Glasgow Courier. — 1846-05-23 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

MURDERS. THE GREENWICH MURDER.  On the 13th inst. Wm. Richardson, 49, described as an astronomer, and Anne Maria Richardson, 22, spinster, were placed at the bar, to plead the indictment found against them at the March session, for murder. The indictment alleged, that the prisoners feloniously administered to a male child of tender age, to wit, eight days old, a certain quantity of deadly poison called arsenic, and that they did thereby kill and murder the said child. In three other counts the deceased was described as a male child whose name was unknown, and also as Theodore Horatio Richardson, as Theodore Horatio only, and as Theodore Horatio Robinson. The prisoners pleaded " not guilty." Mr. Bodkin, Mr. Huddleston, and Mr. Clark, appeared for the Crown; Mr. Clarkson and Mr. Ballantine defended the prisoners. Mr. BODKIN addressed the Jury, and said—That having heard from the reading of the indictment the nature of the charge that was made against the prisoners, it became his duty to detail to them the circumstances upon which they would have to decide the awful question of the guilt or innocence of the prisoners at the bar. The case was one almost without parallel. The prisoners at the bar not only stood in the relative position of father and daughter, charged with the murder of a helpless infant; but that infant, there was no doubt, was their own offspring, and the result of an incestuous intercourse between them. The learned Counsel then proceeded to narrate the facts in support of the charge, and called a great number of witnesses, who underwent a long examination; hut nothing material was elicited from them, beyond what has already appeared in the police news when this matter was investigated before the Greenwich Magistrate.—The case for the prosecution having closed, Mr. CLARKSON submitted to the Court that there was no evidence against the female prisoner to call upon her for a defence. The LORD Cum-Justice, after consulting with Mr. Baron Alderson, said he did not think there was any evidence to show that the female prisoner had any share in causing the death of her Infant. Mr. CLARKSON said, that appearing as the Counsel for the prisoner, he felt it difficult to control the horror which those circumstances created in his mind, and so far to divest himself of the prejudice which they almost unavoidably created, as to enable him to do that justice to the case of the accused which he, wicked and rejected as he admitted himself to be, still was entitled to at his hands. He was glad that their Lordships had relieved him from the task of offering any observations on behalf of the female prisoner. The only question that remained was, whether there was sufficient evidence to bring the charge home to the male prisoner? He had, by his own conduct, to a certaiu extent, crippled the ad- ' vecate who had to defend him upon the charge of murder; for, although he might feel the strongest conviction of his innocence of that specific crime, yet he could not, at the same time, but be aware that the fact of the degrading and horrible connection which existed between the prisoner and his own child must, of necessity, create an almost overwhelming feeling of prejudice. He entreated the Jury to divest themselves, so far as they possibly could, of any such feeling; and he did not doubt that if they calmly considered the evidence, they would see that it was not sufficient to make out the charge against the prisoner of having wilfully administered poison to the deceased child and so caused Its death, and which charge alone he was now called upon to answer. The LORD Ciller-Justice summed up the evidence, and in his preliminary observations remarked upan the fact of the learned Counsel who had opened the case for the prosecution having retired almost immediately afterwards, leaving his junior to examine the whole of the witnesses, and to conduct the case to the end. Ile said that In such an important case as this he did not think this ought to have happened, for it could not be expected that the gentleman who was the junior Counsel could be so well acquainted with all the facts as his leader, and this circumstance had thrown a great deal of additional anxiety and labour upon the Court in the examination of the witnesses. His Lordship then proceeded to read the whole of the evidence, commenting upon the material portions of it as he proceeded. The Jury retired at a quarter to 7 o'clock, and returned into Court at a quarter past 8 o'clock, finding a verdict of Not Guilty.