Anne Pritchard deposed that about three months had elapsed since being informed by Mrs. Cradock that she expected to be provided for soon after the trial, and of being enabled to procure a place in the custom-house for one of her relations. The lord high steward addressed himself to the Court; saying, that their lordships had heard the evidence on both sides, and that the importance and solemnity of the occasion required that they should severally pronounce their opinions in the absence of the prisoner, observing that the junior baron was to speak first. Their lordships declared the prisoner to be guilty. Proclamation being made for the usher of the black rod to bring the prisoner to the bar, she no sooner appeared than the lord high steward informed her that the lords had maturely considered the evidence adduced against her, and likewise all that had been advanced in her favour, and had pronounced her guilty of the felony for which she was indicted. He then requested whether she had any thing to urge against judgment being pronounced. Hereupon the lady delivered a paper, containing the following words, to be read by the clerk: I plead the privilege of the peerage.' After this the lord high steward Informed her grace that the lords had considered the plea, and agreed to allow it; adding words to this effect: 'Madam, you will be discharged on paying the usual fees.' The lady appeared to be perfectly composed and collected during the greatest part of her long and important trial; but when sentence was pronounced she fainted, and was carried out of court. Sentence was pronounced upon Elizabeth, Duchess of Kingston, on The solemn business being concluded, the prosecutors had a plan in embryo to confine the Countess of Bristol (for so, after conviction, she in reality was) to this country, and to have her deprived of her personal property. A writ of Ne exeat regno' was preparing, of which the lady received private notice; and, being advised instantane. ously to leave the kingdom, she caused her carriage to be driven about the most public streets of the metropolis, and invited a select party to dine at Kingston House, the better to cover her design, while in`a hired post-chaise she travelled to Dover. Mr. Harding, the captain of her yacht, was there, and he conveyed her, in the first open boat that could be obtained, to Calais. During her absence some incidents had happened at Rome, of which she received advice, and which rendered it necessary for her once more to visit that renowned city. In the public bank she had deposited her plate for safety when she set out for England; and in her palace she had left a Spanish friar, and an English girl, whom she had carried with her to Italy. The friar found means to seduce the girl, and to convert great part of the moveables to his own advantage, after which he absconded. Of these transactions the duchess was informed by letter, on the receipt of which she set out for Rome, and, having withdrawn her plate out of the public bank, she returned to Calais. The expeditious communication between that place and England af forded the earliest intelligence relative to the proceedings of her opponents. Their business was now to set aside, if possible, the will of the Duke of Kingston. There was not a probability of their succeeding in the attempt; but still the attempt was to be made. This kept alive the apprehension of danger in the mind of the duchess: and, so long as that apprehension subsisted, it was necessary, in policy, to affect a particular regard for certain persons in England, who had the power of rendering her a service. Among these was Dr. Schomberg, who, in return for the zeal he manifested in her cause, was presented in her name with a ring, brilliantly encircled, the stone a deep blue, and upon it the words 'Pour l'Amitié.' The intrinsic value was never once considered by Schomberg; it was the presumable tribute of gratitude which affected the mind. He wore the ring, and almost in every company he proclaimed the donor. But a short portion of time elapsed before one of the encircling brilliants fell out, and then he discovered it to be a mere bauble, which did not originally cost more than six-andthirty shillings. The indignant Doctor threw it out of the window. The will of his grace of Kingston receiving every confirmation which the courts of justice could give, to dissipate, rather than expend, the income of his estates, appeared to be the leading rule of her life. A house which she had purchased at Calais was not sufficient for the purpose of perplexities; a mansion at Mont Martre, near Paris, was fixed on, and the purchase of it negotiated in as short a time as the duchess could desire. There were only a few obstacles to enjoyment, which were not considered until the purchase was completed. The house was in so ruinous a condition as to be in momentary danger of falling. The land was more like the field of the slothful than the vineyard of the industrious. These evils were not perceived by the duchess till she VOL. III. was in possession of her wishes. A lawsuit with the owner of the estate was the consequence of the agreement. The duchess went to Petersburgh, and returned to France before it was finished. The manner in which this suit was decided proved the ultimate cause of her death. Besides this trivial purchase, another was made by the duchess, the scale of which was truly grand. The brother of the then French monarch was the owner of a domain, according in every respect with his dignity. This was the territory of St. Assize, at a pleasant distance from Paris, abounding in game of different species, and rich in all the luxuriant embellishments of nature. The mansion was fit for the brother of a king; it contained three hundred beds. The value of such an estate was too considerable to be expected in one payment: she therefore agreed to discharge the whole of the sum demanded, which was fifty-five thousand pounds, by instalments. The purchase on the part of the duchess was a good one, afforded not only game, but rabbits in plenty; and, finding them to be of superior quality and flavour, the duchess, during the first week of her possession, had as many killed and sold as brought her three hundred guineas. At Petersburgh she had been a distiller of brandy; and now at Paris she turned rabbitmerchant. It Such was her situation, when one day, while she was at dinner, her servants received the intelligence that judgment respecting the house near Paris had been awarded against her. The sudden communication of the news produced an agitation of her whole frame. She flew into a violent passion, and burst an internal blood-vessel: even this, however, she appeared to have surmounted, until a few days after68 wards, when preparing to rise from her bed, a servant, who had long been with her, endeavored to dissuade her from it. The duchess addressed her thus: I am not very well, but I will rise.' On a remonstrance being attempted, she said, At your peril disobey me: I will get up and walk about the room; ring for the secretary to assist me.' She was obeyed, dressed, and the secretary entered the chamber.The duchess then walked about, complained of thirst, and said, 'I could drink a glass of my fine Madeira, and eat a slice of toasted bread. I shall be quite well afterwards; but let it be a large glass of wine.' The attendant reluctantly brought, and the duchess drank, the wine. She then said, ' I am perfectly recovered; I knew the Madeira would do me good. My heart feels oddly. I will have another glass.' The servant here observed that such a quantity of wine in the morning might intoxicate rather than benefit. The duchess per sisted in her orders, and, the second glass of Madeira being produced, she drank that also, and pronounced herself to be charmingly indeed. She then walked a little about the room, and afterwards said, I will lie down on the couch; I can sleep, and after that I shall be entirely recovered.' She seated herself on the couch, a female having hold of each hand. In this situation she soon appeared to have fallen into a sound sleep, until the women felt her hands colder than ordinary, and the duchess was found to have expired, as the wearied laborer sinks into the arms of rest. She died August 26, 1796. THOMAS AIKNEY AND ELIZABETH BROADINGHAM, EXECUTED FOR MURDER. THOUGH a more wicked and premeditated murder has not presented itself in the course of our researches than that we are about to report, yet we can find no connected narrative, in any legal form, of the horrid case: from detached communications, however, we have gleaned the following particulars : John Broadingham was a smuggler, and had been a prisoner in York Castle for offences against the excise laws. During his confinement his wife, Elizabeth Broadingham, basely cohabited with Thomas Aikney; and, soon after the husband's release, she went off with her paramour, and continued to live with him, in open adultery, upwards of three months. During this time she proposed the murder of her husband to Aikney, who, struck with horror at her words, declared he never would im brue his hands in innocent blood. Upon this, for a time, she refrained from naming the subject: yet the horrid purpose remained fixed in her mind; and so powerfully did her evil genius work upon her, that she could no longer rest without again mentioning her determination to Aikney, and which she took an opportunity to do after supplying him with liquor until he was nearly inWhen his brain was toxicated. thus heated, he heard her without interruption; and she urged him, at every future opportunity, to assist her in the murder of her husband. To effect this she returned to the unsuspicious and too-forgiving man, who received her rather with kindness than upbraidings. Aikney lodging hard by, she still pressed him to fix a time for executing the horrible deed; but he endeavored to persuade her once more to elope with him: nothing, however, but the blood of her husband would satisfy this wicked woman; and, finding no cessation from her importunity, he at length gave a reluctant consent, and the woman planned the dreadful work. On the 13th of February, eight days only after her husband had taken her back to his little home, and while yet enjoying the hope of the partner of his heart being fully reclaimed, and that she had returned from a sense of duty alone, she, in the dead hour of the night, awoke her slumbering husband, and told him there was a knocking at the door. The unsuspecting man, conjecturing that some acquaintance, perhaps pressed by custom-house of ficers, required a temporary hiding place, opened the door, when the villain Aikney, who was waiting his coming, rushed upon him, stabbed him first in the thigh, and then cut him across the belly, leaving the knife which gave the wounds in his body. Broadingham made to the street, crying out Murder!' Some neigh ་ bours came to his assistance, who found in one hand the bloody instrument which he had just drawn out of his body, and the other supporting his bowels, which were dropping to the ground. This miserable man languished until next day, and then expired. On the trial the principal proof against the murderers was the bloody knife, which was proved to have been the property of Aikuey. But can conscience long permit such heinous offenders to conceal their crimes? Oh no! awhile they may evade justice, at the expense of torment of mind; but murder will be discovered. Under these irresistible impulses both these wretches made a full confession, not only of the crime. itself, but they also related the above particulars. The woman was first strangled, and then her body was burnt to ashes. The man was hanged, and his body sent to the surgeons of the infirmary at Leeds for dissection. These malefactors suffered March the 20th, 1776, at York. CHARLES PIPKINS, EXECUTED FOR BURGLARY. THIS was a villain of the lowest and worst description of thieves. In order to carry on his depredations, he vagabondized through the country as a drummer to a puppetshow, and in this character he gained information where and whom to plunder. In the night of the 7th of August, 1776, in company with another vagabond showman, who escaped justice, he broke open the house of Mrs. Watson, of Finchley, near London. That lady was suddenly awoke from her sleep by the screams of her maid-servant, who slept in the same room; and immediately, by the light of one of the lamps used to dance the puppets with, which Pipkins had in his hand, perceived him entering at the chamber window, from which he descended and came to her bed-side, with horrid imprecations demanding her money. Another ruffian followed, calling out "Damu her, blow her brains out.' She entreated them not to use her ill, and offered them money. They took from her sixteen guineas, and then examined every part of the chamber, taking what articles were most portable, and among them a gold watch; with which they went out the way they came in. Both Mrs. Watson and her maid, having seen Pipkins drumming up the ignorant to attend the paltry show, immediately knew him, and, giving information at the public office in Bow-street, he was soon apprehended with part of the property, brought to trial, condemned, and executed at Tyburn, October the 23d, 1776. At the same time with Pipkins suffered William Wood, for breaking into the house of the late Solomon Fell, Esq. in Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the absence of the family, who were then in the country, and robbing it of a quantity of silver plate, wearing apparel, &c.; and Robert Walker, for coining. Wood appeared full dressed; Pipkins in a beggarly suit; and Walker as became his unhappy situation. Wood addressed the spectators, acknowledged his guilt, and warned them to avoid evil company, which had been the means of bringing him to an untimely and ignominious death. PETER LE MAITRE, When all had retired he came from his lurking-place, and broke open the cabinet where the medals were locked up, and possessed himself of its contents; then wrenched a bar from the window, and, unsuspected, made his escape. CONVICTED of robbing THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM, AT OXFORD. WHEN Lord Thurlow was Chan- at another he secreted himself until cellor of England some villains the doors were locked for the night. broke into his house, in Great Ormond Street, and stole the Great Seal of England, which was never recovered, nor were the thieves known. We have heard also of a valuable diamond being stolen from the late Duke of Cumberland, when pressing into the theatre in the Haymarket, to see the bubble of the bottle-conjurer. It is also a fact that the Duke of Beaufort was robbed of his diamond Order of St. George, as he went to Court on a royal birth day; but we have yet to tell that a Museum was robbed of its curious medals. Peter Le Maitre. This singular robber was a French teacher at Oxford, and, being supposed a man of industry and good morals, he was indulged with free admission to the Ashmolean Museum. There he frequently went, and appeared very studious over the rare books, and other valuable curiosities, there deposited. He was frequently left alone to his researches. At one of uch times he stole two medals, and The college was thrown into the utmost consternation on finding their Museum thus plundered. Some were suspected, but least of all Le Maitre, until it was discovered that he had privately left the city in a postchaise and four, and that he had pledged two of the stolen medals to pay the post-boys. This left little doubt that he was the ungrateful thief. He was advertised and described, and by this means apprehended in Ireland. He was conveyed back to Oxford, in order to take his trial; and it appeared that two of the stolen medals were found in a bureau in his lodgings, of which he had the use; and two more were traced to the persons to whom he had sold them. |