Hình ảnh trang
PDF
ePub

still very much confused; witness observed blood on the floor of the passage, the spots of which appeared smeared, as if there had been an attempt to wipe them up, and she pointed out the blood to the prisoner, asking what she had been doing; in reply, she said, "O, nothing." Witness told her to get a mop and wipe it up, and then asked where her mother was; the prisoner said, "She is gone towards Ashow." Miss Harriet Dormer soon after called out "Mother, mother," and asked where her mother was, and the prisoner said, "She was gone into the garden, about 10 minutes before, to gather cucumbers." Witness then said, "I went up stairs to my own room, and saw my mother's room-door shut as I passed by; my sister Mary followed me up stairs. When in my room I heard my sister scream violently; found

my mother dead, and there were drops of blood in the passage, which had the appearance of being wiped." In answer to a question from the judge, Miss Dormer replied, "She was sure the spots had been wiped; they seemed to be smeared along.".

By the Judge.-Prisoner, will you ask this witness any questions?-No, my

lord.

Mary Dormer was next sworn; she said she was 14 years old, and that she went with her brothers and sisters to Mr. Aldridge's, and returned together; on entering the house she saw the prisoner in the passage, who seemed to be very warm and confused; she heard her sister ask where her mother was; and the prisoner replied, " gone towards Ashow." She did not ask the prisoner any questions, but witness's sister

Harriet called out "Mother, mother." The prisoner said "she was gone into the garden." Witness saw marks of blood on the floor; she then went up stairs, and opened the door of her mother's room, and saw her lying on her back on the floor: saw just her feet, but did not see blood; and screamed out, being frightened.

By the Judge.-Prisoner, would you ask this witness any questions?-No, my lord.

Mr. Thomas Harris deposed, that he was on a visit at Mr. Dormer's on the day in question, and remembered the Miss Dormers and their friends going to Mr. Aldridge's. The elder Mr. Dormer, the two Mr. Brays, and witness, went to Ashow together. Witness left Mrs. Dormer and the prisoner only in the house, as far as he knew; Mrs. Dormer came out to the garden-gate with them when they set off to Ashow.

The prisoner, on being asked, said she had nothing to say to the witness.

Maria Dormer called. She said she was 11 years old (but appeared a very intelligent child); the judge questioned her as to the nature of an oath, and cautioned her to tell the truth. She said she knew Mrs. Dormer of Ashow-remembered when she was said to have been killed; went to see her about half-past six o'clock that day, with her little brother. Mrs. Dormer gave them a glass of wine and some cucumbers. Saw the prisoner there, but nobody else.

The prisoner had no question to ask the last witness.

Miss E. Jaggard was at the house called the Forge, on the day of the murder, with Miss

Russell, who lives there; she rode to Ashow, and passed the house of Mr. Dormer nearly at the hour of seven. Witness saw Mrs. Dormer sitting at the second window, apparently reading; she had her spectacles on. Just at the same time the witness saw a woman come into the road and look towards Ashow; she was dressed in a dark red gown, and had on a coarse apron and a cap; she went away almost immediately. Witness thinks she did not see her party. Saw the prisoner going to prison, and then she had on the same gown as when seen by witness in the road.

John Dormer the younger said, on the 29th of August he returned with his sisters from Mr. Aldridge's a little after 7 o'clock; when he returned, and his sister opened the door, she was very much struck with the appearance of the prisoner, who was greatly agitated. Witness was near the court-paling when he heard a screaming, and immediately went up stairs, the prisoner following him. Witness took hold of her, and led her into the middle of the road, and said, "You have murdered my mother." She gave no reply. He was much enraged, and pulled her along, on which she said, "I will go where you choose to take me; you need not pull me." Witness cannot say if he charged her with his mother's murder more than once.

The prisoner had no question to ask the witness.

Henry Beesely deposed that he came into Mr. Dormer's house after Mrs. Dormer had been found dead that after getting a light he traced the blood to the pantry, and saw a book lying on the

table, and some spectacles on the floor in the kitchen.

William Pope was led into Mr. Dormer's house by a scream which he heard there, and he also heard Mr. J. Dormer say, a girl had murdered his mother. The girl said, "She had not." At that time he struck her on her cheek. I asked her if she had seen any one about the house. She said, "No." I asked her if she had been out of the house. She said, "Yes; to the woodpile," which is about 20 yards from the house.

William Bodington, a surgeon, stated, that the wounds had occasioned the death of the deceased.

Thomas Bellerby, a constable of Kenilworth, deposed, that on Sunday night, the 29th of August last, he heard that Mrs. Dormer's servant had murdered her mistress, and was desired to go and take the prisoner into custody. Witness met Samuel Turner with the prisoner. Witness asked her, if she was the young woman who was charged with the murder of Mrs. Dormer? She replied, "They say so; but I am not." Prisoner had on a red gown, and a sort of a hurden apron. It was about half-past eight o'clock. Witness took the prisoner into custody; her hands were bloody, and there was blood under her nails; her hands looked as if they had been wiped, and her face was much swelled on the left side. Witness asked her, if the apron she then had on was the apron she had on the former part of the afternoon? She said, "It was not, she had another on,

that she had pulled it off and hung it upon the back door. On Monday morning, the 30th day

A

said Joseph Dormer, jun., his three sisters, and somebody else she did not know, went to Mr. Aldridge's, of Thickthorn. Witness asked her what had become of the rest of the prosecutor's family; she said that the prosecutor, two Mr. Brays of Coventry, and Mr. Harris of Weston, went out towards Ashow, and that herself and mistress remained in the house. little time afterwards, two chil dren of Mr. Dormer's of Wootton, came to the prosecutor's house; they came in at the back door, and the deceased gave them a glass of wine each, and some cucumbers; they stopped there a few minutes, and went out of the front door. Then the deceased and the prisoner went into the garden and got some cucumbers; that they returned from the garden to the house; then the deceased went into the best kitchen; she put her spectacles on, and began reading. The prisoner went into the pantry to cut up some cucumbers and onions for supper; whilst the prisoner was cutting these cucumbers, she said a thought came in her head she would go and murder her mistress. She then left off cutting cucumbers, and went into the prosecutor's back kitchen, which she generally did when she fetched wood. She returned and put her hurden apron on; from thence she went into the woodyard and into the lane, but returned immediately into the house to the best kitchen, where her mistress sat reading; that she knocked her out of the chair; that as she fell she gave a shriek, and lay about a minute on the floor. The prisoner stood looking at her, and then the deceased got up and ran along the passage and

of August last, witness went to the prosecutor's house and looked for the other apron, which he found in the shed near the back door, at the end of the prosecutor's house towards Warwick, at the corner of the back kitchen: it was wrapped up upon the ground; it had some blood upon it when witness found it. The apron she had on was free from blood. At the bottom of a large tub in the yard near the gardengate, which had soap-suds in it, witness found a hand-cloth and another apron by him now produced. These spots had then more the appearance of blood than now-both of them were wet; none of the other towels in the tub appeared bloody. Witness went into the chamber where the deceased lay, and found a black cap which had been apparently worn under another; it was lying under the shoulder of the deceased; the white cap produced, was on the head of the deceased, and the knife was under her right hand, between her wrist and her right side. On the same day witness apprehended the prisoner's brother, on suspicion of being concerned in the murder. Witness told her, her brother was taken up about it, and observed what a thing it was, to bring her friends into trouble. She said, "Neither her brother nor no other man had to do with the murder." (Witness never made her any promise whatever in case she would confess.) Witness said, "If you say that, you know who did it." Prisoner almost immediately replied," she did it, and no one helped her." Witness asked prisoner what had become of the prosecutor and his family; she

up the stairs. The prisoner then said she followed her out of the kitchen, and went herself into the dairy; the prisoner took the carving-knife, and went up after the deceased into her bed-room; when the prisoner got there, the deceased was lying on the floor; she said she did not knock her down; the prisoner thought the deceased had tripped up with the carpet at the door, or was fainting. The prisoner then said that she leaned down and began cutting the deceased with the carving-knife. The deceased made little or no resistance till she had cut her two or three times; the deceased did not speak, but she made a kind of rustling noise, and caught at the knife with her hands. When the prisoner had so cut her mistress, she held her down till she was dead, and put the white cap on her head, which had come off in the struggle. Witness asked the prisoner why she did not put the black cap on? The prisoner said, "she did not think of it." Witness asked the prisoner why she put the knife under the arm of the deceased? She said, "she lifted the arm of the deceased, and put it there to make persons believe that the deceased had done it herself:" she said she put the bloody towel in the tub, and that she meant to wash it out the next morning, when she washed the towels. Witness next asked the prisoner where she got the towel from? She said she took it off the banisters leading from Mrs. Dormer's room; as soon as she came from it, she took this cloth and wiped her hands with it. Witness asked the prisoner if she knew any thing of a piece of flannel which lay under the shoulders

[ocr errors]

of the deceased? She said she took it to wipe her hands, and threw it down and forgot it. Witness asked the prisoner how blood came on the hurden-apron? She said she could not tell.

The prisoner, on being called upon for her defence, and asked if she had any witnesses to call, replied, in a firm tone, that she had none.

The jury, after consulting together a few minutes, brought in their verdict-guilty both of the petty treason and murder.

On the question being put to the prisoner, by the officer of the court, "if she had any thing to say why execution should be stayed ?" she replied in a firm voice, "No, I have not."

Judge-" Then may God have mercy on your guilty soul !"

EXECUTION. On Wednesday morning, at half past 11 o'clock, the wretched criminal was conducted to the place of execution in front of the gaol. She died with every mark of repentance for her horrid crime. Prior to the falling of the drop, she again said, that she had no reason for killing her mistress, but that she thought she must murder her. She made a confession of her guilt similar to that given in evidence by Bellerby. On the scaffold, she said, "she had strong hopes God Almighty would for give her she truly repented of the horrid crime she had committed, and of all the sins of her life. She wished Mr. Dormer and his family health and happiness, and she hoped the people round, and every person, would take warning from her untimely end.

20. Yesterday Thistlewood was found guilty of high treason,

after a trial which lasted three days. For the particulars of this man's trial, and of the trials of his associates, the reader is referred to the Appendix to this Chronicle.

Thistlewood, on being re-conducted to his cell, on Wednesday, did not evince much change in his feelings. His mind seemed to have been made up. He continued the whole of the evening absorbed in gloomy contemplation of his fate. The announcement of the verdict to the other prisoners produced upon some of them a great shock; others, however, appeared, like their leader, to have abandoned all hope, and to have formed a determination to meet the consequences of their crimes with firmness.-Ings will be put on his trial this day.

20. MIDDLESEX SESSIONS Desperate Assault.-A brutal fellow, named M'Carthy, was yesterday indicted for having committed a violent assault upon his master,-Leake, esq. of Grosvenor-place.

It appeared from the evidence that Mr. Leake had hired the defendant as coachman four days previous to that on which the assault was committed. The defendant had orders to get the carriage in readiness to take his master, and Mrs. Stackpole, his master's daughter, to Hanoversquare, at 4 o'clock. An hour after the time directed, the defendant appeared in the house in a most disgraceful state of drunkDetermined not to run the bazard of losing his own life, nor to put that of his daughter in danger, Mr. Leake ordered the coachman from his presence; and,

enness.

finding that he was intolerably abusive as well as drunk, shut him out at the stable-door. Soon afterwards the defendant walked round to the hall-door, and knocked. The moment the door was opened he fell upon the servants, and beat them most unmercifully. Mr. Leake went into the hall to remonstrate with him, and to request that he would leave the house; but the fellow without ceremony attacked his master furiously, and disfigured him about the face. Mrs. Stackpole, upon hearing her father's voice, ran to the spot where the defendant was in the act of assaulting his master; but M'Carthy, instead of desisting at her appearance, from further violence, only transferred his blows from her father to herself, and seemed to take greater pleasure in this more cowardly exhibition of his strength and ferocity. He pulled the necklace and other ornaments from Mrs. Stackpole's person, knocked her down, and kicked her in the stomach. The lady still lies dangerously ill, in consequence of this ill treatment: indeed her situation is such, that it may be found necessary to proceed against him capitally.

The jury found M'Carthy guilty.

The chairman advised Mr. Andrews to impress upon Mr. Leake the necessity of prosecuting the defendant for the assault upon Mrs. Stackpole, in the event of the recovery of that lady, and said that the punishment, upon conviction, should be a lesson to M'Carthy for life.

Mr. Leake said that no human power should prevent it.

The chairman then told the defendant, that he should abstain

« TrướcTiếp tục »