The Sun.
London, England, 1845-12-16 00:00:00

Mrs. Elizabeth Bearpark deposed that her father was
the landlord of the house occupied by the prisoner, and
that the prisoner, had stated about five or six weeks be-
fore the deceased's death that there were bugs in the
house, and if somethit was not done at it she could
not stay.
Mr. Joseph Barker, father Cf last witness, proved the
occupancy of the house in questi,en by the prisoner and
her husband, which commenced some time in May last.
The house was stoved before they enteNred it. In conse-
quence of receiving some information from his daughter,
he went to the prisoner's house, and she told him she
had got bugs ;n the house. He said thee was Robert
Reacher, who was used to such jobs, and het would send
him. Witness after wards saw Reacher, and c:i.rected him
to go there.
George Douthwaite, a druggist at Easingwold, &pose('
that he had frequently sold an article to Reacher for de-
stroying bugs, and that was composed of arsenic. T;'e
article commonly called mercury is arsenic.
Henry Potter, apprentice to the last. witness, proved
that he had frequently sold arsenic to Reacher. Ho sold
him, at different times, a pound of arsenic each time, in
June last.
Robert Reacher, wheelwright, of Easingwold, deposed
that on the 20th of June last he purchased some arsenic
at the shop of Mr. Douthwaite, for the purpose of mix-
ing it with water and washing the house of the prisoner.
lle did to, and cautioned her not to let her boy go
into the room for three or four days or a week, and she
had better not go in herself till the room was cleaned
out. He afterwards said to the boy " Now my little
man, I hope they will not let thee sleep in that room for
a few days," and stated that be should go on the follow-
ing night to clean the room out. He was going away
when the prisoner said " Reacher, you have had a deal
of trouble in coming down ; I will take the trouble and
wash it off myself." He said " then what you do wash
off you will promise me to dig a hole in the garden and
bury it," and she said she would. He used a pound of
arsenic on the occasion. He did not take particular no-
tice whether there was any sand on the floor.
Cross-examined...He told the prisoner there was a
whole pound, which was enough to poison a whole street.
George Wood, butcher, of Easingwold, and a con-
stable there, searched the house of the prisoner on the
18th of July, but he found no arsenic on the premises ;
he found some brimstone. He searched the person of
the prisoner, and found nothing. He saw the deceased
after death, when the prisoner was present. Witness
said the child was poisoned, and some persons in the
house said "No such thing." Witness went to the
house last Wednesday, and he took a besom and swept
the back bed room up stairs. lie collected a quantity
of dirt, wrapped it up in a paper, brought it to York,
and gave it to Mr. Barker and Mr. Procter, surgoons.
Mr. Scaife, surgeon, of Easingwold, was summoned on
the Friday to attend the inquest. He made a post niortern
examination of the body. From the appearances, exter-
nally and internally, witness was of opinion that influm
illation of the stomach was the cause of death, and that
such appearances as he saw are generally produced by
arsenic taken internally.
Mr. T. 11. Barker, surgeon, and lecturer on chemistry
at the York school of medicine, deposed that he made
an analysis of the contents of the stomach of the de-
ceased as he received it from Mr. Scaife. Mr. Procter,
surgeon and chemist, and Mr. Scaife, were present at
the time. He described the tests which he applied to
a portion of the stomach and its contents, after they
had been boiled for a few minutes in distilled water;
the result was that he detected the presence of arsenic.
Mr. William Procter, assistant lecturer on chemistry
at the York school of medicine, corroborated the evi-
dence of the last witness. He made subsequent exami-
nations of the contents, and detected arsenic combined
with white sand. The sand was one-third in weight in
proportion to the arsenic. The most common adultera-

iiori of arsenic is with gypsum. Witness made an analy-
sis of the contents of the paper brought to him by Wood,
the constable, and he found it to contain a great deal of
dust, arsenic, and sand. lie subjected them to the same
tests which Mr. Barker had described. The sand he
found in the paper appeared to be more like red sand.
The sand he detected in the contents of the stomach ap-
pearedto him to be Calais sand. _

Mr. 0 VEREND, for the prisoner, addressed the jury, and
contended that the circumstantial evidence offered in this
case was far short of sufficient to justtfy a conviction,
and that such acts of harshness towards the child were
not enough to show any such feeling of malice as would
induce a person to commit so dreadfal a crime. The
Learned Counsel concluded by calling a number of wit-
nesses, who bore testimony to the uniform kindness of
the prisoner's disposition.
His LORDSHIP, in summing up, observed that the tes-
timony which had been adduced on the part of the pro-
secution was entirely of a circumstantial character, but
in such a ease, where there were so many chains of evi-
dence all tending to one great point—that of the convic-
tion of the guilty party—it frequently happened to lead
to a result more firm and conclusive than the evidence
afforded by one or two witnesses. There were two ques-
tions which the jury would have to consider in this case ;
first, whether the deceased had died from the effects pro-
duced by poison, and, secondly, whether the prisoner at
the bar was the person who had administered the poison.
It had been unquestionably proved in evidence that up-
wards of fifty grains of arsenic bad been discovered in
the stomach of the deceased, and consequently the first
question was at once established. In regard to the other
question, the facts of the case would require more atten-
tion and discrimination in the minds of the jury, but he
hoped that they would be enabled to return such a ver-
dict as would be in entire coincidence with the
testimony they had beard. His Lordship then
proceeded to recapitulate the evidence, making
suitable observations thereon. He also remarked
that, from the statements which had been made by
witnesses who had been called on the part of the de-
fence, that the prisoner had received the most une
quivocal testimonials relative to her kindness of disposi-
tion and general character up to the time of the present
melancholy transaction. The Learned Judge concluded
by saying, that should the jury appear perfectly con-
vinced that the guilt of the prisoner had been fully es-
tablished, then it was their duty, in justice to the pro-
secution and to:the public at large, to record a verdict in
accordance with that just conclusion. If, on the con-
trary, any doubt should exist on the minds of the jury,
they would then discharge their responsibilities by al-
lowing the prisoner the benefit of such doubt.
The jury retired for a few minutes, and on again en-
tering the Court, returned a verdict of Not Guiity.
The Court rose at nine o'clock, the trial having occa-
pied its attention for twelve hours.
(Before Mr. Baron PLATT.)
George Garton, a youth of 17, pleaded guilty to an
indictment charging him with having, on the 22d of Oct.

last, at Hull, feloniously forged a cheque upon the Hull
Banking Company, with intent to defraud Benjamin
M'Turk.

Several individuals were called, who gave the prisoner
a most unexceptionable character for honesty and general
attention to business previous to the present occurrence.
Sentence def.rred.

December 13.

The Court was occupied with cases of no public in
term.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
OLD COURT.
(Before the Right Hon. the LORD MAYOR, the
Resonneß, &C.)
The grand jury having retired to choose theirforeman,
on their return they were sworn, and
The RecoaDee, addressing them, said—Gentlemen of
the grand jury, the interval which has occurred between
the last and the present session is much less than a
fortnight. There are, however, in the calendar the names
of lee prisoners, and that number will be augmented by
the riaines of a great many more hefere your duties are
completed. Gentlemen, aLhaugh the calendar is not so
numerous with regard to the cases of parties charged
with crime, still, in prieportion to the time which has
elapsed, it will probably bear comparison with any other
calendar we have had this year. I lament to say, how-
ever, that some of those cases are of the most fearful
description. There are two charges of murder, mid
there is also a third case, the particulars of which were
only laid before me this morning. I shall have occasion
to refer very shortly to the two first cases, which, I can-
not entertain a doubt, you will feel it your duty to place
before a petty jury. You will, perhaps, come to the
conclusion that the third case requires also a course of
investigation. With regard to the crime of murder, I
shall only have occasion to observe that the fact of
the killing being first proved, then all circumstances
of accident, necessity, or infirmity, are to be proved by
such evidence as either occurs in the case for the prose-
cution or in defence of the prisoner. You will have to
say in these cases whether it is proved that the death
was the wilful act of the party charged; and if that ap-
pears to be the case, you will, unless the prisoner, as I
have before raid, can refer to any accident or necessity,
tied a true bill against him fur the crime of murder.
The third charge is against a young woman who is ac-
cused of destroying her illegitimate child by drowning
it ; and I should not have referred to the case did I not
feel it my duty to warn you that, whatever circumstances
of compassion or other circumstances come before you,
it will not be your duty to inquire into them. Neither
will it be your duty to ascertain whether she was of
sound mind at the time of the commission of the act.
All our butter feelings necessarily lead us to believe that
when an act of great wickedness is done by a person of
sound mind, or apparently of sound mind, who before
the commission of the offence manifested the greatest
attachment to a child, and that child her own offspring,
that the person must have been under the
influence of some aberration of mind to
deviate in so great a measure from her
ordinary conduct, tenderness towards the child. That
question, however, must only be a matter of supposition
and hope to you, for it will not be your duty to inquire
ieto it, If it shall appear, therefore, that this young
person occasioned the death of the child by drowning, it
will be your imperative and bounden duty to place the
case in a course of further inquiry, and to leave the ques-
tion of her sanity to those whose duty it will be to inquire
whether she was in possession of all her faculties. There
are two cases cf a nameless offence on the calendar, and
it would be useless for the Court to go into the particu-
lars of these charges. They are supported en the evi-
dence of persons who made the discovery, under circum-
stances which render them almost eye-witnesses. A
charge of misdemeanour almost amounting to a similer
offence, and a charge of carnally knowing a girl under
ten years of age, I dismiss to you with the like remark,
as the evidence will render it your duty to send the cases
for further inquiry. You may possibly feel some little—
I was about to say astonishment, but that is too strong a
word—you may feel some surprise that in cases of such
moment the Court does not dwell on the particulars, but
it is far from the intention of the Court to anticipate the
final determination of these cases. There is also another
reason for my not troubling you—viz., that these cases
present no legal difficulty or any peculiar point of law
for your consideration. Gentlemen, there is anokl er
case a little out of the ordinary way ; and there is a
case of demanding money with menaces. In these
cases, generally speaking, there is a degree of mystery