Lancaster Assizes, September - Susannah 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 fulfill 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 as 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 Ash-ton-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 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 Ashton-under-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 inflamed 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 children (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.
No comments:
Post a Comment