Star.
London, England, 1801-10-31 00:00:00

OLD BAILEY.

Yegently 12 prifoners were tried, two of whom
were capitally conviacd, viz.
,• • MURDER •T CHELSE• HOSPITAL.
Y/MIM Lt for the murder of William Lamb
osiAbe ad of Oelobtr init. by fhootiug him through
the body at Chelfea Hofpital.
Mr. A ssor opened the pleadings on the part of
the profecution.
The ATTORNEY GENERAL opened the cafe for
the profecution, and in the courfe of a Ilion ad•
drefs detailed the farts ithilacmoft petfpicuons man •
ner. He avoided every thing which could hie
had a tendency to roufe the patrons of the Jury,
and while he Rated the farts, he (poke humanely
of the unfortunate fituation of the prifoner.
The firs winters called for the profecution was
John Fofter, who (wore—" I am a Petitioner in the
Hofpital at Chelfea. We are what are called Cap-
tains, but we are only Serjeants. I know the prifo-
ner at thebar ; I have known him many years, and
I knew the deceafed alfo. On the morning of the
2d of oFlober, I went into the apartment of the
prifoner and the deceafed ; they both ufed the
Common-room. They had different bed•chamberi..
There are four different bed•ehambersadjoiningthe

Common-room. As I ivas going dowit I
heard a noire. I flopped on the landing; I heard
. a piftol difcharged; at the diftance as I concluded,
. of to or 15 yards. I went into the room, and I
-law a dead man lying on his back, with blood run-
, ning down his fide. I flood in amazement. The
Prifoner at the bar came from his bed-chamber,
and (aid, " I have done it." I had not Paid any
thing to him before that time. He Paid twice over,
" I have done it." He came then from his bed-
chaff/I)er, and he bad in his hand a piftol, which
I took from him. I examined the piftol and it
was diftharged. Looking about the room, I law
broken pistol lying on a chef of drawers. Ano-
ther perfon of the name of Coates came into the
room. The Serjeant-Major, *Kenzie, came
and ordered the Prifoner into our cuttooly. The
broken piftol was then examined : there had been
force priming in it. I put in the ramrod ; I found
a ball in it. I took the ball out, and fome paper
on it, bat there was no powder in the piltol. The
Prifoner demanded the pistols which I had taken
from him; he Paid he had bought them, and he (aid
be wanted to lock them in his own room."
Mary Lamb fwore—" I am the widow of the
deceafed. On the ad of Ottober I got up in the
morning a little before feven; I had ftept with my
hufband the over night. I law the Prifoner at the
'Dar walking about the room, and I obferved that
be was (wearing, and apparently in a very ill tem-
per. He was in the Common-room. I taked him
what was the matter? He told me he would turn
me out of the room if I Paid another word. My
hatband was then in bed, ani afleep, as I thought.
I then looked round tofee if my hulband was fir-
ring, and it appeared that he was. The Prifoner
then milted upon him, and forced a pillol into his
hand : the deceafed laid, " What is this for!" and
threw the piaci away into the Common-room.—
My Whited was then dreffing himfelf. The Pri-
foner milted up towards the door of my hufband's
apartment, and fired at hint, and then looking at
me, raid, " I have done it." Upon which I cried
out, " Murder!" My hufband fell direftly, and
never (poke, but expired. I law the whole of it.
The Prifoner had been in the Hofpital four or five
years, I believe. GOD knows what ill-will there
was between him and the deceafed. The Prifoner
always appeared to me to be a folid man. I took
him to be a folid as potfible."
Charles Coates (wore, " I went into the room
of the deceafed the morning of his death. He lay
on his back, and was quite dead when I law him,
for he never moved either hand or foot. After I
had looked at the body, the Prifoner came to me
towards the bed-room, and began to fay fomething
of which I cannot repeat pofinvely the word., but
he faid " I am the man, or the perfon," or to that
etc& I afked him immediately why he thot the
man? and he Paid to me, to the effett I have (aid
—I underftood him, from his own words, " Oat
be had done it."—When I Paid, " Good Goo, you
have killed him; he is quite dead, how could you
do it i" he laid, " I gave him a piftol for him
to fight like a man, but he threw it down and I
fired." When he firft (poke, he was In little agi-
tated, that I could almost have thought he was
joking with me :'afterward he walked up and down
the room, and appeared much more agitated. He
Ibid a little more to the effeel I have already fated.
I heard him fay, " I arn fatisfied with it."
Mr. William Norton, the Surgeon of Chelfea
I-lofpital, fwore that he examined the body of the
defeated after his death, and obferved that a ball
had entered his left fide, and paired through one
of the vellels of the heart, which unqueftionably
occarioncd his death.

Being alked, what he thought, from his experi-
ence of the difpofition of the .Prifinier, was the
Rate of his mind at the time of this event? he laid
I never obferved any thing in the conduct of the
Priiiiner at the Bar, to induce me to believe he was
deranged—l never had the heath idea of it—l had
known him fur feveral years."
. . . . .

The Plower being ;aced what he had to fay in
his defence, laid My Lord, from repeated in-
tuits, I prepared a cafe of piflols, according to
what I had mentioned to him, which was merely
that I fliould be prepared at any time he chofe to
make an end of the quarrel between us, which seas
to he on the 2d of Oftuber; on which morning he
in a tyrannical manner, came out. i told him I
was prepared with a cafe of piflols, and I would
give hint a choice of the two, and retire to the
other end of the room. I (hewed him the piaols,
handed them to him :—fays I to him 4t take your
choice of the two;" on %% Lich he violently foatched
it from my hand unfairly ; on which I cocked the
piflol I held in my hand, and fired at him, and
thr t him. Had he done as a .4old;er Ihould have
done, taken the piltol faitly from me, and made
a proper agreement to retire to the other cod f,f
the room,and his proper dillance,then every thit,
would have been done in a proper manner, and
our difPute would have heat honourable• decided ;
►at he was a tyrannical man, and by h:., tut buizot

temper, and from his repeated intuits to me, he
made me hazard my life, in order to filence or to
moderate him."'

Mr. Juftice zAT H.—" Eave you any witnefres!"
Prifoner.—" Not one ; no other perron was pre-
fent but the deceafed's wife."
Mr. GURNEY concluded the Prifoner's D?fence,
which was fet up by the Prifoner's friends—that
the Prifoner was deranged. For this purpofe, a
Tobacconiff of the name of Jofeph Ryland, and a
Nurfe of the Hofpital, of the name of Ann Grant,
and her atlittant, Mary Ann Berkley, were exa
mined, and they faid they thought he was out of
his mind; but the instances they gave as rearms for
.beipg of that oy_inion, amounted to nothing.
Mr. Juftice Haa-rti ftated the cafe to the Jury,
and obferved that a clearer cafe could not ezift than
this againft the Prifoncr, unlefs it appeared that he
was actually infane at the time the a& was done,
that is, under fuch a derangement of mental facul-
ties as no longer to be confidered as a moral agent,
accountable, or capable ofbeing accountable toGOD
or man for any thing he did; whether he was or
was not fo, was the only question for the confidera-
tion of the Jury upon the evidence,for as to the fa&
and the death, they were beyond doubt, and they
were indeed avowed by the Prifoner himfell. Upon
the fubje& of infanity, die Learned Judge faid, the
proof ought to be quite clear before it could be re-
ceived as an claire, otherwife the moil enormout
crimes might be committed with impunity—how-
ever, when clearly proved, it was a complete ez•
cafe. The Jury would confider how this care Rood
in all the particulars of the evidence, which the
Learned Judge then recited accurately, and coin-
monted upon with great ability.
The Jury found the Prifoner
The RECORDER then proceeded to pars the aw-
ful fentence of death upon the prifoner in the.
difcharge of which he (aid he felt it to be themoft
'painful duty he had ever experienced, to fee an
old man who had rendered Cervices to his country
found guilty of the heinous crime of murder, and
whore grey hairs should have taught him wifdom,
prudence, and difcretion,and Caved him from the
miferable end which awaited him. He then faid,
" the Court doth order and adjudge that you
James Leg. be hanged on Monday until you are
dead, and afterwards your body be given to the
Sargeons to beldiffeeted and anatomized." The
Rzcocrisc was much affeeted while pronouncing
the fentence, which he concluded with " and the
Loan have mercy on your foul !" To which the
prifoner replied—" Amen !"
He was then taken from the bar.

The Prifoner throughout the whole trial behaved
with the titmoß calmnefs and compoinze, and on
rcc.iving.his fentence he difcovered no fymptoms
of agitation.—His appearance is extreme!, decent
and venerable; about 8o years of age.
The Court was crowded with ladies. whole cu.
riofity was excited to hear this trial and the fol-
lowing one.