122. JOHN HOGAN proceedingsdefend This name instance is in set 29670. 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 26th day of June last, with force and arms, in the parish of St. Mary-le-bon , upon Ann Hunt proceedingsvictim This name instance is in a workspace. , spinster , in the peace of God and our Lord the King then and there being, feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, did make an assault, and that he, with a certain large wooden instrument, called a house broom, which he in both his hands then and there had and held, her the said Ann Hunt < no role > , in and upon the head of the said Ann Hunt < no role > , did violently strike and beat; and with a certain razor, value 6 d. her the said Ann Hunt < no role > , in and upon the neck and throat of the said Ann Hunt < no role > , then and there, feloniously, wilfully, and of his malice aforethought, did violently strike, penetrate, and cut, giving to the said Ann Hunt < no role > , by means of the said striking and beating with the wooden instrument aforesaid, called a house broom, one mortal fracture, and by means of the said striking, penetrating, and cutting with the said razor, in and upon the neck and throat of the said Ann Hunt < no role > , one mortal wound, of the length of three inches, and of the depth of one inch, of which said mortal fracture and wound, she the said Ann Hunt < no role > for the space of eight hours did languish, and languishing did live, and on the said 26th day of June, she the said Ann Hunt < no role > , of the mortal fracture and wound aforesaid, did die; and so the jurors say, that her the said Ann Hunt < no role > , he the said John Hogan < no role > did kill and murder, against his Majesty's peace .

(The case opened by Mr. Garrow.)

May it please your Lordship, and you Gentlemen of the Jury: It becomes my duty to state to you as shortly as possible, the circumstances of this case. Gentlemen, you have collected from the indictment, which has been distinctly read to you, that the charge against the prisoner is that of a murder, committed by a violence almost unexampled; this unfortunate young woman was servant to Mr. Orrell, an attorney, by whose activity and ability which is very singular, the prisoner is now brought before you; the prisoner was a porter to Mr. Chapman, a cabinet maker; in April last he had occasion in that capacity, to go to the house of Mr. Orrell with chairs; it appears since from the conversation of the deceased, that the prisoner asked her for something to drink, for some water or small beer, this was the first conversation he had with her, she then good naturedly gave him some, he thanked her, and told her he would bring her a ribbon, he accordingly brought her one, and he apologised that it was not quite so good as he wished, but that on some other day he would bring her a better; this caused a degree of intimacy, and in short it appears, that upon every Sunday from that time, to the time of the poor woman's death, this man constantly watched an opportunity of visiting this unfortunate servant in the absence of Mr. and Mrs. Orrell: on the Sunday of the death, Mr. and Mrs. Orrell having dined at home, they afterwards went out to take a walk in the fields, they were not gone very long, not quite an hour, they left the young woman at home, apparently in very good health and spirits, she had done part of the business of the day, and was left at home to go on with the remainder; when they returned they knocked at the door, nobody answered; they knocked again repeatedly, and loudly, but still nobody answering they went to church, when they came back they could not get in then, and they were quite astonished, as the girl was a careful honest sober person; however, Mr. Orrell went to the next door, and asked them to let him get in over the leads, he then came and let in Mrs. Orrell, and she had the misfortune first to go down into the kitchen, and there a spectacle, as dreadful as ever presented itself to the human eye, appeared before her: this young woman was sitting on the floor, reclining on the two corner walls of the kitchen; Mrs. Orrell was much affrighted, and instantly ran to inform her husband; on his going down he will describe the miserable object he beheld; this unfortunate young woman had her throat cut from ear to ear, her breast cut in many places, one of her arms broke, and one of her fingers broke, and a dreadful fracture upon her scull; in short, the most miserable object that can be conceived: Gentlemen, the first suspicion was that this poor woman must have destroyed herself, however that could not possibly consist with all the circumstances I have now stated to you, and they found in the house a house broom, which appeared to be bloody, it was sprinkled with blood, they concluded that from that the fracture of the head had come; they found on the next day the blade of a razor which had been thrown on the fire, and in a tub in the kitchen they found one of the silver spoons, which the person who had committed the murder had stolen, but had left it there, having washed his hands. The poor woman was not dead, she appeared to have some remains of sense; but indeed if her sense had enabled her to make any representation, my Lord will tell you, you would not much rely upon it, in the state in which her mind was: Mr. Orrell immediately insisted on an enquiry how this could possibly happen, and then he was for the first time acquainted with those visits, and it was discovered that a man of the complexion of the prisoner at the bar, had been seen in the street about the time of Mr. Orrell's leaving his house, he had been laying about in the street, and a milkman will describe to you some very particular observations that he made upon him; but I must draw your attention to one: Gentlemen, in circumstantial cases very often, very small and trifling events, as they seem when they stand alone, become a vast body of evidence when connected with others; the milkman observed that this black fellow had a large nosegay composed of cabbage roses, and in the kitchen where this poor woman was found murdered was such a nosegay: Gentlemen, the prisoner on this and some other circumstances, was apprehended, he was examined before a magistrate, and he was discharged; he afterwards came to this bar to be tried for a felony, and he was sentenced to be transported; and Mr. Orrell, whose attention has been awake from the moment of the murder to this time, he examined the Sessions Paper, and he found that the evidence against him, was that of a pawnbroker, who received some of the goods that he had stolen; he went to that pawnbroker, and in his custody he found a cloak of Mrs. Orrell's, that had been stolen at the time of the murder, which these people had received from a woman on the Monday morning after the robbery and murder, who lived with the prisoner at the bar, of course that woman was applied to, and the story she told, was that she received that cloak from the prisoner on the morning after the murder, he took it from under the bed, and told her he had bought it, and was to pay for it by weekly payments; she likewise said that when he came home on the Sunday evening, after having just been out the space of time sufficient to have committed the murder, he desired her to get him a kettle of water, for he wanted to wash his coat, it was bloody, he told her he had been fighting, and she washed it; when he was first apprehended there was some marks of blood on his waistcoat, the fingers of his right hand were cut: when he was before the magistrate, as it was suspected that this poor woman had made a very strong resistance, and this man's fingers had been cut with a razor; he was asked how his fingers came to be so cut, and he said it was done by a knife in the trimming of chairs; now it turns out that the knife with which they trim the chairs must of necessity be blunt, for it is only to take off the glue; but Mr. Orrell, whose ingenuity upon the occasion cannot be too much applauded, gave him a knife out of his pocket, and desired him to shew him how it happened; the man took the knife in his right hand, he being a right handed man, and could not therefore cut his hand in that way, he said he had had these wounds a fortnight, but upon the examination of the surgeon, it was found that these wounds bled afresh, and had been very lately received: Gentlemen, these are a part of the circumstances, and a part only to bring the guilt of this murder home to the prisoner at the bar: I have stated these things to you, because as there is a confession to be proved to you, by a person who knowing of the murder afterwards, had concealed it for some time, it is necessary that she should be confirmed by other circumstances; if she is believed, there can be no question of the guilt of the prisoner: Gentlemen, to this woman the prisoner has confessed the murder, she has lost some degree of credit most certainly, but she will be restored, if you find her confirmed by other witnesses of credit and reputation. The circumstances that will be proved before you are these; to shew that this man was acquainted with the deceased, and visited her for a considerable length of time, in the absence of the family, and on that very Sunday, he was seen in this neighbourhood; on the very day after, in the morning, the cloak stolen by the person committing the murder, together with other things, was pledged by a hand carrying it from the prisoner: These are some of the circumstances of the case; but I had rather you should hear the whole case from the witnesses; and if you are satisfied with the evidence, it is your duty, without passion and without prejudice, to find the prisoner guilty; but unless you are satisfied he committed the murder, however atrocious, however shocking it was, it certainly ought not to be charged to him; if, on the other hand, you are convinced that he is guilty, it will be very fortunate that society should be rid of a man so perfectly destitute of all humanity, and whose conduct has been the most barbarous that ever came before a Court of Justice for their enquiry.

Mr. ORRELL sworn.

The unfortunate deceased woman was my servant, she behaved very well, and there was nothing to impeach her character: on the 26th day of April last, being Sunday, I dined at home with Mrs. Orrell, between two and three o'clock in the afternoon; after dinner, about three, we walked out in the fields, near to Charlotte-street; we left the deceased to dine, and to do the business of the house, in good health and spirits, we left her, as we supposed, alone; we walked for about an hour, and then returned; on our return, which was about four o'clock, we knocked at the door several times, and nobody answered; I looked from the area across the front kitchen, but could see nobody; we left the door, after remaining there for about ten minutes, and we walked towards the bottom of the street, and then returned, perhaps, in the space of six or eight minutes, knocking again at the door, and not getting admission, we supposed that the servant was gone out, or that she was fallen asleep, as she had received instructions from her mistress to put clean linen on the bed; we sauntered about near the house for a few minutes longer, and then went to church, to Fitzroy chapel, the service begins there about five in the afternoon, we were in the church, I think about half an hour before the service began; on our return home from church, I again knocked loudly at the door, that was a little before seven; knocking loudly at the door, and not getting admission, I was alarmed; I went to Mr. Stephenson's, the adjoining house, I went through their house, and got over the wall to my house, and so opened the door, and let in Mrs. Orrell.

Mr. Garrow. Were both these doors in their usual state? - Yes.

Unbroken? - Yes.

Court. How did you open your back door? - It was on the latch, it was not bolted, Mrs. Orrell came in, and said to me in the passage, I will go into the kitchen, and see what is become of the girl, she went down stairs, and shrieked out immediately on getting to the bottom of the stairs, and she ran up again, her expression was, O dear! something very bad has happened in the middle kitchen, I am afraid the poor girl is dead: I ran down immediately into the middle kitchen, which is at the foot of the stairs, but the floor was covered over with blood; the deceased was sitting in the further corner reclined against the two walls, a most shocking spectacle she appeared indeed; her head dress was laying on the floor, appearing to have been torn off her head, her gown was likewise on the floor, and it appeared as if it had been rolled in blood, the woman appeared to me then to be most exceedingly cut and mangled, and my conclusion was, that she had cut her own throat.

Court. Did not those parts of her dress being torn and separated about, cause you to suppose something else? - Not then, my Lord; I saw she was alive, and I said to her, good God! Nanny, what is it you have been doing? Finding she could not articulate, though she attempted it, I immediately ran up stairs, and beckoned to an opposite neighbour, who was sitting at an opposite window of their house, Mr. Oliver, who is not here, and is indisposed; I ran immediately for a surgeon, a Mr. Pooley, a gentleman who lives at the top of the street, and in five minutes, I brought him to my house, he looked at her, and said, she certainly cannot survive, she is most exceedingly mangled, but the kitchen being dark, we could scarcely see in what state she was; Mr. Pooley then took hold of the deceased, and I believe I gave him assistance to remove her to the middle of the kitchen, to give a better light, we then saw she had her throat cut very much in several places, the throat and neck were cut very much, and a wound on the head over her left eye; Mr. Pooley then advised me immediately to get her to the Middlesex hospital, by reason that there we should have more assistance to save her life, if possible; I had her removed to the hospital, and I suppose in twenty-five minutes from the finding, I had her placed in a bed at the hospital; on being examined by the surgeons and Mr. Pooley, we found a large fracture on the scull over the left eye, the eye was swelled and stood out in a manner that was shocking, the bones of the face and the cheek bone were broke, and several deep cuts on the left side of the neck, the throat and windpipe were cut in several places, several gashes or stabs were on the breast, particularly a large circular cut under the breast; the cheek and chin had several deep cuts, the left arm was broke, a compound fracture, above and below, the elbow shattered to pieces, the right arm was cut, and the right hand very much cut on the back of the fingers, as we then supposed by guarding her throat; the fourth finger on the right hand appeared to me to be broken, but the surgeon said it was not, but it was a leader had started; upon finding that the woman was cut and abused in this manner, which appeared to be done with a sharp instrument, or with a razor, it was immediately concluded she could not do it herself, we then supposed some person had been in the house, and that she was murdered by such person: there is a little circumstance I have omitted, Mr. Pooley took up from the middle of the floor, the handle of a razor, I saw him pick it up, it was broke, and appeared to be broke by violence, as if laid hold on by another hand, and twisted off.

Mr. Garrow. Were the inside of the girl's hands cut? - They were both inside and outside cut on the right hand; finding this part of the handle of the razor, we examined to find a blade to it, but did not then; I immediately returned with Mr. Pooley to the house, and upon coming to the house, I searched to see what was lost, and the first thing that I missed was a silk mode cloak of Mrs. Orrell's, and which I knew she hung on the back parlour door; upon further search, I missed eight silver spoons, a large table cloth that had gone down at dinner time, and other articles that I did not miss at first: Mr. Pooley with myself searched the house, and examined all the chimnies, under the beds, and every room and closet in the house, supposing we might meet with the murderer concealed, we did not meet with any person; there were some suspicions raised in my mind of a mulatto man, from what I had gathered, and I immediately applied to Sir Sampson Wright < no role > the same evening, and communicated to him my suspicions, and we immediately went and distributed a printed handbill, which I have a copy of, this was on the Sunday night, a few minutes after nine; I was told of some suspicions of the prisoner, who was a porter to Mr. Chapman, and I went to Mr. Chapman, he is a chair maker in Peter-street, Saffron-hill, from whose warehouse I had purchased some chairs.

Mr. Garrow. Were these chairs brought to you after Ann Hunt < no role > came to your service? - They were.

Court. Do you know whether these chairs were brought home by the prisoner? - I do not know, I endeavoured to apprehend that man that night, but I could not, but we took three housebreakers that night; on the Tuesday morning the prisoner was apprehended, and brought to the house where I then was, which was at Mr. Hodgson's in Charles-street.

Mr. Garrow. Now tell us what you observed? - Upon the man being brought to me, I looked earnestly at him, I did not recollect him, but upon the right side of his waistcoat I observed two or three spots of blood, there were a few other marks upon the waistcoat, which appeared to me to have been done with stain from chairs, they were red, but it was easy to distinguish between these red stain marks, and the marks of blood; I likewise then observed that an upper surtout coat which he had on, had been washed recently, as if it had been dirtied a day or two before; I then took the man in the coach up to Charlotte-street, that those who had said they had seen him, might recognize him.

Court. Now before we leave this part of the case, will you examine the impressions of your own mind, whether you recollect the observation of the coat at the time, arose from what you observed then, or from what has occurred to your recollection since? - It instantly struck me at the first sight of him, at the moment I saw him it struck me.

Court. You understand the distinction? - I do, it was at that time that it struck me, and I mentioned it even then to the people that were about me.

Mr. Garrow. Did the coat appear to be partially washed, or wholly so? - Wholly washed, but the sleeves appeared lighter, but whether it was from further wear, or whether it had been more washed I cannot tell; I then took him down to Bow-street, I took one of the officers with me into the Borough, to enquire out from intelligence that I had, where this man's lodgings were, and with some difficulty I found out his lodgings.

Mr. Garrow. I believe you at a subsequent time found him in those lodgings? - Yes, at a subsequent time, I took him out of bed with one Pugh a witness; when I reapprehended him, the officer and myself scrambled up to the window, got into his room and examined it, he was in the room, nothing of my property was found; not finding any thing, I returned to Bow-street; we had a long examination of the man, and could make nothing out, and were under the necessity of discharging him the next day for want of evidence; I took him up to the body, to see if that would have any effect upon him; that was on the Tuesday evening, the 28th of June, the day but one following the murder, the woman was dead then, she died about one o'clock on Monday morning, I saw her dead myself; on the Tuesday evening I took him up to the body, and put many questions to him, to some of which he gave answers that were very well, and some that shewed confusion; I requested him to put his hand upon her breast, he put his hand on, and shewed less sense of horror than I should suppose any innocent man could; there was one of the officers of the police there, and he burst into tears, and could not stay in the room.

Mr. Garrow. Did the prisoner use any expressions which shewed his acquaintance with the deceased? - He looked at her, and said, my dear I do know you very well, I never did you any harm in my life; I said what do you mean by knowing her very well, he said I do know her very well, I do remember her; I then asked him whether he recollected that before the magistrate, he had said that he never saw her but two times, when he came up with two parcels of chairs, he hesitated a little, and then answered yes, but I do remember her; I then observed in the prisoner's hearing, it was astonishing a man that had only been twice with chairs, and stopped a moment at the door, should know her in the state that she was then in, so bruised and so lacerated, that had I not seen her placed on a bed at the hospital myself, I should not have known her; he made very little answer to me then, and he gave me to understand, that as there was no magistrate there, he considered our questions as impertinent.

How did he give you to understand that? - In this manner; he said I do not know that I am to answer, I speak before the magistrate; one of the gentlemen present said, let me look into your hands, as I had observed cuts in his hands before, at the publick office the morning after the murder, this I observed on the examination, after I returned from the Borough.

Court. Tell me your first observation in the morning about the cuts? - Nothing more, than that there were cuts in the inside of his fingers, particularly on the second finger on his right hand, when the gentlemen desired to look in his hands, he was asked by myself, and by one or two of the surgeons that attended, how long these cuts had been on his hands, and by what they were caused, his answer was, that they had been ten days or a fortnight, and it had been done with a knife or a chissel; one of the surgeons upon that opened one of the wounds, which appeared to be the larger wound, and which appeared to be quite a green wound, and the blood would have dropped if he had opened it further; the surgeon then declared that it was quite a new wound, and not of the standing the prisoner declared it to be; other questions were asked him, how long he had been married to this woman who he cohabited with as his wife, and is now here; he said he was married, and he was not married, that he had lived with her a year and a half, but could not tell her name.

Mr. Garrow. Did you ask him where he lodged? - He said near the Borough market, I asked him the name of the street, he said he did not know, he had never heard the name of the street, I then questioned him how long he had lodged in that place, he answered six months; I then remarked to him it was very strange, that he should live with a woman a year and an half and not know her name, and lodge six months in a street, and not know the name of the street, he made no answer whatever, he did not then know that I had found out his lodgings; after his examination the day following, he was discharged by the magistrate for want of evidence, I was dissatisfied with the man's discharge, and I applied to Sir Sampson Wright, I told him I was not easy with this man's discharge; Major Gilbert said, then he would grant me another warrant, and he did so, Major Gilbert granted me a warrant, Sir Sampson backed it; I took three of the officers belonging to Bow-street with me into the Borough, and we broke into the man's room, and I took him, and the person who lived with him as his wife, they were in bed, and I likewise took another woman of the house, whom I suspected to know something more than what she was willing to declare; I carried them to Bow-street, we had an examination before Mr. Gilbert, and I produced some fresh evidence; the man had then declared himself to be a Portugueze, (I find he has since passed himself off for a Lascar) a native of Madeira; Mr. Gilbert's observation to me in the presence of the prisoner was, Mr. Orrell, this man is a Portugueze, to be sure we have not evidence, what can we do, we must discharge him, you can take him at any time; I omitted a little circumstance; at the first examination on the waistcoat, where there was the largest spot of blood upon the breast, it was as if it had been nipped out, so as to take out a great deal of it, but to shew that there was some left; he then denied having done anything to it, and that it was in the same state as when I first saw it; after the examination of the morning he was sent to the watch-house, to be brought up in the evening, after which examination I took him to the body as I have mentioned: on the second examination I took him to the body; he said his coat was dirty, it was washed between ten and eleven o'clock on the Sunday morning, and by the account of one Ann Jackson < no role > in the prisoner's presence, who attended to prove an alibi for him, she said it was washed about five or six on Sunday evening; this she said in the presence of the prisoner, he having called her to prove an alibi, they both stated it to be washed by his wife, as she was called, that is by Pugh, this was on the first examination.

Court. What did he say in reply to Ann Jackson < no role > 's contradicting him as to the time? - He made no reply to me.

Did you observe any thing in the kitchen? - On the Sunday evening we did not find any thing more than the handle of that razor, on the Monday morning I went into the kitchen to see if I could find anything there, I had stirred the fire in the front kitchen to light a candle to search the house the Sunday evening, and on the Monday morning the blade of a razor I took up from under the front kitchen grate, (the razor produced) and it appeared to me to have the stain of blood upon it, notwithstanding it had been thrown in the fire; in the afternoon there had been a good fire which had cooked the dinner in the front kitchen, and it was into that that it had been thrown: a hair broom in the same kitchen was sprinkled with blood, and upon the handle were the marks of bloody fingers, which still remain, though it has been in constant use since; in the back kitchen there was a cistern with eight or ten gallons of water in it, I poured it out, it was stained with blood, and at the bottom of it was one of the meat spoons that I had missed.

Did you find any thing else that appears since to have been material? - Nothing material.

Recollect a little? - At the latter end of December, I had information from three or four different quarters that the man was in Newgate.

Mr. Garrow. Do you recollect to have found any thing in the house, that you have since learned to be material? - As to the nosegay, I did not find it myself; when I apprehended him the second time, I desired the prisoner, and the witness Pugh that was in bed with him to dress; I endeavoured to keep them asunder, that they might not speak to each other; the prisoner had shoes, and there was one circumstance which will be spoke to by a witness; I asked him where his shoes were, I looked and found none that had been recently worn, excepting that pair, he said they were the shoes he had on, on Sunday, and had worn them ever since; I looked at the bottom of them, which appeared to have been in water, they were so wet that no marks could be discovered; I was very careful that he should put on the same shoes: an observation was made by the magistrate, in the presence of the prisoner, that one of the shoes was torn from the strap to the welt, and it immediately struck me, he declaring these were the same shoes he wore on Sunday, that that was the shoe that had been described to me.

Court. Then the shoes he declared he had on, on the Sunday, you made him put on? - Yes, and I found no other shoes that had been recently worn.

Court. What was there on that shoe to your own sight? - It was torn from the strap to the welt, it was torn two or three ways, but there was a circumstance that I observed to him, says I, have these shoes been mended John since you wore them on Sunday, no, says he, I mended them on Sunday morning as I sat on the bed.

Mr. Garrow. After his discharge, from reading the Sessions Papers you was induced to suspect him afresh? - Yes, I was informed he was in Newgate; I examined the newspapers, and from them, and some information I had had from the Sessions Paper, I was induced to go to Mrs. Broome's.

What did you find there? - At Mrs. Broome's they produced a black silk mode cloak, which was Mrs. Orrell's property, I had not a doubt of it, but Mrs. Orrell was along with me, she immediately knew it, and I likewise; that cloak was lost on the Sunday, the day the murder was committed; the prisoner was at that time in custody, under sentence of transportation, and he has not had any further examinations; I then took up the woman, and she gave an account, and she is here now, this is all I know of the matter.

Court to Prisoner. Do you wish to point out any questions to me, that you wish to have asked of Mr. Orrell the witness? - Yes.

What shall I ask him? - Ask him what you please.

No, he has been already fully examined by me and the counsel.

Prisoner. Please your honor, I wants to know, that I never was in that gentleman's house but twice.

Court. He has said that you have said so.

Mr. Orrell. On the second examination on the Saturday, I searched under his bed, and there I found a shirt, I asked him if that was the shirt he had on on the Sunday, his answer was yes it was, he had only one shirt he said, and an old one he had on, then he said it belonged to somebody else; looking on the outside of the wristband it appeared a little bloody, as if by friction against the sleeve of a coat.

I think you say he acknowledged this to be the shirt he had on on Sunday? - Yes, and said it was the only one he had, except an old one which he had on, I questioned him how it came marked in that manner, after hesitation, in two or three minutes he said it was by killing vermin, at the same time it struck me he must have a great number of them; I took this shirt with me to the office: on his first being brought up and examined, he said he had the itch, and the consequence of that was, that the magistrates started off, and he was ordered to stand a little further; the surgeons at the hospital were particular in examining his hands; I have got the itch gentlemen said he, and I tell you of it; they were not much in fear of the itch, having the means of curing themselves in their own hands, and they examined his hands; the Major insisted upon his stripping, come says he, John, strip.

Court. Had he in fact got the itch? - I apprehend he had not, he had a cutaneous complaint, but he had not the itch.

Court. He might suppose that to be the itch? - I have nothing further to say.

WILLIAM CHAPMAN < no role > sworn.

I am a chair maker, I remember selling some chairs to Mr. Orrell, half a dozen of stained chairs, the prisoner carried them home, I did not take notice of the day of the month, it was on a Monday, it was in the month of April; after Mr. Orrell had them a little time, I had orders to change them; the prisoner carried them a second time, and I thought then he staid longer than he should have staid.

Do you remember any thing passing on the prisoner after this Sunday? - Yes, I found myself that he was in great agitation, that he was not able to do his business.

Did he make any application to you about leaving his business? - To my son, but I was not present.

Mr. Garrow. I call Mary Bruce < no role > to the conversation of the deceased.

Court. I cannot receive that, the declarations of the deceased are no more evidence, than the declarations of any other persons; the only ground for receiving the declaration of dying persons as evidence, is because the obligation to speak truth, on the impression of the mind of a dying person, is presumed to be equal to the sanction of an oath; now the declarations of the deceased, after the mortal blow is given, probably made at a time when there were no apprehensions of danger, though death afterwards ensued, I conceive not to be evidence.

MARY BRUCE < no role > sworn.

You are a neighbour of Mr. Orrell's? - I was acquainted with this young woman, I assisted in cleaning the place after her death; I found a nosegay with three roses in it, and other little flowers, this was on the Wednesday after the Sunday when she was killed; we found it in the blood; the woman that was cleaning the place called, and said, Mrs. Bruce, the man had a nosegay; Oh! I said, mistress, take and throw it into the dust-hole; the kitchen was all over blood; and the nosegay in the middle of it, her head dress and all her clothes were all over blood; they were cabbage roses, not moss roses.

Court to Prisoner. Do you wish to ask any question of this witness? - Yes, to be sure.

What would you ask? - That I never was in this place.

Court. That she does not know, and does not say? - Then I know nothing about it.

ELIZABETH PROSSER < no role > sworn.

I live at Mr. Kirkwall's, opposite Mr. Orrell's; on the Sunday before the murder, I was sitting at the parlour window, and I saw a man go in, he was on the upper step of the door; the maid had got the door in her hand, I did not see his face, I could not see his complection; he had long dark hair, and very dirty clothes on.

LAWRENCE HAGDEN < no role > sworn.

I am a milkman, I serve Mr. Orrell with milk; on the Sunday of this murder, about twenty-five minutes after two, when I came to Mr. Orrell's door with some milk, I called milk, and the maid came to the area door, and told me no milk; with that I took my kettles in my hand, and came along on the same side of the street where Mr. Orrell lives, about three doors nearer to the town, there lay a mulatto man on his left side, with his body on the steps, with his legs extended out on the footpath; I had a large kettle in one hand, and I lifted up my foot with intent to give him a trip; I looked at him, and I could see the upper leather of his shoe was torn by the welt, it is what you call wax leather, it was torn in this manner from the welt along the welt, and he had a nosegay of cabbage roses in his bosom, and he had a drab coloured coat on, much inferior to this, it is what is generally called Bath coating; I took no further notice till the next morning, when I heard of the murder, two or three days after, I took no notice but I mentioned the circumstance to the last witness, Mrs. Bruce, soon after, I was examined on the Saturday before the magistrate, the prisoner was there, I told this circumstance, I could not positively swear it was him, he had on just such a coat; and the shoe that I saw at the Magistrate's taken of this man's foot, appeared to me in my mind at that time, to be the shoe, though I could not swear positively to it, but the coat the prisoner had on at the Justice's appeared like the coat that the man had on that I saw on the Sunday afternoon in the street.

Was that shoe at the Justice's a wax leather shoe? - Yes, it was; I could not say whether he was the man.

Court. Can you say whether the man you saw at the baker's door was a different sized man? - No, I cannot say positively to his person one way or the other, the man I saw had his hair tied, queued, and laid with his head in a doleful situation, I saw his side face.

Court to Mr. Orrell. It seems extraordinary, that this nosegay spoken of by the witness Bruce, should not be found before Wednesday, because Mr. Pooley and you examined the house. - The kitchen is a back kitchen, not very light; we looked for some weapon, which we supposed might occasion her death; there was blood in several places, and large cakes of blood, we did not put our hands into it, and this was found in one of those cakes, for I did not think it proper to have the place cleaned till the coroner's inquest had been taken.

CHARLES POOLEY < no role > sworn.

I am a surgeon.

Was you present when the prisoner was examined where the dead body laid? - I was.

Did you particularly examine his hands? - I did.

Now, Sir, of what nature were these cuts? - The cuts appeared on the fourth finger, and the others were just here, whereabouts the grasp is, it appeared to me as if it had been done by some instrument that he had made use of.

Did they appear old or fresh cuts? - The larger cut appeared to be a recent wound.

I presume a wound of ten days or a fortnight standing, would be healed before that time? - Yes. I heard Mr. Orrell's description of the state of this poor woman, it was perfectly right; I have no doubt of this producing her death.

ELIZABETH BROOME < no role > sworn.

I am a pawnbroker in Park-street, in the Borough.

Do you remember Mrs. Orrell's coming to you? - Yes.

- IVES sworn.

Where did you get this cloak which you produce now? - I found it in the possession of the pawnbroker, it has been in my custody ever since, it is the same that I found at Mrs. Broome's.

Mr. Garrow to Mrs. Broome. Where did you get that cloak? - Of a person that went by the name of Elizabeth Hogan < no role > , on the 27th of June, between eleven and twelve in the forenoon, it was on a Monday, I am sure it was that day, I lent half a guinea upon it; it continued in my possession till I delivered it to Mr. Ives, here is a ticket upon it which was put on then, it is in my own hand-writing, she had a duplicate on it, the ticket has been on ever since; I am sure this is the same cloak that was pledged by Elizabeth Hogan < no role > .

(The cloak deposed to by Mr. Orrell.)

Mr. Orrell. I know it by the general wear, Mrs. Orrell wore it for twelve months, I am convinced by my general view of it that it is hers.

Mrs. ORRELL sworn.

Mr. Garrow. Will you take the trouble to look at that cloak? - I know the cloak to be mine by the lace and the making, as well as I should know any other thing I had worn the time, I have worn it twelve months; at the time of the murder it was hanging up on the back parlour door, and a bonnet upon it, when I returned it was gone, and the bonnet that hung upon it was thrown upon the ground; I had seen it on that Sunday, I have not a doubt, I knew it as soon as I saw it in the pawnbroker's shop, before it was open.

Court. Had you bought it ready made, or did you make it yourself? - I did not make it myself, but I bought the lace and the mode, it was made in Fleet-street.

Is there any thing particular that will enable you to distinguish it from another cloak that had been worn twelve months by any body else? - I am sure this is my cloak.

You will understand me, I am not asking you these questions from the smallest doubt of the truth of what you say to your belief, but it is necessary the Jury should know the grounds on which your persuasion is founded, now you may be conscientiously persuaded that this is your cloak, but I want to know by what you know it from another cloak of the same sort and size, that has been worn exactly the same time? - I should have known the cloak from a thousand cloaks, I know the make of it in particular.

There is no particular place torn or worn, or any particular observation made on the cloak? - There was a tear which I recollected immediately when I saw it again; after examining the cloak very minutely, I knew the cloak perfectly, and I recollected the tear as soon as I saw it again.

Mrs. Bruce. Mrs. Orrell was out one evening, and lost her dog, and the dog was so glad to see her, that he dirtied her cloak, and I cleaned it with spirits, and there remain some marks of the feet on now.

Mrs. Orrell. I remember the dog leaping up against me, and it was cleaned by Mrs. Bruce.

Mrs. Bruce. I am positive this is the cloak I cleaned.

Shew us the part where you apprehend the marks are? - At the front on each side.

Court to Mrs. Orrell. From the appearance of the front of the cloak could you observe that it had been cleaned at all by any thing? - It is cleaned so trifling, and done with a little gin, which does not make any difference at all in the mode.

Mrs. Bruce. I knew the cloak from the first day it ever came home from the maker's.

Court. Here are marks that are perfectly visible to me who have not a very good sight; but they appear to me to be fresher, and of a whiter colour than would arise from street dirt? - The dirt was taken off, it is my cloak, I have not a doubt, I am positive of it.

ELIZABETH PUGH < no role > sworn.

Court. In the first place I must ask you, if you are not the wife of the prisoner? - No Sir.

You are sure of that? - Yes.

Mr. Garrow. How long have you been acquainted with the prisoner? - About two years.

Have you lived with him all that time? - No, Sir.

How long? - Sixteen months before he was taken up, and at that time.

Where was he on Sunday the 26th of June? - He dined about one, after dinner I went and laid down on the bed, he was sitting in a chair, about two he went out, he said, he was going to take a walk, I did on the bed till he returned which was pretty nigh five, between four and five, I cannot positively say which, he startled me by opening the door, I said nothing at all to him, a little while after Mrs. Jackson came into the room, and asked me if I would wash a shirt for her, that was on Sunday evening after his return.

How was the prisoner dressed on that Sunday? - With his coat that he usually wore at his work, a whitish surtout coat, a sort of a drab, rather a Bath drab; when the woman asked me to wash a shirt, I said to him, John, blow the fire, he accordingly pulled off his great coat, it was warm weather, he threw it on the back of a chair where he sat to blow the fire; I went on and washed the shirt, while I was washing, he said to me, I wish you would let me wash out this elbow, which had been greased three weeks before, by working for Mr. Chapman, I said, why do you want to wash it to day, let it alone till another day, and I will wash it all over, it will look very odd to see the elbow clean and no other part, with that he put the sleeve quite into the water, and had the brush and brushed upon the elbow, then I thought he was brushing the grease out, and I said, your brushing will not get the grease out, without warm water; then I turned round and saw him brushing at the wrist, I asked him the reason, he said, he had some stain of blood, that he had been fighting, and with that he took and threw it all into the water, and I took and did it all out into the suds, as they happened to be good, and I washed the coat all over, not knowing anything of the transaction.

Did you perceive any blood upon it? - Yes, upon the wrist I did, but on no other part.

On which arm was it? - I cannot recollect, I look upon it to be the right arm, but I am not sure.

Did any thing more pass that evening? - No more at all till the next morning, the next morning he got up to go to his work as usual, and he went in a blue jacket and his waistcoat sleeves, he did not go in his coat, because it was not dry; on the Monday morning he pulled a cloak from underneath the bed, and said he had bought it for me, and that I was to pay for it at so much a week.

What sort of a cloak was it? - A black mode cloak.

What did you do with it? - I said to him, what did you buy a cloak for, I am not necessitated for one, I want money to pay my rent more than a cloak, and I must make money for it, it is of no use to me; so that morning I went, and pledged it with Mrs. Broome, in Park-street, where I frequently use; after this I heard the prisoner was taken up, I went out on the Tuesday morning from the Borough, and I met the landlord of the house, says he, Mrs. Hogan, something has been the matter; and the landlord went with me, and enquired for him, and we found him at Bow-street, he was acquitted that time, and taken up again as Mr. Orrell has said, he was again discharged, and soon after he was discharged the second time; he has been very uneasy at times, I frequently asked him what made him uneasy, he said, it was for want of employ, for he did use to work, and I thought he had lost his bread though innocently; I said, what is the reason you are so uneasy, he said, he could not rest; why says I, I hope you are not guilty; this might be a month or five weeks after the murder; I said, I hope you have not been guilty of the murder, he said he was very unhappy, for he had done that fact, and he was guilty of that he had been accused of.

What fact? - Of the murder of this woman, he did not describe any thing about it, he never told me any more than what the newspapers expressed, I read it one morning to him, before I knew he was guilty; I said it was advertized, and I hope they will come to justice that did it, I told him I would go and tell of it, he said, if I did, I should be hanged, which deterred me from making a discovery, he is at the bar, now, and you may ask him; I could not get rid of him, he has staid out four or five nights together, and I never saw a farthing nor a halfpenny; I went away from my own apartment on the Monday; I told him, says I, there was some plate missing, which the paper expressed besides the cloak, and he told me he had thrown the spoons over London-bridge; I asked him how he could commit such a thing, and he said he had no intention of doing any such a thing, but that he wanted to be great with her, and she resisted.

When he told you, you would be hanged, did he tell you where he got the cloak? - He said, if you tell of me, you will be hanged, he did not explain why.

Did you ever go to see him in prison after he was cast for transportation? - There was a young body, an acquaintance of mine, went to see him; he sent for me, I went to him, and he said he was going abroad, I said, I hope you will not return again, if you do, you will be hanged for returning before your time; but says I, there is that that troubles me, I never shall rest till it is divulged, O says he, that will not come to light; I left my own home, on the Monday before he was taken to Newgate, because I could not get rid of him.

Court to Prisoner. Do you wish to ask this witness any questions? - Yes, please your Lordship, ask her, Sir, if she ever saw me throw any spoons over London-bridge?

She does not say, that she saw you do it, but she says, you told her that you had done it? - I told her no, please your honour.

Mr. Garrow. I have done.

Court. Now, prisoner, you have heard the charge that has been made against you and the evidence that has been given, have you anything to say?

Prisoner. Yes, please your honour, I am innocent of it, and whoever takes my life away, I will never forgive them.

Have you any witnesses? - I have plenty on the other side of the water, here is Mr. Howes I see.

Do you wish to call any witnesses either to fact or to character? - Here are two gentlemen that can give me a character.

- HOWES sworn.

I have nothing to say about the prisoner concerning this affair, that can be of any service to him, the woman took a room of me, they behaved very honestly.

Court to Jury. Gentlemen, before I state the evidence to you, it is proper to take some notice of the circumstances of this case, and the prisoner that stands before you, because it is at all times necessary to justice, that the Court and Jury should proceed to the consideration of the evidence, that necessarily and immediately affects the life of the prisoner at the bar, with coolness and deliberation, and divested of every prejudice that from any circumstance may have been raised in their minds: the crime in itself is of a horrid nature, and this crime in particular has been attended with circumstances of unusual violence, cruelty, and brutality; but you should proceed to the consideration of this evidence with your minds perfectly indifferent as to the question, whether the prisoner has any relation with the crime or not, for the indignation that human nature necessarily is impressed with, against a crime of such magnitude, should never be transferred to the person that is accused of it, till a cool deliberation has satisfied you, that he is clearly guilty; you ought therefore to divest yourselves, as this is a matter that has been publickly talked off, of every thing that you may have heard or read out of Court, before the prisoner was brought to the bar on this charge; you ought also to divest yourselves of any circumstance in which the prisoner stands not extremely favourable to his character, his being accused of a crime of a far different nature, is far from being proof that he is guilty of one of this magnitude, and above all, I am sure you will suffer yourselves to have no impression from the difference of complection or country, but that you will try this man that stands at the bar, just as you would a man of your own country and complection and whose character before this stood unimpeached; it is with that impression upon your minds, that you ought to proceed to the consideration of the evidence, and in proportion to the magnitude of the crime, ought to be the strength of the evidence, upon which that accusation is supported: I will, therefore, proceed to state to you, the evidence that has been given, and then to point out some observations upon it: first, considered as independent of the principal witness, Elizabeth Pugh < no role > , and in the next place, as connected with her testimony; for with respect to her, she certainly stands before you under circumstances of some discredit; for if this charge against the prisoner is true, and founded in fact, she stands in the situation of having long cohabited with this man, the badness of whose disposition and character, she cannot be supposed to have been wholly a stranger to, though she might not be at all privy to the particular fact, and also was possessed of a knowledge of this fact a considerable time before she made any discovery, and the discovery when made is not perfectly voluntary on her part, but brought about by a circumstance which immediately connects herself with the accusation; she therefore does not stand in the light of a witness in full credit, and intitled to implicit confidence to what she shall say on oath, and therefore, as far as her evidence is unsupported, it certainly ought to be received with some degree of caution, though she does not stand in the light of an accomplice, and though her evidence is admissable, as it is of such a nature that it may be received even where it is unsupported, for she by no means stands charged as an accomplice in this fact, or as having any previous knowledge whatever with the commission of it, but she stands not in a degree of perfect credit from the circumstances I have pointed out to you: the first witness is Mr. Orrell, &c. (Here the learned Judge summed up the evidence, and then added) The circumstance of the cloak arises whoby out of the evidence of Elizabeth Pugh < no role > : let us see what the circumstances are independent of her evidence, they are these; that the prisoner had a knowledge of the house of Mr. Orrell, that he had also a knowledge of the servant maid, that he affirmed that knowledge to have arisen only from being sent there twice in the course of his business by Mr. Chapman; but that upon the view of the body of the deceased, he expressed a degree of knowledge of her, more than could be accounted for on his going twice to the house, on that business; and that a man of the same complection was seen near the house of Mr. Orrell, laying in that street, a very short time before this fact was committed by some person or other, that he was dressed in the same coloured coat that the prisoner appeared afterwards to have on, and had a shoe on torn in the same manner, and which the witness swears he believed was the same shoe the man that he saw had on; then the prisoner, when taken up, has marks of blood on his waistcoat, and cuts on his hands, of which cuts he assigns a reason that appears by the evidence of the surgeon, not to be a true one; that the coat he had on also had the appearance of being recently washed, and he ackno wledges it had been recently washed. but says it was washed on the Sunday morning, in which he is flatly contradicted by a witness produced by himself. Gentlemen, these are the circumstances which apply directly to the person of the prisoner, and the circumstances of the cuts appear in this manner, when compared with the situation in which the deceased was found, because from the razor being broken, the handle twisted off, and the extreme marks of violence found on the body of the unfortunate woman, it appears extremely clear, she made a considerable resistance, and therefore there was a probability that the murderer might be cut: Gentlemen, if you believe the application of the evidence of the milkman, that lets in another strong circumstance; for if, from the circumstance of the shoe and the great coat, you are clearly satisfied, that the prisoner was the man that was laying at the baker's door, there is then another circumstance, that that man had a nosegay in his bosom, and that nosegay was found in the place where this horrid fact had been committed, but that circumstance of the nosegay does not apply to the prisoner, unless you are satisfied, that the man that lay at the baker's steps, was the prisoner: now you are to proceed to the consideration of the additional evidence of Elizabeth Pugh < no role > , you are to consider how far this witness is either confirmed or contradicted by the other witnesses; she had a cloak in her possession, her story is this, that the prisoner went out about an hour before this fact, by the evidence of Mr. Orrell, appears to have been committed, for he states, it must have been committed between the hours of three and four, for he went out about three, and he returned, for the first time, about four; Elizabeth Pugh < no role > states, that the prisoner returned home about five o'clock; now the distance is considerable from the Borough to Charlotte-street, Portland-place; but it certainly is not more than the time would very easily permit to perform it in, it is not above an hour's walk there; first she speaks of the blood on the sleeve of his coat, and of her washing it; she says, the morning after his return, he produced this cloak, and afterwards she speaks of his confession, that he threw away the spoons that were missing: it is shewn, that a person answering the description of the prisoner, was in this street a little before the hour of three, it does not exactly tally with that, in point of time, because he was seen by the milkman, about, or very near half past two, which is a short time, supposing the witness to be accurate, as to the time he came from the Borough; and the circumstance of his coat being washed, was agreed on all hands, that it had been recently washed, and washed by this woman, which he himself confessed, only he differed as to the time. Gentlemen, the effect of the circumstances upon your minds, independent of the evidence of Pugh, and the degree of credit you pay to her testimony, rest clearly with you, it is my duty to point it out to you, you are to decide upon it free from any passions, but what arise from a full consideration of the evidence itself, if you think there has been any reason, under all the circumstances, to disbelieve the evidence of Pugh, then you will consider the case, under all the circumstances, and judge if they are sufficient to convict the prisoner without her evidence; or if you can find in the whole case, any reasonable ground of doubt, though you are not to go to conjectures and probabilities, to let a man escape justice, yet unquestionably, if you find any reasonable ground of doubt, you ought to acquit the prisoner.

GUILTY , Death .

Tried by the first Middlesex Jury before Mr. RECORDER.

Clerk of the Arraigns. John Hogan < no role > , hold up your hand; you stand convicted of the wilful murder of Anne Hunt < no role > , what have you to say why the Court should not give you judgment to die according to law.

Proclamation of silence being made, Mr. Recorder passed sentence, as follows:

John Hogan < no role > , you now stand in the most wretched situation, which human nature can possibly be reduced to; for you have been convicted upon evidence which excludes all doubt, of a crime of such enormity, and attended with such circumstances, that human nature shrinks back with horror, at the relation of the facts that have attended it. The crime of murder does not depend on the laws or policy of this or that country, it is equally an offence in all, it is a direct offence against that God who is the creator alike of all mankind, and alike the governor of all nations upon earth: it is the laws of that God, and not of this particular country alone that you have violated, the voice of nature, of reason, and of all mankind has at all times cried out, that whose sheddeth man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed; a crime so enormous in itself, receives in your case, the most dreadful aggravations, from the circumstances of horror with which this fact has been attended; the violence and cruelty of the act, to whatever motive it is to be ascribed, argues a disposition savage in the extreme, whether it arose from avarice and the desire of plunder, or whether from that motive which you yourself assigned for it, it is almost equally guilty, but if it can receive any aggravation, it must be upon the latter supposition; for, to butcher, in that savage and inhuman manner, the unhappy object, who had been but a few minutes before the object of your brutal desires and appetites, argues a degree of savage inhumanity and ferocity, unknown to the nature of the fiercest beasts, reserved for man alone, and thank God, only for such as you! Loaded with such a degree of guilt on your mind, you have shewn a hardness of heart, that has enabled you to view the unhappy victim of your cruelty without emotion, a spectacle so shocking, that it melted into tears, even those whose situation and profession has necessarily made them acquainted with the greatest scenes of horror, whilst you, the guilty object, was the only person that could refrain from sorrow at the sight of such a spectacle; the only circumstance therefore, under such accumulated horrors, that leaves the smallest room for hope for you, for that mercy hereafter, that the laws of the country deny you here, is that trouble and uneasiness of mind, that in some part of the evidence you appear at times to have laboured under; happy will it be for you, if that trouble and uneasiness is, in the short time you have to live, increased to the utmost degree of horror and remorse; for it is the utmost degree of horror and remorse alone, that can wipe from the guilty conscience the stains of innocent blood, and obtain that mercy from your offended God, which you cannot expect from man: it remains therefore for me, after earnestly exhorting you to reflect on the malignity of your crime, and the horror of your situation, and praying that that reflection may produce some effect upon your guilty soul, to pronounce on you the dreadful sentence of the law, which is, that you be taken from hence to the place from whence you came, and from thence be carried on Monday next, to the place of execution, there to be hanged by the neck until you are dead, and that your body shall afterwards be delivered to the surgeons, to be dislected and anatomized ; and the Lord have mercy upon your sinful soul!