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dissolve the coats of the stomach; but it might operate both ways, and produce mortification, or such general inflammation as would cause death.

Nicholas Churchill.-I am a sur geon at Buckfastleigh, and was called to a child at the house of William Veysey, at four o'clock in the afternoon of the 24th of October, and found the child breathing with difficulty, and unable to swallow. The whole surface of the body was livid, and the surface of the mouth destroyed by strong mineral acid: from the appearance of the nose, I am convinced it was oil of vitriol. While the matter was fresh in my mind I tried oil of vitriol on my own finger, and the colour produced was exactly the same as that on the child. Oil of vitriol, if dropped on linen, would destroy the texture, and turn it brownish; the apron was checked blue and white, and was turned red. The die of the blue is indigo, and the natural effect of oil of vitriol would be to turn it red. I think a person might distinguish oil of vitriol from other acid. I think the child died from inflammation, causing swelling and suffocation, and that that was occasioned by application of a strong acid, which I believe to be oil of vitriol.

Cross-examined.-I did not open the body. If oil of vitriol were poured suddenly into the mouth, it is possible, but not probable, that it would find its way into the stomach. The throat would contract. If it got to the stomach, it would not so suddenly cause death as inflammation of the throat and suffocation would. It would excite vomiting. The child did not vomit, as far as I saw.

Prisoner put in a paper denying her guilt. She alluded in it to her having brought up other children tenderly, complained of prejudices against her, and stated that on the

former trial three masters had sent up a good character of her.

Mr Justice Best observed, that a charge of murder must be considered as proved where the death is occasioned by the act of the prisoner, unless the evidence is sufficient to reduce it below that degree of crime. The only question here was not the degree of guilt, but whether the child died by the act of the prisoner. If the evidence now adduced could have been adduced under the former indictment, then she has once been tried, and cannot be tried again; but this is a question to be submitted to the twelve Judges. The question for the Jury was, did the poison, by the means stated, produce the death of the child? The learned Judge then commented ably on the evidence, and observed, that many circumstances of small import individually considered, when occurring together, acquired a cumulative force, which in many cases gave to circumstantial evidence a weight beyond that of almost any single positive testimony.

The Jury, after a pause of a few minutes, pronounced a verdict of Guilty. Objections were then taken to the indictment, which the learned Judge stated should form part of the case which he intended to submit for the opinion of the twelve Judges.

COINING.

Staffordshire Assizes.-Crown Side, August.

Joseph Wilkes, Thomas Earp alias Reddall, and John Duffield, stood indicted for having, at the parish of Darlaston, in the county of Stafford, feloniously and traitorously made

and counterfeited a certain piece of coin to the likeness of a shilling.

Mr Jervis, the leading counsel for the prosecution, said, that the charge against the prisoners was high treason. The principal evidence he should call was an accomplice of the name of Bolton, whose testimony it would, therefore, be the duty of the jury most minutely and carefully to watch, and not to believe it unless fully supported by other and unimpeached evidence. In March last Bolton went to Darlaston, where he met Duffield, who lived there, and proposed to walk in the fields. When they were there, Bolton asked him whether he knew Mrs Bissaker, (a woman lately executed at Warwick for coining.) He said he had known her. Bolton then asked if he would do some work (by which was meant coining) for him. Duffield agreed, and the price to be paid for stamping the impressions upon the blanks was 3s. per gross. Many subsequent meetings of the prisoners would be proved, and that on one occasion the son of Mrs Bissaker was present. On Saturday, the 17th of July, the prisoners Earp and Wilkes, and the accomplice Bolton, met in a lane at Handsworth, where they were seen by a Mr Green to exchange parcels, and were also overheard to make an appointment for another meeting, near the same place, on the Wednesday following. On that day, the 21st of July, the constables of Darlaston, in consequence of information from Green, attended at the New Inn, Handsworth, and apprehended the prisoners. Bolton and Earp came first; and, when seen, Bolton dropped a small parcel into the ditch, which, however, he said belonged to him. Upon examination, it was found to contain 1740 metal blanks silvered, of the size of a shilling.

Earp had a parcel, containing 1140 blanks of a similar kind. Shortly afterwards Wilkes arrived with an ass and a pair of saddle-bags, in which were found 2589 base shillings, all impressed, complete and fit for circulation. Duffield was not present; but in his house was found à base shilling, which would be proved to have been struck from the same die as those in the saddle-bags. On the premises were also found two iron presses and a large stamp, instruments which he used in his business. With regard to the prisoners Duffield and Wilkes, there could be no doubt as to their conviction, from conversations held by them with the constables; and there would be no difficulty as to Earp's case, he having been seen by Mr Green, on the 17th of July, to exchange parcels with Wilkes, and having been apprehended with a large quantity of the blanks in his possession.

John Bolton said, he was originally a die-sinker, but had not worked at that business for many years. He knew the prisoner Duffield; he met him in March last at the Waggon and Horses, in Darlaston, and proposed to walk in the fields: when they were there, he asked him whether he knew Mrs Bissaker. He answered, "Yes." Witness then asked him if he would do the same for him as he had done for her. The prisoner said, "What's that?" Witness replied," Stamp some shillings." The prisoner said he would, and asked when he could send any over? Witness said, in a few days he should come to Birmingham, and they agreed to meet at a publichouse in Livery-street. The prisoner said he would have 6d. per score, but witness agreed to give him 3s. per gross witness was to find the blanks and dies. In two or three days witness met Duffield alone at

the Three Tuns, Livery-street, Birmingham. He met him again alone at the same place in a few days. Shortly afterwards they met a third time at the same house, when Duffield brought Wilkes with him; and William Bissaker, the son of Mary Bissaker, was there. Witness, Wilkes, and Duffield, met next at the Leopard, in great Hampton-street, and afterwards at the same place two or three times. They drank together at those places, and paid jointly: there was no work yet ready. About two days after, they met near St Paul's Chapel. Witness did not then deliver any thing to Wilkes; but between that place and the Leopard he gave him a pair of shilling dies, and about 30lbs. of blanks, silvered, and ready for striking with the impression. Duffield was present, and witness said he had brought the dies and blanks. Duffield told him to give them to Wilkes. A day or two after witness met Wilkes at the Leopard, and received back the 30 lbs. of blanks, stamped with the impression on both sides, and paid L. 3 for them, being at the rate of 3s. per gross, as agreed. Two or three days after, he met Wilkes at the Queen's-Head, Handsworth, by appointment, and took Earp with him. They delivered to Wilkes about 30 lbs. more blanks, in the same state, and to be stamped as before. Nothing was said as to what was to be done with them, but Wilkes took them: the blanks were wrapped in separate papers. They had some drink, which witness and Earp paid for. In a few days, Earp and the witness received the blanks stamped on both sides, from Wilkes, who brought them on an ass to the same place, when another parcel of blanks was delivered to him. This traffic was carried on two or three days aweek for some time, and at different

places. On Wednesday, the 14th of July, witness and Earp met Wilkes, in a lane at the back of the New Inn, Handsworth, and delivered him 50 lbs. of blanks, to be stamped and brought to the same place on Saturday following. When witness and Earp got there on the Saturday, they found that Wilkes had arrived, and that he had his son and an ass with him. They left the lad sitting on a bank, and went farther down the lane, when they received back a part of the 50 lbs. stamped, and delivered to Wilkes 50 pounds more blanks, which he was to bring back stamped, on the Wednesday after, and they appointed to meet in a lane, opposite the New Inn, leading to Smethwick. They then went into the New Inn, where they saw a person, whose name the witness now knew to be Green, sitting on a table.

On Wednesday, the 21st, the witness and Earp went, between ten and eleven in the morning, to the lane appointed, and were apprehended by the constables of Darlaston. Witness had a parcel, inside his umbrella, containing about 15 lbs. of blanks, and Earp had one containing the same quantity. They were taken to the parlour at the New Inn, where Wilkes, and the saddle-bags, with the counterfeit coin, were shortly brought. Witness got the dies from Mrs Bissaker-one head and two tail dies. He delivered one of each to Wilkes, as before stated; and the other tail die (the former having been broken) at Wilkes's house, in Dar laston, some time after.

Mr Twiss, counsel for the prisoners, said, there were here a number of charges against them, and he thought it but fair that the one up. on which the other side meant to proceed should now be named. The Learned Judge acquiesced; and Sir W. Owen, in Mr Jervis's absence,

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said, they should mainly rely on the counterfeit coin found at the time of the prisoner's apprehension, and also upon the base shilling found in Duffield's house.

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John Bolton cross-examined. The last two parcels of blanks found upon witness and Earp were about 30 lbs. Witness had been in the trade six or seven months altogether; but had left it off some time before he met with Duffield. He did not know that any process was necessary, after stamping the base coin, to harden it, and make it fit for circulation. Witness proposed the business to Duffield; delivered the blanks to Wilkes, received them back when stamped, put them into circulation, and then informed against his accomplices: he could not deny that it was so. When witness delivered the dies with the blanks to Wilkes, Duffield was by, and witness said what they were for; it was the subject of their conversation: he did not always say what they were for, and, perhaps, he might not have said it then.

Jemima Longmore, daughter of the landlord of the Three Tuns, Livery-street, Birmingham; Elizabeth Cox, servant at the Leopard, Great Hampton-street; and Hannah Turner, servant at the Queen's Head, Handsworth, corroborated Bolton's evidence, as to his meeting the prisoners at those places; and Rebecca Tonks, servant to Mr Crockett, of the New Inn, proved that Wilkes, Bolton, and Earp, came to her master's house on the 17th of July, and that she saw them there on the day of their apprehension.

Thomas Green said, he was a maltster at Darlaston. He knew Wilkes, who lived there. On Saturday the 17th of July, about three o'clock in the afternoon, witness was in the garden at the New Inn, Handsworth, which adjoins a lane, and heard

VOL. XII. PART II.

Wilkes, whose voice he knew well, say to some one, "Sit down." Witness looked over the hedge, and saw Wilkes's son with him, and an ass. Witness observed and listened, and shortly after saw two men come along the lane. On their arrival,

Wilkes got up and spoke to them. The three men then went further down the lane with the ass, leaving the boy sitting on the bank. Witness then went to the end of the lane, which he crossed, and went down the hedge side till he came within a short distance, where he could observe them without being seen. Bolton and Earp then exchanged parcels with Wilkes. They appointed to meet the next Wednesday. Witness gave information of what he had heard and seen to Mr Partridge, the constable.

Thomas Partridge said, he was a constable of Darlaston. He received information from Mr Green, in consequence of which he went with Mr Butler, another constable, to the New Inn, Handsworth, on Wednesday, the 21st of July, where they apprehended Earp and Bolton, as stated in the evidence of the latter. Witness soon afterwards apprehended Wilkes, who, after some conversation, said, upon being asked by witness what he had got, "Thee knowest." Witness said, "I do." The prisoner answered, "I wish I did not." The parcel in Bolton's umbrella contained 1740 blanks, that found upon Earp 1140, and those contained in Wilkes's saddle-bags 2589 counterfeit shillings. Witness searched Wilkes's house, and, under a bench in the shop, found a parcel in an iron pot, covered with a bag, containing 1377 blanks. He also searched Duffield's house, and found a counterfeit shilling, and in the shop presses and other apparatus which he used in his trade.

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William Payne said, he was constable of Birmingham. He was sent for to West Bromwich on the 21st of July, when he saw Wilkes apart from the other prisoners, but many more persons were present, Witness told him his name, but used no threat, and made no promise. He said, he understood the prisoner was taken into custody on a charge of having forged money in his possession, which it was material he should account for; he was at liberty to do as he pleased, but he believed it was found upon him. The prisoner said, he would tell the truth, whether for or against him: he had the money from Duffield, at Darlaston. Upon witness observing that it would take three persons to work such a press, he said, he and another worked the fly, and Duffield fed it. Witness afterwards saw Duffield at Darlaston, apart from the other prisoners. He made use of no threat or promise, but said, he understood the prisoner was there under a charge of coining. He then asked him, whether he wished to say any thing upon it, which he was at liberty to do or not. The prisoner said, he was a poor unfortunate man, with a large family, and wanted money to pay his poor-rates; he trusted, therefore, that mercy would be shown to him. On being asked by witness, how long he had been in that way, he said, only a very short time; and that he had the dies from a person who received them from Bolton. The witness took up Duffield's press, but found nothing suspicious about it: he had examined the shilling found in Duffield's house, and one taken from Wilkes's saddlebags, before the magistrates, and they were both struck from the same

die.

Mr George Atkinson said, he was

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Mr Twiss then rose on behalf of the prisoners, and raised the following objections:-First, that to support the present indictment, it was necessary to prove the royal proclamation under which the coin was issued, to support which objection he cited sections from various acts: And Secondly, that to bring the crime home to an offender, he must be proved, not only to have made the impres sion, but to have manufactured the blank, and vice versa. These objections were overruled.

Mr Justice Richardson then recapitulated the evidence to the Jury. He said, that the testimony of Bolton, inasmuch as he was an accomplice, ought, as stated by the learned counsel for the prosecution in his open. ing, to be most scrupulously exami ned; and if they entertained any doubt upon it, to be altogether discarded. But, however it was to be regretted that he who was not only an accomplice, but the prime mover, could not be put to the bar,-if it ap peared to them that his evidence was supported by such substantial and unimpeached testimony as would not leave a doubt upon their minds, it was then entitled to its full weight, and they would give a verdict according to their consciences.

The Jury conferred together for a short time, and then pronounced a verdict of Guilty against all the pri

soners.

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