The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-06-26 00:00:00

TRIAL OF GOULD.

Shortly after the trial of Oxford had been postponed,
Richard Gould was placed at the bar, charged with break-
ing and entering the dwelling-house of the late unfortunate
Mr. Templeman, in Pocock's-fields, Islington, and stealing
therefrom a sum of money, his property. The prisoner
walked with a firm step to the bar, and respectfully bowed to
the court. He maintains the same nerve and firmness which
he has so remarkably exhibited on all former inquiries. He
pleaded in a firm tone of voice Not Guilty.
Mr. Bodkin and Mr. Ballantine conduct the prosecution.
The prisoner has no counsel.
• Mr. Bodkin, at considerable length, detailed the facts of
the case to the jury ; but as there is no circumstance con-
nected with the inquiry with which the public is not fully
acquainted, we consider it unnecessary to give a detailed re-
port of the trial, particularly so as the result is the only
point of importance; and it is not likely, as there are 26
witnesses in attendance, that the verdict will be returned un-
til a very late hour.

THE VERDICT.

At half-past five this afternoon, after the learned Judge
had charged the jury, commenting upon the evidence as he
proceeded, and pointing out to their particular attention those
parts which most immediately bore upon the guilt or inno-
cence of Gould, the gentlemen of the jury retired to consider
their verdict, and returned at six o'clock, when they pro-
nounced the prisoner Guilty.
The Judge immediately passed upon him the sentence of
—Transportation for Life.

CONDUCT OF COURVOISIER IN NEWGATE BE-
FORE AND SINCE HIS TRIAL, AND ATTEMPT
TO DESTROY HIMSELF.

(From the Morning Herald of Tuesday)
Now that the jury have recorded their verdict against
Courvoisier, we are enabled to lay before our readers some
additional particulars which may be relied upon for their ac-
curacy. At the conclusion of Thursday's proceedings, when
he was removed from the felon's dock to the cell, he dis-
played the same firmness and outward appearance of inno-
cence that he had done from the first day he was incarcerated
in Newgate. When addressed by any of the civic authori-
ties he evinced a readiness to enter into conversation with
them, and on their quitting him he sat down composedly,
and perused a French Testament which he has all along had
in his possession. There was no frivolity in his conduct, but
it was marked with that degree of fortitude which rarely
supports the most guilty prisoner. On Thursday night he
slept soundly, and did not wake until aroused by the turnkey
in attendance—one or other of the officers having been al-
ways in his cell since his committal—he then partook of some
refreshment, and was brought into the press-yard, with other
prisoners, for the purpose of being identified by Madame
Piolaine. On Friday evening, after the close of the day's
proceedings, Courvoisier betrayed great nervousness, and
when spoken to by the sheriffs, or governor of Newgate, he
shewed much reserve. Up to the time of his going to bed he
seemed absorbed in thought, and appeared to be struggling
with his feelings as to whether he should confess his guilt.
He applied himself, as usual, to his Testament, and slept
but little throughout the night, and the next morning he
made his confession.
On being taken to the condemned cell, on Saturday night,
after the jury had delivered their verdict, the culprit ap-
peared to be sullen and reserved, and he endeavoured to
choke himself by cramming a towel down his throat ; but his
object was happily frustrated by the vigilance of the officer
in whose charge he remained. Before Courvoisier's convic-
tion a French gentleman frequently visited him and adminis-
tered to his spiritual comfort ; but since then the culprit has
directed that his visits should be discontinued, alleging that
he had made up his mind, and is quite prepared to die. The
Rev. W. Carver, the chaplain of the prison, continues, how-
ever, unremitting in his attentions to the misguided man.
After attending the prison chapel on Sunday, Courvoisier
appeared to be less nervous than previously, and he passed
the night in a profound sleep. Yesterday it was understood
he made full confession of the atrocious crime of which he
has been found guilty, to the governor of Newgate, and the
statement has been reduced to writing, and signed by the
prisoner ; but the authorities object at present to its publi-
cation. In addition to what has already appeared, the pri-

sorter says he was dressed when he committed the deed,; that
he turned up the sleeves of his coat before using the knife ;
and that all the movement which the ill-fated nobleman
made upon the fatal wound being inflicted was a slight trem-
bling of the right hand. He stuffed the napkin in the wound
to prevent the blood from spirting over him, and then went
down into the kitchen and cleaned the knife. He did not
return to see if his lordship was dead, but went up stairs,
and, having taken off his coat, threw himself upon his bed.
It will be remembered that Courvoisier was first seen by the
servant, Mancer, dressed all but his coat, and some doubt
has all along existed whether he had lain inside the bed.
In the course of yesterday and Sunday the criminal repeat-
edly expressed a wish that his fellow-servants might be ex-
culpated from the slightest blame, and lie declares that the
whole of their statements against them were founded in truth.
There is one remarkable fact connected with the trial of the
prisoner, and if the mistake had not been corrected, in all
probability the ends of justice would have been defeated. The
Lord Chief Justice, it appears, fixed Wednesday as the day
on which the prisoner was to be tried, but his lordship after-
wards found that that was the last day of term, and, in con-
sequence of the judges being unable to attend, the trial was
postponed until Thursday. Now, if this had not been the
case, as one of the authorities observed to the reporter, the
.additional evidence of Madame Piolaine would not have been
forthcoming, as Courvoisier was only identified by her on
Friday morning, and inasmuch as the trial would have been
shortened, it is extremely doubtful if, on Thursday evening,
it would not have ended in a verdict favourable to the mur-
derer.

The criminal has a father and mother living in Switzerland,
and he also has a sister residing in Paris. No com►nunica-
tions have, it is said, passed between them since his confine-
ment in Newgate ; but, subsequent to his conviction, he has
expressed a strong desire to see his uncle, who is in the ser-
vice of Sir George Beaumont. A message, the reporter un-
derstood, had been conveyed to Courvoisier's uncle, who
declined to accede to the request of the former.
The unhappy man appears in former life to have received
a religious instruction, and in conversation shows that he is
tolerably well acquainted with the Holy Scriptures.
The sheriffs have fixed Monday, the 6th of next month, for
the execution of Courvoisier ; and upon the same day the
next sittings of the Criminal Court will commence.

From the confession of Courvoisier it would appear that
his scheme of plundering the property of his master was most
deeply laid. It will be recollected that Mrs. Piolaine in her
evidence stated the parcel containing the plate, &c., was
brought to her house by Courvoisier on a Sunday evening,
which is supposed to have been the evening of the Sunday
previous to the murder, and on the Tuesday following, on the
night of which the murder was committed, it appears from
the evidence adduced on the trial that John Harris. an up-
holsterer, Henry Lovett, a bell-hanger, and John Winter, a
plumber, with other workmen, were on that day engaged in
the house, and even in his lordship's bed-room in executing
repairs, so that it is evident from CourvOisier choosing that
night for the secretal of the remainder of the property, it was
his intention, had not his perfidy been so unexpectedly dis-
covered by his lordship, to remove all suspicion from his
shoulders, and affix it on that of the workmen.
It has not appeared in the course of the evidence on the
trial, that during the taking of the depositions of the ser-
vants, a day or two after the dreadful event, while taking
that of Courvoisier, on Inspector Jarvis asking him where
was the plate which had on the previous evening been used
at his lordship's dinner, he replied that on going to bed lie
had left it in the pantry, and that it was all stolen, whereas
it had then for some days been left at the Hotel du Port de
Dieppe, and he had been using the plate from the reserve
drawers in his bed-room, and had replaced it at night to pre-
vent detection.

(From the TiTes of Wednesday.)

A circumstance has just been communicated to us which,
were it not for the confidence we have every reason to place
in our informant, we should consider wholly incredible. He
assures us, upon authority which in this case is unquestiona-
ble, that the miscreant who is now in Newgate under sentence
of death for the murder of Lord William Russell has con-
fessed that he is also guilty of the murder of Eliza Grimwood,
an unfortunate woman, who, as it will be remembered, was
found about two years since in a house in the Waterloo-road.
under circumstances which left no doubt that a murder had
been committed, although the utmost ingenuity of the police
could never discover a clue by which the criminal could be
traced.

It appeared at the time, from what meagre evidence could
be procured, that the crime had probably been committed by
a foreigner ; but the absence of any apparent motive, or of
any article of property by which the murderer could be iden-
tified, rendered it, as in the late melancholy occasion, im-
possible until now to connect any person with the crime.
We give this information as we have heard it ; but we are
further informed that.means have been taken to prevent this
confession from being made known to the public, and that
the most strict injunctions have been laid on all persons ad-
mitted to the prisoner to preserve the most scrupulous silence
upon the subject.
Now, what, in Heaven's name, can be the motive for this
secrecy? Why should not every circumstance connected
with the case be sifted to the utmost, and the statements of
the prisoner be compared, while he is yet alive, with those of
the witnesses examined at the inquest? Surely it cannot be
the duty of any public functionary to impede the course of
justice ; but that seems to be the inevitable result of the pre-
sent proceedings. We have as yet no proof that there was
not some other party implicated in this horrible crime, and
the public have a right to know that all means have been
adopted to secure the ends of justice, and that no criminal is
allowed to escape from any overstrained regard to the feel-
ings of the prisoner. A very general impression prevails that
in the confession of his last crime Courvoisier has not truly
represented the circumstances which preceded the murder ;
and it is but just that his account of this former murder
should be closely examined, and that the absence of an ac-
complice should clearly appear.
It has been suggested that the sheriffs, in the course they
have adopted, have been influenced only by a desire to avoid
the excitement in the public mind which might lead to a con-
fusion on the day of execution, but we can scarcely believe
them to be so unfit for the duties of their office as to be ac-
tuated by such a motive. The assemblage will, under any
circumstances, comprise all the amateurs of such awful ex-
hibitions, but with the present police force and proper pre-
cautions no danger need be anticipated.

(From the Morning Herald of Wednesday.)
On Tuesday morning a female, who stated herself to be
related to the unhappy man, and two youths, who were re-
presented to be his cousins, applied 'to Newgate for permis-
sion to see the culprit, but upon the fact of the application
being made known to the sheriffs, those gentlemen refused
the applicants an order of admission.
On Monday night the prisoner slept well, and his appetite
has not fallen off since his conviction. His diet consists of
the usual prison allowance, and the room in which he is
placed is the same one occupied by Greenacre from the time
that intervened between his conviction and execution. The
towel with which Courvoisier endeavoured to suffocate him-
self was allowed him to wash with, and since the extraordi-
nary attempt he has been very narrowly watched by the
gaolers who attend him.
During Tuesday, and yesterday, the sheriffs received a
number of applications from clergymen residing in the me-
tropolis to see the criminal, and administer spiritual instruc-
tion to him, but their services were not accepted, as Cour-
voisier has recently expressed his entire satisfaction with the
chaplain's exertions, and has stated his desire not to be
attended by any other reverend divine. The wretched cul-
prit has a number of religious works for his use, but he
confines his reading to a French Testament, and yesterday
and Monday he was engaged the greater part of the day in
fervent prayer, and appears to feel the enormity of the offence
which he has committed. He does not entertain the slightest
hope of a reprieve, and in his confession it is said he acknow-
ledges the justice of his sentence ; but the particulars of the
official document will not be allowed to transpire until after
he has expiated his crime upon the scaffold.
In the confession made by Courvoisier to his counsel he de-
clared that he kneW nothing of the gloves and handkerchiefs
spotted with blood that were produced at his trial, and were
represented to havebeen found in his box, and he labours under
the impression that they were placed there by the police for
the purpose of obtaining a conviction. It was this declara-
tion on Courvoisier's part which he has throughout persevered
in that led to the severe cross-examination of Inspector
Pearce and the other members of the metropolitan police.
It is understood to be the intention of the sheriffs to cause a
rigid investigation to be made into this and other circum-
stances which for the present it is necessary should be
suppressed. It is a matter of surprise to those well acquainted
with matters of police that no inquiries were instituted at the
several foreign hotels and coffee-houses in London with
respect to Courvoisier, and that the carving4nife was not
submitted to the examination of some eminent professor for
the purpose of ascertaining whether the spot which it is said
was upon it, was rust or a stain .of blood. The prevailing
opinion of the city aldermen, with whom the reporter has
conversed, appears to be that this diabolical murder will lead
to the establishment of a detective police.
On Tuesday the Old Court and the avenues leading to it
presented a very different appearance from the previous day,
and the order usually observed was quite restored. The extra
seats that have been put up, the sheriffs intend should re-
main until after the trial of Oxford. Up to last evening the
uncle of Courvoisier, whom the latter had a strong desire to
see, had not visited-him.

(From the Times of Yesterday.)
With reference to the statement which we published yes-
terday respecting Courvoisier, and which proves to be incor-
rect, we can only say that we had our information from a
source on which we were disposed to place full reliance. The
report that Courvoisier had confessed to the murder of Eliza
Grimwood was generally circulated through town on Monday
and Tuesday last; and it was the subject of conversation in
almost every place of public resort. It appears, however,
that. our informant was deceived by a person from whom he
received the statement communicated to us ; and from in-
quiries we have since caused to be made, we have every rea-
son to believe that we were in error, in stating that the con-
fession of a second murder was made by Courvoisier. The
mistake probably arose in consequence of Courvoisier having
made a second confession respecting the murder of Lord
William Russell. • - •