CHRONICLE. 



3o9 



•what arc you ? Speak, or I'JI shoot 

 you.'' ^And immediately the report 

 of a gun was heard, upon which, 

 from solicitude about her brother's 

 safe<y, she ran out, and about hali'- 

 truy between her father's house, and 

 that to which the deceased was go- 

 ing, she found him lying dead on the. 

 ground ! no person was near him at 

 the time. The lane was very dark, 

 so much so, that although narrow, 

 it was impossible to see a person at 

 the opposite side of it. Her bro- 

 ther, at the time of his decease, was 

 all in white, and his trowsers reach- 

 ed down to his heels. She did not 

 believe that any animosity subsisted 

 between the deceased and the pri- 

 soner. They hardly knew each 

 other. 



A surgeon of eminence ascertain- 

 ed the death of the deceased to have 

 proceeded from a gun-shot wound, 

 which had injured the spinal mar- 

 row. 



The prisoner spoke as follows in 

 his defence. " I can most solemnly 

 declare, that I went out with a per-- 

 fectly good intention ; after calling 

 to the deceased twice, and receiving 

 no answer, I became so agitated, 

 that I knew no longer what I did : 

 but I was innocent of any malicious 

 intention whatever." 



The mother-in-law of the de- 

 ceased proved, that he had been, 

 from his white dress, taken once 

 before for the ghost, and she advis- 

 ed him, in consequence, to wear a 

 great coat. 



Several most respectable witnesses 

 gave the prisoner the highest cha- 

 racter for propriety of conduct, hu- 

 manity, and benevolence. 



The lord chief baron not being 

 •ble to find, in the case made out by 

 the prisoner, any thing which could 

 take it off tlie legal definition of 



murder, charge 1 the jury accord- 

 ingly ; who, however, after retir- 

 ing for an hour and five minutes, 

 brought in a verdict of manslaugh- 

 ter ! 



The judge hereupon reminded the 

 jury, on the oath they had taken, 

 that this was a verdict they could 

 not give — they must either find the 

 prisoner guilty or not guilty of mur- 

 der, and justices Rooke, Lawrence, 

 and the Recorder, concurring in 

 opinion, the jury, after a few mi- 

 nutes deliberation in their box, re- 

 turned their verdict — Guilty of mur- 

 der. 



The Recorder immediately pro- 

 nounced the judgment of the court, 

 sentencing the prisoner for death 

 on the following Monday, and 

 his body to be dissected, iScc. The 

 lord chief Baron declared he would 

 immediately report the case, and in 

 consequence a respite was sent to 

 Newgate in the course of the even- 

 ing. (The prisoner has been since par- 

 doned, on condition of a year's im- 

 prisonment in Newgate. At the 

 close of the trial, he was obliged to 

 be removed into the air, he was so 

 much affected : his case seemed to 

 excite universal commiseration.) 



loth. This day two gentlemen, 

 (and one in deacon's orders) bro- 

 thers, of the name of Gordon, 

 dined with Mrs. Lee, a lady of 

 considerable income, in Bol ton- 

 Row, Piccadilly ; and in the even- 

 ing, her footman being absent, they 

 endeavoured to force her from her 

 house. She made much resistance, 

 and on being assisted by her two fe- 

 male servants, one of the gentlemen 

 drew a pistol, and threatened to 

 shoot them, while the other succeed- 

 ed in forcing the lady into a post- 

 chaise in waiting at a short dis- 

 tance, and instantly drove off. The 



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