The Sun. — 1861-11-16 (London, England)

TIIE MURDER IN I.IIE SURREY CANAL.  Last evening Mr. C. J. Carttar, coroner for West Kent, concluded an adjourned inquiry, at the Trinity Arms, Church-street, Deptford, into the circumstances attending the death by drowning in the Surrey Canal of Margaret Edmonds, aged 25, a domestic servant. Several witnesses were examined. Their evidence went entirely to corroborate the statement made by the young man named George lukpen, and given in evidence at the examination -of the prisoner at the Greenwich Police Court on Tuesday lust—viz., that he and the deceased agreed to drown themselves, that they tied themselves together for that purpose, with a leather lace and a piece of tape, that after being in the water together for some time the tape broke, and the woman was drowned, while the man saved himself by swimming ashore after endeavouring to rescue the deceased. The prisoner, by direction of the Secretary of State, was brought up in custody from Maidstone gaol, but by the advice of an attorney who appeared for him he declined making any further statement. The Coroner summed up at great length upon the facts of the case, remarking that the conduct and statements of the prisoner to the witnesses were consistent with the story told on being taken into custody. If the jury, however, believed his statement to ba trna, than by tho taw of Eneland he was guilty of a very grave offence—that of murder— for the law had been laid down by the late Lord Chief Justice Jarvis as follows :—" Self-murder is wisely and religiously considered by the English law as the most heinous description of felonious homicide; for, as no man has power to destroy himself but by commission of God—the author of it—the suicide is guilty of a double offence—one spiritual, in evading the prerogative of the Almighty and rushing into his presence uncalled for, and the other temporal, agiiihst the King (Queen), who has an interest in the'preservation of his (her) subjects. This offence therefore is ranked by the 'law'among the highest crimes, making it a peculiar species of felony—a felony committed on onesself. A fel° de se is one who deliberately puts an end to his own existence, or commits any unlawful act, the consequence of which is his own death ; and if two persons agree to' die together, and one at the persuasion of the other buys the poison, which both take, and he who bought it survives and the other dies, it is the better opinion that he who dies shall be adjudged felo de se, because all that happened was originally owing to his own wicked purpose, which the other only put in his power to execute in that particular manner. This offence admits of accessories before the fact the same as other felonies, for if one persuade another to kill himself and he do so, the adviser is guilty of the murder; so if the party persuading another to destroy himself be present when the felony is committed, he who dies is felo de se, and he who aids and abets is a principal to the murder." The learned coroner observed that the law was thus plainly laid down, and if the jury were of opinion that the deceased had wilfully destroyed herself, and that the prisoner was present and aiding and abetting, then they both came within the statute, and the deceased would have to be buried without the rites of a Christian burial, between the hours of 9 and 12 at night; The jury then retired, and, after a long consultation, returned a verdict "That the deceased Margaret Edmonds did feloniously, wilfully, and maliciously, and of malice aforethought, murder herself; and that George Inkpen, at the time of the felony and murder aforesaid, was feloniously present, aiding, abetting, and inciting the deceased to commit murder." The coroner then issued his warrant for the burial of the deceased between the hours named; and, as the law requires such warrant to be executed in 24 hours after delivery, the funeral took place last night.