CHRONICLE. 



33 



a shopkeeper at Downham, near 

 Ely, and a dissenting lay preacher, 

 was indicted under lord Ellenbo- 

 rough's Act, in a charge of admi- 

 nistering poison to George Lang- 

 man and to Joseph Langman, liis 

 brothers-in-law. It appeared in 

 evidence that theLangmansre.-sided 

 together at Downham, and were 

 small farniers ; and that their fa- 

 mily consisted of themselves, a 

 sister, named Sarah, about ten 

 years of age, and a female do- 

 mestic, of ihe name of Catharine 

 Carter, who acted as their house- 

 keeper and servant : they had ano- 

 ther sister who was married to 

 the prisoner. On the morning of 

 Tuesday the 12th of March last, 

 they sent their sister to the pri- 

 soner's house to borrow a loaf; the 

 prisoner returned with her, and 

 brought a loaf with him, and told 

 the Langmans, that as he under- 

 siood their housekeeper was going 

 on a visit to her friends, for a day 

 or two, he would bring them some 

 flour and pork to make a pudding 

 for their dinner. He went awa^', 

 and shortly afterwards returned 

 with a bason of flour and pork ; 

 and, addressing himself to the 

 housekeeper, said, " Catharine, be 

 sure you make the boys a pudding 

 before you go." He then took 

 the young child home with him to 

 dinner. The housekeeper made 

 two puddings, but observed the 

 flour would not properly adhere ; 

 she left them in a kneading trough ; 

 and the Langmans boiled one for 

 dinner : they had hardly swallowed 

 two or three mouthfuls before 

 they were taken exceedingly ill, 

 and seized with violent vomitings. 

 Suspecting the pudding had been 

 poisoned, one of the Langmans 

 gave a small piece to a sow in the 

 Vol.. LIV, 



yard, which swallowed it, and was 

 immediately taken sick, and after 

 lingering a long time, died. The 

 elder brother soon recovered, but 

 the younger one continued in a 

 precarious state for several days. 

 The remnants of the puddings 

 were analyzed by Mr. Woolaston, 

 professor of chemistry at the Uni- 

 versity of Cambridge, and found 

 to contain a considerable quantity 

 of corrosive sublimate of mercury. 



The prisoner, who it appeared 

 was a dealer in flour, attempted to 

 account for the puddings being 

 poisoned, by stating, that he had 

 then lately laid some nu>; vomica 

 to poison vermin, and that some oi 

 it must accidentally have been 

 carried into his flour-bin. Mr. 

 Woolaston, however, positively 

 stated, that the pudding contained 

 no other poisonous ingredient than 

 corrosive sublimate; and it came 

 out in evidence, that the prisoner, 

 who sold drugs, had purchased of 

 the person whom he succeeded in 

 business, a considerable quantity 

 of that poison. It also appeared, 

 that the flour-bins belonging to the 

 prisoner had been searched, and 

 that immediately upon its being 

 discovered that the Langmans had 

 taken poison, the prisoner emptied 

 his bins into the privy, and washed 

 them out. Mr. Alley, from Lon- 

 don, conducted the prisoner's de- 

 fence; the trial lasted till six 

 o'clock at ni^ht, and the jury, 

 after deliberating about ten mi- 

 nutes, found the prisoner guilty, 

 and the judge immediately passed 

 sentence of death, and he is left 

 for execution. By the deaths of 

 the two Langmans, under age, the 

 prisoner's wife, and the child he 

 took home with him, would have 

 become entitled to ihe father's 



D estate, 



