beingmade an exhibition
of.
The Bench told the prisoner they could not in-
terfere in the matter, and the inquiry then proceeded.
It is unnecessary to repeat the whole of the evi-
dence, it being substantially the same as was given
at the coroner's inquest held at Great casterton, in
Feb. last. A brief resume will, therefore, suffice.'
Mr. G. Patterson, chemist and drtiggist, proved
that on the Bth May, 1855 (only a week before Mrs.
Bacon's death), he sold an ounce of arsenic to the
prisoner, who mud ho wanted it to poison rats. The
sale was entered in a book kept by witness for the
purpose, and attested by the signature of the pri-
soner himself and a witness named Wm. Clifton,
Wm.' Mays Hibbens, an apprentice, deposed that
at the beginning of the week before Bacon's mother
died the prisoner sent bin to the shop of Mr. Wil-
ford for sixpenny-worth of arsenic, telling him that,
if asked what it was for, he was to say it was for
hardening iron. Mr. Wilford refused to let the
you,h have the arsenic without a witness. On being
informed of this, Bacon "laughed it off," and said,
" Oh, never mind, l'll get it myself." The witness
added that when there was any iron to harden at
Bacon's workshop they used prussiate of potash,
not arsenic.
Mary Riley, charwoman, who attended Mrs. Ba-
con during her bri-f but fatal illness, described her

symptoms (vomiting and spasms), and said that de-
ceased told her that having accepted au invitation
to dine with her ion Thomas (the prisoner) on Sun-
day, the 13th May, she was sudlenly seized with
vomiting and purging after partaking of sotne broth
The deceased died on the following Tuesday.

At this stage of the investigation (half-past 12)
the Court adjourned for ten minutes, and in the
interval the prisoner was•supplied with a beefsteak
and coffee: which he consumed with great apparent
relish.

William Clifton was the next witness. He de-
posed to accompanying the prisoner when he pur-
chased the arsenic at Mr. Patterson's.
Elizabeth Blake said she had known the deceased
upwards of 20 years, and she was generally a stout
healthy woman.

Mrs. Ann Macon, wife of the prisoner's brother
William, was than examined at considerable length.
On Saturday, May 12, 1855, witness saw deceased,
who then appeared quite well. Next clay witness
was sent for to deceased, in consequence of her ill-
ness. Either on the Monday or Tuesday (the day
of Mrs. Bacon's death), witness being in deceased's
bedrom, heard the prisoner say to bis wife, " I
think mother had better have something out of
that bottle" (referring to a bottle standing on the
dressing table, which witness supposed to conta'n
pepperment or something of that kind). The
bottle contained a whitish liquid. On the Tuesday
evening, shortly after Mrs. Bacon's death, prisoner
took up the bottle is question, and said, " This is
my bottle ;it wont be wanted any more—l may as
well take it away." Witness did not see the bottle
afterwards ; it was a little square brittle, rather
lower than an ordinary medicine bottle. Witness
recollected Mrs. Bacon being ill in. March, 1855;
her symptoms then being similar to those of her
last illness. On the first occasion she had a cup of
tea or coffee at the prisoner's house about seven in
the morning, and she was taken ill about 10 or 11.
Under the will of his father the prisoner succeeded,
at the death of his mother, to some houses in Pro-
tection-place, Stamford, which brought in about 901.
a-year, subject to legacies to the amount of 550/.,
payable six months after Mrs. Bacon's decease.
The prisoner was then remanded until Wednes-
day, when the medical evidence, including that of
Professor Taylor, will be taken.
This case, coupled with the Bacon's acquittal on
the charge of murdering his children, has caused
the greatest excitement in Stamford, where his an-
tecedents have calved him to be regarded with no
favourable eye. When taken through the town in
an omnibus, on his arrival from London on Friday
night, he was hooted by a formidaVe crowd, and
several stones were thrown at the solicitor who
conducted his defence.