State Trials, Political and Social Volume II Part 29

Your very sincere Friend.'

'_For Mrs. Jane Ellen, at Mr. Hargrave's, near Temple-bar, London._'

COWPER--Though it is directed to Mrs. Jane Ellen, it begins in the inside 'Sir,' and it is dated the 5th March next before the 13th.

HATSELL, BARON--What March was it?

MR. MARSHALL--I kept no account of the time, but I am very positive, by the contents, that Mr. Cowper shewed me this letter and I read it, but by my now remembrance, it should be longer since than March last.

COWPER--It was March last. That which will set Mr. Marshall's memory to rights is this other letter, which I received at the Rainbow, when he was by, and he read it; and it importuning me to a matter of this kind, I did produce it to my brother and him; they both knew of it; and both read it, and that will refresh his memory concerning the date of the other.

MR. MARSHALL--My lord, I was in the coffee-house with Mr.

Cowper when he received this letter; and he afterwards shewed it to Mr. William Cowper, at the Covent-garden tavern, when I was by.

CLERK OF ARRAIGNS--This is dated the 9th of March, and directed to Mrs. Jane Ellen, at Mr. Hargrave's.

'_March 9._

SIR,

I writ to you by Sunday's post, which I hope you have received; however, as a confirmation, I will a.s.sure you I know of no inconveniency that can attend your cohabiting with me, unless the grand jury should thereupon find a bill against me; but I won't fly for it, for come life, come death, I am resolved never to desert you; therefore according to your appointment I will expect you and till then I shall only tell you, that I am

'Yours,' etc.

'_For Mrs. Jane Ellen, at Mr. Hargrave's, near Temple-bar, London._'

COWPER--If your lords.h.i.+p please, I will further prove this letter by my brother.

_William Cowper_ said that about a year and a half since, when Mrs.

Stout was in London, his brother came to his chamber in the Temple, and told him that he had received a letter from Mrs. Stout, saying that she intended to visit him in his chamber that day. His brother told the witness that because of her connection with Marshall, as well as for other reasons, he would not receive her there; and it was arranged that as she intended first to dine with their father at his house in Hatton Garden, where the witness was then living, he should take the opportunity for casually remarking that the prisoner was that day gone to Deptford, as he in fact intended to do. This plan was carried out, with the result that Mrs. Stout left the room fainting. The witness then went on to give an account of how his brother showed him the last letter mentioned, at the Covent Garden Tavern--

Saith he, the occasion of my shewing it, is not to expose a woman's weakness, but I would not willingly lie under too many obligations, nor engage too far; nor on the other hand would I be at an unnecessary expence for a lodging.

It was accordingly arranged that the witness should write to Barefoot to dispose of his lodgings, as Cowper had already related.

I said I would write the next day, being Sat.u.r.day; but when I should have writ, it was very late, and I was weary, being then tied down to the business of parliament; and partly for that reason, and partly in point of discretion, which I had upon my second thoughts, that it would be better for my brother to be at Mr. Barefoot's, which is near the court, and in the market place, I did neglect writing; and though I thought of it about eleven o'clock, yet, as I said, partly for one reason, and partly for another, I did not write that time.'

_Beale_ was then called to prove the hand-writing of the letters, and the jury declared themselves satisfied.

HATSELL, BARON--I believe you may ask her mother, she will tell you whether it be her daughter's hand.

MRS. STOUT--How should I know! I know she was no such person; her hand may be counterfeited.

HATSELL, BARON--But if it were written in her more sober stile, what would you say then?

MRS. STOUT--I shan't say it to be her hand unless I saw her write it.

MR. STOUT--It is like my sister's hand.

HATSELL, BARON--Do you believe it to be her hand?

MR. STOUT--No, I don't believe it; because it don't suit her character.

_Mrs. Barefoot_ had expected Cowper at her lodgings, and had prepared a bed for him. Cowper came to her house as usual, and sent to the coffee-house for his bag. Mrs. Stout sent her maid over to invite Cowper to dine at their house. Cowper came back to her house about eleven, by the town clock, and did not go out again.

_Hanwell_, the last witness's maid, made some preparations in Cowper's room before he went to bed, which he did a little before twelve.

Referring to the last-quoted letter of the deceased woman, Cowper says:

'I had rather leave it to be observed, than make the observation myself, what might be the dispute between us at the time the maid speaks of. I think it was not necessary she should be present at the debate; and therefore I might not interrupt her mistress in the orders she gave; but as soon as the maid was gone I made use of these objections; and I told Mrs. Stout by what accident I was obliged to take up my lodgings at Mrs. Barefoot's, and that the family was sitting up for me; that my staying at her house under these circ.u.mstances, would in probability provoke the censure of the town and country; and that therefore I could not stay, whatever my inclination might otherwise be; but, my lord, my reasons not prevailing, I was forced to decide the controversy by going to my lodging; so that the maid may swear true, when she says I did not contradict her orders.'

_Spurr_ proved that Cowper came to the Glove and Dolphin Inn as the clock struck eleven, and stayed there about a quarter of an hour. The Glove and Dolphin was a little less than a quarter of a mile from Mrs.

Stout's house.

Cowper then pointed out that, according to Sarah Walker's evidence, he left Mrs. Stout's house at a quarter to eleven by the real time; that if, as he should prove, it took half an hour to go from there to the place where Mrs. Stout was drowned, he could not, according to the evidence he had just called, have been there.

_Sir W. Ashurst_ said it took him half an hour and one minute to walk to the place where the deceased was drowned. _Sir T. Lane_ said it took him about three-quarters of an hour, 'and we did not stay at all by the way, except just to look upon the hospital.'

_Kingett_ and _Man_, two servants at the Glove and Dolphin, confirmed Spurr's evidence as to the time when Cowper arrived there and the time he stayed there; adding that he came there to ask about an account for his horse.

HATSELL, BARON--Pray, wherein hath Sarah Walker said anything that is false?

COWPER--In this: I asked her when she gave evidence, whether she went out to see for her mistress all that night, and whether her mistress did not use to stay out at nights, and whether she herself had not used to say so? If your lords.h.i.+p pleases to remember, she said no. Pray, Mrs. Mince, what have you heard Mrs. Stout's maid say concerning her mistress, particularly as to her staying out all night?

MRS. MINCE--She hath said, that her mistress did not love to keep company with Quakers; and that she paid for her own board and her maid's; and that, when she entertained any body, it was at her own charge. And she hath said, that Mrs. Stout used to ask, who is with you, child? and she would not tell her; and that she did entertain her friends in the summer house now and then with a bottle of wine; and when her mother asked who was there? her mistress would say, bring it in here, I suppose there is none but friends; and after the company was gone, she used to make her mother believe that she went to bed: but she used to go out and take the key with her, and sometimes she would go out at the window, and she said particularly, one time she went out at the garden window, when the garden door was locked, and that she bid her not sit up for her, for she would not come in at any time.

HATSELL, BARON--Did ever Sarah Walker tell you that Mrs. Stout staid out all night?

MRS. MINCE--She hath said, she could not tell what time she came in, for she went to bed.

_Cowper_ offered to prove that Gurrey, at whose house the other prisoners had stayed, had said that if he had gone to visit Mrs. Stout, meaning apparently, if he had gone to visit the mother after the daughter's death, the prosecution would not have taken place. To this he would answer that he never had gone to see her in his life.

Now, for a man officiously to make a new visit in the time of the a.s.sizes, one engaged in business as I was, and especially upon so melancholy an occasion; I say for me to go officiously to see a woman I never had the least knowledge of, would have been thought more strange (and justly might have been so) than the omission of that ceremony. For my part, I cannot conceive what Mr. Gurrey could mean, this being the case, by saying, that if I had visited Mrs. Stout, nothing of this could have happened.

HATSELL, BARON--Mr. Cowper, he is not the prosecutor, I think it is no matter what he said.

_Sir W. Ashurst, Sir T. Lane, and Mr. Thompson_ were then called to Cowper's character, and described him as a humane, upright, and capable man.

This concluded the case against Cowper, and the case of Marson was next considered. In reply to a question from the judge, he explained that Stephens was the clerk of the paper in the King's Bench; that Rogers was steward of the King's Bench; and that it was their duty to wait upon the Lord Chief-Justice of the King's Bench out of town. On Monday they all went to the Lord Chief-Justice's house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, according to their custom, and all set out from there. Marson, being only an attorney in the borough court, could not go further with the others than Kingsland, and returned from there to his business in Southwark, where he attended the Court, as was his duty, and set out again at past four in the afternoon. On arriving at Waltham he met one Mr. Hanks, a clergyman, who was returning from attending the Lord Chief-Justice to Hertford, whom he persuaded to return with him to Hertford, on the plea that he did not know the way. They galloped all the way, and did not arrive at Hertford till eight. There they found the marshal, Stephens, Rogers, Rutkin, and others of the marshal's acquaintance at the coffee-house, from which they went to the Glove and Dolphin, and stayed there till eleven o'clock. Rogers and the witness had a dispute about which of them should lie with Stephens at Gurrey's house, and they all went to Gurrey's to see what could be arranged, and to drink a gla.s.s of wine. Eventually Stephens, Rogers, and Marson, all stayed at Gurrey's; while Hanks and Rutkin went back to the marshal's.

The party at Gurrey's drank three bottles of wine,

and afterwards, in jocular conversation, I believe Mr. Stephens might ask Mr. Gurrey if he knew of one Mrs. Sarah Stout? And the reason why he asked that question our witness will explain.

I believe he might likewise ask what sort of woman she was? and possibly I might say the words, My friend may be in with her, though I remember not I did say anything like it; but I say there is a possibility I might, because I had heard she had denied Marshall's suit, and that might induce me to say, My friend may be in with her, for all that I remember. I confess Mr. Rogers asked me what money I had got that day, meaning at the Borough Court? I answered fifty s.h.i.+llings; saith he, we have been here a-spending our money, I think you ought to treat us, or to that purpose. As to the bundle mentioned I had no such, except a pair of sleeves and a neck-cloth. As to the evidence which goes to words spoken, the witnesses have fruitful inventions; and as they have wrested and improved the instances I have been particular in, so they have the rest, or otherwise forged them out of their own heads.

HATSELL, BARON--Mr. Rogers, what do you say to it?

ROGERS--We came down with the marshal of the King's bench, it rained every step of the way, so that my spatter-dashes and shoes were fain to be dried; and it raining so hard, we did not think Mr. Marson would have come that day, and therefore we provided but one bed, though otherwise we should have provided two, and were to give a crown for our night's lodging. We went from the coffee-house to the tavern, as Mr. Marson has said, and from the tavern the next way to our lodging, where there was some merry and open discourse of this gentlewoman; but I never saw her in my life, nor heard of her name before she was mentioned there.