The Sun. — 1845-12-24 (London, England)

THE WESTMINSTER MURDER. CONFESSION OF THE PRISONER. It will be remembered, very shortly after Martha Browning had been placed in the cell, on the female side of the prison, which is appropriated for capital convicts of this sex, she appeared desirous to unburden her mind of the dreadful weight which lay upon it, and in the presence of the Rev. Mr. Davis, the chaplain, and the governor of Newgate, Mr. Cope, she made a full admission of her guilt. Of course no questions were put to her, nor anything said to induce her to make such an avowal, but as she appeared really desirous of making it, and did so of her own free will, she was allowed to make the statement. She said that her only motive for the commission of the dreadful deed was a desire to possess herself of that which she believed to be a 51. Bank of England, but which, as it turned out, was only a "11 ish" note, or one of the " Bank of Elegance." It should be stated that the prisoner can read and write very well, but she says that she never had an opportunity of fully seeing the note until after the crime was committed, and she declared that there was only one note. and not two, as was represented at the trial. She said, that being determined to possess herself of the note, she considered the means, and at length resolved to take the old lady's life, as being the readiest mode of attaining her object, and that she would effect this by strangling her with the cord which was in her box, and fixed upon the Sunday night for that purpose. Accordingly, in the middle of the night, she got up, and cut a portion of the rope off, and then, while the unhappy deceased was asleep, she twisted it twice round her neck, and began to pull it violently. The old lady awoke in the agonies of suffocation. She struggled slightly, and had just sufficient power to exclaim, " Murder, murder; what are you doing?"—an expression which was spoken to by one of the witnesses, who occupied an adjoining room— and that almost immediately she expired. At this moment, she says, the person referred to came to the door, and inquired what was the matter. She was then standing over the dead body of her unhappy victim ; and she states that it was with great difficulty she was enabled to procure an answer to the effect that nothing was the matter, and thus induced the party to return to her room. She then remained upon the bed with the dead body until daylight, when she examined the box of the deceased, and took out of the housewife that which she believed to be the 5L note; and, without attentively looking at it, she placed it in her own pocket, and considered of the best mode to escape detection for her horrid crime ; and at length the thought came across her to make it appear that the deceased had committed suicide. With a view to this she tied the cord in a knot, and then lifted the body from the bed, and placed it on the box by its side in the position in which it was afterwards discovered. In the morning she gave an alarm, as appeared by the evidence, of the, old lady being ill, and went out to inform his daughter of it, and to request that she would come to see her. Upon the prisoner being asked how she could have been strong enough to lift the dead body from the bed and place upon the box, she said, " I think the devil must have helped me, but I did it." The prisoner then went on to describe the other circumstances narrated in the evidence, and said that the statements of all the witnesses were correct, with the exception of that of the surgeon, which she declared was not so in !two particulars, wherein he stated that he was the first medical person who saw the deceased, and that:when he did so her eyes were staring and wide open ; but she declared that bis assistant saw her first, and that her ey•s were closed, and her face appeared perfectly composed, when he saw her. She stated that, having resolved upon the course she intended to pursue, she made the statement she did before the coroner with a view to show that the deceased destroyed herself, and which had that effect. She stated that by this time she had discovered that the note was of no value ; and she said she should never have attempted to make any use of it, if she had not been pressed by the old woman's daughter and her husband to lend them some money ; [and she said she went to the public-house with the pretended purpose to change it, in order to pacify them, and on their insisting to know how she became possessed of it she did not know what to do, and actually told them the story about her having received it from some person in Bedford-street, in the Strand. When she found that the witness Gaze determined upon accompanying her to Bedford-street, she became quite beside herself, and felt that she could no longer support her position ; and she said she did not recollect the incoherent expressions imputed to her by the several witnesses, although she had no doubt she had made use of them. This was the substance of the statement of the unhappy criminal, and after it was made she appeared a good deal more composed, and ever since her firmness has appeared to increase, and she is evidently perfectly resigned to the fate that awaits her. The execution will take place on Monday, the 15th of January.