720. WILLIAM COOPER 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 29th day of August last, on Susannah Cooper proceedingsvictim , feloniously did make and assault, and that he, with his hands and feet, the said Susannah Cooper < no role > , in and upon her head, shoulders, breast, and stomach, and other parts of her body, did several times strike and beat; and her, then and there, violently did cast, and throw to, and upon the ground; and the said Susannah, so laying on the ground, with his feet, in and upon the head, shoulders, breast, stomach, and other parts of her body, feloniously did strike, kick, and trample upon, thereby giving her divers mortal bruises in and about her head, shoulders, breast, stomach, and other parts of her body, of which she languished till the 18th of September, and then died; and so the Jurors say, that her, the said Susannah, he did feloniously kill and slay .

(The Case opened by Mr. Garrow.)

May it please your Lordships. Gentlemen of the Jury. I am instructed, on the part of the parishioners of Enfield, to state the circumstances by which it is intended, on their part, to submit the case of the prisoner to your consideration, whether the finding of the Coroner's Jury is warranted by evidence; you will agree, that those who come forward with this prosecution, have but done their duty; the King has lost a subject, and we all of us have lost a fellow citizen; and whenever that case occurs, the most solemn and full investigation of the facts certainly ought to take place; besides the example that such a prosecution will afford, in a neighbourhood, in which I am sorry to say, such an example is wanted, will conduce to good order and government: on the part of those that prosecute, I am directed to state to you, that they have not, as they ought not to have, any wish that any thing but justice should take place; if you are of opinion that the unfortunate woman, whose death forms the subject of this enquiry, came to that death by the brutality of her husband, undoubtedly fit it is that he should suffer some punishment. Gentlemen, the present prosecution does not impute to the prisoner the crime of wilful murder; it only charges him with having unlawfully and feloniously killed his wife; and it is fit I should explain to you, subject to the correction I may receive,what the distinction is that has led to this prosecution. Gentlemen, in order to constitute the offence of murder, you know very well that it is necessary, not only that a death should have taken place, but that it should be occasioned by a malice operating by the hand that gave the blow, either express or implied, either an actual malice against the deceased, or a general malice against all mankind; the general malice the law has defined to be, the unlawful killing of another without particular malice, which may happen in more ways than one; which may happen by a sudden provocation from heat, or involuntarily, without intending death, in the perpetration of an unlawful act: now, the sort of case to be imputed to the prisoner, to come within that definition, is this, that in the act of a brutal, inhuman, and unmanly attack on his wife, not intending to kill her, he has given her an unlucky blow, which has caused her death. Gentlemen, the prisoner, you will collect from his appearance, was one of the lower orders of society, and he and his wife lived alone, and therefore you will not expect that there should be any positive evidence of the blow that was given; it is to be collected from circumstances; and those are principally from the declarations of the deceased. Gentlemen, I ought not to conceal from you, that I feel considerable difficulty on that subject; because, the rule of law, on admission of evidence of that sort, I take to be this, that the declarations of the deceased can only be received, if they were made under the impression, at the time of making them, that the party was near her end; if the declarations should turn out to your satisfaction, under the impression, that she was shortly to turn her back on this world and all its prospects, and come to an account before a more awful tribunal than any this world affords, then the declarations may be received; if, on the other hand, they should turn out to be only the casual conversation of a person in ill health, or the hasty expressions of anger, on the part of the wife, undoubtedly it would be unsafe to receive them: there is another difficulty, that is, among the declarations that I see scattered up and down in the depositions taken before the Coroner; there is a great deal of contradiction; I observe, that a very careful, very attentive, and very honourable member of society, to whom the publick are on this occasion much indebted, a clergyman in the neighbourhood, seemed to be aware of the difficulty, and he very sensibly, as it was his duty, put the question to her, whether, at that time, she apprehended that she was in a state that she should not live; and the account that he gave before the Coroner of her answer, was this, that she spoke in so low and so weak a state, that he was unable to ascertain what her opinion was; that all he could collect from her was, the repetition of the word peppermint, the poor creature being very much addicted to that liquor; that was the only thing he could make out: but I observe, that she said to several other witnesses, who may be called to you, that the report was not true; at other times she desired it might not be mentioned; and once she said, in the presence of her husband, that it was not true; she said it was a false report, and she desired no more might be said on the subject. Gentlemen, it does not occur to my recollection, that on the fact of this man having given her any blow and kick, which could have occasioned her death, there is any other evidence; she was taken violently ill, and the neighbours knowing the terms upon which they lived, suspected some thing of that sort; she to some of them complained he had kicked her; the woman had had a former husband, and had had a son by him, who, meeting the prisoner, and asking him to go some where, the prisoner said he had business enough at home, for his wife and he had had some words, and he had given her kick, and he supposed she would die; but, supposing that to be true, did that, or did it not, occasion her death, because of that too you must be satisfied. Now, gentlemen, on that subject, the evidence appears to me to stand in this way: the woman was certainly ill, the persons who attended her were not very skilful, I mean the neighbours and people of the same condition, andthey supposed that she had, by retching, brought up a great quantity of blood, and that the complaint she made of her belly and side, was occasioned by the kick; there was, however, medical assistance called in; two very respectable and eminent men in the neighbourhood attended her, and one of the gentlemen, I think, saw that, which the neighbours supposed was blood, and it appeared at the time to be bile and not blood; he treated her as having a bilious complaint, and in the end, the woman died. To be sure, here one cannot but lament, that after death, in a case where there had been a suspicion, some more care, some further observation, had not been made on the body after her death, because it does seem to me, that it might have been ascertained, with some tolerable degree of certainty, whether violence, or a bilious complaint, was the occasion of her death, and every body would have been satisfied, and the purposes of publick justice would have been best conducted; therefore, whether this woman came to her death by any violence on the part of her husband, will depend on the testimony of these gentlemen. I am bound to state to you, that their evidence seems to negative it; they (I understand it is a perfect apology for them) they meant right, but they were not informed of any dispute. Gentlemen, the demands of publick justice have brought this case before you: those who prosecute, ask nothing but justice at your hands: if the examinations satisfy you, that this man killed his wife, you will confirm the finding of the Coroner's Jury, by saying so; he knows best whether he was guilty or not; and it will be an awful example to him, and others in his neighbourhood, if he is conscious of having so treated her, he had better employ the remainder of his days in making the only atonement he can to society, and to his God, for the ferocity of his temper. Gentlemen, I will proceed to call the witnesses, and I am sure you will determine the case in such a manner as to give universal satisfaction.

FRANCES HARVEY < no role > sworn.

I am daughter of William Harvey < no role > ; we were neighbours to the prisoner and his deceased wife; I saw the deceased on Monday morning, the 30th of August last; she was to have come to work and did not, and I went there, and she complained that Cooper and she had had words, and they had been fighting, and he had hurt her side, and was not able to come; that was a fortnight before her death; she did not get to work till the Saturday following, and she took to her bed on Sunday, and continued ill a week, when she died; I did not see her after she took to her bed.

ELIZABETH MILLS < no role > sworn.

I am wife of Richard Mills < no role > , a sawyer; I knew the prisoner and his wife; I saw her before she died, about a week; she sent for me; I thought her in a very dangerous state; she said, Cooper had murdered her, that he had killed her, that he had done for her now! I cannot say how long she lived after that; it was some days; she died in my arms; the prisoner continued there till he was taken into custody, which was two days after.

The Rev. Mr. COTTRELL sworn.

I am Rector of Hadleigh; on the Friday, under the impression of a report, that she was ill treated by her husband, I went to see her, in the way of my profession, as a clergyman, and also to enquire into the facts of this rumour; I found her in a very languishing state, that I thought she could not live; I sat down by her bed side, and told her what I had heard, that her husband had stamped upon her and kicked her; her reply was, it was not true that he had stamped upon her, for he had only kicked her in the side; at the same time she put down the bedcloaths, and put her hand as if she wished me to examine the side, which I had no desire to do, and declined it; I then asked her, whether she thought the present state in which she lay, was in consequence of her ill treatment; she spoke in so low voice that I could not make out any thing but some thing about peppermint, and a pain in her bowels; I asked her, if she was in a goodstate of heath? her reply was, she never was in a better state of health for a long time past, nor better able to do a day's work; I then asked her, respecting another circumstance, of the brutal treatment from her husband, which I had heard, which was, that the night but one after this first affray, that she had escaped from his bed, from an idea that he had a stick there, with which he had intended to murder her, and had lain under the stairs all night; she said, that was not true that she had lain there all night, she had lain there only part of the night; a gentlemen present asked her, if her husband had his shoes on, when he kicked her? she said, she could not tell, he was partly dressed and partly undressed; in the course of my conversation with her, on the dangerous state she was in, and the short time she had to live, and that she ought to make her peace with God, and her own conscience, she said, she was sure her husband did not intend to murder her, and she forgave him with all her heart; I had no doubt, from the state of her pulse, that she was dying.

And you impressed that idea upon her? - I did.

So that you have no doubt but her conversation was with that impression? - Certainly, Sir; it was one object of my attendance upon her, that the fact might be ascertained; I beg leave to mention a circumstance, with respect to the body not being opened; I had it much at heart, not only with respect to the prisoner, but with respect to the community; I thought the best means to ascertain it, would be to have the body opened, and the two medical gentlemen who attended her, were so obliging as to promise to come at an early hour to open the body, and we went to the house, and when we got there, the prisoner put himself between us and the stairs, and vowed by all that was sacred, that nobody should touch her; I went to get a warrant for his apprehension, and it was extreme hot weather, and the nature of her disorder was such, as put the body in a state of putrefaction; but, I believe, the gentlemen I applied to, very properly thought that it would not give a sanction to opening the body.

CHARLES CATER < no role > sworn.

I am a son of the deceased; I saw the prisoner on Saturday, the 4th of September, and that day fortnight that she died, I met the prisoner; says I, Cooper, what are not you at work to day? he said, no, I have work enough on my hands, for your mother and I have had some words, and I have kicked her, I believe she will die; and he desired me to get Mr. Rumbold to go to her, for Mr. Wilson would not come; I went to Mr. Rumbold, and he was out; and I went to Mr. Wilson, and said, it was a pity; and he said, that the prisoner had never been with him about it; I never saw her down stairs after this; after she took to her bed, she considered herself as a dying woman; she said, Cooper had killed her, at last he had done for her he had killed her! As to her own sense of danger of going out of the world, I do not apprehend she took much account about.

- WILSON sworn.

I am a surgeon at Barnet; I was employed by Cater to attend his mother; accordingly I went immediately; I found her exceedingly ill; her complaint then was chiefly confined to her bowels; this was on the 4th of September; I sent her some medicines for it, and I visited her again the next day; I then found her better; I attended her three days after, and found her much better: I looked upon her disorder to be a bilious complaint, which was then very prevalent; I was there the day before she died; she made no different complaint; all her complaint then seemed to be in her bowels; the second day I visited her, her daughter produced me some thing, which they supposed was blood; I looked at that, and I looked upon it to be nothing but a bile, which she had brought up.

Now, from the best information and judgment you have of this subject, what do you think occasioned her death? - I look upon entirely to be from a bilious disorder.

Have you any reason to think that herdeath was occasioned either by force or a kick? - After the daughter told me her ribs were broke, I asked her such questions as would have enabled me to know; and I looked on the report entirely as a drunken piece of work, and paid no attention to it; I have no reason to think otherwise, but that the bowel complaint was the cause of her death.

PHILIP ROBERT WILSON < no role > sworn.

I am son of the last witness; I attended the deceased in the latter part of her illness.

What appeared to you to be the nature of her complaint? - My evidence is nothing but a counterpart of my father's; I have no doubt but she died of a pain in her bowels; I was led to examine her side, on a report that she had been kicked; on examination I did not find the least appearance of violence.

Mr. Garrow. My Lord, I have many more witnesses, but I do not think it necessary to call them.

Court. Gentlemen of the Jury. The most we can say about this, is, that the parish have done very right; it is necessary that enquiries should be made, in order that Jurors might find a verdict; that being done, it is impossible to say that this woman received her death from any kick or blow, which that man gave her; he may have behaved to her very brutally, and very much unlike a husband and a man; but we are now trying, whether her death proceeded from such behaviour; the expression that she used, that he had murdered her and killed her! you all know that is an expression very common with low people; but, after the opinion of these two medical gentlemen, that she died in consequence of a bowel complaint, and that there was no appearance of a blow or symptoms of it, under such circumstances, I should think you would deem it improper to find a man guilty of this offence, and therefore, I presume you will acquit him; if you are not satisfied about it, we will enquire further.

NOT GUILTY .

Tried by the first Middlesex Jury before Mr. Baron HOTHAM < no role > .

Court. William Cooper < no role > , I am perfectly satisfied with the verdict the Jury have given; because, according to the rules of law, I think there was not evidence to reach you; at the same time, my conscience tells me, that your conduct has been by no means such as intitles you to stand well in the estimation of any man in this Court; I am afraid your conduct has been extremely brutal and violent to this poor woman; whether you have or have not been the cause of her death, is between God and your own conscience; but such has been your conduct, that it is fit I should tell you, you may think yourself extremely fortunate, and that you owe a great deal to the strict justice of your country, but you have not shewn her that tenderness or that justice; she is gone to another world; and I advise you now, before you meet her again in that world, that you prepare yourself, by a very serious examination of your own conduct, and by that contrition which can alone intitle you to pardon in another world, though you have been acquitted in this; I advise you very seriously to apply yourself to that, as the only reparation you can make to this unfortunate woman, as well as to the publick.