The Sun. — 1848-07-21 (London, England)

PARSE.) Charles Burton,a collector of bones, was indicted for the wilful 'mtirder of Harriet Burton, his wife, on the 28th of May last. Mr. Wells conducted the prosecution, and Mr. Couch defended the prisoner.  The prisoner and his wife were seen by their neighbours standing at their own door about eight o'clock in the evening of Sunday the 28th of May, and they conversed about the health of their child, About four o'clock the next morning the neighbours heard a loud scream.' They got up, ran to the window, and saw the prisoner's wife looking out of her own window, and when seen by them she said, " he has killed me and my child; he has cut my throat." The neighbours, man and wife, went down stairs and called the constable. An entrance into the prisoner's house was effected, and he was seen standing in his shirt with his throat bleeding. On going up stairs they found the wife lying on the floor quite dead, with three large wounds on the throat, one of them dividing the vessels and, nerves down to the spine. Qa being then questioned; the prisoner,.who appeared weak from the loss of blood, though able to stand, made no answer. He was asked whether he had had a ,qtiarrel with his wife, and, being unable to speak, he made a movement with his head, which_was understood to signify that he had not. When , asked whether he had been in trouble, he nodded an affirmative. On going up stairs the bedclothes and carpet were found saturated with blood, and between'the sheets there was found a bloody razor. The prisoner had always exhibited fondness for his wife and child, and nothing remarkable had been observed in his manner. In the opinion of the medical man who was called in, the deceased, after receiving one of the wounds, might have got to the window and have spoken. The prisoner was questioned in the evening by the surgeon. He did not appear to be in • a state of excitement,. or to feel sorrow or remorse. He said, "trouble made me do it." When asked why trouble should induce him to take away the lite of others, he replied, " That they might not be in want when I was gone.", He said further, that he had been thinking of committing suicide for a week past; and that he first thought of killing his wife and child at the moment he, got out of bed to destroy himself. To other questiOns of the surgeon, he replied that he had been unwell of late, and had passed sleepless nights, but not sufficient to apply to the surgeon; and also that he had made two attempts to murder his wife, the first whilst she was partly asleep, and before she went to the window • the other after he had taken her from it, and that whilst she was at the window he had murdered the child; that in the second attempt. ho had held her in his arms with her, back to him, she struggling and resisting; and that then he attempted to commit suicide, add was then aware that he had not succeeded. When asked why he had stopped, he said he had no power to do it. The wound was a severe one, dividing the windpipe. ' • The surgeon; who had been called in on the morning of the murder, and had long known the prisoner, was questioned as to the prisoner's state of mind, and a.. posed that in his opinion the whole conduct of the prisoner showed that when he committed the act he had not, from an incontrollable impulse to which a human being may be subject, had control over himself. The perversion of the affections, the desire to .harm those previously dear, was one indication of insanity; theim'possibility of resisting a sudden homicidal impulse was 'another. There was no necessary connexion between suicidal monomania and homicidal monomania, but it would be more natural for a monomaniac, who had, been contemplating suicide, to kill another than for one who had not, By monomania was understood an affection that, for the moment, deprived a person of all control over himself in respect of the particular matter. Tho prisoner's reasoning power, however, did not appear to be affected; and to the surgeon he had never appeared to be under delusions. The monomania in the prisoner's case was attributed to an impression that he was coming to 'destitution; he had, in tact, been distressed about Some property that blight to have cone ,to him. The prisoner had said that his wife had reproached him before he made the second attempt, but that the feeling was too strong for him. In answer to the Learned Judge the surgeon said, "It is my opinion that the prisoner was in an unsound state of mind at the moment he did the act; that is not my opinion in all cases of murder." It was, also, shown that the prisoner had left his razor to be sharpened the day before, and had insisted on having it back on the same day, giving out that it was fur some one else. Mr. CROUCH then addressed the jury for the prisoner. The Learned Gentleman then called witnesses, who showed that the prisoner was entitled to a fourth share of a sum of 700/., the trustee of which (a shoemaker at 15, Mount-street, Grosvenor-square) had invested it in his own trade, and had become insolvent; that the dividend would be a small one; and that this was made known to the prisoner a few days before the murder, and seemed to affect him very much: Mr. WELLs replied. Mr. Baron PARKE having summed up, • The jury retired to consider their verdict, and after a brief deliberation, returned a verdict of Guilty. The Learned JUDkIE then, after a solemn address to the prisoner, passed sentence of death upon him.