The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — 1840-12-22 (Liverpool, Merseyside, England)

SON CHARGED WITH THE WILFUL MURDER OF HIS MOTHER.  The inqnest on this case, of which we made a brief mention last week, closed on Tuesday. The deceased, Martha West, purchased a stone of flour of a baker named Shortland, residing at Floore, the day. before Heyford feast, the 17th of October. It was taken to Heyford, by Shortland',s son, and was by him tipped into a stone jar, which was placed in a recess on the staircase. It does not appear when any portion of the flour was first used, but on the sth of November a pudding was made, of which the deceased and her husband partook. Immediately after, they were both taken ill; they sent for the doctor. but- after several days recovered. On Monday, the 16th November, the eldest sons Isaac West, went to the house to clean a clock ; on that day the mother made another pudding, and after dinner all were taken ill with extreme sickness. On the 18th a grand-daughter of the deceased, having made and partaken of a small pudding of the same flour, was taken ill, with precisely the same symptoms. The child of a woman named Pinnock, who had eaten part of the remainder, also fell ill. On the 21st, Mrs. West died. On the 22d a woman named Charlotte Townsend came to assist in the management of the house for the widower, and made some broth, which she thickened with flour from the same jar. The old man having eaten of the broth, was again extremely sick. Still no suspicion seems to have attached to the flour ; and on the 25th Charlotte Townsend made some more broth, which she thickened in the same way, and of which nine persons partook, every one of whom suffered precisely as the others had done. Some suspicion was now excited, and Mr. Elston, the surgeon of Badbrook,was called in, who confirmed them. Portions of the flour were analysed, and were found to be strongly impregnated with arsenic. It was now deemed squisite to institute an inquiry into the circumstances, hnd by the direction of Mr. Abbey, the body of Martha West was disinterred on the sth of December. An examination took place, and the presence of arsenic in the stomach was distinctly ascertained. The connexion between the flour and the death of the deceased seemed now to be proved, but the presence of the arsenic in the flour was still unaccounted for.  Through the indefatigable exertions of superintendent Young, the following facts were at length elicited :—George West, a son of the deceased, and a keeper of a general shop, in the same village, purchased a pound of arsenic in August last. On Monday week he had 14 ounces left ; the remainder he represented as having been sold. The next day, when the constable made inquiry about the 14 ounces, West at first said the constable had taken it away with him the previous day, and afterwards that it must have been stolen during the night. He had been at Weedon on the Monday night, and on his return he was, he said, taken very poorly, and in putting up the shutter he had fallen forward, and had broken the window. Through the opening he presumed the drawer containing the arsenic to have been abstracted. On Wednesday superintendent Young found him in bed ill. Young took him into custody, and under the mattress discovered a bottle of laudanum, which was missing from the shop.  At the close of the third day's inquest he was brought to this town, and kept in custody until Tuesday, last, when he was taken to Heyford, and the inquiry was resumed. It appeared from the evidence of Mrs. Blackwell, one of, the daughters of deceased, That on the Sunday following the' death of Martha West, George was asked to stay and dine at the house. He said he would, and proposed to go and order some flour of a person near Claridge. Mrs. Blackwell then reminded him that there was flour in the house, upon which he begged her not to use that flour, his mother was so set against it that he should never forgive himself if anything happened to them. He told her she had better give it to the pigs.  - Ultimately, at the close of the inquiry, which lasted till between 12 and 1, the jury returned a verdict of " Wilful Murder against George West."—Northampton Mercury.