The Tale of Elizabeth Woolterton
49-year-old Elizabeth Sarah Woolterton was a farmer’s widow
with ten children who lived at Denton in Suffolk. She
The local druggist later testified he had sold Elizabeth arsenic on four separate occasions over the last year, and the surgeon had analyzed the cake and found traces of arsenic. It did not take long for the facts to implicate Elizabeth.
She was tried at the Suffolk Summer Assizes at Bury St.
Edmunds, before Sir Vicary Gibbs, on Saturday the 22nd of July 1815. Elizabeth’s daughter, Amy Woolterton,
testified that she and her mother lived at Denton. On the 2nd of July her mother gave her a
basket containing a cake, a pie and a piece of veal which she sent to
Elizabeth’s uncle Tifford Clarke in the village of Kirby Cane some six miles
from Denton by her brother, Nelson.
The basket was opened by Clarke’s housekeeper, Mary
Pleasants. Mary’s son in law, Benjamin
Sparkes visited her and she wrapped the cake up for him to take home for his
children at their home in North Cove.
Sarah Sparkes, Benjamin’s wife cut up the cake for her children’s
breakfast the following morning. She
went to work in the hay-fields leaving the children in the care of Sophia
Mills. When Sarah returned home around 9
o’clock she found Robert was very ill and Sophia told her that some of her own
children who had eaten the cake were also ill.
Mr. Charles Dashwood was the local surgeon and was summoned
by Benjamin Sparkes to attend Robert and the other affected children. He
examined Robert who died in his arms. He
later carried out a post-mortem on the boy and noticed his stomach lining was
inflamed. He also analysed a sample of the
cake and found it contained arsenic.
Benjamin Long was a druggist at Bungay and testified that he
had sold Elizabeth arsenic on four occasions in the preceding twelve months.
82 year old Tifford Clarke testified that his niece by
marriage, Elizabeth Woolterton, had previously sent him two cakes that had made
him ill. Elizabeth owed him some £200
and stood to inherit a further £500 on his death and this was the motive for
the crime.
The jury needed just 24 minutes to reach their verdict. Poor Robert Sparkes was just an innocent
victim of her murderous plot.
On Tuesday the 25th of July 1815, Elizabeth Woolterton was
hanged on the drop set up over the Turnkey's Lodge of the County Gaol, Ipswich,
by London’s hangman, John Langley.
It was reported that “the unhappy woman persisted in her
innocence when at the place of execution, and seemed particularly anxious to
hide her face from the gaze of the multitude”. She had to supported on the drop
by turnkeys. A vast concourse of
spectators watched her be “launched into eternity”. It was not reported whether her body was sent
for dissection, which would have been normal for the time.
John Langley now had to get back to London where he was due
to hang Eliza Fenning the following day.
Given the vicissitudes of travel in 1815, he was slightly late arriving
there.
THE TRIAL
The Jury having been sworn,
MR. ALDERSON, for the prosecution, in
a few words recited the charge against the prisoner.
Mr.
Serjeant BLOSSET followed on the same
side:
"May it please your Lordship, Gentlemen of the Jury,
"We have each of us an important duty to discharge on the present
occasion, and I proceed to discharge mine by stating as clearly as possible the
nature of the charge against the prisoner, and the evidence by which that
charge will be supported. In doing this I shall take up no more of your time
than is necessary, in order to make the case so clear as to assist you in
coming to a decision upon the evidence which will come before you. Before I go
into the detail of the circumstances of this case, bowever, I feel it to be my
duty, Gentlemen, to state to you, under the direction of his Lordship, the law
of the case.
"Gentlemen,
the prisoner stands charged with an intent to poison Tifford Clarke, but this
poison passing from him, was administered to Robert Sparkes, who
died thereby. The law is, Gentlemen, if a person intending to
kill, murder, or poison one individual, and though it may fail in this,
and through some fatality find its way to some other person, the law imputes
malice against the person who took it, and if the poison is intended for one
person and another takes it, and it becomes the cause of the death of a person
for whom it was not intended, the law nevertheless considers the crime
of murder as being completed; and if in this case it is proved that
the poison which was intended for Tifford Clarke fell into the hands of Robert
Sparkes, and he partook thereof and died, it is the same crime as if it had
actually accomplished the death of the person for whom it was intended. It is
with this view in the indictment you have heard read, the offence is stated to
have been committed in various ways. In the first count of the indictment the
circumstances of the case are more minutely detailed; that she sent the poison
to Tifford Clarke, the person for whom it was intended; that it passed through
the hands of three or four different persons, till it came to him who was
actually poisoned thereby ; and thus in the last count of the indictment she is
charged with having, with malice aforethought, administered to the deceased
Robert Sparkes a quantity of arsenic, with an intent to poison, kill,
and murder the said Robert Sparkes, by which the crime is alleged to
have been completed.
"Having
thus, Gentlemen, briefly stated before you the law of the case, I proceed to
detail the circumstances which will come in evidence before you. The prisoner
at the bar is the mother of 8 children, living at Denton, in the county of
Norfolk. The deceased lived at North Cove, in this county. On the second day of
July last she called for one of her daughters, Amy Woolterton, (and it is one
of the painful circumstances of this case, that I shall be obliged to call
before you the children of the prisoner to give evidence against their
mother)—she called, as I said, for her daughter, and desired her to go and
fetch a basket, which she had put in a certain place, and which contained that
cake with which she is here charged with having committed the crime alleged
against her in the indictment. She told her daughter to send this basket to
Tifford Clarke, an aged man, who lived at Kirby Kane, about six miles from
Denton, where the prisoner lived. She sent her brother Nelson Woolterton with
this basket, who conveyed it to the house of Tifford Clarke, and delivered it
to a person of the name of Mary Pleasance. She put it into a cupboard, and
there it remained during the time it was in the house. A person of the name of
Benjamin Sparkes, son-in-law of Mary Pleasants some relative of Tifford Clarke,
called upon him, and his cake was given to him for the sake of his children. He
took it home to his wife, Sarah Sparkes, who was in bed, and she laid it by her
bedside till the morning. She went into the fields to work, and left a
neighbour's child, Sophia Mills, a girl about 10 or 11 years of age, to take
care of the house, and to divide the cake among the children. This child,
Robert Sparkes, about 6 years of age, became clamorous for its breakfast, and
Sophia Mills gave the boy a piece of that cake. She gave the other child a
piece also, but that child finding something nasty in the taste of the cake,
spit it out, and threw the rest of it away.-Two or three brothers of Sophia
Mills also partook of it; in all six children ate of it, more or less, but
Robert Sparkes, who appears to have been more hungry than the rest, ate more
freely of it. All the children were affected by it. A Surgeon was sent for, who
administered the remedies usually administered in such cases, but without
effect as it respected Robert Sparkes, who died as the Surgeon was putting him
into a warm bath.
"This, Gentlemen, is the case which I have to lay before
you. I shall prove that a piece of this cake was found in the stomach
undigested, and, I believe, that arsenic was contained in it. I believe also it
will be proved that in a piece of the cake which was found in the house, there
was also arsenic, and that it was from this poison Robert Sparkes died.
"It will be proved before you, Gentlemen, that the prisoner
sent the cake to her uncle, Tifford Clarke, on the 2d of July. Tifford Clarke
is an aged man, I believe 83. The prisoner, Mrs. Woolterton, owes him a debt of
£200. but this is not all; she was marked out as a person to whom some property
was to descend-I believe to the amount of £500. Assuming, therefore, that she
designed to poison him, this forms the inducement she had to perpetrate the deed.
"Gentlemen, there is also another circumstance I feel it my
duty to state before you. Mrs. Woolterton paid a visit. to her uncle a short
time before and carried with her two cakes. He ate one, or part of one, and he
was ill in a manner he never was before. Whatever was the state of Mr. Clarke's
health at the time, it will be proved that this produced an effect upon him
which was quite new. I should, however, state to you, Gentlemen, that another
person ate part of the other cake, without it producing any such effect.
"I shall also prove to you, Gentlemen, that Mrs. Woolterton was in the
habit of keeping arsenic in the house. She had lately purchased some, and the
account she gave was, that it was for destroying vermin. I believe, Gentlemen, it is not uncommon for
persons in the situation of the prisoner, to use arsenic for that purpose.
Gentlemen,
if you are persuaded that the prisoner made this cake, and sent it to Tifford
Clarke, with an intent to poison him, and that it came into the hands of the
boy Robert Sparkes, you will not hesitate to do your duty by finding the
prisoner guilty; if you are not satisfied, of course you will acquit her."
AMY WOOLTERTON,
Examined by Mr. Alderson.
Q. You are the daughter of the prisoner?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Do
you remember your mother's sending you for a basket on the 2d of July?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q.
Where was it?
A. It hung up in the pantry.
Q. Did
she tell you what it contained?
A. She did not.
Q. Did
you fetch it up to her?
A. I did.
Q.
Where was she?
A. In bed.
Q. Did
she look into it?
A. No, Sir, I did', I told her there was a cake in it. She told me to take a piece of veal, and a pie to pack up with it, and send to my uncle Clarke.
Q. Had
any cakes been made in the house, and how long before?
A. The Sunday before.
Q. (By
the Judge)-What day was this?
A. Sunday.
Q. How
many cakes were made?
A. Two large ones, and three small ones.
Q. What
became of the large ones?
A. One was eaten the Sunday afternoon
Q. What became of the other?
A. It was eaten in the family.
Q.
There were three small ones made; was one of these sent to your uncle Clarke?
A. Yes, Sir, it was.
Q. What
became of the other?
A. One was eaten hot, and another was given to a neighbour.
Q. Now,
Madam, was your mother by when these cakes were made?
A. Yes, Sir, she was.
Q. What
were they baked in?
A. In tea-cups.
Q. Did your mother put any of them into the tea-cups?
A. I cannot say,
Q. (By
the Judge) You cannot say whether your mother helped to make them?
A. No, my Lord, neither of them.
Q. Who
put them into the oven?
A. My mother. I gave them to her, I think, and she put them in.
Q. Who
took them out of the oven?
A. My mother.
Q. By whom did you send the cake to your uncle Clarke?
A. By my brother Nelson.
Q. (By
the Judge) How many persons were there in your family?
A. My little brother Nelson and I.
Q. (By
the Judge) Did your mother keep any male or female servants?
A. One man servant.
Q. Was
he in the house?
A. No,
the servant was not at home.
Q. You made some of the cakes up?
A. Yes, Sir, I did,
Cross-examined by Mr. Cooper.
Q. When
your mother had taken the cakes out of the oven, what became of them?
A. My mother put them into a basket.
Q. Then
I understand you to say, two or three of these cakes were eaten in the family,
one hot and one cold ?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Were
you sent to the basket?
A. Yes.
Q. Any
body might have gone to it?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Were
you sent to the basket?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. One
was given to a neighbor?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Did
any illness ensue from what you eat?
A. No, Sir
Q. You
don't know who ate that which was given to a neighbour.
A. He
ate it before he went out of the house,
Q. You
did not know that he was ill from it?
A. No, Sir.
NELSON WOOLTERTON,
Examined
by Mr. Serjeant Blosset,
Q. You
are the son of Elizabeth Woolterton?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. You
remember on Sunday morning, 2d of July, receiving a basket from your sister
Amy?
A. Yes, Sir, I do.
Q. What
did you do with it?
A. I took it to Mr. Clarke's
Q. Where does he live?
A. At Kirby Kane.
Q. How far is that from where you live at Denton?
A. About 6 or 7 miles.
Q. Did
you take the basket, as your sister delivered it to you, to Tifford Clarke?
A. I gave it to Mrs. Pleasance.
Q. Who
is Mrs. Pleasance?
A. My uncle's housekeeper.
Q. Is
Tifford Clarke the uncle of your mother?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Do
you remember whether Tifford Clarke was by in the room when you gave Mrs.
Pleasance the basket?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Did she open the basket while you were there?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. What
did she take out of it?
A. A pie, a little cake, and a piece of veal?
Q. Had
you opened the basket?
A. No,
Sir.
MARY PLEASANCE,
Examined by Mr. Alderson.
Q. Do
you live as housekeeper to Tifford Clarke, at Kirby Kane?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. How
far is that from Denton ?
A. I cannot tell, I never was there in my life.
Q. You know the prisoner at the bar very well.
A. Yes, Sir, I do.
Q. The
prisoner is a relative of Mr. Clarke?
A. Yes, Sir, by marriage.
Q. Do
you know the little boy Nelson
A. Yes,
Sir.
Q. Do you remember his bringing a basket to you?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Did
you open it?
A. Yes, Sir, I took out a pie, a little cake, and a piece of veal.
Q. What
did you do with it?
A. I cooked the veal for dinner, and I set the cake and pie in the pantry.
Q. You
know Benjamin Sparkes?
A. Yes, Sir, he came in the afternoon.
Q. How
long after?
A. I do not know exactly.
Q. Was
there any other cake in your house?
A. No, Sir.
Q. What
relative is Benjamin Sparkes to you?
A. He is my son-in-law, he married my daughter.
Q. How long did he stay?
A. A very little while.
Q. When
he went away, what did you do with the cake?
A. I
did it up with two or three short cakes, and gave them to Benjamin Sparkes, for
his children.
Q. He
went away with it, did he not?
A. Yes, Sir, he did.
Q.
Since you have lived housekeeper with Tifford Clarke, have you often seen Mrs.
Woolterton there?
A. Oftener this summer than ever.
Q. Has
she been in the habit of sending presents to your master?
A. Yes, Sir, several times; my master always told her not, for he thought she wanted it for her family.
Q. Do
you remember her coming about three weeks before this time?
A. Yes, Sir, and she brought two little cakes.
Q. Was
Mr. Clarke at home?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Did
you drink tea together?
A. Yes,
Sir.
Q. Did
Mrs. Woolterton drink tea with you?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. What
did she eat?
A.
Bread and butter.
Q. Did
she eat any of the cake ?
A. No, Sir.
Q. What
did Mr. Clarke eat?
A. He ate one of the cakes.
Q. Was
he ill?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. What
was his illness?
A. He was very sick.
Q. Was
Mrs. Woolterton remaining there with you then?
A. She was with him at the same time.
Q. What
had been the state of your master's health before this time?
A. He had been ill for five years.
Q. Did
you ever see him ill in the same way before as he was then?
A.
Never only once, when he took some drops, and took a drop or two too much, that
made him sick.
Q. (By the Judge) Has he been subject to retching?
A. No, my Lord.
Cross-examined by Mr.
Cooper.
Q. What
is your master's age?
A. About eighty-two.
Q. Mrs.
Woolterton did not eat any of the cake; it is not common for persons to eat of
their own presents?
A. No, Sir.
Q. You
ate some?
A. Yes, Sir, I did.
Q. It
did not make you sick?
A. No, Sir.
Q. The
cake was rather too rich for your master's stomach?
A. I don't know, it made him very sick.
Q. You
and Mrs. Woolterton were with him?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. She
offered to send for a doctor, did she not?
A. Yes, Sir, she offered to send the doctor as she went home past the house, but he refused.
Q. She
offered to send a doctor to him and he refused ?
A. Yes,
Sir, she did.
BENJAMIN SPARKES,
Examined by Mr. Serjeant
Blosset.
Q. Are
you son-in-law to the last witness, Mrs. Pleasance?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Do
you know Tifford Clarke?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. You
remember going to his house on the 2d of July ?
A. Yes, and Mrs. Pleasance gave me a cake for the children, and I carried it home.
Q.
Where was your wife when you got home?
A. She was in bed. She came down stairs and let me in, and went to bed again; I went up stairs and sat down on the bed-side, and gave her the cake.
Q. You
went to bed yourself?
A. I did.
Q. When
did you get up?
A. At six.
Q. Did
you leave the cake when you went away?
A. I left it by the bed-side.
Q. How
soon did you go home again?
A. About 11 o'clock my wife came for me to go for the doctor.
Q. Whom
did you go to?
A. To Mr. Dashwood.
Q. Did
you come with him?
A. I came back just before him.
Q. When
you came to the house in what state did you find the children?
A. Two out of three of my children were very ill.
Q. What
age was the child that died?
A. About six years.
Q. How
old was the other?
A. About a year and half younger.
Cross-examined by Mr.
Cooper.
Q. What
time of the day was this?
A.
About noon-time.
Q. Had
your children been out that morning?
A. I don't know.
Q. You
suppose your children commonly play abroad?
A. Yes, Sir.
SARAH
SPARKES was next called, who deposed that she was the wife of the last witness
examined; and her evidence went principally to corroborate that of her husband;
she stated, that on going out to the hay-field on Monday morning, she left her
children in the care of Sophia Mills, having cut a part of the cake which her
husband brought home, with some bread and butter, which she placed in the
cupboard for their breakfast.
SOPHIA MILLS,
Examined by Mr. Alderson.
Q. Do you live under the roof with Mrs. Sparkes?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. How many brothers and sisters have you?
A. Seven.
Q. You
knew the boy Robert Sparkes, did you?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Do
you know what day you were left with Mrs. Sparkes's children?
A. It was the third of July.
Q. What
day of the week was it?
A. Monday.
Q. Was
Robert Sparkes there when you went?
A. No,
Sir, he was in bed.
Q. When
did Robert Sparkes get up?
A. Soon
after his mother.
Q. (By the Judge) How many children were there?
A. Three.
Q. Were
both the others up?
A. Yes, my Lord.
Q. What
time did they get up?
A. About eight o'clock.
Q. Did
Robert say any thing about his breakfast?
A. Yes, Mrs. Sparkes had told me it was left in the cupboard.
Q. Did
you go and look in the cupboard?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Did you find any thing in the cupboard?
A. Yes, Sir, some bread and butter, and a cake.
Q. Did
Robert eat all the cake you gave him?
A. Yes,
Sir.
Q. Did you give a piece of cake to the others?
A. Yes, to the little boy, who said it was nasty.
Q. Did they, either of them, become ill?
A. Yes, they complained of being violently sick.
Q. How soon after?
A. About ten minutes or five minutes.
Q. Did
you eat any part of the cake?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Had
it any effect upon you?
A. It made me violently sick.
Q. Did
you go then to your mother's house?
A. Yes, Sir, the children went with me.
Q. Did
you carry any of the cake to your mother's house?
A. Yes, Sir, I carried my sister Phoebe a piece, who tasted of it, and said it was nasty.
Q. Did
any of your other sisters taste it?
A. Yes,
Sir, two others.
Q. (By
the Judge) What sort of taste had it?
A.
Nasty.
Q. What effect had it upon the other children?
A. They became violently sick.
Q. You remember Mr. Sparkes's coming home?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Was
the boy Robert and the other children at your mother's house when he came home?
A. Yes,
Sir.
Cross-examined by Mr.
Cooper.
Q. It
was a rich cake, was it not?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. It
was very sweet?
A. Sweetish.
Q.
Those children who ate of it had not been used to eat such rich, sweet cake,
had they?
A. Yes,
they had eaten plum-cake before.
Q. This was a large, rich cake, was it not?
A. About the size of a tea-cup.
CHARLES DASHWOOD,
Examined by Mr. Alderson.
Q. You
are a Surgeon living at Beccles?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. How
far from North Cove?
A. About three miles.
Q. Do you
remember Benjamin Sparkes's coming for you to go to North Cove?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. When
you got there, did you see the boy that is since dead?
A. I found two of Sparkes's children and four others, in that part of the house occupied by Mills.
Q. In what
state were they?
A. I found them all looking pale and cold, and those that were old enough complained of sickness and pains across the stomach.
Q. What
did you administer to them?
A. An
emetic to each.
Q. You
expected something of this kind?
A. Yes, I did, and carried emetics with me.
Q. Did you particularly observe Robert Sparkes.
A. He
was more cold than any of the rest, but I was obliged to divide my attendance,
as there were six children, and go from one to another; when I came again to
Robert Sparkes, he was still colder, and much worse. I proposed getting him up,
but he was so faint he could not stand. I ordered a bed to be made upon the
meal-hutch, and had him laid on it, and as soon as this was done I observed
convulsion fits coming on. I proposed a warm bath; it was about quarter of an
hour getting ready, and as I was taking him up to put him in, a fluid ran out
at his mouth and nostrils in three streams, and then a strong convulsion fit
came on, and he expired in my arms.
Q. Did
you see the deceased child the next morning?
A. I
went and opened the body the next morning, in the presence of Mr. Crowfoot, a
surgeon. I carefully examined it, and found a flush of an inflammation in the
stomach, and likewise in the small intestines.
Q. Can you give any account of the occasion of this inflammation?
A. From the chemical tests to which I put the contents of the stomach, and also of a piece of the cake which was left, I found there was arsenic in it.
Q. (By
the Judge) Who gave you the piece of cake you took home?
A. Mrs. Sparkes.
Judge. Call Mrs. Sparkes.
Mrs. Sparkes re-examined
by his Lordship.
Q. You
gave this gentleman a piece of cake, which he took home with him?
A. Yes, my Lord.
Q. From
whom had you it?
A. My husband brought it home to me.
Q. Was
it the same cake?
A. Yes.
Call up Sophia Mills.
Q. (By
the Judge) Sophia, was there any other cake in the house, besides that Mrs.
Sparkes cut out for the children's breakfast?
A. I did not see any other.
Q. (By
the Judge) Did you see this gentleman take it with him when he went home?
A. Yes, my Lord, it was a part of the same cake.
Mr. Dashwood's
Examination continued.
Q. Will
you speak of the contents of the stomach?
A. The cake was first analysed; as soon as I went home. I requested Mr. W. Crowfoot to assist in analysing this cake; he was with me several hours, and we submitted it to several chemical tests, each of which convinced me it contained arsenic. I requested his attendance the next morning to see the body opened.
Q. (By
the Judge) I suppose you tried it by fire?
A. Yes, Sir, it was. The next morning, I opened the body in his presence; I carefully secured both orifices of the stomach. Mr. Crowfoot submitted the contents to the same chemical tests we had done the cakes the evening before, with exactly the same results, which convinced me the cake contained arsenic, and that the child died from the arsenic.
Q.
Among the contents of the stomach did you find any cake?
A. Yes, Sir, I found a piece undigested.
Cross-examined by Mr.
Cooper.
Q. Is
not arsenic quite insipid?
A. I never tasted it, but I should think not.
Q. Are
you sure there was arsenic in the cake?
A. Yes, Sir, you may see it with a good glass in the very piece of cake I have now in my pocket.
WILLIAM CROWFOOT.
Q. You
are a Surgeon, Sir, living at Beccles?
A. I am, Sir.
Q. Did
you attend with Mr. Dashwood at the opening of the body of the deceased Robert
Sparkes ?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Did
he take out the stomach?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Did
you see a piece of cake?
A. Yes, Sir, and submitted it to several chemical tests.
Q. What
tests, Sir; did you try fire?
A. I did, and several others; all the tests to which I submitted it convinced me it contained arsenic.
Q. Then
the next day did you examine the contents of the stomach?
A. Yes,
Sir.
Q. Have
you any doubt that there was arsenic in the stomach?
A. Not the least doubt.
Q. Did
you observe the state of the stomach & intestines?
A. They were in such a state of inflammation as I should think proceeded from poison.
Cross-examined by Mr.
Cooper.
Q. Was there any cake in the stomach undigested?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. The
inflammation might proceed from some other Cause?
A. I should think not.
TIFFORD CLARKE
Q. You
live at Kirby Kane?
A. I do.
Q. What
relation is the prisoner to you?
A. She is cousin, she came by one of my wife's sisters.
Q. Was she in the habit of coming to your house frequently?
A. Sometimes.
Q. Did
she bring you any thing to eat?
A. Yes, Sir, I used to tell her not to bring any thing; her family I thought wanted it.
Q. You
know the little boy Nelson?
A. I do.
Q. You
remember his bringing a basket to your's?
A. Yes, I do; but I don't know what day.
Q.
Perhaps you remember what day of the week?
A. I think it was Sunday, but I can't speak to it.
Q. Did you see him bring a basket?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. Did
he bring only one basket?
A. Yes, Sir, but one.
Q. How
long was it before this that Mrs. Woolterton was at your house?
A. I can't exactly tell.
Q. The
time before this did she drink tea?
A. She did.
Q. What
did she bring?
A. She brought two cakes and laid on the table; they were put into the oven, and I had one of the cakes for tea; a little while after I was taken very poorly, and went out abroad, and was very sick; I have been ill for five years, but I was never so sick before, only once by taking drops.
Q. Does
Mrs. Woolterton owe you any money?
A. Yes, Sir, £200.
Q. Had you told her she was to have any thing else?
A. There was a little place she was to have at my death.
Q. Did you tell her of it?
A. I told her husband of it, and she might know it.
Cross-examined by Mr.
Cooper.
Q. What
was it worth?
A. About £500 I suppose, I cannot tell exactly.
Q. When she found you sick what did she do?
A. She went out with me, and was with me in the yard.
Q. Did
she say any thing about sending for a doctor?
A. She would have sent the doctor as she went home, for she passed by his door.
Q. Then
she was very anxious to send for a doctor for you, but you would not suffer
her?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. You
had often been ailing?
A. I have been for five years.
Q. How
old are you?
A.
Eighty-two, for what I know.
Q. Your housekeeper ate some of the same cake?
A. She ate some of the other cake the next day.
BENJAMIN LONG.
Q. Do
you keep a druggist's shop?
A. I do, in Bungay.
Q. You knew
Mrs. Woolterton, did you?
A. Yes, very well.
Q. Did
she come to your shop to purchase arsenic?
A. Yes, she did; she came on the 22d of June, and I sold her an ounce of arsenic.
Q. Had
she come to your shop for the same purpose before?
A. Yes, three or four different times.
Q. (By
the Judge) Within what time?
A. I
cannot say exactly; within 12 months, or it may be a year and a half, or two
years; the 22d of June, last time.
Cross-examined by Mr.
Cooper.
Q. Mrs.
Woolterton was a farmer's wife?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. You
sell farmers arsenic frequently, to destroy vermin?
A. Yes, Sir.
Q. She
had bought arsenic of you, at different times, for two years?
A. Yes, Sir.
ANTHONY FISKE,
Examined by Mr. Alderson.
Q. You
are a farmer, I believe, at Great Ellingham ?
A. Yes, Sir, I am.
Q. You
know Tifford Clarke ?
A. Yes, Sir, I have known him 40 years.
Q. Did
you go at his request to see Mrs, Woolterton?
A. I did.
Q. When?
A. On
the 14th of July.
Q. Did
you communicate to her what Mr. Clarke had told you about his suspicions?
A. Yes, Sir, I told her the child was poisoned,
and it was laid to her charge, from the cake she sent to her uncle. She said
she never made the cake, it was her daughter made it. She called her daughter,
and asked her. She said, "No mother, I don't think I did." I said to
her, "Good woman, don't bring your child into danger; if you talk so, you
will have her hanged. You made the cake, and meant to have poisoned your
uncle."
Cross-examined by Mr. Cooper.
Q. I understand you, that the daughter said, "I don't think
I did: Oh no."
Here the case for the prosecution closed.
His Lordship then addressed the prisoner:
"Prisoner, if you would say any thing to
the jury in your own defence, this is the time for you to do it; if you have
any witnesses to call, your Counsel can examine them, but he cannot address the
jury for you."
The prisoner said, "You know I don't know what
I should say--I am innocent about it--if there was arsenic in the cake, I knew
nothing about it--I can't call any witnesses-- I am as clear as the child in
the womb."
The learned Judge very ably proceeded to sum up the evidence.
"Gentlemen of the Jury,
"This is an Indictment against the prisoner
for one of the heaviest crimes that can be committed by a human creature; a
charge of having attempted to poison one of her fellow creatures, but that she
missed poisoning the person she intended and poisoned another. Before I state
the facts of the case, it is my duty to lay down the law by which the facts now
before you are to be governed. It is imputed to the prisoner at the bar that
she committed this crime in order to come into the enjoyment of property; that
under the pretence of sending her uncle a cake she sent him poison; and which
by accident found its way into the family of the Sparkes, and that it contained
so large a portion of poison that one of them died; that the prisoner did not
intend any mischief to the family of Sparkes is certain; but if she intended to
poison one person, and she missed of that, but yet poisoned another person, she
is as much guilty of murder as if she had poisoned the
person she intended. The questions you have to try therefore, Gentlemen, are,
whether Robert Sparkes died by poison? and if he did, whether the prisoner sent
the cake to Tifford Clarke, for the purpose of poisoning him-It appears she
owed her uncle £200, and that she had also an expectation of a property of £500,
at his death. But God forbid that this circumstance, Gentlemen, should have any
weight alone, only as it stands connected with other circumstances. If there
are other proofs that she did send this cake for the purpose of poisoning
Tifford Clarke, this makes out the inducement she had to do it.
"There is another fact in the case. It is
said that this child was poisoned by arsenic; it is proved that the prisoner
had arsenic in her possession; it is proved that on the 22d of June she
purchased an ounce of arsenic; it should, however, be stated, that she had
purchased arsenic 3 or 4 times before in the last year and half or 2 years. She
is a Farmer, and she said that she purchased it for destroying vermin. This
takes something from the weight of this evidence that would otherwise press
upon her, for it would be hard to say that she purchased this arsenic on the
22d of June for this express purpose, when she had purchased the same article
before at different times. It proves, however, that she had the means in her
power of committing the crime alleged against her in the indictment. You
observe that there was an inducement, an inducement, however, which could only
operate upon a wicked mind; and if this fact stood alone, it would be a breach
of charity to infer the prisoner Guilty from that; we must, therefore, travel
through the case, and see how these facts are corroborated.
"I have stated these two circumstances
first, because they form no part of the real transactions of this case. There
is also another fact of the same sort. The prisoner you have heard called on
her relation Mr. Clarke, whom it appears she had been in the habit of visiting,
and to whom she had sent presents of eatables, and carried with her two cakes--
it appears that she drank tea with him--it appears that one of these cakes was
put into the oven, and prepared for tea. Of this cake she ate no part herself,
but she ate bread and butter. It appears also that Mr. Clarke eat of this cake,
and was disordered by it, that he went into the yard and retched, and then
found himself better; she proposed sending a doctor, but he refused, saying, I
am a man far advanced in years. On the next day the housekeeper ate part of the
other cake, and felt no inconvenience from it. These facts are unconnected with
the body of the case, and therefore I have called your attention to them
first."
His Lordship then proceeded to read over the
evidence, very ably commenting upon it as he went along, and concluded by
saying, --"Under these circumstances it is for you to say whether the
prisoner at the bar is guilty of mixing the arsenic with the cake, and if you
believe she is, I trust you will not from any false feelings of humanity shrink
from the painful duty of convicting her. If you have a reasonable and fair
doubt you will give her the benefit of that doubt, by acquitting her; but I
must say to you what I have said to other juries, you are not to create doubts
for the purpose of acquitting her. If you believe she is guilty, it is your
duty, however painful it may be, to convict her; but I leave it to you,
Gentlemen, to consider of your verdict."
The Jury returned their
verdict-GUILTY.
The learned Judge then addressed the prisoner,
and observed, that notwithstanding the asseverations she had made of her
innocence, she bad been convicted upon the clearest evidence of one of the most
diabolical crimes of which any human being could be guilty: that of attempting
to deprive her benefactor of life, from motives of the basest kind. His
Lordship feelingly exhorted the prisoner to endeavour, by repentance and
prayer, to obtain forgiveness in the next world, for this and all her other
crimes, and concluded by passing the awful sentence of the law upon her,
directing that she should be executed at Ipswich on Monday, and her body afterwards
delivered to the Surgeons, in order to be anatomized.
FINIS.
[Gedge and Barker, Printers,
Bury.]
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