distance from the Mitre to Whetstone was, but he was sure it could not be less, even through the lanes and over the fields, than seven or eight miles; and about the same distance from Whetstone to town. Four witnesses were called to the prisoner's character, who all agreed in his being an industrious and hu mane man. The Chief Baron, in summing up to the jury, said that this was a case which almost entirely depended upon circumstances; but in some cases that might be best evidence, as it certainly was the most difficult, if not impossible, to fabricate; they, however, would deliberately judge how far they brought the charge home to the prisoner, so as not to leave a doubt on their minds before they pronounced him guilty. His lordship noticed some inconsistencies in the written paper which the prisoner had signed, observing that in one part of the story the prisoner was contradicted by several witnesses; and that it was scarcely to be presumed that the prisoner could walk such a distance (from the Mitre to Whetstone) in so short a time. There were other traits of the story which were also extremely dubious. The learned judge then went through the whole of the evidence, remarking thereon as he proceeded; and the jury, after some consultation, pronounced a verdict of Guilty; pursuant to which he was executed on January 18, 1803, in the Old Bailey. From the time of his condemnation to the moment of his dissolution he had scarcely taken the smallest nourishment, which, operating with a tortured conscience, had so enfeebled him, that he was obliged to be supported from the prison to the gallows, being wholly incapable of ascending the stair. Previous case without assistance. to his decease he fully confessed his having perpetrated the horrible crime for which he suffered :-confessed that he had unhappily conceived a most inveterate hatred for his wife, that nothing could conquer, and determined him to rid himself and the world of a being he loathed: acknowledged, also, that he had taken her twice before to the Paddington Canal, with the wicked intent of drowning her, but that his resolution had failed him, and she had returned unhurt; and even at the awful moment of his confession, and the assurance of his approaching dissolution, he seemed to regret more the loss of his infaut than the destruction of the woman he had sworn to cherish and protect. He was questioned, as far as decency would permit, if jealousy had worked him to the horrid act; but he made no reply, except saying that he ought to die;' and dropped into a settled and fixed melancholy, which accompanied him to his last moments. He died very easy; and, after hanging the usual time, his body was cut down, and conveyed to a house not far distant, where it was subjected to the Galvanic process, by Professor Aldini, under the inspection of Mr. Keate, Mr. Carpue, and several other professional gentlemen. M. Aldini, who is the nephew of the discoverer of this most interesting science, showed the eminent and superior powers of Galvanism to be far beyond any other stimulant in nature. On the first application of the process to the face, the jaw of the deceased criminal began to quiver, and the adjoining muscles were horribly contorted, and one eye was actually opened. In the subsequent part of the process, the right hand was raised and clenched, and the legs and thighs were set in motion." Mr. Pass, the beadle of the Surgeons' Company, having been officially present during this experiment, was so alarmed, that he died soon after he returned home of the fright. Some of the uninformed bystanders thought that the wretched man was on the eve of being restored to life. This, however, was impossible, as several of his friends who were under the scaffold had violently pulled his legs, in order to put a more speedy termination to his sufferings. The experiment, in fact, was of a better use and tendency. Its object was to show the excitability of the human frame, when this animal electricity is duly applied. In cases of drowning or suffocation, it promises to be of the utmost use, by reviving the action of the lungs, and thereby rekindling the expiring spark of vitality. In cases of apoplexy, or disorders of the head, it offers also most encouraging prospects for the benefit of mankind. THOMAS HILLIKER, EXECUTED FOR AIDING AND ABETTING IN THE destruCTION OF LITTLETON MILL. THE prisoner, a young man, who was stated to be only eighteen years of age, and apparently under twenty, was arraigned at the bar on the 8th of March, 1803, at Salisbury assizes, and gave in the usual plea of Not Guilty.' Mr. Read opened the case, when Mr. Dallas began a very impressive and eloquent speech, wherein he stated the very great importance of the duty in this instance imposed upon him, and largely expatiated on the great magnitude of the crime, which, by the indictment, was im puted to the prisoner. He then adverted to the very alarming outrages which had been committed in that neighbourhood in the course of one week, from the 14th to the 21st of July, with a variety of particu lars relevant to the subject on which they were then engaged. He ob served that Mr. Naish, whose property had been thus wantonly destroyed, employed at least between six and seven hundred men; that this manufactory was situated in a very lonesome place, and was about three or four miles from Trowbridge; and strongly pressed it to the consciences of the jury to distinguish narrowly how far the evidence supported his remarks, and then to say whether the charge, painful as it was to him to mention, and as it would be to them to determine, should be substantiated. Mr. Gibbs then called Mr. Ralph Heath, who stated that he resided at Littleton Mill, which, with the premises adjacent, belonged to Mr. An experiment was made on a convict, named Patrick Redmond, who was hanged for a street-robbery, on the 24th of February, 1767, in order to bring him to life. It appears that the sufferer had hung twenty-eight minutes, when the mob rescued the body, and carried it to an appointed place, where a surgeon was in attendance to try the experiment bronchotomy, which is an incision in the windpipe, and which, in less than six hours, produced the desired effect. A collection was made for the poor fellow, and interest made to obtain his pardon. For it will be remembered that the law says the condemned shall hang until he is dead; consequently, men who, like Redmond, recovered, are liable to be again hanged up until they are dead. Naish. His testimony went to show that, in the general alarm, in the inidst of a manufacturing country, they were not without the most serious apprehensions of danger; and that they had consequently employed people to watch the mill, and, as far as was within their power, to extend their personal protection to it. Adjoining to this mill was a cottage, which John Pierce, with his wife, inhabited. On the night stated in the indictment they had watched, as usual, till past twelve o'clock, when they heard some noise about the mill. This cottage did no otherwise communicate with the mill, than by first going out of the door, and afterwards entering the mill by means of another door, on the outside of the building. But they could see through an aperture, from the cottage to the mill, which was necessary to be made for the tumbling shaft, as it was called, into which the arms, and every other requisite to constitute the wheel, were fastened. He further said that his man opened the door, but that he held it in his hand; and that four or five persons, almost immediately, rushed into the cottage. At the very instant of their entering, a general exclamation of voices was heard, one of which was known by the witness. All the persons who rushed in were armed. The first person who entered had a musket, or fusee, with a fixed bayonet; his face was particularly black: but the witness would not take upon him to say that this offender was known to him. The next person, who followed the other, was not so black, but had a pistol in his hand, and spoke several times, as if he was under no apprehension of being known. He had no doubt of its being the same voice that he knew, as speaking at the moment of their . entrance. At that time the witness did not know his name; but he had many times observed his coun tenance, and was positive that he had frequently seen him at the mill, coming for cloths, and also at Mr. Naish's, at Trowbridge. He was a shearman, in the employment of Mr. Naish. This was the prisoner at the bar. No sooner had they entered the cottage, than they said, Damn your eyes, not a soul move;" and not a person was suffered to move. After they had been some time in the cottage, and the first surprise was beginning to wear off, Pierce's wife recollected her child above stairs, which she was anxious to fetch, when the prisoner swore that she should not, and pointed a pistol at her to prevent it. Of what was transacting without door at this time the witness could give no account. One of the persons who had entered the cottage then went out; who, to the best of his recollection, he believed to be the little man that first rushed in. He merely went to the door, and said, Make haste, my lads,' and immediately returned into the cottage. The witness at this time inaagined that these speeches had a reference to their setting fire to the mill; and, in a very little time afterwards, some person (but who it was the witness could not say) look ed in at the cottage-door, and said, ' Let the woman have her child.' A light was very soon after perceived in the mill, which was then on fire. During all this time the prisoner's features had been minutely observed; and, though he did not then know his name, he had no hesitation as to his person. Having ascertained this, prudence sugg ested the propriety of dropping his hat over his face, that he might not be suspected of watching then . They remained in the cottage about a was not deemed prudent to produce the testimony of Pierce and his wife, of Daniel Goodenough, or Stephen Richardson, nor of Mr. Naish's clerk, at Trowbridge; as the talents of Mr. Garrow, it was feared, might confound them, which might lead to mischiefs incalculable and alarming. quarter of an hour. After they had left it, and the witness supposed them to be gone, he opened the door, with an intention of going out; but at this time there was a man, whom he did not know, in a posture of standing near the milldoor, who, on seeing him, instantly levelled a piece at him, and swore that he would blow out his brains if he did not return.' In a little time afterwards he again opened the cottage-door, when no person was to be seen. The mill was now on fire. Adjoining to the cottage is a mead, to which he then went, and remain-clared he knew none of the parties; ed there a short time; and, from a field very near it, at that time heard a shout, seemingly of a considerable number of people; but after this he heard no more of them. The mill was entirely destroyed. The importance of this case was deemed of a magnitude to justify the retaining a man of the first talents in the defence of individuals against criminal charges. Mr. Garrow, on a fee, as it was said, of three hundred gaineas, was the counsel selected upon this occasion; and in his hands Heath underwent a very severe cross-examination, but nothing material was elicited, except that he had frequently denied any knowledge of the person of the offender, which, he alleged, arose from fear for his personal safety, had it been known that he was likely to be an important evidence. From an apprehension of the mischiefs which might have ensued if the other witnesses had been called to corroborate this statement-to prevent the danger also to which they might be exposed of incurring the guilt of perjury, should they have been intimidated from giving an honest testimony-and lest the ends of justice might have been defeated, and the testimony of Mr. Heath invalidated or weakened-it Two witnesses were called for the defence, one of whom was a master clothier, at Trowbridge; but his testimony only went to state that he had visited the mill after it was in ruins, when Mr. Heath had de but it appeared, on a cross-question from Mr. Dallas, that he had never before seen Mr. Heath, and consequently had little reason to expect a correct answer to a question of such importance put by a stranger, without knowing his motives. The other, a publican at Trowbridge, could say nothing particular about the prisoner. Mr. Jekyll also, as well as Mr. Garrow and Mr. Burrough, was counsel for the prisoner; and they frequently conferred on the proper questions to be put to the witnesses. And, after the Honorable Baron Thompson had summed up the evidence, with many very strong and pointed comments, in a few minutes the jury returned a verdict of Guilty, after a trial of three hours. On the following day, at two o'clock, the awful hour of passing sentence, the court was more crowded than on the preceding day; when, in a most solemn and impressive speech on the magnitude and alarming tendency of the confusions of the preceding year, and in language unusually forcible and energetic, the dreadful sentence of the law concluded the most affecting address which had been heard for a long time in a country court of judicature-the sentence of Death. |