322 ANNUAL REGISTER, I8l6 



tinction ; and he was obliged to 

 tell them, that if tAvo people went 

 out with mortal weapons to fight, 

 and if a death ensue, it was mur- 

 der. It was his painful duty to 

 tell them so ; but in such a case 

 nothing could be innocent, unless 

 where two men, wearing, as for- 

 merly, swords, had a sudden ren- 

 contre ; if death ensued , it was only 

 manslaughter ; but even there, if 

 a previous message had been de- 

 livered, it was murder. As to 

 the discussion whether this was a 

 feir duel or not, it was for them, 

 having thus laid down the law to 

 them, to consider. He had told 

 them, if they acted legally, how 

 they should find, but he could not 

 pretend to be ignorant of what 

 his experience had taught him ; 

 and he must say, in the melan- 

 choly course of his professional 

 expeiience, he had never seen less 

 deviation oi; corroboration in the 

 witnesses, or less to induce them 

 to suppose that a fairer duel 

 was ever fought. On the part of 

 the unfortunate deceased, there 

 even appeared to be some attempt 

 at display ; he made a speech be- 

 fore the magistrates ; he made a 

 speech before the crowd — there 

 seemed even some stage-trick in 

 his proceedings ; and he could 

 not help remarking it to them, 

 though he must at the same -time 

 greatly regret that so very wor- 

 thy and excellent a young man, 

 as he api)eared to be, had met 

 with so untimely an end. It was 

 proved, also, that the deceased 

 not only wore a black dress, but 

 had prepared black sleeves to his 

 waistcoat ; what effect black had 

 m such a case he did not know, 

 but it at least showed a purpose 

 on the part of the deceased. He 



had, perhaps, entangled himself 

 on this subject more than he 

 ought, but he had previously done 

 his duty, by informing them what 

 the law was ; and he had in ad- 

 dition to tell them, that they could 

 find no intermediate verdict be- 

 tween an acquittal or mvuder. 



The Jury retired, and in a few 

 minutes returned a verdict of — 

 Not Guilty as to both the pri- 

 soners. 



Judge Fletcher then addressed 

 the young gentlemen in a very 

 impressive admonitory address as 

 to the awful situation in which 

 they were placed, and ordered 

 them to be immediately dis- 

 charged. 



Lancaster Assizes, September — 

 Susannah Holroyd was put to the 

 bar, charged with three murders ; 

 with the wilful murder of her 

 husband, at Ashton-under-Line, 

 by administering poison to him 

 on the 1 5th day of April, of which 

 he died on the 18th ; as also with 

 the murder of her own son, a boy 

 of eight years of age, by the same 

 means; and of Ann Newton, an 

 infant of about 15 weeks old, by 

 the same means, and on the same 

 occasion. 



Mr. Cross, Counsel for the 

 prosecution, stated the law ap- 

 plicable to this case to the jury, 

 and gave an outline of the evi- 

 dence by which the charge was 

 supported. The deceased, Mat- 

 thew Holroyd, followed the trade 

 of a weaver, and had the misfor- 

 tune not to live on good terms 

 with his wife, the prisoner at the 

 bar, by whom he had three chil- 

 dren, the last of whom was men- 

 tioned in the present indictment. 

 The prisoner was in the habit of 



nursing 



