The Sun.
London, England, 1828-08-09 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 9, 1828.

THE POLSTEAD MURDER.

had gaping edges. From the nature of the wound,
I should judge that it had not been inflicted when
the pericardium was removed. The apex of the
living heart touches the ribs. There are cartilages
connecting the ribs with the sternum, and with
each other. The bones of the head were not in a
state of the least decomposition. The only parts
which were out of their places were those where
the wounds had been inflicted by the bullet: I first
saw the bead after the exhumation of the body. It
was shown to me by Mr. Lawton, and I don't know
of my own knowledge that it was the head of the
body found in the barn. A knife would have inflicted
the wound on the heart.
Re-examined.—The wound was broader at that
part of the ribs adjoining the sternum.
Mr. Lawton, the surgeon, recalled.—The head I
showed to Mr. Nairn was that belonging to the
body found in the Red Barn. I assisted in removing
the body from its grave in the barn, and took off the
bead myself. I gave it to Balem the same after-
noon; a day or two afterwards be returned it. It
was the same head as the one I took from the 'lndy.

TRIAL OF W. CORDER,

AND CONVICTION.

BURY ST. EDMUND'S, FRIDAY, AUG. 8.

SECOND DAY.

The arrangements of this morning, for the admis-
sion of the public, were very well managed, and the
active interposition of the governor of the prison
(Mr. Orridge) had the best effect in keeping the
officers of the High Sheriff in their proper places,
and preserving the avenues of the Court from the
pressure of that vast assemblage which yesterday
poured in when the doors were opened, with a force
so tremendous as to risk the limbs of those who
were not sufficiently athletic for active personal re-
sistance. We understand that the Lord Chief
Baron, who was himself carried off his legs in endea-
vouring to pass from his carriage to the door of the
Shire Hall, has disavowed having given any such
directions as were imputed to him yesterday, and
which necessarily led to a scene of confusion and up-
roar exceeding any thing hitherto observed in trials
of this nature. At all events, every reasonable ac-
commodation was this day afforded the public; 'and
the consequence was, a befitting regularity in con-
ducting the proceedings of the Court, and the pre-
sence of a number of ladies, whose curiosity (yester-
day disappointed) was this day gratified by hearing
the close of the trial.

Balem re-called.—The head which Mr. Lawton
delivered to me was the same which I returned to
him.

Henry Robert Chaplin, examined by Mr. KELLY.
have been practising as a surgeon for four years. I
saw the disinterred body in company with Mr.
Nairn. I found the 'chest in good preservation.
There was a wound in the right ventricle, which was
first discovered. That wound appeared to be a re-
cently inflicted wound. I afterwards found another
wound on the heart, but whether of recent infliction
or not I cannot tell from its appearance. I found a
transverse wound situate between the sth and 6th
ribs, which appeared to have been inflicted by a
weapon which had a broad back and a sharp edge.
I did not see the sword fitted with it. The wound
in the heart appeared to be a continuation of that
between the ribs. The wound in the heart might
have been inflicted in stripping the pericardium from
the heart; but if the wound be a continuation of that
between the ribs, it could not have been inflicted in
stripping the pericardium from the heart. This is
deemed a mortal wound ; but whether it would have
produced death or not, Ido not know. I inspected
the head in the possession and presence of Mr. Law-
ton. A bullet appeared to have traversed it. I
cannot say if it entered by the orbit or made its exit
from it. It could not have been produced by de-
composition. I should think it would not have
been a mortal wound with certainty. There was
also a thrust in the eye, which was inflicted by a
sharp instrument with a broad back, and might have
been the same which inflicted that on the heart.

At a quarter before nine o'clock, Corder was put
to the bar. He was dressed the same as yesterday.
On inquiry, it i 3 understood his age is not 40, but
about 30 or 32. He rose early in the prison, and
was, during the whole of the morning before he was
brought to Court, engaged in introducing some al-
terations in his written defence, which were suggested
to him late last night by his Counsel. His manner
was collected, his complexion fresh, and he looked
around him at times with seeming cheerfulness. He
was not, howeyer, so entirely at his ease as he ap-
peared to be early on the previous day ; his head
was not so erect, and he repeatedly heaved deep
sighs. Immediately on being put to the bar, he put
on his spectacles, folded his arras, and displayed an
oscillating and swinging motion of his body, while
he leaned back against the pillar of the dock. He
hung down his head frequently during the exami-
nation of the witnesses.

During the re-examination of Mr. Lawton, the
surgeon, this morning, who produced the skilll of the
deceased, which was handed from the counsel to the
jury, and exhibited so as to be observable in its frac-
tured condition to the whole Court, the prisoner,
who had just taken off his spectacles, replaced them
and beheld attentively this painful spectacle—he in-
clined his body forward so as to command a full view
of the skull; but as if the effort to sustain this atti-
tude, and evince this expression, had become too
great for his nerves, he suddenly flung his back
against the pillar, hastily drew off his spectacles, and
evidently laboured under' the strongest emotion. • In
minutes, however, he rallied, replaced his
Classes, took out his pocket-book, and quickly wrote
3memorandum to his leading counsel Mr. Broderick,
who at once wrote a reply, which the prisoner read
with close attention, and on the signification of a
movement from the Learned Counsel tore it into the
smallest fragments. His solicitor, at the same time,
went to the front of the dock, and had a long con-
sultation with him.

Cross-examined—The wound on the sphenoidal
sinus might have been inflicted by a sharp-pointed
instrument. It was about the eighth part of an
inch. If the wound in the heart had been inflicted
on a living subject, it would have occasioned a great
effusion of blood, unless syncope instantly took
place. From the shock given to the system, there
might have been no effusion of blood. It is impos-
sible to say whether the bullet made its entry into,
or its exit from, the eye.

Mr. Lawton,' recalled, produced the head ; and
with the sword and the head explained to the Jury
the nature of the wound on the sphenoidal sinus,
and the reasons for supposing it to have been in-
flicted by the sword. It appeared that the sword
entered by the sphenoidal sinus, traversed the
mouth at the back part of the nose, and made its
exit by the right eye. The sword, being applied to
the supposed course of the instrument, was found
to agree with the conjectured progress of the sword
causing the wound. Being applied to the other eye,
it was found to be impracticable to trace any open-
ing from thence into the sphenoidal sinus.
Mr. Lawton re-examined—There is a tooth out
on each side of the upper jaw, and one out of the
lower jaw. One of the upper jaw teeth had appa-
rently dropped out; the other, and the lower tooth
must, from their cavities, have been out for a length
of time.

An nine o'clock precisely, the LORD CHIEF
BARON took his seat, and hoped the jury had been
as comfortably situated last night as was practi-
cable.

The jury replied in the affirmative, and after their
names were called over, the examination of witnesses
was resumed.

John Charles Nairn, examined by Mr. ANPREW.i.
—I have been a surgeon upwards of a year, and in
the profession upwards of 12 years. On the 19th
last May, I attended with Mr. Chaplin at Polstead :
Balem, the constable, was present. lie disinterred
a body in my presence. I examined the cavities of
the chest of the body so disinterred.
Mr. BRODERICK wished the identity of the body
to be proved before the witness was examined re-
specting it.
Balem was then called—l am parish clerk of Pol-
stead, and screwed down the body found in the
Red Barn into the coffin. The same coffin was
afterwards disinterred by witness, and contained the
same body.
Cross-examined—l was not present when the
body was buried, but am sure it was the same body.
Mr. Nairn re-called—l found the internal parts of
the chest in perfect preservation; so much so, that
the slightest injury penetrating into it might have
been observed. The heart was lying divested of its
developing membrane. I discovered a large wound
in the back part of the right ventricle. I could not
tell if it appeared to be a recent wound. I formed
an opinion on it on my first examination, but I sub-
sequently examined it, and I then formed an opinion
that it was a recent wound. I detached the heart
from its connexion with the blood-vessels. I next
examined the external surface of the ribs, and in the
space between the fifth and sixth ribs, I discovered a
wound, about three-quarters of an inch broad. My
opinion was, that it was a wound of long duration,
and not a recent one. I again examined the heart
when I returned home, and discovered a slight
wound, about two inches from the apex, correspond-
ing with the external wound between the ribs. It
appeared to have been inflicted by some sharp in-
strument. (Lee, the officer, produced the sword.)
This sword is the most likely instrument to have
inflicted such a wound. Supposing this wound to
have been inflicted on a living body, it would, in
my opinion, most certainly have produced death. I
have since inspected the head of the disinterred body.
I have applied this sword to the wound between the
ribs, and it corresponds with the wound to the ex-
tent of two or three inches. There are on the
sword some marks of discoloration, about the extent
of two or three inches. I examined the wound in
the heart, having this sword with me ; it might cer-
tainly have been made by this sword. On examin-
ing the head, I traced the progress of a ball entering
into the interior and back part of the upper left jaw,
and proceeding to the internal angle of the right eye.
From the size of the opening, I should conclude it to
have been a small pistol ball. This wound might
have caused death, but the person might have sur-
vived it. I also found a fissure opening into the
sphenoidal sinus, corresponding with the vertebrm.
It was an opening produced by some sharp-pointed
instrument; any sharp-pointed instrument would
have produced it. It extended about a quarter of
an inch into the sphenoidal sinus. I am not aware
of any other wound on the head. The wound in
the sphenoidal sinus might have occasioned death.
The sword corresponds with It.
Cross-examined by Mr. BRODERICK.-- This was
on the 19th of May, about a month after the finding
of the body in the barn. The disinterment of the
body, exposure to the air, and lying in the ground,
in another month would not have caused, in such a
body, much additional decomposition. I found the
heart divested of the pericardium. Looking merely
at the heart, and knowing nothing of the circum-
stances I have heard since, I should say, that the
wound in the right ventricle of the heart was a re-
cent one: I should have been of opinion, inde-
pendent of any thing but the inspection of the heart
itself, that one was a recent, and the other a more
ancient one, because the smaller wound of the two

Mr. Matthews recalled—Maria Martin had an en-
largement on the centre front, which had the ap-
pearance of a wen.
Mrs. Martin, the mother, recalled. (Looks at the
articles of dress found on the body taken from the
Red Barn.) These are Maria's combs : I saw her
with them on her head on the 18th of last May
twelvemonths. These are the ear-rings she had in
her ears at the same time : they are both of them
hers. This is the handkerchief (a silk one) she had
round her neck the same day : this, also (the green
one), was one she had on at the same time ; this
was next her throat, and the silk one over it.—
This is a piece of a Leghorn hat she had on a
Leghorn hat when I saw her last, trimmed with
black riband like this, the edges of which are the
same. These are the shoes she had on. This is
the ashen busk in her stays. This is part of a pair
of stays. This is the sleeve of a chemise, the make
of which is the same as that she had on on the 18th
of May, 1827, when she went to the Red Barn.—
[This witness was so overpowered, either by her
feelings, by the effluvia of the rags, or by the heat
of the Court, that she was with difficulty preserved
from fainting by the restoratives given her at the
close of her examination.

Lee, the officer, produced the velvet bag.
The CHIEF BARON—I don't think it is suffi-
ciently traced to come from any place proved to be-
long to the prisoner.
Mr. ANDREWS—The prisoner was apprehended
in the house in which his sword was, and in which
was a desk, which opened by a key he himself gave
to the officer; and in the same room was found this
bag.
The CHIEF BARON—I think you had better not
press it.
Anne Martin, the sister of Maria, recalled—This
green handkerchief is the same that my sister went
away with. This silk handkerchief she also had on
at the same time. These are the same shoes. This
is part of the Leghorn bonnet, trimmed with black
riband. This is a piece of the bonnet she had in the
bag when she went out. She had a man's hat on
her head. These are like the combs she had in her
hair at the same time. She had on a pair of ear-
rings, and these are such ones as my sister went
away with in her ears. _

ANDREws stated to the Court that there was
found in the desk, opened with the key given by the
prisoner to Lee, letters directed to Corder, and also
a passport for France for Corder.
The CHliq, BARON thought it safer not to re-
ceive evidence of this, especially as, in a case of
this nature, all doubtful points ought, from the im-
portance of this trial to the prisoner, to be decided
in his favour.

---
The prisoner here bowed his gratitude to his
Lordship. _

Martin, the father, recalled—The soil in the barn
is a dryish, little gravelly, and stogy soil.
Mrs. Martin re-called, proved that her daughter
wore white narrow tape garters.
Mr. Matthews proved that Maria Martin was
able to write very well.
This was the case on the part of the prosecution.
The prisoner, being called on for his defence, ad-
vanced to the front of the bar, took out some papers,
and read nearly as follows with a very tremulous
voice :

" I am informed that, by the law of England, the
Counsel for a prisoner is not allowed to address the
Jury, though the Counsel for the Crown is allowed
that privilege. While I deplore, as muck as any hu-
man being can, the fatal event which Iv; caused this

PRICE 71).

inquiry, let me entreat you to dismiss from your
minds the publications of the public press from the
time of its first promulgation to this hour ; let me en-
treat you, letme dissuade you, if I can, from being
reNsysh_Licha
in-
fluencedhave for
by the
months issued
and
edfrodmisguthsteingpidtheltieailps
powerful engine for fixing the'opinions of large classes
of the community, but which is too often, I fear,
though unintentionally, the cause of affixing slander
upon innocence. I have been described as a mon-
ster, who, while meditating becoming the husband
of this girl, to whom I was evincing an affectionate
attachment, was actually premeditating and plotting
the perpetration of this horrid crime. With such
misrepresentations, it was natural, perhaps, to
expect that an unfavourable impression should have
been created against me, and the more so when the
accusation went beyond the presten case, and was
connected with other crimes well calculated to ex-
cite prejudice against me. It is natural you should
come to this trial with feelings of prejudice ; but
as you expect peace and serenity of mind at home,
I implore you to banish from your minds all the hor-
rible accusations which have been promulgated, and
give your verdict on the evidence alone. Consider,
gentlemen, that the attorney for the prosecution is
also the coroner before whom the inquest was taken;
and his conduct, in refusing my being present at
the inquest, is conduct which you cannot approve.
Since my committal, the coroner has been again at
Polstead—has got up additional evidence. My so-
licitor pressed for a copy of the depositions, which
were refused. In consequence of these unjust pro-
ceedings, I never heard one of the witnesses exa-
mined, and cannot, therefore, have conic prepared
as I ought to be. The coroner thus acting in his
double eapacity was likely enough, when meditating
to act as attorney for the prosecution, to have enter-
tained impressions inconsistent for the fit discharge
of his inquisitorial inquiry : and again, as attorney
for the prosecution, he was liable to be diverted
from the fulfilment of his duties as coroner ; so that
I was in this respect, on the threshold of inquiry,
exposed to disadvantages from which I ought to
have been saved. This, however, was not all : my
solicitor remonstrated; he was not only refused
copies of the depositions, but the attorney for the
prosecution, without any notice to me, has visited
Polstead, and taken examinations upon oath of the
different witnesses, and come to this trial prepared
with evidence taken behind my back, and pruned

down to suit the exaggerations of this case. f there-
fore am brought to be tried for my life without any
fair knowledge of the evidence against me. In con-
sequence of this unjust proceeding on the part of the•
coroner, how can I controvert, as I might have done
were I allowed to hear the witnesses, equivocal
facts and highly coloured statements, of which I am,
for the first informed when brought to trial
for my life? Were witnesses to be privately exa-
mined, and their evidence clandestinely obtained?

It has been well observed that truth is sometimes
stronger than fiction. Never was this assertion
better exemplified than in this hapless instance.
In a -few short months I have been deprived of
all my brothers, and my father recently before that
period. I have heard the evidence, and am free
to say that, unexplained, it may cause great sus-
picion; but you will allow me to . explain it.
—Proceeding, my Lord and gentlemen, to the
real facts of this case, I admit that there is evi-
dence calculated to excite suspicion,—but these facts
are capable of explanation; and convinced as I am of
my entire innocence, I have to entreat you to listen to
my true and simple detail of the real facts of the
death of this unfortunate woman. I was myself so
stupified and overwhelmed with the strange and
disastrous circumstance, and on that account so un-
happily driven to the necessity of immediate deci-
sion, that I acted with fear instead of judgment, and
I did that which any innocent man might have done
under such unhappy circumstances. I concealed
the appalling occurrence, and was, as is the misfor-
tune of inch errors, subsequently drivel' to sustain

( i
4-, . ,—.0... ,A,"-., ,rI, • 1. , •-.
• .., , ~,,c- • ,-1 4 •',
4;
I ' •,.•
.
actions, because 'they were guiltir s 4 supplied both.
Had I intendedito Perpetrate 'stY dreadful a crime,
Would I have kept about me some of the articles
which were known to be Maria's ? HeJi I tought her
life, could I have acted in such a marn:er ? Had I,
1 would have chosen another time and place. Look
at my conduct since. Did I run away ? No T. I
lived, months and months, with my mother. I left
Polstead in conseqtence of my family afflictions. I
went to the Isle of Wight. It is said that the pass-
port was obtained to enable me to leave England at
any time. No, it was to enable me to
,visit some

friends of my wife's in Paris. Should I have kept
her property, had I any thing to fear from their de-
tection ? In December last, I advertised in the
Times Newspaper the sale of my house, and gave my
name and address at full length. Did this look like
concealment? You will consider any man innocent
until his guilt is fully proved. It now rests with
you to restore me to society, or to an ignominious
death. To the former I feel lam entitled—acainst
tile latter I appeal to your justice and humanity. I
have nothing more to add, but that I leave my life
in your hands, aware that you will give me the hu-
mane benefit of the law in cases of doubt, and that
your Lordship will take a compasionate view of the
melancholy situation in which my misfortunes have
placed me."
The above was the substance of the prisoner's
a
la as delivered, o
fvoice,
m
i amtitn y parts, in a feeble
n under considerable
emotion. It is clear, from the pronunciation of ;par-
ticular words, that the prisoner is not a man of par-
ticular education. He trembled a good deal, bid.
adddre trsesn.
ays
not more than a nervous man would• manifest in
moment of excitement., He read the address from
a copy-boob:, and, whether from the composition not
being his own, or his being near-sighted, he stain-
mered over several words,- and infringed the order
of the sentences. He was heard with the -utmost
silence and attesution by the Court and the Jut•}-,
and he occasionally drew his- eyes from the book and
fixed them on the jury-box, as if to ascertain the
impression he had made. Towards the close of his
address his voice faltered, so as in particular pas-
sages to be nearly inaudible. His address, which
was delivered between eleven and twelve o'clock,
occupied the Court about twenty-five minutes.
WITNESSES FOR THE DEFENCE.
William Goodwin—l live in Plough-lane, Sud-
bury. The prisoner, in the spring of last year,
came to take apartments at my house. Maria Mar-
tin afterwards came and lay in there. They were
there between two and three months. She was de-
livered of a child there. The prisoner came oneo
or twice tt week to see her, as well after as before
her confinement. When I saw them together,
knew nothing to the contrary of his appearing fend
of her. She went before or after her confinement,
to Mr. Harcourt's, the gunsmith, al Stnihury,
remember their leaving my place at nine o'clock in
the evening in a one-horse chaise. This was' on
the 16th of April. They took the little child w:th
them.

Cross-examined—l do not know Mr. Harcourt,
of Ipswich.
Mary Anne Goodwin, wife of the last witness--
I knew Maria Martin, who lodged with me in Minch.
1827; she was Brought by the prisoner. She
confined there,
.and was there better thal4 two
months. The prisoner frequently came to visit 'tier;
he never missed coming once a week. He treated
her always with kindness ; and they appeared very
much attached to each other. She was generally in

very bad spirits. I heard her say she went for the
pistols to the shop where they were.
Cross-examined—She went for them alone to
Mr. Harcourt's.
Thomas Hardy—l was in the employ; or Mr.:.
Corder last year. In February last year, saw t
prisoner cleaning pistols. I saw Maria Martin oil
the 13th of May, with the prisoner, walking across
the yard towards the stable. There are two stair-
cases in Mrs. Corder's house; and a person mat-
go up to what was the prisoner's room, by one 01.
them, without Mrs. Corder's knowing any thin,;..
about it.
Cross-examined—lt was at nine o'clock in tile
evening that I saw them going to the stable.
Lucy Balem—l lived with Mrs. Corder eleven
months, till last Old Michaelmas-day. I have seen
a pair of pistols in the prisoner's bed-room, some-
times in a box and sometimes out of it. The pri-
soner remained with his mother till about a fort.;
night before I left. lie always appeared a very
kind and good-natured young man.
Edward Liveing—l am a Stir

on of N

•go Nayland,
the first falsehoods by others, and to persevere in a near Polstead. I have attended him profess;onally.
system of delusion which furnished the facts con- About this time last year I advised him to leave
cealed for a long time. At first I gave a false ac- that part of the country, and to go to a warm bath-
count of the death of the unfortunate Maria. lam ing-place, particularly mentioning Hastings and the
now resolved to disclose the truth, regardless of the south coast. He was then strongly threatened Avith
consequences. To conceal her pregnancy from my consumption. Some time after that, I understood
mother, I took lodgings at Sudbury; she was de- he was gone.
livered of a male child, which died in a fortnight in Thirza Havers—l have known the prisoner fe-orn
newspaperse e
t he
have
armsso of lNr
pervertedis. Martin,th at falthough
ac t;an
dit the‘ v
a
s
ard be-
and humane man:
tween Mrs. Martin, Maria, End me, that the child John Bugg—l. was the looker of Mrs. Corder
should he"kried in the fields. There was a pair of farm. He always bore the character of a mild and
small pistols in the bed-room ; Maria knew they humane man.
were there. I had often showed them to her. John Pryke (a schoolfellow of the prisoner), and
Maria took them away from me. I had some rea- Mary Kersey, who had known him from his infancy,
son to suspect she had some correspondence with a gave him the same character.
gentleman, by whom she had a child, in London. By Mr. KELLY—Are you related to the prisoner ?
Though her conduct was not free from blemish, I His cousin.
,
at length yielded to her entreaties, and agreed to By Mr. BRODERICK—Ana has that circumstance
marry her; and it was arranged we should go to made you more intimately acquainted with him and
Ipswich and procure a license and marry. Whether his character than you would otherwse have been
John Boreham and John Belem gave similar evi-.
and that she was crying when she left the house. (34e.3c,,,
nI sta. id.
Ititieirm there
beenvas a
proved‘s'arrant that out
we againsthar
mhaenry I
wkonrodz It has, Sir.
e
Gentlemen, this was the origin of the fatal occur.,
e •
At 20 minutes to 12 the LORD CHIEF BARON
recce. I gently rebuked her; we reached the ham ; began to sum up the case. He jammed th Jury
while changing her dress, she flew into a passion, ,
murder of Maria Martin, and that the law required
tnat the prisoner at the bar was indicted for the
that the mode in which she had come to her death
upbraided me with not having, se ranch regard for
should be particularly stated in the indictment. The
her as the gentleman before alluded to. Feeling
myself
whenin
was mannerabou
about
sot
to much insulted tiitinddn4ersiss-
against the prisoner in et great variety of ways. It
to. expect. I.te•-
w anday reparation,
before
marriage,l sa i d
what,'‘ iN I
jai rai
la,
0, i
If you go, on in_ the,.,e
stated, that the deceased had come to her death by
means of the prisoner,—first, by a discharge of fire-
straight home, and yen can do what you like, and
when I can, I will return
might tura
arms,—then by wounds inflicted by a sharp i»stru-
this in-
act just as you think proper." I said I would not .,—
marry her. In consequence of this, I retired from
being buried alive in the ground. This was done
her, when I immediately heard the report of a gun
in order to have the indictment supported by evi-
“wzt then by strangulation,—and last of all, by
or pistol, and running back I found the unLappy girl
weltering on the ground. Recovering from my stupor,
out , and if the jury should be of opinion, that ti;;,
support
ty
thet all''epr7t to osfo m th i lig'
I thought to have left the spot; but I endeavoured deuce in whatever way the evidence'
prisoner at the bar had caused the death of Mayi,,
to raise her from the ground, but found her en- 'Martin
by one, or two, or three of the modes men.
tirely lifeless, To my horror I discovere,cl the pis-
tioned in the indictment, then they would have sun:,
dent evidenee :ow
pistol was one of my own she had privately taken
from my bed-room. There she lay, killed by one of
my own pistols, and I the only being by ! My facia- dictum:it, and
htallde_
t that they would find the prisoner guilty upon
ties were suspended. Holm not what to do. The. !
it. Before ho entered upon the details of the ease,
~,..„, unfortunate, extremely unfortunate, whenever
against him Ili.iigni:hotothe;i"t
instant the mischief happened, I thought to liave
he felt it to
made it public : but this would havc, 4dded to the boon said by the prisoner as to the pre-
which had
suspicion, and I then resolved to conceal her death.
I then buried her in the best way I could. I tried liuhdies coe'ownlityricahnd ti"ughotit the country generally.
to conceal the fact as well as I could, giving mine- It
times one reason for her absence, and sometimes un- such prejudices were raised; for they placed the life
other, It may be said, why not pfeve this by wit- of the prisoner more in jeopardy than the ordinary
nesses I Alas ! how eau I ? How can I offer any circumstances of the Case against him. Sorry, in
direct proof how she possessed herself of my pistols, deed, was he to say, that, as society was constituted
for I found the other in her reticule, That she oto at present. the- bCetionwnrailsveodulda
y could not be avoided. Accounts of
tained them cannot be doubted, All I can sastbe this transaction, it appears, had also found their WliV
the stabs is, that I WM' saw one; and Ibelieve
l s, that into the newspapers. Those accounts only related
only reason for the surgeons talking of them
__l., to the charge at the commencement of the businesF,
a sword was found in my possessiot,.
spade
pue;e:. they contained an ex-parte statement of it, withotte,
account for them by supposing thatfrohre P 4"
the body in giving tile prisoner an opportunity of urging any
Gated her body when they searelied
from me, nor i thing in his defence against it; and that was et.-
the barn. This I know, that neitherof
.. . , .
stab this ciescrip- tainly a mischief and an injury to him. The jury,
from herself, did she get any . .
and 4 however, had a more impartial task to perform
with kindness, had tion. I always treated her
What
motive,
then, can be they had to decide this issue by, hearing the
intended to marry her.
evidence ON both sides, whereas hitherto the
Icould I
cr her life . lave
suggested for my taking
promise of marriage. Is it public had heard one side of the case only.—
easily gotten over
the
intended- her destruction•
"We have been told," said the venerable
.ble I could have . 111 i d o
possi
that drawings and placards have been
went, in the middle of the th • ' u ge' this manner ?We
Would day, to rs -qi not only in the neighbourhood of this
by cottages. this have 4i. persc , . .
intended
town, but also in the immediate neighboin hood of
have
he ease had I to murdered her ? ,!
been t
Nis ver • hall, tending to the manifest detriment of
Should I have myself furnished the strongest evi- •.
the prisoner
) at the bar. Such a practiceis -
so 211 -
deuce that has been adduced against me ? I might, decorous and so unjust, that I CUD With diffiCIIII V
were I a guilty man, have suppressed the time and
Irving myself to believe that any person, even 41 the
place of her death, but my plain anti unconcealed

very lowest clasit, will so far degrade himself as to
think of deriving gain from the exhibition of. this
melancholy transaction. Another circumstance, to
which the- prisoner has alluded in his defence, and
which I trust, for the sake of religion itself, is a
mistake—another circumstance which I feel myself
bound. to notice, is the assertion that a minister of
the gospel, quitting the place where he usually per-
formed divine worship, and erecting his' pulpit near
the very scene of this melancholy tragedy, had there
endeavoured to enflame the passions and to excite the
resentment of the populace against the prisoner,
when he knew nothing of his having bad any share
in it except from rumour, thus inflaming them against
a crime which was not then known to have been.
committed, and exciting their resentment against an
individual who was not proved to have committed
it. I cannot conceive any act more contrary to that
spirit and the principles of the religion of which he
professes himself a minister ; and if we have been
rightly informed of his conduct, the man who could
commit such an act deserves the most severe repro-
bation. I do not not know who the isdividual is
who is stated to have misconducted himself so much.
I hope we are all labouring under some mistake
'on this point, and that this outrage upon decency
has not been committed. I mention it merely to re-
quest you to tear from your bosoms every impression,
which may have been made in them from such a
source. I call upon you to dismiss from your con-
sideration every impression of this case which you
may have derived, either from seeing the statements
in the newspapers, or the drawings or placards in
the streets, or from hearing the sermon—if I may
dignify it by that name—pronounced in the place
where, and on the occasion when, this murder was
discovered. It is for you to decide entirely upon
the evidence which has been adduced before you,
giving to the case for the prosecution that weight
which public justice demands that it should receive
at your hands, and to the case of the prisoner that
weight which a .tlue regard for his life and interests
equally demands from you. That is my most
earnest recommendation to you, Gentlemen of the
Jury ; and I trust—indeed I am certain—that
you will pay to it requisite attention. The course
which has just been taken by the prisoner, who
has been very ably advised, as we all know, ren-
ders it unnecessary for me to state much of the evi-
dence which we have now been engaged two days in,
receiving. If the defenee had taken a different turf
from that it has taken, I should have thought it my
duty to ask you, first of all, whether you were con-
-.sawed that Maria Martin had been destroyed at all,
either by the prisoner at the bar or by any one else ;
and then, whether you were convinced that the body
.discovered in the barn was her body or not. In that
eve I should have pointed out to you how uncertain
the identification of the body was from the state of
decomposition in which it was found; and yet I
eliduld have stated to you that there were strong
eircumstances tending to prove its identity with
Maria Martin—as, for instance, the excrescence or
wen on the neck, and the different articles of dress
which had been spoken to as hers from their not
basing undergone so much decomposition as the hu-
man substance. All these remarks, however, are
now rendered unnecessary—for the prisoner avows
to us in his defence that the body discovered in the
aern is the body of Maria Martin. I am therefore
welieved from the necessity of addressing you upon
that part of the case, as it is admitted to you by the
prisoner himself that the body, of which the disco-
sery has given rise to this trial, is the body of Maria
Martin, for whose murder he is indicted. The pri-
soner admits that he buried her in the barn, and we
aca therefore relieved from one of the difficulties of
this case. The next part of the evidence to which
I shall call your attention is, that which regards the
different accounts the prisoner gave after the disap-
pearance of Maria Martin, of the various places at
which she was living ; for those accounts have some
'hearing upon his defence. I might, perhaps, be re
sieved from the necessity of atieding to that part 'of
the evidence altogether, but the manner of the pri-
soner's avowal may, when closely considered,
be of some avail in enabling us to diseoeer
the truth of his statement, that her death
was occasioned by a voluntary act of suicide on 'her
part. I shall not omit reading any of the evidence
which has reference to this point, unless you, gentle-
men, crate to me that in your opinion it is unneces-
sary for me to readrit." The Learned Judge then
poceeded to read the evidence of Mrs. Martin ; when
he came to that part of it in which Mrs. Martin
swaTe that Corder said, " Mrs. Martin, the reason
I go eo Ipswich to-day is because John Belem, the
constab;e, came into the stable this morning and in-
formed me that he had got a letter from Mr. Whit-
more, of London, and that in that letter there was a
warrant to have Maria taken up to be prosecuted for
her bastard children," the Learned Judge observed
that this was very important evidence, as it bore di-
rectly upon the prisoner's defence; it showed that
he was endeavouring to seduce her away from her
home by holding out to her a terror which had no
existence in reality. The Jury would consider how
far this was or was not evidence to contradict the
statement of the prisoner. It appeared also from
the evidence of Mrs. Martin, that Maria Martin was
very low spirited on setting out for the Red Barn,
and had been so for some time previously. That
circumstance ought by no means to be forgotten by
the Jury in considering this case. He likewise called
their attention to the circumstance of Mrs. Martin's
having deposed that Corder snapped his pistols, be-
s-fore he set out for the Red Barn, twice or threee by
the fire-side, in the presence of her whole family—e
circumstance which proved that at that time the
pistols were rather in the possession of the prisoner
than of Maria Martin. The Learned Judge . then
proceeded to read and comment upon the evidence
of Thomas Martin, the father, and particularly on
that part of it, in which the old man said that in
seeking for the body, he put in a spike about her
hip, hut that the smallest end of it was about the
size of the end of his little finger, and that it grew
broader as it went upwards. The Learned Judge,
after commenting on the evidence given by the ether
witnesses, till he came to that of Lee, the Police-
officer, said that he was glad to find from his testi-
mony that the depositions were read over to the pri-
soner in his presence by the Coroner after the in-
quest, ausi observed, that that was a point on sini.ch
he would mike a few remarks before he closed his
address to then?. He likewise observe.d, that it was
very extraordinary,
if the statement which the pri-
soner had that day node were true, that he had not
raid a syllable about it to Lee at the time when he
was apprehended; but that he had repeatedly as.'
serted, that he never knew any thing of any ,ouch
person as Maria Martin, thou ,he was then
formally informed that he was accused of having
murdered her. The Learned Judge agAin re-
peated that he was glad that the depositions
had been read over to the prisoner by the Co-
fever in the jury-room at Polstead after the inquest,
;Is it took away the sting of the accusation which
fie had made against the Coroner. On coming to
the eviden e-
ce
h Mr. Lawton, the surgeon, he par-
ticularly called the attention of the jury to the evi-
dence which that gentleman had given respecting the
fracture of the skull of Maria Martin by a pistol
ball, respecting the woands
in her neck, heart, and
rites, by a sharp instrument, and respecting the
possibility of her having dißd teny strangulation from
the tightness of the handkereseq round her neck.
asserted, that.this poor
They had heard it that day
woman had committed suicide; but even according
to the story which they had heard, it was very.
strange that immediately on being left alone she
should use such various instruments to destroy
her-
self ; for it appeared, in the first place, that she
must have fired a pistol at her and theneeither
before or after firing it, have given herself sundry
stabs in very different parts of her body. It would
be for the jury to consider what credit they would
give to the statements made by the medical wit-
nesses about the stabs in the neck and infoe he art;
and then, if they gave credit to them,
consider
what inferences they ought to draw from them, as
to the story which had that day been told to them
by the prisoner at the bar. The jury had heard the
potence, hi which the prisoner Admitted the body

discovered in the barn to be the body of Maria
Martin, and to have been buried by himself. - He
admitted that the representations which he had
made to several persons of her being alive, after
her disappearance from her father's cottage, were un-
true; but he said that he had found it necessary to make
them in consequence Of ilie alarm which he necessarily
felt from a catastrophe of the following nature :
He said that on the 18th of May he and Maria set
out from old Martin's cottage for the Red Barn, in
order to go to Ipswich to get married. That they
had quarrelled at that barn. That she used very
violent language to him. That he told her that if
she used such language to him before moulage, he
could not expect to be happy with her after mar-
riage. That he had told her that he would not
marry her. That he then left her. That hearing
the report of a pistol in the barn, lie returned to it,
Aid that he then found her there mortally wounded.
He likewise said, that being alarmed at the extraor-
dinary catastrophe which he :saw before him, he
buried her, and in this manner he attempted to ac-
count for the representations which he afterwards
made about her being alive. Now, it was upon the
truth of his representations of to-day that they had
to decide; and he would therefore give no opinion
of his own upon the point. The Learned Judge
then read the evidence given on the part of the de-
fence in support of the mild and humane temper of
the prisoner.. On closing the evidence as to cha-
racter, he observed that he had only one remark to
make upon it; and that was, that in opposition to
direct evidence as to facts, it was of no avail ; it
was only when The balance of evidence was equal
that it proved of service to the accused. He would
not trouble them with many further observations
upon this case, because he was sure that their own
good sense, after the patient attention which they
had paid to the evidence, would furnish them with
all the observations that were necessary. A com-
plaint, however, had been made with respect to
the conduct of the Coroner, which it was requisite
for him to notice. He was of opinion, that when
the depositions taken before the Coroner were read
over by the Coroner to the prisoner after the in-
quest, the prisoner had received all the advantage
to which he was entitled as a matter of right.—
The object of the Coroner's inquest was not to
charge any person with the murder, its object was to
ascertain how the death had happened. The inquest
was conducted by the Crown as the guardian of the
lives of all the subjects of the country, and, strictly
speaking, a person accused had no right to be pre-
sent at it. If a man were found guilty -of murder
on the Coroner's inquest, it would be hard if he
were not allowed to know the evidence on which he
was declared to be so ; but when that evidence was
communicated to him, he had no right to complain.
Now it appeared from the evidence of Lee, that in
this particular case the depositions had been read
over to the prisoner Corder by the Coroner. The
prisoner had, therefore, ail the information necessary
for him to shape his defence on this trial, so as to
meet the evidence to be produced against him. It
was, he believed, usual at Coroner's inquests to
allow the parties likely to be implicated by them to
be present, if they desired it; but not, he repeated,
as a matter of right. The real question for the de-
cision in this case was this—" Are the representa-
tions made this day by the prisoner true or false ?"
If the Jury should be of opinion that they were
true, then the prisoner was entitled to an acquittal.
His representation was, that the deceased had shot
herself with his pistols, si hich she had got into her
possession ; and the evidence showed that they
were on one occasion in her possession at Sudbury;
but there was no evidence to show that she had
continued in separate possession of the pistols, but
much to show that she had not. The prisoner
wished to have it supposed that she had car-
ried these pistols in her pocket to the Red
Barn. Now, the prisoner had seen the mother
and sister of Maria Martin, in the witness-
tax? and he might have cross-examined them
wpm. that point_ But not one question had
been 'put to them to show tirat Maria Mar-
tin had those pistols previously to leaving her
father's cottage. So far as they had any evidence
at all respecting the pistols, they appear to have
been in the prisoner's possession, and not in her's—
for he had been seen snapping them before the fire.
What had struck him from the beginning of the de-
fence to the end as the most extraordinary feature in
it vhs.3, the manner in which this alleged suicide was
committed. It often happened that these poor girls,
when disappointed in their expectations, did lay rash
hands on themselves; hut then the mode of their
death was in general very simple. In this case, if
they were to credit the evidence of the slageons, the
wounds ;Pgicted on the body of Maria Martin were
of a double aescription. There were, first, the
wounds in the eye, ;and in the cheek, inflicted by a
ball ; and then the wounds, inflicted by a sharp in-
streirsent, that was broader 641 one side than the
other, or the heart and ribs, and the wosind inflicted
with a similar instrument on the vertebras of the
neck behind the okell. It was extraordinary that,
instead of hanging hseseilf upon a tree, as poor
girls usually did in such circumstances, she should
have used two different means to i:4l herself,—the
one by shootin herself with a pistol, wkch was a
very unusual weapon for a woman to kill her; elf
with,—and the other by stabbing herself with a
sharp instrument. The Jury must decide on the
credibility of the medical witnesses, who ventured
to speak'as to these two distinct amaze of Maria
Martin's death, independently of the third made of
death by strangulation, to which one of them had
spoken ; and then, if they decided that the wounds
had been inflicted in the manner in which the sur-
geons described, they must decide is ow far it was
possible that such multifarious wounds were .i,Dflicted
by herself. These wee the facts of the case as ,
proved in evidence, and he trusted in God that they
would lead them to a proper decision upon it. If
they had any doubt upon it, they would give the
prisoner the benefit of it ; but if they were satisfied
shot his representations were false, and that the
crime ,of murder on Maria Martin had been commit-
ted by him, then it would be their duty, serving
their country manfully and discharging faithfully the
solemn oath which they ;sad sworn, to bring in a
verdict of guilty against the priaoner, regardless of
the conseinences by which it might be &lowed.
The .Foreman' of the Jury then addressed the
Court on behalf of his fellow-jurors, and said that
they wished to retire, as the case required some time
to he spent upon it.
The LORD CHIEF BARON immeseately ordered a
bailiff ee be sworn to attend to them, arid et 25 mi-
nutes to two The Jury retired.
At ten minutes past two, they came back into
Court, and their Foremen returned a verdict of
Guilty against the prisoner.
At this moment, and in the short interval which
elapsed between the declaration of the verdict and
the declaration of the sentence of the Court, a slight
confusion arose before the bar where the prisoner
was standing relative to the possession of the pistols
by which the murder was committed. Lee, the
property, in consequence
(Aker, claimed them as his
of a promise which he had received from the
prdiso
(einthiteemliarsst
taPPrehended him; Mr. Or.
rg he {property of the Sherif, in
_ . .
h
consequence of the verdict wien ceiraisinvlei
;eh had just been re-
cordsid against the prisoner. Mr. Orridge
remained .
in posseseictt of them! as the contest
silence, as thew Las stowesil 1
by the crier's procaitning
the Lord Chief
sentence on prisoner.
Baron was going to pass , .
•
The prisoner was then
asked ;n the usual form,
thing why he should not
whether:be had to say any.
die according w law. On his saying nothing,
..
The LORD CHIEF BARON addressed him in the
following terms :—" William Corder, it is now my
painful duty to announce to you the near approach
of the close of your mortal career. You have been
accused of murder, which is almost the highest
I
offence that can be found in the whole of the long
catalogue of crime. You denied your guilt, and put
yourself on your deliverance to the country. After
a long, a patient, and an impartial trial, the country
has decided against you, and most justly. You
stand convicted of an aggravated breach of the great
prolaition of the Almighty Creator of mankind,

' Thou shalt do no murder.' The law of this
country, in concurrence with the law of all civilized
countries, enforces this prohibition of God by
exacting from the criminal who has violated it, the
forfeiture of his own life. And as this offence indi-
cates the highest degree of cruelty to its unfortunate
victim, and as it is dangerous to the peace, the order
and the security of society,justice assumes upon it her
severest aspect, and allows no emotion of pity to
shield the criminal from the punishment awarded
to it both by the laws of God and by the laws of
man. I advise you not to flatter yourself with
any hopes of mercy upon earth. You sent this
unfortunate woman to her account without giving
her any time for preparation. She had no time
to turn her eyes to the Throne of Grace for mercy
and forgiveness. She had no time given her to
repent of her many transgressions : she had no time
to•throw herself on her knees and to implore for
pardon at the Eternal Throne. The same measure
is not meted out to you ; a small interval is allowed
you for preparation. Use it well ; for the scene of
this world- closes upon you; but another and, I
hope, a better world is opening for you. Remember
the lessons of religion which you received in the
early years of your childhood : consider the effects
that may be produced by a sincere repentance ;
listen to the advice of the ministers of your religion,
who will, I trust, console and advise you how best to
meet the sharp ordeal which you must presently un-
dergo. Nothing remains for me now to do, but to
pass upon you the awful sentence of the law. That
sentence is, that you be taken back to the prison
from which you came, and that you be taken thence
on Monday next, to the place of execution, and there
lse hanged by the neck till you are dead, and that
your body shall afterwards be dissected and anato-
mised, and the Lord God Almighty have mercy on
yeur soul!"
The LORD CHIEF BARON, who was evidently
much affected, then retired from the Court.

DEMEANOUR OF THE PRISONER

DURING THE SUMMING UP OF THF. LEARNED JUDGE,

AND THE SENTENCE.

To prevent breaking too much in upon the uni-
formity of our narrative; we have deemed it right to
subjoin to the trial itself an account of his behaviour
during the latter part of it.
The prisoner paid the most eager attention to the
earlier part of the summing up, in which his Lord-
ship stated the indictment, and the necessity the law
has imposed, of proving, to the satisfaction of the
Jury, that the death of the person has been occa-
sioned by one of the means laid in the indictment;
but when the Chief Baron told the Jury that if they
were satisfied that the death arose from any one,
two, or more of the wounds inflicted on the body,
and that those wounds were inflicted by the pri-
soner, they should find him guilty, his countenance
fell, and he was apparently for some time in a state
of stupor. He repeatedly bowed during the time
the Judge besought the Jury to forget ail the ru-
mours and reports they had heard, and net to alloW
themselves to be influenced by the atrocious fact, if
true, of a clergyman having preached to 5,000 per-
sons in the immediate neighbourhood of the scene, a
sermon, in which the prisoner was treated as the mur-
derer. The Chief Baron's observations respecting
the probable motive of the prisoner in enticing the
deceased from her mother's house under the false
statement that the constable had a warrant against
her for a bastard child, made the strongest impres-
sion on the prisoner, whose countenance underwent
several changes during the time. At one period,
during the statement of the extraordinary conversa-
tion of Corder with Mrs. Stow, as to the number
of children Maria had, her having brought forth her
fated number, and his observation that " she was
where he could go any day or hour he pleased, and that
when he was not present with her nobody else was,"
the prisoner appeared almost in a fainting state, a tran-
sient paleness was visible in his countenance, his
eyes rolled rapidly in their sockets, he heaved very
seep sighs, uud Laa hi. head on the bar against
which he had been previously leaning. In a few
minutes, however, be had recovered his self-pos-
session, and resumed his former position, which was
leaning against the upright post, placing both hands'
on the spiked boarding before him, and fixing
his eyes 011 the ground, raising them only when
the Judge made remarks on the evidence. The
mention of the letters seemed to agitate him
considerably, and he sighed heavily; but the feel-
ing quickly passed away, and he seemed to be
relieved greatly by the learned Judge not reading
them. He was also much agitated when the evi-
dence of Lee was read, as to his denying knowledge
of such a person as Maria Martin ; and the remarks
of the Chief Baron that he did not at once, on being
told that her body was found in his barn, acknow-
ledge that he knew her, and that she had destroyed
herself and been buried there, instead of denying
any knowledge of her, caused a momentary faintness
and swimming of his eyes. He again recovered him-
self, but almost immediately, on the allusion to his
getting the sword sharpened, he was near falling,
but was upheld by the gaoler. He, however, from
this time, evidently grew gradually weaker and less
composed. During the reading the important evi-
dence of the surgeons, he moved uneasily from side
to side, seemingly unable to maintain his self-posses-
sion without continual change of position. He more
than once drank cold water, given to him by the
gaoler. He evidently felt that the whole of his de-
fence was overturned by the evidence of the sur-
geons of the various wounds found on the person of
the deceased, and large drops of perspiration started
from his forehead. The next remarkable change
the prisoner underwent was, to a state of stupor,
which continued for some length of time, his eyes
remaining perfectly fixed and immoveable, and his
arms crossed. After remaining some time in this
state, he again laid his left cheek on the post, and
appeared to he faipti, Recovering from this syn-
cope, he laid his head upon his hands, and seemed
dreadfully agitated tor some minutes; but from the
beginning of the last surgeon's evidence to its con-
clusion, e scarcely continued a minute in any one
position, perpetually shifting from side to side, his
head generally lying either very much on one side,
or on his breast. From first to last, however, it
was observed that he never shed a tear; but this may
of course be attributed to his anxious attention to
the investigation. One of the witnesses called by
the prisoner, Nrs. pavers, a very pretty young wo-
man, was frequently in teas during the detail of the
evidence. He seemed to think the Learned Judge
would dwell at length upon his defence; and pre-
pared himself, by a vigorous effort, to attend to the
remarks he expected to hear on the subject. When,
however, the piii,efßaron passed over his story, by
a bare statement nt its principal points, and made
not a single remark on it, but proceeded to read the
evidence of his own witnesses, he relapsed into his
former state of stupor and faintness, and so conti-
nued til; the end of the charge. On the jury retiring
to consider of his fate, he sat down on the bar
in the dock, and leant hi:: head against the beam on
which he had previously rested his back. As each
of the jurymen passed him, he cast upon them a
piercing glance pf the most intense interest. thiring
the time of their absence; nothing could be more dis-
aonsolate and. desponding than his appearance. On
khe J,Lns, ssliming into Court, he once more resumed
his standing position. On hearing the Foreman
pronounce the' fatal w9r4 " Guilty," he raised his
hand slowly to his forehead, pressed it for a moment,
and then dropped it most dejectedly. His head imr
mediately afterwards fell drooping upon his bosom.
During the passing of the sentence his firmness
still continued in some degree, but at the dose- of it,
he would have supk to the ground, had he not been
prevented by the compassionate attention of the go-
vernor of the gaol. He then sobbed loudly and
convulsively for some moments, and was almost
carried out of Court by Mr. Orridgel and one of his
attendants. Indeed, it was evident to all that at
this moment his faculties, both mental and bodily,
were completely paralyzed. It was said that imme-
diately after be quitted the dock, he fainted away;
but we were given to understand that this was not
the case. Shortly afterwards 14 was seen in the

lock-up near to the Court with his head buried in
his hands, which rested on his knees, and labouring
acutely under severe mental emotions. After the
Court was cleared, he was removed to the county
gaol.
The culprit, on his removal from Court, made a
great effort to rally, even after the palpable extinc-
tion of his self-possession at the breaking up of the
Court—so much so, indeed, that even some of those
about his person imagined his emotion had been as-
sumed, for the purpose of exciting a sympathy from
superficial observers, which even he, degraded as he
was, must have known would be denied to him by
every well-constituted mind. It is even said that
some unfortunate females of his family had been so
deluded by representations similar to the pitiful fic-
tion of his defence, that they were even preparing
for his return to that decent condition of society,
which he had with such unparalleled atrocity dis-
graced and dishonoured by the flagrant violation of
all those household duties, which reflect a peculiar
character upon the middle classes of society in this
country. But the attempts to sustain this mere
physical insensibility, evidently required a forced
excitement—he jumbled himself into the cart on
his return from the Court to the prison, which is
half a mile distant, more like a man who wanted to
escape from the public gaze, than to- invite its
attention by any assumption of bravado. The
crowd, who in their eagerness to catch a glimpse
at every character, notorious for good or bad,
oppose every obstacle which impedes the gra-
tification of this curiosity, had broken the steps
of the cart, in their efforts to get a peep at
the criminal, so that when he returned to the gaol,
he had either to jump to the ground, or be assisted
in his descent. He preferred the former, and alight-
ed upon his legs on the threshold of the prison, with
some appearance of alacrity. He had returned, how-
ever, to the gaol in a different character from that
in which he had left it. All the presumptions and
reservations which the humane policy of our law
sometimes throws around a prisoner whose life is at
stake were removed, and he had yesterday evening
to re-enter the walls of his prison, for the few hours
which, were counted to him in this world, as a per-
son who was no longer to be mentioned among his
species, and whose annihilation was doomed by the
common injunction of every civilized community.--
This retributive change of circumstances removed
him from a convenient apartment in the front of the
prison to a cell in the rear, and exchanged a dress of
fashionable attire for the common gaol apparel. The
Governor of the prison (who is represented to be a
humane and considerate man) led him, first upon
his return as a condemned criminal, into his private
apartment, where he (probably fresh with the re-
collection of the suicide of a recent convict) plainly,
but mildly, informed the prisoner, he must forth-
with exchange the whole of his apparel, because
his (the Governor's) situation with reference to
him, had now become one of great responsibility,
and he had a serious duty to discharge, which
he was, however, ready to perform with every
attention to the rational wants of a prisoner in
his awful situation. Corder immediately exchanged
his clothes for those which were supplied to him
from the prison stock, having previously given to
his solicitor from his pocket his written defence, and
some other papers. His penknife the Governor
took charge of, and a gentleman present remarked
to Corder, that the evidence against him was too
conclusive to be parried by any external appearances
of evasion, and that it was due to his family and so-
ciety to deliver his mind of the facts. To this pro-
vident suggestion the criminal gave no reply, and the
only desire he. expressed was to be allowed the so-
ciety of his wife, who has been for a short time in
lodgings in the town. The Governor repeatediho
him that he should have every consolation which Fits,`
situation and the rules of the prison permitted; but
that henceforth he could see nobody except in his
presence or that of one of his officers,, and that his
own clothes should be at his disposal in exchange for
those which he was at present under the necessity of
sulistituting for them, on the day when he was to be
brought out to die. At four o'clock Corder received
some dinner from the Governor's table, and a clergy-
man was sent for to afford him the solace (should
he prove susceptible of it) of spiritual consolation.
His mother and sister were said to be in the im-
mediate neighbourhood of the town, anxious to wait
the result of the trial, and his wife was, as we have
already said, on the spot, under the expectation, as
it was publicly said, of his deliverance, to which, in
pity for the feelings of others, it is no longer season-
able more particularly to allude.
When some allusion was made to the impropriety
of allowing him to retain his pen-knife, (which, how-
ever, the Governor took from him yesterday), he
said there was no danger to be apprehended in that
respect, for he had no desire to add one sin to an-
other. This was the only tendency towards any
thing like confession which the prisoner disclosed
yesterday evening. Two inmates of the prison,
vi ho are represented as being of serious and prudent
characters, are to remain in Corder's cell until the
time of his execution. A passage is preparing
through the wall immediately adjoining the cell to
the open paddock behind the gaol, where execution
will be done upon the prisoner at twelve o'clock on
Monday.
It is a singular feature in the origin a this in-
quiry, that Mrs. Martin, the step-mother of the de-
ceased,persisted before the Grand Jury, in the story
of the dream which had two or three times haunted
her, that Maria's body would be found buried in
Corder's barn. The natural solution of this impres-
sion on the mind of the poor woman, may be traced
to her anxiety about her daughter's mysterious and
unaccountable disappearance, coupled with the con-
duct of the prisoner himself, which, preying upon
the mind of a person in her situation, was calculated
to inspire such apprehensions as are sometimes
(beneficently in this instance) evoked through the
medium of dreams of this kind. The Counsel at
neither side alluded to the evidence of this singular
operation of mind of the poor woman, not wishing
to encourage what are commonly considered super-
stitious allusions, in a case too pregnant with strong
facts and circumstances to admit of any doubt in
arriving at a just and safe conclusion.

At the close of the sentence the convict fell down
into the arms of two persons who stood on each
side of him, and he gave a sort of convulsive shriek.
So confident was his sister of an acquittal, that she
actually ordered a post-chaise at one of the Inns to
take him home with her to Polstead this evening.
I have just hiard, and believe the fact, that
Ccirder's wife was cooking a dinner for him at the
moment sentence of death was passing on him, so
confident was she of his innocen6e.