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husband in cases of personal violence.

Mrs Stent was now addressed by Mr Justice Best, when she entreated that she might not be called on to give evidence against the best of husbands.

Mr Justice Best.-I am extremely sorry to give you pain; but it is my duty to ask you some questions, which it will be your duty to answer. Is your name Maria Stent?—Yes. Is the prisoner your husband? Look at him. (Here the witness turned towards the prisoner with a look of great anguish.)-Yes.

I believe you separated from him for some time?—Yes.

When did you leave him?-On the 29th of August 1818.

Where did you go to?--To France. When did you return to England? -I returned to London in August

1819.

Where did you come from when you came to London ?--From Liver pool.

To what inn did you go?-To the Saracen's Head.

Do you recollect the day you returned?-On the 5th of August. Where did the prisoner live at that time?-At Pimlico.

Did you send any letter or message to him?--I sent a letter.

On what day?-On the 5th of August.

In the course of that day did you see your husband?—Yes.

Where?—At the Saracen's Head. He came to you?—Yes. At what time of the day?--Between seven and eight.

As you recollect, state what passed.—I have no recollection of what passed.

Did any thing happen?—Yes. What did you first recollect?-Being in bed in St Bartholomew's hospital.

What was the matter with you?-I was wounded.

Where were you wounded ?-In the neck.

Any where else?—Yes, there were other wounds.

How long were you confined in St Bartholomew's Hospital?-A fortnight.

Have you any recollection of the prisoner's coming into the room to you at the Saracen's Head?—Yes. Who came in with him?—I do not recollect.

Were you alone in the room?Yes.

Before you went into the room, had you any wound?—No.

Afterwards the first thing you recollected was being in bed in St Bartholomew's Hospital?—Yes.

Cross-examined by Mr Alley.Your feelings overpowered you when you saw your husband, and you have not the least recollection of what happened afterwards?—Yes.

You said you did not wish to give evidence against the prisoner, because he was one of the best of husbands?—Yes.

How long were you away from him?-About twelve months.

George King, a waiter at the Saracen's head, Snow-hill, looked at the last witness: he recollected her coming to the Saracen's Head on the 5th of August, and writing a letter, which was sent by a porter to the twopenny post-office; the woman afterwards remained in the house. The prisoner came to the Saracen's Head in the evening, and inquired for a young woman who had arrived by the Liverpool coach, and he was introduced to the last witness. She got up to meet him, and witness shut the door. In ten minutes witness heard the shriek of a woman, and immediately went to the room in which he had left the prisoner and the wo

man. On arriving, he found his two fellow servants in the room. The woman was on her back; the prisoner was standing close by her; a knife was lying on the floor; it was bloody. Witness discovered that the woman was wounded, and went for an officer. The woman said she hoped no harm would happen to the prisoner for what he had done, for she had been a base wife, and he was one of the best of husbands.

Thomas Pithouse, also a waiter at the Saracen's Head, remembered the arrival of Mrs Stent. She continued in the house till the evening. About half past six he heard a shriek from the parlour. He entered the parlour with Turner, the porter, and perceived the woman on her back, and the prisoner with his knees apparently upon her. Turner said, "Thomas, the man has got a knife." Witness looked, and saw the knife. (The knife was here produced.) That was the knife. Witness saw the prisoner stab the woman in the neck. He attempted to take the knife, and the prisoner dropped it on the floor. After he had struck the blow, the prisoner said, "I have accomplished my purpose; I wish for nothing more; I shall suffer for it, I know I shall." The woman directly exclaimed, "You have! you have, Henry! but I freely forgive you, and I hope the law will take no hold of you, and that no harm will come to you. I freely forgive you." She then asked him to kiss her. He kneeled down and kissed her twice, which she returned. She said he was the best of husbands, and she was the worst of wives: she highly deserved all she had got. The woman was taken to the hospital. When witness first entered the room, the woman exclaimed, "Take him away; he'll murder me.'

Thomas Turner, another waiter, corroborated the preceding witness's

evidence. Witness went into the room, on hearing the shrieks of a female. He saw Mrs Stent lying on her back; the prisoner was kneeling on her. Witness observed the prisoner stab her in the front of the neck. He said, "I have accomplished my purpose." Witness desired Pithouse not to let the prisoner escape, while he went for a surgeon. Prisoner said, “I don't wish to escape." An officer was immediately sent for. Before his arrival, witness said to prisoner, "You're a rash man, you've accomplished your death warrant." Prisoner observed, "I have had sufficient cause, she has behaved basely to me." Mrs Stent said, " Indeed 1 have been a base woman to the best of husbands." She then requested to be raised up, and witness lifted her between his knees. She requested him (her husband) to take her hand and kiss her, which he did, twice or thrice. She said, she freely forgave him, and hoped her fate would be a warning to all bad wives.

John Hodson proved that he took the prisoner into custody, and searched him; he found a letter in his possession. The letter was produced. It proved to be the same which had been directed to him by his wife. Witness asked the prisoner how he could commit so rash an act. He answered that he had done it, and he knew he should suffer for it.

Mr Henry Benwell, house surgeon of St Bartholomew's Hospital, recollected Mrs Stent being brought to the hospital on the evening of the 5th of August. She had several wounds: one, on the lower part of the neck, had penetrated the windpipe; it was a dangerous wound, and might have occasioned her death. But it was possible she might have recovered without a surgeon. She had another wound on her chest, a superficial cut; a third on the right breast, a stab; a fourth in her right side,

of considerable depth, which had wounded the right lung; this was likewise a dangerous wound. There was a fifth wound on the right arm. The wound in the lungs might have occasioned her death. The knife The knife produced was such an instrument as would inflict these wounds.

This was the whole of the case for the prosecution.

Mr Justice Best now addressed the prisoner, and intimated that if he had any thing to say in his defence, the period had now arrived for so doing.

The prisoner said he would leave his case entirely in the hands of his counsel.

A vast number of witnesses were then called on behalf of the prisoner, all of whom appeared to be persons of great respectability. They stated, that they had known him for many years, and had always believed him to be as kind-hearted, humane, good-natured man as any in existence, and a particularly affectionate and indulgent husband. It was impossible, in fact, to imagine testimony more favourable than was given by these persons, who all seemed actuated by the strongest sympathy towards the prisoner.

Mr Justice Best proceeded to sum up the evidence. He deeply regretted the important and painful duty which, in the present case, devolved upon himself as well as upon the jury. Painful, however, as that duty was, he felt no doubt that they would discharge it in a proper manner. The Learned Judge then explained the law upon the subject. From the evidence detailed, and which he should again read over to them, no doubt could remain on the mind of any unprejudiced person that the crime charged upon the prisoner came within the provisions of that most excellent act of Parliament introdu

ced by the late lamented Chief-Justice of the King's Bench, for the protection of the subject's life. Though it did not appear in evidence upon the present occasion, the fact, however, might fairly be assumed, that Mrs Stent, the unhappy woman who appeared before them on that day, had forsaken her husband, and by proving unfaithful to his bed, had inflicted upon him the most poignant anguish, the most acute suffering that a man devoted to a wife could possibly endure. This, however, could by no means be admitted as a justification of his crime. The law of the land upon this subject proceeded upon the same principles as the religion of the country, which was Christianity. If a husband detected his wife in the very fact, in flagranti delicto, as it were, and that at the moment he plunged some deadly weapon in her bosom so as to occasion death, it would not be considered murder. The law, like the religion of the country, making fair allowance for the frailties of human nature, considered the husband, with such provocation immediately before his eyes, as no longer under the guidance of reason, and of course not accounta ble for his acts. Here, however, the circumstances were quite different. A considerable time had elapsed since the elopement of the first wit ness, and on her return she manifested those symptoms of repentancethat appearance of returning affection, which might well be supposed to disarm vengeance, and prevent that ferocious purpose which the prisoner appeared to have deliberately contemplated. Even while her blood was flowing from the wounds inflicted, she still entreated him to kiss her; and in that kiss conveyed a pardon to her assailant. Under circumstances such as these, the law did not admit of the same excuse as

when a husband detected his wife in the very fact. Sufficient time having been given for cool reflection on one side, and for repentance on the other, the law, proceeding on the same principle as the benign religion which it imitated, did not allow vengeance to be inflicted with impunity. After some further observations, which the Learned Judge delivered with great talent and feeling, he summed up the evidence at length.

The jury then retired, and after consulting for about half an hour, returned with a verdict of Guilty, but recommended the prisoner strongly to mercy, on account of his good character.

merton. In September last I lodged in the same house with the prisoner; it was his wife's father's house. In the latter end of that month, I believe the 28th, on Tuesday, the prisoner and his wife went out together about three o'clock in the day. (The pri soner here exclaimed, "Please you, my Lord, that's false.") I did not see them again until they returned about half past six o'clock in the evening; but I do not know whether they came in both together or not. I first saw them at the stile talking before the door with another man, where they staid about a quarter of an hour before they entered the house; but the man did not come in. His name was John Lawrence, and

Mr Justice Best. The recom. mendation shall certainly be forward- the prisoner was very jealous of him, ed.

CONVICTION OF JOHN HOLMESBY FOR THE MURDER OF HIS WIFE. Old Bailey, Friday, October 29.

John Holmesby was indicted for the wilful murder of Ann Holmesby, his wife, on the 28th of September, in the parish of St John, Hackney, by striking her with an axe upon the head, of which wound she died. The prisoner was a mild-looking decently dressed young man, and behaved himself at the bar with great composure. He shook hands with some friends whom he recognised in front of the dock.

Mr Walford opened the pleadings. Mr Alley stated the case for the prosecution, and detailed the nature of the evidence he had to adduce against the unfortunate prisoner, exactly as it was given in the following evidence.

The first witness was Esther Surrey, who gave her evidence as follows:-I am a single woman, now residing at the work-house at Ho

for he afterwards said he had caught him that evening with his wife; he said this when he came within doors, and when he had some words with the deceased, whom he called a wand charged with being with this man. She replied he was a liar. He then asked her to go to bed, she said, "Yes." They both then went into the bed-room together, as I thought, to go to rest. They then both undressed and went to bed. At this time the deceased's little brother and sister were in the house in bed; their father, who was a watchman, was out. I was in the act of going to bed with the children, who slept in the adjoining room. Prisoner soon after came out from his wife's room into ours, and sat himself down on the bed where the children were. He said to me, "Are you going to bed?" My reply was, "I believe I shall." He then went back to his wife's room, and in a minute or two returned, and sat again upon our bed undressed, when I asked him whether he wished to sleep with the children. His wife, who was in the next room, and who could overhear him, then said,

"I'll get up." He went back a second time to his wife's room, and then I heard a blow, as I thought from the sound, as if from his fist. I immediately got up and went to the door, and the little boy in the bed I had just quitted roared out" Murder!" When I got to the door the prisoner came out from his wife's room, bearing an axe in his hand, and said, if the boy roared out murder again he would murder him. He then returned into his bed-room, still carrying the axe. While he was there at that time I heard the deceased cry out very faintly, "Lord have mercy upon me!" I think she said this about three times. The prisoner then came out into the room, and said he had done for her, and should be hanged. He then asked the little boy (the deceased's brother) for his father's money, and the boy said he did not know where it was. The prisoner then took a chisel, opened the father's box, and took away the money; after that, he asked me for pen and ink, with which he wrote two notes, the paper of which he tore out of the baker's book. When he did this, he brought the axe, and held it up to me, and said, that if we ever spoke a word we should be dead. He then said he must go away, and that he would go by the back door and listen, adding, if he heard us speak a word, he would come back and do for us. I gave an alarm as soon as I could at Mr Coltson's, over the way, at the Crooked Billet. It was a moon-shining night.

Cross-examined by Mr Curwood. -I am no relation to the deceased, but was a mere lodger in the house. They went out together on the 28th of September; whether they continued together or not I don't know, but the first I saw of them after was in the evening, when I saw them talking with another man, near a spot

where there was a cow-house. I did judge from the tone that an angry conversation was passing between them, and I overheard prisoner taxing his wife with having caught her in a certain situation with the man (Lawrence) in that cow-house. His words were, "I have caught you in the fact." This was outside the door, and the conversation was continued angrily after they entered the house, into which he shoved her in an angry manner. After she had gone into the room, he came out of it two or three times, and he seem ed to be very uneasy. I overheard her say to the prisoner that she was carried into the cow-house by Lawrence; the prisoner replied, if she would swear a rape against the man he would take him up to Worshipstreet; she replied she would not do it. I did not hear her say she loved his little finger better than her husband's whole body, nor that she would get up and go to Lawrence.

Re-examined. The woman did say when he accused her of being a w, that he was a liar.

Thomas Soles, a boy about twelve years of age, the brother of the deceased, corroborated the last witness's testimony respecting his being in his own bed-room on the evening in question. He went to bed about a quarter of an hour after the deceased. (his sister) and the prisoner came home. The boy described the amicable manner in which they went out that morning, and then reverted to their jarring at night, by which he was awoke. He first recollected the prisoner's saying to the deceased, after he (witness) awoke, "Don't you go out to make away with yourself;" on which the last witness said, "No, she won't." He then asked her to go to bed in the same manner as was stated by the first witness. They then undressed,

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