Star.
London, England, 1818-08-13 00:00:00

. .
Proultinr ',roe lilt tie primpier. itA land
Iw. *wit% 1-isi in shomitakm. g. Wittiels.repe tredlv
heard .the pre,eutrriz wish for her sisser s Ore pri d=
4.tlees)' death, aMihig, on such occasions, that . she
wanted her money. he remembered her saying •+n,
one particular occa.ion; " wish she was dead, for
then I woul have the money, and my hush Ind and
me could get iato business on our arra account."—'
Alma • three weeks after the marriage of ila iet I
Hampton; she complained to witness, that the priso-
ner demanded Ms. a week from her hus!sand for the
time his wife had lived with her before she knew
him ; and she aided, " I'm afraid she'll get the
amount from the trustee, Mr4midt, who i s her friend."
Mr. Walton, of Kingstan; proved that he was a
trustee under the will now produced, by which £5OO
Was bequeathed to the prisoner, her brother, and
sister. with the benefit of survivorship. The mar,
tied sister was not yet of age.
Mr. Justice Assort. charged tho Jury. He said,
that the consideration to which their attention was
amw-called, presented, in whatever way -it coald be
viewed, one of the most melancholy 'instances of
human depravity which the mind could well conceive.
If they believed the witness for the prosecution, they
muse convict the prisoner of the foul and horrible
crime of , the murder of her own new-born child; if,
they disbelieved her,- they must decide that one of,
the Iwo sisters had falsely and infamously conspired,
seeinst • the life of the other, in. the shocking expec-
tation of thereby coming a adroit time sooner to the.
possession of some small property, than she was
likely to do in the usual course of things. either•
alter-native the reflection was most revolting. Thy.
story, as related by the prisoner's sister, undoubtedly
went to ...hew that to herself had not trcted as she
ought, if her own statement were correct, for she
net only by her oivn coofession,•was present at the,
murder, buy had refrained from giving the slightest
alarm, and also concealed it fix the long period
which had intervened between the alleged commis-
sion-of the act, and the tune when she gave the in-'
formation. It was for the Jury to say whether, taking
all the circumstances of the story together, they mold
•ookarpon it as entitled to their credence. Nothing
was surely more improbable than to believe that a
woman in.a small house, like the prisoner's, with very
little room, at the moment occupied, and the thin
partition scscommunicating with theadjoininglouses,
that what passed in one was audible in the other—no-
thing, he repeated. could he more improbable, than
that a wotna t should. without making the smallest
noise, or expressing the slightest pain. so as to be
audible oirside her roam, have borne the generally
severe and acne pains of child-bearing. There was
not,f besides, the smallest evidence to shew that any
body had seen the prisoner in a s.ate of pregnancy
before occurrence was said to have taken place,
-and it was most u rlikely that an unmarried woman
could have evaded observation in such a state. 11
The body was burned is the manner described, how
had it happened that the very offensive effluvia arising
from such a process, had never attracted the notice
of any body in this small house.? • Taking the whole
statement together, it stood uncoitfirrned by the tes-
aimouy which might, were it true, be addaced iu i:s
support. The L.earated Judge concluded by °biers,.
int; to the Jury, that if :the prisoner had sadly coat-
matted the act id the manner described, nothing was.
moire unlikely than that she should hike. quarrelled.
I and almost immediately after the fact, with the per.
son whir bablancedher.life ia her hands.
The Jury, without any hesitaticar, returned a ver-
dict of—Not.Guilty. . .