The Sun.
London, England, 1829-01-10 00:00:00

UNION.NALL.

Yesterday a man named John Huntington, and
his wife, were brought before MC. HONE, charged
with stealing the clothes of a man (name unknown)
who suddenly died while walking along Walworth-
common, on Monday morning last. The investiga-
tion of the charge against the parties accused exhi-
bited an extraordina►y instance of the manner in
which dead bodies are procured for the purposes of
dissection.

From the evidence of Mfr. Murray, the assistant-
overseer of the parish of Newington, it appeared, that
on Monday last the body of a man, who dropped
down dead in that parish, was brought to the work-
house. On the Wednesday following the pri-
mmer, accompanied by his wife, attended at the
committee-roam in the workhouse, and, affect-

0 8 0

Wilkinson proceeded to describe that Hunting-
ton's house was in a situation admirably adapted for
procuring dead bodies; the rear of his premises
looked into St. OlaVe's burying-ground, and a small
window on the gqiund floor was level with the
church-yard : tberefore access was to be had to it at
all hours. The implements found in his house
showed that he was in the habit of working in burial
grounds.
The woman Harrington then stated to the Magis-
trate the origin of the quarrel between her and the
prisoners, by which it appeared that she was in the
whole secret of the affair relative to the poor man
whose body was claimed by the prisoners. She
also described that the prisoners had acknow-
ledged to her that the deceased was no way re-
lated to them, and that they had trumped up the
story to the parish-officers for the purpose of ob.
taining the corpse and disposing of it. Harrington
then detailed the manner in which she first became ac-
quainted with the male prisoner, which we shall
transcribe as a curiosity. She was walking along
the Borough about three months ago, when Hunt-
ington accosted her, and they entered into conver-
sation, in the course of which she told him she had
a cousin then lying dead at Old Ford, and that she
was then proceeding there to sit up and watch the
body. He no sooner heard her statement than he
exclaimed, ".Let me have the body, and you shall
have eleven guineas for it." She rejected the offer,
she said, with scorn, and immediately separated
from him, but he followed her to the abode of her
relative, and, availing himself of the opportunity
• when she went to the public-house for a pint of
beer, he entered the room where the corpse was
lying, and bundling it neck and heels into a bag, got
away with it, and sold it at the hospital. She de-
clared most solemnly that she never shared a half-
penny of the money obtained for her cousin.
Huntington, however, contradicted her, arid de-
clared that it was with her sanction he took the
body, for which he gave her three guineas.
The necessary witnesses having been examined,
to prove that the body was delivered by the parish-
officers of Newington to the prisoner and his wife,
on the day in. question, ,and_ the clothes of the de-
ceased also identified; Mr. Horns asked Huntington
what he had to say in answer to the charge ? .
He replied, that he understood from his wife that
the deceased was related to her, and that was. the
reason he applied for the body to be given up to
him.

Mr. HONE : Where did you dispose of it ?--
Huntington : I didn't sell it, your Worship. The
man from whom I tired the cart to convey it away
from the workhouse, on the way back, said to me,
" Here take three guineas,,and go home with your
wife and make her comfortable, and I shall soon be
after you with the body." " I," said the prisoner,
" took the money, but never saw the driver of the
cart or the body from that day to this."

Wilkinson stated that Huntington's wife had de-
clared to him on the preceding night, that she was
totally unacquainted with the deceased, never having
seen him in her life until she saw him in his coffin at
the workhouse, when her husband and she went
there to claim him.

Mr. HONE,—Do you know the person from whom
you hired the cart to take away the body ?—Pri-
soner said that he was a stranger to him.
Wilkinson said that be had since ascertained the
corpse was taken away in a cart belonging to Hollis,
the noted resurrection-man.

Mr. Hoes.—What have yon to say respecting
the skeleton keys, and other housebreaking imple-
ments, found in your house ?---Huntington (scratch-
ing his head).—I picked them- up one at a time in
the streets.

Mr: HONE.—There are two charges against you,
the one is for having burglarious implements in your
possession, by which you are liable to three months'
imprisonment, and the other is more serious still, as
affects you,—namely, for stealing the clothes of the
unfortunate man whose body there is no doubt you
obtained by pretending to be his relative, and then
disposing of it. Lpon which of the two charges I
shall commit you I hare not yet made up my mind.
It was here suggested to the Magistrate, that if
he remanded the prisoner for a few days, other
charges would be brought against him; which was
done accordingly.

lag great sorrow, represented themselves as nearly
related to the deceased, and expressed their
desire to have the body delivered up to them,
adding, that they wished to have it decently interred
at their own expense. The parish-officers made some
inquiries relative to the applicants in the place where
they resided, and heard nothing to their disadvan-
tage; they therefore consented to deliver up the
body to them, after the inquest was held upon it.
The inquest was held on Thursday, and when it
concluded, the prisoners again presented themselves
at the workhouse, and demanded the corpse, which
was then, clothes and all, delivered up to them, they
having provided a shell to place it in, and a cart to
convey it away. Another man attended at the same
time with the prisoners to assist in carrying the shell,
containing the deceased, from the dead-house, a de-
tached building at the workhouse, to the cart. Pre-
vious to the prisoners' departure, they told the parish-
officers that the deceased's name was John Simpson;
that he was the female prisoner's brother ; and that
he had come up to London from Shoreham, in Sus-
sex, about four months ago, with 801. in his pockets,
and that he dissipated and squandered away the whole
of the:money in that short period. In fact, from the
consistent statement the prisoners had given relative
to the deceased, and the sorrow and anxiety they be-
trayed when they first made application at the work-
house for the body, the parish-officers had not the
slightest suspicion but that they were nearly allied
to that which they claimed.
On Wednesday night, however, in consequence
of a quarrel that occurred between the two prisoners
and a woman named Maria Harrington, relative to
the division of the money which the corpse fetched,
it appearing that it had been sold for 11 guineas at
St. Bartholomew's Hospital, the whole affair was

brought to light, and ultimately led to the appre-
hension of the prisoners. On the night in question
cries of " Murder" were heard in Huntington's
house, in Boar's-head-court. Wilkinson, the night-
constable, proceeded there, and on entering the
place discovered the two prisoners, together with
the woman Harrington, all fighting together. He
endeavoured to put an end to the conflict, and was
ultimately obliged to take all the parties into custody
to prevent bloodshed, they appeared so inveterate
against each other. In the midst of the battle be-
tween the contending parties, Wilkinson heard them
accuse each other of robbery. Maria Harrington
frequently ejaculating, " You are body stealers, you
know you are; where is the corpse of the poor man
who dropped down dead. in Newington, and that
you sold for 11 guineas ?" Wilkinson being al--
. quainted with thetircumstances under which the de-
-ceased was taken to the workhouse, hearing the ob-
scure hints thrown out against eachother hy the parties,
: ouestioned the woman Harrington, who immediately

disclosed to him all the facts she Was is posses. clothes. The reason that he had not sinee returned
sion of, concerning the trick played by the prisoners, the livery, which however he still thought he had
to obtain the corpse from the parish-officers, and some right to, was, that Mr. Taylor had said that he
their ultimate disposal of it at one of the hospitals. would not give him a charaCter, and thus prevent
Upon this information, Wilkinson having secured him from getting into service again.
the parties, proceeded to Huntington's house in I " Indeed," said Mr. Taylor, " I never raid any
Boar s-head-court, in the parish of St. Olave, South- such thing. I would riot do any one such an injury
wark, and there discovered the sloshes which 'be- as to deprive him of his means of properly earning
longed to the deceased, together with a great variety his bread. I have now lived 71 years and a half in
of implements used by body-snatchers,—vii. screws 1 the world, and I believe so one living can say that
drivers, wrenching machines for opening the lids of I ever did an unkind or injurious act to a human be'
coffins, large and small gimlets, and other useful anti.- ing, What I did say was, that I would give you
Iles for such purposes. He also found instruments the character which I thought you deserved, and ne
for breaking open the repositories of the living as other."
well as those of the dead, for there were secreted The footman said that he had no objection what.,
tinder Huntington's bed a whole bunch of house-, ever to give up the livery, if Mr. Taylor would not
breaking apparatus, with skeletondicyse &c. of all suffer him to keep them ; but would Mr. Taylor,
sizes, the whole of which were now produced.
after he did so, give him a character I'Wilkinson added, that from the character of the male
Mr. Taylor assured the Magistrate that he never
prisoner, belied no doubt that he was in the habit of
intended to withhold a character from this man, nor
obtaining possession of the bodies of a great number
had he ever said that he should do so: on the cow
of persons who died suddenly, and whose friends
were unknown, by the same stratagem that he pro- trans, he would now tell the Magistrate the character
he was prepared to give this footman. He was ready
cured the corpse on the present occasion. Wilkin-
son then produced the following undertaker's bill,
sobriety, and for being one of the most beautiful,
which he found in the prisoner's possession, in order to give him an excellent character for honesty an
cleaners of plate he ever met with; but, in giving
to bear out the consistency of his suspicions with
this character, he should certainly not conceal the
regard to Huntington. faults that lie (Mr. Taylor) had to complain of in
(Copy)
the man. The fact was, that the man was ii very
Mr. I. Huntington to W. Dunn, undertaker, No. 11,
Great Dover-road
good servant; but he was of unsettled and unsteaell
:
To four men moving a body from Kent £0 4 o habits, and the Marquis of Cleveland, in whose eel'
To two men undressing body, and use oflehell 0 4 0 vice he last lived, had made just the same cemplainte
of him. The man had, it seems, Mr. Taylor said,
been in various situations of life, although a young
man, and, amongst others, had been for a considet•
able time in a Dragoon Regiment.
Mr. ROE I thought, Mr, Taylor, that you bad
more tact and circumspection in such matters than
to take such a person into your ertabliksoent at all.
" Why, the fact is," said Mr. Taylor, " that i
did not engage him, or knew that he was engaged
for some days, as I was out of town at the time; but
although the Marquis and Marchioneei of Cleve..
laud advised us not to have any thing, to do with,
him, as 'we should find him a troublesome mane
Mrs. Taylor, seeing that he was a fine, strong, hand'
some-looking young fellow, well able to carry a se,
vice of plate rip and down the back stairs, and tao
there was nothing positively bad in his character,
she engaged him in my absence."
The footman here complained that Mr. Taylor had
stopped, in his account, 9s. that had been paid to 0
doctor in the country when he, the footman, was ill,
Mr. Taylor expressed great indignation at this
assertion, which he said was totally untrue, and the ,
real history of which was this :—While the tlemily, he
said, was stopping lately in the neighbourhood of 0
vweartye watering-place, ing- p
suddenlyl e c e
a,
rithisd
alarmingly was
ill s
o ttakenhat
ao
doctornobi
ncecienseeegwsi.ilenfiantswwcht9oiala
had
sent for to the town, which was lt). miles off. The doe.'
tor came and attended him,and remained with him foo
nearly two hours until he relieved him ; and before
anxietyrsemiheseetemaainin(a:
cgtnhe
sufferings.
should
Doctor)
aos j;cn
ct
soohnbi
this relief was afforded him, he (Mr. Taylor) 4k
tnfhe suffered;
aeaoictr i
order
desirableafl for
rrr thett
that
more
afteohdt sirsmiremoved
of,
Theeimisot know
might
kalDtvbol
emoi
dhe:ll:vatt
vooui
ere t thatths ahwould
ev
,he
a, then, e,err i
"this removal he (Mr.• Taylor) had made by directing
the man to be conveyed to the town in his own ear'
riage, and attended by two other servants. "In tlst%
course of a day or two the man was quite restoredr
and all the fees to the doctor, &c. he (Mr. Taylor)
had most cheerfully paid. n settling an account,
however,vigoeo:ro aectte
unhandsomel,telhtexeti
rat
:iyiothernerxl erpfhdeueirsi,mreyseed,a
h.i
t,afterteno4esaarttloh
opet
the
wpf 7
did
~thurnwatabinnhiyei
hihgenia d act e d i 0
ftTohare
y gone
in ' such an abrupt manner at such a time, he (Mr,
and this was the 9s. the man spoke about as a doc,
tor's "fee; he (Mr. Taylor) could appeal to Mr-
Denison, the Member for Surrey, who was staying
at his -house at the time this man was taken ill, if any
Imdy could be more uneasy or anxious for the recd'
very of a 'man than he (Mr. Taylor) was, until he
heard that the servant was relieved from pain.
It was in the end arranged that Ballard, the officer,
should accompany the "footman to his lodgings, and
have the suit of livery there delivered up to him, and
that then Mr. Taylor would pay the man what
i wages were due to him, and give him such cha'
racter ae he deserved.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF KING'S BENCH, JAN. 9.
BAIN V. CASE.

This was an action on a policy of insurance on the
brig Nancy, effected by the plaintiff, as. part owner.
with the defenda►►t, an underv;rritei-of Liverpool.
Verdict fur the plaintiff—damages 1001,
SMITH V. SHAW.

The plaintiff in this action was owner of the brig!
Rebecca ; the defendant was treasurer of the Cont'
rnercial-dock Company. The action was brougho
to recover damages for the injury the plaintiff's ves'
sel had suffered by the negligence of the defendant's
servants in hauling the Rebecca into dock. By the
defendant's witnesses it appeared that, on the 28th
of June, 1827, the vessel, on her return flora the
Baltic, laden with timber; came opposite' to the.
Commercial-dock-gate, and was fastened to a buol.
within a hundred yards of the gate, within which
distance it was provided by the Act that all vessels
should be under the absolute command of the dock'
master. They .proved that, when the vessel. had
get about two-thirds within the gate of the dock,
Captain Thompson, the dock-master, asked vvliat
water she drew, and, on being informed sixteen, feet
five inches, ordered her to be shoved out as she
could not get in. All the witnesses swore.thid the
ropes were loosened, and let go just as the dock'
master ordered, and in no other manner; that. eyed
thing was done by his order; and that, on being
pushed out of the deck-gate, being quite unattached,
she floated upon a bank, where she fell upon her
side and received the injury, for the repair of which
the plaintiff now brought his action.
The Jury, after some consideration, found a yet'
diet for the plaintiff.

BIRTHS.
On the Bth inst., at Epping-green, near Hertford, the
lady of William Horne, Esq., one of his Majesty's Counsels
of a son.
On the Bth inst., at Lee, Kent, the lady of Robot°
Boyd, Esq., of a son.
On the 7th inst., in Upper Belmont-place, Vauxhall,
Mrs. T. Sandys, of a daughter.
On the 22d ult., at St. Petersbargh, the lady of DP
F. Leighton, of a daughter.
MARRIED.

On the sth inst., at Arundel, the Rev. Thomas Porter,
of Kilsby, Northamptonshire, to Mary, third daugMer
the late Christopher Waltham, Esq., of Peckham. 00
the 6th inst., the Rev. John Pain, of Horncastle,
Esther, sixth daughter of the late. Christopher Walthad►
Etq., of Peckham.
On the 7th inst., at St. Ann's, Westminster, by the
Rev. Dr. M'Leod, Mr. Robert Hutchinson, jun., of Prith-
street, Soho-square, to Margaret Ann, eldest daughter of
Mr. T. Hutchinson, late of. Great Marlboretigb-street..
On the Sth inst., Mr. Moses Cohen, of Newington, t°
Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. B. Hart,. of Holywall-stratef
Strand.

DIED.
On the 7th inst., Mr. R. Disraeli, of Little Tower'
street, aged 46.
At Llangoedinore-plaee, Cardiganshire, the Venerabl°
Archdeacon Millingchamp, D.D., Prebendary of Brecoot
and Rector of Ruehall, Wilts.

On the 6th inst., 'at Redinghami aged 78, R. Stove+
E'., of Bedingharn-hall, Norfolk.
On the Bth inst., Mrs. Nash, in her 87th year, wido'
of the late Thomas Nash, Esq. of Camberwell.
On the 6th inst., at his house in Stratton-street, R

Wilbraharn, Esq., in his 86th yew'. •
On the Bth inSt., in Lime-street-square, Robert R
Esq., in his 36th year.
On the sth lust., at Ramsgate, Mrs. E. Bridges,:

Pazwran and Ptini:zinan by NUJ 3 0 YOUNG, at
Sus Ornes, 112, Sticani, Losseft