'_Cogn. Die et Anno antedict.
Coram J. Holt._'
JONES--All that I observe from it, is this: That he had been
five hours in town, and when he came to his lodging, he came in
wet and hot, and said he was just come from London.
MARSON--I had rid forty miles that day, and could not be soon
cold.
HATSELL, BARON--They have done now for the king; come, Mr.
Cowper, what do you say to it?
JONES--If your lordship please, we will call one witness more,
Mary Richardson. Mrs. Richardson, do you know Mr. Marson, or
any of these gentlemen?
MRS. RICHARDSON--They came on Tuesday night to the Bell at
Hoddesdon, and lay there, and one of the gentlemen, when I was
warming the sheets, asked me if I knew Mrs. Sarah Stout? And I
said Yes. He asked me if I knew which way she came to her end?
And I told him I could not tell.
JONES--Is that all? What did they say more?
MRS. RICHARDSON--They did desire and wish it might be found out
how it came about; and one gentleman took no notice of her at
all. They had a little bundle, but what was in it I cannot
tell, but there I saw it bound up in some coloured stuff or
other, but what it was I cannot tell.
JONES--Is that all you can say?
MRS. RICHARDSON--Yes, that is all.
JONES--Then we have done.
HATSELL, BARON--Come, Mr. Cowper, what do you say to it?
COWPER--Now they have done on the part of the king, my lord,
and you gentlemen of the jury, I must beg your patience for my
defence. I confess it was an unfortunate accident for me (as
Mr. Jones calls it) that I happened to be the last person (for
aught appears) in the company of a melancholy woman. The
discourse occasioned by this accident had been a sufficient
misfortune to me, without any thing else to aggravate it; but I
did not in the least imagine that so little, so trivial an
evidence as here is, could possibly have affected me to so
great a degree, as to bring me to this place to answer for the
worst fact that the worst of men can be guilty of.
My lord, your lordship did just now observe, that I have
appeared at the bar for my clients; but I must say too, that I
never appeared for myself under this, or the like
circumstances, as a criminal, for any offence whatsoever.
He then goes on to point out that there is no positive evidence against
him, but only suppositions and inferences--what to-day would be called
circumstantial evidence; and that even admitting the evidence of the
prosecution, it is as strong to show that the deceased woman was not
murdered as that she was. Even if the evidence proved that Mrs. Stout
was murdered, there was nothing to show that he or his fellow-prisoners
were guilty of the murder. The body was not floating when it was found,
as could be shown by the parish officers who were employed by the
coroner to take it out of the water. It in fact had sunk, and had then
been carried by the force of the stream sideways up the stakes which
were about a foot apart pointing down stream; and yet the alleged fact
that the body was floating was the only evidence produced to prove that
the woman was not drowned. Evidence would be given to prove that the
fact that the body contained little or no water was immaterial, for
drowning takes place when only a very little water is received into the
lungs; and in a case of suicide it is probable that water would enter
the lungs sooner than it would in cases of accident. As to the evidence
derived from the examination of the body after exhumation, it ought not
to have been given, as the exhumation was itself an offence; 'but as it
is I have no reason to apprehend it, being able to make it appear that
the gentlemen who spoke to this point have delivered themselves in that
manner either out of extreme malice, or a most profound ignorance; this
will be so very plain upon my evidence, that I must take the liberty to
impute one or both of these causes to the gentlemen that have argued
from their observations upon that matter.'
It had been suggested that he had an interest in the death of the
deceased by reason of holding money of hers which he had received as her
trustee or guardian. He had been concerned in investing some L200 in a
mortgage for the deceased the previous December; he had paid over this
money to the mortgagees, and the mortgage had been found by the
prosecutors among the papers of the deceased after her death. This was
the only money transaction he had ever had with her. The prosecution had
proved that there was no concealment of shame to induce him to murder
her; and that, though they had no inclination to favour him.
He would produce evidence to show that the dead woman committed suicide,
though he only did so most unwillingly and under compulsion. The
prosecution had shown that she was melancholy, and he could show that
she had reason for making away with herself. This he would do by
producing letters of hers, which were he alone concerned he would not
allude to; but as he was in honour bound to make the best defence he
could for his fellow-prisoners, he had no choice in the matter.
The maid Walker was the only person who gave any direct evidence against
him, and she said that she heard the door shut at a quarter past eleven,
and that on going downstairs directly afterwards she found that both he
and the deceased had left the house. But he would prove that he had
entered the Glove Inn as the town clock struck eleven, that he had
stayed there a quarter of an hour, that after he had done several things
at his lodgings he had gone to bed by twelve, and had not gone out
again that night. He had sent to fetch his horse from Mrs. Stout's
house on Tuesday morning, as was only prudent, but he had told the man
whom he sent that he would not want it till the next day, when he was
going into Essex with the rest of the circuit, which he did.
He had not heard that his name was connected with Mrs. Stout's death
till two months after the event; and the prosecution had in fact been
set on foot by the Quakers, who were scandalised at the idea of one of
their number committing suicide, and the political opponents of his
father and brother in the town.
Cowper went on to explain that he always had the offer of a share in his
brother's lodgings, which were some of the best in the town, whenever
the latter went circuit, 'which out of good husbandry I always
accepted.' At the time of the last circuit, when the present case arose,
Parliament was sitting, and his brother 'being in the money chair,'
could not attend. As Cowper had been invited to lodge with Mrs. Stout
during the assizes and wished to accept the invitation, he asked his
brother to ask Barefoot, the keeper of his lodgings, to dispose of them
if he could. The brother said he would do so 'if he could think on it,'
and accordingly Cowper went down to Hertford intending to lodge with
Mrs. Stout unless his brother had failed to write to Barefoot. On
arriving at Hertford he found that his brother had not written to
Barefoot, and that the rooms there were ready for him. He accordingly
stayed there, sent to the coffee-house for his bag, and took up his
lodging at Barefoot's as usual. As soon as he had done this, the maid
Walker came round from Mrs. Stout's to invite him to dinner there. He
accepted the invitation, and also a further invitation to come again in
the evening; but he did not agree to sleep there. When he came the
second time he paid the deceased the interest on her mortgage, some six
pounds odd, in guineas and half-guineas, which money was found in her
pocket after she was drowned. He wrote a receipt for the money, which
she refused to sign; she pressed him to stay there that night, which he
refused to do.