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    ®!>$ QLeUiiet. Saturday

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    SOIREE TO Mil. GEORGE THOMPSON. ^ A soir...

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    SEDUCTION AND MURDER. A murder, attended...

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    Another case of poisoning by arsenic is ...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    The National Reform Association. The Gre...

    constituencies were created by the Reform . nd such was the manner in which these conicies were disposed of , that in his opinion Id have been better if they had been sold by aucor at Smithfield , than that people should part with . r liberty , not for a mess of pottage , but a glass of gin . The greatest difficulty Reformers had to contend with was the want of cooperation among themselves . Had they been united , they would have been sure of attaining their object in a very short time . He could not but think that under a fairly organized Government lac d would be as free in the market as any other article , and that the poorest might aspire to have some little spot which he might call his own , and which he might look forward to as his private heritage . "

    Mr . Hume incidentally described his notion of political economy ; remarking that , as ladies were present , he should doubtless be excused for taking the particular view of the subject . " Political economy , " he said , * ' was nothing more than the proper management of a family under a good housewife—a determination to take as little from the pockets of the master as might be necessary to carry on the business of the house ; to carry the money to the first market —to buy the best beef and mutton at the cheapest market ; to provide good and efficient servants—to pay them properly and not to encourage any idlers about the premises . "

    The meeting was addressed by Lord Dudley Stuart , who repudiated revolutionism , and declared the constitutional , nay , * ' Conservative , " principles of the association ;—and by Colonel Thompson , who said that no man believed or expected they should have no more influence in the making of the laws than they had at present—it was merely a question , of time . Mr . F . O'Connor , M . P ., then addressed the meeting amidst some interruption . He did not wish to oppose the aims of the association , which , as far as they went , were similar to his own ; but he went much further than they did , and required the

    sweeping reforms mentioned in the People's Charter . To obtain these he had devoted a great portion of his life , and he should not relax those efforts whilst he continued to be supported by the people . As society was now constituted , the upper classee cared only for themselves , and whether the labourers starved or not they did not care ; in fact , they would rather they died , in order that the poorrates might be lessened . { Interruption , and cries of *? Order . " ) He wished to offer no opposition to the principles of the association , but he called on the working men never to abandon the principles of the People ' s Charter whole and entire . { Hear , hear . }

    The President observed that the association had never asked the working-men who advocated the Charter to abandon their principles . { Hear . ' ) On the contrary , on all occasions they had said to the Chartists , Persevere for your Charter . " { Hear , hear . ) They had said to the Complete Suffragists , * Persevere for your suffrage ; " but they added that they were carrying the largest number of those with them who had now the power to give or to withhold the franchise , by following the course of , and joining with , the association . { Hear . ) He could not but condemn some of the language which had been used by the last speaker . The resolution was then put and carried with only one dissentient voice .

    The first resolution having been carried unanimously , the next was put by Mr . Nicholay , of Oxford-street , and seconded by Mr . J . Williams , M . P . This resolution was expressive of gratification at the recent change in the mode of election ; and also of pleasure at hearing of the activity and exten sion of similar associations . Mr . H . Vincent supported the resolution in an eloquent speech . A working man , named Ingram , connected with

    Maudsley ' slactory , then came forward and recounted the rise and progress of a branch Reform Association in Lambeth . The receipt of a donation of £ 10 towards the funds of the association , from a gentleman at Twickenham , was acknowledged by the chairman , a vote of thanks to whom was then proposed by Mr . Hume , and seconded by Mr . George Thompson . The meeting separated with , three cheers for the National Reform Association .

    ®!>$ Qleuiiet. Saturday

    ®!> $ QLeUiiet . Saturday

    Soiree To Mil. George Thompson. ^ A Soir...

    SOIREE TO Mil . GEORGE THOMPSON . ^ A soiree was held in the large room of the London Tavern , on Wednesday evening , in honour of Mr . Thompson , M . P . for the Tower Hamlets , who is about to proceed on a professional lour of lecturing to the United States . Sir Joshua Wnlmsley , M . P ., was in the chair , and Mr . John Williams , M . P . for Maceloaiield , attended to grace the lure well festival given to his brother member . The soiree was under

    the auspices of the National Reform Association , and the atU'iulanee consisted of persons of both sexes , the largo room being pretty well tilled . Sir Joshua Walmsley took the chair soon after seven o clock , with Mr . Thompson in his company . Both gentli-men were loudly cheered . The proceedings commcMU ' . od l , the singing of " The Peopled anthem , " wmUMi hy the late Kbenezcr Elliott . I ho ( Mminnim in his opening address congratulated tlio meeting on tho numerous attendance of

    ladies , a sure sign of the Reform Association being in the right course . He then paid a high compliment to Mr . Thompson , who was about to leave them for a few months to go to America . It would be but for a short time , and he hoped he would come back improved in health , and with , if possible , a deeper love for liberty . Mr . W . "VST . Brown , a mulatto gentleman , bore testimony to the change of feeling that has taken place in the United States , on the subject of slavery , during the last fifteen years . The people there would not mob Mr . Thompson now , as they did on his former visit .

    Mr . George Thompson , M . P ., after alluding to his labours in the Anti-Slavery cause in the United States and England , said : — " He was now about to revisit America , as he was anxious to see again the noble people who had supported him on his last visit . He had long promised this visit ; but he could assure his constituents , many of whom he saw present , that he was not going to abandon themthat he would be at his post again when the tocsin sounded—that he would not abandon the Tower Hamlets till the Tower Hamlets abandoned him . " He alluded to the repeal of the Corn-laws , and predicted " a great revolution in landed affairs " as one of the results of that measure : —

    " It had long been a melancholy subject to him , that in Egypt and in the plains of Hindostan , where men stood by millions on the verge of starvation , he had never seen poverty so deep , so helpless , and yet so undeserved as in his native land . Why should this be so ? England was rich in wealth , richer in resources than all the mines of California ; her sons should all be rich , there should be no poverty here but the poverty arising from unthriftiness . "

    Seduction And Murder. A Murder, Attended...

    SEDUCTION AND MURDER . A murder , attended with circumstances of a very aggravated nature , was perpetrated on Saturday evening , near the secluded village of Doddinghurst , a few miles from JBrentwood . The village stands in a valley adjacent to a bye lane leading to the high road to Ongar , and comprises a few straggling homesteads and labourers' cottages . At one of these farms lived Mr . Thomas Drory , son of a highly respectable yeoman , at Great Burstead , where he occupies three farms . He had only held it two or three months ,

    his father having previously occupied it , and had quitted it and given it to him to manage . During the last two years of the father ' s possession a man named Thomas Last acted as bailiff to him , and with his wife , who officiated as housekeeper , and his stepdaughter , Jael Denny , lived on the farm . In the course of the summer Mr . Drory , sen ., discovering some improper intimacy between his son and the daughter of the bailiff , gave them notice to quit the property , in order to break off the connection . Last accordingly left , with his wife and daughter , and they mile

    took up their abode in a cottage , about half a from the farm . In the course of a few weeks the farm was left by Mr . Drory to his son ' s management , and , notwithstanding his father ' s strict injuctions , the young man resumed his intimacy with the unfortunate girl . A short time ago it was ascertained that he was paying his addresses to another young woman named Gilling , who resides in Brentwood , but , on being taxed with his double dealing by Jael Denny's father , he denied that such was the case . Eventually , however , he admitted that he was paying his

    addresses elsewhere , and , as the girl Denny was near the period of her confinement , he wished to take advantage of her dependent condition by refusing to give her any pecuniary assistance unless she would sign a document denying that ' the trouble " she was in was owing to her intimacy with him . Such a declaration was wanted , it appears , to satisfy the doubts of the friends of the girl whom he wished to marry . On Saturday afternoon Jael Denny went out for a short time and returned about half-past five o ' clock . In reply to her mother she said she had seen Thomas Drory , who had put her into good spirits , and she was

    going to see him again at half-past six . While at tea she rose and looked at the watch , and said , " I will finish my tea when I come back . I shall not be gone long . I am only going to the first stile . She then put on her bonnet and cloak and went out , but never came back again . Soon after she left the house she was seen in Drory ' s company walking over some meadows away from their homes . This was the last time she was seen alive . Her parents waited up the whole night in anxious suspense for her return . At daybrpak her stepfather started out in one direction in search and the mother in another .

    After wandering about for two or three hours the father , in passing through a field known ns Sevenacre Field , a mile distant from the poor man ' s cottage , noticed what ho thought to be an ox lying on the grass , at a secluded part of tho meadow , which is overshadowed by a thick clump of trees . On approaching it ho * discovered it to bo the body of a female , and a closer examination proved to him that it was that of his unfortunate stepdaughter . She lay with her face downwards , and a brief glance sufficed to show that she had met with a violent death , The pogr man ' s cries brought assistance from

    several farms , and on the body being turned over it was seen that she had been strangled by a rope which had been twisted several times round her neck . Intelligence of the murder having reached the Essex constabulary at Brentwood , Mr . Coulson the superintendent , proceeded at once to Drory ' s house The young man , who was sitting at the fire , was told of the murder and asked to come and see the bodv On his reaching the spot where she lay he became deadly pale , turned his head away , and could scarcely walk . Her features were shockingly distorted , with . marks of blood about her face and clothes . A cursor y glance of the rope or thick sash line , which was securely twisted round her throat , penetrating the

    flesh of the neck , proved at once that she had been strangled , while severe marks on her hands , as if they had been bitten and torn , indicated the desperate struggle she had been engaged in , and the utter impossibility of her having committed the act herself . On the cord being released the neck and throat were discovered to be cut , and the flesh excoriated by the violence with which the rope had been drawn . The impression of the officer and those collected on the spot was that the noose had been slipped over the head and drawn tight from behind , and that the rope was then twisted three or four times round the throat so tight as to effect strangulation . A gate was procured , and the corpse was conveyed to the parents '

    cottage . An inquest was held on the body on Monday , when sufficient evidence was given to show who the guilty party was . Prom the evidence of the stepfather , it appeared that Drory had given the girl poison some time ago , with a view either to cause abortion , or the death of the girl . The inquest was adjourned till Thursday , but there seemed to be no doubt as to Drory ' s guilt . A quantity of cord , precisely the same as that with which the girl was strangled , has been found in one of his boxes , and other facts have come to light which show that he must have planned the murder some weeks ago .

    The inquest was resumed on Thursday afternoon at the Brentwood police-station . The most important evidence given was that of George Nicholls , a market gardener . After stating that he knew Jael Denny and Thomas Drory he went on to say : — On the first of this month I went to the prisoner in a field where he was ploughing . I went to return a basket which he had lent me the night before . Some conversation occurred between us about Jael Denny being in the family way , and the prisoner told me he had been to the deceased on the Sunday morning previous , and had got her to sign a paper certifying that the child did not

    belong to him . He added , " George , you will hear of something very serious of her in a short time . She told me on Sunday morning that she would make away with herself . " I replied , " 1 hope you don ' t think such a thing , Thomas . " I do not think he made any reply to this observation . I don ' c recollect that he did . He told me that the deceased had two or three different times told him that she would make away with herself . The prisoner did not appear to me to know what he was about at the time . He went to the wrong end of the field to set in his plough , and he remarked to me at the time that he did not know what he was doing . I replied , *• Thomas , I don ' t think you do . "

    Mr . Alfred Swaine Taylor , professor of chemistry and jurisprudence at Guy ' s Hospital , who had examined certain spots , apparently of blood , on a pair of corduroy small clothes belonging to Drory , gave it as his decided opinion , after careful examination , that they were stains of blood . The coroner , in his charge to the jury , commented upon the chief points in the evidence . The first question was whether the strangulation of the deceased was suicidal or homicidal , but on that point

    there could hardly be any difference of opinion , as it was evident from the appearance of the body that it must have been the act of some other person . The main qu < stion , then , was whether evidence sufficient had been given to charge any person with the murder . It had been proved that the girl left her mother ' s house at half-past six o'clock to meet Thomas Drory , and they had no evidence of his having been seen " from that time till ten minutes after eight . Then , as to the stains on his clothes , Drory had said that they were caused by some stuff he had been giving to the calves , whereas they had the evidence of Professor Taylor expressly stating that the s tains were produced by blood .

    The jury having retired , and after the lapse of a quarter of an hour returned into the inquest room , when the foreman announced as the unanimous finding of himself and brother jurors a verdict of " Wilful murder against Thomas Drory . " The prisoner was immediately committed to Chelmsford Gaol . The girl was twenty years of ago , and , althoug h in humble circumstances , was an object of some attraction in Brentwood . She was five feet nine inches in height , and had a remarkably fine figure and prepossessing features .

    Another Case Of Poisoning By Arsenic Is ...

    Another case of poisoning by arsenic is reported n 9 having taken place last week . The victim was an elderly lady , named Ann Jones , of a respectable family in the vicinity of Ponttryhedfeudigaed , in South Wales , and her daughter-in-law , Mrs , Elisabeth

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 19, 1850, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19101850/page/4/