366. MARY OWEN proceedingsdefend , late wife of Henry Owen < no role > was indicted for the wilful murder of Henry Owen proceedingsvictim , March 18th , for that she feloniously, traiterously, and wilfully, and of her malice aforethought did mix and mingle a large quantity of deadly poison, called arsenick, into a cake made of dough, which cake she caused and procured to be baked, and did give the said Henry the said cake to eat, and that he, not knowing the same to be mixed with poison, did eat and swallow down the said cake into his body, by means whereof he became sick and greatly distempered, of which he languished until the 19th day of March, and then died .

She was indicted for the like treason and murder on the Coroner's Inquisition.

JOHN HALSEY < no role > sworn.

I am a servant at the White Lion opposite St. Giles's Church: I know Mary Owen < no role > perfectly well; I did not know whether she was married or no; I never saw Henry Owen < no role > in my life; I know nothing of the death of Henry Owen < no role > . On Monday evening, the 18th of March, between six and seven o'clock, as I was making sixpennyworth of brandy and water, Mary Fowler < no role > , who is since dead, brought a piece of cake to me, she broke it and asked me to eat a bit; I said I had rather not; she ate some of it herself, and then sat down in one of the boxes in the fore-room, and turned very sick. The prisoner came into our house about ten o'clock that night, and Mary Fowler < no role > being very sick, asked her where she got that cake; she said, she had it from Flannagan's, which is the next public house; she asked her why she did not eat of it herself; she said, she was not fond of sweet things.

You saw her eat of it, and she sickened in your presence? - Yes.

JOHN YOUNG < no role > sworn.

I am keeper of the Round-house at St. Giles's : I went to the prisoner's room with the constable, to assist in taking her; when I came into the room I saw the man dead, and Elizabeth Farrell < no role > very ill; I asked the woman -

Court. You must not say what the woman told you; do you know nothing but what the woman told you? - No.

DANIEL PROUT < no role > sworn.

I am a pastrycook by trade, and I am a constable; I took the prisoner; I found her in her lodging; there was a woman lying in one corner of the room very bad, and the prisoner's husband lay dead.

Who was the woman? - Elizabeth Farrell < no role > ; I asked her whether the occasion of her being so ill was by eating the cake, as was reported; she said, she believed it was, but that the woman that gave it her, she believed, gave it her innocently and not with a design to poison her. I took her to the Rotation Office before Justice Welch, and there, for want of sufficient evidence, she was discharged; on Wednesday the girl died of eating this cake, and upon the Thursday I took the prisoner up again, and then there was a witness that said, she saw the cake making at Flannagan's house: there was a doubt whether she knew Flannagan's house; the justice desired she might go to Flannagan's and somebody should follow her, to see if she knew the house; she went directly to Flannagan's; I followed her.

Court. We cannot hear what that woman said.

SIBLEY FOWLER sworn.

I am the mother of the child that was poisoned; my daughter's name was Mary Fowler < no role > .

Did you know Henry Owen < no role > ? - I have known him in former days, but he has been ill for thirteen years; he never came into the street; he has been afflicted with fits.

Do you know any thing of his death? - No farther than I heard he had ate some of the cake, as well as Mrs. Farrell.

You did not see Henry Owen < no role > eat any of the cake? - No.

You know nothing of the mixing of the cake? - No: I saw my child eat of the cake, and saw Mrs. Farrell give it her; they were eating it together; they both sickened and died of it.

Do you know who gave the cake to Mrs. Farrell? - Mrs. Owen. Mrs. Owen came in while Farrell and my daughter were vomiting, and said, what is the matter? Mrs. Farrell said, O! Mrs. Owen, I am very sick, look at that poor child and me, we are both poisoned; she said, If you are poisoned, my husband must be dead before now, for he has ate three times more of it than you. Mrs. Farrell said, pray Molly where did you get that cake? Mrs. Owen answered, I got it from Flannagan; then Mrs. Farrell d - d their hands that made it, for she said they were both poisoned; Mrs. Owen then said, Well, if I gave it you, I did not bid you give it any body else.

MARGARET WADDICK < no role > sworn.

I get my bread by washing and scouring: I have seen the prisoner often in the street; I know nothing of the death of Henry Owen < no role > : I was drinking at Flannagan's, a public-house in Broad St. Giles's; I was going out backward and saw some flour standing on a stool in the passage, and some stuff in a cup by it, that looked almost like treacle, but appeared redder; the prisoner and another woman came in and kneaded a cake.

Did you see whether they put any of the stuff in the cup in it? - No; the tea-cup stood with the flouer on a stool in the passage.

Did you see them do any thing with the cup at all? - No; I saw them knead the cake coming in doors with it.

What day was this? - The 18th of March.

To FOWLER. What day did the child take the cake? - Between seven and eight at night on the 18th of March.

To WADDICK. What time of day was it you are speaking of? - It was the afternoon; I saw the cake laid on the fire, so they said one to the other, that cake will make them gallop and sh - e.

Did you hear any more? - No.

You don't know who the other woman was? - No; I was with child: they said, if I longed for a bit, I might have it; I refused to have any.

ELIZABETH RUMBOULD < no role > sworn.

I know nothing of the prisoner, more than seeing her in the street: I went into Flannagan's to inquire after an acquaintance of mine; I turned round in the tap-room and saw a piece of cake on the fire.

Who were there? - Two or three children; I did not see the prisoner there.

What day was this? - The 18th of March between four and five in the evening.

This is all you know? - Yes.

RICHARD CHAMBERS < no role > sworn.

I am a sugeon, I live in Bow-street, Bloomsbury: I opened Henry Owen < no role > after his death; I did not see him while he was ill; the first view of the stomach and bowels upon opening him, was that of proud flesh, which is generally left after an inflammation of those parts; I made an incision into the stomach, and it was corroded and gangrened in several places, evidently arising from some corrosive matter taken into the stomach and endangering the life: I found no particles of any poison in the stomach.

Do you know what might be the corrosive matter that had been taken into the stomach? - Mineral poisons; there are different qualities of them.

What are the mineral poisons? - Arsenick, corrosive sublimate, the oil of vitriol, preparations of lead; the preparations of lead do not act as corrosives upon the stomach. I saw him on the 22d of March, three days after he was dead; I was desired by the church wardens of the parish to attend; I opened him the day after.

Would not some of the arsenick remain if it had been taken? - I apprehend very little, for nature makes an exertion to get rid of the poison by violent vomitings and purgings.

What is the colour of arsenick? - White, red, and yellow.

Is there any black arsenick? - No.

PRISONER's DEFENCE.

I leave my defence to my counsel; my witnesses can tell better than I can.

FOR THE PRISONER.

- FLANNAGAN sworn.

I know the prisoner Owen; she has lodged in my apartment twenty years; they lived as happy together as any body I ever saw; they had lived in a house up the yard, but they left it a little before, because it was too great a rent for them; they lived in great harmony together: this happened in my father's parlor.

Was there any quarrel between the prisoner and the other woman that is dead? - No; I heard the woman say as she lay bad, she believed she gave it her very innocently. I was at my father's door between five and six in the afternoon after tea, and a woman went by with something very dirty in her apron; she dropp'd two papers and pick'd them up again, and a little girl that was at the door, went to the kennel and picked up something that looked like brown bread, and she carried it in doors, and said, she had given it to my mother; I went in and they were breaking this cake among them; I took a bit and put it in my mouth; it was sweet but very nauseous, I spit it out again.

MARY FARRELL < no role > sworn.

I have known Mrs. Owen between six and seven years my mother and she were intimately acquainted; her husband and she lived in great harmony; I never heard any thing unlawful to her husband or to my mother that is dead; she supported her husband, who was bed-ridden twelve years.

NOT GUILTY .

Tried by the Second Middlesex Jury before Mr. RECORDER.

MARY OWEN < no role > was a second time indicted; for the wilful murder of Mary Fowler proceedingsvictim , in the same manner , March 18th.

There was no evidence given.

NOT GUILTY .

MARY OWEN < no role > was a third time indicted, for the wilful murder of Elizabeth Farrell proceedingsvictim , in the same manner , March 18th.

There was no evidence given.

NOT GUILTY .