The Sun.
London, England, 1817-08-19 00:00:00

MONMOUTHSHIRE ASSIZES.

James- flurry, alias
,flaria, stood indicted for
the wiitul murder of Eltzabeth, his wife,' on the
• 30111 of• March las , in the parish of Di tone, hi
• the courtly tit Monmouth ; and the indictment
charged the murder to have been coonnitted in
three ways; first, by strikuig her on the semple
with a large stone; seconly, by thrusting a cap
into her throat ; and lastly,' by throwing•her into
a certain - pit and covering her over with easll,
thereby producing suffocation. The prisoner,
who is an athletic man, 45 years of age, on he•ng
arraigned by Mr. Tomes, the Clerk of the indict -
meat, pleaded not guilty. He challenged several
of the Jurymen as they were called to be -swore. •
Mr, Coss having•opened the indictment to the
Jury, •
Mr. Ibusstr, in stating the circtrmstanecs to the
Jury observed, that the mother of the deceased
had.lived in a cottage which was her own pro-
perty, at Biickholt, in the parish of llxione,
within ahoot a mile and a Oat ter of Monmouth.
The prieoner about 20 years back, married the de
ceased; and went to' live with her at her mother's
cottage.' They had not lived long together how-
ever when some differences arose, which at length
led to their'Separat,on.- 'I hey again catne together,
• but finally; about tout teen years back, the
leisoner went aWay, aitd was not heard of
ac,ain last summer, when be returned,'
and thrOugh the intervention of some friends', once
more went to liv'e with his Wife. In the lnterim;
the mother of the deceased died, and settled niime
her daughter the cottage in Which she lived. The'
deceased was a nurse., and was very comfortably
situated ; the prisoner was a labouring maii.
fortunately) they had not long lived, t'ogei her ;On
this third junetion,hetoretheit old hic.k:Lrinigs
t were renewed.- At length, 0.. Paint Stii;d
the deceased was missing, and
,was not Discovered
till the 10th of Aprit,.-when her body 'WI-oilt(1,
dressed only in a shill, &tried in' a diteli'W'ith'in
a short distanc • of leer house; with a 'wo'uud
her bead, which • sad eviden• Iv riccaSioued her
death. In order to affect the priso•rer Will the
commission 'of this atrocious deed, sever al wit-
nesses were called,' who proved the tact. ,
The ease for the prosecution was here closed.
Mr. Justice PARK ainV asked the prisoner what
he had to say in his defence.' He nut in a writ-
ten paper, which he requested might be read.
Mr. Tomes, the clerk of the indictment-, itnme-
diattly read it to the Court. It was written with
great ingenuity, and commenced by a retereuce
to the early lite of the prisoner, and descri ,ed him
as an unlettered man. It then went on to state
that his early habits were those of industry and
frugality ; that he Was taught to avoid and did
avoid the temptation of alehouses, and a profana.4
tion of the Sabbath ; and that in consequence his'
earnings increased with his years ; that his life
was one of peace and quietude until he met with
the deceased—a period which had prOdticed to
-him great uneasiness and affliction, of which he
'seriously lamented. To avoid the continuance•
of such misery he fled trout ht r society, and for
many years pursued a course of labour with m-
olt to himself and satisfaction' to his employers.
On his return to his wile, he had only to regret a
repetition of those scenes which lie had before fled
to avoid. In referring to the things which were
found in his hOuse, and which were said to be
slanted with blood, he submitted whether, during
fourteen days which he lived in his cottage, and
,during which his premises were open to inspee-
.tion, he would not have put away her things, and
removed himself from the country, if he were
conscious of guilt. lo fine, lie threw himself on
.the justice of his country, and if his" fate should
be sealed by the verdict of the jury, he had only
to hope for a more favourable reception at a more
awful tribunal hereafter. This paper ,was evi-
dently written by the attorney of the prisoner—it
had the prisoner's Mark to it, and was witnessed
by the gaoler.
• Mr:Jastice PARK notv proceeded to address the
Jury. After referring generally to the nature of
the crime unfolded to the prisoner, and to the law
applicable to that offence, •his Lordship proceeded
to remark, that this case depended solely upon
circumstantial evidence ; a species of evidence
which he for one, if clear and satisfactory, should
always think the most conclusive that could be
given in a Court of Justice. ‘Vhether the evi-
dence affecting the prisoner partook of this satis-
factOry character or not, the Jury were to deter- '
mine; and in 'coming to this conclusion, •it was
his duty to assist them, by such observations as •
occurred, to his mind, convinced that they would
abstract themselves from every other feeling than
that which the evidence submitted to them would •
fairly and conscientiously warrant. His Lordship, •
with these prefatory remarks; took 4 luminous
and impartial view of the whole of the testimony
which had been offered in support of the paosecn;
tion. He particularly adverted to!'the
Which bad been proved- to subsist between them 7.
shortly antecedent to the event into which they
were examining, and to the inconsistency of the
prisoner's conduct,, in going to. the cottage of
Jones, on the morning of March 31, and' stati .
ins, that
,his,
.wife; hail ,•beets called tip jb the
night; and on subsequent occAvions telling three

different stories, His Lordship remarked, that
the fact of his not having sgone_away front his
bouSe was certainly an argnmeni in his favour;
but then it 3honld be recollected that he was
not accused of an open and public !tinnier, but
one of ' concealment—one in which the body
had heen- buried, and which, but 'for acciden-
tal circumstances, might never have been dis-
covered till the body had mouldered into dust.
Another point for consideration too, was the cir-.
cionsfance-ot the prisoner having contented hint-
self with making'general enquiries respecting hi,s
wife, of indiferent persons; when lie was within
a mile and a half of Moinumith himself, and he
'could have:gone there if he felt any doubt Or so-
licitude on the Subject. if he was found making
, those anxious searches himself, it would have been
a strong fact in his favour ; but the reverse being
the case, the Jury would consider whether those
enquiries were not, in point of fact, intended for
the mere purpose of lulling -suspicion, and avert-
, ing. any thing like a suspicion of his guilt. If he
there uneasy:, as he said he was, .about his wife,
why did he not take some' steps to shew that he
was zealous for her discovery ? . His Lord-
, ship. next adverted to the declaration of the
prisoner to William Jones, that he should find
a way to make his wife quiet, and to the
circumstance of Jones having heard his door
open twice during the dead of the night of the al-
leged minder, and called upon the Jury to say
whether these facts did not-Trifin links in the chain
of evidifnce which went to fix upon the prisoner
the crime wito which he stood charged. His
Lordship afterwards directed the attention of the
Jury to the comfit( t of the prisoner when he was
apprehended ; instead of -exhibiting those feelings
of horror, -which the discovety that was made to
hiM, tor the first time, might have been expected
to excite, lie seemed anxi,ns alone to assert his
own inoocence, and to. advert to these inquiries
which he. had been previously making respecting
the deceased, and which be now seemed to think
would operate as conclusive testimony thai
be.eould not have been the murderer. From these
points his Lordship proceeded to those facts sob-
setrently pro.ed ; miriade, the finding the whole
of the clothes of the deceased in the prisoner's
horse, and 'hoist very ciothes which she bad been
seen to wear at six o'clock in the evening of her
mysterious disappearance—the marks of blood
roomd in the room—on the prisoner's shirt—on,
the ticking of the bed—and on the posts of the •
door, as it something had been dragged
through, and the stone found in the cel-
lar ; all of which,' combined with-- the other
circunistancesof the case, the Jury would take into
their serious anddispassionate considerationi and
come .tolhat conclusion which the honest dis-
:charge of their duty demanded. •In reference to
. the prisoner's defence, the Learned-Judge.;said,
brat it was certainly the duty of the Jury to weioe
.thestatementwhich lie had made respecting his
not having destroyed the, proofs of his guilt al-
ledgadAo laftrirea fiarlid in his house ; but then
they ;;Mould reebllect, and the experience of hu-
manpature led to that observation, that in great
idleoCes of this nature, inoreiterialcircunstauces
were often:forgotten by, the offenaer, and thereby
led to a detection'-which-migbt not otherwise have
taken place. Added to this, it was shigular that
the patter which had , been read, and which con-^
rained ' ill any .seriSiltle remarks—yet throughout
there was not a dental of the Crime. There was
nothing' but reasoning; upon' facts, and proposi-
'thins' Whether from those facts guilt was to be in-
ferreil,- • If uprni the whole the Jury had a fair
and reasonable doubt, .they would e'ie the ini-
sutler the benefit of. that, doubt\;. but if, on the
contrary, they. were satisfied of his guilt, they
would do their (fitly', hoWever painful, by pro-
nouncing their 'verdict accordingly. . Tile Jury,
after a few minutes'-consultation,-returned a ver-
dict of - Guilty.

Mr.. Justice PARK imuiediately proceeded to pass
he dreadfol'sentence Of the law in the most aw-

•
ful and impressive ,manney,,expreising his appro-
bation of the verdict of the Jury, Which he said was
most righteous,:as.no person who had-heard the
long and painful inquiry iii which they had been
engaged, could entvrtain a dOtiht of the prisoner's
guilt.—The prisoner was ordered to be executed
on Mondaty (yesterday), •

Throughout the pathetic.and impassive address
of the Judge he remained utimoVed, except by an
occasional inclitiation of his head.
The Duke of Denufort anti Lord Somerset were
upon the bench, and the Court throughout was
crowded to excess.

, •
The prisoner,•.
itappears,. during the_ fourteen
years he was absent from Iris- wife, was a labourer
in 'Worcestershire • and Lrerefordshire, and bad'
amassed upwards of 3001. which lie had placed in
'the Worcester bank, in.rhe name of James Hai-
which led to his being indicted in thii name.
The • remainder of his. property was worth about
3001. more,. which be assigned, previous to his
,to his brother; his sister, and his son, a
youngman of good character,-• about 20. years of
age. He was extremely 'avaricious, and it is sup-
posed I:ii'aVarice induced him to preserve those
evidences of his—guil-t----whieiT were found in his
house. Had they been destroyed, his guilt would
not have been so' apparent.

FATAL ACClDENT.—Yesterday morning, be-

tweet] the hours of ten and eleven o'clock, a young
man named earthy, who was employed in some
repair's nbout.the house of Mr. Lawrence, residing
at No. 258, TottenhaM-colirt,road, fell from the
window of the third floor to the ground. On be-
ing taken up, be spoke a few words, and no
blood appearing, it was supposed that no material
injury •had occurred. He was conveyed to the
Middlesex hospital, where be expired in less than
fiye minutes. • The lamp-post in front of the house
was much bent, and, as be complained of excru-
ciating pain .in his,,stomach, it is conjectured that
the .post came in contact with that part, and was
the occasion.Qf so_ sudden a death. His bead and

linth.s, received no. injury. The accident was oc7
cosigned by the neglect of a person inside, who
had., been appointed to support the ether end of
the plank on which the. deceased stood outside of
the
,wkidow for the purpose of cleaning it.. He
has lett a poor aged lumber, who depended salely
on him for suppoi t.

JUVENILE PRESENCE OF MIND.—A few nights
since a fire occurred at an inn` in Leicester, occa-
sioned by tike negligence of the ostler. When the
fire broke out, two young gentlemen from reter-
borough, who were returning to this city to the
College School, were asleep in a room up .three
. .
'pair 'of stairs; when alarmed they attempted to
escape by the stairs, but these were on fire ! At
this dreadful-moment, the eldest,. thirteen years
of age, proposed to his school-fellow, about nine
years of age, to escape by the window ; ,they im-
mediately threw thtir boxes out of the window,
drew the bedstead towards it, and tying the him).
kets. and sheets together, fastened them to the
bedpost, and descended without. injury ! The
ostler perished 'itrthe flames. ,•