The Sun. — 1827-09-13 (London, England)

SLADE THE MURDERER.  A very copious, and apparently faithful, narrative of the murder of Mr. Waterhouse, has just appeared, printed at Huntingdon, and published in town by Messrs. Baldwin, Cradock, and Joy. The work is " got up" in a very neat style, and is embellished with three admirable lithographic prints, by Hullmandel. We extract the following passage relative to the dissection of the murderer, and the conduct of his parents :—" On stripping. the body, its muscular strength, and fine proportions, excited the admiration Of the medical gentlemen present. He had died in fill health, and appeared much stouter than when alive ; and it is a curious' fact, that the culprit had even grown comparatively fat during the period of his imprisonment. He never ate so heartily, he said, as he did in gaol; and through the kindness 'of the Under-Sheriff, he wanted for nothing that might contribute to his norriish, went and support. •On etamining the body,the peculiar conformation of the great toe on each foot, produced considerable sinpnse ; it extended in length about an inch beyond'the others. His countenance seemed a fitting index to the mind of a.murderer--cruel, deliberate, and ferocious. A plaster mould has been cast from the features. On Tuesday morning the brain was dissected in the presence of most of our medical authorities. From deferring the dissection as long as possible, to accommodate a greater' nuniber of young surgeons, the brain had undergone a' considerable' change, and it was therefore almost impossible to elucidate the different parts with that degree of anatomical accuracy which might have been attained at an earlier period. . The investing membrane, called the dura mater, was, however, extremely tense and firm, and in several places inflammation between It and the pia mater, or immediate envelope of the brain, was discovered, and must have existed for some time. Firm adhesions had in consequence takeii place : but these appearances are, we believe, by no means uncommon ; few people who have suffered from fever, or severe blows on the head, are without them.— Slade, previously to his execution, confessed that he had at different times received blols upon the head, and described the external situation of two of them, which corresponded 'exactly with the internal adhesions. The internal viscera of the chest and of the body were in an extremely healthy state,. not having apparently ever suffered from illness. The conduct of Slade's-relatives during the whole of this trying.affair. has been expoSed to considerable censure. In persons .of their' condition, it would be absurd to expect that acuteness of feeling and .nice sensibility which shed an indescribable charm over the intercourse of intelligent and refined society ; but. the Shades appear to be.wanting even in common humanity. His sisters were 'not ashamed to attend the races, whilst their brOther.was immured in a solitary cell,. under sentence of death. His mother talks of -JoShua's guilt, and of his vicious habits, without the. least display of parental feeling .; and hie father was seen trudging home, on' the night before the execution, with a load of wood which he had been plundering from the neighbouring hedges. On Monday the old man came to. Huntingdon, to inquire of Mr.-Cole, keeper of the prison, whether Joshua had left any thing for him—any old' clothes or doctor's bottles, that he might sell. Being answered in the negative, 'Do you know;' added he, what has been done with the body ?' No,' replied Mr. Cole, Ido not: have been told, lejoined old Slade, '.that they only want the heart and two or three other-things - out of VM,:ftil speech so which no answer was returned. °fit this callous, unnatural deportment, may be traced the germ of Joshua's guilt. Yet, who can sell how much' of the apparent insensibility of the Slades may not be 'imputed to ignorance and want, and to the absence of spiritual instruction peculiar to the village ? Nothing tends aO effectually to shut up the heart and deaden the feelings as long-continued poverty." . • . • „.. .  •