upon the stairs, and he told me that his mother had done it all, and that he had murdered her in self-defence.

John Youngman:-I am the father of the prisoner. I resided on the second floor of the house No. 16, Manor-place, Walworth. My wife and two children lived with me. One was named Thomas Neale, and the other Charles, and their ages were 7 and 11. The prisoner came to live with us about a fortnight before this sad affair happened, and he used to sleep in the back room, where I also slept. My son Thomas slept in the same bed with the prisoner. I slept on the shop-board. My wife and my son Charles slept in the front room. I am a tailor by trade, and am generally out at work the whole day. I returned home on the 30th of July about 10 o'clock at night. I did not see the deceased at that time. The prisoner went to bed as usual about a quarter past 11. He said he was ready, and I put the light out and went to bed, and he did the same. My boy Thomas was in bed with the prisoner at this time. I awoke about 4 o'clock on the following morning, and saw the prisoner at the foot of his bed, apparently in the act of getting in. I think the door of the room was open at this time. I got up at 5 o'clock, and went out about 20 minutes past, and at this time the prisoner and his brother were in bed. I did not go into the front room before I went out. I WAS fetched home from my work between 6 and 7, and I then saw the body of the deceased. I knew previously that she was staying in the house, and that she slept in the front room with my wife on the night of the 30th of July. I understood that she was to be mar

ried to the prisoner, but he never said anything to me upon the subject. The constable Lock showed me a knife which I had previously seen in the possession of the prisoner. The point was not broken as it is now when he had it. He was showing it to a man in my presence, and he was told that it was not a fit knife to carry; and the prisoner said anybody had a right to carry such a knife, if he thought proper, for his own protection. This was about nine days before the death of the young woman. I never saw the prisoner use the knife in any manner. When I came back to the house I asked for the prisoner, and he was brought down in the custody of the police, and he addressed me and said, "This is all mother's doings, father." He did not say anything else. The prisoner had no property; he had nothing but what he earned in service. had been in the establishment of Dr. Duncan for about six months. I don't think he ever said anything to me about insuring the life of the young woman, but I had heard such a thing talked about.

He

Cross-examined:-The insurance was talked about quite openly. My wife's mother was a lunatic, and she died in Peckham lunatic asylum. One of my own brothers also died in a lunatic asylum. My father died tolerably sensible; but he had been two or three times in a lunatic asylum.

The knife was produced. The blade was something like a dagger, and was a very formidable weapon. The point was broken off.

Re-examined:-My wife's mother died fifteen years ago. I don't know how long she was in the asylum before her death. She was between 60 and 70 when she

died. My wife had never been in an asylum, and I never saw any sign of unsoundness of mind in her.

John Varney, a police-constable of the P divison, said:-On the morning of the 31st July, in consequence of what the witness Beard told me, I went to the house in Manor-place, and saw three dead bodies, those of the two boys and the young woman Streeter. I then saw another female body. The prisoner said to me, Oh, policeman, here is a sight! what shall I do?" He stepped towards me, and I told him to go and dress himself. He had on his night-shirt at this time, and I noticed that the right sleeve was torn, and the wristband was hanging upon the back of his hand. The prisoner told me that his mother had done it all, at the same time that he said, "Oh, policeman, here's a sight!" He also said, "I struck my mother, but it was in self-defence; would you not have done the same?" He added, "That is law."

Mr. James Dann, Inspector of the P division of Police, said he went to the house, accompanied by a constable named Lock, and saw the prisoner standing on the landing of the second-floor, and he told him it was his mother's doing; she came to the bedside where he and his brother were sleeping, killed his brother, and made a stab at him, and in his own defence he wrenched the knife from her hand and killed her if she was dead. The constable Lock pointed to the body of the deceased, and asked the prisoner if that young woman was lying there at the time he killed his mother. The prisoner hesitated a little, and then said he did not know. At this time three

bodies were lying on the landing. Thomas was lying with his head close to the top of the stairs, on his back, He was in his nightshirt, and his right leg was a little drawn up. There was a great deal of blood near him. The young woman, Mary Streeter, was lying on the landing, with her head inside the doorway of the back room. The body was lying on the right side. She was also in her night-dress, and she had no slippers or anything on her feet. Close by her head there was a great deal of blood, and it had flowed into the room under the bed. The body of the prisoner's mother was also upon the landing, with her face downwards, and close to the thigh of the young woman, and her shoulder rested partly upon her body. The other woman was also in her night-dress, and without anything on her feet. There was a great deal of blood close to her head and throat, and it had spread for a considerable distance. Upon going into the front room witness saw the body of the youngest child lying upon the bed, outside the bed-clothes, and quite dead. The body was lying on the right side, and the feet were towards the head of the bed. The bed-clothes were completely soaked through with blood. There was no pool of blood on any part of the floor of this room. It appeared to have been trodden on the floor by the foot of a grown-up person. Upon examining the bed in the back room, witness discovered some smears of blood, as though wiped off some person's hands. There was no pool of blood about this bed; but some blood appeared to have been trampled about the floor of the room, besides the flow of blood that had gone through the

door. Witness observed that both the prisoner's hands and feet were bloody, and his night-shirt was also very bloody. He did not see any wound upon his person, and he did not complain of being cut or wounded. On the same day witness went down to Wadhurst, where the father of the deceased resided, and obtained some letters, which he produced. Upon his return to town, he opened a box belonging to the prisoner, and found in it the policy of assurance upon the life of the deceased, which he produced.

The letters, fifteen in number, were such as are usually written by young persons in their condition of life, who are about to be married; but the last three have the remarkable exception that they earnestly press the subject of the insurance. The first, dated July 19, contains this passage:"Dearest girl, I have filled up the paper now, and took it to the Life Assurance Office, and they will write to Mrs. James Bone to-day, to get answer on Saturday. So you can go with me to the office before 2 o'clock on Monday." The second, dated July 21, has this passage: "You promised me faithfully over and over again, and I expect you will keep your promise that you would be mine, and that your friends would not know it till we were married; but now, dearest Mary, if you will only let Mrs. James Bone write to the assurance office at once, and go with me to have your life assured on Monday morning next." The insurance was effected on the 25th; and three days afterwards the prisoner wrote the fol. lowing letter which had the effect of bringing the victim into the shambles:

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"16, Manor-place, Newington, S.,

Saturday Night, July 28.

"My beloved Polly. I have posted one letter to you this afternoon, but I find I shall not have to go to Brighton tomorrow, has I have had a letter from there with what I wanted inside of it, so my dear girl, I have quite settled my business now, and I am quite ready to see you now, therefore I send this letter to you. I will take this to London-bridge station to-morrow morning by quarter past 6 o'clock, and get the guard to take it to Wadhurst Station, to give it to the porter there, who will get a man to take it to your place. I can only give the guard something, so you can give the man who brings this a small sum. I shall expect to see you, my dearest girl, on Monday morn ing by the first train. I will await your coming at London-bridge Station. know the time the train arrives, a quarter to 10 o'clock. I have promised to go to my uncle's to-morrow, so I cannot come down; but I will go back home with you on Monday night, or first thing Tuesday, so return here again Tuesday night, day; but you know all I have told you, to be ready to go anywhere on Wednes and I now expect you will come up on Monday morning, when I shall be able to

I

manage things a I wish to do. Excuse more now, my dearest Mary. I shall now go to bed to be up early in the morning to take this letter. Bring or burn all your letters, my dear girl, do not forget; and with kind love to you, and respects to all, I now sum up, awaiting to see you Believe me, ever your loving affectionate Monday morning, quarter to 10 o'clock.

"WILLIAM GODFREY YOUNGMAN." "You know all I have told you, therefore come, dearest girl, come. I am anxious now to see you. Adieu for the present,"

Mr. Boddy, surgeon, deposed that he was called in to examine the bodies of the deceased persons. Three of the bodies were on the landing, the two women and one of the children, and the younger child was on the bed in the front room. All the bodies were quite warm when alive. Upon examining the young woman he found a stab in the left breast, which pene

as warm as

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 Dragou" 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 mar ried 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 108. 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. The 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.

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. 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