Robert Ormsby was present at the wreck; there was an altercation between John Fenton and the deceased: John Fenton threatened to throw the deceased down the rock; Hillas was a great means of saving the crew: he heard Fenton say, "G-d damn you;" there were warm words on the subject of the wreck-he heard that the mate, on whom the care of the vessel devolved, gave it up into Mr. Fenton's charge, and he saw the writing by which it was conveyed to him; he heard Mr. Fenton had remained all night upon a rock on the shore, endeavouring to give all the assistance in his power. He saw Major Hillas at Mr. Jones's house on the day before the duel, and saw them preparing the pistols, and Hillas practising at a board, and firing: Hillas fired but a few shots only to try his pistols.

Mr. Wynne was one of the magistrates who sat on the investi. gation of the salvage claims; Colonel Irwin sat along with him; Mr. Hillas remained all the time of the investigation; he used very warm expressions to Mr. Thomas Fenton; he stated his own case, and alleged that the mate was unwarrantably taken out of his hands by Mr. Thomas Fenton; his words were very strong: he recollected his concluding by saying, "that the mate was taken, he might say, stolen from him;" the magistrates interrupted him: his belief was, that he meant to apply the expression to Mr. Thomas Fenton as a magistrate he wished to put a stop to the proceeding.

Mr. Whitestone, counsel for VOL. LVIII.

the prisoners, said, he would call but one witness.

Doctor Carter was at the duel; he proposed an apology to Mr. Ferrall to be made by Major Hillas; the apology he proposed was for him to say, that "the expres sion which he used relative to Mr Fenton, were spoken in heat, and not founded in fact, and he was sorry for them." This was objected to. Doctor Carter then proposed to expunge the words "not founded in fact," but Captain Ferrall would not suffer any apology. Hillas was attended by three men, all very competent to advise him on such a subject; but Captain Ferrall was particularly

So.

On being cross-examined, he said, there was no written apology required from Major Hillas; he did not know whether Mr. Michael Fenton, the prisoner Thomas's father, was skilled in duelling; but he was quite sure that Mr. John Fenton, his second, was quite inexperienced, and he, believed Thomas never sent a message before.

:

The case here closed on the part of the prisoners; and Judge Fletcher proceeded to charge the Jury he said that he had an arduous duty to discharge, but that there was no exception in a case of this kind; and he was bound to tell them, that where in a duel death ensues, it is murder-murder as well in the principal as in the second. Here one of the seconds was the cousin, and the other (Mr. Ferrall), though not indicted, was equally culpable. No matter whether the duel was fair or foul, usual or not; the law recognised no shades of dis.

Y

tinction;

tinction; and he was obliged to tell them, that if two people went out with mortal weapons to fight, and if a death ensue, it was murder. It was his painful duty to tell them so; but in such a case nothing could be innocent, unless where two men, wearing, as formerly, swords, had a sudden rencontre; if death ensued, it was only manslaughter; but even there, if a previous message had been delivered, it was murder. As to the discussion whether this was a fair duel or not, it was for them, having thus laid down the law to them, to consider. He had told them, if they acted legally, how they should find, but he could not pretend to be ignorant of what his experience had taught him; and he must say, in the melancholy course of his professional experience, he had never seen less deviation or corroboration in the witnesses, or less to induce them to suppose that a fairer duel was ever fought. On the part of the unfortunate deceased, there even appeared to be some attempt at display; he made a speech before the magistrates; he made a speech before the crowd-there seemed even some stage-trick in his proceedings; and he could Lot help remarking it to them, though he must at the same time greatly regret that so very worthy and excellent a young man, as he appeared to be, had met with so untimely an end. It was proved, also, that the deceased not only wore a black dress, but had prepared black sleeves to his waistcoat ; what effect black had in such a case he did not know, but it at least showed a purpose on the part of the deceased. He

had, perhaps, entangled himself on this subject more than he ought, but he had previously done his duty, by informing them what the law was; and he had in addition to tell them, that they could find no intermediate verdict between an acquittal or murder.

The Jury retired, and in a few minutes returned a verdict ofNot Guilty as to both the pri

soners.

Judge Fletcher then addressed the young gentlemen in a very impressive admonitory address as to the awful situation in which they were placed, and ordered them be immediately discharged.

Lancaster Assizes, SeptemberSusannah Holroyd was put to the bar, charged with three murders; with the wilful murder of her husband, at Ashton-under-Line, by administering poison to him on the 15th day of April, of which he died on the 18th; as also with the murder of her own son, a boy of eight years of age, by the same means; and of Ann Newton, an infant of about 15 weeks old, by the same means, and on the same occasion.

Mr. Cross, Counsel for the prosecution, stated the law applicable to this case to the jury, and gave an outline of the evidence by which the charge was supported. The deceased, Matthew Holroyd, followed the trade of a weaver, and had the misfortune not to live on good terms with his wife, the prisoner at the bar, by whom he had three children, the last of whom was mentioned in the present indictment. The prisoner was in the habit of

nursing

nursing illegitimate children, one of whom likewise she was now charged with murdering. About a month before she exercised this unrelenting cruelty, she had a very extraordinary conversation with the mother of this infant, who resided in the house with her. She told Mary Newton that she had had her fortune read, and that in the course of one week, and within six weeks from the period on which she was speaking, three funerals would go from her door. One of the destined victims was her husband, another her son, and the third the child of the person to whom she was addressing herself. She did not delay her purpose, however, till the six weeks of the fortune-teller had expired; for in about a month afterwards she went to a chymist's shop and purchased an ounce and a half of arsenic, to fulfil the prophecy. This happened on Saturday, the 13th of April, or Easter-eve. Next morning her husband had some coffee for his breakfast, and soon after became ill. To restore him, she prepared him some water gruel, and in it she mixed the poison. The wretched man immediately felt that the gruel had an uncommon taste, and refused at first to drink it; but she urged him so strongly, by telling him that "it was the last gruel she ever would prepare him," that he complied with her entreaties, not knowing the enigma hid under these expressions. As he grew worse, she called in medical assistance, the better to allay suspicion, and was entrusted by the medical man with remedies to be administered; but she refused to

administer them, saying, it was of no use, for "her husband would die." After the death of the deceased, the prisoner was taken into custody, and before the Coroner made a full confession of the murder, which, as it was signed by her, would be given in evidence. There were two counts in the indictment respecting Matthew Holroyd: the first charged the prisoner with petty treason, in making an attempt on the life of her husband; the second with administering poison, of which he died. It was necessary to have these two, as on one occasion, where the latter was omitted, and the former could not be proved, the Judge felt himself obliged to direct the party to be acquitted, though there was no doubt that the deceased died by poison.

John Taylor, a chymist at Ashton-under-Line, proved, that he sold an ounce and a half of arsenic (or mercury, as the common people call it) to the prisoner, for destroying rats and mice; that he refused at first to sell any, unless the prisoner would bring a neighbour along with her, to vouch for the purpose for which it was to be applied; and that, upon such attestation, he sold the quantity in question.

Mary Newton had lodged with the prisoner for ten or eleven weeks previous to the murders, and had her child, Ann Newton, about fifteen weeks old, in the house with her. She remembered Matthew Holroyd becoming ill on the 14th of April, and he complained of a fire or burning pain in his stomach. His son sickened about the same time. When his Y 2

wife,

wife gave him the gruel, the witness heard him say, Susy, you have put pepper in this gruel;" which she denied, and he persisted in declaring. She threatened him with cooking no more for him while he lived, if he did not drink it. He died on the Friday morning at six o'clock, after a week of severe agony; and his son survived him only six hours. The child of the witness, which was under the care of the prisoner when witness went out to work, died on the Tuesday at six o'clock in the evening, with violent retchings, convulsions, and vomiting, like the husband and son of the prisoner. This witness recounted the story of the fortune-telling, as stated above. There were no rats or mice in the house to justify the purchase of arsenic.

John Swindels, who practises medicine at Ashton under-Line, deposed, that he was sent for by the prisoner to her husband; that he complained of violent pains in the stomach; that he gave him an emetic, which relieved him a little; but that he gave over his visits when the prisoner refused to administer his prescriptions.

Jonathan Hague, clerk to Mr. Gibbon, an attorney at Ashtonunder-Line, stated a confession that the prisoner made to him when in custody after her apprehension for the murders.

Samuel Newton, a constable, presented to the Court the confession of the prisoner before the Coroner, stating, that no threat, promise, or allurement was held out to her to induce her to make it; but that, on the contrary, she was warned not to criminate

herself, and told that every thing she said might be given in evidence against her on her trial. The confession was read, and acknowledged the murder in the

most unreserved manner.

Thomas Ogden, a surgeon at Ashton, was called at the inquisition taken on the body. He examined the stomach, which was infamed nearly over its whole extent, and in one place the inflammation had amounted to gangrene. There was a quantity of fluid on the stomach, which he analyzed, and in the analysis detected arsenic. He had no doubt that inflammation was the cause of the death, and the arsenic the cause of the inflammation.

The Judge summed up this evidence, which seemed very clear, and the Jury returned a verdict of-Guilty.

The Judge immediately pronounced the awful sentence of the law, that Susannah Holroyd, being convicted of so atrocious a crime, should be hanged on Monday and her body given for dissection. The prisoner, who had continued during the whole of her trial apparently insensible to her awful situation, and had even heard the word guilty without betraying any symptoms of emotion, seemed impressed with the solemn formalities and moving address that accompanied the delivery of her sentence. The sympathy of the numerous crowd that attended this trial was powerfully turned against the prisoner, not only from the natural horror felt at the crime for which she was doomed to suffer, but from a very general belief that, in her occupation of nursing illegitimate chil

dren

dren (who are of course frequently neglected by their natural guardians), she had murdered at different times several infants, in the same manner as she had lately done her husband and the two other victims of her unprovoked malice.

Old Bailey, Monday, April 8. -George Barnett was put to the bar, standing charged with shooting a certain pistol loaded with powder and shot at Frances Maria Kelly on the 17th of February last, with intent her to kill and murder. The second count charged him with shooting at her with intent to do her some bodily harm. There were two other counts, varying the charge; and a fifth count, charging him in like manner with shooting at Edward Knight.

Mr. Nathan Harris deposed, that he is a jeweller. On the evening of the 17th of February, he was in the pit of Drury-lane Theatre, about the eighth row. He saw the prisoner about two rows before him, who stood up during the performance of the farce. Miss Kelly and Mr. Knight were on the stage at the moment, embracing each other, in the characters of Nan and Joey, in the furce of The Merry Mourners. After they had parted, Miss Kelly was retreating backwards towards the stage-door, when witness observed the prisoner standing above all the people around him, with his right hand pointing slanting towards the spot where Miss Kelly was standing. Witness saw a flash come from his hand, and heard the report of a pistol witness reached across to

him instantly, and seized him, when he said, "I am not the man who fired it; don't take me." Witness said, he was sure he was the man. At this time the prisoner had dropped the pistol. Witness had seen the wadding drop at the moment of the flash. The prisoner was then secured, taken out of the theatre, and searched. In his pocket was found a small block-tin case full of gunpowder. Witness did not stop longer, the crowd was SO great.

Cross-examined.-The distance from the prisoner to Miss Kelly. was very great. The prisoner seemed much agitated. He went quietly from the pit, and said nothing.

was

Mr. Birnie deposed that he took the depositions against the prisoner. He put a question to the prisoner: the answer not taken in writing. Witness cautioned the prisoner against saying any thing to criminate himself. Witness asked him how he came to fire a pistol in a public theatre. He said it was to make an alarm. Witness then asked him how he came to point it so. His answer was, "She can explain." He did not mention Miss Kelly's name, but her name had been mentioned, and that of no other female.

Cross-examined. - Could not form any judgment of the prisoner's sanity. There was a sort of gloominess in his eyes.

Mr. Rorer went to the theatre to ascertain the direction of the shot, and found marks of shot (very small) on the lamps on the stage door, near which Miss Kelly had been standing. He found

sume