The Sun. — 1825-07-27 (London, England)

PARK. muliDElt.  Thomas Dervey,,aged 30, was indicted for the wilful murder of Maria Austin, by stabbing her in the side, on the 2d of July last.—lir. READER, for the prosecution, called . . Mary Fallowel, who deposed, that she lodged in a mom opposite to that occupied by the deceased, and that she boarded with her. On Saturday, the 2d of July, at about 10 o'clock at night, witness went into the apartment of the deceased. • The prisoner was then standing near the door. He also lodged opposite, on the same landing-place. The prisoner went with wit.. ness into the deceased's room, and then asked witness what he had said on the preceding day to th4,daughter of the deceased. Witneas replied th 4 he had Neatened to beat the child. He acknowledged that he had done so: upon which the deceased said' he should not order her children about. The prisoner turned away without speaking, and went into his own tooth. He returned immediately, and struck the deceased a very violent blow on the left side, saying, at'the same moment, " There, then."— This was done with great rapidity. Witness did not see whether the blow was given with any weapon. The prisoner, as soon as he had struck the deceased, went hack into his own room, and witness heard him' lay something down upon the table. The deceased put her hand to her side, and groaned very loudly. 'Witness told her daughter to fetch her uncle Heenan; but the deceased opposed this. Witness held her up. She was sitting on the same stool where she hail been when she received the blosi% Her head hung down on her left side ; she could scarcely. speak, and seemed very faint. The prisoner soon came again into the room, and said, " Don't send for arty body; she is a murdered woman."— There was no light in the room ; the curtain was drawn. Witness asked the prisoner to fetch a light: he said, " Its of no use, she is a dead woman." He took the deceased's hand and kissed her ; he afterwards went out of the room, when he met Heenas, the deceased's brother, on the stairs, who' asked him what he had been doing. He replied, " Nothing," and then went away. Witness sent for the deceased's mother-in-law. The deceased died in witness's arms within three-quarters of an hour after she bad received the wound. When the deceased was undressed; witness found that she had been stabbed through all her clothes. On the following morning she saw a butcher's knife on the table in the prisoner's room, which fitted the wounds in the deceased's clothes.  On cross-examination, the witness said she had known the prisoner half a year, who always appeared to be a quiet inoffensive man. _ _ _  Sarriuel Spencer, a constable, produced the knife and the clothes of the deceased. _  Maria Austin, the child of the deceased, who was present at the murder, stated the same facts as had• previously been deposed to by the first witness. Joseph White, a surgeon, examined the body of the de. ceased, and found a wound under the left breast, through which the liver had been perforated. A great effusion of blood had taken place in the cavity of the abdomen. The wound had occasioned death ; in its size it perfectly corresponded with the butcher's knife now produced. The deceased was in the third month of pregnancy. S. Moore, clerk in the NottinGliam police-office, produced the prisoner's confession of having stabbed the deceased. The prisoner said he had committed the murder under the influence of a Haden impulse, for which he could not account. The witness said the prisoner appeared in a state of great agitation when he made this confession. _ _ _  The prisoner's Counsel submitted, that in consequence of the last statement, the confession ought not to be receiver). The Judge said, the Jury would consider what weight should, under the circumstances, be given to the confes> an. The prisoner being called on for his defence, said that he was subject to a disorder in his head, which deprived him of reason. He had, under the influence of this disorder, several times attempted to commit suicide, and had once nearly succeeded. A witness was called, who proved that the prisoner had attempted to destroy himself by taking laudanum. He thought him subject to a melancholy, which interfered with his reason. Ann Tapley saw the prisoner four or five hours before the murder, in a state of great dejection. The prisoner's father said he had once attempted to drown himself in the Trent. Several witnesses gave him a good character, and stated that he was subject to occasional dejection. The Jury returned a verdict of Guilty ; whereupon the Judge passed sentence of death upon the prisoner, and ordered him for execution on IVednesday morning. The prisoner was a slight, sickly-looking man, whose appearance and demeanour corroborated the account given of him by the witnesses. . • _ _ _