Chapter XLIV: Part 44

The indictment contained twenty-six counts and charges: First--"That one Edmund Loose, late of London, mariner, on the 10th of November, in the third year of her present Majesty's reign, being the captain of a certain vessel called the Dryad, the property of Alexander Howden and others, did, with force and arms, upon the high seas, within the jurisdiction, &c., feloniously, unlawfully, and maliciously, cast away and destroy the said vessel, with intent thereby to prejudice the said Alexander Howden and another, against the form of the statute in such case made and provided; and further, that Patrick Maxwell Stewart Wallace, late of London aforesaid, before the said felony was committed in form aforesaid, namely, on the 1st of August in the year aforesaid, did feloniously and maliciously incite, move, procure, aid, counsel, hire, and command the said Edmund Loose the said felony, in manner and form aforesaid, to do and commit, against the form of the statute in such case made and provided, against the peace, &c.; and further that Michael Shaw Stewart Wallace, late of London aforesaid, before the said felony was committed, &c., did feloniously and maliciously incite, &c., the said Edmund Loose the said felony in manner and form aforesaid, to do and commit, against the form of the statute," &c.

Second count--The same as the first, but without naming the owner of the vessel.

Third count--Stated the intention of the prisoners to have been to prejudice and defraud Pedro de Zulueta, and others, the owners of certain goods, laden and being in and on board the said vessel, belonging to Alexander Howden and others.

Fourth count--The same as the third, but omitting the name of the owner of the vessel.

The other counts stated the said Edmund Loose's intention to be, to prejudice and defraud various individuals, and that the prisoners did feloniously and maliciously incite the said Edmund Loose to commit the said felonies.

The proceedings commenced on Wednesday the 3d of March, when Mr. Jervis, as counsel for the prisoners, took an objection to the proceedings. Edmund Loose, who was charged as the principal felon, did not appear to plead, and he contended, that it was incompetent for the court to try the prisoners upon the indictment, alleging them to be accessories only in the absence of Loose. He admitted that they might be tried for a substantive felony, but that was not the nature of the offence alleged.

The Attorney-general contended that, by the Act 7th Geo. IV. chap. 64, sect. 9, the accessories could be tried in the absence of the principal felon.

After some further discussion, the court ruled that the prisoners could be tried for a substantive felony, according to the statute, and that they might proceed upon the present indictment; but he left the question open, so that the prisoners might have the advantage of a more full consideration of the point.

The Attorney-general then elected to proceed separately with the trials of the two prisoners, and the case of Patrick Maxwell Stewart Wallace was determined to be taken first. The evidence produced in the two cases, however, was exactly similar, and the statement of the facts proved in one of them only will be sufficient to put our readers in possession of all that was material to the inquiries.

The evidence was divided into two classes, the first of which referred to the conduct of the two prisoners in procuring excessive policies of insurance to be effected upon the ship and cargo; while the second related to the demeanour of Loose, the captain of the Dryad, on her voyage, from which it was sought to prove that he had wilfully cast away the vessel.

With reference to the first part of the case, it was shown that the Dryad was a brig, of which one-fourth share belonged to Messrs. Howden and Ainslie, ship-brokers, while the remaining three-fourths were the property of the prisoner Michael Wallace. The latter had purchased his share of a Mr. Gillespie in the year 1838, for 1600_l._; and the vessel after that was docked and rendered a first-class ship, an outlay of 600_l._ having been made upon her. In July 1839, the Dryad was chartered to Messrs. Zulueta and Co., merchants of Liverpool, for a voyage from that port to Santa Cruz, for 300_l._: Michael Wallace acted as ship's husband, and he directed Messrs. Howden and Ainslie to effect policies of insurance upon the vessel in 2200_l._, and upon the freight in 300_l._ These policies were accordingly effected in the office of the Marine Insurance Company. In the same month, however, other policies were effected in respect of the same ship by directions of the two Wallaces. In the Alliance Insurance Company, a policy for 715_l._ was effected on goods; in the General Maritime Insurance Company, a policy for 1265_l._ was likewise effected on goods; in the Neptune Insurance Company, a policy of 700_l._ was effected on the ship and outfit, and a policy of 687_l._ on goods; in the Mutual Marine Insurance Company, a policy was effected on goods; and another policy for 650_l._ was also effected by Messrs. Bahr and Bearing, of Liverpool. Independently of these policies, an insurance to the amount of 3000_l._ was also effected by Messrs. Zulueta and Co. at Lloyd's, in respect of the cargo which they sent out by the vessel. The total amount, therefore, insured upon the Dryad and her cargo was 10,117_l._; of which, deducting the value of Messrs. Zulueta's policy, and of that effected by Messrs. Howden and Ainslie, 6617_l._ stood in the names of the prisoners--a sum far exceeding the real worth of their interest in the vessel and her cargo. The Dryad having arrived at Liverpool, Messrs. Zulueta proceeded to load her with such goods as they wished her to convey to Santa Cruz. About three hundred tons were put on board, and on the 7th of September the vessel sailed from port. When she had gone, the prisoner Michael Wallace informed Stott, an agent whom he had employed, that he had put some goods of his own on board, although it would have been contrary to his agreement with Messrs. Zulueta if he had done so. In January 1840, a claim was sent in to the various insurance offices for the amount of the policies effected as for a total loss of the Dryad. Some conversations took place between Patrick Wallace and Stott, in which the former made use of expressions which seemed to imply that Loose, the captain, had purposely lost the ship, but the greater part of the insurances were paid to the two brothers, and placed to their accounts at the banking-houses where they usually deposited their money. The return of some of the seamen of the Dryad to London, subsequently enabled the parties to the policies to obtain evidence confirmatory of suspicions which they had entertained with regard to the loss of the Dryad; and in the month of November 1840, Patrick Wallace was taken into custody. His brother, Michael, at that time was living in Tredegar-square, Commercial-road; but upon inquiries being made for him, he was found to have absconded, and his house was discovered furnished throughout, but abandoned by its occupants. On the 16th of December, however, Michael was also secured, having been found living in a small row of houses in the outskirts of Lancaster, whither, according to his own account, he had gone that he might not be called upon to give testimony against his brother.

The evidence for which it was sought to prove that the Dryad had been wilfully cast away, a fact which, it may be observed, was necessary to be shown as an ingredient of the offence charged against the prisoners, was as follows:--

Ronald Maxwell said--I sailed as first-mate in the Dryad on a voyage from Liverpool to Santa Cruz. Captain Loose engaged me in Liverpool on the 4th of September, 1839, to go from Liverpool to Santa Cruz, from Santa Cruz to St. Jago, and thence to Swansea. I have commanded a ship in the South American trade, and I have crossed the Atlantic frequently. I have been to the West Indies, and I know the navigation of those seas. On the 4th of September we took in a few cases of hardware and a few kegs of paint. They came from Zulueta's, and I signed bills for them. From the time I entered the ship to the time we sailed, we took no goods on board except Zulueta's. I locked the ship up at night, and saw her again in the morning. One-third of the hold remained unfilled. After I went on the 4th of September there was no earthenware taken on board, nor were there any cases of flannels, cloth, or prints. There were no barrels of butter, beef, or pork taken on board, except for the ship's use. There were on board two tierces of beef and four barrels of pork. That was scarcely a sufficient quantity for the outward voyage. When a vessel sails for a place such as Santa Cruz, it is usual to take provisions for the homeward as well as the outward voyage. We went out of the dock on the 6th, and sailed on the 7th of September. We had ten hands on board, including the boy and the captain. We went through the North Channel. It is not unusual, according to the wind, to go by the North Channel. Captain Loose ordered me to get tackles rove and coiled in the long-boat, that she might be ready if she were wanted. We had no log-line when we sailed. I endeavoured to make one of spun-yarn, but I found that it was too heavy. We had no proper log-line while I remained on board. The log-board was choked when I endeavoured to sound, a short time after we got to sea. I tried to clear it out, but I could not do it. I told Captain Loose of it, and he said nothing particular. The pump was never made to suck. There was a chronometer on board, I think, but I never saw it. I frequently asked to use it, but Captain Loose would not allow me to see it. We pursued our course to the West Indian seas. There is generally a course laid down on the chart as a guide. About longitude 59 deg. W., Loose deviated from the proper track, and steered to the northward. We first made land at Virgin Guarda. I told the captain that I had seen the land, and he came on deck, where he remained several minutes. A few minutes afterwards I observed breakers a-head and low land. The breakers denoted a reef, and the low land was Anagada. We were about five miles from it. I observed it about six o'clock in the morning. I told the captain that I observed breakers a-head, and he jumped out of bed, and came on deck. Benjamin Shooltz was at the helm, and I told him to put the helm down, and put the ship round to keep her off the breakers. The captain then ran to the wheel and put the helm up, and the ship went direct on towards the breakers. Loose took the wheel himself, and remained at it a short time. Two of the crew came into the waist and complained of the captain, and they said that they would take the helm themselves and put the ship round, for they were not going to be lost. Upon this the captain left the wheel and Shooltz took it. He put the helm down again and the ship came round. When the helm was put down, the ship just cleared the breakers. In a few minutes she would have been on shore. When the ship came round, the captain said he did not think she was so near. Before the ship came round, the captain told me to mind my own d--d business, and take the studding-sails down. He also said that he would have me tried for mutiny for taking charge of the ship. This happened on the 17th of October. On the 19th we were on the Silver Keys, to the north of St. Domingo. He ought, I consider, to have gone by the south side of St. Domingo, between Antigua and Guadaloupe, to get to Santa Cruz. The ship ought to have been nearer the shore to avoid the Silver Keys. They are laid down on all the charts I have seen. About half-past six or seven o'clock in the morning, I saw a rock on the larboard bow, about three or four fathoms off. I told this to the captain, and he came on deck. I pointed the rock out to him. The captain said he could not see it. He had his telescope in his hand. The water a-head was discoloured. This indicates a shoal in these seas. One of the crew from the fore-yard called out, "Rocks under the fore-foot!" and I and the captain ran forward and looked over the bow. I saw the rocks, and Captain Loose said, "We are lost! we are all lost!" Immediately afterwards the ship struck, and remained fast for fifteen or twenty minutes. Loose ordered the jolly-boat to be hove overboard, and we put tackles over the long-boat to save ourselves. After about twenty minutes she got off. She afterwards struck another rock, and remained upon it a few minutes, but then dragged past it. The captain was putting a "life-preserver" on during this time. By the second rock the rudder was unshipped. We now trimmed the sails, to keep the ship before the wind. I wanted to make a temporary rudder, and I asked the captain to allow me to take some spars to do so, but he refused, and said we were in a pretty state--a ship at sea without a rudder--we had better have been all asleep a few days before, and have allowed the ship to run ashore at Anagada. The carpenter at length made a temporary rudder, and on the 20th we got to St. Domingo. Until the 22nd we proceeded along the coast. We ought, in order to avoid the breakers, to have kept further off. We were frequently near them, and the crew had all their clothes packed up ready if the ship should strike. On the 22nd we were near a reef off Cape Hayti, and the jury-rudder unshipped. The captain asked me what was best to be done; I said there was no danger if we were to put in to the harbour. He asked Shooltz and another what they thought, and they said that the harbour was before them, and they thought they could get in. Loose said he would not do so, for he had no pilot on board, and if anything happened to the vessel he should lose the insurance. I then said that we might put out to sea and replace the jury-rudder, and stand in and get a pilot the following morning. The captain went to bed at eight o'clock. I saw a sail about nine on the larboard quarter. I mentioned this to the captain, and he came on deck. I said she was a large ship, probably a man-of-war, and she could give us assistance if we ran down to her. We could have easily gone down before the wind. The captain would not allow us to go down, and he went to bed again. At daybreak we were to the south-east of the entrance of the port. We saw a ship to the north of the port. We were steering towards the reef, and we could see the breakers a-head. They were probably two miles off. Loose was on deck about seven o'clock in the morning. The Dryad was then steering towards the reef, in the direction which he ordered. The ship we saw to the northward fired a gun, and we found it was the Bencoolen. This was to warn us that we were running into danger. The Bencoolen had a union jack hoisted for a pilot, but Loose would not allow me to hoist one, saying if the pilots were too lazy to come off without a signal, they might stay ashore. The Dryad kept the same course until a pilot came on board. When I told Loose that the ship to the northward had fired a gun and hoisted a signal, he said that was nothing to him. The pilot came on board about eleven o'clock in the forenoon. The captain called him aft and showed him the jury-rudder, and asked him if he would take charge of the vessel. He said he would if the crew would work the ship in. He then took us into port. This was on Wednesday the 23rd of October. I left the Dryad on the 2nd of November. I assigned a reason to Loose for leaving the vessel. I was paid my wages (excepting 2_l._) by Captain Loose, and I went on board the Bencoolen. [The witness pointed out on the chart the course taken by the Dryad, and showed the track that he considered she ought to have gone]. There was nothing in the state of the wind or weather to induce the captain to keep the ship so near the shore at St. Domingo.

Benjamin Shooltz examined: In 1839, I shipped on board the Dryad at Liverpool for Santa Cruz. I have recently come from the coast of Africa. I came to England seventeen days ago. Captain Loose engaged me. We had very little provisions on board, and we were poorly furnished with spare spars, &c. The captain frequently told me to keep the long-boat always in good order and ready for sea at once. We hove in sight of Anagada on a Thursday. I saw the breakers and called Maxwell the mate. We were about four or five miles from them. I received orders from the mate to put the ship round, and he then went to the captain. When I brought the ship round, she was going from the breakers. When the captain came on deck, he cursed me, and asked me who gave me orders to put the ship about. He took the helm and brought the ship round towards the reef again. I said to the captain, "I took the orders myself, and I did not wish to put the ship on a reef in broad daylight." When the captain put her up again, the crew all came aft to him, and asked him what he intended to do. He did not keep the helm long, and I went to it when he went below, and put it down, and the ship went away and cleared the rocks. If she had gone on two minutes longer, she would have been on the rocks. Two days afterwards we were on the Silver Keys. We saw breakers a-head, and a lump of rock a little on the larboard side. I had the helm at this time. When I saw the Silver Keys, I hailed the mate, and he went down and informed the captain. When the captain came up, he said he did not see the rock. He had his glass then. I saw the rock with my naked eye. A man on the fore-yard, about five minutes afterwards, shouted out that there was about four feet water under the keel, and he saw rocks. The captain was on deck, but he did nothing. Shortly afterwards the vessel struck. The captain was very frightened at the time, and cried out "What shall we do, lads?--we are lost!" The long-boat was lying on the gripes off the ship, and the jolly-boat lay upon her. This is the usual way they are stowed away. When the ship struck, the rudder unshipped. This was about seven o'clock in the morning. The captain went to the helm shortly after the Dryad struck. The day before we made St. Domingo, the strap came off the jury rudder. At that time the captain's life-preserver was on deck. The crew told him if he put that on, they would cut it all to pieces. We were then five miles from Cape Hayti. There was no reason for keeping so close to the shore as we did. I remember the night before the gun was fired; that night we kept out to sea. We were about five miles from the breakers when the gun was fired, and we were then steering direct upon them. The ship's course was not altered when the gun was fired. The previous night the captain asked me and Davis, the second mate, what we should do, as we had got no rudder. We said that the best way would be to keep out to sea, and stand in for Hayti in the morning. We had not signalled for a pilot on board the Dryad. When the pilot came on board, he easily put the ship round and took us into the harbour, where we remained nine or twelve days. Many complaints were then made by the crew to the captain. We made an effort to be permitted to leave the ship at St. Domingo, but we were not allowed by the captain. The mate left the Dryad on the 2d of November. On the 5th we sailed from Hayti, and on the 10th the Dryad struck on the reef at Cape Cruz. About ten minutes before, we struck on a small lump of rock. We saw the reef all the day before, but the ship's course was not altered to avoid it. I was acting under the orders of the captain when the ship struck. He was on deck all the night. She struck about half-past two o'clock in the morning. The captain never was on deck all night before. A man named Simpson was at the helm, and the captain told him to run away, or he would get hurt. The crew came on deck and spoke to the captain. The ship did not make a drop of water that night. I sounded one of the pumps frequently. No orders were given to the crew to get the ship off the reef, and he went below. In my judgment, the ship might have been got off, as the vessel was making no water. The captain left all the sails up. The crew were willing to work if they had been directed. If an anchor had been put out and her sails dowsed, she might have got off. A canoe came off to us. There were Spaniards in it, and the captain asked if there was a town near, and he was told there was one about thirty miles over the mountains. The Spaniards also said there was a consul ashore. The captain went ashore in the boat. He came back and said he had been to the Spaniard's house. The crew, with the exception of Simpson and myself, went ashore. The ship made no water at this time. When the captain was ashore, we made sail with the other boat and went round the ship. At her stern we found a cigar-box and a bolt attached to it. The water was clear, and we took it up. We found several letters and some leaves of the log-book in it. Loose came back from the shore that night, and the next day he had a conversation with me and the crew. He took the long-boat with him and we all went to Jamaica, where the protest was noted. We kept the letters, and at one time produced them to the captain, and he snatched them away from Simpson, and gave him four pound-notes for them. This was two days after we got to Jamaica. After we went to Jamaica, none of us went back to the vessel. Before I left the ship I found a hole under her stern. No rock could make such a hole. It was big enough to admit my shoulders. The previous day she made no water, and I told the captain so. It was on the evening of the next day I discovered the hole. The weather was not at all boisterous then. The position in which the ship was could not account for the hole. I sounded her after finding the hole, and found five feet of water in the hold. The next day we left for Jamaica. The vessel could then have been got off. I saw the hole from the inside. It was in the state-room, which was locked. The captain saw it plainly, being in the cabin where it was. From the time we struck upon the Silver Keys the crew kept their clothes in bags in readiness to leave the vessel, expecting she would get upon a reef. It is my opinion that the ship was wilfully cast away by the captain.

The witness, in cross-examination, admitted that he had sworn to the protest which had been drawn up at Jamaica, and had stated in it that he believed the vessel to have been accidentally lost. He stated that the effect of the contents of the papers which he had picked up when the vessel was on the rocks was an intimation from the captain that he had cast away the ship intentionally; but he also said that the cigar-box in which they were contained lay at a depth of six fathoms, and that he had fished it up with an oar. He imagined that Loose had himself cut the hole which was found in the stern of the ship.

Other evidence was given, from which it appeared probable that Captain Loose was dead, and by which the various sums of money received on account of the policies of insurance were traced to the possession of the two prisoners.

Mr. C. Phillips, on behalf of Patrick Wallace, addressed the jury in a powerful speech, urging that the evidence of Shooltz was not worthy of credit, and that without that evidence the case was incomplete; and also contending that the policies of insurance which had been effected were by no means so excessive in their amount as to lead to the positive conclusion that they had been effected with a view to the destruction of the vessel. He alluded with great force to the death of Loose, and his consequent inability to put such questions on the cross-examination of the witnesses as might lead to the development of the truth; and he urged that the jury having found that a protest was made at Jamaica, describing the loss of the vessel to have been accidental, which was signed not only by Shooltz, but by four other persons besides him, and the captain, they would take that to be the truth, and would on that ground acquit the prisoner.

Lord Chief Justice Tindal summed up the case to the jury, and after some consideration they returned a verdict of "Guilty."

On the next morning Michael Wallace was put upon his trial; but, as we have already stated, the facts proved against him were so precisely similar to those which were adduced in evidence in the case of his brother, that they need not be detailed. At the end of the second day's trial, after a speech to the jury from Mr. Jervis, who appeared for the defence of this prisoner, in which he again urged the same topics which formed the grounds of defence in the former case, a verdict of Guilty was returned.

The two brothers were then placed at the bar to receive sentence.

The Lord Chief Justice in delivering judgment said that it would of course depend upon the decision upon the point of law whether the punishment which he should direct them to undergo would be carried out. The prisoners had been found guilty, after fair and impartial trials before intelligent juries, of the offence of having feloniously incited one Edmond Loose, the captain of the ship Dryad, wilfully to cast away that ship for the purpose of defrauding the underwriters. He felt bound to say that he was perfectly satisfied with the verdicts which the two juries had found in the respective cases of the two prisoners. It was an offence of very grave importance, tending to check the spirit of mercantile adventure, and the commerce of this country, because it was aimed at defrauding those persons upon whose responsibility much of that adventure and commerce depended. It was to be observed that the loss in this case had fallen upon the underwriters, and the checking of their business might produce serious results. The effect of a policy of insurance was to cast upon a company a loss which, if it fell upon one individual only, might be ruinous in its consequences; and it could not but be observed that the numerous insurance companies of this city could no longer exist unless their proceedings were protected by the law, and offences directed against their fair and honest gains were punished with its just severity. In this case there were circumstances of great aggravation, because the result of the foul crime which had been committed might have been not only the loss of property, but of life. The penalty applied by the law to this offence was no longer capital. He rejoiced at that, but at the same time he felt that it was his duty to visit the offence of the prisoners with a severe punishment. The sentence of the court was, "That the prisoners should be transported beyond the seas for the respective terms of their natural lives."

The prisoners were then removed from the bar.

DAVID SAMS.

TRANSPORTED FOR BURGLARY.

The name of this hardened offender has been already before our readers, and his case will show how unavailing are the most solemn warnings to the mind naturally addicted to crime.

The first offence alleged against Sams was that of the robbery and murder of an old pensioner named Bennett, at Tewen, near Hertford. For that crime he was tried with two other young men named Roach and Fletcher at the Herts Assizes, when, although there appeared to be very little moral doubt that he had been the original concoctor of the scheme, and had actively assisted in the perpetration of the horrible crime imputed to him, owing to a failure of the necessary legal evidence as to his identity, he was acquitted, but his two unhappy companions were convicted and subsequently executed. Almost immediately after this, Sams committed another robbery, and was tried and convicted, and sentenced to six months imprisonment. Shortly after this period of imprisonment had expired, a young man named Thomas Taylor, who had also been charged with being concerned in the robbery and murder of the old man, was taken into custody, and upon his trial Sams was admitted as witness for the Crown, and he then detailed all the circumstances of the murder, and stated that it was committed by the two men who were executed, Taylor, and himself, and that they divided the money between them. Upon this evidence, and other corroborating testimony, Taylor was convicted and executed.

It might have been thought that such circumstances as these would have induced Sams to change his wicked courses, the more especially as some of the gentry in the neighbourhood of Hertford interested themselves in his behalf, and obtained him employment, whereby he might have earned a reputable subsistence, but he speedily resumed his old habits, and his employers could keep him no longer.

He now quitted the vicinity of the scene of his crimes and his disgrace, but, led on either by want or some worse inducement, he was again guilty on two separate occasions of acts of felony, for which he was apprehended and imprisoned.

On his discharge he was again thrown upon the world, and he once more ventured to the scene of his early life. Old recollections seem but to have reproduced new acts of crime, and at length he was secured while in the very act of breaking into a farmhouse at Ware. For this offence he was tried at the Spring Quarter Sessions for the county of Hertford, held in March 1841, the Marquis of Salisbury sitting as Chairman. The evidence was too clear to admit of a doubt being entertained, and a verdict of Guilty was returned.

The Marquis of Salisbury, in passing sentence, observed that he never knew an instance of so hardened a criminal as he appeared to be. He thought he should be neglecting his duty to the public if he did not pass upon him the severest sentence of the law; which was, that he be transported for the term of his natural life. The convict heard the sentence with the greatest coolness, and at its conclusion nodded to one or two of his old companions in the body of the court, and walked away laughing from the bar.

WILLIAM STEVENSON.

TRANSPORTED FOR LARCENY.

The charge preferred against this person, and of which he was found guilty, was that of stealing from his employers, Messrs. Mercer and Co., of the Maidstone Bank, a bag containing 500_l._ in gold. For this offence he was tried at the Maidstone spring assizes, on the 17th of March 1841, before Lord Denman, when the following remarkable facts were proved in evidence:--

It seemed that in the month of October, 1839, Mr. Mercer wrote to his London agents, Messrs. Masterman, the bankers, to remit to him fifteen hundred pounds in gold, and five hundred pounds in silver, and that sum was accordingly placed in seven bags, one containing a thousand pounds in gold, another five hundred in gold, and five bags, each containing one hundred pounds in silver, and the whole were placed in a box, of which Messrs. Masterman and Mercer had each a duplicate key, and the box was then committed to the care of Wallis, one of the Maidstone coachmen, to be conveyed to that place. The box was duly carried to Maidstone, and the prisoner, who acted as porter at Mr. Mercer's bank, was sent to fetch it, and he brought the box to the bank about seven o'clock in the evening, and it was taken from him by Mr. Mercer, jun., who unlocked it and took out the bags of coin, and, without examining them, placed them in the strong chest; but he observed that at this time there were only six bags, namely, one large one, which he supposed contained the fifteen hundred pounds in gold, and the five bags of silver. The next morning, upon the money being examined, it was found to be five hundred pounds short of the proper quantity of gold, and on a communication being made to Messrs. Masterman, the loss of the second bag of gold was discovered.

No clue whatever at this time could be obtained as to the perpetrator of the robbery, but no suspicion was entertained of the prisoner, and he was retained in the prosecutors' service until the following month of January, when, for some act of misconduct, he was dismissed. Shortly after this, the prisoner set up in business in the town as a grocer, and some other circumstances coming to the knowledge of the prosecutors, induced a suspicion that he was the thief, and a search warrant was obtained and placed in the hands of Faucett, the superintendant of the Maidstone police, who proceeded to the prisoner's house, and, upon searching it, he found a number of watches and time-pieces. When the prisoner was told by the officer what was the nature of the charge against him, he denied all knowledge of the robbery, and told him he might search where he pleased. The officer then asked what money they had in the house, and about seven pounds in gold and silver were produced by the prisoner's wife. He asked whether they had not got any more money, and the prisoner's wife went up to the bed-room with him, and she produced from between the bed and the mattress a bag, containing forty-five pounds in sovereigns and half-sovereigns. He also found an I O U for 10_l._, signed by a person named Merston, who proved that the prisoner lent him ten sovereigns upon it, and that he was paying him interest.

It was also proved that before the robbery the prisoner had only been in the receipt of a pound a week, and that he was in very poor circumstances; and it appeared that after he was discharged he had purchased two houses in Maidstone, for which he paid 350_l._, and the payment was wholly in sovereigns and half-sovereigns. Further it was shown, that the prisoner had taken the grocer's shop and had paid a considerable sum for good-will and stock in trade, without having any means to do so, except, as was suggested, by that of having committed the robbery.

Mr. Sergeant Shea made a powerful address to the jury on behalf of the prisoner, and said that the sole evidence by which it was sought to convict him of the crime imputed to him was his being in possession of an amount of money which the prosecutors chose to consider he could not have been possessed of by his own means. The learned counsel said, however, that he hoped to be able to satisfy the jury that the money the prisoner had spent was his own property.

Some witnesses were then called for the purpose of showing that at the various elections in the borough sums of money had been given to the prisoner, and it was elicited that a vote was always worth something, and one witness went so far as to say that he considered his vote worth 15_l._

Several other witnesses were examined, but although it was admitted that money had been given to the prisoner in sums of 8_l._ and 10_l._ at different times, the witnesses said the money was only given out of charity, and the evidence did not in the slightest degree show a probability of the prisoner being lawfully in the possession of the money he had expended.

Lord Denman then summed up the evidence, and went through the whole of it in the most careful and impartial manner, and concluded by leaving the case in the hands of the jury, who, after a short deliberation, returned a verdict of "Guilty."

The learned judge, addressing the prisoner, said that no person who had heard the evidence adduced could doubt, for a moment, that he was guilty of the offence imputed to him. It was a very serious one, and he felt himself called upon to pass a severe sentence. His lordship then ordered him to be transported for fourteen years.

JAMES INGLETT.

CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER.

The case of this unfortunate person excited considerable interest in the vicinity of the place where it occurred, as well on account of the peculiar circumstances by which it was surrounded, as of the great age and high respectability of character of the accused. Inglett at the time of his trial had attained the age of ninety-four years; he was indicted at the Huntingdon assizes on the 19th of March 1841, for feloniously killing and slaying one Elizabeth Harlett, by administering to her a quantity of arsenic.

The very venerable person who stood charged with this offence had for many years carried on the business of farmer and "cow-leech," and in the latter character was in the habit of administering medicines to various kinds of cattle. His great age and his long acquaintance with the healing art had caused him to be regarded with much respect among the simple people of his neighbourhood, where his character had been unexceptionable. The deceased, who lived in the village of Houghton, near Huntingdon, was taken ill during the year 1840, and the parish apothecary used all his art to restore her to health, but in vain. About Christmas the prisoner was called in to see her, and he immediately administered to her a dose of liquid medicine, which made her very sick, and caused her great suffering, but she got better after taking it; and on the morning of the day when the fatal potion was given to her by the prisoner, she was, as her sister said, "quite purely." On the morning of Monday the 11th of January, the prisoner called to see her; as soon as he had left the house, one of her sisters saw standing on the mantel-piece of the room in which the deceased was sitting a cup full of a similar medicine to that which he had before administered to her, and which had made her so sick and ill. When, three or four hours afterwards, this sister went again into the room, she found the deceased very unwell, and the cup standing empty on the table. The deceased got much worse towards night, and from that time till her death she was constantly sick, and suffered excruciating pain, with almost intolerable thirst. Early on Wednesday morning, January the 13th, having taken some opium pills, she fell into a quiet doze, and soon afterwards death put an end to her sufferings, and she woke no more. No suspicion was then entertained of her having died any other than a natural death, and in due time she was buried. When she had been ten days in the earth, however, various rumours got abroad respecting the cause of her death; and the county coroner directed the body to be exhumed, and a jury to be summoned. Two surgeons examined the disinterred body, and found it in a generally healthy state, the organs being sound and free from disease, but the stomach and bowels were much inflamed; and the jury returned a verdict that she had died from the incautious and improper administering by the prisoner of "a certain noxious, inflammatory, and dangerous thing to the jurors unknown;" and the old man was committed to prison for manslaughter.

At the time of the inquest the nature of the "thing" to which the verdict referred in terms so vague had not been ascertained; but the contents of the stomach of the deceased were preserved, and afterwards subjected to the usual tests of the presence of arsenic. Ammoniacal sulphates of copper and of silver, and sulphuretted hydrogen gas, were applied to the contents of the stomach, and the green and yellow precipitates, indicating the presence of arsenic, followed. In addition to this, the one infallible test, the reproduction of the arsenic itself, left no doubt that the deceased had taken that dreadful poison shortly before her death. It appeared by the evidence of a chemist's shopman, that three or four months before, the prisoner bought of him an ounce of arsenic, but as he was in the habit of using that drug in the manufacture of his cattle ointments, the purchase excited no suspicion at the time. In order to show that it was the prisoner by whom or by whose direction the poison was administered, it was proved that on the morning of the death of the deceased he called at the house in which she had breathed her last, and a conversation ensued between the relatives of the unfortunate woman and himself, in which he almost in terms admitted that the fact was so. After some introductory matters, a sister of the deceased told him "it was his 'stuff' that had killed her;" to which he replied, "that could not be, for he had only given her half a grain, whereas he had given his own son, and others, a grain and more, without any harm." The sister rejoined, "Then it was too strong for her stomach;" to which the prisoner answered, "Like enough, poor thing! for her stomach was almost gone." This, and his observation on the day of her funeral, that "he would not for 20_l._ have given her anything if he had known it, for he'd rather have done her good than harm," constituted the evidence on which the prosecutor relied for proof of his having been the hand which administered or the advice which directed the arsenic. The family of the deceased spoke very favourably of his kindness and attention to her in her illness.

The Lord Chief-Justice Tindal told the jury that they must first satisfy themselves whether, in point of fact, the deceased had died from the taking of arsenic, and whether the prisoner had administered it. If they were satisfied of those two facts, they would then have to say whether the prisoner had conducted himself so rashly and with such gross negligence as made him liable to an indictment for manslaughter. The question was, whether, in reference to the nature of the remedy he applied, he acted with a due degree of care and caution, or whether he acted with rashness and gross negligence. If they were of opinion that he acted with gross negligence and want of due and proper caution, he was in point of law guilty of the crime with which he was charged upon this indictment.

The jury consulted together for some time, and then returned a verdict of "Guilty."

The Lord Chief-Justice in passing sentence observed, that the ends of justice would be answered by the responsibility to which the prisoner had subjected himself being generally known. If any person presumed to administer medically a deadly poison, being grossly ignorant of its character and effects, or with rash negligence in its use, and death ensued, he would be liable to be convicted of the offence of manslaughter. Such a person might have no evil intention, and indeed might be actuated by a desire to alleviate the sufferings of a fellow-creature, but it behoved him to proceed with caution and care. At the time of life at which the prisoner had arrived, it would be useless cruelty to inflict upon him a severe punishment; and as he had been already in jail during six weeks, the court would sentence him to a further imprisonment of fourteen days only.

The old man, who appeared to possess his mental and physical powers almost unimpaired, paid great attention to the case as it proceeded. His respectful demeanour, silvery hair, and mild countenance, secured for him considerable compassion in court, which was strongly increased by the sorrow depicted in his countenance for the deed, of which he had been so unwittingly guilty, and his known reputation for amiability of disposition.

THE END.

PRINTED BY J. S. VIRTUE AND CO., LIMITED, CITY ROAD, LONDON.

Typographical errors corrected by the etext transcriber:

pronouncesd the word=> pronounced the word {pg 22}

that the ngay city=> that then gay city {pg 30}

near the Edgware-road=> near the Edgeware-road {pg 35}

I have nohing more to say=> I have nothing more to say {pg 44}

same i dec nt levity=> same indecent levity {pg 45}

as as well as Thistlewood=> as well as Thistlewood {pg 45}

an innoffensive, gentlemanly man=> an inoffensive, gentlemanly man {pg 53}

articles of linendrapery=> articles of linen drapery {pg 61}

short of Edgware=> short of Edgeware {pg 77}

men were still alseep=> men were still asleep {pg 87}

atached to Bow-street=> attached to Bow-street {pg 130}

acording to circumstances=> according to circumstances {pg 168}

ocasionally procured=> occasionally procured {pg 168}

bronght to the scaffold=> brought to the scaffold {pg 183}

of the blody knife=> of the bloody knife {pg 188}

accessary to the murder=> accessory to the murder {pg 247}

coming down to Penydarran=> coming down to Penydarren {pg 258}

mukets of the Highlanders=> muskets of the Highlanders {pg 259}

its intended supension=> its intended suspension {pg 354}

of Cook and Joblings=> of Cook and Jobling {pg 355}

gentleman mamed Canning=> gentleman named Canning {pg 389}

immediatly afterwards=> immediately afterwards {pg 391}

under-gamekepers=> under-gamekeepers {pg 397}

witnesses at Maidstone, Chlemsford=> witnesses at Maidstone, Chelmsford {pg 403}

in order to made room=> in order to make room {pg 434}

in which the innnocent=> in which the innocent {pg 492}

controul and direction=> control and direction {pg 518}

and a detachmant of the 45th foot=> and a detachment of the 45th foot {pg 518}

of the Welch Oak=> of the Welsh Oak {pg 527}

your lordship should bear in mind=> your lordships should bear in mind {pg 613}

the property of Alexander Howder=> the property of Alexander Howden {pg 624}

a police was effected on goods=> a policy was effected on goods {pg 625}

had atained the age=> had attained the age {pg 634}