Norwich bulletin., 1914-11-10
FAMOUS TRIALS
TRIAL OF THE srAuNToNs.

1t is close to 40 years since the ia
nous trial of the Stauntons in Eng
| land was being followed with marked
attention throughout the English
| speaking world as one of the most re-
n1arkable murder trlaIs that had been
| held previously or since then. 1t was
| only by mere chance that the discoV-
cry was made that the death Of Mrs.
| Harriet Staunton had not been regu-
Of or it, PUT 'n"' '"efs was Ct O>
On the evening of Friday, April IS,
1917 an inquiry was made at a shop
in Forbes Road. Penge. as to the
! place where a death could be regis
| ceased was a lady from Cudham, in
Kent. There was in the shop at the
time A gentleman bearing the his
toric but unusual name OF Casa
| blanca. He became interested, as he
| haG a sister in law in that location
| whom he and his wife had heard was
victim OF serious maltreatment.
Casabianca took it upon himself to
look into the matter, and the revela-
tions that followed led to the post
ponement of the funeral and an eS-
animation of the body. Harriet be-
fore her marriage to Louis Stanton,
had been Harriet Richardson. Sue
had left to her by her will close 70
G 1000. The marriage took place on
June 49, 1878. AS there had been no
possessed of all the property to which
his wife was then or might at any
future time become entitled.
GTarriets mother visited her daugh-
ter three weeks after the wedding,
and was then informed never to do
so again, and it was the last time she
saw Harriet alive. Rumors reached
her that the husband was paying at
tention to one Alice Rhodes and sad
" neglecting his wife.
cd
brother by the name Of Patrick, and
after their child was born it was to
Patrick that he sent his wife and
child to board. From the I'D of Oc-
tober. 1876, to the 18th Of April, 1877,
Harriet Staunton disappeared from
the outer world. The nature of the
treatment to which Harriet was
subjected during these sad months
was strongly disputed at the trial;
but it is certain that she was kept in
the door of the house At any rate,
the unfortunate infant of the Louis
Stsuntons died of the treatment.
Finally, when Harriet became SO
weak and ennaciated that she could
no longer speak, she was placed in a
room at Penge, where she died on
April Is. On the 18th the coroner i'm
paneIed a jury in order that a post
mortem might be held. 1t developed
that there were no traces OF poison or
any evidence of violence, but the COM
plete absence of fat and the extreme
emaciation of the body drove Prof.
Rodgers to the conclusion that death
was due to starvation and neglect
The result of the coroner's inquest
was that on Saturday, May 10, the
der against the Stauntons and Alice
| Rhodes. The contradictions between
their evidently concerted narrative
and the cumulative testimony of a
crowd of Independent witnesses were
overwhelming.
stone Jail and on Monday, May Il,
they were brought before the bench at
Bromley The hearing of the cases
was held at various times between
that date and June 10, and on the
latter date the quartet were com
nitted to the ensuing Kent assizes on
| the charge OF murder.
The Kent assizes were held at Maid
stone but so bitter was the public
| that the court did not believe the
SO it was removed to the Central
| Criminal Court. The trial became
| known as the Penge mystery. Sir
| Henry Hawkins, the Lord Chief JUS
| tice. sat in judgment. Each of the
prisoners was separately represented.
| The trial was postponed several times,
| but was finally begun on Sept. 10, 1877.
The issue before the jury was ex-
planned to them that 1t was nece5-
| sary to find out whether Harriet
| Staunton had met her death through
| the culpable misconduct of the pris-
| oners, and if SO whether such miscon-
| duct amounted to murder OF man
| slaughter. If the deceased was kept
without food or otherwise neglected
with the design of causing her death,
| those who abetted the guilty design
! would be guilty OF murder.
| The examination and croSS-exarn-
| ination of the witnesses lasted Ave
1 days. and when the jury retired they
| were only out an hour and a half
| when they brought in verdict of
| guilty Of all four persons, but recon-
mended the two women to mercy The
| judge pronounced death upon all four
persons, but the public had changed
| their temper when the two women
were to meet their death. and long Pc
| titions were circulated to same them.
| Finally on the 14th of October the
| death penalty was RENTED, and a
| fortnight later the sentence of the
! Staunteng was commuted to penal
| servitude for life.
| Alice Rhodes received q. free pardon
and was Immediately released. Pat
| rick Staunton died in prison, his wife
was released after a few years and
Louis stanton, after serving a con-
siderably longer term Mystery will
! always brood over the Penge case.