The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-21 00:00:00

MURDER OF A WIFE BY POISONING,

WESTMINSTER. Robert Kay Butler, a well-
dressed and respectable-looking man, appeared to his
recognisances to undergo a final examination, charged
with a series of offences.
Mr. Bodkin appeared, as before, on behalf of Mr.
Loxdale, proprietor and printer of a local paper called
the West MT:idles= Advertiser.
The circumstances which gave rise to the present pro-
ceedings are briefly thee :—On the first publication of
the paper in question, early in Nov. last, the prisoner
offered his services to obtain advertisements, and was to
receive 20 per cent. upon all the money he brought in.
Shortly after this, and at a time when his commission
only amounted to I/. 10s., be obtained a cheque from
Mr. Lozdale for 10/. oe account. It was subsequently
ascertained that he had not only brought a number of
sham advertisements, but in his capacity of collector had
embezzled divers sums received for the insertion of
genuine advertisements.

Mr. Bodkin was not disposed to occupy the time of
the court with respect to the false advertisements which
he declared prisoner had never any authority to insert,
and which had been produced, to colour his claim for
commission but determined to shape the charges into
five cases Of embezzlement, and one of obtaining the
101. above alluded to under false pretences.
Five tradesmen were then examined, who proved that
they had paid the prisoner divers small sums, amounting
in all to 2/. 2s.
Mr. and Mrs. Loxdale stated that the whole money
accounted for by the prisoner was 31. lb., having refe-
rence to other advertisers, and 11, 104. for which he
never gave a list. He had never accounted for the
money received from any of the five tradesmen above
mentioned, and two of them had sent their advertise-
ments to the office without any solicitations from, or
knowledge of the prisoner.
The accused declared that the 11. 10s. paid to Mrs.
Loxdale without any names was from those very indi-
viduals, as would be seen by the dates of the receipts.
Mr. Paynkr considered it his duty to send the above
charges for trial at the Central Criminal Court, with a
view to their fall investigation by a competent tribunal,
and took small bail for prisoner's appearance there.
In the autumn of last year, owing to a complaint
signed by a number of inhabitants of Ebury-street and
its neighbourhood, directed to the Sanitary Board of St.
the district, visited the extensive cow-yard
George's, Hanover-square, Dr. Aldis, the medical officer
ofof Charleshealt health of
in the rear of the houses in Ebury.
street, and upon that gentleman reporting that it was a
nuisance and injurious to health, proceedings were taken
at this court, under the Nuisances Removal and Diseases
Prevention Act, against the proprietor of the offensive
place in question.
Mr, Paynter, after a very lengthened review of the
case, made an order against defendant as follows :—That
the number of cows should be reduced to 90 ; that the
district surveyor of St. George's and one appointed by
defendant should consider what alterations could be
made in the sheds, subject to his (Mr. Paynter's) appro.
val, regular whitewashing, and the pavement constructed
with such an inclination as to allow the slop to run off
more readily, and the grain reservoir to be emptied and
cleansed.
It was then determined that the surveyors should
inspect the sheds as early as possible, in order to give
defendant time to appeal against the decision, if dissatis-
fied with the results.

LAMBETH.—A SPORTINO MlN.—Richard MO9l,
who was described as a blacksmith, but on whose person
was found a betting book, containing several entries of
bets at long odds on the Derby and other forthcoming
races, was charged before Mr. Elliott with being con.
cerned with his wife in the commission of two robberies.
Mr. John James Wells, a corn chandler, residing at
No. 17, Palace New-road, deposed that the prisoner's
w;:te had been in his service as cook on the first of last
%nonth, and on that day absconded, taking with her three
valuable shawls, 16 yards of silk, and other property.
On the same morning the prisoner, as he (Mr. Wells)
should be able to prove, was seen loitering about his
house, and one person heard him say he was " tired wait-
in4." He gave information of the robbery to the po-
lice, but nothing was heard of the prisoner until the
present time.

- Mrs. Jane Weaver, the wife of a blacksmith, residing
at No. 3, Great Suffolk street, Borough, said be knew
the prisoner from his having worked in the country with
her husband, and also knew the wife. Oa the 22d of
October last the latter came to het house, and said her
husband was working in Birmingham, and that knowing
that witness had some friends there she called to ask for
a letter to them. She went away, however, without
waiting for any letter, and immediately after she (wit-
ness) missed her gold watch, which had been safe hang-
ing up a few minutes before.
The prisoner denied all knowledge of either robbery,
and said he had not seen his wife Mr a length of time.
Mrs. Weaver said she should hying proof on a future
day that the prisoner and his wife were tvge►her on box-
ing day last.
This was denied by the prisoner, and, at the request
of the officers engaged in the case, the prisoner was
remanded to a future day.

THAMES.—DRUMFUL CARS OP MATRIMONIAL DIP-
FERENcR3.—A. man named Bartlett, a shipwright, wee
Christmas-eve her husban'
charged on a summons with violently assaulting hi. ,
1911 e
and breaking her arm.
The complainant who had her left -4rm bound up,
said that she resided in Ma '
for them to drink, • _...) brought home a pint of rum
which he se.- dome words arose) in. the souse of
•rg".'.,6-street, and that on
arm. " -..ed bold of the tales and stkuck het left
one went to bed eotian tines after, and was not
...rare that it was titoken
when she found that it till the following morning,
W AS •
Mr. YardleY—l see that this summons was not taken
out till the 16th inst., 22 days after the occurrence.
How was it that you did not take it out before !
The complainant
nurse, and replied that had been en aged about sher business. he was a monthly
(
say?
Mr. Yardley g (to the defendant)—What have you to
The defendant stated that he took up the tongs in self.
defence, and that he had no intention to break her
arm. She was about to stab him with a table-knife,
when be struck her arm with the tons to knock it out
of tier hand. 4
A few g
the brill weeks ago she stabbed his nose on
ge with a knife and cat seme of the veins. Me
was in con4equence obliged to go to the London Hos-
pital to have the wound dressed. His wife had been
several times at that court, charged with, and impri
for drink,, aseaulte on him. She pawned all his things
r
The Defendant said he had a witness to show what
took place on Cbridtcoas-eve.
Johanna Griffiths stated that oh* was in the room on

On Monday night an inquest, held at Chesham, before
Mr. F. Charsley, one of the coroners for the county of
Bucks, resulting in a verdict of " Wilful murder" against
Philip White, a shoemaker of that town, for poisoning
his wife, was brought to a conclusion. The inquest,
which was opened on the 30th ult., was twice adjourned.
On the two former occasions a number of witnesses
were examined, including two little girls, the prisoner's
daughters by a former wife, of the ages of 13 and 8.
The substance of the evidence on those occasions was
as follows :—The prisoner, whose first wife died some
time ago of consumption, leaving tour children, one son
now married, a boy of 14, and the two girls above
alluded to, had been married to the deceased only nine
months, she being at the time of her marriage the mother
of three illegitimate children, one of whom her hus-
band had to maintain. It appears that during this period
and for some months previously Ann Seaward had been
living in the prisoner's house, apparently assisting in the
domestic work. Between this woman and White an
illicit intercourse had been carried on previous to his
second marriage, and subsequently during the temporary
absence of his wife. Her evidence, most reluctantly
given, further went to show that he had administered to
her a drug called hiera.picra to procure abortion, she
being in the family way during his wife's absence. It
appeared that the deceased had been for five weeks nurs•
ing a woman at Chesham-common, when she was re-
called by her husband, Ann Seaward having declined
to remain any longer in the house if his wife was away,
in consequence of the ill-natured remarks of the neigh-
hours. She accordingly returned home on the 14th of
December, and she died on the Sunday following Christ.
mas day, having been confined to her bed for a week
with erysipelas. During this period the prisoner called
in no medical aid, stating he owed the doctor money for
previous wife. She was attended by her mother and
sister and also by Ann Seaward, and when Mr. Dews.
nap, a surgeon, was called in by the mother the day
before the deceased died he found her fast sinking and in
a most neglected state, though the mother and sister
appear to have dons all they could for her. A witness
named Mitchell swore that the prisoner on the 23d said
to the deceased she ought to have a doctor, and that she
replied, "Pooh I what good could he do!" and another
woman, who bad taken work to the prisoner while his
wife was dying, proved he had said he wished he was a
single man, as he was the Christmas before. In conse-
quence of the neglected state of the deceased an inquest
was held, when the testimony of Surgeons Fathoms and
Dewsnap, of Chesham, having shown the existence of
arsenic, the case assumed a more serious complexion,
and the prisoner was taken into custody immediately
after the first day's proceedings on a charge of poisoning
his wife.
On the inquiry being reopened yesterday, Mr. Joseph
Heath, a chemist in the town, deposed that on the 4th
of. December the deceased, who was a customer of his,
had purchased half an ounce of arsenic, alleging it was
to poison mice. She had signed the entry required by
the act, and he gave her two packages of arsenic coloured
with soot, in the proportion of one•sixteenth, cautioning
her to be careful as to its use. It was quite usual to
supply arsenic for killing rate and mice to persons who
were known.
Professor Taylor was next examined—He deposed
that he had received for analysis a jar containing the
stomach of the deceased and its contents, the intestines,
a portion of the liver, one kidney, the spleen, and part
of the heart. From a chemical analysis he had come to
the following conclusions :—First, that the contents of
the stomach of the deceased contained arsenic, chiefly
the blood and mucus ; second, that there was arsenic
in the coats of the stomach ; third, that the appearances
presented by the stomach were such as usually attended
poisoning by arsenic ; fourth, that taking these appear.
ances in conjunction with the discovery of arsenic in the
mucus and blood of the contents of the stomach, and the
absence of any other cause of death revealed by the post
mortem examination, it was highly probable that the
death of the deceased was caused by arsenic. A. supple-
mentall, examination confirmed these conclusions. He
had no doubt that a sufficient quantity of arsenic to
destroy life had been taken by the deceased. The body
of the deceased was not penetrated with arsenic to the
extent he had known in other cases, but that might have
arisen from the poison being taken only a short time
before death, so that it had no time for diffusion, or it
might have been taken some period before death, and
removed by what was technically called elimination, or
the throwing of the poison out of the body, Few per-
sons lived more than three days after taking arsenic,
and the appearances presented in this case were such as
were commonly seen when the poison has proved fatal in
two or three days. There was no arsenic dissolved in the
stomach. The appearances were consistent either with
a recent administration of arsenic in a large dose, or an
old administration in several small doses.
Philip White, a son of the prisoner, aged 14, who
cried a good deal while he was giving his evidence, de-
posed that one evening, a month before his stepmother's
death, he asked her if she had the face ache, and she
replied she had the heartache. About five weeks ago
'his father, who was drunk at the time, said to him,
" Your mother is a ; she is no mother to you."
His mother was down stairs, and might have heard the
remark. He never heard his father wish his mother
dead, or knew them to quarrel. She was in bed about
a week before she died. She was light headed before
Christmas day. On that day she had her dinner of beef
pudding and savoys taken to her by his sister. She eat
all the sevoys and wanted more. She died on Sunday,
the 28th. He never beard of her having been sick till
after she was dead. His sister Emma bad said she her-
self had been sick while his mother was ill. The night
before his mother died Ann Seaward was in the house,
and she and his father went outside for a few minutes.
He had once heard his father say to his mother "he
wished he had been a hundred miles off before he had
seen her." He never heard his mother complain of his
father's attentions to Ann Seaward.
Superintending constable Wootton deposed that on
his taking the prisoner into custody after the first day's
adjournment, he said he would go and tell the jury all
about it. Witness said, "You are too late ; the jury
have left." The prisoner, turning to the witness, Mrs.
Mitchell, said, "I wish ?had told the jury all about it ;
if it had not been for you I would, but, as we are all
married, I'll tell you what it was. About three weeks
ago my wife went to Mr. Heath's and bought some
arsenic. She used the arsenic occasionally to get rid of
a child. The last time she took it was on Monday lasti,
sparidiso , h 1
prisoner, Witness took him to the lock-up, wkeeneepere t
the presence of Bunker, the lock-up
well ; she's dead and gone. suppose I shall swing
next March for her." On being taken to Aylesbury
Gaol the prisoner said, " I am innocent of the crime; if
they were to hang me at once, I'll never confess to it ;
for I know no one can prove !
The prisoner several
m that I ever bought any
arseneic, or ever gave her %
times eidated witness lny.
to make inquiries at Mr.
Heath's, which he had done.
i_
Ann Seaward wi.).-14 then recalls 1. She is rather goo-
looking, but very deaf, and many years tne prisoner's
junior, he being about 50. She shed tears while under
examination, and the prisoner watched her intently. Sbe
said that before the prisoner had married his last wife
h
he had asked het to mafry ire, and she had refused be-
Cause he was so much older than herself. During his
wife's illpeis he asked her would she marry him if his
wife died, and she replied eke would. She said so, be
cause he had said that on the Wednesday, the 24th, he
could have killed her sooner than let any one have her.
She
had been out that evening with another y, ung
man, and the prisoner had follbwed her. He struck
herfor it on the Thursday, and said, "You say you
won't go with any one else any more," which she re.
peated. The prisoner had given her money to buy
haeorapiera. He mixed 'a dose for her, and it made
her very sick. He afterwards gave her another dose.
One night while his wife was away she was in the pri-
soner's house, when he took her from his own bed to his
This the prisoner denied, and asked the witness if she
had not kept company with a young man from Michael-
mas to Christmas, to which she replied in the affirmative.
The coroner having summed up,
The jury, after being absent about an hour and three
quarters, returned a verdict of " Wilful Murder."
The prisoner, who did not exhibit greater emotion
than was observable during the inquiry, was then com-
mitted on the capital charge to stand his trial at tb•
assizes„

CERTIFICATES TO BE GRANTED.
Feb. 11. J. T. Metcalfe and G. Bow-lane,
City, and Farnham, Surrey, Metcalfe,
carman
OF.. Sea.
ward, Abchurch-yard, City, licensedcanvas Rob-
son, Belmont wharf Kin 's
-cross, wharfinge: ;Atja.n6teven-
son, Vauxhall Brewery, brewer ; O. Tidier:l% .
Id,ochreesgtoerr:
tailor. Feb. 13. I. J. Hadwin an
Liverpool and Havannah, merchants. Fob, 12. D. Buckler,
Birmingham, builder.
PARTNERSHIPS
Irc in-
ih.
L. A. Gregory, D. Chinery, and E.
lane, City, and elsewhere, African
T.
erc
Cutler, Birmingham,
re-
gards D. Chinery—R. Cutler and T
merchants, so far as
DESSHO.LGVrEegDnr.y, B
gun manufacturers—J. J. H. Elliot, Bristol, pickle
merchants—S. Craymer and J.
T.
Pratt, Wilby, Northamp.
G. Haworth, J.
Fenton and G. C. Shore,. Sheffield,
manufacturers—F. Pratt an
Mill Water, near Newchurch,
Htoonyshlei,rea,ndbrdi.ckuomlta,kTerhso—rnß•mil
Watson and J. Watson, Bel.
Hayworth and G. Holt—S.
l manufacturers—R. Todd and R. IV,
Lancashire, cotton matnusf:.cturers, so far as regards R.
per, Derbyshire,
,R. g, Eldon-street, Finsbury, n
naiNorthamptonshire, booksellers—W. Sad-
grove,Todd, Ojuunn.llea,m,.h
gte cabinet makers T 11- a-d
• ickin
Baker. Wolverhampton, lock manufacturers—G.
and T. .
Dunnings-alley, Big oPffga ,
Goode and T. Shirley, Smedley Vale, near Manchester,
silk dyers—W. Wells and C. Wells, Oxford, and Liver-
pool, silversmiths—S. Finnis cod A. Neame, Dover, Kent, merchants—J. E. Soulsby, J. Aston, and J. Regan,
Now-yard, Great Queen-street, Lincoln's-inn-fields, book-
binders, so far as regards J. E. Soulsby—J. Swinford and
T. Champion, owners of steam thrashing machines—Vir.
Carter and R. Moxom and Mary Carter (executors of the
late J. Carter), Howden and Kilpin, Yorkshire, wine mer-
chants—C. F. J. Lord and R. Nichol, Hampstead; sur-
geons—Louisa Widenham aad T. F. Widenham, Loalba -A-
street, City. stock brokers-4. Fowler and R. Hyslo'n'
Leicester, cordwainers—J. D. Dean, and E. B. Newto;i
Staleybridge, Cheshire, plumbers—James Blyde and John
Blyde, Sheffield, scissor manufacturers—H. Chadwick and
E. Chadwick, Burnley, Lancashire, stone masons--s. H.
Blackwell and W. Green, Corbyn's Hall, Kingswinford,
Staffordshire, ironmasters— W. Satterthwaite, sen., and
J. Barrow, sen., Lancaster, cotton spinners—H. J. Slack
and P. S. King, Southampton-street, Strand, newspaper
proprietors—T. B. Cockayne, sen., and W. Cockayne, sen.,
Sheffield, drapers—G. Crawley and E. Masters, Mark-
lane, City, wine merchants— J. Heap and G. Lindsey,
`,,:"Alford, Lancashire, joiners—E. Lawrence and J. Totter
dell, Liverpool, tea-
dealers.

I LITERARY INTELLIGENOE,--Among the new works
announced for publication during the season by Messrs.
Hurst and Blackett are the following :—Mr. Atkinson's
Narrative of hit Seven Years' Explorations and Adven-
tures in Oriental and Vestern Siberia, Chinese Tartary,
8a..., in one large volume, embellished with numerous
coloured plates, from the author' s original drawings.
"Personal Recollections 91 the Last Four Popes," by
his Eminence Cardinal Wii 3n/an• "Elizabeth, de Valois
and the Court of Philip 11, of Spaiu," by Miss Freer, 2
vole. " A Pilgrimage into pauphine," by the Rev. G.,
It:v.
M. Musgrave, 2 vols., with illustrations. "A Per.
sonal Narrative of the Discov
cry
n surgeon e otnhea
Passage," by Dr. Armstrong, late
ist of H.M.S. Investigator, 1 vo,'• " Songs of the
Cavaliers and Roundheads," by Mr. G. W. Thornburg, Marks. In the
in 1 vol., with illustrations by Mr. H. ,
list of works of fiction of the same puk.L'llithera are
The Days of My Life," an autobiograp.llY, by the
author of "Margaret Maitland ;" "Nothing I°W," by
the author of "John Halifax ;" and new novels b," the
S. author of "Rockingham," Mrs. C. Halll Mrs, .4'1:91-
lope, and Miss Jewsbury.