whom that death was occasioned the prisoners are arraigned."

The proofs were partly given by eye-witnesses; but chiefly by witnesses repeating admissions of guilt made by the prisoners themselves, which were corroborated by medical testimony on the state of the poor girl's body after death. Three labourers deposed to having at different times seen Mrs. Bird beat the child till it was very bloody on the face, on the neck, and on the back of the head: once she used a hazel stick with "spraggles" on it (the projecting knots of small branches not trimmed close); another time, a furze-stub; another time, leather thongs.

Grace Parsons, the mother of the child, went to see her daughter on the 4th of January, and was very politely received by Mrs. Bird, and invited to take tea: she went upstairs, and found her daughter dead. Mrs. Bird asked Mrs. Bird asked her not to have an inquest, and prayed her on her knees to forgive her, for the sake of her own poor children.

Mary Branch. I am the wife of a blacksmith at Bideford. On the morning of the 5th of January I went to lay out the body of this child. Mr. Turner was with me. There was a blue handkerchief round the left arm. I took all the things off the body. From the ankle to the middle of the thigh were cuts very bad, big and small; they were very bad cuts indeed; they were covered with blood. There was a violent blow on the back part of the hip. I took off seven plaisters from the other hip. There were marks of violence upwards. I went down stairs and found Mrs. Bird in the kitchen. I said, "How came you to serve the child so?" She then took me

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into her bedroom, and said she would be a friend to me as long as I lived if I would promise her that the mother of the child should say nothing about it. I said, "Why had you not sent for the doctor?" She said she was faulty for not having done so. I said, "I think you were." She said, Will you do what I am going to ask you? I'll be a friend to you as long as I live, for one word of yours will go a great way?" I said, "Well, Mrs. Bird, I can't, for I have seven children of my own, and my conscience won't let me." She said, "I have flogged her at different times." After that we went down stairs.

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The

Mrs. Sarah Jane Norman, daughter of the Governor of the Gaol at Bideford, chanced to be present at the gaol when Bird and his wife were brought to prison. Mrs. Bird said aloud, it was her husband was the last that beat the child. husband cried, and said nothing. Mrs. Bird clasped her hands and lifted her eyes to the ceiling, and said, Good Lord Jesus Christ, hear my prayers this once, and answer them, and bring me through this trial, and I'll never do the like again; and walk as upright as angels in heaven!" Their uncle came to see them. He said, "Robert, you 'll never see me any more it was the kick you gave her on Christmas-day that killed her." Bird held up his finger, and shook his head; and the old man at once stopped. He afterwards assented to everything the Birds suggested as the causes of the child's death.

Mr. Turner, surgeon, gave the result of a post-mortem exam nation made on the 5th of January, the day after that on which the child was said to have died. There

were a vast number of wounds and abscesses of some standing on the arms; the nails of the fingers on the left hand had been gone for some time, and the bone of the middle-finger was protruding the result, probably, of frost-bites and a low state of the system. On the right hip was a slough as large as the palm of the hand. The viscera were perfectly sound; the stomach was perfectly empty; the general condition extremely reduced. The cause of death was congestion of the brain, from an injury to the head by a blow or fall. The appearances exhibited could not have been exhibited within 30 hours after death; the child must have been dead at least three days. (The weather was extremely cold.)

For the defence it was urged, that the immediate cause of death was a fall or a blow-most likely the former: if a fall, neither party was guilty; if a blow, there was nothing at all to fix the guilt on both of the prisoners, or either one more than the other.

This view received the sanction of Mr. Justice Talfourd in his summing-up. In order to main tain an indictment for murder or manslaughter, it must be made out that the unlawful act was the cause of death. The cause of death was an injury to the head by a fall or a blow: the jury could not leap in the dark, and in the absence of proof infer that a blow was struck, or if struck dealt by either one prisoner rather than the other. If the death had been caused by privation or want of food, the male prisoner alone would be responsible; if a long succession of wrongs had caused the death, there would be a case; but the medical testimony failed

to establish either such case. The prisoners must therefore be acquitted. On this direction the jury returned a verdict of "Not Guilty.”

Mr. Slade said, he would not ask for the discharge of the pri soners: he thought it safer that they should not be discharged at present.

There was a general outcry"What! are these persons to go entirely without punishment?" and the ruling of the learned Judge called forth much criticism.

These wretches were indicted at the following assizes for the minor offence of an assault. Their counsel pleaded, under the plea of "autrefois acquits," that their former acquittal from the charge of murder was also a discharge of the present charge of assault; for the assaults now proved were the same assaults as those formerly charged as constituting the acts of the murder. It was urged on the other side that these assaults were not the same identical murderous assaults of which they had been acquitted. Mr. Russell Gurney, Q.C., who presided as judge, directed a jury to be impannelled to inquire into the identity of these assaults. The jury found that they were not the same. The trial therefore proceeded, the judge reserving the objection, and the prisoners were found "Guilty."

The point reserved was briefly this. It is an ancient maxim of the English law, that no man shall be imperilled twice for the same offence: formerly on a trial for murder the jury could find no verdict but “ Guilty," or "Not Guilty;" but now, by Lord Denman's Act, they are enabled to return a special verdict acquitting of the murder, but finding guilty of such minor offence (of the same

class) as the evidence, although falling short of substantiating the legal charge of murder, may be sufficient to prove. Now, the Birds having been tried for a murder committed by means of a long-continued series of assaults, and the evidence, although proving many assaults, not being legally sufficient in the eyes of the jury to prove the murder, the jury might and ought, it was said, to have found the prisoners not guilty of the murder and guilty of the assaults, and that, as they had returned a general verdict of not guilty, the Birds were finally discharged of the murder and of the antecedent assaults. The full effect of these statements was denied on behalf of the Crown, and it was further replied that the assaults now charged were not the same murderous assaults charged in the indictment for murder, but other minor assaults, which the verdict of the jury did not affect. The case was argued before the court constituted under a recent statute for deciding cases reserved from the Criminal Courts, and sitting in the Exchequer Chamber; but their lordships (five in number) could not agree. It was therefore argued again before the whole fifteen Judges in Hilary Term, 1851; when so nice seemed to be the points involved, that of fourteen Judges who delivered their opinion, eight were for upholding, and six for quashing the conviction.

23. DINNER TO LORD GOUGH. The East India Company entertained the veteran and successful commander Lord Gough on his return from his victories in India with a splendid banquet.

The

chair was filled by Major-General Sir Alexander Galloway, K.C.B.,

chairman of the East India Company. Among the distinguished guests were Viscount Gough, Earl Grey, Lord John Russell, Viscount Hardinge, Right Hon. Fox Maule, Sir R. Peel, Sir James Graham, the Lord Mayor, Sir Fred. Adam, Right Hon. R. L. Sheil, the ViceChancellor, the Solicitor-General, Major Edwardes, &c.

The toast of "the Queen" having been duly honoured,

The chairman proposed the health of Lord Gough, and said

My Lords and Gentlemen, we are assembled here this evening to do honour to one of the bravest and most distinguished soldiers of the British army (cheers); a soldier who has commanded, has fought, and has conquered in more battles than any general who has ever been in Asia; battles, the results of which, in importance to the British nation, have been second only to those of that illustrious chief whose achievements have never been equalled. My lords and gentlemen, I rise to propose to you the health of Lord Vis

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count Gough," restored to his country by the blessing of Providence, after a long absence, and after a long and proud career of military glory. My lords and gentlemen, it is unnecessary in this assembly for me to detail to you the services of Lord Gough; they are identified with the imperishable records of the British army. Full 30 times and more has Lord Gough fought for his country in many of our bravest battles. I believe there are few names entered there by the illustrious chief who was the unconscious historian of his own greatness which are better known than that of my Lord Gough, and of his gallant 87th-the captors of

bours, witnesses, proved the sudden illness of the deceased woman, and that the conduct of the prisoners seemed attentive. Lucas appeared to have ridden for the doctor with speed and anxiety.

Frederick A. Cramer, assistant to Mr. Martin, surgeon at Haverhill, was called by Lucas to attend deceased, but when he arrived at the house she was dead. "I was about to go away, when a man asked me to step in and see the corpse. I believe it was the father of the deceased. I saw Maria Reeder. I asked the cause of death. Reeder said her sister had been poorly from disease of the chest; that they had given her castor oil in the morning before; that she became suddenly worse about 7 or 8 o'clock the evening before. She also said they had a mess of water and bread the evening before. Elias Lucas came in and went out again. He said she had been very sick; she had complained very much of pain in her chest. I then went up to see the body. It was on the bed, and was warm. I observed that she had died in a state of collapse. The fingers were clenched as a bird's claw. I felt the pulse, and said I was sorry I was not called in before. I asked Maria Reeder if she had been purged. She said she had, from a dose of castor oil given in the morning. I examined the body, and in the abdomen I found marks of recent confinement. It was supernaturally blue. These symptoms made me think the woman had died from cholera or poison. I suspected the latter. Something was said about a burial. I said I could not account for the death of the deceased, and that I should not give a certificate of death to the re

gistrar. Maria Reeder then said,

Both

I

To tell you the truth, she has been a deal worse since the watermess last night, and we all think there was something in that which produced her death. Sister first complained it tasted like slack lime, and offered me some in a spoon. I tasted it, but finding it like what sister described, I spit it out. We gave some to the cat, who had been also ill.' Lucas was coming in and out. I cannot say he was present during all this time. I asked both prisoners whether they had any poisonous substances in the house. said 'Not that they knew of.' said the cat that day was perfectly healthy, which surprised me after what they said about it. I went next day and opened the body, and preserved the stomach and its contents. I went again the following day to complete the examination. I found there Lucas. On the way I met Tilbrook. I asked Lucas if he had any arsenic in the house? He said he had told Tilbrook (the constable) he had it. He said it was on the shelf in the back place; that the mistress had given it him at his last place to put away and to destroy. He showed it to me. It was on the top shelf in the back place, or pantry. I took it. It is just now as I found it. I said it was unfortunate for them that arsenic should have been found in the house. Reeder said, 'I call God to witness I am innocent of poisoning my sister, though I am aware the world says to that effect." I say arsenic was the cause of the death."

J. Tilbrook, the constable, proved the delivery of the stomach and the earth to Professor Taylor in London.