Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 5th January 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 4, Untitled Article

Page 4
Page 4
4 of 24

On this page

  • Text (4)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      POISON-MURDERS . The Staffordshire police are making diligent bujt into the appropriation of the sum of money posses by Mr . Cook a little before his death . This s could not have teen less than £ 1 , 000 , but only i can now be accounted for , A few daj r s after Cook's death , Mr . Palmer , as it is now ascertijii paid- away four £ 50 notes . Mr . Cook frequei stilted that he would leave the turf , and-hedissila others from going upon it . He was generally tin tunate : Mr . Palmer , on the other hand , was for most part lucky , and Mr . Cook had the greatest i anee on his friendship and judgment . Mrs . Pato in whose corpse Professor Taylor , of Quy ' a Hospi has already discovered traces of arsenic , was a , war * Chancery ; and it was only at her earnest solicitai that her guardian and the Master in Chancery coulc induced to consent to her marriige .

      The researches of the local constabulary are be aided by Mr ., Field , late of the detective pol London . Cook ' s betting "book has not yet b found . It is thought , by legal men , that , notw standing the facts against him , Palmer will be y likely to escape on his trial . At present , he is un suspicion of having killed sixteen person ? , am whom the late Lord George Bentinck is mentionei Great annoy ance & . has been created by the fac Palmer having , by the secret agency of some tra in the camp , seen a letter directed to Mr . Gard ) the attorney for the prosecution , by Profei Taylor , stating that he had not been able to de in Cook ' s stomach any trace of mineral poison .

      The coffins containing the remains of A : nn ; Walter Palmer have "been , opened sit the Talbot The body o _ f the latter presented a most appal spectacle . The limbs and face were horribly Be ^ Hed ; one eye was open , and the mouth , parti gaping , gave the semblance ~ oT a ghastly grin , fearful stench spread through the room ; and it found necessary to relay a portion of the floor wl some of the foul matter had dropped , as uo avnc of washing of washing or plaining could remove stain , or the bad odour .

      A case of poisoning in France is related by Q nani : —The Court of ABsizes of the Oise , trie < l a ; named RobiUard for attempting to poison his fat The old man , who possessed Bonie little propert ; Royaucourt , divided it some time ago between his children , the prisoner and his daughter , on condi of receiving a life-rent ; but he gave the daughtei larger portion , and thia irritated the son bo match he frequently abused and threatened his father . the 30 th of September last , Robillard had a vi < qtiarrel with hia father , and afterwards wont to ft didier to purchase a quantity of oil of vitriol . Oi return , he showed hia wife tho vitriol , and tolc that a drop of it would bo enough to kill any one . the 18 th of Ootober , while at" work with another near hi » father ' s house , ho said that he muBt g drop of something to drink to the old mmi , an <

      went into the house Ho returned in a few inin and said that ho had given hie father " noniei that was rath or strong , " at tho timo bIiov bottlo . Tho man went to tho house , and old ltob told him that bin son ha < l attomptod to poison but that fortunately ho had not swallowed all of ho had offered him ; at tho Bamo timo ho compl thnt ho suffered greatly from bawling in IiIb » and throat . The son was shortly after arrested his blouse wjih found to bo burnt by drops of v After a while he confosnad that ho had given hoi the poison in brandy to his fathor . Tho jury a « qi tho prisoner on tho charge of attempted poisoninf conviotod him of tho Ighhoi" oft'onoa of having o what tho law onlls " irmhidy add voiuhIh , " by < atanco adtniniHtorod by him ; and tho court uont Id in to five years' imprisonment .

      Untitled Article

      DJUNK-MUUDKK 3 . This man Corrigan , who is now in custody on a c of murdering bin witb , is in a vovy dospondlnK On tho ovonh » K of Friday wook , he wroto tho imbj lottor to bis wilb ' u Biwtor-in-law , vivo is taking e tho cbildrou in Solby-atreot lfiuufc , Hothnal-Ri-ooi " llouso of Dottmtion , Friday Affcorm " Dear Botsy , —With a brokon hotirt I write I

      Untitled Article

      causing the issue of a definite and bona fide advertisement for tenders for direct steam postal communication with Australia . Trade for the most part is prosperous , although theChristmas holidays have prevented it from bein <* brilliant . A meeting has been held at Manchester of the creditors of the manufacturing house of Mr . James ^ Cheetham , which suspended last week . Accovdingto the Manchester Courier , the liabilities were stated at . ^ l 11 , 098 , the assets being , ^ 51 , 643 , and a committee was appointed to examine and report . A meeting has also heen held of the creditors of Messrs . Newton and Scattergood , a firm connected with Mr . Cheethana , which stopped at the same time , with liabilities for £ 21 , 4 : 27 , and assets estimated at ^ l 1 , 937 . In this case , also , a committee was appointed .

      Another injury to trade is to be found in the strike of the spinners and piecers at Manchester , which still continues , though the funds collected for the turn-outs are so low that lust week they only afforded a dividend of a shilling to each person . Nine of the operatives have resumed work at the mill of Mr . J . Clarke : a proceeding which roused the indignation of the others to so high a pitch , that one of the " knob-sticks" was hunted on returning to his own home , and bis life was threatened . The chief offender was a man named Thomas Limerick . On being brought before the magistrate , he attempted to establish an alibi , but failed , and was sentenced to a month ' s imprisonment , with hard labour .

      The annexed notification appears in the Gazette of Tuesday : — " The Lords Commissioners of Her Majesty ' s Treasury , having certified to the Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt that thea'e was no surplus of actual revenue over the actual expenditure of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland for the year ended _ the 30 th of September , 1855 : " The Commissioners for the Reduction of the National Debt hereby give notice that no sum will be applied by them on account of the sinking fund under the provisions of the Act 10 th of George IV * ., cap . 27 , between the 1 st day of January , 1856 . and the 31 st of March , 1856 . " A . Y . SPEARMAN , Comptroller-General . " National Debt-office . Dec . 31 st , 1855 . "

      Untitled Article

      4 THE LEADER , [ No , 302 , Saturday ,

      Untitled Article

      STARVED TO DEATH . Several cases of the starvation oi children by their parents have come before the magistrates within the last few days . One of these was heard at the Worahip-street police-office , and presented most appalling features , Edward Harvey , a bricklayer , and Hai'riet Bay , a needlewoman , lave for some time past lived , together as man and wife . In the course of June , 1855 , they resided at the bouse of a letter-carrier at Homerton , which they left , owing £ 1 3 s . 6 cl . There were four obildren , two of whom ( William and Harriet ) were of the respective ages of seven and five these , though the offspring of the man , wero not children of the woman . It was observed that when the

      man Harvey and the woman Ray had their meals they would shut William and Harriet out of the room , admitting them afterwards to share the fragments , which they would eat eagerly , gathering up the very orumba from the plates . The boy was dreadfully thin , and his bones were noticed by the landlady to be almost starting through his cho 3 t , In July , the man and woman were charged before Mr . Hamrnill with starving the children , and the former was sentonced to a month ' s imprisonment , the children being removed to tho workhouse of the man ' s native place , Standon , in Hertfordshire . Mr , Christey , the relieving oificor of Bethnal-green , said before tho magistrate , on

      Saturday , that be . carried the youngest in liis aima part of the way to the workltouBe , and added , with groat emotion , " I thiak I can see Tier now , as she van up tho hill to the house" Aftoi awhile , the children returned to their father and hia mistress , and in tl * o course of October they wero taken by a girl , about twelve years of ago , supposed to bo their older sister , to a school in Haokupy , whore thoy remained three woeks , at tho rate of a pouny a-woek , which waa paid . Tho children wore then romnrkably clean , but very emaciated and weak , and thoy aoai ^ cely ovor spoke , They wore frequently charged by other children witb

      had written to him several letters without receiving an answer . She therefore requested . Mr . Platt to direct a note for her to Mr . Butler , that he might not iuow from whom it came . That the woman and her paramour were in distress appears evident ; for , during the whole of their time at Mr . Platt's , they only paid one shilling in rent , and on the 16 th of November the man applied to the parish for relief , and received some , together with an offer to admit him and his family into the workhouse—an offer which was not accepted . Subsequently he was offered work , which would have brought in two shillings a-day , but he did not take it , nor did he communicate to the parish authorities the illness of his children .

      Ill , however , they were , from sheer want of food ; and on Sunday week the man asked Mrs . Platt wltere the parish doctor lived , as he thought two of his children were dying . This was the first complaint of illness that had been heard . Being informed of the address he wanted , the man left the house , and Mrs . Platt entered the room in which the children lay . She found them covered with something thin . On looking at them , their appearance was so " awful " ( to use her own language before the " magistrate ) that she " screamed with horror ; " , in relating these

      landlady , to give it a warm bath , and he fetched : dical advice . The landlady entered the room , i found the child lying thinly covered in a draug place , and dead . A pool of blood and matter was the pillow at the side of its face . Charles and Sarah Butler , a young couple , ab twenty-three years of age , have been examined at Southwark police-office , charged with causing death of their infant son , Henry , by cruel treatm < and by neglecting to afford it proper nourishm < The parents allege that the child ' s habits were di Alfred Jenkins , a journeyman tallow-melter , been sentenced at the Mansion-house to six we < imprisonment as a rogue and vagabond , for deseri his wife and three children , and leaving them destifr The attractions of another woman appear to h been the cause of the desertion .

      facts at the police-court , she burst into tears . Her statement thus proceeded : —" Their eyes were faxed , and the boy ' s were glaring . I said , ' These poor children are quite dead . ' The woman replied , ' No , I don't thiak they are dead ; ' and she said it without a tear . She said , * They ate their suppers last night quite hearty , and went to bed well ; they were about all the previous day . ' But I told her , ' It is astonishing if these children were upon their legs at all yesterday . Why not mention , their illness to me , and I would have done a nything for them ? ' She said they were not ill . "

      In the meanwhile , Harvey had reached the bouse of the parish doctor , Mr . Vinall , who at once accompanied him back , and found that the girl was already dead . " The little boy , " said Mr . Vinall in his evidence , " was still alive , not very cold , unconscious , and in a dying state . I could feel no pulsation , but he was gasping . I got a little stimulant , some egg in a small quantity of brandy , between his lips , "but he could not swallow it , and died before he could be laid down again . Both the man and the woman were in the room at the time , but I don't recollect that they made any particular remark to me , The children appeared

      to me as if ma natural sleep , they were lying face to face , and were in such a dreadful state of emaciation that my first impression was they had died from starvation . " The room was dirty , but " not absolutely filthy ; ' * it contained one chair and a bedstead . Previously to their arrival at the house , Harvey observed to Mr Vinall , " If they die , I shall say they have been starved to death . " He added that he had had an offer to go into the Union , but that he did n ot want to go . After the death of the children , Mr . Vinall told their father that he would be likely to get into trouble ; and another medical gentleman said to him and the

      woman Ray that they looked too well themselves to justify the appearance the children presented . That the boy and girl died from starvation only , was rendered * in some degree doubtful by the results of the poat-rnortem examination . Of tho state of the boy ' s body , Mr . Vinall said : — " The vessels of the head were rather fuller than usual . The heart , liver , lungs , and kidneys were healthy , as in fact were all the organs , but the stomach exhibited patches of inflammation and had eochymose spota about the coats of it , and I found a fishbone in tho bowels . My conclusion is that death was canned either by long deprivation of sufficient food or from poison , I have no other reason for suspecting poison than those little spots ; and , it was a

      romarkablo fact that both children should dio so near the same time . There waa very little blood in the bodies . I believe tho starvation was sufficient to cauao _ death without any hurrying additional cause . The girl waa equally emaoiateel , and the appearance Bho presented was much the Bamo . In the bowela of the girl I found a piece of wood , about half-an-inoh in length and pointed * at one end , which the man said must have been taken in Rome oatmeal they had had before , " Ho uIho said they had had a fish , by which be acconntocl for tho proaonoo of tho fmh-bonc in tho boy s intestinoH . Mr . Harris , surgeon ,, as well as Mr . Vinall , was not convinced that poison had not boon used .

      A stato of fioroo oxoitement against Harvey and Ray has boon rou . sod nmongHttho pooror inhabitants of Homerton . Sovoral followed tho couple as thoy wore being convoyed by tho police from tho Haoknoy station to WorHhip-Htroofc . Four constables surrounded thorn , but proved a very poor protection against nearly two thousand onmpjod pursuers , who nt ono timo made a rush at tho prisoners , and tried to throw thoiu into tho oanul in llaggorfitrmo-noldi * , Tho polioo escort , howovor , was increased , and a crib wan at longth Hocurod . Harvoy and Ray woro remanded for a wook . Tho facts , in many roHpocts , woro Hinguliwly liko those in tho oaso of Ifarvoy and Ray . Tho man , whon tho child wan Hour it » death , borrowed a tub of hid

      stealing food from them , and it waB evident thoy -wore ntwrymg . About fiv « or six woeka ago , Harvey hired lodging * * nfc Brunawiolc-stroet , Hoiaorton , Horo tlio former Hyskom of apparently doliboruto starvation wa i resumed ; but tho ohtldron wore novor soon , as thoy woro not allowed to leave tho room in which thoy livod . Harvey and Ray woro nearly always at homo Tho woiaiui told tho landlord , Mr . Platt , thnt hIic waa about to apply to Guildhall for a gift of ton Hhilliuge , as aho was tho widow of" a livorvmon of tho Glothworkorn' Company , though hUo did not wish the geixtlomon there to know her hunband was doad ; that Mr . Butlor , T . P ., was hor oouniu , and that sho

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 5, 1856, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2122/page/4/