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Leader (1850-1860), 15th August 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 9, THE ASSIZES. James Bayliss, a man employ...

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      Tfo. 386. Auotst 15,1857.] The Ijeadeb. ...

      tfo . 386 . Auotst 15 , 1857 . ] THE IjEADEB . , 777

      Our Civilization. Once More, The Poisone...

      OUR CIVILIZATION . ONCE MORE , THE POISONER . Axother conviction for poisoning has taken place . Edward Hardman , aged twenty-eight , a shoemaker , living at Chorley , has been tried at Lancaster for . the murder of his wife on the 5 th of last March . The two had lived unhappily , owing to Hardman being a Roman Catholic and his wife a Protestant , which led to disputes as to what creed their children should be brought up in . This and other sources of difference caused a temporary separation ; but the wife afterwards returned to her husband , and they then lived together without a renewal of their former disputes . On Shrove Tuesday the woman was taken ill . She was attended by her husband and her father ; and the former generally administered her

      food and medicines . After a time , she got better , and her father , for whom Hardman had written at the commencement of the illness , left the house . On the 3 rd of March , the husband went to a Dr . Smith , and obtained some mixture and powders , saying that his wife was much better , and only wanted to get up her strength . Later on the same day , he told a woman that his wife was much worse , and asked her to send for the father . He subsequently purchased some buttermilk from a neighbour , and a portion of the same stock -was consumed by the family of the vendor without any harm resulting . Hardman divided what he had purchased , and placed his wife ' s portion in a jug . A friend who tasted it remarked that it had a peculiar flavour of soap or alum , and asked

      Hardman what he had put in it . He answered , " -Nothing , " tasted it , said it was very bad , and threw it under the ashes . On the 5 th of March , the wife died . Dr . Smith attributed her death to gastro enteritis , or in ^ flammation of the bowels . Eleven days after the funeral , the body was exhumed , on account of the sinister remarks of the neighbours , and was subjected to a post mortem examination , which revealed symptoms indicative of poisoning by antimony or arsenic . Of the former poison three quarters of a grain were discovered ; of the latter , the two hundredth part of a grain . It was presumed by the prosecution that more would have been found , had it not been carried off by the frequent purging and vomiting . Some months before the death ,

      said Mr . Monk , the counsel for the prosecution , in his opening speech , "the prisoner was found to be possessed of tartar emetic , which is only another name for tartarized antimony ; and he was also aware of its qualities . A person named Neald came to him , and complained that he was ill , and wanted a dose of medicine to purge him . Hardman told him he could give him something which would work him , and he mixed in a glass of beer some powder which he had in a paper ; this he handed to Neald . Neald took it , and it made him purge and vomit ; In February , he purchased a drachm , or sixty grains , of tartar emetic , from a chemist named Gorman , which he said he wanted to give to a horse . This is a poison used only for medical purposes .

      Arsenic is a poison of another character ; it 13 used extensively in manufactures . Shortly before his wife ' s illness , the prisoner went , to Preston , and at the shop of a Mr . Crichley , a chemist , he bought half a pound of arsenic , which he represented that he wanted to kill bugs . The chemist wanted a reference to some person he knew , and asked him if he did not know a leatherdresser in the town , as he had represented himself as a shoemaker . He said he did not , and gave an untrue account of this , as he dealt with one of the leather-dressers in the town , and owed money to him . Ho also gave a wrong address . The arsenic was supplied to him coloured with indigo . Afterwards , when asked what he had done with it , he said he had broken the parcel in his pocket and thrown it away , as he did not like it loose in his

      pocket . " Two days after the death of his wife , a woman cleaning the house found a paper with some white powder in it ; on which , Hardman sprang forward , and aaid , " Give it to me ; it is poison , " He aftewarda remarked to a neighbour that it was fortunate the police did not rind the paper when they searched the house . As aoon as the evil reports began to be circulated , however , Hardman wont to the police station , and wished to know what they were all about . In the gaol at Preston , he stated to a fellow prisoner that he had received XXI . from various burial clubs on account of his wife ' s funeral , and that , "if he had let her live two months longer , he should have got 8 / . more . " Before his arrest , he had mode advances to another woman to come and live -with him .

      Mr . Overend , for the defence , dwelt on the small amount of poison found in the body , urged that there was no proof of Hardman giving his wife poison , and observed that she had eaten and drunk a great many very unwholesome things during her illness , such as mussels , buttermilk , and blackberry wine . " The noxt thing was the powders sent by Dr . Smith , and it was Baid that the prisoner had , instead of those , substituted powders of his own . There was no ovidenco of it . Dr . Smith admitted that he was in a hurry , and that the bottle containing tartar emetic stood immediately ovor that containing Dover powder , and it was probable that A mistake was m « do by Dr . Smith in taking down tho wrong bottle . If that mistake were an ado , tho whole of the woman ' s illness and the discovery of poison in her body after death were fully accounted for , and he should with confidence look forward to their verdict in his

      favour . It was said that he had received money from funeral clubs ; but from the nature of the funeral he must have been a loser rather than a gainer ; and then , when the rumours got abroad relative to his character , he went boldly to the police-office and challenged inquiry . That the prisoner had been in the possession of tartar emetic he would not deny ; he had openly paraded it , and administered it to Neald in the presence of a third person . The buttermilk which was assumed to be poisoned had never reached the wife ; and the medical testimony showed that her illness and death were the result of natural causes . " The Judge having summed up , the jury retired for about twenty minutes , and ' then gave in a verdict of Guilty . Sentence of death was then passed , and Hard ^ - man , who had turned very pale , and who trembled slightly ^ was removed from , the dock .

      A Merry Tale From Croydon. One Of The St...

      A MERRY TALE FROM CROYDON . One of the strangest trials for adultery ever recorded took place on Tuesday at the Croydon Assizes . The plaintiff was a young man , a Mr . Lyle , who carries on business as ah upholsterer in Charlotte-street , Fitzroy-r square , London ; and the defendant is a Mr , Herbert , a gentleman of Croydon , rising fifty . The latter had gone into partnership with the former , and at length , under pretence of seeing more closely to the business , obtained a bedroom at Mr . Lyle ' s , and settled in town . The real object of this seems to have been the seduction of Mrs . Lyle . On the 27 th of May , while his wife was at Birmingham , a telegraphic message came to the warehouse of Mr . Lyle , to the following effect : — " E D . Herbert , at

      Esq . Private- ^—important-r-immediate . Meet me the Euston-station by the 1-45 train . I could not come any sooner . —M . A . PckWeia . " The signature to this message was in the name of the sister of Mrs . Lyle ; but it appears to have been sent by the plaintiff ' s wife . She arrived in London by the train referred to , but did not make her appearance at her husband ' s house until the following day , and the assumption was that she and Mr . Herbert had passed a guilty night together . Mr . Lyle , with the assistance of his servants and some of his friends , then watched his wife ; and the proceedings they took , as related by the witnesses , caused frequent roars of laughter among the auditors . One of the watchers , named William Taylor ,

      said : — " He remembered Mr . Lyle making some communications to him upon the subject of the conduct of his wife on the morning of her departure for Birmingham . Witness had previously mentioned something to him upon the same subject , and arrangements were made to detect the parties . A room was first taken in Cumberland-street , at the back of Charlotte-street , but this was not found to answer , and another was afterwards taken next door by witness . He then bored a hole in the party wall , but this was of no use , and he fixed up an apparatus with an index attached to it that would indicate when any person got into the defendant's bed . He could tell by this apparatus whether one , two , three , or four persons got into bed . ( A laugh . ") He

      called the apparatus an indicator . ( Laughter . ) On the night of the 18 th June he was watching with his ear to the hole , and the indicator acted . ( A laugh . " ) The lever fell according to the Weight . ( Laughter . ) It first informed him that one person got into bed , and then that a second person had done so . ( Renewed laughter . ) He immediately proceeded to the roof , and entered by the trap door , took the servant by the hand , opened the door of the defendant ' s bedroom , tore down the curtains , and turned the bull ' s-eye ( a policeman ' s lantern ) upon them . ( A roar of laughter . ) Mr , Herbert and Mrs . Lyle were in bed together . Mr . Lyle was at this time making the best of his way to the place , and Mrs . Lyle rushed upstairs to her own room . On the following day , witness

      saw Mr ; Herbert in the plaintiff ' s house , and he said he was prepared to pay for his guilt , and it was a pity that there was such a fuss made about it . " Cross-examined : "The * indicator' was an invention of his own . He had not taken out a patent for it . ( Laughter . " ) Since this discovery , he had been living with Mr . Lyle . Mr . Lyle wns watching the ' indicator' while he ( witness ) was looking through the hole . ( Roars of laughter . ) An hour and a half elapsed before the instrument began to act , and during that time they drank some gin and water . Ho suggested that the parties should have every facility afforded them in order that he might detect them . Would swear that ho did not sit upon the tiles dressed in woman ' s clothes in order to watch Mrs . Lylo and tho defendant . He made a rough

      model of tho » indicator , ' but , ho was not aware whether it was in court or not . After the affair had been discovered , he and tho plaintiff and several others went to a public-house and had . some drink , but he did not see Mr , Lylo smoke a cigar . Did not know whether he smoked a cigar or not . Believed that after tho discovery ¦ was made , they had t \ glass of brandy-and-wnter all round . { A laugh . ) After this , they all went back to the houso . There was gin and water on the table . Ho stole a bottle of gin from Mr . Herbert ' s bedroom at tho time of the discovery . ( A roar of laughter . } It w «» Mr . Lyle ' u gin , and ho had his authority for taking it . They had pipkled salmon , gin , and tea , but he could pot soy whether tho moal was supper or breakfast , but it was more liko breakfast than supper , because it was in tho middle of the night . By witness ' s advice , Mr ,

      Herbert was allowed to remain in the house all day after the transaction , and he took his boots away in order that he might not leave . " ( A laugh . ) Mr . Serjeant Parry , for the defence , commented on the disgraceful nature of the husband's conduct , and again led to an outburst of irrepressible laughter , in which the Lord Chief Baron could not help joining , by referring to what he described as Taylor ' s Vcrimconometer . ' - He said he felt some surprise at the solemn manner in which the case had been opened by Mr . Edwin James , " who , " observed the serjeant , " enjoys anything funny as well as any one in the world ; " and concluded by expressing his confidence that , if thejury found for the plaintiff at all , they would only give him the smallest current coin in the way of damages . This hint was taken , and Mr . Lyle obtained damages to th . 9 amount of One Farthing .

      Middlesex Sessions. The August General S...

      MIDDLESEX SESSIONS . The August General Sessions commenced on Monday , when several cases of ordinary larceny were tried , none of which present any features of interest . Christopher Best , a commission agent , was tried on Tuesday on a charge of stealing twenty-five bags of rice , the property of Mr . Henry Page , owner of the Commercial Rice Mills in the Commercial-road , The theft ; appears to have been concocted in conjunction with a gree . ngrocer and coaldealer at Stepney , named Osborn , who indeed seems to have been the chief mover in the transaction , though it is probable that some persons on the premises of Mr . Page were concerned in the affair . Best was found Guilty , but only on the second , count , which charged him with receiving the property with a guilty knowledge . Mr . Sleigh ( who appeared for the prosecution ) said , as the verdict had been given , he was at liberty to state that Mr . Page had been robbed of hundreds of pounds' worth of property in the course of a year . Mr . Page added , that he had traced a loss of more than 600 ? . since last November . Mr . Sleigh said that Osborn had escaped from his bail during one of the remands before the magistrate , and , as the grand Jury had now found a true bill against him , he ( Mr . Sleigh ) had to apply for a bench warrant for his apprehension . This was granted . Best was sentenced to ten months '

      hard labour . John Forbes and William Collins , sailors , were indicted on Wednesday for having assaulted Rahjab , a Lascar , and robbed him of 21 . The usual oath upon the New Testament was being administered to the prosecutor through a policeman , who acted as interpreter in a very intelligent manner , when it was remarked that Rahjah was going through the same ceremony as if being sworn upon the Koran . In answer to questions put to him , the Lascar said , airy oath , either upon the Koran or the Christian Testament , would be binding upon his conscience , as he had lost caste , and he would , not tell a lie , for if he did the Almighty would deprive him of his eyesight in this world and punish him in that to come ; besides , he would not tell a lie , being a married man with a family . The case was proved against the prisoners , who were sentenced to eix months' hard labour .

      Francis GerraTd , a sailor , was found Guilty of fraudulently obtaining the sum of 71 . from John Salter , a public-house keeper , by means of an assertion ( which afterwards turned out to be false ) that he was entitled to prize money from the United States frigate Niagara , in support of which he exhibited what purported to b 6 a pay-note of the purser of that vessel . He was sentenced to six months' hard labour .

      The Assizes. James Bayliss, A Man Employ...

      THE ASSIZES . James Bayliss , a man employed in the service of Lord Redesdale , at his farm at Burton-on-tbe-Hill , has been tried at Gloucester on a charge of embezzling his employer of certain sums of money amounting to nearly 200 / . Bayliss , for some time past , had been appointed by his Lordship to the entire management of his farm , in the capacity of bailiff , all the receipts and disbursements arising from the farming business passing through his hands , for which he accounted , at distant intervals , to Lprd Redesdalo . Tho farm speculation , however , did not prove a very profitable one , which was at first attributed to want of skilful management on the part of Bayliss ; but Lord Redesdole's suspicion ? being afterwards aroused by certain circumstances , ho engaged a person to receive all the fanning accounts monthly from his bailiff . The fraud was then soon discovered . The

      very first monthly account purported to show that 80 / . had been received for the sale of four oxen at Moreton fair , while , application being made to the dealer , it -was discovered that 751 . had boon paid in part for five beasts , the real number sold upon that occasion . After this discovery , inquiries wore made which brought to light numerous other fraudulent transactions of a similar kind on the part of Bayliss , for which bills had been preferred ; but owing to certain obstacles having arisen in the conduct of these cases , which made It difficult to substantiato the charges against Bay lisa , tho jury had ignored several of tho bills . The fraud in tho present instance , however , waa fully proved , in consequence of o clumsy attempt made by Boylies , after ho was detected , to alter some figures in his farm-book . Tho jury having found him Guilty , ho was sentenced to eighteen ! months' Imprisonment and h « rd labour .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 15, 1857, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15081857/page/9/