The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-04-30 00:00:00

Nun Low bitiaiit hettrpoo fly v frtrfly WAWA: ja
gam, 1i477 the prlgner h the prlont, gearehed the
house, 4ri a leather Rape, in the back. bechrown, I found two
small powder flasks with powder in them, a tin box full of
percussion caps, a bullet mould, and two papers of bullets.
In a drawer I found this phial. (Witness produced an ounce
phial, which was about one-third full of a dark-coloured
liquid, which was pronounced to be laudanum.) Iris labelled
laudanum. I returned to the parlour. He said Mr. Roberts
or Mr. Robertson, I am not sure which, is all to' blame for
this. He further said, "If we had all four gone to the ceme-
tery it would have been all right." He spoke on his way to
Bridewell of his wife. He said, "My wife has been a good
wife to me." And "My two poor boys !" Witness pro-
duced a boy's night cap. which was crimsoned with fresh
blood. He had found it in the bed-room. A large hole had
been burned in it near where the crown of the head would go.
This it is supposed has been done by the wadding of the
pistol, and it is presumed that it accounted for the smell of
burning which the boy, George Jenner, perceived when he
got out of bed.
Jonathan Andres, inspector of police, sworn. I went to
Mr. Jenner's house, at twenty minutes to seven o'clock.
Hartley was with the prisoner, and his son George was pre-
sent. He asked his father, why he shot his mother and bro-
ther. He (the prisoner) appeared greatly distressed, and
said, " We should all have come to poverty." The boy said,
" Yes, and you intended to have shot me too." He replied,
" Yes, George." I asked him, what could have caused him
to commit such a rash act? 1 did not caution him. He an-
swered, that he had been unfortunate in business, and had
been labouring under insanity for a length of time. He asked
the boy, if he had not been a good father up to that time ?
He said, " I have s good wife and a good family." He called
about a Mr. Roberts, saying, " Oh, Mr. Roberts, Mr.
Roberts! what have you done for my wife and family-?" I
was-with Inspector Smith when he found the powder-flasks
and balls in a leather case, in the back bed-room, under the
bed where the prisoner slept.
Mr. Parkinson, the governor of the Bridewell, sworn. I
saw the prisoner in Bridewell about half-past nine o'cl...ick
this morning. I went to see him. I told him, that while he
was under my care, whatever he wished should be done for
him. lie thanked me, arid said he wished particularly to
know how his wife and child got on ?
[Here the prisoner appeared to sink forward on the chair,
and a moan of great anguish burst from him. His son
George, who bad at first been taken by Mr. Rushton's direc-
tions into a private room, but who bad for some reason re-
turned to the court, sunk in his seat also, and was led away
weeping bitterly. Many of the spectators were greatly affected
at this and many of the distressing incidents which were de-
veloped during the examination.]
Mr. Parkinson (in continuation.)—l said I would send to
inquire immediately. He walked across his cell two or three
times, and then said he had shot one child ; lie knew it was
dead before he left home. He wished to know how his wife
was. He spoke a good deal about how hardly he had been
used. He said the world had frowned upon him lately, and
his friends had neglected him, and much more to the same
purport.
Mr. Richard Ackerley, surgeon, Greit Homer-street,
sworn.—l was sent for this morning, about a gine t,r to
seven o'clock. to go to the house of Mr. Jenner, in Portland-
place. I went there, and was directed first to the kitchen.
I found Mi-s. Jenner sitting in a chair, supported by a police-
officer. Sue was bleeding from the right side of her head ;
but, from the quantity of hair, I could not see the wound.
On examination, I found an opening in the back part of her
head, throlpei which a ball had entered. A portion of the
bone, about the size of the ball, was depressed. It was on
the dura mater. That portion of the bone has been removed,
but the ball still remains in the brain. 1 went up stairs, and
found the boy also sitting in a chair, supported by a police-
officer. He appeared quite insensible, and was bleeding from
two wounds, one at the right side of his head, at the back,
and the other at the front on the left side of his head. Both
these wounds had been occasioned by the same ball, which
had passed through. He was insensible, and breathing
heavily. He died in two or three hours. When I saw Mr.
Jenner, I said to him, " Mr. Jenner, this is a very lamenta-
ble circumstance." He said, " Yes—my poor wife! She
has been the best wife in the world to me." He said, " You
know, Mr. Ackerly, I am a deranged man : you have been
here before." I said, " I have; but I never expected to see
you under such circumstances as the present." I had been
called in to him on the 4th September last, when it was said
that he had taken poison. His son said he had seen him
swallow it. I could not say, in point of fact, that he had
taken poison. A phial of prussic acid was found in his pos-
session, and two ounce phials of laudanum. The room
smelled strongly of prussic acid. I gave him an emetic, but
I could not find any smell of prussic acid in what he dis-
charged, because of the strong smell of prussic acid in the
room. I tried some of the prussic acid which I found in his
possession on a cat, and it destroyed it almost immediately.
An empty phial which had contained prussic acid was found
in the room.
By Mr. Rushton.—Suppposing a phial of prussic acid like
that found to have been taken, it would have produced death
in about two minutes. The prisoner was not altogether
coherent this morning.
Mr. Thomas Blisset, gunmaker, 8, South Castle-street,
sworn. I sold the four double-barrelled pistols produced to
the prisoner all at the same time, on the sth of March last.
I sold him the pistols, a bullet-mould, two powder-flasks
filled with powder, a box of caps for each pan, and thirty
balls. He first called, and said he had received an order from
America, where he had been. He appeared to be reading
the order from a letter. He said he was to send out two pair
of double-barrelled pistols if they could be procured for five
pounds. I told him he could not have two pair of double-
barrelled holster pistols for that sum, but he might have two
brace of good double-barrelled pocket pistols for six pounds.
lie said they were for a friend in America, and as he knew
what would suit for that country, having been there, he
would not mind, if the pistols appeared likely to answer, ad-
vancing the additional pound. 1 shewed him the pistols, and
he agreed to purchase those which have been produced. He
said he would call again in an hour. He called in an hour,
and he brought with him the leather case which has been al-
' luded to. He said he did not understand the construction
of the pistols, and requested me to load them for him. It
appeared, from the further testimony of Mr. Blisset, and
subsequently that of his man, that the pistols were sold load-
ed, and that the prisoner had again called on Friday ; but he
expressing some fears that the pistols might have received
injury by being so long loaded, got Mr. Blisset's man to dis-
charge all, and re-load one pair. He called on Saturday, and
ordered some more bullets, and on Monday he called and
got these bullets. He told Mr. Blisset and his man that he
wished to have the pistols ready by Tuesday, for he was go-
ing to Manchester. where he should pack these, with other
goods, to send to America.
Mr. Ackerley stated, in addition to his former testimony,
that the depressed pieces of skull had been removed, and
that Mrs. Jenner bore the operation well ; but she was in
extreme danger. When he was called in to the prisoner, at
the time when he was stated to have taken prussic acid, Mr.
Banning, who attended with him, wished to have him con-
fined in a lunatic asylum, but Mrs. Jenner would not consent.
Mr. Rushton called the prisoner by name, and he stood
up with an appearance of firmness and composure. -In reply
to Mr. Ruiliton's question as to whether he had anything to
say, he said, after speaking a few words to his attorney,
" nothing at present." He signed his name at the foot of
the depositions with great readiness.
The witnesses were bound over to appear at the next as-
sizes, in recognisances of £lOO each, and the prisoner was
committed for trial.