The Sun.
London, England, 1826-10-20 00:00:00

ZYTRACT Or 41 TATUM, DAM. WINCXESTIS, OCT. 17.
Twyford is a beautiful retired village, about three miles
from Winchester. Crime and misfortune have been long
alike unknown to its simple annals, but an event has just
occurred there which has deeply affected its humble popu-
lation, and created very general interest in this neighbour-
hood. Rebecca IVlabbett, a girl :just turned of 17 years,
and of pleasing person and manners, resided in the village, .
in the bumble character of servant to one of the tradesmen.
Her stay in the family had been about 14 months : she was
highly esteemed by all of them, was without imputation on
her conduct, and naturally of a cheerful disposition. The
gossips of the village had noticed in her occasional fits of
seriousness, which led them to remark to each other, that
" Becky" would not be long-lived, but they were tran-
sient, and to those who were constantly near her, did
not seem to affect her general character. Like all village
she had a lover,
'three years older
kunirdls
than herself, was the favoured individual. This simple
ryattcraicitailozss
girl appears to have had, and to have carried into
personal
Hne
a possessed
youth
nonfate
execution, a determination to destroy herself. with
a firmness of purpose and constancy which have seldom
been surpassed. The causes which led to it, notwiths
standing the investigation which followed, have been very
imperfectly developed. She was entirely ignorant of the
nature of poisons, which was the mode she resorted to for
self-destruction ; but she had heard that a substance called
arsenic was used for destroying rats. Her first step was
to consult a plough-boy named George Oxford, a lad of
her own age, about it, and she asked bins if be knew wiles
thee arsenic was in powder or in bottles, but he could give
her no information on the subject. This occurred on
Thursday last; and on the afternoon of that day, accord-
ing to the evidence given at the inquest by her mistress,
Elisabeth Young, she was in the kitchen with Rebecca,
when she suddenly burst into tears, and on being ques-
tioned as to the cause, replied that " she had a weight
upon her mind, but she could not tell what; and that
she felt a dread as though she had done something
wrong." In vain her mistress urged her to explain, and
assured her that her conduct was without reproach ; she
could get nothing further from her. On the following
morning she appeared more composed, and nothing
more was thought of her state of mind; but on that day
(Friday) she was extremely pressing with Chalk, her
lover,.to let her know when he was going to Winchester,
as she wished him to bring her a parcel from thence. On
Saturday Chalk agreed to go to Winchester, and was in-
structed to bring from thence sixpenny-worth of, arsenic,
which she wanted for the purpose of destroying rats, which
she said were very troublesome in the room where she
slept. The lovers proceeded together towards Winchester,
along the towing-path of the barge-river, in which direc-
tion Rebecca had been sent on an errand by her mistress,
and she waited there till Chalk returned from the city
with the poison, which he gave into her possession, and
accompanied her home. The unfortunate girl swallowed
about two tea-spoons-full of the drug about six o'clock the
same evening, in some tea her mistress had prepared for
her. Immediately afterwards she sent for her lover, who
came to her, and they walked together down the village.
She had, probably, intended to tell what she had done,
but had not courage to do so, as they had no particular
conversation. When they came to a stile on their return,
she complained of being unwell, and proceeded to he s sis-
ter's house, who resided in the village,, and threw herself
down on a table. Her friends pressed her to explain the
cause of her illness, but nothing could be collected from
her, and by an effort she once more roused herself up, went
out of the back door, and sat down in a chair. Chalk
' joined her, and they walked down the garden together.
On their return she t6ok from her pocket a portion of the
arsenic he had purchased, and gave it into his possession,
desiring him never to reveal that he had bought it for her.
He asked if she had taken any of it; but she made no
=Ater_
`tithe pii&onteconung more apparent, no doubt rernsti:ned
of the nature of the act she had committed her Mends
and neighbours were called in, and the alarm that Rebecca
had poisoned herself spread through the village. All ap-
plications to learn from her the rause of her rash act were
useless; she was either silent, or said she would tell "bar
father" the next morning. This was the Hume by which ,
she was used to call her sister's hi:shield—for she had inci
parents.—. Medical aid wits procured from Winchester,
the nearest place where it was to be found ; but as some
hours were lost in doing so, it was, of course, too late,
and the unhappy girl expired at about two o'clock on Sun-.
day morning. An inquisition was held on the body yes-
terday, and some s'orpiciou attaching to Chalk, on ac-
count of his having been instrumental in proc'ering the
poison, he was taken into custody to await tlr;issee; but
the evidence disclosed- nothing in any &vete tending to
criminate him, and the lad sown situp v. statement of the
share he had had in the transaction 'removed all doubts of
his innocence. The facts shutting the unfortunate girl's
steady determination of purpose, were all clearly esta-
blished, but not an rota bf evidence was adduced to
explain the state of mind which produced it. No im-
putation was thrown on the nature of the connexion be-
tween her and Chalk, nor had any quarrel occurred be-
tween them. The Coroner, Mr. Todd, of this city,
who conducted the investigation with much acuteness and
impartiality, Seems to have entertained the suspicion that
the mind of the poor girl might have been imbued with, ec.
ligious horrors by communication withlsome of the netho-
distical sects ; lust that was not borne out by the. evidence.
The fate of the unhappy Rebecca could not' he account-
ed for, on the strictest examination of the wi •
tnesses, by
any aberration of mind or temporary insanity. In the per-
formance of their melancholy . duty, it seems that no alter-
native was left to the Jury; a verdict of "
Suicide, cow-
mitted in a sound state of mind," was returned against
Rebecca Mabbett, and an order was issued for her inter.
went the same night.
I attended last night the closing scene of poor Rebecca's
misfortunes, aSSI received from it impressions no tiede can
efface: The moon was at the full, and the nip:As.heieg
perfectly 'cloudless, every object could be dist:inguishini,
except in the shady lanes, as perfectly as broad day-
light. The church at Tw:ford stands a little out of the
high road, in a most romantic and hi;autiful spot, and
the way to it is through one of the sha;ai lanes I
harts just
mentioned. As I reached the village
, the procession,
consisting of the friends and relatives of Rebecca • h
the corpse, followed by nearly she whole
o f the ' with
cottagers,
and headed by the parish-ofhcers, to whom the
execu-
tion
of the setitence' wasconsigned, had,a just reached the
bottom of this lane, and was turni •
yard, on which the moon shone it t. 141 Into the church-
u splendour. The
utmost silence and decorum swig
sisted of a few thin hoards -"curved. The coffin core.
white cloth, for a pall, thrownab nailed together,' but A
over it, and the mr.iurn-
ers had provided themselves with crape hat-bands. Poor
Chalk was next thu coffin and though he had show. ru-
ptoms of insensibilityl inquest, • Y
at tno when has lawn per-
weal danger was involved he manifested and Imani the r4,0,t sincere
lire !y grief on this occasion. Me convulsive sobs
were truly heart-rending. When the:pre..cessi
on approached
this grave, the Coffin was /aced OH edge of it, and a
perfect stillness prevailed among Cane whole of thu spectst-
tors. I elm* expected then a Ilvontatittorts prayer or a
hymn would 'hive litirai.:frem, the lips of some of the twig-
twits, but imexchunaticini scarcely audible, of "God bless
her I" wnts,ill that reaehotimy call. The officers now desired
the relations ofdtessieedtoopproach the coffin and take their
' last farewell when it was lowered into the grave. Items pm,
tearer feet deep. Another pause ensued', and
more than been throwing ill the earth. A heite'-
the sextony clod
was tiny thrown in, which seemed as though it would
break the fragile coffin, and a shudder of horror ran through
ii. spectator* !;o!;oneOO voices called Out "antr. p) t
b lue
soother pause the work proceeded, mid,
t•
n very few
minutes was accomplished.
41) limo of Rebecca.Alab-
bett covered with turf, and- her bf:jay lies dotis bthat
of a *Ow who died about *lwo y years iv' h
reonAns:of.this rustic 0 phsharest in peseff ay t
,
AIL:, from her Asir knit uotolluted fleso
May riulvii sprung t [Atorilini ppm)