60 



ANNUAL REGISTER, 1813. 



laudanum ; afterwards, he said, he 

 did remember buying four ounces 

 of laudanum, which he brought 

 home and gave to the prisoner 

 Fountain, but did not know what 

 became of it. The prisoner Foun- 

 tain was then called in, and when 

 she came into the room, she said, 

 ** Gentlemen, I will tell you the 

 truth, the whole truth, and nothing 

 but the truth." She then said, it 

 had been reported that her husband 

 was out on Thursday last ; it was 

 not true, for he lay in bed the 

 whole day. That overnight she 

 gave her husband three cups of 

 elderberry wine ; in the first she 

 put four ounces of laudanum, which 

 Rowell had bought the day before 

 of Mr. Bennett, at Grimsby ; that 

 the prisoner Rowell lay in bed in the 

 next room, and laughed to hear 

 the deceased snore ; at one o'clock 

 at noon she came into Rowell's 

 room, and said, " George, come, 

 get up, dinner's ready." Rowell 

 said, " he will recover, I will go 

 and get some more laudanum.'' 

 That in the afternoon she mixed 

 two ounces more laudanum, part of 

 eight ounces which Rowell brought 

 from Mr. Bennett, of Grimsby, on 

 Thursday, in a cup of ale, which 

 she gave her daughter Jane, who 

 carried it to her father, who drank 

 it; he died that night. Rowell 

 had lodged there about twelve 

 weeks; after he had been there 

 about four weeks, he said to her, 

 you have got a very bad husband, 

 you cannot have any comfort or a 

 single good word from him; he 

 then talked of shooting him, and 

 then of frighteni.ig him to death 

 by covering himself with a beast's 

 skin, and meeting him in a lane after 

 dark ; that Rowell paid for all the 

 poiaon, and knew what it was for. 



She then said to Rowell, " Oh ! 

 George, George, you have been 

 the ruin of me — what is to become 

 of my family ?" She then added, 

 " Gentlemen, this is the truth, the 

 God's truth." 



Mr. Bennett, chemist, proved 

 the selling to the prisoner Rowell 

 four ounces of laudanum on the 

 Wednesday, and he came again 

 on the Thursday, and asked for 

 eight ounces more, saying he had 

 broke the bottle the night before, 

 and had spilled it in the pocket of 

 his coat. The coat was afterwards 

 examined by the witness, who 

 found no marks of the laudanum 

 having been spilt ; witness then 

 sold him eight ounces more. 



Mr. Foreman, surgeon, deposed, 

 that he was called up on Thursday 

 night by the prisoner Rowell, who 

 said the deceased was drunk, and 

 they did not know what to dp 

 with him. Witness said he could 

 do him no good. He was again 

 sent for the next morning: when 

 he went, the deceased was dead ; 

 the body was under the clothes,, 

 and was in a state of perspiration ; 

 he placed his hand on the heart, 

 but it did not beat. He assisted 

 in opening the body; the contents 

 of the stomach were carefully exa- 

 mined, and about two ounces of a 

 darkish coloured liquor were ex- 

 tracted and put into a phial, which 

 was produced in court ; witness 

 believed it to be a solution of 

 opium or laudanum. The stomach 

 was otherwise empty. 



The prisoner Fountain, in her 

 defence, said, that previous to her 

 being called in before the coroner, 

 one of the jurymen came out, and 

 said, " Rowell has hanged you, or 

 will hang you:" on which she 

 faintiid away; this was on the 



