Glasgow Courier. — 1846-01-01 (Glasgow, Strathclyde, Scotland)

THE WESTMINSTER MURDER. • CONFESSION OF THE PRISONER. It will be remembered that at the recent session of the Central Criminal Court a young woman named Martha Browning was convicted of a murder of a very atrocious character; and although tie evidence, so far as human testimony is concerned, might be onsidered as of the most conclusive character, yet, as the crime } as of a description almost unparalleled in the history of guilt, lid as it was attributed to a woman, or rather a girl, for she has not yet attained her 22d year, it will be some satisfaction to those who may have considered it almost impossible for such a person to have committed so fearful a crime, to know that since the conviction of the wretched girl she has made a full confession, and detailed all the circumstances connected with the horrible crime. From the period of her commitment to Newgate the prisoner appeared resigned to her fate, and she has since stated that she all along anticipated the result, and this may in some measure account for her firmness when sentence wat passed upon her. Very shortly after she had been placed in the cell on the female side of the prison, which is appropriated—although, happily, lately but rarely made use of for that purpose—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. Datis, 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. :Has big first admitted the perfect justice of her sentence, and expressed that it was her opinion that she ought to die for it as a washing to others, 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 £5 Bank of England note, but which, as it turned out, was only a " hash" note, as it is termed, or one of the "batik 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 hilly 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 posse herself of the note, she considered the means, and at leugt resolved to take the old lady's life, as being, as she then consi ered, the readiest means of obtaining her object, and that she w uld effect this by strangling her with the cord that FRS in her box., nd she fixed upon the Sunday night to carry her dreadful demo, into execution. Accordingly, she said that in the middle of th night she got up and cut a portion of the rope off, and then, whil the unhappy deceased was asleep, she twisted it twice round her heck and began to pull it violently. The old lady awoke apI par ntly from a sound sleep in the agonies of suffocation. She struggled slightly,and had just snfficient power to exclaim "Murder, murder; what are you doing?" an expression which, it will be recollected, was spoken to by one of the witnesses, who occupie an adjoining room; and that almost immediately she expired. At this moment, she says, the witness (the person referred to) iaine to the door and Inquired what was the matter? She was then standing over the dead body of her unhappy victim, and she • stres that it was with great difficulty she was enabled to frame al answer to the effect that nothing was the matter, and this ind ced the party to return to her room. She then remained upon tl e bed with the dead body, until day-light, when she examined the box of the deceased, and took out of the housewife of the poor old creature that which she believed to be the five-pound note, affil, .without attentively looking at it, she placed it in her pocket, and considered of the best mode to escape detection for her horrid prime, 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 her 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 liftithe dead body from the bed and place it 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 quite 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 arel wide opeu ; but she declared that his assistant sdw i.er first, and that her eyes 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 had destroyed herself, and which, as it turned out, had that effect,as the coroner's jury returned a verdict that the deceased destroyed herself while in a state of temporary derangement. She stated that by this time she had discovered that the note was of no valuetand she said she could never have attempted to make any use of it, if she hail not been pressed by the old woman's daughter and her husband to lend them some money, and she said she only went to the public-house with the pretended purpose to change it, in order to pacify them, and on their insistto know how she became possessed of it, she did not know what to do, and eventually told them the story about her having received it from some person in Bedford Street or the Strand. When, she aid, she found that the witness Gaize determined upon acconipai • her to licithird Street, she became quite beside herself and lb t that she could no longer support her positions and