The Sun.
London, England, 1845-07-28 00:00:00

unfortunately lost her life, and was found dead in
her room, apparently in the act of attempting to
open the door of her chamber. It was remarked at the
time of the fire that the flames burnt very brightly, very
suddenly, and appeared as suddenly to be extinguished ; but at
the time there did not appear to be any particular suspicion en-
tertained upon the subject of the fire. Upon an examination
of the premises being made, it appeared that the fire com-
menced near the cellar, and from the fact of all the doors being
fastened on the inside, it became apparent that if the fire was a
wilful one it must have been committed by some person within
the house. Upon more minute search it appeared that the fire
had been what was called a surface fire, and the flames seemed
to have spread all along the floors and the shelves of the shop,
and all along the passage the same appearance presented itself
so far as the cellar door. On the rubbish in the passage being
removed a shawl and a piece of lit en were found under
it, both of which articles were strongly impregnated
with the spirit of camphine. This excited greater sus-
picion, and a more minute examination of the rubbish took
place, and under another portion ~f it was found a new win-
dow blind that had been sent home to the prisoner a day or
taro before, and had only been used once, and this was also
strongly impregna ed with camphine. The mat at the street.
door was also wet with the same spirit, and the carpet in the
prisoner's sitting-room was also wetted nearly all over with it.
Two cans that appeared to have contained camphine were found
in the shop, and one of them appeared to have been overturned.
The fire appeared to have extended as far as the third step
leading to the cellar, and the suspicion was that the fire had
commenced at that spot ; and the shawl and the piece of linen
saturated with the spirit being found near the place led to the
inference that they had been the means of causing the fire, and
that the fierce manner in which it ignited was occasioned by
the camphine spirit. These suspicious circumstances led to
further inquiry, and the jury who sat upon the body of the un-
fortunate young woman who lost her life returned a verdict of
wilful murder against the prisoner. In addition to the above
fic's it appeared that before Mr. Payn went to bed he ascer-
tained that his side of the house was perfectly safe, and that
'here was not the slightest appearance of fire in any part of
it. He went to hid before eleven o'clock, and shortly after-
ward, he heard some one, whom he believed to be the prisoner,
..,.tue in at the street-door, and he h-arch him walk along the
ra.sage to the cellar, and heard the door of the cellar opened
very gently, and the alarm of fire ‘,as given before he got
sleep. It likewise appeared that on the Wednesday or Thurs-
day before the fire, the prisoner, who used a vamphine lamp in
his shop, purchased a gallon of camphine at a chop in Favers-
ham, and on the day before the fire he purchased a further
quantity of camphine. In addition to these facts, it also ap-
peared that a ft w days before the fire the prisoner had gone to
the agent of the Phoenix fire-office in Faversham. and made a
prr posal to effect an insurance with that establishment to the
amount of 4(10/., of which 31)01. was to he for his stork-in..

trail.•, and 100/. for furniture ; but it appeared that after the
li-e th goods and stock that were saved, and which it was said
constituted the greater portion of it, did not fetch 50/. alto-
gether There were some other minor circumstances brought
forward, but the above a:e the principal points of the evidence
against the accused.
The witnesses were cross-examined by Air. Bodkin with
very great care and minuteness, and he elicited from them that.
when the alarm of fire was given, the prisoner and bis wife
and child were rescued by means of a ladder, with great diffi-
culty, and with nothing on but night clothes. It likewise ap•
geared, that upon the people going into the house at the
time of the fire, there was not the slightest appearance of the
removal of any property, the prisoner's watch and a purse and
money being found in one of the rooms. Besides this, it
likewise appeared, that although the prisoner had made a pro-
posal for the insurance, the,policy had not been handed over to
him, so that he would have had no legal claim upon the com-
pany for any loss he sustained by the fire ; and with regard to
the amount at which the stock and furniture were sold after the
fire, it was admitted that it was all very much damaged by the
fire and water, and that the price fetched at a forced sale by
auction, under such circumstances, was not at all a fair crite-
rion as to its actual value.

Mr. BODKIN, in his address to the jury, commented very
forcibly upon these circumstances, in favour of the prisoner
and urged that the utmost that appeared against the prisoner,
was that a ease of suspicion had been made out. arid he doubted
if it even amounted to that. He submitted that there was an
absence of anything like direct evidence, and that it was im-
po,sible for him to have committed so dreadful an offence
without, as it appeared, the slightest assignabl.• motive; and
with regard to what had been proved respecting the insur-
ance, if his object had really been to defraud the Company, he
asked the jury, as men of cr.mmon sense, whether he would
have committed the offence until he had secured the policy ; or
whether he would have destroyed his property, when he must
have been aware that he hail no legal claim upon the insurance
office for any portion of his loss ?
Air. Justice COLERIDGE, having summed up, the jury
deliberated for a short time, when they expressed a wish to
retire.

They were absent about five minutes, when they returned
into Court, finding a verdict oi Not Guilty.
A number of persons in the Court, among whom were se-
veral ladies, clapped their hands when the verdict was pro-
nounced ; but this ebullition of feeling was promptly repressed
by the officers.