Star.
London, England, 1819-10-30 00:00:00

into the house ; the other man went away ; *the' opened the door of the house be saw two puddles of
man's name was John Lawrence ; prisoner was jest-j blood, and the deceased lying on her back on the
lolls of him ; prisoner said he had caught her with !bed.. She was quite dead, and there was a great
him that night ; he said this when he went in doors ; quantity of coagulated blood on the right bide of the
.did not say at what time ; heard prisoner call Ms bed. She had no clothes on except her shift. He
wife a whore and say she had been along with this found the axe produced (a large one) in the room,
man ; she said he was a liar ; does not recollect any covered with blood on the back part.
thing else said by her ; they had a few words after The instrument was hen produced, and its exhi-
they came in, as said above ; prisoner then asked his bition excited feelings of horror. It was recognised
wife to go to bed ; she said yes ; they both went into by the boy to be the axe of his father.
the bed-room ; she went to bed, and he undressed Mr. William Bailey said he was a surgeon. Heirar
himself to go to bed to her ;• I was then in the next called upon to see the deceased. There was a deep
room ; there are two looms below, and one above ; wound on the back part of the head, another on ••
in one of)which slept prisoner and his wife, and in temple, and a third on the forehead. The wound.**
the other-the father-in-law and a little boy and little the head appeared ro have been infficted•by some
girl, brother and sister of prisoner's wife ; children blunt instrument ; the other wounds were effected
were in bed, and I was going to bed to them ; pri- apparently by a sharp instrument. The wound. on
soner came out, and sat himself down on the hed the back of the head occasioned a concussion of the
Iwhere .the children were ; he said to me, " are you brain, but the wound on the temple was evidently
going, to bed r. I said, " I believe I shall." I had another cause of the death, the skull being fractured
only heard one, blow ; lie then went back into the in two places, and the jaw being broken. Witness
room • where his wife was, and then returned to was of opinion that some sharp instrument must have
my room ; he•was undressed, and sat himself on the been used, as the wounds were more like stabs than
bed ' • Essejfe then said, " I'll get up ;" he went cuts. The blows, however, on the head, given, ash*
back-into the room, and I heard a blow ; I thought supposed, by the axe, would certainly occasion death.
it was his fist by the sound • I got up to go to the George Ruthven, the officer to sshom the prisoner
door, and the little boy in ;he same room with mo was delivered into custody at Sandwich, in kent,
hallof,ed murder I I went to the door, and the pri- stated, that on their road to town, the prisoner told
loner came oat with an axe in his hand, and said, if him, that some time previous to the 28th of Septem-
he cried murder again, he would murder him ; pri. ber, his wife went out for water and staid a long
soner then went back again ; be went Mick into his time, and he suspected she was with a man •in the
wife's bed-room, and ithem heard the woman cry cow-house. On the 28th he caught this man -and
out very faint ; I believe she said, " LORD have woman in the fact, in this same cow-house, and the
mercy upon me !" I thought! heard her halloo three man escaped from him. She said she was forced
times, according to my judgment ; prisoner then there by the man, and prisoner then told her if she
came into my room, and said, he had now done for would prosecute him he would forgive her, but she
her, and asked the little boy where his father's refused, and said she loved his little finger better than
money was bo said he did not know ; prisoner
his (her husband's) whole body. He told her to be
? y
then took a:chisel and broke open the father's box, hanged. Prisoner then described to him the cond.
nuance of the altercation after they went home, anti
and I saw him take out some money, and then asked
me for a pen, and wrote two notes on paper, which admitted his then having killed her with the axe ; he
Ire took out of the baker's hook; I was sitting in a added, that after the first blow, she either said, "Oh,
chair by the back door ; he brought the axe and held You knave !" or " Oh, you rogue !" he did not know
it up to me, and said, if we either of us spoke a word which.
This was the declaration made by prisoner;
we shoold be dead ; he said he would go out at the when he had him in custody.
back door, and listen whether he heard us speak ; Here the case for the prosecution was closed, and
I saw no more of him ; I gave the alarm over the the prisoner, when called upon for his defence, spoke
way, at Mr. Colson's, the Crooked Billet. as follows, in a very tremulous tone :
Cross-examined.—W itness is no relation to the
toutanioiecehtaa, pia:di of 'vita., and was gone along time; on her rt..
" On the Monday, tale day before, I saw my wife, who went,
deceased. They went out together about three
o'clock in the afternoon, but witness cannot say they wrron,g. Thte'smohwertnfseels;inleout,dksnbowe
winasg stienhad bteenddoing
petting her to be going to act improperly, I followed out,
to the
continued together till she saw them again, about
be andd on her
half-past seven. There was a cow-house near the
cow-house, near which I saw her
arnetdurn sb , when accused her of it, she said I might
with this John Lawrence;
—d,
spot, and, from the conversation which passed at the
oab she
of liked.
stile, witness collected enough to know that the pri- told her I wanted to w id do
buy a pairshoe,, (
anT thaskeedsanhere litodi ac-
soner c-
soner accused his wife of having caught her in the company me ; she refused, and went off by herself half an hour
cow-house, in the act of adultery, with Lawrence.— More.
she at first refused to
before. I sought her for some time, and at length met her near
The conversation was an angry one ; he pushed his
nolousieeidaetdo,taAdnsre
where
haferteershleefht
had been.
and wleen r came home she
go with me, but ultimately
wife into the house, and the altercation continued
some little time after they came in. He seemed much we had words all the time of tea. I ;old hweCaslvhearYd at,ulgtrYm'oannedy,
enrot.gh to get shoes and•she wanted me to go to Church-street,
agitated when he went to and from the bed-room.— coot
where she said I might get them ; I went ['Lenz and
Witness heard the deceased say she was dragged (01114 neither Arm ,

_.g.
into the cow-house ; and the Prisoner said, if she
would swear a rape against the man; he would for-
give her. To this she answered she would not do so.
Thomis Sole, the boy—l am twelve years old, and
brother of deceased ; was at home when she and pri-
soner came home ; I was in my own bed-room, acid
went to bed about a quarter of an hour after they
came home, my little Aster with me; last witness
was in the room ; my father had gone out on the
watch; they both went into their room, and both
came out into my room: he had said he was going
over to Newington to buy a pair of shoes ; they went
together, and were playing and kissing one another
before they went out; they had been married about
three year. ; I went to bed, and when they returned
I was asleep ; they were jangling and awoke me ;
they were then in my room, and so was Mrs. Surrey ;
they went to the back door, and said to her, don't
you go to make away with yourself; Mrs. Surrey re-1
plied, no, she wont go to make away with herself;
my sister then came in, and sat by the fire in my
room ; prisoner then said to her, are not you going
to bed? She said yes, and are not you coming to bed
and all? He said, yes, I am coming to bed directly.
She then went to bed, and he undressed himself; I
could see him undress himself, but he did not go into
bed; be came out again, and went looking all about
the room i was in, I believe looking for something;
he went to the cupboard under the stairs where the
axe was, I did not see him take it ; he came then
and sat down on my bed; I knew the are was in the
cupboard, because I saw my father put it there that
evening; I did not see it in his hand; my sister asked
if he was coming to bed? he said, I shall go to bed
to the children; then she said, I will get up ; he said,
no, don't get up, I will come to bed to you ; he thenl
went in and out of her room two or three times: he
came out and went in again, and I heard him hit her
very hard, and then he hit her again; I then got up
and hallooed out murder ; I saw him holding up'
the axe over his shoulder as if he was going to hit her
again ; he then came to me, and said," d--n you, you
young rascal, if you call out murder again, serve
you the same ;" he then came into the room **ere I
slept, and said, I have done for her; he said then
to Mrs. Surrey and me, if we offered to stir or
move, he would serve us the same: he then went into
the room where she was, and put his stockings,
breeches, and waistcoat on ; then came to me and
said, u Tom, where is your father's money?" I said,
eg For GOD'S sake, don't take father's money." He.
said, if I offered to stir or move, he would serve me
the same ; he went to a box in which father kept
hammers and nails, then took a chisel, and broke open
my father's box, and took out a pound note and
something else, but what it was, I could not see ; he
,then put on his jacket and boots, and went out at the
back door, and I saw no more of him ; as he was
'going, he said, he would stop there and listen who.
they we stirred, and would be the death of us if we
offered to stir or move ; I then went after Mrs. Sur-
rey, to a neighbour's house, and gave the alarm.
Prescott, the constable, then came to our house.
Cross-examined.—The prisoner is a bricklayer's
labourer. He had not been at work on the day in
question. It had rained all day. They were not
good friends at all in the bed-room, but he did not
hear Ms sister say any thing about loving another
man ; but he heard her say, " You slia'n't have the
money; 'tis my father's!" Witness heard no quarrel
about any other man. There was a dispute about
her pocket. When she desired the prisoner to come
to bed, they were quiet with each other.
Robert Prescott, a Ceostable.—When first

ter ;hop nor shies. On aty return, I found her
again tram home, and tried for her iu tht coach-yard, where she
sometimes \sent to the men, hat she was not there." Ile then
proceeded to state, that seeing some cow-dung alKott. he went
towards the cow-husel, listened at the door, and heard voicrs
within ; he opened the door, went in, and saw her lying with a
man; af.cr some expostulatior she prayed forgiveness, and ap-
pealed to the man,who acknowledged he bad carried her into the
cow-house an has arms by force : he promised forgiveness if she
would swear the rape against him ; on hearing which the man
went away ; he and his wife came up to him at a short distance ;
he seised the man, axd repeated the promise : she said she
would not, for she loved that man's little finger better than her
husband's whole body; the man went and got some drink, but
prisoner would neither take any of it, nor It his wife; they
had very angry words, and he threatened to have the man up
next day. Prisoner and his wife quarrelled a good deal ; she
used bad words, and be desired she would not repeat them ; she
did, and he struck; she threatened to have him taken up, and he
should rot in jail, for striking ; he was enraged at this, and
seized the axe, which was standing by, and struck her. Ile ac-
knowledged having struck her twice or thrice. After having
done so, he drew her head towards him, and kissed her, saying
—4, You were once my comfort ; I have now been your death, and'
'you, my dear, will be the death of me." He admitted his hav-
ing taking the pound from his father-in-law's box, and threatened
those in the house not to stir. His only defence rested on the
gmet provocation be had received from a woman whom he ten-
derly loved.
A number of witnesses were then called, who gave
the prisoner an excellent character for humanity, and
a benevolent heart.
Mr. Baron Woor, summed up the evidence at
great length to the Jury. The only question for their
consideration was, whether the prisoner was the per-
son who inflicted the blows, and if the blows were
the cause of death ? If they believed this, the case
amounted to murder. Had the prisoner committed
the act of which he stood charged, at the moment
he caught another man in adultery with his wife,
then the law had humanely provided a palliation for'
his crime ; but here the act was deliberately cora-
'mined at a subsequent period, when the passions had
time to cool, and therefore the prisoner had disen-
titled himself to the benefit he might otherwise have
had in the eye of the law. The law made every pos-
sible allowance for a husband who detected his wife
in such a situation, for it held him not to be master
of himself—not to be under the guidance of reason
when lit saw the crime, or "fiagrante delido" as it
was termed. He was afraid, they, therefore, had no
other choice than to pronounce him guilty, for the
circumstances attending it sheaved it was a deliberate
act.—The Jury, after consulting five minutes, re-
turned a verdict of—Guilty.
The REcoanza then proceeded to pass the awful
sentence of death, and ordered the prisoner to be exe-
cuted on Monday morning, and his body to be dis-
sected. The unfortunate man heard his sentence with
great attention and composure.
Thomas Loft, baker, was next indicted for the mur-
der of Ann Jackson, in the parish of St. Martiu's-in-
the Fields, on the Ist instant.
Mr. ALLEY, in addressing the Jury, stated that the
facts of this case were quite differeat from the former
one, and it was his duty to state to them, that the
Grand Jury had thrown out the bill for murder, and
had not even returned ore for manslaughter. The
prisoner was, t h erefore, now arraigned tan the Coroner's
Inquest; but he doubted he bad no further evidenceto
offer to them, than what /tau been laid before the Co-
roner, and which he did not hick would prove satis •
factory.
Mr. Justice PArtic inqUiied, whether he was to on-
derstand, that in addition to the dying declaration of
the girl to her master, relative to her falling from a
table, and the knife thus running into her, th.lt the
Learned Counsel had no evidence to offer except what
appeared in the depositions icfore the Coroner?
Mr. 41/,,LEI replied, that there was no new evidence,