trated into the cavity of the chest. The throat was literally cut from ear to ear, and a very strong and very sharp instrument had evi dently been used to inflict the injury. The carotid artery and jugular vein were completely se vered, and the wound extended down to the bones of the neck. This wound must have caused instantaneous death, and the person receiving it could not have called out. It would have required a strong arm to cause such an injury. The deceased appeared to be a strong healthy young woman. Upon examining the body of the older woman he found three stabs, two near the blade-bone of the left arm, and one upon the breastbone. There was also a deep slit or cut on the left side of the neck, which divided the carotid artery and jugular vein on that side, and reached down to the bones of the neck. This injury was a mortal one, but would not have caused death quite so quickly as that inflicted on the young woman. There were no injuries about the hands of either of the women. Witness then examined the body of the boy Charles, and found a wound on the chest-bone and two cuts on the left arm. There was also a deep cut on the back of the neck, which divided the bones of the neck, and completely severed the spinal cord. This wound must have caused immediate death, and the child could not have cried out. Upon the elder boy's body he found two stabs on the chest, a cut on the lower lip, a cut all round the throat, which merely divided the skin, and six stabs, some in the neck, and some on the ribs. Some of the fingers of the left hand were also cut through completely

to the bone. The stabs in the chest were both mortal; one had penetrated the covering of the heart, and the other the lungs. The injuries to the child's hands were such as would be occasioned by grasping a sharp instrument and having it drawn through his hand. The whole of the wounds he saw were such as might have been occasioned by an instrument such as the knife that had been produced before the point was broken. There were no appearances upon any of the bodies to denote that they had struggled, except in the case of the elder boy.

Dr. Duncan said that he resided in Henrietta-street, Covent-garden. The prisoner came into his service as footman on the 18th of April last, and left his service on the 16th of July. Witness, of course, saw him very frequently, and he did not observe anything peculiar about him.

Cross-examined. - Witness was well acquainted with the description of monomania known as homicidal monomania, and he believed that it was possible for a man to have an impulse to destroy another, while at the same time possessed of his reason, and that he might commit the act although aware that it was a wicked one; in fact, that he might be unable to control the impulse for destruction.

Edward Spice deposed that he kept the "Green Dragon" publichouse, in Bermondsey-street, and was well acquainted with the deceased young woman and her family. She came to his house on a visit on the 23rd of July, and the prisoner visited her there, and he understood they were going to be married. The deceased remained at his house until the fol

lowing Thursday, and the prisoner came there every day. In consequence of something he saw in his conduct he put some questions to him, in answer to which he said that he was independent, and that his independence consisted of houses in several parts of London. He was so dissatisfied with the prisoner's conduct that he advised the deceased not to marry him, and said he would rather see her take a rope and hang herself in his skittle-ground than be united to such a man. The deceased went away with the prisoner on the 25th of July, and he never again saw her alive.

Samuel Wells Streeter, the father of the deceased, stated that on one occasion the prisoner came to his house and slept there one night; but his daughter had not told him she was going to be married to him.

Mr. T. Tanner, a gentleman connected with the Argus Insurance Company, proved that the prisoner made a proposal to insure the life of the deceased for £100, and in the proposal he described himself as having retired from the business of a tailor. On the 25th of July the prisoner came to the office accompanied by a young woman, who paid the premium, and the policy was delivered to the prisoner. A quarter's premium only was paid, which amounted to

10s. 2d.

Mr. Best then proceeded to address the jury for the prisoner. He said it was clear, as stated by his learned friend in his opening address, that they could not convict the prisoner upon this charge without at the same time declaring by their verdict that he had committed the horrible crimes of murdering his own mother and

his two innocent brothers, and he earnestly entreated them to pause before they came to such a dreadful conclusion. The learned counsel then proceeded to argue that the theory set up by the prosecution was a most monstrous and improbable one, and that it could hardly be possible for a human being to have arrived at such a pitch of wickedness as to destroy a young woman for whom he always appeared to have expressed the most ardent affection, and also to kill his own mother and brothers, for the sake of obtaining the paltry sum of £100. learned counsel next proceeded to endeavour to show that the story told by the prisoner of his mother having killed his sweetheart and the children, and of her having, in a moment of frenzy, also attacked him, and that he slew her in self-defence, might possibly be true, and he said that if any, even the smallest doubt, remained upon the point, the prisoner was entitled to the benefit of it.

The

Mr. Justice Williams having gone over the evidence, particularly called the attention of the jury to the fact that the prisoner had himself stated that he wrenched the knife from his mother after she had, as he alleged, murdered his sweetheart and his two brothers, and, if his story was true, she was then powerless, and might easily have been secured, and there was no necessity to destroy her life. life. His Lordship also pointed out that though it might be credible that a person assailed as the prisoner described himself to have been, might, in the excitement of the moment, have struck his assailant with the weapon he had wrested from her; yet here there were three stabs, and the throat

was cut in so determined a manner that the wound extended down to the very bones of the neck; and this must have been done after the stabs had been inflicted and the poor woman overpowered.

The jury, with very brief deliberation, returned a verdict of Guilty, and the Judge passed sentence of death in suitable terms. The prisoner, who had retained his self-possession throughout, heard his doom (unmoved, and walked from the dock with a firm and determined step.

The last hours of this unrelenting criminal were characterized by the same passions that had impelled him to his terrible deeds -an intensity of selfishness which blinded him to everything which did not accord with his own will. At first, after his condemnation, his strength gave way; but he speedily reassumed his confidence, that the tale he had concocted must prevail, and that they could not hang him. For this purpose he addressed memorials to the Secretary of State, which merely repeated his assertion, in nearly the same words, that it was all his mother's doing, and that he had murdered her in self-defence; nor could the warnings of the gaol authorities, or the exhortations of the chaplain, drive from his mind the one idea that this asseveration must prevail. The scene in which he parted from his family was a painful exhibition of ungovernable passion. Between him and his father there arose a dreadful altercation, in which the wretched man lashed himself into an ungovernable fury, denouncing his surviving parent as having been a bad father, and a bad husband to his mother-charges for which there appears no foundation. The Go

vernor and Chaplain were compelled to interfere, and advise the father to withdraw. The entreaties of his sisters for a time subdued him, and he fell into a conversation, in which he again asserted his story. But again he lashed himself into rage against the witness Spice, particularly for his declaration that he would rather the young woman had hanged herself than married such a man; he declared in his frenzy, "One thing only I wish, and that is, that I could get hold of this man Spice, for I would strike his head off." His animosity against this witness repeatedly broke out, and indeed seemed to be a favourite resort when he wished to turn away his thoughts from his inward terror. These paroxysms of passion were succeeded, sometimes, by tears; but though the increasing certainty of his fate somewhat repressed his excitement, and he sometimes joined with apparent fervour in the prayers of the chaplain, he let no word escape expressive of guilt or contrition. On the morning of his execution he repeated, in effect, his previous statement, rejecting the exhortations of the chaplain not to die with a lie in his mouth; nor, though he joined mechanically in the devotions, did he show any evidence of feeling.

He was executed on the 4th of September, in front of Horsemonger-lane Gaol. Not a single application for reconsideration of his case had been made; he seems to have inspired a general horror in the public mind; and upwards of 30,000 persons came to witness his retribution-a larger number than has been observed at any execution since that of the Mannings..

THE Stepney murder will remain memorable in the annals of crime, for it was attended by a combination of circumstances, each in itself remarkable, but which, considered together, read more like the complicated guilt of a French novel or an Adelphi drama than a possible occurrence of real life.

The victim of this strange tragedy was a widow named Mary Emsley, about 70 years of age, residing in Grove Road, Stepney. She was the widow of a builder and house-speculator, who in his lifetime had run up a large number of those small houses which cover the ground in Stratford, Bow, and Bethnal Green. At his decease he left the whole of his property to his widow, who was consequently in receipt of a very large income, which report probably exaggerated at £5000 a-year. She was a woman of extremely parsimonious habits, and dwelt alone in one of her own houses, admitting only the occasional assistance of a female servant. She was particularly acute in the management of her houseproperty, purchasing the necessary materials for repair and decoration whenever she could pick up a bargain, and employing jobbing workmen-men out of regular employment, or who were willing to work "after hours "-in doing the necessary work. The workmen thus engaged were, of course, chiefly carpenters, plasterers, and painters. The class of houses which formed her property were let to families of working men, and generally on weekly payments. The old woman collected as much of these as she could herself manage; the rest

was collected by irregular agents. From the nature of these collections she was supposed usually to have a considerable sum of money in her house. To complete the notion of her habits it must be stated that she was extremely timid, and though compelled to see daily a considerable number of people, she rarely opened the door until she had reconnoitred her visitor; and that in the evening, when she had closed her shutters and locked her door, she would never, or very rarely, admit any person, however well known to her. She was, moreover, of violent temper, and, when angry,

sulky and eccentric.

Mrs. Emsley was last seen alive about 7 o'clock on the evening of Monday, the 13th August; two persons living in the opposite house then observed her sitting at her bedroom window. On the following days, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, numerous persons called at the house, wishing to see Mrs. Emsley on various business; but, as after repeated knockings no one answered, these parties went away. In most neighbourhoods such a circumstance, with the unaltered appearance of the house from morning to night, and from day to day, would have caused quick suspicion, and no doubt did latterly cause some remark. Several circumstances, however, combined to lull inquiry in this case. The neighbourhood is so thickly inhabited that apprehension of violence could scarcely suggest itself. The strange habits of the old woman were well known; and as all these unanswered calls were in the day-time, it was sup