Glasgow Courier. — 1846-06-09 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

THE MURDERS BY POISONING IN NORFOLK. Happisburgh, Tuesday Morning. A. further investigation into the circumstances attending this revolting affair was, at the instance of the Secretary of State, commenced yesterday morning by Mr. Pilgrim, the county coroner, at the village of East Ruston, two miles from this place,.on view of the bodies of Martha, William, awl Maria Green, grandchildren of the deceased Jonathan Balls, who have, without a doubt, died from the effects of poison. The jury, with the coroner, proceeded to the parish churchyard to view the bodies which had been exhumed about an hour previously. The children having been interred by the side of each other, their coffins were without much trouble found. The boy had been buried in a parish coffin, with the parish brand; the others were of village make, and were spoken to with certainty. The melancholy ceremonv having been gone through, The Coroner addressed the jury, and very much regretted the shocking affair that had brought them together, and the circumstance that attended it. He thought the step taken up by Sir James Graham was one that had given general satisfaction, and the gentleman whom the Secretary of State had sent down hail been must active and persevering in collecting such facts as would tend to clear up the mystery attending the deaths. The affair ought to have been investigated before, and he could not ,help thinking that, if an inquiry had taken place at the death of the first child, it would have saved the lives of many others who have been sacrificed. Mrs. Green, daughter of the deceased Jonathan Balls, repeated in substance the evidence she gave on the occasion of her former examination. She more particularly spoke of the suspicious circumstances attending the death of her eldest child, Maria, which happened nine or ten years ago, after she had been at her father's house only a short time, awl when the child died she was not informed of it. Witness also dwelt upon the facts attended upon the death of the other children; these have been already reported. She said she was much shocked and confounded-by these deaths, bat never thought that her own father could have done such things Rosanna Peggs, wife of Bartholomew Pcggs, of Happisburgh, deposed that she recollected the deceased child, Maria Green, being at her grandfather's house for more than a-week. She saw the child on the Sunday before it died. Balls came and asked her if she would go to his house, for he thought the child was dying. She went directly, and it had almost expired. She took it up in her arms, and after a struggle it died. Balls said it had eaten a hearty breakfast. She thought it strange that a child in good health should die so suddenly, and she told him so. Ile made no remark; but when Mrs. Green came he seemed rather confused. The death was not talked of in the village particularly. The child had no fever. By the Coroner—She knew Balls' daughter that died. She was very ill, but did not know if she died suddenly. She was married. The child died in two or three days, and the daughter in nine seeks. Mrs. Green was recalled, and spoke to the ill-treament her sister experienced before she died. Her mother never liked Lacey, her sister's husband. Before she died she wished to say a few words, but she hail not strength. There were a. number of black marks on her body. Iler father awl Lacey were friendly. The latter was still living. She believed his ill-treatment was the cause of her death. Tine Coroner observed that it was an extraordinary thing that, although there was so much talk about this poor woman's death, no inquiry should take place. It was a very bad and shocking case. lie would have the body disinterred in the course of the following morning' and ascertain what state it was in. The jury then adjourned for half an hour, and, on re-assembling, it was anuounced that the surgeons had only examined the body of Maria Green, the child thnt had been buried ten years, and they had discovered the presence of poison. This is the body of the child on which all impost was held at the time of death, but on which there was no internal examination. The surgeons had not procteded with the other two, and the coroner determined on adjourning the inquiry until tine next morning at nine o'clock. The Coroner afterwards proceeded to Ingham, where he gave orders for the child of Peggs, who also died suspiciously, to be disinterred. The whole of-the cases will be taken on Tuesday, at the Happisburgh-hill House.