Star.
London, England, 1824-01-07 00:00:00

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' winding up their courage and resolution to do. some
desperate deed. Nest, as to the cloaths bf' Hunt,
which were said to be those of the deceased man,
and to have been given to him, is appeared that;
Hunt washequehtly in the habit of wearing his andltix:
brother's wearing apparel; and further; as to the property
found in his apartment at his brother's house, how were
they found concealed or locked up ? No, they were in
open closets, or open drawers,free of access to every one ;.
and where any of the family or servants of the house
might see them continually. Nest, as to the blood upoti
' his (the prisoner's) shirt collar, that it was provedi was
an appearance which might be accounted for without
difficulty. Hunt had been introduced to him (the pri-'
sorter) by Probert, for what purpose they themselves
best knew ; but he was inclined to think; it was in pur-
suance of some plan of their own ; and there were
many parts of Mts. Prol?gert's evidence which, when
compared with that of Probert, would go to strengthen
that suspicion. The prisoner next pi oceeded to call the
attention of the Jury to various parts of the evidence'
as given by the dilfgrerit witnesses before the Coroner'
and to point out the contradictions which were obvious
as he contended, on the face of the several depositions,
and the still greater variance which would he found
between the depositions swimn before the Magistrates
and the Coroner, and those now made before his Lord-

ship and the present Jury, and to urge that there was
not sufficient proof on which to justify the Jury
finding a verdict of Guilty against him. He con-
tended that . here was nothing but circumstantial'
evidence ; lie was aware it- would be said that:cir-
cumstantial evidence was all which could be ob-
tained in cases of murder. It certainly was so in many
cases, but it should also be recollected that circumstan-
tial evidence of the strongest description had fiequently
led Juries to come to a wrong decision as to the gilt
of the parties accused. The cases of Calas, of the fa-
ther convicted of murdering his own child, and of the
servant who had also been convicted and executed fur
the murder of her master. There was also a case
mentioned in Lord Hale.; works, of a man being-
executed for the murder of_another, in which case the
circumstantial evidence fell little short of fact. The
accused was hanged for the murder; but in about 'a
year atter, the supposdd murdered man appeared aliaLe,
and in good health. It then, ion investigation, ap.
peared that the missing Man bad been sent out of the
kingdom, by the man afterwards hanged for his supposed
murder, who had caused him to be taken out of the.way
to forward and promote his claims on certain property.
There was no doubt that the man guilty of this out-

rage on the person of another deserved punishment.
Still, however, the man suffered for an offence of which
he ha,.i not been guilty. He would 'also take.the'.
liberty of detailing another case, in which a man, wa!
executed on the charge of having murdered, a child;]
and afterwards reduced the corpse to ashes in an
oven. _ The ashes were found, as were the clothes of
the supposed murdered child, and on this 'and other
strong circumstantial evidence,' the supposed mur-
derer was found guilty and hanged. The supposed
murdered child was soon after found alive and
uninjured; The prisoner then proceeded to read
from the PePry Anecdate.g of Justice, similar anecdotes
calcolated to spew how flequently erroneous latemeats
were drawn from circumstantial evidence, where such
alone was to be taken as the evidence on which to. find
a verdict ; amongst other cases, he cited those of Cole
man, Shaw, Jennings, the case Welted ,by Sir James
Dyer, and others, and the opinion of Voltaire as to the
frequent sacrifice of innocent victims- at the shrine of
circumstantial evidence; and having thus,brought these
cases under
.the consideration of the Jury, was he net
justified in calling on.them to consider that,notwithstand-
ing all the circumstantial evidence which had nowbeen
brought against him, unless thoie circumstances were
corroborated by positive testimony, and that, even if
there should be sufficient evidence to excite doubt, these
doubts should be given to the advantage of the prisoner?
Oa the breath of the Jury his existence now depended,
as, in cases like his, no mercy could be extended to
those charget and (let:fared guilty of such crimes as
that intpoted to him. Ile solicited mercy not so much
for hi ol,e:f as 1,1- his family, a family highly respectable
and happy within themselves, until this heavy calamity
fell upon them, in his person ; but should a verdict cif
guilty he passed against him, that respectability which
had never yet been tainted, and that happiness, which
was exemplary, would 'both fall together. It was nut •
for him,elt he pleaded; he felt that he was innocent,
and, conscious of that fact, he was prepared to meet his
fate, he that fate what it might. He was innocent, and
would s tfely say with the Apostle, when questioned
• as to his feelings by any of his friends: " Would that
these were even as I am, except as regards these bonds."
should now leave his fate confidently in' their
hands, " only entreating you, Gentlemen," he observed,
to bear this, my last 'solemn declaration in your minds
—I am innocent, so help me GOD ! !".
SECOND EXPRtSS.
HERTFORD, HALF-PAST TWO O'CLOCK.
The parts of Thurtell's speech which had been
com-
posed by himself, or were at least committed by him to
memory, were delivered in a very distinct, audible, and
iinpressive manner, and with but a slight taint of
provincialism in his accents. When le spoke of
bis parents, and the excellent lessons they had in-
stilled into him; and when again he alluded to the
possibility of_ his butchering, in cold blood, the help-
less prisoner who had fallen into his hands, after
Vic htiat of the battle was over, •he evinced a
considerable degree of emotion, so much so, that in
the abrmer instance he was unable to proceed for a
few moments. His acknowledgments to the High