The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 2/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841Pelham, Camden
History
The Chronicles of Crime or The New Newgate Calendar. v. 2/2: being a series of memoirs and anecdotes of notorious characters who have outraged the laws of Great Britain from the earliest period to 1841
Pelham, Camden
Crime -- Great Britain; Criminals -- Great Britain; Newgate (Prison : London, England)
As may be imagined, the whole neighbourhood was in an uproar of
confusion at this most extraordinary circumstance; and information was
immediately conveyed to the coroner, in order that an inquest might be
held. By the time a coroner's jury had assembled, a surgical examination
of the body had taken place; and Mr. John Lawden, a surgeon, proved,
that there were appearances yet remaining sufficient to indicate that
the deceased had come to her death by violent means. He said that there
was a visible appearance of blood on the face and on the clothes of the
deceased, and also on a handkerchief which was round the neck; that the
handkerchief appeared to have been tied extremely tight, and beneath the
folds, a wound was visible in the throat, which had evidently been
inflicted by some sharp instrument. There was also a wound in the orbit
of the right eye; and it seemed as if something had been thrust in which
had fractured the small bones, and penetrated the brain. On the finding
of the body, it was partly enveloped in a sack, and it was clothed only
in a shift, flannel petticoat, stays, stockings, and shoes.
No sooner had the body been discovered than all eyes turned to Corder as
the murderer; and information having been despatched to London, Lea, an
officer of Lambeth-street, was forthwith sent in pursuit of the supposed
offender. With a loose clue only he traced him from place to place,
until at length he found him residing at Grove House, Ealing-lane, near
Brentford, where, in conjunction with his wife, whom he had married only
about five months before, and to whom, it was said, he had introduced
himself through the medium of a matrimonial advertisement, he was
carrying on a school for young ladies. It was necessary to employ a
degree of stratagem to obtain admission to the house; but at length,
Lea, having represented that he had a daughter, whom he wished to put
to school, he was introduced to a parlour, where he found the object of
his search sitting at breakfast with four ladies. He was in his
dressing-gown, and he had his watch before him, with which he was
minuting the boiling of some eggs. The officer having called him on one
side, informed him that he had a serious charge against him, and
inquired whether he was not acquainted with a person named Maria Marten
at Polstead; but he denied that he had any knowledge of such a person
even by name. He was then secured; and upon his house being searched, a
brace of pistols, a powder-flask, and some balls, were found in a velvet
bag, which on its being subsequently seen by Mrs. Marten, was
immediately identified by her as having been in the possession of her
daughter at the time of her quitting her house for the last time. A
sharp-pointed dagger was also found, and this was identified by a person
named Offord, a cutler, as being one which he had ground for the
prisoner within a few days before the murder was committed. The prisoner
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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