The Sun.
London, England, 1844-06-27 00:00:00

THE CASE OF POISONING AT

STEPNEY.

TiramEs-PoucE.—The case of Mr. James Cockburn Be-
laney, charged with having caused the death of his late wife
Rachel by administering to her a dose of prussic acid at their
lodgings, 48, Green-street, Stepney, on the morning of Satur-
day, the Bth inst., having been remanded for a re-hearing
yesterday before Mr. Broderip, the Court was densely
crowded, and so great was the interest excited that several
well-dressed women submitted to the heat and pressure of
the body of the Court for the purpose of seeing the prisoner,
and hearing the proceedings. Several of them had to be
removed almost fainting during the inquiry.
Some of the prisoner's personal friends, persons of great
respectability in the counties of Durham and Northumber-
land, and amongst others a county magistrate, a near neigh-
bour of Mr. Belaney's, and with whom he was in close inti-
macy, occupied the reserved seats in the Court, and his
brother, a clergyman of the Established Church, who, it is
understood, has a living at Arlington, in Essex, and to whom,
it appears, from one of the letters put in evidence, the pri-
soner was about to proceed on a visit with his wife, sat on
one of the benches appropriated to solicitors. One gentle-
man interested for the prisoner observing, previous to the'in-
quiry being proceeded with, on the strange reverses of for-
tune which frequently take place in life, said, it would
scarcely be supposed that a person who was about to join the
Duke of Leeds in a visit to the Prince of the Netherlands,
should have his journey intercepted, and himself incar-
cerated on a charge of murder, at the very moment he was
about to avail himself of the invitation.

At half-past two o'clock the prisoner was placed at the
bar. He appeared considerably altered, his dress being to-
tally changed; as, instead of the clerical costume, he wore a
Taglioni coat and a black neckerchief. He heard the evi-
dence with great firmness, and gravely, though slightly, bowed
to some of his friends.

Mr. Clarkson, the barrister, and two gentlemen from the
office of Messrs. Code and Browne, solicitors, attended fur
the defence.

The first witness called was Inspector Haynes, of the de-
tective force, who only returned last night from the north,
where he had been collecting evidence. He said, that in
accordance with instructions which he had received from the
Commissioners of Police, he left town on Wednesday, and
arrived on Friday last at North Sunderland. He went, ac-
companied by Mr. Ord, a magistrate, to the house of a per-
son named Bell, from whom he received several letters, nu n-
bered from Ito 6 inclusive. He then went, accompanied by
Mr. Bell and the Rev. Mr. Simpson, to the prisoner's house
in North Sunderland, and, on searching a cupboard, found
two papers, purporting to be copies of wills, in a portfolio.
He afterwards went to Mr. Scott, the registrar, and procured
a copy of the registry of the death of Mrs. Skelly, mother tar
the prisoner's wife ; and, after that, he went to Mr. Thorp,
steward of the borough of Bamborough, who resides at Aln-
wick, and procured a copy of a surrender and admittance of
certain copyhold property, dated 24th October, 1843.
These documents having been handed in, Mr. Symons,
the chief clerk, proceeded to read them. The first rah as
follows :

" Euston Hotel, London, June 5, 1844.
" Dear Sir,—We arrived here yesterday evening, safe and
sound, although to-day, I am sorry to say, Mrs. Belaney is.
rather unwell. The fatigue of travelling such a distance, ao,
doubt, to a constitution delicate like hers, was sure to tell a.
little upon her; and I think her spirit, to bear up and carry-
all before her, has been greater than her strength was equall:
to. However, I trust that in a day or two, after a goad rest,.
she will be all right again, and we will be able to proeseed to*
Arlington to my brother's. She does not think very muds..
of what, as yet, she has seen of London. That is easy to b
accounted for, she being not over well on the one hand. to'
enjoy anything, and, on the other, having seen almost nothing.;
of interest but crowded streets. As, to-day, I leave tbir
hotel, and as I will be moving about from place to place, you
had better direct my letters to a bookseller's, who I have ar-
ranged with to receive and forward them to me wberever I
may be. His address is, Mr. Hobson, bookseller, Commer-
cial-road East, London.' This with my name will find me,
and I shall either call every day at the shop for my letters,
or he will send them to me. If there be anything of import-
ance requiring my consideration, you may mentiou it, and I
shall make as little delay over it as possible.
" In haste, yours truly,
" J. C. BELANEY."
It is worthy of remark, that though the above, dated the
sth, is addressed from the Euston Hotel, the prisoner had re-
moved to Green-street, Stepney, on the previous day.
The next letter was dated June the Bth.

Mr. BRODERIP—The Bth ! Was not that the day of the
woman's death? Mr. Symons—Yes, Sir.
This answer excited the greatest possible interest, and the
letter, which ran as follows, was listened to with breathless
attention :

" London, June 8, 1844.
" Dear Mr. Bell,—l have little else to write to the north
about at present than to give you (who, I know, are all inte-
rested in it) a very unhappy account of Rachel's state. I
have had her removed from the hotel to private lodgings,
where, with two medical attendants, she remains dangerously
ill. Symptoms of premature labour care on a few days ago ;
but, what is still worse, one of the medical men pronounces the
heart to be diseased. Of this I have:had some dread myself.
This will alter my plans greatly; but, if she be spared, that
will be everything. Hoping you are well, I must in haste
conclude, yours sincerely, " J. C. BELANEY.
" No letters have yet arrived.
" Mr. G. G. Bell, North Sunderland, Belford, Northumber-
land."
The third letter, written also to the same party, was then
read

" London, June 9, 1844.
" Dear Mr. Bell,—The worst that could be dreaded has
come to pass. Rachel is no more. You shall know all. Put
the men off work at the new house. As such could not be
done at the quarry and lime works without great inconve-
nience to the partnership, I shall not desire the same there.
I am hardly able to sit up ; but hope to be able to write to-
morrow more particulars. As her death has occurred chiefly
amongst strangers, and so suddenly, an inquest and post mor- •
tan examination will be held. This has been mentioned too
me. Of course Ido not object to it.—Yours, sincerely,
"Jr. C. BELANEY."
The fourth letter, dated June, 1844, without the day of
the month, but having the post -mark 14th of June, was then
read

" London, June, 1844.
" Dear Mr. Bell,—l intended writing to you an account of
what had happened to my dear Rachel, through my infa-
tuity or inadvertency, and to myself; but at present am un-
able to do so. I have written Hall a sort of account of it,
which I wish you to go immediately to peruse and consult
with him what to do. Oh ! what is this come upon me like
a thunderbolt? I did not mention the cause of her death to
you before, through a desire to bury the shame and avoid
the public reproach for my fatal neglect. Yet I know well
you can account for it under such circumstances; but, oh
God! I can never forgive myself. I would like you to call
upon Mr. Simpson, and give him the particulars of what I
have given of the awful occurrence. Lose not a moment in
getting for Mr. Dornel testimony of my marriage from Barn—
borough, and post it to Mr. Clark, 17, King-street, Stepneyi,
London."

Though out of the order in which it was read, we shall, ay
the more consecutive mode, give the letter to Mr. Hall :
" London, June, 1844.

" Dear Hall,-0 !I am distracted. I cannot write nor do
anything. I have lost my dear Rachel; and, what makes
the loss so much the worse, it was caused by my cwn neglect,
from leaving some medicine, which I myelf had been taking
a portion of for my stomach, in a tumbler on the top of the
drawers at the opposite end of the room where she was. She
had gone for the tumbler, and poured some water into it with-
out observing anything in it, the medicine being only a small
portion of liquid in the bottom of the glass, and clear as the
glass or water; then she had drank it. Oh ! my God, I know-
not what to do. My dear Rachel is gone, gone for ever from
me. You, and all of you, knew how happy we were toge'.
gether. I had just gone, leaving her in be out of the room
for a minute or so, into the other room, in search of another-
bottle to put the medicine in, for I hadbroken the one It was
in, and got a tumbler in the meantime to secure the contests
in ; and she had got out of bed to nse the --- and take some
salts, which were on the table by her bedside, and wishing to
take some water after the salts, and supposing the glass an,
empty and clean one, she had gone to the other end of the
room, unknowingly poured water into it, and, oh God have
mercy upon us all, she drank a portion of it. I heard her
cry for ma in the other room. I flew to her ; but, oh God 1
it was all over in a few minutes, and I am now in a state of
mind bordering on utter misery and madness. In the sudden.
shock I knew not what to do or say. I called for immediate
assistance. It was brought, but it was of no use. The awful.
occurrence having taken place in a situation where I am e,n.
tirely unknown, all are strangers around, and the people
being much inclined to doubt my statement that she was
my wife, and everything else I said, I am in a terrible situa-
tion. The law has a right to suspect me, and as yet I have
not a creature found to prove my marriage, or what I am, or.
who I am. I have nothing to prove anything as yet. The
solicitor whom I have employed, will either have to come
down to establish my character, and prove how we lived, and
that we were married, or else he will require a few of my
friends who have known me and her also, to come up and
testify what they know of me. I know you will all do what
' is required for me. What I now regret the most next to the
accident, in my confusion and half-stunned state, is, I did not
say what had caused her death. I knew not what I was
doing or saying, and, of course, horror-struck and shocked at
my infatuity in having left such medicine there, though it..
was only for a minute, and the poor dear Rachel was in bed
and, knowing well that the world would blame me perhaps
too severely for my carelessness in leaving .sneii a danerous
medicine where it was in danger of doing such evil, I did not,.
until after I became a little more collected, say what had
happened. This, though very natural at such an awful lore-
ture, is considered as against me. Oh, God I I now no, what
Itodo or say. It came upon me like a thunderbolt. It 4 vas