informed by a policeman that the cabman who had just
left him at the station was by that time in Broad Street
depositing the gun-case which had been left in the cab,
and to a considerable portion of the value of which the
driver would be entitled for his honesty in giving it up.
The owner of the property went to the Commissioners
at Broad Street, representing the fact that the cabman
had made the "mistake" intentionally, for the purpose
of establishing a claim to the reward, and received
an answer from the depôt expressive of belief that the
case was exactly as the complainant had described it,
but admitting that the delinquent must still be rewarded,
in the apprehension that a refusal would aggravate the
system of robbery which the plan of compensation had been
made to diminish. The complainant was then obliged,
before he received the gun-case, to pay 10s. as a
recompense to the rascal by whom he had been put to expense
and subjected to disappointment.
Eliza Smalley, a girl of seventeen. Murdered her
Mistress, at Stow in Lincolnshire, and endangered her
master's life, by putting a solution of arsenic in the
coffee they took for breakfast. Solutions of arsenic and
mercury were used at the farm to soak wheat. A
portion of the arsenical solution was in an iron pot,
accessible to the girl. Mr. and Mrs. Page (her master and
mistress) were taken ill after breakfasting, and Mrs.
Page died before surgical aid could be brought to bear:
her husband was saved. The girl confessed her guilt.
At the inquest, Cheney, a constable, stated that she
voluntarily said to him, her breast heaving violently—
"Last Saturday my mistress said I had killed a fowl: I
told her I had not: yesterday morning I took some
mercury [arsenic] from an iron pot that stood against
the back-door, and put it into the coffee-pot: I did not
think it would kill her; I only thought it would have
made her badly." "When I asked her where the pot
was," continued the constable, "she went and showed
it me. I held out no inducement to her. She confessed
freely and voluntarily." The Coroner, cautioning her that
what she said would be written down, asked Smalley—
"Is this what you told Mr. Cheney; and is it the
truth?" Prisoner (hanging down her head)—"Yes,
sir." Coroner—"How old are you?" Prisoner—"I
am seventeen years of age, and have lived here ever since
last May-day. I have no reason to complain either of
my master or mistress. The pot stood at the back-door
for two days. I took the poison out with a gill mug; I
took it away and put it in the dairy after having washed
it. When I put the poison in the coffee-pot, I was in
the kitchen. I put in a gill-full, and the coffee was
boiled afterwards for a few minutes. My master and
mistress got their breakfasts immediately after the coffee
boiled. I saw both of them after they had done their
breakfast. I was with my mistress when she died. I
have never been either to church or chapel since I have
lived here, but I used to go to church before I came
here, I never had a Bible, but I could read a little in
it if I had one. I know the Commandments, and I
perfectly remember the sixth; it is, 'Thou shalt do no
murder.' I cannot write." The verdict was "Wilful
murder" against Eliza Smalley.
Warren, the man charged with Fraudently obtaining
Letters from the post-office, and Hannah Leonard, a
woman connected with him, were re-examined by the
Leeds Magistrates on the 9th. In addition to the affair
of the bill for £744 stolen by Warren, a number of other
cases were investigated. Warren had obtained letters
containing a post-office order for £5, and a railway
dividend-warrant for £6. 9s. 6d., which were intended for
Titley and Co., of Leeds; the money for each was
obtained by forging the signatures. A letter addressed to
Mr. Thomas Craven, a corn-factor, was got by some one
from the post-office; it contained three railway dividend-
warrants—more than £30 together; and they were
cashed at the bank, Mr. Craven's signature having been
forged on the back of the check, and the money got
from the bank. A watch found on the prisoner was
identified by Mr. Parker, the keeper of a coffee-house,
from whose premises it was stolen. On the 11th more
evidence was taken. The magistrates considered the
testimony with respect to the £744 bill, the £60
check, and the post-office order, sufficiently strong to
warrant the committal of Warren for trial on the
other charges arising out of them. But with respect to
cases, he was again remanded. The woman was
discharged.
At the Mansion-house, on the 12th, Mr Williams, a
tradesman in Regent Street, was brought before the
Lord Mayor on the charge of Stealing Silk. On the
preceding Friday, 60 pieces of plain and fancy silk were
stolen from the warehouse of Messrs. Watts, in Gutter
Lane; the silk was of peculiar manufacture, and was
worth from £500 to £600. On Monday, Mr. Williams
applied to Messrs. Shoolbred and Co., of Tottenham
Court Road, to know if they would buy a quantity of
silk; he produced twenty-two patterns; the price asked
was 1s. 9d. per yard; he said the goods were to be sold
that evening, and that he sold them for himself. The
buyer at Shoolbred's recognised in the patterns silk for
which Messrs. Watts had asked him more than 3s. a
yard: he desired Williams to leave the patterns for a
time; a communication was made to Messrs. Watts, and
the patterns were identified. The police were informed
of the matter. Persons went to Mr. Williams's in the
evening, and made further inquiries about the silk. He
now said that he had only the patterns, but he could
communicate with the person for whom he wanted to
sell, in an hour's time. When the police appeared, he
could give no good description of the two men from
whom he said he received the patterns. Mr. Northover,
clerk to Messrs. Watts, identified the patterns
before the Lord Mayor: the price of the silks varied
from 3s. to 4s. 6d. a yard. The prisoner's counsel urged
that it was not likely that he had been engaged in a
burglary, and asked for his liberation on bail, that the
real offenders might be taken. The Lord Mayor decided
that bail might be put in on a future day—two sureties
of £250 each, and Mr. Williams in £500.
At Marlborough Street Police Office, on the 12th, the
four men charged with the Burglary at Mr. Holford's
were finally examined. Mitchell, who was so badly
wounded, appeared to have made considerable progress
to recovery. The only witness examined was Mr.
Wakefield, the surgeon at the House of Detention, who has
had Mitchell under his care. He described the wounds
he found upon him—in the body, the arms, the neck,
and the scalp; he thought that sixty or seventy shot
had taken effect. The riddled and bloody hat found in
the grounds was shown to Mr. Wakefield, and he thought
it probable that the shot-holes had been made by the
portion of the charge which entered the scalp. When
all the depositions had been read over, the prisoners
were asked if they wished to say anything; but they
declined. The magistrate discharged Robinson, who
was not proved to have been engaged in the robbery,
but who had been the companion of the other prisoners,
with advice to quit evil companions and get his living in
an honest way. The other men were committed for
trial.
Mr. John George Symes, lately a surgeon at Hungerford,
in Berkshire, Poisoned himself in London on the
9th. The deceased, who was a man of sixty-three,
accompanied a friend to see the Lord Mayor's show, and
parted with him about twelve, promising to meet him
again in an hour, but his friend never saw him again.
A cabman drove Mr. Simes on Monday night, the 11th,
from the Prince of Wales, Elizabeth Street, Eaton
Square, to a house in Tavistock Square. On arriving
there, Mr. Symes was found dead in the cab, and as the
owner of the house knew nothing of him, the cabman
drove with the body to the University College Hospital.
The deceased was sober when he entered the cab, in
which no phial or vessel was found. When the body
was examined by the house-surgeon, prussic acid
sufficient to cause instant death was found in tlie stomach.
At the inquest, a relative of the deceased stated that he
was exceedingly sober and correct in his habits; and the
landlord of the Prince of Wales said the deceased, who
was then a little the worse for liquor, left his house
shortly after twelve o'clock on Monday night. His
conduct had been most gentlemanly, and did not betray
the least symptom of insanity. The verdict was, that
the deceased committed suicide in a certain cab, but
what was his state of mind there was no evidence to
prove.
The Reverend R. A. Johnstone, rector of a parish
Dickens Journals Online