The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1877-11-09
A Remarkable Crime.

Late London papers give the details
OF one of the most notable murder trials
recorded in the annals of crime. The
charge against the prisoners was that
they had committed murder not by poi
son or violence, or any of the ordinary
appliances of crime, but by neglect; in
other words, that they had conspired TO
put their victim TO death simply bv
Withholding the nccessarics of life. The
trial of the casc-which was known as
''thc Pengc casc'-consumcd seven
days, and excited attention throughout
the Kingdom; the presiding Judge took
up eleven hours in his summary of the
evidence and charge to the Jury: and
the verdict of "guilty," followed immc-
diatcly by a sentence of death. is gener-
ally applauded by the papers as ncces-
sary and just
The prisoners were four in number.
and included two brothers, Louis and
Patrick Staunton and Alice Rhodes.
The victim of their crime was Mrs.
Louis Staunton, wife of the prisoner
first named. She was woman ofabout
thirty-siX years, and eleven wears the
senior of her husband. She was not al
together of sound mind, and her moth
or sought on this ground, but in vain.
the interposition of the court of chan
Gerry to prevent the marriage. She had
fortune of about 1000, of which
$4,000 was in possession, and the bal
ance was rcversionary interest depend
ent on the death of relative. She was
married in June, 1915, and there being
no marriage settlement, her husband.
who had nothing of his own, became
| nnocpecnI Of la
went to live at Brixton, and near them
resided the husbands brother, Patrick
Staunton, an artist, and his wife. In
March, 1876, Mrs. Louis Staunton was
delivered of n son, and the physicians
who attended her described her as q
"healthy, well-nourished woman,
weighing between one hundred and
twenty-five and one hundred and forty
pounds" About this time Alice Rhodes
sister of Mrs. Patrick Staunton, began
visit at the house of Louis, and i'm
proper relations existed between the
two. Mrs. Louis Staunton was. in con-
sequence, made very unhappy.
Soon after, Patrick Staunton and his
wife took small house at Cudham, and
Mrs. Louis Stnunton went there osten-
sibly TO make visit. After that she
was never seen, except by her immcdi-
ate relatives, until the day before her
death, on the 18th of April last. Her
existence in the house was concealed
from people i'll the nelghborhood, and
her husband, Louis, was in the mean
time living at Little Graves in company
with Alice Rhodes, who passed as his
wife. On the 18th of April Mrs. Louis
Staunton was removed to Pcngc and q
doctor sent to attend her. She died the
next day, but her relatives told the ply
sician such plausible story that he
gave the customary certificate of death,
and it was only by chance that suspicion
was aroused and interment forbidden.
The inquest brought to light the fact
that the woman had been deliberately
starved to death. She was found to
weigh only seventy-livc pounds, and
there was not found anywhere in the
body a particle of fat. Moreover the
corpse was i'll a condition so filthy as to
indicate that for months previously the
poor woman had not been allowed to
wash herself, or even to change her lin
EN-. About week before the woman
had died her baby was taken from her
to die in hospital, within twenty-four
hours after his removal, of inanition.
AT the trial, the purpose of the prose
cution was to prove that there was de-
liberate intention on the part of the
Staunton brothers, Mrs. Patrick Staun-
ton and Alice Rhodes to put Mrs. Louis
Staunton out of their way, and that they
accomplished their object by starvation
They made their plans with such cum
ming calculation that they were able to
get her to Penge just in time to avoid
having her die on their hands at Cud.
ham, where an inquest would have been
inevitable. 1t was evidently plot Oh
the part of Louis, assisted by the others
to get rid of a wife whose money he
had secured, and who had become an
incumbrance. All ofthe prisoners were
shown to have treated the murdered wo.
man with systematic cruelty; and the
only doubt seems TO be whether Alice
Rhodes was directly concerned in the
plot. II is probable that she will be re-
prieved, and an expectation of the same
sort, though somewhat less assured, i.
entertained respecting Mrs. Patrick
Staunton. Both men will undoubtedl,
be hung Boston journal.