which faced the street; went into the bed-chamber, saw nothing burnt there, nor disturbed; neither of the beds had been slept in that night; examined the back door; it was fastened; witness forced it

open.

John Hay, William Campian, a constable, William Heaven, and Adam Reid, deposed to the same effect.

William Raven proved, that he made shoes for Mr. Parker; saw the bodies; recognised Sarah Brown; knew the shoe on the foot of the other body; thinks it was witness's making; had once stretched that shoe, so as to break it on each side of the strap; had no doubt of the shoe; Parker's foot was particularly high on the instep; had no doubt the foot of the body was Parker's.

William Patten, a surgeon, proved, that he saw the bodies; Parker's skull was fractured in several places; the blows seemed to be given by a circular blunt instrument; thought it must have been a hammer; the fractures must have caused instant death.

Thomas Cole, publican, at Portsmouth, proved, that he saw the prisoner at Portsmouth a month before the murder; lodged with witness; prisoner left witness on the 19th of February; he then owed witness 5l. Witness was repaid on the 5th of March at noon, by a labouring man, who took away the prisoner's trunkit was paid by a 5l. note. When he lodged with witness. he went by the name of James Watson.

Francis Faulkner, a coachman of the Hero-coach to Ports mouth; drives all the way; recollects prisoner. On 4th March took him up at Mouse-hill, 36 miles from London; had a small bundle with him; he sat on the box; showed witness a coral, which he said he had found; it was in a tarnished state; left him at the Fountain-inn, Portsmouth, at six that evening.

Cross-examined.-But for the way-bill should not have remembered the day.

Ann Kirby lived at Portsmouth: an unfortunate woman there; first knew prisoner in November; knew him by the name of Watson; knew him till he left Portsmouth in February; he had a nephew there; the nephew called him Watson. Prisoner said, he was going to London, to get some money; saw him on his return from London, on the 4th of March; said, he had come from Woolwich, from his friends; said, he and another rode on horseback to Mouse-hill, and from thence he came by the coach; said, he arrived at eight, and came to witness directly; prisoner slept with witness that night, at the Red Lion. Next day, at breakfast, prisoner sent a man to Mr. Cole's, with a note to pay 47. 15s. The man returned with a trunk and some change in a paper; prisoner slept four nights more with the witness after that, the witness was afraid to sleep with him: he threatened to kill witness, and was so alarmed in his sleep, that he would cry out, "What's that!" and call on some name, Betsy or Sally. In consequence of this, witness left prisoner. He gave witness ear-rings and a shawl, and 15s. in money; witness oeca.

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sionally slept with him afterwards; his behaviour in the night continued the same; prisoner said, he had killed two men and one woman-the men in duels; it was a secret, and witness must not divulge it; he killed the woman by striking her, but he did not like to hear of it: prisoner often went to the play after he returned from London, and dressed differently to what he had done before-a hat instead of a cap, and white top boots, let his whiskers grow, which he did not before, and wore silver spectacles.

The witness underwent a very long and severe cross-examination, but she did not deviate materially from her original story. William Duffey, nephew to the prisoner, was at Portsmouth in March; first saw prisoner at Portsmouth in November; his name is James Nesbitt; he went by the name of Watson in November he said he went after his mother's name. On the 4th March saw the prisoner at seven in the evening; said, he came from Woolwich by the coach; said, he had seen witness's mother at Woolwich. On the 5th of March saw prisoner and Ann Kirby at the Red Lion, at half-past ten in the morning; never saw them together again; after he was removed, witness received a letter from him; witness destroyed it; don't know that the signature, "James Nesbitt," was the prisoner's hand-writing. The letter asked witness to get a man and Mr. Cole to take their oaths, that prisoner had desired the man to pay money to Mr. Cole by a 5l. note, which Ann Kirby had sworn to be a 10. note, and wanted witness to go to Mr. Carter to

get some money, which was taken from him when he was apprehended; also wanted to know if Ann Kirby was coming against him; if she did, he would have her cropped, for she was the worst enemy he had. Witness did not know what" cropped" meant.

Joseph Irish, a watchmaker at Portsmouth.-Prisoner called on him on the 10th of March, left a repeating watch to be repaired; it was cleaned, but the repairs were not completed; prisoner called on the Monday after; he saw the watch afterwards in the possession of Barnard Solomon.

Barnard Solomon examined.Was a silversmith and pawnbroker, saw the prisoner at his shop on Wednesday, the 22nd of March; he produced a repeating watch, silver gilt.-[Here Mr. Irish identified the watch, and said, it had his own paper in it.] -He produced no other articles; he asked ten guineas for the watch; he said, the watch belonged to his deceased father, who died when 83 years of age. Said, he had gotten some old silver at the George-in, with which he would call next day; did call next day, and produced the watch, six table spoons, and as many tea-spoons, weighing 17oz. and receiving 9l. 6s. 6d. for the watch and spoons all together. The initials on the tablespoons were "T. P. M.," and

W. M.," with a "P." at top; prisoner said his name was Page, and his father's name Tommy Page.

Edward Hunt, gaoler of Portsmouth, in consequence of information, went to apprehend prisoner in company with Thos. Hill, at half-past 11 o'clock at night, on the 23rd of March, at

the Red Lion; on entering the parlour, saw the prisoner draw out a pistol from his breast; sprang forward and caught hold of the pistol by the muzzle; Hill and he took it from him; he fell down in the scuffle, and on rising found Hill holding him, with another pistol in his hand; the landlord assisted to secure him; the pistol taken first from him was loaded to the muzzle with powder only, the other was loaded with balls; a bunch, consisting of three keys, was found on him; one unlocked a trunk in the prisoner's bed-room, in it was a coral, some silver articles, and a small file; the coral appeared to have been filed by this file; a cap with a gold band, and a pair of nankeen trowsers, a little burnt on the hip part, a pair of spectacles, and several pair of boots; in a small red box: he also found a gold watch, with a tortoiseshell case, a silver ladle and sugar tongs, two plated table-spoons, and two tea-spoons; maker's name on the watch was "J. Vick, London ;" there were also gold rings, chains, necklaces, knee-buckles, and jewellery ornaments; these articles were afterwards shown to the prisoner in gaol; the prisoner asked for an inventory, and said they were all his property.

T. Hill, a constable of Portsmouth, had assisted in taking the prisoner, who tried to escape towards the door; observed the second pistol pointed towards him; it was loaded with balls; wrested it from him, handcuffed him, took from his person a gilt' watch, maker's name "John Sampson," also a seal, marked "T. P." a gold ring was on his finger, with a diamond in the

centre; a gold pin was in his bosom; a pair of silver spectacles marked T. P." was also in his pocket, with a powder-flask, and eleven bullets, also seven Bank of England notes, and nine Portsmouth-bank notes, all for one pound each. On being asked how he came into possession of them, said he had bought the jewellery three years and a half ago at a public auction. Witness said, he believed he was the murdering wretch that had murdered the people at Woolwich. soner said, "You know little of that as yet, and you will know a great deal more."

Pri

Henry Ridout, high constable of the London Half-hundred of Blackheath, knew the prisoner several years when in the artillery, stationed at Woolwich; lived several years, till latterly, in and about Woolwich; went by the name of Nesbitt; his wife and family lived about six doors from Mr. Parker's house; he had six children; his wife keeps still a small chandler's shop; the pri soner's father keeps a lodginghouse, and takes in travellers, at Woolwich; prisoner ceased to live at Woolwich near five months previous to the murder of Mr. Parker; witness had never seen him publicly at Woolwich during that period; on the night of the fire, attended-some time after, received from Mr. Read several articles of jewellery to keep, corresponding in fashion with those he afterwards saw at the gaol of Portsmouth; saw the prisoner at Portsmouth, and took down some expressions from the prisoner's mouth, which he read over to him, and it was signed; did not urge or influence him to give the statement alluded to; prisoner

signed it, as James Nesbitt; witness entreated him not to state any thing but the truth, and begged him to destroy it if it contained any false assertion.[Here the deposition of Nesbitt was read.-It stated, "he had left Woolwich about six o'clock at night for town; was accosted by Carlisle, a gunner in the artillery, with two other old soldiers; was persuaded to wait at Carlisle's house for their company to Portsmouth, whither he was going; they joined him about twelve o'clock, and they sold him some articles of plate and jewellery, which he purchased; they could let him have a bargain, on his coming to the upper barracks at Portsmouth, where he would find this man, Carlisle, on the Monday following."-The witness said, he had reduced these notes to writing from memory.] The prisoner said, "he would discover who were the murderers if he were allowed to write to his daughter."-[The witness took down this statement, to enable him to acquaint the magistrates with what occurred. Could not recollect ten words of the deposition seriatim.]-The deposition stated, that the man who had struck Mr. Parker was at Guernsey; and he knew it from the men who committed the robbery, who had told him, that Parker had not suffered much, as the man who had since gone to Guern sey, had just given him a chuck under the ear with a hammer and settled him; he never spoke a word afterwards. On his crossexamination, he said, he thought the magistrates would have expected from him some account of what had occurred during his visit to the prisoner. VOL, LXII.

Mr. Jackson, watch-maker, and son-in-law to Mr. Parker, deposed, that his father-in-law had retired from business twenty-four years previous to his decease; he had repaired for him last summer two watches, one of which was the repeater produced by Hill. He proceeded to identify the silver spectacles, the other watch, and several of the spoons and other articles of plate.-On his cross-examination, he admitted the deceased had several watches of Sampson's make and name; he knew the repeater from the name on it, and its antique pattern.

The son of the last witness corroborated his father's evidence as to identify the repeater and the metal watch, also one of the chains.

John Elliot, working-jeweller, of Clerkenwell, was an apprentice to Mr. Parker in his business, 24 years ago and upwards; recollected one article of his own manufacture, a bracelet buckle, found in the prisoner's box, also a lady's locket shaped like a heart.

Mr. Edward Cherrell, nephew and successor to Mr. Parker in his business, was examined to the same effect as the last wit

nesses.

The prisoner being called upon for his defence, said, he left Woolwich on the 9th of October last; went to Portsmouth; was going over to France on the 26th of February; met Anne Winter, and went home to her house; afterwards called on her, and went with her to drink at the Red Lion; gave a guinea and half guinea to the landlady to choose from which she would take the reckoning; landlady Y

was alarmed, she said, by seeing so much money; slept that night with Winter, and missed in the morning two guineas; he in consequence quarrelled with her; went to France; returned to Ports mouth with a girl he met at an inn in France; saw Anne Winter once more; did not cohabit with her; came to Cole's house; brought home many articles of foreign produce, silk and muslin; sold many articles to Jews; about 141. worth came to London; remained at his own house till the 23rd of February; left the town, came to live at the Cross Keys; returning down to Woolwich met three old soldiers, who asked him to accompany them to Portsmouth, drank with them, but declined; went from Bishopsgatestreet to Portsmouth; saw his nephew there; he had made an appointment to see these old soldiers at Portsmouth; again cohabited with Anne Winter; at the public house his nephew wrote for him a letter to his wife; on being examined afterwards at Portsmouth, this woman, Anne Winter, prevaricated, more especially as to the value of the notes; after a while he and Anne Winter quarrelled again; she accused him of bearing spite; he said it would be foolish, as he could easily kill her at a blow, as he had killed many a man before. This expression, he complained, had been shamefully misrepresented in the newspapers. He had also been reported to have stolen away a young French girl of expectations.

Nesbitt, the son, was examined as to the burnt trowsers. He said they had been burnt several months ago in his father's kitchen. J. Cole, the publican, had

known him before going to France; prisoner owed him 47. 12s. 9d. and paid him very honestly on his return; was honest and well-behaved when sober; had 40l. worth of goods about him on his return from France; they were contraband goods; had heard the girl, Winter, swore the 5l. note sent to pay witness was a 10%. note.

Mr. Hunt could not well charge his memory, but thought Anne Kirby, alias Winter, had described the note as a 10%. note.

Wm. Duffy, prisoner's nephew, had heard him complain, that another young woman had robbed him of some gold.

The learned judge, in a very perspicuous and able manner, recapitulated the evidence at length.

The jury consulted together for about ten minutes. The prisoner fixed his eyes with intense attention upon the jury. He is a man of a very determined countenance, though certainly not one of ferocity. He supported himself through the greater part of the trial with uncommon selfpossession, until mention was made of his large and struggling family, and just at the moment when confronted by the adverse testimony of his nephew and his son.

On both these occasions he wept bitterly, and held down his head on his hands as he sat in the dock, where, during the charge to the jury, he was allowed a chair. There was a most marked and painfully interesting struggle observable on the part of these two youths, between their consciences and the natural pity they felt for their wretched relative. The whole court was deeply interested in the result, and it must be confessed, they