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Leader (1850-1860), 18th August 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 785, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      THE SLOW-POISONING CASE . Further evidence was received on Saturday last in connexion with this mysterious and distressing case . Miss Ann Brecknell , sister of Mrs . Wooler , was examined ; and the result of her testimony went to show that Mr . Wooler had exhibited great anxiety about his wife , to whom she believed he had always been strongly attached ; that he wrote to the witness very urgently to come and stay with her sister during her illness , and that he seemed very much delighted when she arrived . But she could not recollect what was his demeanour

      immediately after his wife ' s death , although she had thrown her arms round his neck on that occasion , and kissed him . She had heard her sister say , shortly before her decease , " Dear Joseph , my dear Joseph !" In answer to questions \ ut by counsel and by the bench , Miss Breckne'l confessed to great want of memory with regard to details . She " had not been told by any one to tell anything , or conceal anything : she only wished she had a better memory . " A letter having been produced , with the words " Please burn this" written on it , she said that it was written by her .

      Miss Lanchester , a lady who attended on Mrs . Wooler , also testified to Mr . Wooler being affectionate to his wife , who had declared she never entertained a wish but her husband gratified it . This witness , also , owing to the ^ tate of her feelings , could not recollect how Mr . Wooler seemed when his wife died ; but she said he had previously expressed great anxiety for the arrival of the doctors . He read out loud the certificate stating that his wife had been poisoned , and remarked , " They make it out that my dear Jane was poisoned . " Miss Marshall , who had also been with Mrs . Wooler during her last illness , had heard Mr . Wooler urge the calling in of Dr . Hazlewood . as he had no confidence in Dr . Jackson .

      A disclosure of considerable importance was made by Mr . Hensell , surgeon , to whom the urine of the deceased was sent for analysation on several successive days . On one of these occasions—namely , on the day on which certain tingling symptoms , suggestive of poisoning by arsenic , Were experienced by the patient—the urine received by Mr . Hensell was sent together with a note from Mr . Wooler . Upon being analysed , the secretion was found to be totally different from what had been previously examined , and appeared to indicate a healthy

      change . Mr . Hensell and Dr . Haslewood expressed to Mr . Wooler their suspicion that a mistake had occurred ; when he called up the maid , Ann Taylor , and then said there had T > een no mistake . " This , " added Dr . Haslewood , " was on the day that the tingling symptoms were reported to him . Mr . Wooler told him that they had come on that day . But Mrs . Wooler replied that he must have forgotten , as she had told him ( Mr . Wooler ) about them three or four days before . " Subsequently , the secretions again exhibited their original character . Mr . Wooler was once more remanded , to await the result of Dr . Taylor ' s analyses .

      Untitled Article

      OUR CIVILISATION . ASSIZK CASES . A Lover and his Broken Heakt . —An action for breach of promise of marriage was brought by a gentleman , Captain Holder , ngninst a Miss Josliog , at the Bristol Assizes . In answer to a letter , enclosing a wedding ring , from Captain Holder , Miss Josling , who was a young lady of great attractions , had written to Bay she accepted his offer and his " dear ring" with pleasure . In subsequent letters , she spoke of her " dearest John , " and her " dearest Jack ; " sent " lots of love and lota of kisses from your own dear pet ; " and mentioned having ordered her " things" for the marriage . She also said that her cousin had gone abroad broken--hearted because she " would not have him . "

      Subsequently she broke off the engagement , on the plea that , having lost her mother about the time of the offer , she was glad of the prospect of a home ; but that she had since found she could not love Captain Holder ; and she afterwards wrote to the captain ' s mother , saying she did not approve of his opinions . For the defence , it was shown , by letters from Captain Holder ' s attorney , that the plaintiffs chief object was to obtain money compensation for the presents he hud made , tlie marriage license ho had obtained , and the expenses of hi * trips to Bath , in courting the ladv . Mr . Justice Williams , in summing

      up , made some very severe remarks , by implication , on the mercenary object of the plaintiff , for whom , however , tho jury returned n verdict—damages , QQOf . —Two cases of breach of promise of tho ordinary kind havo been tried , one of which wan accompanied by seduction . A female witness , who proved tho Huiluction , and who tracked tho parties into t , ho lady's hodroom , and spoke to them through tho door , said that who " made IictmjH busy , woman-like ; " that tho plaintiff , " of course , " told hor to " mind her own burthiCHH , " but that she did not do so . A verdict , in thin , an in tho other case , was given for the plaintiff .

      quantity of silk handkerchiefs , gold pins , cloth , &c . They were all sentenced to penal servitude for four years . Jealousy . —Edward Aspinall has been sentenced to fifteen years' transportation for endeavouring to throw a girl with whom he had been " keeping company" into the Manchester canal . Jealousy was the cause .

      Railway Roniucmics . ¦— At tho Lancaster Assizes , flovcral officials , of a subordinate capacity , connected with the Lancaster and Carlisle Hallway , wore found guilty of stealing from trains on that lino a largo

      Untitled Article

      A Thief-hunt in Night-clothes . —The premises of Mr . Thomas Fisher , a clothworker in Broker ' s Alley , Drury Lane , were entered on the night of Friday week by some thieves who had apparently climbed the water spout , and forced open the first-floor window . Several bales of cloth were then removed , and placed in a cab which stood at the door . An assistant of Mr . Fisher was sleeping in the house , and , being roused , went down stairs , and caught sight of the cab as it was being driven

      off , the thieves themselves escaping on foot . It was a quarter past four in the morning ; and the assistant , with nothing on him but his nightshirt , followed the cab through several streets , running at the rate of eight miles an hour , and shouting " Stop thief ! " till he was nearly hoarse . The cabman was at length taken into custody by a policeman ; and upon being brought before the magistrate at Bow-street , made a very rambling statement . He was remanded , that further inquiries might be made .

      Private Public Houses . —A decent-looking young woman was charged at Lambeth , on her own confession , with stealing a gentleman ' s watch . The prosecutor said he had met the prisoner some weeks ago in Lambeth , and had treated her with gin at several " private houses . " Upon the magistrate asking him what he meant , he said , " I mean private houses where gin is sold when the public houses are closed , of which I should think there are hundreds in Lambeth . " The prisoner added that she knew several places where gin and other spirits are privately sold ; and in these places bottles containing the spirits are kept between the bed and the mattress . The woman was remanded .

      Drunk at Mid-day . —At the same office , on the same day , Jane Dunninghara , the wife of a police sergeant , was fined ten shillings for being found helplessly intoxicated in the streets at mid-day , and assaulting a policeman who assisted her . The prisoner , who is a confirmed drunkard , has been iu the habit of trumping up charges against the policemen of her husband ' s division , and but recently got a sergeant reduced to the rank of a constable . Forged Notes . —Robert Drinkwater , a licensed victualler , was charged , at Worship Street , with having severally passed two forged Bank of England notes on Mr . William Jordan , a beer-shop keeper in Spitalfields ,

      who described his house as being a " relieving shop , that is to say , an unlicensed pawnbroker ' The prisoner and another man went to Mr . Jordan ' s shop ; and , after having some refreshment there , Drinkwater tendered in payment a 10 / . note . Mr . Jordan gave him the change , and he and his friend then left . This note , together with one previously received from the prisoner , was discovered to be not genuine , and Drinkwater , on a subsequent day , was given into custody . Mr . Pelham , for the defence , contended that the passing of the forged notes was unintentional , and begged the magistrate to accept bail for the prisoner , whom he knew to be respectably connected . This being disproved by a policeman in court , buil was refused . Tho prisoner was remanded for a -week .

      Highway Robbery and Assault . —At the Lambeth Police Court , James Taylor , who has several times been remanded , was re-examined and committed for trial on a charge of assaulting and robbing a journeyman painter named Charles Bowers . On the evening of the 29 th ult ., he was walking along . Albert-Street , Londonroad , when a woman spoke to him , and immediately afterwards Taylor and another man rushed on him , and knocked him down by a violent blow on his left eye . While he was on the ground , they robbed him of all

      the money ho had about him , amounting to 1 / . 4 s ., threatening at the same time to "do for him . " They did not , however , commit any further violence , but ran away . Bowers pursued them , and overtook tho prisoner , whom he seized and held until the arrival of a policeman , when ho gave him into custody . —Two cases of highway robbery , accompanied with murderous violence , the one in Liquorpond-street , Gray's Inn-lane , tho other in Sharp's-nlley , Cow-cross , have been tried at the Middlesex Sessions . Tho offenders were sentenced to three

      years' bard labour . Ckakkd . —An infirm old woman , mimed Mnry Ann Smith , was examined , at the Southwork Polico Court , on a chargo of attempting to lure Joseph Brown , a child three ycara of age , away from his home . Tho boy , it appeared , was returning from school , when ho was met by the prisoner , who , taking him by tho hand , walked off with him in tho opposite direction , promising to buy him sweetmeats . They were seen by a young woman who know both tho child and his parents , and who , cntertuining aome suspicion , asked Smith where she was taking him to , and aho answered , " To his homo . " Ilia home , howover , was in tho contrary direction ; and tho woman was given in charge . Tho prisoner stated to the magistrate that tho little boy was her grandson ; but the mother of tho child declared that she had novor seen tho woman before . One of tho prisoner's own grandchildren was brought into court . Ho was about tho same age

      as the other boy , and something like him in appearance . As the prisoner might have mistaken the one for the other , and as she appeared to be of rather unsound mind , she was discharged with a caution . Police Ruffianism . —At the Thames police court , two constables brought a charge of assault against an elderly man named Joseph Smith , who had formerly himself been a policeman . The charge was denied by Smith , who brought a counter accusation against the constables . He had found them blocking up the pathway , and had requested them to let him pass ; which they refused to do , and one of them not only threatened to kick him , but actually did strike him in the face . This statement was confirmed by three witnesses ; and the case against Smith was dismissed . So far , so good ; but what of the case against the police officers ?

      Hocr . 'SSDHS . —The driver of a Hansom cab was called about ten minutes past twelve on Saturday night to convey a j'oung woman , who had been found in a state of insensibility on the pavement in Cheapside , to Camomile-street , Bishopsgate . The woman was followed into the cab by a j * oung man ; and , in consequence of something which had been said , the cabman twice lifted the trap in the roof of his vehicle , and saw what convinced him that a criminal assault upon the woman was intended . He therefore gave the man into custody ; and the woman was taken to her home . Before the Lord Mayor , the latter stated that she and a female cousin from Sheerness were seeking work in London ; that her cousin , on the night in question , went

      into a shop to inquire about work , leaving her outside ; that the prisoner accosted her , and , after some resistance , persuaded her to take a glass of wine ; and that , after drinking this at a public-Louse , she became insensible , and so remained until Sunday morning . Ann Smith , her cousin , stated that , after missing her , she found her insensible in Cheapside ; that she did not observe the prisoner follow her into the cab , and that she did not herself get in , because she thought she should have to pav a second fere beforehand , and she had no money . The prisoner said he was so drunk that he recollected nothing about it , but that he was sure he meant no harm . He was bound over to meet the charge on a future occasion . It is satisfactory to add that his

      contemplated purpose was not effected . Starvation-Despehate . —A young man , in great destitution , was sentenced at Westminster to a fortnight's imprisonment for breaking glass in the workhouse windows . It appeared that a large number of destitute paupers , who have been refused admittance , have latterly made organised attacks upon the building , saying that they are going to assault Sebastopol . A Desperate Fight . —Dennis Daly was taken into custody in the Hampstead-road for pocket-picking , and , while being conveyed to the station-house , a mob

      assembled , and attempted a rescue . The policeman sought refuge in a butcher's shop to await assistance , when the prisoner seized a knife , and attempted to cut his necktie , in order to get off . Foiled in this , he sought to stab the constable , whose fingers were in fact cut ; and the latter would probably have been murdered , had not the butcher's wife wrested the weapon , and afterwards another , from his hand . Before reaching the butcher's shop , the policeman was knocked down , and severely kicked . The prisoner was committed for trial . The butcher has been a great sufferer , as the mob pillaged the front part of his shop of a good many joints .

      Patrick Maypowder , an Irish labourer , has been sent to trial on a charge of aggravated assault , almost amounting to murder , on his aunt . —Several other cases of brutal assault , of the usual character , and inclusive of savago wife-beating , have come before the magistrates this week . Trials for savage personal outrage have also been frequent at the Middlesex Sessions . Ann Downks , the wife of a bedstead-maker in the Borough , has been committed for trial , charged with Btealing a box containing money from a neighbour . smith and brass

      Gas Roiibkry . —Henry Cash , a founder , has been sentenced to a year ' s hard labour for having stolen two thousand feet of gas from tho Commercial Gas Company . Tho company had supplied him up to a certain time , " and had then ceased to do so ; but the prisoner connected a pipe to the service pipe , and helped himself . The light was carefully concealed from people out of doors , and this went on for some three years ; so that the company had been defrauded to the amount of more than three hundred pounds . Tho theft , probably , would never have been discovered , had not two of the prisoner ' s discharged workmen given information .

      " Anywtikhk , anywhere , out ok the \ S ould I A young Welshwoman attempted , a few nights ago , to drown herself in the Serpentine . Being rescued , ana brought before tho magistrate at Marlboroug h-street , sne told her history , which was « sad one &he '"^ ^ seduced , and had gone upon the town ; had ^ l ^ d by a clergyman , and taken to Mvo «* - *™^ , been again seduced , this t ' ? ^ wid had ffono on brother ; had come »>'/» . ^ " , P i > the Monday to Crcmomo Gardens , ^ n ^ g hcrsolf into i ^ H ^^ S ^^ Sa ^ tofco after her , "" iS - ' A SS > .- EU-beU , Kennedy has

      Untitled Article

      August 18 , 1855 . ] THE LEADER . 78 S

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 18, 1855, page 785, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2102/page/5/