415. WILLIAM HIGSON proceedingsdefend was indicted for that he, not having the fear of God before his eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the devil, on the 5th day of February last, feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, did make an assault on Joseph Higson proceedingsvictim , and with both his hands and feet at and against a certain iron stove-grate in the dwelling-house of the said William, did violently strike, kick, cast, and throw, giving him by the striking, kicking, casting and throwing, at and against the said iron stove-grate, as aforesaid, in and upon the right side of the head of the said Joseph, near the temple, one mortal fracture of the skull, of which said mortal fracture of the skull, he, the said Joseph, from the said 5th of February to the 13th of the same month did languish, and languishing did live, on which said 13th day of February he did die, and so the jurors aforesaid, upon their oaths say, that the said William Higson < no role > , him, the said Joseph Higson < no role > , in manner aforesaid, did kill and murder .

He was also charged with the same murder on the coroner's inquisition.

ANN DICKENSON < no role > sworn.

Court. What do you know of this affair? - What I am going to speak upon is a month before the child's decease, within three or four days.

Go on, and tell your story? - I was at my own door, opposite the prisoner's -

What is the prisoner? - A taylor ; I saw the child come out first.

Did you know the child? - Yes.

Was it one of his children? - I believe it to be so, according to the mother's discourse.

Was it a boy, or a girl? - A boy.

What age was he? - Not quite nine, till next June I think; the father came after the boy out of the house.

Was he running out? - No, walking; his father had a poker in his right hand, and he hit him over the left side of his head with the poker; he bled a good deal, and I saw the blood run to the collar of his shirt.

Do attend to me particularly; did the boy come out first? - Yes.

Did the father get before him at all? - No, the door stands up in an alley, and the child came out side-ways to shun him, and met his father with the poker in his hand, and he hit him on the left side of the head; and the child came over to me, and held up his two hands, and begged me to save him; I put him on my own stairs; about a quarter of an hour after the father came to me, and said, damn him, where is he? - I begged of him to qualify his passion; the father went to his own habitation, he came again, and brought a little dish, what we call a penny dish, with about a pound of meat in it hot; he said the boy had eaten four pounds all but that bit, while he had been to the mother to the hospital; he asked me where he was; I told I would not tell him, without he would promise not to beat him again; he did not say whether he would or not, but he went away to his own apartment again; and in about half an hour he came to me again, and asked me where he was; I told him, I would tell him if he would not beat him; otherwise I would not; he said he would not; I went up to the child and said, Joey, your daddy wants you; and he said, has he got ever a stick in his hand? I said no my dear; I took him by his right arm, and carried him in doors to his father; and he said nothing to him that night, nor I did not see him beat him, or hear him that night; but the next morning about five, he cried out sadly.

What did you hear? - I heard him cry out, dear daddy, dear daddy.

In what manner? - Crying out in a very loud manner, O, O < no role > , O, and then he cried, dear daddy, dear daddy.

Jury. How far off do you live? - About eight or nine yards off.

Court. Could you see what he struck him with? - It was a poker, upon my honour; but to swear to the poker I cannot.

Did you examine the wound, or any thing? - I cannot say I did, for I was rather flurried; but there had been a scab on his head, on that place ever since.

Had his head stopped bleeding before you carried him home? - No, it had not, but it did not bleed so fierce as it did at first.

Did not you offer to wipe off the blood, or any thing of that sort? - I did not upon my word, I was so much flurried, I really did not.

Did you see him the next day? - Yes.

Was there a scab there then? - Yes, and to the day of his death.

The bleeding was stopped? - Yes.

Whereabouts was it particularly? - On the back part of his head, among the hair.

There was only a scab the next day? - No.

The head was not swelled, or any thing? - No, not that I perceived.

It was not upon the temples? - No.

SUSANNAH HOBBS < no role > sworn.

I lived next door to the last witness, and keep a chandler's shop: on the 12th of February, on a Saturday in the afternoon, the mother of the child came over to me for a peck of coats; I asked her how her little baby did, which was sucking at her breast, she said it was better, but her little boy Joey was very ill, and she had just been up to the Dispensary for three papers of powders for him; then you see, Sir, she said that her child had been very ill for some time; with that I said, it is a very good thing, it is very well you are come home, for your child has been used very ill; then she went over to her own house.

Why did you say so, did you know the child had been used ill? - Yes, by screaming out, the neighbours were always calling to the prisoner, and saying he was a second Brownrig, using his child ill.

Have you ever heard the child scream out? - Yes, several times.

Had you ever seen the prisoner beat the child? - Never in my life; about dark I went over to see the child, not knowing he was in that condition; when I went in his mother was standing by the fire side, and I said Mrs. Thing-a-me, where is your little boy? and she said here, in the cradle.

Court. Why he was eight or nine years old? - Yes, but he lay in a cradle when I saw him; she took a candle and shewed me the child, and when I saw him I was so shocked, I thought I should have dropped into the cradle.

What appearance had he? - By his head, he moaned most bitterly.

What was the appearance that shocked you? - I said to her, dear me, Mrs. Thing-a-me, what have you done to your child, have you poisoned him? - she said no.

Did she say any thing about her husband? - No, his head was swelled terribly, then I went into my own place again; I went over again presently, and asked her how he did, she said, he was very bad indeed; I said Mrs. Thing-a-me, is he in his senses, and she said, O yes! Madam, says she, you shall hear him speak, I have just been talking to him; says she, Joey Higson < no role > , my dear, tell who has hurted you, has mammy ever hurted you? no, he said; who has? dad, says he.

Court. Where was the father at that time? - I never saw any thing of the father the Saturday at all, that was the last word I heard the child speak.

Court to Prisoner. Do you wish to ask these two witnesses any questions? - No, I do not want to have any conversation with them at all; they are people not worth speaking to at all.

MARY SIMES < no role > sworn.

I live in the same house where this here taylor lives.

What do you mean, the prisoner? - Yes, I have heard the boy-cry out late and early, of being sadly used.

In what manner? - He has cried out, O daddy! O daddy! when he has been beating him.

How can you tell he was beating him? - Because I have heard the blows up two pair of stairs, I have heard the blows in the morning by five o'clock, and sometimes late at night; and the last time he was down stairs, I was coming down, and I looked through, and I saw the child coming out of the door, and the prisoner was going to kick him, and he lifted up his foot to kick him, and the child cried out, O daddy.

Did he kick him? - He did not kick him, but he pulled him by the hand, and hit him over the face.

What with? - With his flat hand, then he was running out of doors, and he caught him, and the child cried out, and he put his hand and stopped his breath, and he pulled him in by his arm, and the neighbours cried out shame; I said afterwards to the child, has your daddy been beating you? he said, yes, my daddy has a new way of beating me, because the neighbours should not cry out shame.

Court. Then he was running about? - Yes, he came out and was going of an errand.

Court. That is no evidence at all what the child said, at that time.

Did you see the child after that? - No.

ELIZABETH DARBY < no role > sworn.

I lived opposite, I frequently used to hear the child cry out in a most shocking manner, my husband and I have perfectly heard the blows; the child used to come into my shop, I keep a chandler's shop, and he said, his daddy was always beating and kicking him.

Was that at the time you have heard the blows? - No, not then, but he was frequently beating the child, every day two or three times a day, he was hardly free from crying out.

Court. I think you are not to tell us what the boy said, I would not have you tell us what the child said, especially at that time, that he was running from his father's house to you, because you see, gentlemen of the Jury, that declaration was not upon oath, nor was there any thing that would bind the child, nor was he in that sort of state, to inforce what he said to be true; as for instance, the declarations of dying people not expecting to recover, have that influence on their minds and conscience at that time, which makes them equal to an oath; and that desire that they must then have in point of conscience not to speak a falshood, is equal to evidence upon oath; but there was no influence on this child's mind at that time: and another thing, in consequence of his provocation, and perhaps being ill used by his father, he might exaggerate what his father had done, being angry with his father, and his father with him; therefore, I think these declarations are not to be received in evidence, for if that was the case, you see what dangerous consequences might ensue.

Mr. Baron Eyre < no role > . I agree intirely with my brother, I think this evidence ought not to be received: all evidence against prisoners is to be on oath, with one exception, which is a declaration without oath, by a person who conceives himself to be in a dying condition, as to the author of the in jury he has received; and that is upon this ground, that the situation of such a party creates an obligation upon his mind to speak the truth, equal to the sanction of an oath; that of necessity applies only to the particular situation of the party then upon a death bed, and cannot possibly extend to all the general declarations that persons make, who may have received injuries: the rule is a general one, and this prisoner, and all prisoners must be entitled to it; it is a rule founded on public justice.

E. Darby. When he came into my shop about a week before he died, I saw his face was all black.

Jury. Was there any advice called in, in this series of time?

Mr. Gorsuch, the Surgeon, My Lord, the wife applied to the dispensary for powders, but not for the contusion on his head? - A quaker doctor came from the dispensary, I saw the Gentleman myself, and he told me all she told him was, that the child had got a violent cold.

Court. Who was that gentleman.

Mr. Gorsuch. I suppose it was Doctor Whitehead < no role > , he is a physician, and a quaker.

What day was this that his face was black? - To the best of my knowledge, it was the week before the Sunday that he died, and I think to the best of my remembrance, I saw the child at the father's house, on the Sunday night before his death; I went over, hearing he was very bad, and asked to see the child, his mother said, yes, to be sure, he then laid upon two chairs upon his right side, there was a handkerchief over his face and his head, and she pulled the handkerchief off, and one side of his face seemed to be all bloody, and I turned my head, he looked so shocking, I was ready to drop.

Did the blood on the handkerchief seem like fresh blood? - It looked like fresh blood running on the handkerchief.

That was the night before he died? - Yes; I asked the mother why she did not put him into bed.

Court. The conversation of the mothe r does not signify.

Who lives in the house with the prisoner? - Mary Simes < no role > and another woman besides lived up one pair of stairs, and this woman up two pair; Tracey Bell < no role > lived next door, the woman's name is Jane Thomas < no role > , who lived up one pair of stairs, she was not examined at Hicks's Hall.

Court. Is she here? - No.

Where is she? - About two miles off.

Court to Simes. Do you know this Jane Thomas < no role > ? - Yes.

Had she any thing to do with the family? - No, she said, she did not see but little of it.

Where is the place where she is? - The other side of Moorfields; Jane Thomas No. 18, Lamb's buildings, Spitalfields.

Court. She for her.

(The beadle of the parish, the witnesses Simes, and on officer of the Court, were sent for Mrs. Thomas.)

ELIZABETH TRACY BELL < no role > sworn.

I lived the corner of the alley, I keep a chandler's and oil shop, which is now pulled down; on Saturday evening, I heard a great noise about the door, I went out of my door, and there was a constable, I do not know the man, but he was talking to the neighbours; and he went and asked at the prisoner's wife's door, where her husband was, she said he was out at work; he said, tell him not to touch the child, for if any thing should happen, he might depend upon suffering.

The man was not at home at that time? - No.

Then that is nothing? - I must speak the beginning, for I cannot begin on either side of the story; and he said, he should speak to the constable of the night, and the watchmen, to watch that house particularly; this was on the Saturday night, I went in and knocked at the door.

Did you see the child? - She asked who it was, I said, it was nobody to hurt her; I asked her how the little boy did, she said, he was very bad; he was laying across two chairs, she shewed me the child, and his two eyes were as big as a great turkey's egg cut in half; he had just been cleaned, I saw on the left side of his head, a long mark of blood, longer than my finger, and a little water; and I says to her, Lord Jesus! there is blood, and she said, no, there is not; and she wanted to turn it over, to conceal it: after that, my mother and I went in, and there was more blood, his head kept gushing out blood and water all night, I spoke to the child, and asked him if he knew me, and he said, yes; he said, he was very bad, I asked him if he was sore, he said, his head was sore all round, he was sore all over; after that I went in several times, and the child had some panado, and some stuff, and he eat it very hearty; both early and late, we have been disturbed with the child's screams, crying out O daddy! daddy!

Mr. Baron Eyre < no role > . Was it always O daddy? - Yes, daddy, daddy, dear daddy, daddy! the father was as hoarse then, as he is now, that he could not hear him; the mother has been in the hospital sometime, she had been at home a fortnight and two days when the child died.

You never heard of any complaint of any body else hurting him, but his daddy? - No, Sir; I never saw any blows, but have heard the report of blows several times; between the room that they lay in, and that I lay in, there was about a yard and an half; there were two partitions between, a bit of a wooden partition, I fancy it was originally all one house.

THOMAS TALBOT GORSUCH < no role > sworn.

I live in Shoreditch, I am a surgeon.

You was sent for? - I was requested by Mr. Philips, the coroner, to attend the Jury; observing a confusion on the right side of the head, a little above the temple, I removed the scalp, which was detatched from the skull, which was parted from the skull underneath; I observed a fissure upon the bone, the difference between a fissure and a fracture, is much the same as between a flaw and a crack in a pane of glass, the one is partial, and the other impartially through; the fracture goes quite through, but the fissure is only partially through, the same as a flaw in a pane of glass; I then took off the upper part of the scull, and the vessels of the brain under the fissure were very turgid and inflamed, and the maladies of membrancs of the brain adhered to the skull, which is common where there are very great inflammations from concussions, or from colds, or other causes: the contents of the thorax and the abdomen were perfectly found.

Go on and describe where the mortal violence was received? - That was all I could perceive on the head, some of the witnesses have mentioned the left side, but there was nothing on the left side any more than the scurf, which is common to children not taken care of; there were no marks of violence at all on the left side, the mischief seemed to be entirely on the right.

Jury. Was there no scare on the left side? - None at all.

Court. Was there no scab, nor any appearance of any? - None at all.

Mr. Baron Eyre < no role > . No appearance of there having been only lately? - None at all.

Court. It would leave an appearance? - I should imagine so, it was on what we call the os bregnitis.

Could you form any judgment what it was done by? - It must be by some obtuse instrument, some blunt instrument.

Did you think, from the symptoms you observed, that it was the cause of the child's death? - There is every reason to conclude so, the child had that fallow bloated countenance, and that emaciated appearance of body, which children in poor habitations that have been badly clothed, and scantily sed have; but I should imagine from the wound that appeared on the head, that the death must be owing to that wound.

You think it was certainly? - I have not the least doubt but it was.

Jury. You did not see the child till after it was dead? - No, the general state of the child's health, I think had been in a very bad way, for some time before he died.

Court. As a fissure is in a less degree than a fracture, I suppose it may happen by less force than a fracture? - Yes, my Lord, by a fall, for instance, in this case as there was such a violent contusion on the right side, I have no doubt but the fissure must come from the contusion on that side.

Mr. Baron Eyre < no role > . Was there any thing in your observation, that could determine your opinion, whether it was done by a blunt instrument, or by a fall? - There was no appearance of the skin being cut, no crack at all in the skin externally, a blunt instrument and a fail undoubtedly would have the same effect.

Suppose the child to have staggered, and fallen against a stone in the wall, it would have been exactly the same, as if he had been hit with a blunt instrument, the concussion produces the fissure? - Undoubtedly my Lord.

Court. You have heard an account of the blow being struck about a month before; suppose a blow had been given on that side of the head a month before, might it by degrees been growing for a month, so as to occasion the death? - It may be from seven to fourteen days before the wound would have the appearance, before the child's death.

Court. It might be for some considerable time, then I suppose it might be longer? - Undoubtedly it will extend and inflame, according to the state of the child's body, but I should imagine, according to the state of the contusion, this had happened about seven or fourteen days before his death.

Mr. Baron Eyre < no role > . Might it have happened a month before? - It is very difficult to say, I cannot speak to that with that degree of satisfaction to myself as I could wish.

Am I to judge it could not? - I do imagine it might be from seven to fourteen, or thereabouts.

Jury. I think the surgeon speaks to the child's being in a very bad habit of body? - In a general bad habit of body, his body was very much emaciated, he appeared in a state of poverty.

Jury. My question is, whether he knew the child any time before the first blow was given? - No, I never saw the child before.

Court. Can you account for the blood appearing, according to that woman's evidence, the very night before the death? - It is very easy to account for that; after the contusion I should suppose on the side of the head, the extravasated blood became putrid, and by that means the scalp was detached from the bone, and that occasioned the appearance; I believe that is the case of all wounds, by the removal of the scalp, where it is in a state of putrefaction, the blood may come down from that aperture; I should imagine the extravasation was from the vessels on the bone not externally, and then it slipped down and droped into the socket of the eye; the child's eye appeared very large, I attributed that to the extravasated blood.

Have you met in your own practice many instances of this kind? - A good many.

How soon after the accident may the symptoms come on? - In general from seven to fourteen days? I have known a fissure to be upon a patient five or six months before ever they have made any appearance, and then afterwards they have had complaints in the head, and when the scalp has been taken off, the fissure has appeared: I only speak in regard of the contusion, not of the fissure, because a very trifling blow will occasion a fissure, without having a contusion that would produce these effects upon the child, a contusion will follow immediately, but will not shew themselves immediately in that putrid state.

Mr. Baron Eyre < no role > . Did you ever know an instance that a contusion did not immediately follow a blow? - Undoubtedly, but the extravasation is taken up by the absorbent vessels, and the fissure still remains, in all probability the absorbents could not take up the extravasated blood, and then when it slipped it extended itself.

PRISONER's DEFENCE.

(The prisoner was very hoarse, and his defence was repeated by an officer of the Court.)

As to the gentlewoman that sworn first, I was in the country at the same time, at Woolwich, at the time she swore the blow was given; I worked there three days, and I came home, and staid at home for a week; I sent the child out for a six-penny loaf, that was the week following the time I came home, and during that week I was at home, the child came home and told me that a woman had thrown him down, with the loaf in his hand; Sir, at that time he fractured his scull on the right side; he broke his head at that time on the right side; in the course of the week I went and worked three days in Nortonfalgate, and the week after I stopped at home three days longer; on Tuesday night I sent him out for a loaf again.

Court to Prisoner. How long was that before his death? - About four days before his death; I asked him whether he could go or not, two or three times, and he said yes.

Court. Did you doubt then whether he was able to go? - Yes, because he had got very swelled legs; he went out and called at the White Swan public-house, he frequently called at different public houses to beg beer; and so I sent his mother after him, to see if he was coming home, and she could not find him, so she came home without him; and I desired her to go to many other houses besides, and she went to three or four houses, and he had been there and had bread and cheese at these different houses; when he came home he had fallen down, and cut the right side of his temple with the fall; his mother was going as far as Drury-Lane, on an errand, and the child was gone to bed; and the left side of the boy's face was terribly swelled in the morning; and the next morning I told her to go to Doctor White < no role > , and get him into the Dispensary; she went, and I went down to Woolwich to work; I worked there till Saturday night, I came home on Saturday night, and saw the boy very bad, and my wife said she had been at the Doctor's; and the Doctor said he would come on Sunday; I stopped there on the Sunday till eight o'clock, and sent to the Doctor's again: that is all I have to say about that; I have something to say in respect to abusing the child; I never struck the child with the poker; when my wife was in the hospital, I used to take a rod and beat him with; and she was in the hospital on the 2d of January, and she came out when she had been in three weeks; I do not know that ever I ill used the boy afterwards; and I suppose his death to be from a cold which slew out of his legs, being a disordered child; he always had a breaking out in his head and ancles. I do not think that these people that have been examined are sit to go upon life and death.

ELIZABETH JACKSON < no role > sworn.

I have known the prisoner about eight years, he lived neighbour to me about three years and a half, that is about four years ago; he was a very careful, honest, hardworking, industrious man, never letting his family went for common necessaries; I was his opposite neighbour, I never saw him beat his children or abuse them any more than what any parent ought, when they are in fault; I live in Kingstand-road, and he lived in Long-alley, Moor-fields.

How far is that off? - About three quarters of a mile.

JOHN HALL < no role > sworn.

I am a taylor, I have known the prisoner four years; I always knew him to be a man that took care of his children, and was a man that loved his children very much.

How near did he live to you? - Within about a quarter of a mile; he lives now in Long-alley; I have worked with the prisoner, he has worked at my house, I never worked at his; I was at his house within a quarter of an hour of the child's death, we had all the assistance that could be got from a Doctor; there came a Doctor, and we got leeches, and set to the child's temples but all to no purpose.

Who did you see there? - Nobody but his wife, the Doctor had been there about a quarter of an hour before, and had ordered leeches to be set to his forehead; his wife went and fetched them, and she and I put them to; and it was by her husband's desire we went for assistance.

Did you go of your own accord, or was you sent to by the prisoner? - I was desired to go to see the boy by her husband, and she likewise, and to get assistance.

When was that? - It was the day before the child died, and the day he did die.

Who went to the Doctor? - His wife.

Did she go while you was there? - Yes, and I staid at her house while she went.

When did she go? - She went on Saturday, and likewise on Sunday.

WILLIAM HARDACRE < no role > sworn.

I have known the prisoner seven years, a very hard working, industrious man, he worked for me at my house, for near a twelve-month, and used to use his family well, and provide for them; he used his family exceeding well; he paid his way always honestly, to the best of my knowledge, I never saw any thing amiss in his behaviour in the time he worked for me, nor since.

JANE THOMAS < no role > (who was sent for by the Court) sworn.

Did you lodge in the house with the prisoner? - Yes, I did.

Do you know any thing of this affair? - I have heard him beat the child sadly, I never saw him beat him, I have heard him beat him till he groaned, I never saw him but I have heard the child cry; he has beat him when the wife has been in, and when the wife has been out, time after time.

Was there any body in the house that would do the child any harm? - No Sir, I never saw nor heard of any body else offering to beat him.

When you heard these blows, had you any thing that informed you, or could make you pass any judgement who it was that beat him? - No farther than the child's saying, O, dear daddy! as long as he could cry, and then he would groan.

Are you sure this is true? - I am sure this is true.

How long did you live with him? - I lived in the one pair of stairs when he came; I live in Sun-street, I do not live there now, the houses are going to be pulled down.

Did you live there as long as the child lived? - Yes, I was there when the child died.

Court. Gentlemen of the Jury, William Higson < no role > stands indicted, &c. (Here the learned Judge summed up the evidence, and then added) This is the evidence on both sides; the crime that the prisoner stands charged with is such, as abstracted from murder, which is one of the most heinous offences that can be committed, stands aggravated by being committed by a parent on a child; but when I have said this, I will likewise say, that the more heinous, and the more unnatural the crime is, the stronger ought the evidence to be, and the most convincing, because as it is unnatural, and thank God a thing we seldom hear of, the greater is the presumption against a parent's being capable of committing such an act: and now, Gentlemen, though I dare say you want no instructions, let me advise you not to suffer the nature of the offence to prejudice you against the prisoner; but to consider this case coolly and calmly, as if you were trying a man that stands committed for the murder of an absolute stranger. It does not appear that there were any people in the house, except the man and his wife, and these two lodgers; there is no body appears to you to have been there, or to have done any act towards the child, but the child had been all this time in the power and under the controul of the father and mother: you have then had evidence of his behaviour towards the child; the striking the child with a poker has been proved by that woman; and though the prisoner has denied it, and said that he was in another place at that time, and remained there three days; yet it would seem, if that was true as he asserts, he might have a power of proving it, however he has called no witnesses to that purpose; therefore as to that fact, that woman stands totally uncontradicted; it is true, she says the violence is on the left side of his head; however, she might be mistaken, for there does not appear by the evidence of this Gentleman, who seems to be extremely well-skilled in his profession, that any thing can be attributed to any thing that was done at that time with the poker; he cannot connect the appearance after a month, as arising from that stroke of the poker. Then, Gentlemen you are to consider the general behaviour of this man towards the child; that this child has been treated in a cruel, and I am sorry to say, in an inhuman manner, seems to be proved by every one of the witnesses, and that the prisoner was the man that beat him, although to what degree does not strictly appear, but by every one of the witnesses the child exclaimed, O, dear daddy, daddy! it was his name, and his name only, that the child cried out upon, when he was beating; I am sorry, but my duty calls upon me to make an observation on the evidence of the last witness, who speaks in a very strong manner indeed; she says, the child cried out, O, daddy, daddy, as long as he could cry, and afterwards he would groan; this in the course of at least a month, or more, prior to the death of the child. There is no particular evidence whatever that shews you how this violence was committed; but however, Gentlemen, in point of law, I think it is to be left to your consideration; it is not necessary to prove the exact fact done, where the person who has received the injury has been totally in the power, and I may say in the possession of the party; that has been proved, and it is certainly incumbent upon the prisoner to shew in some respect how this child came by the mortal wound; he has told you indeed, (but what he has said is to have no more weight with you than as you are satisfied with the truth of it) that the child had a very considerable time before his death received a fracture in his skull, and a cut on the side of the head; sorry I am to say, that if it had, we have never seen the least assistance called for, till the very day before the child died: his own account is, that he doubted whether he could send him out a second time, or whether he was able to go; yet till the Wednesday before he died, t here is no account whatever of any the least assistance being called for; this child, by the account of every body, and all the neighbours, was heard from the opposite side of the way, morning and night continually and repeatedly crying out, and they continually hearing blows, though they did not see them; this is a circumstance that is to be left to you; there is such a thing as the law has called a sort of violent presumption; if a man comes out of a room with a drawn sword bloody, and a man is left dead in that room, nobody saw the stroke, yet the presumption is almost necessary; I do not say it is so strong in this instance, but you see how much it was in the power of the man to have accounted for these acts of violence which the child has received; you hear what is actually proved, that he has done, and the dreadful consequences when the child could cry no more, ending in a groan: if you are satisfied in your minds and consciences from all that has been related by all these people, though the prisoner seems to tell you they ought not to be believed on their oaths in cases of life and death, yet you are to judge how far their testimony deserves credit, and you will give it that credit that you, as Gentlemen, think in point of conscience they ought to have; you must, as I told you before, lay aside all prejudice of every kind that would as it were inflame your passions, and think of this case coolly and indifferently, and then give that verdict which you in point of conscience ought to do: and that must be, if you are fully satisfied that the prisoner has been the death of this child you will find him guilty: if any doubt whatever remains in your minds, I am sure your own humanity will suggest to you, that you would not take away the life of a man if you was not fully justified and convinced in your consciences, that he deserves that punishment.

The Jury withdrew for a short time, and returned with a verdict.

GUILTY , Death.

He was also found guilty on the Coroner's Inquisition.

Thomas Shelton < no role > , Esq; Clerk of the Arraigns, then addressed the prisoner, as follows:

William Higson < no role > , you stand convicted of the wilful murder of Joseph Higson < no role > ; what have you to say for yourself, why the Court should not give you judgment to die, according to law.

Proclamation being made for silence, Mr. Recorder immediately addressed the prisoner in the following words:

William Higson < no role > , you have been convicted, by a very merciful and attentive Jury, upon evidence which has left but little room for doubt of your being guilty of a crime the most aggravated that can disgrace the character of man. The crime of murder in itself, of wilfully and maliciously depriving a fellow creature of life, is an act from which nature shrinks back with horror, and a crime which the laws of God and of man have thought it necessary to punish in the severest manner; but when we consider that the unhappy object of your crime was your own child, that child too of tender years, living under your immediate protection, and that your guilt is not that of a single violent act, arising from sudden provocation, or justified by any thing which could have vindicated even a moderate correction, your guilt is of too aggravated a nature to receive any palliation. Your duty to your child was to have brought him up with tenderness and care, to have been the guardian of his infant years, to have moderately corrected him for his faults, and have been indulgent to his failings; to have supplied his wants, protected him from the injury of others, rendered his existence as comfortable as your circumstances would permit, and done every thing in your power to make him a happy and useful member of society. Your conduct has appeared to be directly the reverse of this; Instead of that tenderness, care and indulgence, which we all hope for from our great Creator and Ruler, and which our children have a right to expect from us, the whole of your conduct towards this unhappy child appears to have been a series of the most unexampled barbarity, terminating at length in a violent death, occasioned by the author of his existence. The affection of parents to their children is one of the strongest and most deep-rooted in the human heart; it is wisely planted there by our Creator, to render us the protectors of our children in their infant years, when they are too weak in body, and too inexperienced in mind, to take care of their conduct themselves: these natural affections have been totally effaced from your mind, and in place of them the most unexampled and inhuman cruelty has induced you continually to wreak, from time to time, all your malignant passions upon that infant whom it was your duty to protect. Happy has the unfortunate child been, who has been released from the cruelty of such a parent: miserable and wretched is your case, to have put an end, by a violent death, to that life, which you have before done in all in your power to render wretched!

Happy will it be for you in the end, if your own blood, together with the deepest remorse and repentance which the heart of man can feel, will be sufficient to relieve you from the load of that guilt which now hangs over your soul, and to procure you that pardon for your enormous and aggravated crimes, from your Creator and Judge hereafter, which the laws of your country must necessarily deny you here. It is therefore my duty to pronounce upon you that dreadful sentence, which your crimes have so justly deserved; which is, that you be taken from hence to the place from whence you came, and from thence to the place of execution, on Monday next; there to be hanged by the neck till you are dead, and your body to be afterwards dissected and anatomised , according to the statute; and the Lord have mercy upon your sinful soul.

(The prisoner was executed on the Monday morning following.)

Tried by the first Middlesex Jury before Mr. Justice NARES.