The Sun.
London, England, 1844-08-05 00:00:00

house, heard a scream come from Mr. Crowther's house
and a second in about half a minute afterwards, but be
seemed to have thought that there was nothing in the
st,'rtestee which called for particular attention, and he
took no further notice of the matter at the time. About
the same time, but probably g, few minutes later, a person
in the employ of Mr. Crowther's butcher took some
meat to the house, and went, as usual, to the yard door,
but found it fast.
.He then went by the kitchen window
to the kitchen door, but that was fast also ; and not
able to gain admittance he rang the hall bell, and went
into an outhouse to take shelter, as there was a heavy
fall of rain and snow. While he was in the outheuie he
heard a door slam within the house, and he went again
and tried the door, and also rang the bell, but nobody
answered. Accordingly he went away, but returned
again about 12 o'clock, and tried as before to obtain ad-
mittance, but without success. At a quarter to two
o'clock Mr. Crowther returned home, and finding that
the bell at the front door was not answered, he went
round the house through a wicket to a glass door
which opens upon what was called a " lawn," but
which would have been more correctly described as
a broad gravel walk planted with shrubs. The glass
door was half open, and Mr. Crowther entered the
house by that way. Upon going into the dining-room
he found the fire out, and proceeding to the kitchen he
found the fire very low there, and remarked that the
kitchen-door, the pantry-door, and the cellar-door were
all wide open. Mr. Crowther then went up to the room
occupied by the deceased, to see if she was there, and
was surprised to find the bed unmade, and her boxes
about the room. He then went down again into the
kitchen, and thence into the brew-house, where the first
object that met his eyes was the murdered hotly of his
housekeeper. The unfortunate woman lay on the floor,
which was covered with blood, and which appeared to
have been trampled all about the brew-house. Her hair
was very much dishevelled, and had blood upon it, and
a bloody knife lay at a very short distance from the
body. At least ten wounds had heen inflicted on her
head with a hammer, which was usually kept in the
brew-house, and there were other circumstances which
led to the conclusion that she had offered some resist-
ance to the savage, whoever it was, who perpetrated this
dreadful deed. The yard-door was locked, and there
was blood upon the bolt ; blood was also sprinkled upon
the brickwork adjoining the door-frame, and there were
marks of a man's bloody hand upsn a shovel near the
water-tub, and upon the handle of one of the pumps in
the yard, as if the murderer had sought for means to
efface the crimson evidences of his guilt. In Mr. Crow-
ther's bed-room up stairs some trunks had been removed
and opened ; a small fruit pie, which had been left in
the pantry, in the morning was eaten, and about three
pounds of a neck of mutton, which was cooked, had been
taken away. It was discovered, also, on the following
day, that a pair of trousers and a waistcoat which Mr.
Crowther usually wore on Sundays had been removed.
The waistcoat and the trousers were found on the Fri-
day following the murder in a flue in a srhimsey, wrapped
up in a plaid handkerchief ; and it was shown that the
prisoner was seen on the day of the murder, about 11
o'clock, going in the direction of the whimsey, close to
which was found, on the Friday, the print of a single
footmark, made with the right foot, which resembled,
according to the best of Mr. Hatton's (the chief con-
stable's) recollection, the footmark made by the pri-
soner's right boot, .which together with its fellow, had
been taken from him when he was apprehended on the
morning of Sunday, the 17th of March. The strongest
part of the evidence against the prisoner consisted in
the footmarks, which were tracked immediately after
the discovery of the murder. From the glass door which
opened upon the broad gravel path, or lawn, there were
marks leading to the bottom of the lawn, as if a
man had run down on his heels ; and in a ploughed
field, which was separated from the lawn by a hedge, were
upwards of 40 footmarks, very distinct, made by
rights and lefts. The left footmark showed a large patch
on the sole, some of the nails in the patch being smaller
than those in the other part of the foot, the impression
of which corresponded exactly with that produced by
the prisoner's left boot, in respect of the number of nails,
their size, the vacant places left where some had been
worn out, and the mark of the patch. These footmarks
led all down the field into a lane called Riding-lane, and
foot-prints similar in character to those in the field, but
not near so distinct, were traced along the road which
the prisoner was supposed to have gone, as far as the
canal. He was, moreover, seen between eleven and half-
past twelve o'clock on the morning of the Saturday at
different points between the canal and the Board public-
house, when at half-past twelve o'clock he was found, by
a person who knew him, smoking his pipe in the kitchen.
The Board Inn is not a quarter of a mile from Mr. Crow-
th„:'s house; and the suggestion offered on the part of
the pro;:cution to account for the prisoner's coming so
near Mr. Creswther's house was, that, having committed
the murder, he made a long detour to avoid detec-
tion, in the first intela2cea and had then come near the
scene of his crime again h.'? the express purpose of lulling
suspicion. At that time, hoss,ever, he must have known
that there was blood on his jacki,:-.. on his trousers, his
shirt, and his boots, because that wt.,:found to be the
case when he was apprehended the next la:prning; and
the Learned Judge left it to the jury to say, among
other points, whether it was probable that a person ;71,0
knew that he had just been guilty of such a crime as
murder, would have incurred the risk of exposing his
clothes to the observation of the company in a public-
house. The prisoner accounted for the blood by calling
witnesses to show that his nose was in the habit of
bleeding, and that on the Monday preceding the Satur-
day in question he had assisted in hanging up a pig
which had justlbeen slaughtered, and it certainly was not
proved, on the part of the prosecution, that the blood
stains upon his clothes and linen were fresh. There
I were some minor circumstances in the case, which was
made up of very minute details, which pointed at the
prisoner as the party who might have committed the act,
but, on the outer hand, it appeared that the prisoner
was in the possessPn of very little money on the Satur-
day, and that he bore good character ; and it is a cir-
cumstance not to be overlored, that while he was in the
employ of Mr. Crowther, an attempt was made to rob
the house by three men, which aw:npt was frustrated
by the resistance of the prisoner.
The Learned JUDGE summed up the evLdence with
great care, and told the jury that in order to co;:vict the
prisoner it was not enough that his conduct was ;:able
to be viewed with strong suspicion, but the facts mu,2t
be such as to exclude from their minds all reasonable
doubt of his guilt. It had always been said by judges,
and he hoped always would be said, that it was better
that nine guilty men should escape than that one inno-
cent man should suffer.
The jury retired, and soon after ten o'clock came into
Court and pronounced a verdict of Guilty.
Mr. Sergeant ATcUERLEY then passed sentence of
death on the prisoner, who heard it with perfect calm-
acss, and merely said, "My Lord, I am as innocent of
the crime as you are."
Thus ended these assizes.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.
(SATURDAY.) _ _

A young man named Augustus _Halifax was
brought before Sir John Key, in the custody of John
Forrester, the officer, charged with having forged a
cheque for 651. upon the banking house of Glyn and
Co. Mr. Bush, the Solicitor to the Committee of
Bankers for protection against forgeries and frauds,
attended for the prosecution.
Mr. Robert E. Griffith stated that he was cashier
in the banking-house of Sir Richard Carr Glyn and
Co., of Lombard-street. On the 25th of July he re-
ceived at the counter the cheque produced for 651.,
but he did not know from whom. The person who
presented it was a young man, and witness paid it in
four 101. Bank of England notes, numbered from
56,319 to 56,322, dated the 4th of June, and twenty-
five sovereigns, and entered it in the books.
Mr. Edward Western, solicitor of No. 7, Great
James-street, Bedford-row, stated that he banked at
Sir R. C. Glyn and Co's. house. The account was
kept in the name of James and Edward Western, but
each of them signed his separate name only. The
signature was not in the witness's handwriting. The
prisoner had been known to him for some years,
having been a clerk in his office, and he knew the
prisoner's handwriting, and believed the date of the
cheque and the figures to be his writing, as well as the
words, but the latter were disguised. He produced
his cheque-book, which formerly had the numbers
B 1,198, 1,199, 1,200 in it, but they had been
taken out without his knowledge.
The prisoner (to Mr. Western)—ls the writing in
the body of the cheque at all like my ordinary writing ?
Mr. Western—Some of it is.
The prisoner—Produce some of my ordinary
writing that it may be compared with the cheque.
Mr. Bush said the prisoner should have a full op-
portunity of showing his innocence if he had nothing
to do with the forgery.
The prisoner—The writing is not at all like mine.
If my writing is produced the difference will at once
he seen.
John Forrester stated that he apprehended the pri-
soner at half-past ten o'clock that morning in Lon-
don-street, Cadogan-place. The prisoner said he had
a lodging at No. 53, Southampton-street, Pentonville,
and witness went thither and searched the prisoner's
apartment, and found fifty sovereigns in a box. On
the prisoner's person witness found 71.145. 4d. in gold
and silver.
Mr. Western said he could on a futzre day pro-
duce fuller evidence as to the prisoner's handwriting
and other facts.
The prisoner declared that there wt is no founda-
tion whatever for the charge of forgery. The writing
in the cheque was totally different from_ his, and he
knew nothing at all about it. He was th' !n remanded.
GUILDHALL.
Mr. John Bowden, a surgeon emph Ted in mid-
wifery cases in thii Aldersgate di,friet of the East
London Union, was brought up in cult ody, charged
with indecently assaulting a patient, a young Irish-
woman, far advanced in pregnancy w itb t her first
child.
Mr. Bayliss the clerk of the Board of Guardians,
and Mr. Postan, the vestry clerk of Alde rsgate, at-
tended the examination.
Eliza Driscoll, who appeared to be about 30 years
of age, stated that, having obtained a letter from the
parochial authority, she went to the pris4 mer's sur-
gery in Aldersgate-street, on the 20th salt ~ to com-
plain of indisposition. He gave her so' me medicine,
and told her to come again, and she ace, arc tingly paid
her second visit on the following Wed ale .sday. He
then attempted to put his hand under iner clothes,
but she would not allow it. She told .11 er husband,
who said she ought to have submitted, th exEunina-