Chapter XXXI: Part 31

The villain immediately afterwards attacked the aged Mrs. Boreham, by a similar aim at her jugular artery, but missed the point, and wounded her deep in the neck, though not mortally. The poor old gentleman was now making his way towards the kitchen, where the servant-maid was; but the miscreant pursued him, and in endeavouring to reach the same place, overset him, and then endeavoured to stab the servant in the throat: she struggled with him, caught at the knife, and was wounded severely in the hand and arm, and the knife fell in the struggle. The girl, however, escaped from his grasp, and running into the street, by her screams and cries of "murder," she alarmed the whole neighbourhood. Several persons instantly came to her assistance, and whilst some offered their aid to the unhappy beings who had been wounded, others sought for the murderer. Their search was for some time in vain, but they at length succeeded in discovering him concealed in a cow-crib in the farm-yard. He was immediately secured, and so tightly bound to prevent his escape, that the circulation was almost stopped, and in the night death was near cheating Justice of her victim. The ligatures were, however, loosed in the morning, in ample time to preserve him to undergo the punishment to which his crimes had subjected him.

Upon the attendance of two professional men, they found that all attempts to assist Mrs. Warner and Mrs. Hummerstone would be useless, as they were already dead; and they directly turned their attention to Mrs. Boreham and the servant. Mr. Boreham was found lying on the ground with a poker by his side; but being afflicted with the palsy, and being besides very aged, he had been unable to use it in opposition to his assailant.

A coroner's inquest was subsequently held upon the bodies of the deceased persons, and a verdict of "Wilful Murder" was returned against the prisoner, upon which he was committed to Hertford Jail to await his trial. Mr. Boreham being a Quaker, he refused to prosecute in the case of Mrs. Warner; but an indictment was preferred in the case of Mrs. Hummerstone, upon which the prisoner was arraigned at the Hertford Assizes on the 4th of March, 1808. The above facts having been proved in evidence, as well as the additional circumstance of the prisoner having confessed his guilt when before the coroner, and of his having declared that his intention was to murder Mrs. Boreham, Mrs. Warner, and Elizabeth Harris the servant, a verdict of Guilty was returned.

The awful sentence of death was then pronounced upon him, and he was hanged on the 7th of March, 1808, having exhibited throughout the whole transaction the utmost coolness and indifference.

ALEXANDER CAMPBELL, ESQ.

EXECUTED FOR A MURDER COMMITTED IN A DUEL.

This is a case arising out of an absurd deference being paid to the laws of honour.

Alexander Campbell was tried at the Armagh Assizes, in Ireland, August 13, 1808, for the wilful murder of Alexander Boyd, captain in the 21st regiment, by shooting him with a pistol-bullet, on the 23rd day of June, 1807. The evidence was, that the prisoner was major, and the deceased captain of the 21st regiment of Foot; and that on the 22nd of June, after the mess-dinner, a dispute arose between them, which was terminated by the prisoner inquiring, "Do you say I am wrong?" and the deceased answering, "Yes, I do." Major Campbell then retired, and went and took tea with his family; and he afterwards sent a message to Captain Boyd upon the provocation given, in consequence of which they met. Being unattended by friends, the immediate circumstances which attended the duel were not proved in evidence; but it appears that Captain Boyd being wounded, Lieutenant Macpherson, Surgeon Price, and others were called to his assistance, in whose presence he said to the prisoner, "You have hurried me----I wanted you to wait and have friends----Campbell, you are a bad man!" He afterwards died, and upon his body being examined, it was found that he had received a pistol-shot, and that the bullet had penetrated the extremity of the four false ribs, and lodged in the cavity of the belly, which was the cause of his death. These facts having been proved, the learned judge summed up, and the prisoner was found guilty of the capital offence, but recommended to mercy by the jury, on the score of good character alone; several persons of distinction in the army having attended, and declared that he was generally of a humane, peaceable disposition.

Sentence of death was, however, immediately passed on the unfortunate gentleman, and he was ordered for execution on the Monday; but, in consequence of the recommendation of the jury, was respited till the Wednesday se'nnight.

In the mean time, every effort was made by the friends of the unfortunate man to procure the royal mercy. Mrs. Campbell, his lady, departed immediately for England to solicit in person the royal clemency; and the grand jury of the county, and the jury who had found him guilty, presented petitions to the lord-lieutenant of Dublin. Mrs. Campbell, after the most incredible fatigue and exertion, reached England, and procured her petition to be delivered into the hands of his majesty. The respite, however, expired on the 23rd of August, and an order was sent from Dublin Castle to Armagh, for the execution to take place on the 24th. The prisoner's deportment during the whole of the melancholy interval between his condemnation and the day of his execution, was manly, but penitent--such as became a Christian towards his approaching dissolution. When he was informed that all efforts to procure a pardon had failed, he was only anxious for the immediate execution of the sentence. He had repeatedly implored that he might be shot; but as this was not suitable to the forms of the common law his entreaties were of course without success.

He was led out for execution on Wednesday, the 24th of August, 1808, just as the clock struck twelve. He was attended by Dr. Bowie, and in the whole of his deportment was manifest a pious resignation and a penitent mind. A vast crowd had collected around the scene of the catastrophe: he surveyed them a moment, then turned his head towards Heaven with a look of prayer. As soon as he appeared, the whole of the attending guards, and such of the soldiery as were spectators, took off their caps; upon which the major saluted them in turn. The spectacle was truly distressing, and tears and shrieks burst from several parts of the crowd. When the executioner approached to fix the cord, Major Campbell again looked up to Heaven. There was now the most profound silence. The executioner seemed paralysed whilst performing this last act of his duty, and there was scarcely a dry eye out of so many thousands assembled: every aspect wore the trace of grief.

After hanging the usual time, the body was put into a hearse in waiting, which left the town immediately, to convey the last remains of the unfortunate gentleman to the family depository at Ayr, in Scotland. The catastrophe is rendered still more melancholy by the unhappy circumstance that Mrs. Campbell had indulged her hopes to the last, and left London exactly at such a period of time as to arrive at Ayr on the day on which her husband's corpse would necessarily have reached that place.

JOHN RYAN AND MATTHEW KEARINGE.

EXECUTED FOR ARSON AND MURDER.

The scene described by the witnesses in this case well depicts some of the horrors to which the inhabitants of the Sister Kingdom are occasionally subject.

At the Lent Clonmel Assizes for the year 1808, John Ryan and Matthew Kearinge were indicted for the murder of David Bourke; in a second count, with the murder of John Dougherty; in a third, with setting fire to the house of Laurence Bourke; and in a fourth, with maliciously firing at Laurence Bourke, with intent to kill him.

After the solicitor-general had opened the case, he called Laurence Bourke, the prosecutor, who stated that on the night of the 11th of October, between the hours of ten and eleven o'clock, he was informed by his servant that there were a number of men in arms advancing towards his house. In consequence of this information he went to the window, and saw the prisoners, with several others, all armed, surrounding his house: they desired him to open the door, but he refused; and they then fired several shots in through the different windows. There were in the house, Dougherty, the deceased, a man who was servant to the witness, and witness's wife and child; they were armed, but had no ammunition but what the guns were loaded with. The prisoners and the party finding they could not get into the house, set it on fire; and the witness heard the prisoner Ryan say, "Take it easy, boys; you will see what botlings we shall have by-and-by."--The witness's wife and child then went to the window, and called out to Ryan (who was her relation) not to burn the house; but he replied, with an oath, that he would; and a shot was fired at her, which though it did not take effect, frightened her so much, that she and her child fell out of the window. They were seized by the prisoner Kearinge; but they afterwards fortunately made their escape. The house was now falling in flames about the witness's head, and he therefore opened the door and ran out: several shots were fired at him, but he escaped them, and made his way to David Bourke's, his father's house. In his flight he fired his piece, and killed one of Ryan's party. When witness arrived at his father's house, he found that he had gone to the assistance of the witness; and on returning to the place where his house stood, in search of his father, he found that Ryan and his party were gone, and his father's corpse was lying about twelve yards from the smoking ruins of his dwelling.

Winnifred Kennedy and other witnesses were examined, who corroborated the testimony of Bourke, and proved that the deceased, John Dougherty, was burned in Bourke's house. It was also proved that the whole of Ryan's party were entertained by him at dinner that day, and they all left his house armed, for the purpose of attacking Bourke.

On the part of the prisoner Ryan, an _alibi_ was attempted to be proved by a woman who lived with him, which entirely failed; and, after a very minute charge from the learned judge, the jury brought in a verdict of Guilty against both the prisoners. They were executed accordingly.

JAMES COOPER.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

At the Summer Assizes at Croydon, in the year 1809, James Cooper and Mary Cooper, his mother, aged seventy-one years, were indicted for the wilful murder of Joseph Hollis, at Compton, in the county of Surrey, on the 4th May preceding. The first count in the indictment alleged the murder to have been committed by fracturing the skull of the deceased, and the second count stated the cause of death to have been a wound in the throat.

This case was of a rather singular nature, and depended on circumstances, which were proved by a number of different witnesses; and the investigation lasted nearly the whole day. The deceased was a man possessing more property than is usual with persons in his class of life. He lived in a small cottage adjoining that occupied by the prisoners, and which, with the prisoners', had been formerly but one house. It had lately been divided into two tenements, the one being occupied by the deceased, and the other by the two prisoners. There was no door of communication between the two tenements; but it was proved, that whatever passed in one could be distinctly heard in the other; and, as one of the witnesses stated, the clock could be heard to _tick_.

The deceased, Hollis, was an old man of near seventy, but was hale and hearty; he was of very penurious habits, and had saved money, which he was fond of displaying. One of the witnesses described him as always carrying three canvas bags, in one of which he kept notes, in another gold and silver, and in a third copper money; and if he wanted to pay only a sixpence, he would _tip_ all the gold and silver into his hand; and the witness added, that he had seen him with 100_l._ in his possession. The whole cottage in which he lived was his property, and the prisoner, Cooper, was his tenant for the part which he occupied. Nobody lived in Cooper's part but himself and his mother: and Hollis, the deceased, lived alone; a woman of the name of Wisdom going to him daily to complete his little household arrangements.

On Wednesday, the 3rd of May, the day preceding Guildford fair, he had desired a person of the name of Goddard to go with him to the fair, as he wanted to buy some sheep; Goddard told him he could not go with him, but advised him to be early. On this he declared his intention of breakfasting and setting off the next morning by four o'clock; and having stated this to Mary Wisdom, he told her that she need not come to him on the next day. She, therefore, did not on the Thursday make her daily visit; but on the Friday, about ten, she sent her daughter, a girl about thirteen years of age. The child found the door unfastened; and, on opening it, she saw Hollis lying dead on the floor, with a great deal of blood about him. She ran out, and saw Moor, the constable, crossing the common, and he immediately returned with her. A surgeon was sent for, and several people soon came. The body was lying on the floor with the legs crossed, and the head lying on the arm, evidently composed to that attitude by the murderer after the deed. A cup of coffee, half drunk, was on the table, a piece of toast before the fire, another piece, partly eaten, lay on the hearth, the butter bason was broken, and the pat of butter was on the floor near the feet of the deceased. The chair in which he had been sitting was overturned, and his hat was lying near, so that it appeared that he had been attacked while he was sitting at his breakfast. The body was most shockingly mangled, the skull was fractured in two places, the jaw broken, a finger broken, the arms bruised, and the throat cut so as almost to sever the head from the body. Under, the body was found a clasp-knife, almost covered with blood, and a poker in a similar condition. From these circumstances it appeared that some struggle must have taken place, which the prisoners must have heard in their cottage, if the murder had been committed by any stranger.

The prisoners were, therefore, apprehended on the Friday evening, and their part of the cottage searched; but no evidence of their guilt was found. The trunk of the deceased had been rummaged; and, as only two shillings were found on his person, it was presumed that the murderer had carried off his money.

The magistrates, on examination, finding nothing but suspicion against the prisoners, discharged them; but on subsequent inquiries, they were again apprehended, and the following circumstances were given in evidence. The night before the murder the deceased and the prisoner, James Cooper, had been quarrelling; upon which the deceased declared, as Cooper had not paid his rent, he would have him out of the cottage; and he actually applied to a person to distrain upon him. In this quarrel, Cooper was heard to vow vengeance against the old man, swearing that he would be "up side" with him before a fortnight was over. Mrs. Cooper exclaimed "God forbid!" but presently she said, that it would not much matter, for that nobody liked the old man. Since the former examination of the prisoners, a more minute survey of their cottage had been taken, and concealed in the roof were found various articles of apparel, belonging to the male prisoner, which were smeared with blood. Upon subsequent inquiry, the knife and poker found in old Hollis' house were also discovered to have belonged to the Coopers, and little doubt remained therefore of their being parties to the murder.

The prisoners were eventually committed to take their trials, and while in custody Mrs. Cooper confessed that she knew of the murder, after its commission by her son, but she denied that she was in any way a party to the foul deed. She stated that her son had gone out in the evening in question, carrying the knife and poker with him, and that soon afterwards she heard a noise in old Hollis' house, followed by cries for help, and presently a heavy fall against the wainscot, but beyond this she knew nothing.

Upon this evidence the male prisoner was found guilty, but his mother was acquitted.

The unhappy young man immediately received sentence of death, and was executed on the following Monday, confessing the justice of his sentence and punishment.

JOSEPH BROWN.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

This case affords a striking instance of the wonderful effect of the workings of the conscience of a guilty man.

Joseph Brown was indicted at the York Assizes in the month of March 1809, for the wilful murder of Elizabeth Fletcher at Hensal, near Ferry bridge, in the month of October, in the year 1804.

The offence was alleged to have been committed by the administration of poison to the deceased woman by the prisoner, and a companion named Hazlegrove, both of whom, at the time of the occurrence, lodged in her house. The evidence with regard to the transaction was, that on the Sunday, the 21st October 1804, the prisoner, Hazlegrove, Elizabeth Fletcher, the deceased, and her sister Sarah, were all sitting together at supper, between eight and nine o'clock at night, and that Hazlegrove went to fetch some ale. On his return Brown put some sugar into it, and gave it to the deceased, and she and her sister drank the whole of it, while Brown and Hazlegrove refused to partake of it, but drank some out of another mug. In the course of the night the prisoner and his companion absconded, and nothing more was heard of them until the apprehension of the prisoner in the Isle of Wight, on the 3rd of August 1808; and in the morning Mrs. Fletcher was found to be dead, and her sister suffering severely from the effects of laudanum. It was proved that Mrs. Fletcher was known to be in the possession of a considerable sum of money, and that the prisoner had expressed a wish that he had it; and that on the Saturday the 20th of October, he had purchased six-pennyworth of laudanum of Mr. Perkins, a surgeon at Snaith, to whom he represented, that it was for the use of his father, who was unable to get any sleep. The death of the deceased it could not be doubted had been produced by laudanum.

The additional evidence, by which it was proposed to bring home the offence to the prisoner, was a confession, which he had made at the Isle of Wight, in the month of August preceding his trial, when he surrendered himself into custody, as he said at the time, on account of the anguish produced in his mind, on his reflecting upon the dreadful crime of which he had been guilty. In his confession, he stated that he had been acquainted with Joseph Hazlegrove upwards of six years; that in the month of October 1804, he and Joseph Hazlegrove lodged with Mrs. Fletcher of Hensal, near Ferrybridge, and there formed the design of poisoning her, in order to possess themselves of some property they supposed her to possess; that for this purpose, he procured six-pennyworth of laudanum of a Mr. Perkins, of Snaith, which he gave to Hazlegrove, who mixed it with some beer, along with some sugar, and gave it to Elizabeth Fletcher and her sister; the former died in consequence of it, and early the following morning they broke open her box, and took out one guinea and a half, with which they absconded. The prisoner, it appeared, had been since subjected to prosecution, on account of some offence of which he had been guilty, but had been permitted to enter a foot regiment, in which he was still a soldier at the time of his trial.

On his being called on for his defence, he declared, with the most consummate impudence, that his confession was untrue; and that his only object in making that statement was, by putting himself upon his trial, to clear up the suspicions which were entertained against him. He then went on to say, that his acquaintance with Hazlegrove had subsisted from an earlier period than he had represented, down to the time of his trial; and that they had always lived upon terms of the closest intimacy. That in the early part of their friendship, a lady of high rank and fortune had become enamoured of his friend, and that many interesting meetings had taken place between them. He was generally employed as the go-between; and the secrecy which they were compelled to observe upon this subject gave an air of mystery to their conduct, which caused them to be spoken of with suspicion; and at length so far had the malignity of their enemies been excited against them, that they were accused of every offence which happened to be committed within a circuit of several miles. He concluded by repeating his declaration as to the object which he had in view, in surrendering himself into custody, suggesting that the death of Mrs. Fletcher might have been occasioned by a fit, and protesting his entire innocence of the crime imputed to him.

He declined calling any witnesses to substantiate the allegations which he made, however, and a verdict of guilty was returned.

The learned Judge then proceeded to pass sentence of death upon the prisoner, whom he addressed in the following terms:--

"Joseph Brown, I am called upon, in the painful exercise of my duty, to pass sentence upon a person found guilty of one of the greatest offences against society--the crime of deliberate murder. You stand an awful and striking example of the justice of Providence--of that punishment, which, sooner or later, never fails to overtake the guilty. You have been compelled by the agonies of remorse, and the upbraidings and tortures of a guilty mind, to furnish that evidence against yourself, which was wanting to establish the proof of your guilt, and to supply that link in the chain of evidence which appeared to be imperfect. I trust, that every one who hears of your fate will bear in mind, that a time will arrive, probably in this world, most certainly in another, when guilt will meet with its due punishment. In your unhappy case, that period is already come, when you must receive the reward of your crimes. Impelled by the hope of possessing the treasure which you supposed your unfortunate victim had saved from her hard earnings, you deliberately formed the design of destroying her; for this purpose you purchased a deadly drug, which you procured to be mingled in the cup which you offered to her under the guise of friendship. When the potion had taken effect, you plundered her of her property, though it was much less than your guilty cupidity had suggested. Your crime appeared likely to be perpetrated, as to this world, with impunity; more than four years had elapsed since its perpetration, and the remembrance of it began to fade from the recollection of every one but the guilty author of the deed, and it seemed probable, that nothing more would have been heard of it, if the consciousness of your crime, more poignant and destructive than the poisoned bowl, had not compelled you to disclose the horrid secret.--Chequered as your life has been with crimes, I cannot indulge the hope, that anything that I can say will have any lasting effect upon you; but I conjure you to spend the few remaining hours you have to live, in earnest prayer and supplication to Heaven for mercy; and may your unhappy fate convince others, that though their crimes may be committed in the darkness of the night, they will hereafter be proclaimed at noon-day."

Sentence was then passed in the usual terms, and the prisoner was executed on the 20th of March 1809.

We have no record of the manner in which he met his death.

MARY BATEMAN,

_Commonly called the Yorkshire Witch._

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

The insidious arts practised by this woman rendered her a pest to the neighbourhood in which she resided, and she richly deserved that fate which eventually befel her.

She was indicted at York on the 18th of March 1809, for the wilful murder of Rebecca Perigo, of Bramley, in the same county, in the month of May in the previous year.

The examination of the witnesses, who were called to support the case for the prosecution, showed, that Mrs. Bateman resided at Leeds, and was well known at that place, as well as in the surrounding districts, as a "witch," in which capacity she had been frequently employed to work cures of "evil wishes," and all the other customary imaginary illnesses, to which the credulous lower orders at that time supposed themselves liable. Her name had become much celebrated in the neighbourhood for her successes in the arts of divining and witchcraft, and it may be readily concluded that her efforts in her own behalf were no less profitable. In the spring of 1806 Mrs. Perigo, who lived with her husband, at Bramley, a village at a short distance from Leeds, was seized with a "flacking," or fluttering in her breast, whenever she lay down, and applying to a quack doctor of the place, he assured her that it was beyond his cure, for that an "evil wish" had been laid upon her, and that the arts of sorcery must be resorted to in order to effect her relief. While in this dilemma, she was visited by her niece, a girl named Stead, who at that time filled a situation as a household servant at Leeds, and who had taken advantage of the Whitsuntide holidays to go round to see her friends. Stead expressed her sorrow to find her aunt in so terrible a situation, and recommended an immediate appeal to the prisoner, whose powers she described as fully equal to get rid of any affection of the kind, whether produced by mortal or diabolical charms. An application was at once determined on to her, and Stead was employed to broach the subject to the diviner. She, in consequence, paid the prisoner a visit at her house in Black Dog Yard, near the bank, at Leeds, and having acquainted her with the nature of the malady by which her aunt was affected, was informed by her, that she knew a lady, who lived at Scarborough, and that if a flannel petticoat or some article of dress, which was worn next the skin of the patient, was sent to her, she would at once communicate with her upon the subject. On the following Tuesday William Perigo, the husband of the deceased, proceeded to her house, and having handed over his wife's flannel petticoat, the prisoner said that she would write to Miss Blythe, who was the lady to whom she had alluded, at Scarborough, by the same night's post, and that an answer would doubtless be returned by that day week, when he was to call again. On the day mentioned, Perigo was true to his appointment, and the prisoner produced to him a letter, saying that it had arrived from Miss Blythe, and that it contained directions as to what was to be done. After a great deal of circumlocution and mystery the letter was opened, and was read by the prisoner, and it was found that it contained an order "that Mary Bateman should go to Perigo's house, at Bramley, and should take with her four guinea notes, which were enclosed, and that she should sew them into the four corners of the bed, in which the diseased woman slept, where they were to remain for eighteen months; that Perigo was to give her four other notes of like value, to be returned to Scarborough; and that unless all these directions were strictly attended to, the charm would be useless and would not work." On the fourth of August the prisoner went over to Bramley, and having shown the four notes, proceeded apparently to sew them up in silken bags, which she delivered over to Mrs. Perigo to be placed in the bed. The four notes desired to be returned were then handed to her by Perigo, and she retired, directing her dupes frequently to send to her house, as letters might be expected from Miss Blythe. In about a fortnight, another letter was produced; and it contained directions, that two pieces of iron in the form of horse-shoes should be nailed up at Perigo's door, by the prisoner, but that the nails should not be driven in with a hammer, but with the back of a pair of pincers, and that the pincers were to be sent to Scarborough, to remain in the custody of Miss Blythe for the eighteen months already mentioned in the charm. The prisoner accordingly again visited Bramley, and having nailed up the horse-shoes received and carried off the pincers. In October the following letter was received by Perigo, bearing the signature of the supposed Miss Blythe.

"My dear Friend.--You must go down to Mary Bateman's, at Leeds, on Tuesday next, and carry two guinea notes with you and give her them, and she will give you other two that I have sent to her from Scarborough; and you must buy me a small cheese about six or eight pound weight, and it must be of your buying, for it is for a particular use, and it is to be carried down to Mary Bateman's, and she will send it to me by the coach.--This letter is to be burned when you have done reading it."

From this time to the month of March 1807, a great number of letters were received, demanding the transmission of various articles, to Miss Blythe, through the medium of the prisoner, the whole of which were to be preserved by her until the expiration of the eighteen months; and in the course of the same period money to the amount of near seventy pounds was paid over, Perigo, upon each occasion of payment, receiving silk bags containing what were pretended to be coins or notes of corresponding value, which were to be sewn up in the bed as before. In March 1807, the following letter arrived.

"My dear Friends.--I will be obliged to you if you will let me have half-a-dozen of your china, three silver spoons, half-a-pound of tea, two pounds of loaf sugar, and a tea canister to put the tea in, or else it will not do--I durst not drink out of my own china. You must burn this with a candle."

The china, &c., not having been sent, in the month of April Miss Blythe wrote as follows:--

"My dear Friends.--_I will be obliged to you if you will buy me a camp bedstead, bed and bedding, a blanket, a pair of sheets, and a long bolster must come from your house._--You need not buy the best feathers, common ones will do. I have laid on the floor for three nights, and I cannot lay on my own bed _owing to the planets being so bad concerning your wife_, and I must have one of your buying or it will not do.--You must bring down the china, the sugar, the caddy, the three silver spoons, and the tea at the same time when you buy the bed, and pack them up altogether.--My brother's boat will be up in a day or two, and I will order my brother's boatman to call for them all at Mary Bateman's, and you must give Mary Bateman one shilling for the boatman, and I will place it to your account. Your wife must burn this as soon as it is read or it will not do."

This had the desired effect; and the prisoner having called upon the Perigos, she accompanied them to the shops of a Mr. Dobbin, and a Mr. Musgrave, at Leeds, to purchase the various articles named, which were eventually bought at a cost of sixteen pounds, and sent to Mr. Sutton's, at the Lion and Lamb Inn, Kirkgate, there to await the arrival of the supposed messenger.

At the end of April, the following letter arrived:--"My dear Friends.--I am sorry to tell you you will take an illness in the month of May next, one or both of you, but I think both, but the works of God must have its course.--You will escape the chambers of the grave; though you seem to be dead, yet you will live. Your wife must take half-a-pound of honey down from Bramley to Mary Bateman's at Leeds, and it must remain there till you go down yourself, and she will put in such like stuff as I have sent from Scarbro' to her, and she will put it in when you come down, and see her yourself, or it will not do. You must eat pudding for six days, and you must put in such like stuff as I have sent to Mary Bateman from Scarbro', and she will give your wife it, but you must not begin to eat of this pudding while I let you know. If ever you find yourself sickly at any time, you must take each of you a teaspoonful of this honey; I will remit twenty pounds to you on the 20th day of May, and it will pay a little of what you owe. You must bring this down to Mary Bateman's, and burn it at her house, when you come down next time."

The instructions contained in this letter were complied with, and the prisoner having first mixed a white powder in the honey, handed over six others of the same colour and description to Mrs. Perigo, saying that they must be used in the precise manner mentioned upon them, or they would all be killed. On the 5th of May, another letter arrived in the following terms:--

"My dear Friends.--You must begin to eat pudding on the 11th of May, and you must put one of the powders in every day as they are marked, for six days--and you must see it put in yourself every day or else it will not do. If you find yourself sickly at any time you must not have no doctor, for it will not do, and you must not let the boy that used to eat with you eat of that pudding for six days; and you must make only just as much as you can eat yourselves, if there is any left it will not do. You must keep the door fast as much as possible or you will be overcome by some enemy. Now think on and take my directions or else it will kill us all. About the 25th of May I will come to Leeds and send for your wife to Mary Bateman's; your wife will take me by the hand and say, 'God bless you that I ever found you out.' It has pleased God to send me into the world that I might destroy the works of darkness; I call them the works of darkness because they are dark to you--now mind what I say whatever you do. This letter must be burned in straw on the hearth by your wife."

The absurd credulity of Mr. and Mrs. Perigo even yet favoured the horrid designs of the prisoner; and, in obedience to the directions which they received, they began to eat the puddings on the day named. For five days, they had no particular flavour, but upon the sixth powder being mixed, the pudding was found so nauseous, that the former could only eat one or two mouthfuls, while his wife managed to swallow three or four. They were both directly seized with violent vomiting, and Mrs. Perigo, whose faith appears to have been greater than that of her husband, at once had recourse to the honey. Their sickness continued during the whole day, but although Mrs. Perigo suffered the most intense torments, she positively refused to hear of a doctor's being sent for, lest, as she said, the charm should be broken, by Miss Blythe's directions being opposed. The recovery of the husband from the illness, by which he was affected, slowly progressed; but the wife, who persisted in eating the honey, continued daily to lose strength, and at length expired on the 24th of May, her last words being a request to her husband not to be "rash" with Mary Bateman, but to await the coming of the appointed time.

Mr. Chorley, a surgeon, was subsequently called in to see her body; but although he expressed his firm belief that the death of the deceased was caused by her having taken poison, and although that impression was confirmed by the circumstance of a cat dying immediately after it had eaten some of the pudding, no further steps were taken to ascertain the real cause of death, and Perigo even subsequently continued in communication with the prisoner.

Upon his informing her of the death of his wife, she at once declared that it was attributable to her having eaten all the honey at once, and then in the beginning of June, he received the following letter from Miss Blythe:--

"My dear Friend.--I am sorry to tell you that your wife should touch of those things which I ordered her not, and for that reason it has caused her death; it had likened to have killed me at Scarborough, and Mary Bateman at Leeds, and you and all, and for this reason, she will rise from the grave, she will stroke your face with her right hand, and you will lose the use of one side, but I will pray for you.--I would not have you to go to no doctor, for it will not do. I would have you to eat and drink what you like, and you will be better. Now, my dear friend, take my directions, do and it will be better for you.--Pray God bless you. Amen. Amen. You must burn this letter immediately after it is read."

Letters were also subsequently received by him, purporting to be from the same person, in which new demands for clothing, coals, and other articles were made, but at length, in the month of October 1808, two years having elapsed since the commencement of the charm, he thought that, the time had fully arrived, when, if any good effects were to be produced from it, they would have been apparent, and that therefore he was entitled to look for his money in the bed. He, in consequence, commenced a search for the little silk bags, in which his notes and money had been, as he supposed, sewn up; but although the bags indeed were in precisely the same positions in which they had been placed by his deceased wife, by some unaccountable conjuration, the notes and gold had turned to rotten cabbage-leaves and bad farthings. The darkness, by which the truth had been so long obscured, now passed away, and having communicated with the prisoner, by a stratagem, meeting her under pretence of receiving from her a bottle of medicine, which was to cure him from the effects of the puddings which still remained, he caused her to be apprehended. Upon her house being searched, nearly all the property sent to the supposed Miss Blythe was found in her possession, and a bottle containing a liquid mixed with two powders, one of which proved to be oatmeal, and the other arsenic, was taken from her pocket when she was taken into custody.

The rest of the evidence against the prisoner went to show that there was no such person as Miss Blythe living at Scarborough, and that all the letters which had been received by Perigo were in her own handwriting, and had been sent by her to Scarborough to be transmitted back again. An attempt was also proved to have been made by her to purchase some arsenic, at the shop of a Mr. Clough, in Kirkgate, in the month of April 1807, but the most important testimony was that of Mr. Chorley, the surgeon, who distinctly proved that he had analysed what remained of the pudding, and of the contents of the honey pot, and that he found them both to contain a deadly poison, called corrosive sublimate of mercury, and that the symptoms exhibited by the deceased and her husband were such as would have arisen from the administration of such a drug.

The prisoner's defence consisted of a simple denial of the charge, and the learned judge then proceeded to address the jury. Having stated the nature of the allegations made in the indictment, he said that in order to come to a conclusion as to the guilt of the prisoner, it was necessary that three points should be clearly made out. 1st. That the deceased died of poison. 2nd. That that poison was administered by the contrivance and knowledge of the prisoner. And 3rd. That it was so done for the purpose of occasioning the death of the deceased. A large body of evidence had been laid before them, to prove that the prisoner had engaged in schemes of fraud against the deceased and her husband, which was proved not merely by the evidence of Wm. Perigo, but by the testimony of other witnesses; and the inference the prosecutors drew from this fraud was the existence of a powerful motive or temptation to commit a still greater crime, for the purpose of escaping the shame and punishment which must have attended the detection of the fraud; a fraud so gross, that it excited his surprise that any individual in that age and nation could be the dupe of it. But the jury should not go beyond this inference, and presume that, because the prisoner had been guilty of fraud, she was of course likely to have committed the crime of murder; that, if proved, must be shown by other evidence. His Lordship then proceeded to recapitulate the whole of the evidence, as detailed in the preceding pages, and concluded with the following observations. "It is impossible not to be struck with wonder at the extraordinary credulity of Wm. Perigo, which neither the loss of his property, the death of his wife, and his own severe sufferings, could dispel; and it was not until the month of October in the following year, that he ventured to open his hid treasure, and found there what every one in court must have anticipated that he would find, not a single vestige of his property; and his evidence is laid before the jury with the observation which arises from this uncommon want of judgment. His memory however appears to be very retentive, and his evidence is confirmed, and that in different parts of the narrative, by other witnesses; and many parts of the case do not rest upon his evidence at all. The illness, and peculiar symptoms, which preceded the death of his wife; his own severe sickness; and a variety of other circumstances attending the experiments made upon the pudding, were proved by separate and independent testimony; and it is most strange, that, in a case of so much suspicion as it appeared to have excited at the time, the interment of the body should have taken place without any inquiry as to the cause of death, an inquiry which then would have been much less difficult; though the fact of the deceased having died of poison is now well established. The main question is, did the prisoner contrive the means to induce the deceased to take it?--if she did so contrive the means, the intent could only be to destroy.--Poison so deadly could not be administered with any other view. The jury will lay all the facts and circumstances together; and if they feel them press so strongly against the prisoner, as to induce a conviction of the prisoner's having procured the deceased to take poison, with an intent to occasion her death, they will find her guilty; if they do not think the evidence conclusive, they will, in that case, find the prisoner not guilty."

The jury, after conferring for a moment, found the prisoner guilty;--and the judge proceeded to pass sentence of death upon her, in nearly the following words:--

"Mary Bateman, you have been convicted of wilful murder by a jury, who, after having examined your case with caution, have, constrained by the force of evidence, pronounced you guilty; and it only remains for me to fulfil my painful duty by passing upon you the awful sentence of the law. After you have been so long in the situation in which you now stand, and harassed as your mind must be by the long detail of your crimes, and by listening to the sufferings you have occasioned, I do not wish to add to your distress by saying more than my duty renders necessary. Of your guilt, there cannot remain a particle of doubt in the breast of any one who has heard your case.--You entered into a long and premeditated system of fraud, which you carried on for a length of time, which is most astonishing, and by means which one would have supposed could not, in this age and nation, have been practised with success. To prevent a discovery of your complicated fraud, and the punishment which must have resulted therefrom, you deliberately contrived the death of the persons you had so grossly injured, and that by means of poison, a mode of destruction against which there is no sure protection; but your guilty design was not fully accomplished.--And, after so extraordinary a lapse of time, you are reserved as a signal example of the justice of that mysterious Providence, which, sooner or later, overtakes guilt like yours; and at the very time when you were apprehended, there is the greatest reason to suppose, that if your surviving victim had met you alone, as you wished him to do, you would have administered to him a more deadly dose, which would have completed the diabolical project you had long before formed, but which at that time only partially succeeded; for upon your person, at that moment, was found a phial containing a most deadly poison. For crimes like yours, in this world, the gates of mercy are closed. You afforded your victim no time for preparation; but the law, while it dooms you to death, has, in its mercy, afforded you time for repentance, and the assistance of pious and devout men, whose admonitions, and prayers, and counsels, may assist to prepare you for another world, where even your crimes, if sincerely repented of, may find mercy.

"The sentence of the law is, and the court doth award it. That you be taken to the place from whence you came, and from thence, on Monday next, to the place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck until you are dead; and that your body be given to the surgeons to be dissected and anatomised; and may Almighty God have mercy upon your soul."

The prisoner having intimated that she was pregnant, the clerk of the arraigns said, "Mary Bateman, what have you to say, why immediate execution should not be awarded against you?" On which the prisoner pleaded that she was twenty-two weeks gone with child. On this plea the judge ordered the sheriff to impannel a jury of matrons; this order created a general consternation among the ladies, who hastened to quit the court, to prevent the execution of so painful an office being imposed upon them. His lordship, in consequence, ordered the doors to be closed, and in about half-an-hour, twelve married women being impannelled, they were sworn in court, and charged to inquire "whether the prisoner was with quick child?" The jury of matrons then retired with the prisoner, and on their return into court delivered their verdict, which was, that Mary Bateman is not with quick child. The execution of course was not respited, and she was remanded back to prison.

During the brief interval between her receiving sentence of death and her execution, the ordinary, the Rev. George Brown, took great pains to prevail upon her ingenuously to acknowledge and confess her crimes. Though the prisoner behaved with decorum, during the few hours that remained of her existence, and readily joined in the customary offices of devotion, no traits of that deep compunction of mind, which, for crimes like hers, must be felt where repentance is sincere, could be observed; but she maintained her caution and mystery to the last. On the day preceding her execution, she wrote a letter to her husband, in which she enclosed her wedding-ring, with a request that it might be given to her daughter. She admitted that she had been guilty of many frauds, but still denied that she had had any intention to produce the death of Mr. or Mrs. Perigo.

Upon the Monday morning at five o'clock she was called from her cell, to undergo the last sentence of the law. She received the communion with some other prisoners, who were about to be executed on the same day, but all attempts to induce her to acknowledge the justice of her sentence, or the crime of which she had been found guilty, proved vain. She maintained the greatest firmness in her demeanour to the last, which was in no wise interrupted even upon her taking leave of her infant child, which lay sleeping in her cell, at the moment of her being called out to the scaffold.

Upon the appearance of the convict upon the platform, the deepest silence prevailed amongst the immense assemblage of persons, which had been collected to witness the execution. As a final duty, the Rev. Mr. Brown, immediately before the drop fell, again exhorted the unhappy woman to confession, but her only reply was a repetition of the declaration of her innocence, and the next moment terminated her existence.

Her body having remained suspended during the usual time, was cut down, and sent to the General Infirmary at Leeds to be anatomised. Immense crowds of persons assembled to meet the hearse, in which it was carried; and so great was the desire of the people to see her remains, that 30_l._ were collected for the use of the infirmary, by the payment of 3_d._ for each person admitted to the apartment in which they were exposed.

A short sketch of the life of this remarkable woman, and a few anecdotes of her proceedings, shall conclude this article. Mary Bateman, it appears, was born of reputable parents at Aisenby, near Thirsk, in the North-riding of Yorkshire, in the year 1768: her father, whose name was Harker, carrying on business as a small farmer. As early as at the age of five years, she exhibited much of that sly knavery, which subsequently so extraordinarily distinguished her character; and many were the frauds and falsehoods, of which she was guilty, and for which she was punished. In the year 1780, she first quitted her father's house, to undertake the duties of a servant in Thirsk, but having been guilty of some peccadilloes, she proceeded to York in 1787; but before she had been in that city more than twelve months, she was detected in pilfering some trifling articles of property belonging to her mistress, and was compelled to run off to Leeds, without waiting either for her wages or her clothes. For a considerable time she remained without employment or friends, but at length upon the recommendation of an acquaintance of her father, she obtained an engagement in the shop of a mantua-maker, in whose service she remained for more than three years. She then became acquainted with John Bateman, to whom after a three weeks' courtship she was married in the year 1792.