Part 76

At a coroner's inquest held upon the body of the deceased, Bolam was examined at great length; but the confusion which he exhibited, and the inconsistency of his declarations still further increased the belief which was generally entertained, that he had himself committed the murder, and had fired the house to conceal the act, while he hoped to divert suspicion from himself by a simulated attempt at violence on his own person. The inquiries and statements of the police confirmed this suggestion; and at the conclusion of the inquest, a verdict of "Wilful Murder" was returned against him, and he was taken into custody. The investigation, however, was still carried on by Stevens, the superintendant of the constables of the town, with the most praiseworthy diligence. At a search of the house of the prisoner new evidence was procured. This consisted of the discovery of the key which was missing from the Savings' Bank, and also of a considerable sum of money in gold, which was concealed behind some books. It was also ascertained that Bolam had been seen at his own house at a period later than that at which he stated he had quitted it; and many other minute facts were learned at variance with his declarations. A new and more extensive search at the Savings' Bank brought fresh cause of suspicion to light. The absence of blood on the spot where the prisoner had been found lying, and the evident fact of the blood having flowed down his clothes, as if the wound had been inflicted while he was in a sitting posture, clearly showed the falsity of his story in this particular; and the further circumstance that three of the most recent account-books were missing, tended in some degree to supply a motive for the commission of such a crime by him, although it could hardly be supposed, that where means so much more easy to procure their destruction, had such been his object, could have been resorted to, he would have been guilty of an offence so atrocious in order to attain so simple an end. The excitement which prevailed upon the subject throughout the kingdom was very great, and motives and reasons for the commission of the crime by the prisoner of all descriptions were assigned, but the most reasonable, and that which was eventually adopted by the jury upon the trial was, that some misunderstanding having arisen between Bolam and Millie, the former, in the heat of passion and anger, had assaulted the latter with the poker, and destroyed him; and had then arranged the tale which he subsequently narrated, and the appearances which were exhibited in order to conceal his guilt.

The sympathy which was created for the family of the unfortunate Millie was extraordinary. He had been left a widower with four children, and he had striven hard amidst adversities and vicissitudes of the most painful nature to maintain his children in a respectable station. Through the instrumentality of Bolam he was appointed to the situation which he held, the salary of which was 60_l._ a year, and he had performed the duties attached to it with great credit. The managers of the bank took care that his family should not be left entirely destitute in consequence of his death, and they liberally provided them with the means of immediate support; but an equally generous feeling was displayed by the public, and in less than one month 1000_l._ were collected by subscription to be appropriated to their use.

At the Spring Assizes of the year 1839, a bill of indictment was preferred against Bolam, for the wilful murder of the deceased; but in consequence of the very strong feeling which then prevailed against him, and the uncertainty which might be said to exist as to his obtaining a fair and impartial trial, the conclusion of the proceedings against him was postponed to the ensuing Assizes.

On Monday, the 29th of July, 1839, he was tried at Newcastle before Mr. Baron Maule. The case for the prosecution occupied the greater part of two days. At its conclusion, a great number of witnesses were called to the prisoner's character. The learned baron, in summing up, after having remarked upon the evidence produced to substantiate the crime of murder, said, "The prisoner may be guilty of the death of Millie under other circumstances. Some difference or altercation may have taken place between them. The evidence goes to show that there was no ill-will or malice; but among a thousand causes some spark of anger may have been kindled and blown up; a scuffle may have ensued, and the man at the bar may, in a state of excitement, have been the death of the deceased; and if he were so, and blows passed between them in conflict, he would have been guilty of manslaughter, and that would furnish motives enough for a statement which would, in his opinion, screen him from banishment from his native country and his friends. This view furnishes motives quite sufficient for the fire as well as for the other facts. I do not say that this is the inference you ought to draw, nor has it been suggested on either side; it is for you to consider it." The jury seem to have adopted this suggestion; and after having been absent considering their verdict for three hours, found the prisoner guilty of "Manslaughter."

He was subsequently sentenced to be transported for life, and quitted the country in pursuance of this judgment.

FRANCIS HASTINGS MEDHURST.

CONVICTED OF MANSLAUGHTER.

Mr. Medhurst was a young man of highly respectable connexions, and the offence of which he was found guilty was that of the manslaughter of a schoolfellow, Mr. Joseph Alsop, at the Rectory House Academy, at Hayes, in Middlesex. It would appear that this establishment was kept by the Rev. Mr. Sturmer, a clergyman of the Established Church, and minister of the parish of Hayes. Mr. Alsop and Medhurst were his pupils, the latter being about twenty-two, and the former twenty-one years of age. Mr. Dalison, another pupil, had quitted Mr. Sturmer's establishment on the morning of the day on which the unfortunate occurrence, which was subsequently the subject of judicial investigation, took place. On Saturday the 9th of March, 1839, Mr. Sturmer was in his study with Mr. Alsop and a pupil named Bunney, when Medhurst entered the apartment, and complained to Mr. Sturmer, that Dalison, whom he designated as "a blackguard," had broken the glass of his watch. Mr. Alsop, who had been a constant companion of Mr. Dalison's, indignant at the language applied to his friend, and perhaps irritated at former bickerings with Medhurst, exclaimed, "You are a liar and a blackguard for saying so!" and thereupon Medhurst, who carried a stick in his hand, immediately struck him several severe blows over the head and arms. A scuffle ensued, in the course of which Alsop wrested the stick from his opponent, and they had separated to the distance of five or six feet, when just as Alsop was again advancing towards Medhurst with the stick upraised as if to strike him, the latter suddenly drew a clasp-knife from his pocket, and opening it, stabbed his unfortunate antagonist in the belly. Mr. Sturmer had quitted the room at the commencement of the affray; and Bunney, horror-struck at the dreadful act of his fellow-pupil, rushed from the apartment to procure assistance. Mr. Sturmer now hastened back to the scene of the affray, and he found that Alsop was on the floor, supported by Medhurst, while the latter appeared to be bitterly lamenting the act of which he had been guilty. They both of them declared that they had been in the wrong, and Mr. Alsop freely forgave his scarcely less unfortunate fellow-pupil. Surgical assistance was obtained; but it proved to be without avail, and after lingering a few days the unhappy young man died.

It was not, however, until Friday the 15th of March, that Medhurst was taken into custody; and on the next day, and the following Monday, an inquest was held on the body of the deceased. From the evidence which was then produced, it appeared that the deceased and the prisoner had quarrelled upon more than one occasion before the 9th of March, and that in all these misunderstandings the part of the deceased had been taken by his fellow-pupils. Expressions of a violent description had been made use of by Medhurst, as to using a knife in case of his being attacked; and he was shown to be in the possession of an instrument of a most dangerous character. It was his habit, it appeared, to carry a stick almost constantly in his hand; and Mr. Sturmer admitted that he had known him go about the house, armed with loaded pistols. In the course of the inquiry, facts were elicited which showed a great want of energy in the conduct of Mr. Sturmer, who by his interference on the morning of the 9th of March, might have prevented the melancholy result of the quarrel, the commencement of which he witnessed. A verdict of "Wilful Murder" was returned against Mr. Medhurst by the coroner's jury, and he was conveyed to Newgate to await his trial upon that charge.

At the Central Criminal Court on Saturday the 13th of April, the prisoner was put to the bar to be tried upon the indictment which had been preferred against him, and he was found guilty of the minor offence of "Manslaughter."

Upon this conviction he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment in the House of Correction.

Mr. Medhurst, as we have already stated, was a young man of respectable connexions, and of considerable expectancies. It is not a little remarkable, that his grandfather was also tried for murder, though he escaped the consequences of his act, by proof being given of his insanity. His wife, it appears, was the victim of his attack; and her death was caused by a stab which she received from the hand of her husband in a moment of passion. For this alleged murder he was tried at the York Assizes in the year 1804, but acquitted as we have stated, on the ground of his being insane. At that time the unfortunate man was a stock-broker of eminence, possessed of great property in Yorkshire, where he kept a large establishment and a pack of hounds. At the time of the conviction of his grandson he was still alive, and an inmate of a lunatic asylum at Hillingdon, Middlesex, but bowed down by age and infirmity almost to the grave, and unconscious of the guilt of his descendant. The father of young Medhurst died about two years before his son's conviction. He had married an Italian lady, and the unfortunate culprit whose case we have detailed was the offspring of the union. There were other sons, however; one of whom was an esteemed member of the Church of England at the period of his unhappy brother's trial.

WILLIAM JOHN MARCHANT.

EXECUTED FOR MURDER.

The criminal in this case held the situation of footman to Mr. Henry Edgell, a magistrate, resident at No. 21 Cadogan-place, Chelsea, and the victim of his crime was a young woman, named Elizabeth Paynton, who lived as under-housemaid in the same family.

The circumstances of the case are few and simple, and may be narrated in a short compass. On Friday, the 17th of May 1839, Mr. Edgell and his family quitted the house in Cadogan-place in their carriage, for the purpose of proceeding to Foot's-cray, in Kent, leaving Marchant, the deceased, the cook, and the upper house-maid, at home. The two latter individually also went out, and thus Marchant and the girl Paynton were left alone in the house. On their return they were unable to obtain admittance; and the coachman and upper-footman having now got back from Foot's-cray, they went to the stables and procured their aid. Middleton, the coachman, scaled the garden-wall, and with some difficulty burst open the back-kitchen door, and having let in the other servants they all proceeded to examine the house. On their reaching the drawing-room, they saw the deceased lying on the floor, and it was at first supposed that she and Marchant were lying there together. This idea, however, was immediately dispelled by the discovery of a pool of blood near the head of the unfortunate young woman, whose throat was observed to be dreadfully cut. A razor lay by her side, which was evidently the weapon with which she had been killed; and it being ascertained that Marchant had absconded, suspicion at once attached to him. Surgical assistance was at once called in, but in vain. The carotid artery and jugular vein had been severed by a most determined cut; and the wretched young woman must have been dead some hours. Upon an examination of the body it became evident that the deceased had struggled hard before the murderer was able to effect his object, as her hands were found to be much cut; but there were no appearances to justify the supposition which was entertained, that there had been any criminal assault committed upon her person.

On the Sunday after the murder, Marchant surrendered himself into the custody of a police-officer at Hounslow, to whom he at once confessed the murder, without, however, assigning any reason for its commission. He appeared to be terrified at what he had done; and as he walked into town frequently looked behind him, declaring that he fancied he heard the murdered woman at his back.

On Friday, the 21st of June, the prisoner pleaded "guilty" to the indictment for the murder which had been found against him at the Central Criminal Court, and sentence of death was immediately passed upon him. He appeared to be in a lamentable state of weakness and misery, and to be deeply penitent for his crime. He subsequently entered freely into conversation upon the subject of the murder, and confessed the circumstances attending its commission. He stated that he had found the deceased in the drawing-room of his master's house, and had made overtures to her of an improper character, which she had indignantly repulsed. He strove to force the unhappy girl to a compliance with his wishes, but she resisted with her utmost strength; and then drawing the razor from his pocket, which he had taken from the upper-footman's pantry on his way from the kitchen, in a moment of ungovernable passion he cut her throat in three places, with the greatest determination, amidst her cries for mercy and of "murder."

On Monday the 8th of July the wretched culprit was executed. He met his death with much firmness, and was apparently sincerely penitent. He was attended to the scaffold by the Rev. Mr. Carver, the ordinary of the jail, newly appointed in the room of Dr. Cotton, who had so long held that post, but had recently resigned.

The unhappy youth Marchant, at the time of his execution had only reached the age of eighteen years. He was the son of decent parents, and had been remarkable during the early part of his life, the greater portion of which he had spent in service, for his extreme humanity and gentleness of disposition. The victim of his crime was twenty years old at the time of her death. She was a young woman of prepossessing appearance and of sprightly disposition, and she had often laughed at her fellow-servant and eventual murderer, for a supposed affection which he professed for her. Up to the moment of their being last seen together, however, they were upon the best terms. The dreadful crime of Marchant could only be attributed to the cause which was assigned for it by its perpetrator.

LEWIN CASPAR, ELLIS CASPAR, EMANUEL MOSES, AND ALICE ABRAHAMS.

CONVICTED OF FELONY.

The extraordinary robbery to which these persons were parties, involved circumstances probably more singular than any other which ever came before a court of justice. The affair has generally been known by the name of the "Gold-dust Robbery;" the produce of the plunder being gold-dust of the value of upwards of 4000_l._; and the facts which attended the investigation of the circumstances most forcibly illustrated the adage, that "When rogues fall out honest men get their own." As will be observed from the names of the culprits, the persons who were convicted were of the Jewish persuasion; and truly, the proverbial cunning and habits of cheating of these people were most singularly exemplified throughout the whole course of the inquiry.

On Monday afternoon the 25th of March 1839, the robbery was effected. It appears that two boxes of gold-dust, from the mines of the Brazilian Mining Company in South America, had reached England on the 18th of the month, and had been landed at Falmouth from H.M.S. Sea-gull, from whence they were to be forwarded to London, consigned to Messrs. Marsh and Co., the agents of the Company. At Falmouth they were put on board the City of Limerick steam-ship, and on Monday morning, the 25th of March, they were landed at the wharf of the Dublin Steam-packet Company at St. Katherine's. On the same morning a letter was received by Messrs. Hartley and Co., the agents of the Dublin Steam Navigation Company, in John-street, Crutchedfriars, to whom the City of Limerick steamer belonged, purporting to be from Messrs. Carne and Co., of Falmouth, apprising them of the transmission of the gold-dust, and instructing them to hand it over to a person who should call at their office, and produce certain documents. This letter was opened by Lewin Caspar, a clerk in the establishment; and on the same afternoon a person drove up to the counting-house, and presenting certain papers desired that the boxes of precious metal should be delivered to him. From his manner no suspicion was raised, and the credentials which he produced, giving a description of the boxes and the marks upon them, tended to remove all doubt as to the authenticity of the character which he had assumed. His right to the boxes, therefore, being apparently established, he paid the wharfage dues, and the trunks with their golden contents were placed in the cab in which he had arrived. He gave the foreman of the wharf a shilling for his civility, and then drove away without the smallest suspicion being excited that he was not fully entitled to the goods which he had claimed.

In a few hours, however, an authorised agent of Messrs. Marsh, the consignees, arrived at the counting-house, and making known his character, and demanding the gold-dust upon the authority of vouchers which he produced, the fraud was discovered. The contents of the boxes were valued at 4600_l._, and as this loss would fall upon the Dublin Steam-packet Co., the consternation which was created among their servants at this event may be well imagined. Instant steps were taken to secure the individual by whom the robbery had been so ingeniously effected, and Lea, and Roe, police-officers, were engaged to pursue the necessary investigation. In the course of the same day the cab which had conveyed the thief to Messrs. Hartley's wharf was discovered, and the driver questioned, but the only information which he could afford was, that the individual who had employed him had hired him in Cheapside, and he had driven him back to Wood-street, where he had quitted his vehicle and had entered another cab, which proceeded in a direction towards Holborn. A clue so vague was not easily to be followed; but the officers pursued their investigation with unabated vigour and determination, and at length after infinite difficulty they traced the thief to No. 12 New-street, London Hospital; from whence, however, they found he had now removed to a house in Mansell-street, Goodman's-fields, with all his furniture, but from which again he had absconded no one knew whither. From the inquiries made by the officers they ascertained that the name of this person was Moss; and that he was foreman to Mr. Hyams, a watchmaker in Goodman's-fields; that before the robbery, as well as on the day of its commission, he had been observed to be in frequent and earnest conversation with Ellis Caspar, whose son, Lewin Caspar, as we have already stated, held the situation of confidential clerk to Messrs. Hartley and Co. No time was lost in taking these persons into custody, and then it was elicited from the servant of Moss, that both those individuals had occasionally visited her master;--that on the day of the robbery, Moss, contrary to custom, went out in his best clothes, and that in the evening he came home in a cab with two boxes corresponding in appearance with those which had contained the gold-dust, and the half-burned fragments of which she subsequently saw under the grate of the sitting-room. Some mysterious whisperings after this took place between Moss, and his wife, and her sister; and on the next morning they quitted New-street for Mansell-street. The description which was given of Moss exactly corresponded with that of the thief; and the exertions of the officers were now applied to secure his apprehension.

In the course of the inquiries which were now made, the circumstance of the purchase of a large quantity of bar gold by Messrs. Bull and Co., bullion-dealers in Cheapside, from Mr. Henry Solomons, a gold refiner at No. 58, Strand, was elicited, and Messrs. Bull and Co. instantly afforded every assistance to the police. On Saturday, the 6th of April, Mr. Solomons was examined at Lambeth-street police-office, when he admitted having sold 1200_l._ worth of bar-gold to Messrs. Bull; but he stated, that that gold was the produce of a large quantity of snuff-boxes and other articles which he had melted, the precise nature of which he could not describe; that he had received the 1200_l._ and had paid a great portion of it away; but finally, he protested against being further questioned, and refused to give any more information upon the subject.

At a subsequent examination Mr. Solomons was placed at the bar with the two Caspars as a principal in the robbery; and then Moss, who upon an understanding that he should be admitted in evidence against the prisoners, had surrendered himself into custody, appeared as a witness. The effect produced upon the prisoners, by his presenting himself in this capacity, was remarkable; and it was observed that Solomons, no longer confident, appeared to be applying himself to devise means to be placed in the position of his late coadjutor. The evidence of Moss explained the whole transaction, and showed the extraordinary workings of the system of villany which was carried on. For the present his statement was not published, as there were yet other persons to be secured; but it was understood that it amounted to a complete revelation of the whole of the circumstances attending the robbery.

On Tuesday May the 7th, two new prisoners were placed at the bar, named Emanuel Moses, or "Money Moses," as he was familiarly called, and Alice Abrahams, his daughter, who was a widow; but as there were still other

## parties not in custody, who had been participators in the transaction,

it was deemed advisable that secrecy should still be observed upon the subject of the evidence which had been obtained. From other witnesses, however, the fact of the sale of a large quantity of gold-dust by Moses and his daughter to Solomons directly after the robbery was elicited; and it was also shown that the latter in melting it down, had thrown copper and silver into it, in order to change its exact character, and thereby prevent its identification.