The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-22 00:00:00

TRIAL OF BELANLY•

THE STEPNEY POISONING CASE.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
OLD COURT.
Mr. Commissioner: Bullock took his seat in this
Court shortly after nine a'clock, when the prisoners for
trial during the day were arrainged at the bar. Among
them was James Cockburn Belaney, the surgeon, who
pleaded Not Guilty, in a firm voice, to the charge of
poisoning his wife, Rachel Belany. The prisoner is by
no means a good-looking man, but has a morose and
sullen appearance.
At ten o'clock the Judges, Mr. Baron Gurney and
Mr. Justice Wightman, took their seats on the bench,
when Belaney was again placed at the bar, and given
in charge to the jury by the Clerk of the Arraigns. He
was accommodated with a seat, and appeared to view
the whole of the proceedings with great apathy.
The Solicitor-General, Mr. Bodkin, and Mr. Cham-
bers conducted the prosecution on behalf of the Crown ;
and Mr. Erle and Mr. Clarkson appeared for the pri-
soner.
The SOLICITOR-GENERAL, on opening the prosecution,
said that it now became his duty on the part of the
Crown to state the serious and grave charge which
existed against the prisoner at the bar, and in making
that statement he could not but feel the great respon-
sibility that devolved upon him. The prisoner at the
bar was charged with occasioning the death of his wife
by poison. Now, in stating this important and solemn
charge to the jury, he must take care on behalf of the
Crown that every fact, and the conclusions to be drawn
from those facts, should be fairly and fully stated to the
jury, in order to enable them to form a correct and deli-
berate judgment on the case; and, on the other hand, he
must be cautious that no facts and no circumstances
should be unfairly pressed into the case against the
prisoner, that no inferences should be rashly drawn to
his prejudice, and that, in short, the whole trial should
be conducted in that fair and impartial manner which
always characterised the proceedings of the courts of
justice in this country. The case that he had
now to lay before them was strictly one of
circumstantial evidence. There was no doubt of
the death of the wife of the prisoner, and that
it was occasioned in consequence of her taking a quan-
tity of prussic acid; but the important question for the
jury to determine was, whether it was taken by mis-
take, in consequence of the prisoner having incautiously
and inadvertently left it within his wife's power ; or
whether he was guilty of the serious offence of wilfully
administering it to her. The jury on coming to a con-
clusion upon the facts submitted to them, must apply
their minds and exercise their reasoning powers pre-
cisely, on this most important occasion, in the same way
as they would in the ordinary concerns of life, they
would draw those conclusions from the facts which the
facts ordinarily brought to their minds, and if upon
the consideration of those facts they entertained any
doubt, they would give the benefit of it to
the prisoner. They were not, however, to be
ingenious in suggesting doubts which would not
occur to them in judging of the ordinary concerns
of life. Having made these preliminary remarks, he
would now proceed to state the circumstances of the
case shortly to the jury. The prisoner at the bar was
for some three or four years before the year 1843 in
practice as a surgeon in North Sunderland—he was not
practising under any diploma, and he was not able to
state whether he had an extensive practice. The de-
ci aced was the daughter of a Mrs. Skerrett, a widow lady,
residing in North Sunderland. She was possessed of
copyhold property, and had also a leasehold interest in
some lime-works. On the Ist of February, 1843, the
prisoner married the deceased, and he then gave up the
practice of a surgeon, and went to reside with his mo-
ther-in-law, carrying on, and managing for her the
business of the lime-works. Mrs. Skerrett did not long
survive the marriage of her daughter ; she died in the
July following. Upon the death of the mother the pri-
soner's wife came into possession of the copyhold.
property, and also of the mines and lime-works, and
the prisoner entered into partnership with a person
named Robson in the mines. In 1843 Mr. and Mrs.
Belaney attended a Court of the Lord of the Manor.
She was admitted to the copyhold lend, and surrendered
it to the use of her husband, the prisoner. They con-
tinued to reside in North Sunderland till May in the
preeent year. In the course of that month Mr. Be-
limey signified his intention of bringing his wife up to
London, leaving her there, and proceeding himself on
an excursion up the Rhine. On the 31st of May two wills
—mutual wills, were drawn up ; one by the wife, leaving
her property to her husband in ca-e she should die
first, and the other by the husband, the prisoner, leav-
ing his property to her in case he should die before
her. The execution of these wills were witnessed
by a farm steward, and a shoemaker. The
prisoner and his wife came up to London on the 3d
of June, and on the following day they went in company
with a rerson named Hobson to the house of a Mrs. Hep
pingstall, in Green-street, Mile-end, and hired for three
weeks two rooms, a front and back parlour, one of
which was made into a bed-room. At about half-pest
four o'clock on that day, Mrs. Belaney appeared to be in
perfect health. .She and the prisoner dined together, two
friends dining with them. They went out in the evening,
stating they were going to the Pavilion Theatre, and
they did not return till twelve or one o'clock OR the fol-
lowing morning. On Wednesday, the next day, Mr.
Belaney ordered his wife a black draught ; the persons in
the house shortly afterwards heard Mrs. Belaney
sick, and she remained in the house ill the
whole day. On Thursday she seemed to be
perfectly recovered ; she went out with her husband at
ten o'clock in the morning and did not return till files
o'clock ; they remained up till twelve o'clock ; she ap-
peared extremely cheerful and amused herself by playing
the piano. On Friday she was also apparently in ex-
cellent health. It might be right here that he should
stop the thread of his narrative for the purpose of stating
that on Thursday the prisoner at the bar went to a sur-
geon of the name of Donoghue, at Stepney, whom he
had known for three or four years. He told him that
he was in the habit of taking prussic acid medicinally,
and he requested him to get him some, as he himself
could not get it genuine ; besides that he ordered some
ascitate of morphine and some other drugs. An ounce
bottle of prussic acid, together with the other things he
had ordered, were sent to him accordingly.
He (the Solicitor-General) now came to the fatal day,
Saturday, the Bth of June. Between six and seven
o'clock in the morning of that day Mrs. Heppingstall,
the landlady of the house, heard the prisoner and his
wife conversing cheerfully together, About seven o'clock
the prisoner rung the bell, and ordered a tumbler of hot
water and a spoon to be brought to his room. About
half-past seven o'clock he was in the parlour ; the ser-
vant was then dusting the room. He desired her to leave
off, as he wanted to write some letters, and stated that
he would ring when he wanted breakfast. In about a
quarter of an hour afterwards the prisoner called for
assistance. Mrs. Heppingstall ran up stairs, and she
there found Mrs. Belaney on the bed lying on her back,
insensible, with her eyes closed, and something like foam
coming from her mouth. Mrs. lleppingstall said to the
prisoner, "For God's sake, do something !" She
desired the servant to go for hot water ; and
the feet of Mrs. Belaney were put into a
pan of it. Mrs. lleppingstall said she had seen
her own girls in fits, but she had never seen one
like that, to which the prisoner replied, " It is no fit—it
is a disease of the heart, of which her mother died twelve
enonths ago." He had a lancet in his hand, and observed
that he would have bled her, but there was no move-
ment of blood in the heart. Mrs. Heppingstall then said
" Won't you and for a doctor ?" to which the prisoner
replied that he was one himself. Ultimately, however, a
:medical man of the name of Garrett was sent for, but
aspen his arrival Mrs. Belaney was no more. When Mr.
Garrett came the prisoner asked him the cause of death,
to which he replied, that it might be a disease of the
heart. The prisoner said, " Very likely, as that was the
.disease of which her mother died 9 months before. Mr. G.
Alien said that there must be a coroner's inquest, and the
prisoner at once assented to it. That inquest was held
on the 10th of June, but it was adjourned in order that
a post mcr:em examination might take place. That
examination was made by Mr. Garratt and a gentleman
:named Forney, and from that examination it was ascer-
tained that in the stomach there was a sufficient gran-
tity of prussic acid to occasion death. The heart, how-
ever, was found to be in a perfectly healthy state. About
nine on the evening of the post mortem examination, the
prisoner, in company with some other persons, called
eipon Mr. Garratt, to ask the cause of death. That gun-
elernan gave him an evasive answer, the parties went
away, and the prisoner called again. He then said that
be bad been in the habit of taking prussic acid medi-
cinally ; that he had had a bottle out of which he could
mot get the stopper, that in endeavouring to do so lie
broke the neck off; that upon doing so he poured
the prussic acid into some water in a glass that was in
the bed-room, and that while he went into the other
room to get a 'bottle to put the acid in, he heard a
*shriek, and that upon hurrying into the bed-room, Mrs.
Belaney said to him, " Oh, dear, I have taken some
of that hot drink, give me some water." The prisoner,
-upon being asked what he had done with the bottle, said
that he had got rid of it in some vacant ground.
Such was this sad transaction, and such the account
.given of it. Now, if he was correctly informed, the jury
mould hear from the medical men that the effect of
prussic acid was to cause a shriek, and that with that
shriek volition ceased altogether ; and if that was the
case, it would have been impossible for Mrs. Belaney
to have said what the prisoner hadstated she
dd
After she had taken the prussic acid. Added to this,
le was informed it was the opinion of medical men that
if proper remedies had been employed, the life of Mrs.
Beianey might have been saved. The case, however
was not to be left here—there were other particulars into'
which it was necessary he should go, in order to enable
the jury to form a just conclusion in this important case.
After the apprehension of the prisoner, it was ascer-
tained that he had written to his friends in North Sun-
elerland, and some of those letters he would now read.
The first was dated on the sth of June, and was as
follows :

"Euston Hotel, London, June 5, 1844.
"Dear Sir,—We arrived here yesterday evening safe
and sound, although to-day, 1 tun sorry to say, Mrs.
1343limey is rather unwell. The fatigue of travelling such
a distance, no doubt, to a constitution deheate like hers,
was sure to tell a little upon her ; and I think her spirit,
to bear up and carry all before her, has been greater
than her strength was equal to. However, I trust that
in a day or two, after a good rest, she will be all right
again, and we will be able to proceed to Arlington, to
my brother's. She does not think very much of what,
as yat,,she has seen of London. That is easy to be ac-
counted for, she not being over well, on the one hand, to
enicrgAnything ; and, on the other, having seen almost
nothing of interest but crowded streets. As, to-day, I
hotel, and as I will be moving about from
tiao9, to. race, you had better direct my letters to a
bookseller 8, who I have arranged with_to receive and