The Sun. — 1849-08-13 (London, England)

HARRIS. On the very day of the funeral she obtained the marriage licence, which was not long permitted to remain unused. In three days the wedding was celebrated, and  " The funeral baked meats Did coldly furnish forth the marriage table."  These extraordinary proceedings necessarily attracted attention. The body was exhumed, but the surgeons, not having any suspicion of poison, did not investigate for the purpose of finding any. An inquest was, however, held; the coroner was not quite so easily satisfied. The contents of the stomach were analysed, and two grains and a half of solid arsenic and one grain in solution were found in it. The solid arsenic could not have been taken more than twenty-fours before death, repeated doses must, therefore, have been administered at intervals during the illness, the last of which proved effectual. The wife was committed for trial, and, as we have already stated, was convicted. REBECCA SMITH (whose case was fully reported in our impression of Saturday), was tried at Devizes the preceding day, for the murder of her infant child, IticuAßD SMITH, aged only twenty-six days. Evidence of the usual character was adduced to ahow the purchase of a pennyworth of arsenic by the prisoner on false pretences, of the subsequent sickness and death of the unfortunate infant, and of its exhumation, when suspicion was at length excited, and the discovery of arsenic in its remains. She had previously had eleven children, all of whom, except the eldest, had died when between three and four weeks old, exhibiting similar symptoms to those of the last victim—and, although no proof was given of the fact, it not being legally admissible, traces of arsenic were discovered in the remains of several of those children, so that no moral doubt could exist that it had been her custom to administer poison to her chilaren, one only, the eldest, being spared. This wretched woman was also convicted on the clearest and most satisfactory testimony, and MARY ANNE GEERING, CHARLOTTE HARRIS, and REBECCA SMITH, now remain under sentence of death in the gaols of Lewes, Bridgwater, and Devizes, to expiate their awful crimes, and afford examples cf the fearful punishment that awaits the wilful and deliberate murderer. These cases show the fearful extent to which this species of crime has been carried in consequence of the great laxity exhibited in the sale of arsenic and other deadly poisons in small quantities, on the most frivolous pretexts, and also the carelessness and apathy of medical men, who behold persons dying under all the symptoms of poison without calling for any investigation, or interposing any difficulty as to certifying a cause of death to the registrar of buriels. It is manifest that strirgent regulations must be introduced as to the sale of poisons, if we desire to check the growing evil. Pennyworths of arsenic must no longer be sold across the counter to that any applicant. It is not sufficiet that '° poison" be legibly marked on the article, or purchaser should be cautioned as to its deadly atprothe perties. Such precautions may possibly guard in some degree against the poison being administered by mistake, but it can afford no protection against the  wilful and deliberate poisoner, nor in a case like that of MARY BALL, whom the D-arned Judge believed " to have purchased the arsenic innocently, aid then suffrrecl her mind to become familiqrized with the idea of using the deadly instrument." Arsi-nie only be sold in large quantities, to persons duly authorised to purchase it, and known to the vendors ; and returns should be made every month to the office of the registrar of deaths in the district, who should closely look to any sudden or unexplained deaths in families in which it had been procured. Medical practitioners should also bestow greater care in ascertaining the cause of death before they authorize the burial, and in any suspicious case a stringent investigation should take place. Every means should, in fact, be adopted to check a crime of which so many melancholy instances have recently been brought, and which we fear has been even more extensively practised than can ever possibly be ascertained.  rHE