Margaret Dixon, murderer

The following case is more remarkable for resuscitation after execution than even the flagitious life of the condemned. Though some doubt may arise of her guilt regarding the crime of which she was convicted, none can be entertained of her being restored to existence after having hanged the usual time, and enjoying life more than thirty years afterwards.

This remarkable woman was the daughter of poor parents, who lived at Musselburgh, about five miles from Edinburgh, and who brought up their child in the practice of religious duties, having instructed her in such household business as was likely to suit her future situation in life. The village of Musselburgh is almost entirely inhabited by gardeners, fishermen, and persons employed in making salt. The husbands having prepared the several articles for sale, the wives carry them to Edinburgh, and procure a subsistence by crying them through the streets of that city. When Margaret Dixon had attained years of maturity, she was married to a fisherman, by whom she had several children; but, there being a want of seamen, her husband was impressed into the naval service; and, during his absence from Scotland, his wife had an illicit connexion with a man at Musselburgh, in consequence of which she became pregnant. 

At this time it was the law in Scotland that a woman known to have been unchaste should sit in a distinguished place in the church, on three Sundays, to be publicly rebuked by the minister; and many poor infants have been destroyed because the mother dreaded this public exposure,* particularly as many Scotch ladies went to church to be witnesses of the frailty of a sister, who were never seen there on any other occasion.

The neighbours of Mrs. Dixon averred that she was with child; but this she constantly denied, though there was every appearance that might warrant the discrediting what she said. At length, however, she was delivered of a child; but it is uncertain whether it was born alive or not.

Be this as it may, she was taken into custody, and lodged in the gaol of Edinburgh. When her trial came on, several witnesses deposed that she had been frequently pregnant; others proved that there were signs of her having been delivered, and that a new-born infant had been found dead near the place of her residence.

The jury, giving credit to the evidence against her, brought in a verdict of guilty; in consequence of which she was doomed to suffer. 

After her condemnation she behaved in the most penitent manner, confessed that she had been guilty of many sins, and even owned that she had departed from the line of duty to her husband; but she constantly and steadily denied that she had murdered her child, or even formed an idea of so horrid a crime. She owned that the fear of being exposed to the ridicule of her neighbours in the church had tempted her to deny that she was pregnant; and she said that, being suddenly seized with the pains of child-birth, she was unable to procure the assistance of her neighbours; and that a state of insensibility ensued, so that it was impossible she should know what became of the infant.

At the place of execution her behaviour was consistent with her former declaration. She avowed her total innocence of the crime of which she was convicted, but confessed the sincerest sorrow for all her other sins.

After execution her body was cut down and delivered to her friends, who put it into a coffin, and sent it in a cart to be buried at her native place; but, the weather being sultry, the persons who had the body in their care stopped to drink at a village called Pepper Mill, about two miles from Edinburgh. While they were refreshing themselves, one of them perceived the lid of the coffin move, and, uncovering it, the woman immediately sat up, and most of the spectators ran off, with every sign of trepidation.

It happened that a person who was then drinking in the public house had recollection enough to bleed her. In about an hour she was put to bed; and by the following morning she was so lar recovered as to be able to walk to her own house.

By the Scottish law, which is in part founded on that of the Romans, a person against whom the judgment of the Court has been executed can suffer no more in future, but is thenceforward totally exculpated; and it is likewise held that the marriage is dissolved by the execution of the convicted party; which indeed is consistent with the ideas that common sense would form on such an occasion.

Mrs. Dixon, then, having been convicted and executed as above mentioned, the king's advocate could prosecute her no farther; but he filed a bill in the High Court of Justiciary against the sheriff, for omitting to fulfil the law. The husband of this revived convict married her publicly a few days after she was hanged! and she constantly denied that she had been guilty of the alleged crime. She was living as late as the year 1753. This singular transaction took place in the year 1728.

* This proves, in a striking manner, the value of our Foundling Hospital in London, which has, doubtless, been the means of saving numbers of infants who would otherwise have been destroyed.

Burnt alive for the murder of her husband

We give the history of the enormous sins and dreadful sufferings of this abominable woman just as they came to our hands - altogether too shocking for a single comment.

Catherine Hayes was the daughter of a poor man of the name of Hall, who lived near Birmingham. She remained with her parents till she was about fifteen years old, and then, having a dispute with her mother, left her home, and set out with a view of going to London. Her person being rather engaging, some officers in the army, who met with her on the road, prevailed on her to accompany them to their quarters at Great Ombersley, in Worcestershire, where she remained with them a considerable time. On being dismissed by these officers, she strolled about the country, till, arriving at the house of Mr. Hayes, a farmer in Warwickshire, the farmer's wife hired her as a servant. When she had continued a short time in this service, Mr. Hayes's son fell violently in love with her, and a private marriage took place, which was managed in the following manner: Catherine left the house early in the morning, and the younger Hayes, being a carpenter, prevailed on his mother to let him have some money to buy tools; but as soon as he had got it he set out, and, meeting his sweetheart at a place they had agreed on, they went to Worcester, where the nuptial rites were celebrated. At this time it happened that the officers by whom she had been seduced were at Worcester; and, hearing of her marriage, they caused young Hayes to be taken out of bed from his wife, under pretence that he had enlisted in the army. Thus situated, he was compelled to send an account of the whole transaction to his father, who, though offended with his son for the rash step he had taken, went to a magistrate, who attended him to Worcester, and demanded by what authority the young man was detained. The officers endeavoured to excuse their conduct; but the magistrate threatening to commit them to prison if they did not release him, the young fellow immediately obtained his liberty. The father, irritated at the imprudent conduct of his son, severely censured his proceedings; but, considering that what was passed could not be recalled, had good sense enough not to persevere in his opposition to an unavoidable event. 

Mr. Hayes now furnished his son with money to begin business for himself; and the young couple were in a thriving way, and appeared to live in harmony; but Mrs. Hayes, being naturally of a restless disposition, prevailed on her husband to enlist for a soldier. The regiment in which he served being ordered to the Isle of Wight, Catherine followed him thither. He had not been long there before his father procured his discharge, which, as it happened in the time of war, was attended with an expense of 60/. On the return of young Hayes and his wife, the father gave them an estate of 10/. per annum, to which he afterwards added another of 16/. which, with the profit of their trade, would have been amply sufficient for their support. The husband bore the character of an honest well-disposed man; he treated his wife very indulgently, yet she constantly complained of the covetousness of his disposition; but he had much more reason to complain of her disposition, for she was turbulent, quarrelsome, and perpetually exciting disputes among her neighbours. The elder Mr. H. observing with concern how unfortunately his son was matched, advised him to leave her, and settle in some place where she might not find him. Such, however, was his attachment to her, that he could not comply with this advice; and she had the power of persuading him to come to London, after they had been married about six years.

 On their arrival in the metropolis, Mr. Hayes took a house, part of which he let in lodgings, and opened a shop in the chandlery and coal trade, in which he was as successful as he could have wished. Exclusive of his profit by shop, keeping, he acquired a great deal of money by lending small sums on pledges, for at this time the trade of pawnbroking was followed by any one at pleasure, it having been then subjected to no regulation. Mrs. Hayes's conduct in London was still more reprehensible than it had been in the country. The chief pleasure of her life consisted in creating and encouraging quarrels among her neighbours; and, indeed, her unhappy temper discovered itself on every occasion. Sometimes she would speak of her husband, to his acquaintance, in terms of great tenderness and respect; and at other times she would represent him to her female associates as a compound of every thing that was contemptible in human nature. On a particular occasion, she told a woman of her acquaintance that she should think it no more sin to murder him than to kill a dog. At length her husband, finding she made perpetual disturbances in the neighbourhood, thought it prudent to remove to Tottenham Court Road, where he carried on his former business; but not being as successful here as he could have wished, he took another house in Tyburn Road, since called Oxford Road. Here he continued his practice of lending small sums of money on pledges, till, having acquired a decent competency, he left off housekeeping, and hired lodgings near the same spot.

Thomas Billings, a journeyman tailor, and a supposed son of Mrs, Hayes by her former connexions, lodged in the house with Mrs. Hayes; and the husband having gone into the country on business, his wife and this man indulged themselves in every species of extravagance. On Hayes's return some of his neighbours told him how his wife had been wasting his substance, on which he severely censured her conduct, and, a quarrel arising between them, they proceeded from words to blows. It was commonly thought that she formed the resolution of murdering him at this time, as the quarrel happened only six weeks before his fatal exit. She now began to sound the disposition of Billings, to whom she said it was impossible for her to live longer with her husband; and she urged all possible arguments to prevail on him to aid her in the commission of the murder, which Billings resisted for some time, but at length complied.

At this period Thomas Wood, an acquaintance of Mr. Hayes, arrived from the country; and, as he was apprehensive of being impressed, Hayes kindly took him into his house, and promised to use his interest in procuring him some employment.

After a few days' residence Mrs. Hayes proposed to him the murder of her husband: but the man was shocked at the thought of destroying his friend and benefactor, and told her he would have no concern in so atrocious a deed. However, she artfully urged that he was an atheist, and it could be no crime to destroy a person who had no religion or goodness - that he was himself a murderer, having killed a man in the country, and likewise two of his own children; one of whom he buried under a pear-tree, and the other under an apple-tree.' She likewise said that her husband's death would put her in possession of 1500/, of the whole of which Wood should have the disposal, if he would assist her and Billings in the perpetration of the murder. Wood went out of town a few days after this, and on his return found Mr. and Mrs, Hayes and Billings in company together, having drank till they had put themselves into the utmost apparent good humour. Wood sitting down at Hayes's request, the latter said they had drank a guinea's worth of liquor, but, not withstanding this, he was not drunk. A proposal was now made by Billings, that, if Hayes could drink six bottles of mountain without being drunk, he would pay for it; but that Hayes should be the paymaster, if the liquor made him drunk, or if he failed of drinking the quantity. This proposal being agreed to, Wood, Billings, and Mrs. Hayes, went to a wine-vault to buy the wine, and, on their way, this wicked woman reminded the men that the present would be a good opportunity of committing the murder, as her husband would be perfectly intoxicated. The mind of Wood was not yet wrought up to a proper pitch for the commission of a crime so atrocious as the murder of a man who had sheltered and protected him, and this too at a time when his mind must necessarily be unprepared for his being launched into eternity. Mrs. H. had therefore recourse to her former arguments, urging that it would be no sin to kill him; and Billings seconded all she said, and, declaring he was ready to take a part in the horrid deed, Wood was at length prevailed on to become one of the execrable butchers. Thus agreed, they went to the wine-vault, where Mrs. Hayes paid half a guinea for six bottles of wine, which, being sent home by a porter, Mr. Hayes began to drink it, while his intentional murderers regaled themselves with beer. When he had taken a considerable quantity of the wine, he danced about the room like a man distracted, and at length finished the whole quantity: but, not being yet in a state of absolute stupefaction, his wife sent for another bottle, which he likewise drank, and then fell senseless on the floor. Having lain some time in this condition, he got, with much difficulty, into another room, and threw himself on a bed. When he was asleep, his wife told her associates that this was the time to execute their plan, as there was no fear of any resistance on his part.

Accordingly Billings went into the room with a hatchet, with which he struck Hayes so violently that he fractured his skull. At this time Hayes's feet hung off the bed, and the torture arising from the blow made him stamp repeatedly on the floor, which being heard by Wood, he also went into the room, and, taking the hatchet out of Billings's hand, gave the poor man two more blows, which effectually dispatched him. A woman, named Springate, who lodged in the room over that where the murder was committed, hearing the noise occasioned by Hayes's stamping, imagined that the parties might have quarrelled in consequence of their intoxication; and going down stairs, she told Mrs. Hayes that the noise had awakened her husband, her child, and herself.

Catherine had a ready answer to this: she said some company had visited them, and were grown merry, but they were on the point of taking their leave; with which answer Mrs. Springate returned to her room well satisfied. The murderers now consulted on the best manner of disposing of the body, so as most effectually to prevent detection. Mrs. Hayes proposed to cut off the head, because, if the body was found whole, it would be more likely to be known. The villains agreeing to this proposition, she fetched a pail, lighted a candle, and all of them going into the room, the men drew the body partly off the bed, when Billings supported the head, while Wood, with his pocket-knife, cut it off, and the infamous woman held the pail to receive it, being as careful as possible that the floor might not be stained with the blood. This being done, they emptied the blood out of the pail into a sink by the window, and poured several pails of water after it; but, notwithstanding all this care, Mrs. Springate observed some congealed blood the next morning; though at that time she did not in the least suspect what had passed. It was likewise observed that the marks of the blood were visible on the floor for some weeks afterwards, though Mrs. Hayes had washed and scraped it with a knife. When the head was cut off, this she-devil recommended the boiling it till the flesh should part from the bones; but the other parties thought this operation would take up too much time, and therefore advised the throwing it into the Thames, in expectation that it would be carried off by the tide, and sink. This agreed to, the head was put into the pail, and Billings took it under his great coat, being accompanied by Wood; but, making a noise in going down stairs, Mrs. Springate called, and asked what was the matter; to which Mrs. Hayes answered that her husband was going a journey, and, with incredible dissimulation, affected to take leave of him; and, as it was now past eleven, pretended great concern that under a necessity of going at so late an hour. By this artifice Wood and Billings passed out of the house unnoticed, and went to Whitehall, where they intended to have thrown in the head; but the gates being shut, they went to a wharf near the Horse Ferry, Westminster. Billings putting down the pail, Wood threw the head into the dock, expecting it would have been carried away by the stream; but at this time the tide was ebbing, and a lighterman, who was then in his vessel, heard something fall into the dock, but it was too dark for him to distinguish objects. The murderers, having thus disposed of the head, went home, and were let in by Mrs. Hayes, without the knowledge of the lodgers. 

On the following morning, soon after daybreak, as a watchman, named Robinson, was going off his stand, he saw the pail, and, looking into the dock, observed the head of a man. Having procured some witnesses to this spectacle, they took out the head and, observing the pail to be bloody, concluded that it was brought therein from some distant part. The lighterman now said he had heard something thrown into the dock; and the magistrates and parish officers, having assembled, gave strict orders that the most diligent search should be made after the body, which, however, was not  found till some time afterwards;  for, when the murderers had conversed together on the disposal of  the body, Mrs. Hayes had proposed  that it should be put into a box and  buried; and the others agreeing to  this, she purchased a box, which,  on being sent home, was found too little to contain it; she therefore recommended the chopping off the legs and arms, which was done;  but the box being still too small, the thighs were likewise cut off, all the parts packed up together, and the box put by till night, when Wood and Billings took out the pieces of the mangled body, and, putting them into two blankets, carried them into a pond near Marylebone; which being done, they returned to their lodgings, and Mrs. Springate, who had still no suspicion of what had passed, opened  the door for them. In the interim having procured some witnesses the magistrates directed that the head should be washed clean, and the hair combed, after which it was put on a pole in the churchyard of St. Margaret, Westminster, that an opportunity might be afforded for its being viewed by the public.

Orders were likewise given that the parish officers should attend this exhibition of the head, to take into custody any suspicious person who might discover signs of guilt on the sight of it.

The high constable of Westminster, on a presumption that the body might, on the following night, be thrown where the head had been, gave private orders to the inferior constables to attend during the night, and stop all coaches, or other carriages, or persons with burdens, coming near the spot, and examine if they could find the body, or any of the limbs. The head being exposed on the pole so excited the curiosity of the public, that immense crowds of people, of all ranks, went to view it; and among the rest was a Mr. Bennet, apprentice to the king's organ-builder, who, having looked at it with great attention, said he thought it was the head of Hayes, with whom he had been some time acquainted; and hereupon he went to Mrs. Hayes, and, telling her his suspicions, desired she would go and take a view of the head. In answer hereto she told him that her husband was in good health, and desired him to be cautious of what he said, as such a declaration might occasion Hayes a great deal of trouble; on which, for the present, Bennet took no farther notice of the affair. A journeyman tailor, named Patrick, who worked in Monmouth Street, having likewise taken a view of the head, told his master on his return that he was confident it was the head of Hayes; on which some other journeymen in the same shop, who had likewise known the deceased, went and saw it, and returned perfectly assured that it was so. Now Billings worked at this very shop in Monmouth Street: one of these journeymen observed, therefore, to him, that he must know the head, as he lodged in Hayes's house; but Billings said he had left him well in bed when he came to work in the morning, and therefore it could not belong to him.

On this same day Mrs. Hayes gave Wood a suit of clothes which had belonged to her husband, and sent him to Harrow-on-the-Hill. As Wood was going down stairs with the bundle of clothes, Mrs. Springate asked him what he had got; to which Mrs. Hayes readily replied, a suit of clothes he had borrowed of an acquaintance.

On the second day after the commission of the murder, Mrs. Hayes being visited by a Mr. Longmore, the former asked what was the news of the town; when the latter said that the public conversation was wholly engrossed by the head which was fixed in St. Margaret's churchyard. Hereupon Catherine exclaimed against the wickedness of the times, and said she had been told that the body of a murdered woman had been found in the fields that day. Wood coming from Harrow-on-the-Hill on the following day, Catherine told him that the head was found; and giving him some other clothes that had belonged to her husband, and five shillings, said she would continue to supply him with money. After the head had been exhibited four days, and no discovery made, a surgeon named Westbrook was desired to put it in a glass of spirits, to prevent its putrefying, and keep it for the farther inspection of all who chose to take a view of it, which was accordingly done.

Soon after this Mrs. Hayes quitted her lodgings, and removed to the house of Mr. Jones, a distiller, paying Mrs. Springate's rent also at the former lodgings, and taking her with her. Wood and Billings likewise removed with her, whom she continued to supply with money, and employed herself principally in collecting cash that had been owing to her late husband.

A sister of Mr. Hayes's, who lived in the country, having married a Mr. Davies, Hayes had lent Davies some money, for which he had taken his bond, Catherine finding this bond among Mr. Hayes's papers, she employed a person to write a letter in the name of the deceased, demanding ten pounds in part of payment, and threatening a prosecution in case of refusal. Mr. Hayes's mother being still living, and Davies unable to pay the money, he applied to the old gentlewoman for assistance, who agreed to pay the sum on condition that the bond was sent into the country; and wrote to London, intimating her consent so to do, having no suspicion of the horrid transaction which had taken place.

Amongst the incredible numbers of people who resorted to see the head was a poor woman from Kingsland, whose husband had been absent from the very time that the murder was perpetrated. After a minute survey of the head, she believed it to be that of her husband, though she could not be absolutely positive. However, her suspicions were so strong, that strict search was made after the body, on a presumption that the clothes might help her to ascertain it.

Meanwhile, Mr. Hayes not being visible for a considerable time, his friends could not help making inquiry after him. A Mr. Ashby, in particular, who had been on the most friendly terms with him, called on Mrs. Hayes, and demanded what had become of her husband. Catherine pretended to account for his absence by communicating the following intelligence, as a matter that must be kept profoundly secret: 'Some time ago (said she) he happened to have a dispute with a man, and from words they came to blows, so that Mr. Hayes killed him. The wife of the deceased made up the affair, on Mr. Hayes's promising to pay her a certain annual allowance; but he not being able to make it good, she threatened to inform against him, on which he has absconded.' This method of accounting for the absence of his friend was by no means satisfactory to Mr. Ashby, who asked her if the head that had been exposed on the pole was that of the man who had been killed by her husband. She readily answered in the negative, adding, that the party had been buried entire; and that the widow had her husband's bond for the payment of fifteen pounds a year. Ashby inquired to what part of the world Mr. Hayes was gone: she said to Portugal, in company with some gentlemen; but she had yet received no letter from him. The whole of this story seeming highly improbable to Mr. Ashby, he went to Mr. Longmore, a gentleman nearly related to Hayes, and it was agreed between them that Mr. Longmore should call on Catherine, and have some conversation, but not let her know that Ashby had been with him, as they supposed that, by comparing the two accounts together, they might form a very probable judgment of the matter of fact.

Accordingly Longmore went to Catherine, and inquired after her husband. In answer to his questions, she said she presumed Mr. Ashby had related the circumstance of his misfortune; but Longmore replied that he had not seen Ashby for a considerable time, and expressed his hope that her husband was not imprisoned for debt. ' No,' she replied, 'it is much worse than that.' ' Why,' said Longmore, 'has he murdered any one." To this she answered in the affirmative; and, desiring him to walk into another room, told him almost the same story as she had done to Mr. Ashby, but instead of naming Portugal, said he was retired into Hertfordshire, and, in fear of being attacked, had taken four pistols to defend himself. It was now remarked by Mr. Longmore that it was imprudent for him to travel thus armed, as he was liable to be taken up on suspicion of being a highwayman, and if such a circumstance should happen, he would find it no easy matter to procure a discharge. She allowed the justice of this remark, but said that Mr. Hayes commonly travelled in that manner. She likewise said that he was once taken into custody on suspicion of being a highwayman, and conducted to a magistrate; but a gentleman who was casually present, happening to know him, gave bail for his appearance. To this Longmore observed that the justice of peace must have exceeded his authority, for that the law required that two parties should bail a person charged on suspicion of having robbed on the highway. In the course of conversation Mr. Longmore asked her what sum of money her husband had in his possession. To which she replied that he had seventeen shillings in his pocket, and about twenty-six guineas sewed within the lining of his coat. She added that Mrs. Springate knew the truth of all these circumstances, which had induced her to pay that woman's rent at the former lodgings, and bring her away. Mrs. Springate, having been interrogated by Longmore, averred the truth of all that Catherine had said; and added, that Mr. Hayes was a very cruel husband, having behaved with remarkable severity to his wife; but Mr. Longmore said this must be false, for to his knowledge he was remarkably tender and indulgent to her.

Longmore went immediately to Mr. Ashby, and said that, from the difference of the stories Catherine had told them, he had little doubt but that poor Hayes had been murdered. Hereupon they determined to go to Mr. Eaton, who was one of the life-guards, and nearly related to the deceased, and to communicate their suspicions to him; but Eaton happening to be absent from home, they agreed to go again to Westminster, and survey the head with more care and attention than they had hitherto done. On their arrival the surgeon told them that a poor woman from Kingsland had, in part, owned the head as that of her husband, but she was not so absolutely certain as to swear that it was so, and that they were very welcome to take another view of it. This they did, and coincided in opinion that it was actually the head of Hayes, On their return, therefore, they called at Eaton's house, and took him with them to dine at Mr. Longmore's, where the subject of conversation ran naturally on the supposed discovery they had made. A brother of Mr. Longmore, coming in at this juncture, listened to their conversation; and, remarking that they proposed Mr. Eaton should go to Mrs. Hayes at the expiration of two or three days, and make inquiries after her husband similar to those which had been made by the others, this gentleman urged his objections; observing that, as they had reason to think their suspicions so well founded, it would be very ill policy to lose any time, since the murderers would certainly effect an escape, if they should hear they were suspected; and as Wood and Billings were drinking with Mr. Hayes the last time he was seen, he advised that they should be immediately taken into custody.

This advice appeared so reasonable, that all the parties agreed to follow it; and, going soon afterwards to Justice Lambert, they told him their suspicions, and the reasons on which they were founded. The magistrate immediately granted his warrant for the apprehension of Catherine Hayes, Thomas Wood, Thomas Billings, and Mary Springate, on suspicion of their having been guilty of the murder of John Hayes; and Mr. Lambert, anxious that there should be no failure in the execution of the warrant, determined to attend in person.

Hereupon, having procured the assistance of two officers of the life-guards, and taking with him the several gentlemen who had given the information, they went to Mr. Jones, the distiller's (Mrs. Hayes's lodgings), about nine o'clock at night. As they were going up stairs without any ceremony, the distiller desired to know by what authority they made so free in his house; but Mr, Lambert informing him who he was, no farther opposition was made to their proceedings. The magistrate, going to the door of Mrs. Hayes's room, rapped with his cane; on which she said 'Who is there?' and he commanded her to open the door immediately, or it should be broken open. To this she replied, that she would open it as soon as she had put on her clothes, and she did so in little more than a minute, when the justice ordered the parties present to take her into custody. At this time Billings was sitting on the side of the bed, bare-legged; on which Mr. Lambert asked if they had been sleeping together; to which Catherine replied 'No;' and said that Billings had been mending his stockings; on which the justice observed that 'his sight must be extremely good, as there was neither fire nor candle in the room when they came to the door.' Some of the parties remaining below, to secure the prisoners, Mr. Longmore went up stairs with the justice, and took Mrs. Springate into custody; and they were all conducted together to the house of Mr. Lambert.

 This magistrate having examined the prisoners separately for a considerable time, and all of them positively persisting in their ignorance of any thing respecting the murder, they were severally committed for re-examination on the following day, before Mr. Lambert and other magistrates. Mrs. Springate was sent to the Gate-house, Billings to New Prison, and Mrs. Hayes to Tothill-fields Bridewell.

When the peace officers, attended by Longmore, went the next day to fetch up Catherine to her examination, she earnestly desired to see the head; and it being thought prudent to grant her request, she was carried to the surgeon's, and no sooner was the head shown to her than she exclaimed 'Oh, it is my dear husband's head! It is my dear husband's head!' She now took the glass in her arms, and shed many tears while she embraced it. Mr. Westbrook told her that he would take the head out of the glass, that she might have a more perfect view of it, and be certain that it was the same. The surgeon doing as he had said, she seemed to be greatly affected, and, having kissed it several times, she begged to be indulged with a lock of the hair  and, on Mr. Westbrook expressing his apprehension that she had too much of his blood already, she fell into a fit, and on her recovery was conducted to Mr. Lambert's, to take her examination with the other parties.

On the morning of this day, as a gentleman and his servant were crossing the fields near Marylebone, they observed something lying in a ditch, and, taking a nearer view of it, found that it consisted of some of the parts of a human body. Shocked at the sight, the gentleman dispatched his servant to get assistance to investigate the affair farther; and some labouring men being procured, they dragged the pond, and found the other parts of the body wrapped in a blanket, but no head was to be found. A constable brought intelligence of this fact while Mrs. Hayes was under examination before the justices, a circumstance that contributed to strengthen the idea conceived of her guilt. Notwithstanding this, she still persisted in her innocence: but the magistrates, paying no regard to her declarations, committed her to Newgate for trial.

Wood being at this time out of town, it was thought prudent to defer the farther examination of Billings and Springate till he should be taken into custody. On the morning of the succeeding Sunday he came on horseback to the house where Mrs. Hayes had lodged when the murder was committed; when he was told that she had removed to Mr. Jones's. Accordingly he rode thither, and inquired for her; when the people, knowing that he was one of the parties charged with the murder, were disposed to take him into custody: however, their fear of his having pistols prevented their doing so; but, unwilling that such an atrocious offender should escape, they told him that Mrs. Hayes was gone to the Green Dragon, in King Street, on a visit (which house was kept by Mr. Longmore), and they sent a person with him, to direct him to the place. The brother of Longmore being at the door on his arrival and knowing him well, pulled him from his horse, and accused him of being an accomplice in the murder. He was immediately delivered to the custody of some constables, who conducted him to the house of Justice Lambert, before whom he underwent an examination; but, refusing to make any confession, he was sent to Tothill-fields Bridewell for farther examination.

On his arrival at the prison he was informed that the body had been found: and, not doubting but that the whole affair would come to light, he begged that he might be carried back to the justice's house. This being made known to Mr. Lambert, he sent for the assistance of two other magistrates, and the prisoner being brought up, he acknowledged the particulars of the murder, and signed his confession. It is thought that he entertained some hope of being admitted an evidence; but as his surrender was not voluntary, and his accomplices were in custody, the magistrates told him he must abide the verdict of a jury. This wretched man owned that, since the perpetration of the crime, he had been terrified at the sight of every one he met, that he had not experienced a moment's peace, and that his mind had been distracted with the most violent agitations. His commitment was made out for Newgate; but so exceedingly were the passions of the populace agitated on the occasion, that it was feared he would be torn to pieces by the mob; wherefore it was thought prudent to procure a guard of a sergeant and eight soldiers, who conducted him to prison with their bayonets fixed.

A gentleman, named Mercer, having visited Mrs. Hayes in Newgate the day before Wood was taken into custody, she desired he would go to Billings, and urge him to confess the whole truth, as the proofs of their guilt were such, that no advantage could be expected from a farther denial of the fact. Accordingly the gentleman went to Billings, who, being carried before Justice Lambert, made a confession agreeing in all its circumstances with that of Wood; and thereupon Mrs. Springate was set at liberty, as her innocence was evident from their concurrent testimony.

Numbers of people now went to see Mrs. Hayes in Newgate; and on her being asked what could induce her to commit so atrocious a crime, she gave very different answers at different times; but frequently alleged that Mr. Hayes had been an unkind husband to her, a circumstance which was contradicted by the report of every person who knew the deceased.

In the history of this woman there is a strange mystery. She called Billings her son, and sometimes averred that he was really so; but he knew nothing of her being his mother, nor did her relations know any thing of the birth of such a child. To some people she would affirm he was the son of Mr. Hayes, born after marriage; but that, his father having an aversion to him while an infant, he was put to nurse in the country, and all farther care of him totally neglected on their coming to London. But this story is altogether incredible, because Hayes was not a man likely to have deserted his child to the frowns of fortune; and his parents had never heard of the birth of such a son. Billings was equally incapable of giving a satisfactory account of his own origin. All he knew was, that he had lived with a country shoemaker, who passed for his father, and had sent him to school, and then put him apprentice to a tailor. It is probable she discovered him to be her son when she afterwards became acquainted with him in London; and as some persons, who came from the same part of the kingdom, said that Billings was found in a basket near a farm-house, and supported at the expense of the parish, it may be presumed that he was dropped in that manner by his unnatural mother.

Thomas Wood was born near Ludlow, in Shropshire, and brought up to the business of husbandry. He was so remarkable for his harmless and sober conduct, when a boy, as to be very much esteemed by his neighbours. On the death of his father, his mother took a public house for the support of her children, of whom this Thomas was the eldest; and he behaved so dutifully that the loss of her husband was scarcely felt. He was equally diligent abroad and at home; for, when the business of the house was insufficient to employ him, he worked for the farmers, by which he greatly contributed to the support of the family. On attaining years of maturity he engaged himself as a waiter at an inn in the country, from thence removed to other inns, and in all his places preserved a fair character. At length he came to London; but, being afraid of being impressed, as already mentioned, obtained the protection of Mr. Hayes, who behaved in a very friendly manner to him, till the arts of a vile woman prevailed on him to imbrue his hands in the blood of his benefactor.

Billings and Wood having already made confessions, and being penetrated with the thought of the heinous nature of their offence, deter mined to plead guilty to the indictment against them; but Mrs. Hayes, having made no confession, flattered herself there was a chance of her being acquitted, and therefore resolved to put herself on her trial, in which she was encouraged by some people that she met with in Newgate.

The malignancy of the crime with which this woman was charged induced the king to direct his own counsel to carry on the prosecution; and these gentlemen did all in their power to convince the Court and jury that the most striking example should be made of one who had so daringly defied the laws of God and man. The indictment being opened, and the witnesses heard, the jury, fully convinced of the commission of the fact, found her guilty. The prisoners being brought to the bar to receive sentence, Mrs. Hayes entreated that she might not be burnt, according to the then law of petty treason, alleging that she was not guilty, as she did not strike the fatal blow; but she was informed by the Court that the sentence awarded by the law could not be dispensed with. Billings and Wood urged that, having made so full and free a confession, they hoped they should not be hung in chains; but to this they received no answer.

After conviction the behaviour of Wood was uncommonly penitent and devout; but while in the condemned hold he was seized with a violent fever, and, being attended by a clergyman to assist him in his devotions, he confessed he was ready to suffer death, under every mark of ignominy, as some atonement for the atrocious crime he had committed : however, he died in prison, and thus defeated the final execution of the law. At particular times Billings behaved with sincerity; but at others prevaricated  much in his answers to the questions put to him. On the whole, however, he fully confessed his guilt, acknowledged the justice of his sentence, and said no punishment could be adequate to the excess of the  crime of which he had been guilty.

The behaviour of Mrs. Hayes was somewhat similar to her former conduct. Having an intention to destroy herself, she procured a phial of strong poison, which being casually tasted by a woman who was  confined with her, it burnt her lips; on which she broke the phial, and thereby frustrated the design. On  the day of her death Hayes received the sacrament, and was drawn on a sledge to the place of execution,  Billings was executed in the usual manner, and hung in chains, not far from the pond in which Mr. Hayes's body was found, in Marylebone Fields. When the wretched woman had finished her devotions, an iron and chain was put round her body, with which she was fixed to a stake near the gallows. On these occasions, when women were burnt for petty treason, it was customary to strangle them, by means of a rope passed round the neck, and pulled by the executioner, so that they were dead before the flames reached the body. But this woman was literally burnt alive; for the executioner letting go the rope sooner than usual, in consequence of the flames reaching his  hands, the fire burnt fiercely round her, and the spectators beheld her pushing away the faggots, while she rent the air with her cries and lamentations. Other faggots were instantly thrown on her; but she survived amidst the flames for a considerable time, and her body was not perfectly reduced to ashes in less than three hours.*

They suffered at Tyburn, May 9, 1726.

* Until the thirtieth year of the reign of king George III, this punishment was inflicted on women convicted of murdering their husbands, which crime is denominated petit-treason. It has frequently, from some accident happening in strangling the malefactor, produced the horrid effects above related. In the reign of Mary (the cruel) this death was commonly practised upon the objects of her vengeance; and many bishops, rather than deny their religious opinions, were burnt even without previous strangulation. It was high time this part of the sentence, the type of barbarism, should be dispensed with. The punishment now inflicted for this most unnatural and abhorred crime is hanging but, once convicted, a woman need never look for mercy.

Catherine Jones, tried for bigamy

Catherine Jones was indicted at the Old Bailey, on the 5th of September, 1719, for marrying Constantine Boone, during the life of her former husband, John Rowland.

Proof was made that she was married to Rowland, in the year 1713, at a house in the Mint, Southwark; and that, six years afterwards, while her husband was abroad, she was again married, in the same house, to Constantine Boone; but Rowland, soon returning to England, caused his wife to be indicted for this crime.

The prisoner did not hesitate to acknowledge the double marriage, but insisted that the latter was illegal, as Boone was an hermaphrodite, and had been shown as such at Southwark and Bartholomew fairs, and at other places.

To prove this a person swore that he knew Boone when a child, that his (or her) mother dressed it in girls' apparel, and caused it to be instructed in needle-work, till it had attained the age of twelve years, when it turned man, and went to sea.

These last words were those of the deposition; and the fact was confirmed by Boone, who appeared in Court, acknowledged being an hermaphrodite, and having been publicly shown in that character.

Other witnesses deposed that the female sex prevailed over that of the male in the party in question; on which the jury acquitted the prisoner.

It is impossible to describe how much this affair was the subject of the public conversation at, and long after, the time that it happened: and it would be idle to make any serious remarks on it. We can only express our astonishment that an hermaphrodite should think of such a glaring absurdity as the taking a wife!

Deborah Churchill, executed for murder

In this case we shall disclose one played by woman to defraud her of the most consummate tricks ever creditors; and a more effectual method cannot be resorted to. It is a satisfaction, however, that, during the perusal of the fate of Deborah Churchill, we know that Fleet marriages have long been declared illegal; and therefore the artifice cannot now be so easily accomplished. Formerly, within the liberties of the Fleet, the clergy could perform the marriage rites with as little ceremony as at Gretna Green, where, to the disgrace of the British empire, an ignorant blacksmith, or a fellow equally mean and unfit, assumes this sacred duty of the church.

Though this woman's sins were great, yet we must admit some hardship in her suffering the utmost rigour of the law for the crime for which she was found guilty, but which, at the same time, is, in the eye of the law, great as in the immediate perpetrator of a murder. Here we deem it well to observe, that any person present while murder is committing, and though he may take no part in the commission of the crime, yet, unless he does his utmost to prevent, he is considered guilty, equal with him who might have given the fatal blow.

Deborah Churchill was born about the year 1678, in a village near Norwich. She had several children by her husband, Mr. Churchill; but her temper not being calculated to afford him domestic happiness, he repined at his situation, and destroyed himself by intoxication.

Deborah, after this event, came to London, and, being much too idle and too proud to think of earning a subsistence by her industry, she ran considerably in debt; and, in order to extricate herself from her incumbrances, had recourse to a method which was formerly as common as it is unjust. Going to a public house in Holborn, she saw a soldier, and asked him if he would marry her. The man immediately answered in the affirmative, on which they went in a coach to the Fleet, where the nuptial knot was instantly tied.

Mrs. Churchill, whose maiden name is unknown, having obtained a certificate of her marriage, enticed her husband to drink till he was quite inebriated, and then gave. him the slip, happy in this contrivance to screen herself from an arrest.

A little after this she cohabited with a young fellow named Hunt, with whom she lived more than six years. Hunt appears to have been a youth of a rakish disposition. He behaved very ill to this unhappy woman, who, however, loved him to distraction, and at length forfeited her life in consequence of the regard that she had for him.

One night, as Mr. Hunt and one of his associates were returning from the theatre, in company with Mrs, Churchill, a quarrel arose between the men, who immediately drew their swords; while Mrs. Churchill, anxious for the safety of Hunt, interposed, and kept his antagonist at a distance; in consequence of which, being off his guard, he received a wound, of which he died almost immediately.

No sooner was the murder com- mitted than Hunt effected his escape, and, eluding his pursuers, arrived safely in Holland; but Mrs. Churchill was apprehended on the spot, and, being taken before a magistrate, was committed to Newgate.

November, 1708, at the sessions held at the Old Bailey, Mrs. Churchill was indicted as an accomplice on the act of the first year of King James I. called the statute of stabbing, by which it is enacted, that, 'if any one stabs another, who hath not at that time a weapon drawn, or hath not first stricken, the party who stabs is deemed guilty of murder, if the person stabbed dies within six months afterwards.'

Mrs. Churchill, being convicted, pleaded a state of pregnancy, in bar to her execution; and a jury of matrons, being impanelled, declared that they were ignorant whether she was with child or not. Hereupon the court, willing to allow all reasonable time in a case of this nature, respited judgment for six months; at the end of which time she received sentence of death, as there was no appearance of her being pregnant.

This woman's behaviour was extremely penitent; but she denied her guilt to the last moment of her life, having no conception that she had committed murder, because she did not herself stab the deceased. She suffered at Tyburn on the 17th of December, 1708.

From the fatal end of this woman we may gather the following lessons of instruction. Her unhappy temper induced her first husband to have recourse to strong liquors, which killed him. Hence let married women learn to keep a guard on their tempers, and always to meet their husbands with smiles of complacency and good nature. Marriage is either a heaven or a hell upon earth, according to the behaviour of the parties towards each other.

Mrs. Churchill's attachment to Hunt is a strong proof of the capriciousness of the female mind; but she is only one instance amongst thousands of a woman proving a bad wife, and entertaining an affection for a man no way worthy her regard. We wish, for the honour of the fair sex, that these instances may daily decrease; that female virtue may triumph through the land; and that every departure from it may be deemed as criminal in the eyes of the sex in general as it undoubtedly is in the sight of heaven.

The Rev Thomas Hunter, executed for the murder of two children, sons of Mr Gordon

The criminal recorder has too often to detail the atrocity of ambition, the malignity of revenge, and the desperation of jealousy; but the perpetrators are generally confined to the abandoned and irreligious - the illiterate and intemperate. Their follies or former crimes account in some measure for their delinquency, and we lament their want of virtue and education; but, when we meet in the criminal catalogue with a culprit like the present - a man of education and a minister of the Gospel - guilty of a premeditated murder! - the murder of his own pupils, the sons of his benefactor! - the soul recoils with horror, and we shudder at the want of religious principle evinced in the deed; for this criminal subsequently avowed himself an Atheist.

The Rev. Thomas Hunter was born in the county of Fife, in Scotland, and was the son of a rich farmer, who sent him to the University of St. Andrew for education. When he had acquired a sufficient share of classical learning he was admitted to the degree of Master of Arts, and began to prosecute his studies in divinity with no small degree of success. Several of the younger clergymen act as tutors to wealthy and distinguished families till a proper period arrives for their entering into orders, which they never do till they obtain a benefice. While in this rank of life they bear the name of chaplains; and in this station Hunter lived about two years in the house of Mr. Gordon, a very eminent merchant, and one of the bailies of Edinburgh, which is a rank equal to that of alderman of London.

Mr. Gordon's family consisted of himself, his lady, two sons, and a daughter, and a young woman who attended Mrs. Gordon and her daughter; the malefactor in question, some clerks, and menial servants. To the care of Hunter was committed the education of the two sons; and, for a considerable time, he discharged his duty in a manner highly satisfactory to the parents, who considered him as a youth of superior genius and great goodness of heart. Unfortunately, a connexion took place between Hunter and the young woman, which soon increased to a criminal degree, and was maintained, for a considerable time, without the knowledge of the family. One day, however, when Mr. and Mrs. Gordon were on a visit, Hunter and this girl met in their chamber, as usual; but, having been so incautious as not to make their door fast, the children went into the room, and found them in such a situation as could not admit of any doubt of the nature of their intercourse. No suspicion was entertained that these children would mention to their parents what had happened, the eldest boy being not quite ten years of age; but, when the children were at supper with their parents, they disclosed so much as left no room to doubt of what had passed. Hereupon the female servant was directed to quit the house on the following day; but Hunter was continued in the family, after making a proper apology for the crime of which he had been guilty, attributing it to the thoughtlessness of youth, and promising never to offend in the same way again.

From this period he entertained the most inveterate hatred to all the children, on whom he determined, in his own mind, to wreak the most diabolical vengeance. Nothing less than murder was his intention; but it was a considerable time after he had formed this horrid plan before he had an opportunity of carrying it into execution. Whenever it was a fine day he was accustomed to walk in the fields, with his pupils, for an hour before dinner; and, in these excursions, the young lady generally attended her brothers. At the period immediately preceding the commission of the fatal act, Mr, Gordon and his family were at their country retreat, very near Edinburgh; and, having received an invitation to dine in that city, he and his lady proposed to go thither about the time that Hunter usually took his noontide walk with the children. Mrs. Gordon was very anxious for all the children to accompany them on this visit; but this was strenuously opposed by her husband, who would consent that only the little girl should attend them.

By this circumstance Hunter's intention of murdering all the three children was frustrated; but he held the resolution of destroying the boys, while they were yet in his power. With this view he took them into the fields, and sat down, as if to repose himself on the grass, and was preparing his knife to put a period to the lives of the children at the very moment they were busied in catching butterflies, and gathering wild flowers. Having sharpened his knife, he called the lads to him; and, when he had reprimanded them for acquainting their father and mother with the scene to which they had been witnesses, said that he would immediately put them to death. Terrified by this threat, the children ran from him; but he immediately followed, and brought them back. He then placed his knee on the body of the one, while he cut the throat of the other with his penknife; and then treated the second in the same inhuman manner.

These horrid murders were committed in August, 1700, within half a mile of the castle of Edinburgh; and, as the deed was perpetrated in the middle of the day, and in the open fields, it would have been very wonderful indeed if the murderer had not been immediately taken into custody. At the very time a gentleman was walking on the Castle-hill of Edinburgh, who had a tolerably perfect view of what passed. Alarmed by the incident, he called some people, who ran with him to the place where the children were lying dead. Hunter now advanced towards a river, with a view to drown himself. Those who pursued came up with him just as he reached the brink of the river; and, his person being immediately known to them, a messenger was instantly dispatched to Mr. and Mrs. Gordon, who were at that moment going to dinner with their friend, to inform them of the horrid murder of their sons. Language is too weak to describe the effects resulting from the communication of this dreadful news; the astonishment of the afflicted father, the agony of the frantic mother, may possibly be conceived, though it cannot be described.

According to an old Scottish law, it was decreed that 'if a murderer should be taken with the blood of the murdered person on his clothes, he should be prosecuted in the sheriff's court, and executed within three days after the commission of the fact.' It was not common to execute this sentence with rigour; but this offender's crime was of so aggravated a nature, that it was not thought proper to remit any thing of the utmost severity of the law. The prisoner was, therefore, committed to gaol, and chained down to the floor all night; and, on the following day, the sheriff issued his precept for the jury to meet and, in consequence of their verdict. Hunter was brought to his trial, when he pleaded guilty, and added to the offence he had already committed the horrid crime of declaring that he lamented only the not having murdered Mr. Gordon's daughter as well as his sons.

The sheriff now passed sentence on the convict, which was to the following purpose : that, 'on the succeeding day, he should be executed on a gibbet, erected for that purpose, on the spot where he had committed the murders; but that, previous to his execution, his right hand should be cut off near the wrist; that then he should be drawn up to the gibbet by a rope; and, when he was dead, hung in chains between Edinburgh and Leith: the knife with which he committed the murders being stuck thro' his hand, which should be advanced over his head, and fixed therewith to the top of the gibbet. Mr. Hunter was executed, in strict conformity to the above sentence, on the 22d of August, 1700: but Mr. Gordon soon afterwards petitioned the sheriff that the body might be removed to a more distant spot, as its hanging on the side of the highway, through which he frequently passed, tended to re-excite his grief for the occasion that had first given rise to it. This requisition was immediately complied with, and, in a few days, the body was removed to the skirts of a small village, near Edinburgh, named Broughton.

It is equally true, and horrid to relate, that, at the place of execution. Hunter closed his life with the following shocking declaration:- 'There is no God - I do not believe there is any; or, if there is, I hold him in defiance,' Yet this infidel had been regarded as a minister of the Gospel!

A few serious and important reflections will naturally occur to the mind on perusing this melancholy narrative. Mr. Hunter was educated in a manner greatly superior to the vulgar; and he was of a profession that ought to have set an example of virtue, instead of a pattern of vice: yet neither his education nor profession could actuate as preventive remedies against a crime the most abhorrent to all the feelings of humanity.

His first offence, great as it was, could be considered as no other than a prologue to the dismal tragedy that ensued; a tragedy that was attended with almost every possible circumstance of aggravation; for Mr. and Mrs. Gordon had done nothing to him that could tempt him to any thoughts of revenge; and the children were too young to have offended him, even in intention: they simply mentioned to their parents a circumstance that to them appeared somewhat extraordinary; and which, Mr. Hunter's character and situation considered, was indeed of a very extraordinary nature: yet in revenge of this supposed affront did he resolve to imbrue his hands in the blood of the unoffending innocents.

If we reflect on the conduct of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon in discharging the young woman who was guilty of a violation of the laws of decency, and retaining in their family the principal offender, we must own that their partiality was ill founded: this, however, must be ascribed to the veneration in which clergymen are universally held, and the particular regard that was shown towards them in Scotland at the commencement of the last century. Still, however, it is an aggravation of Hunter's crime, who ought to have been grateful in proportion as he was favoured.

It is a shocking part of Hunter's story that he was one of a society of abandoned young fellows, who occasionally assembled to ridicule the scriptures, and make a mockery of the being and attributes of God! Is it then to be wondered that this wretch fell an example of the exemplary justice of Divine Providence? Perhaps a fate no less dreadful attended many of his companions: but, their histories have not reached our hands.

There is something so indescribably shocking in denying the existence of that God 'in whom we live, love, and have our being,' that it is amazing any man who feels that he did not create himself can be an Atheist.

A dramatic suicide

A dramatic suicide occurred at Capron, Illinois, to-day. Early in May last, George W. Burleigh, who was an old resident of Ohio, came to this town, ostensibly to start a barber's shop. Burleigh had a fine education, and was versatile in conversation. Last Sunday he published a card, informing the citizens that, in order to gratify an often-expressed curiosity on the part of his townsmen to witness some such tragedy as the hanging of Sherry and Connolly in Chicago, he would, on the evening of the 23rd inst., deliver a lecture in Thornton Hall, and at its conclusion gratify his hearers by shooting himself through the forehead. The price of admission would be one dollar, and the amount realised should be used in his funeral expenses, and the remainder be in vested in the works of Huxley, Tyndall, and Darwin for the town library. His idea in ending his life was to secure eternal peace by annihilation. At the appointed time the hall was crowded, and after the delivery of an infidel lecture of wonderful power, in a manner and tone which marked him as an adept, he suddenly drew a Derringer, placed it to his forehead, and, despite attempts to prevent the rash deed, fired, and fell into the arms of two friends who were on the wings of the stage for the purpose of hindering the execution of the design. The large-sized bullet literally tore his brain to pieces. He left a request that his body be forwarded to Cincinnati friends.

A practical joke

A few days ago a practical joke of a most extraordinary and shocking character was played at Newcastle. It appears that a party of miners were assembled in a public-house, when one of the party, named Thomas Laverick, told another, named Brain, that he did not dare to pick off with a pin a piece of white paper on the end of a small metallic case he produced. Brain did not know the nature of the article handed to him; but he expressed his readiness to pick off the piece of white paper, and a pin having been procured, he proceeded to perform his task, in doing so he did not observe that the other men in the room, including Laverick, had quitted the apartment. Presently the pin penetrated the end of the case, which proved to be a dynamite cartridge, and an explosion at once followed. Brain states that he was rendered unconscious, and on regaining his senses he found himself lying on his back in the room, his arms stretched out on each side, and his left hand shattered, whilst his right hand was also injured. He scrambled to his feet, and the other men came in looking very much scared by the result of their joke. Brain was taken to Dr. Fothergill's, where it was found that his left hand had been blown to pieces. He was otherwise severely injured, and two months will probably elapse before he can leave his house again.