The Sun.
London, England, 1850-02-16 00:00:00

der of her husband, James Merritt, late a turncock in
the employment of the East London Waterworks Com-
pany, by administering to him a quantity of apenie, -
r. Bamford, from the office of kr. Maule, the Tree.
Bury solicitor, attended to conduct the prosecution.
It may be recollected that, at the fordier examination,
evidence was adduced of a conversation which had taken
place between the prisoner and a woman named Bartho-
lomew, whose husband, then recently deceased, had been
a member of the same benefit society to which the mitt
Merritt belonged; in the course of which the prisoner,
in reference to a complaint from the former, that she had
only received 71. 10s. from the funds of the society, in-
wend of a sum of 101., to which those who are termed
" full members" are entitled, expressed her confident
belief that she herself would receive the maximum al-
lowance in the event of anything happening to her own
husband.

Inspector Coward now said that, in consequence of ail
observation which had fallen from the prisoner on a pre-
vious occasion, to the effect that she knew where bey
husband': benefit society's book was kept, he had since
visited the house, and on examining the place discovered
the book produced in one of the drawers of a table in
the sitting room; and James Hurry, secretary to the
burial club in question, deposed to his having received
a message from the prisoner on the very
morning of her
husband's death, in pursuance of which he proceeded to
her house, and intimated that ho would leave an order
with the steward for the immediate payment of lislf the
amount she was entitled to receive, but at the same time
expressed his regret at the premature death of her hut-
Lad, as she would have received the full amount of IW.
instead of 71 10 to which she was then only entitled;
had ho survived but five days longer.
Alderman, the gaoler, was then examined, and Meted,
that of.er the removal of the prisoner to one of the coils
at the conclusion of the former bearing, she urgently en-
tiered him to listen to her for atew moments, as she had
no one to speak to her, and wishedtomekeadisclosureof
eitcuaistances she was anxious the cottgiatrate should
be apprised of. She den adverted to the feet of her
havine surieetitiously pledged a large quantity of pro-•
perty'be!onging to a lodger in her home, the duplicates
for which had been produced in court, and proceeded to
say that everything she had stated relative to the un-
happy transaction was perfectly correct, with the excep-
tion of a declaration she had made to Inspector Coward,
that she had not purchased the poison, whereas the
truth was that she had done so, and that she subsea;
quf.ntirtook it out of the papers, labelled " Poison," in
which it had been served to her by the druggist, which
she'at once destroyed, and having screwed the poison
up in-another paper, placed it in the cupboard amongst'
notree packets of tartaric acid and sods, which her hus-
band was in the habit of taking. She stated further
that she had
_purchased the poison in a sudden pet, but ,
without any serious intention of. taking it herself, or '
giving it to her husband, who, if he had takea it at all,
roust have done so in mistake, and that she bad subse-
quently removed the whole of the packets, and thrown -
them into the fire; but whetser this occurred Were or
after her husband's death she did not specify.
The -prisoner's snn, an intelligent little boy, eight . years of age, who was erroneously stated, at the conclu-
sion of the coroner's inquest, to have suddeely died since
the apprehension of his mother, .was now present in the
clothing of the Haekney Union workhouse, of which he
has since been an inmate; and it was understood that he
would be able to give very material evidence in support
of the charge; but-the Crown solicitor, after subjecting--„
him to an examination in the Magistrate's private room,
deemed it inexpedient at present to place him in the
witness box.

Mr. ARNOLD thou asked the.prisoner if she wished to•
make any observations in answer to the charge,_after the
usual caution that she was not bound to say anything,
but that what she did say would be taken down in writ-
in; and used as evidence against her at the trial.
The prisoner, in a low monotonous tone, then said—l
have nothing more to say than that I never intended my
husband to take the poison. At the time I bought it I
intent:ed to have taken it myself, if_ he had come home
as he had. -dOne.for several nights before, as I could not
live any longer such a life as he had led me. He came
home afterwards very comfortable, and I thought no
more of it till the Saturday following, when I burnt the'
whole of it, as it came into my mind that he might have
taken it himself, instead ofthe soda he was fn the hibit
of using. As for giving it to him, I never thought of such
a thing, and as to doing anything to harm him, God
forbid ! I had always don© the contrary.
This statement of the prisoner was reduced ha writing
and handed to her, who subscribed it with her signature
without the slightest tremour or itesitsticin, as main-
tained the acme collected detnennour and remarkable
self-possession that she had manifested throughout the
proceedings.

- The vola' minouq &positions of the witnesses were then
read over by Mr. Johnstoue, the second clerk, and the
prisoner Was fully committed to Newgate for trial upon
the charge of " Wilful Murder."

SI'OR.TING INTELLIGENCE:
LIVERPOOL STEEPLECHASE.
The following are the declarations of forfeit for this
event :—Ben Lomond, Herring, La Sylphide, Silent
Friend, Robin Grey, Miss Collingwood, Yentas, Venice,
Paqtat,a, The Duchess, Fanny Gray, Harlestone, Little
lloughtcm, Vruture, Bijsz-1, Agitation, The Mouse,
Sir Arthur, Shamrock, Master Robin, Tom Jolly, The
Thrush, Bayonet, Sparta, Little Paul, Wolverhampton.
LIVERPOOL SPRING CUP. •
Declarations of ..forfeitt—Ballinafado--Lettib's Wool, -
Alt', Ormsby, Yard Arm, Anthony, Imperatrix, An.
dalusian, Present, Modesty.
BETTING AT MANCHESTER.—FninAr.
LIVERPOOL STEEPLECHASE.— 8 to 1 agst Sir John
(t), 10 to 1 egst Vain Hope (t), 10 to 1 agst Chandler
(0, 11 to 1 sgst Rattrap (0, 100 to 6 'Tat Knight of
Gwynne (0, 20 to 1 agst Little Fanny (0, 20 to 1 apt
Farnham (t), 20 to • I agst Vtetita (t), 25 to 1 agst
Grand Lunn ere (t), 30 to 1 agst Vengeance (t).
LIVERPOOL SPRINU Cur.-5 to 2 agst Osbaideston (t).
JVIETROPOLITAN LIANDICAP.—No change.
NORTHAMPTONSHIRE STAKES.-8 to I agst Oster-
ley, 12 to 1 agst Harriott, 12 to I agst Velox, 16 to 1
agat Velox (t), 20 to 1 agat Priestess.
CHESTER CUP.-14 to 1 agst Glauca, 100 to 6 agst
Miss Ann (t. freely), 20 to 1 agst Ellerdale, 22 to 1
agat Peep-o'-Day Boy, 22 to .1 agat Roland, the others
as before.
DERBY.-8 to 1 offered on the field, a few bets agst
The Nigger at 15 to 1, and offers of 14 to 1 agst Volti-
gear. Nothing else mentioned.
HUNTING APPOINTMENTS.
Her Majesty's Stag hds., Mon., Brick Bridge; Wed.,
Gerrard's Cross; Fri., Maidenhead Station-11.
Badsworth hds., Tues., Fenwick; Thurs., Kingston
Hill; Sat., Notton Village-10i.
Mr. Lumley's hds., Mon., Sandbeck Park; Tees.,
Scrooby Inn; Thure., Wickersley Bar; Fri., Grove-
10i.
Bramham Moor hds., Mon., Crossroad, Bramham
Moor; Wed., Harewood House; Fri., Thorp Arch;
Sat., Harewood Bridge-101.
Rufford hds., Mon., Thurgarton Priory; TIM., Park
Hall; Thurs., Wiukburn; Sat., Thoresby Park-101.
Lord Yarborough's lids., Mon., Swinlop House; Wed.,
Cadney Bridge; Fri., Linwood Warren House-11i.
Lord Henry Bentinek's hds., Mon., Wragby; Tues.,
Gate, Burton; Wed., Red Hall; Thurs., Faldingworth
Grange; Fri , Stapleford Moor; Sat., Langworth Bridge
—11."

Heide:mess Hs., Monday, Brandesburton Moor•
Tues., Clanswiek Toll-bar; Thurs., Withernwick; Fri.,
Houghton-hall-104.
Donnington hds., Tues., Cavendish-bridge; Sat., Bet-
ton Village-104.
Mr. M. Ingram's hds., Mon., Eggington; Thurs.,
Shirley-park; Sat., Blythebury-104.
Sir R. Sutton's hds , Mon., Shoarsby Inn; Tues.,
Bunny-park; Wed., Bardon-hall; Thurs., Thrusington;
Fri., Wartnaby Stone-pits-11.
Duke of Rutland's hds., Mon., Denton-park; Tues.,
Great Gonerby; Wed., Elton Manor; Fri., Lenton
Village.
Earl Fitzwilliam's hds., Mon., Kennel; Thurs., Elton
New Close; Fri., Gidding Windmill-10.