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THE QUEEN AGAINST OWEN
BY
ALLEN UPWARD
AUTHOR OF 'THE PRINCE OF BALKISTAN'
_A NEW EDITION_
London
CHATTO & WINDUS, PICCADILLY
1895
_OPINIONS OF THE PRESS_
ON
THE QUEEN AGAINST OWEN.
'An unmistakable success. Regarded simply as a story, we have not for
a long while read anything more intensely dramatic. It would compel
notice for the mere manner of its telling. Not often has an author
who has boldly departed from the traditional lines of the writer of
fiction so completely vindicated his method. There is high quality
in this book, with its vivid glimpses of life, and its clever
characterization.... Altogether, a notable book; and if its popularity
be at all commensurate with its merits, it will have a great
vogue.'--_Sun._
'The narrative never flags.... A realistic representation of a
criminal trial.'--_Athenæum._
'Lovers of exciting fiction, powerful, original, and dramatic, should
read "The Queen against Owen." Narrative after narrative, somewhat in
the Wilkie Collins manner, draws you on until the mystery that
surrounds the crime--which remains a mystery almost to the very
end--disappears, and then you draw a breath of relief, but not
before.'--_Sporting Life._
To
CLEMENT HARLEY DOWNS
ESQUIRE
THIS SLIGHT ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF HIS KIND SERVICES IS TENDERED BY THE
AUTHOR
NOTE
TO THE SECOND EDITION.
I take the opportunity of a second edition of this little sketch to
point out a rather curious fact in connection with the numerous
comments which were made in the press on the evidence presented
against the heroine. My object in writing the story was, naturally, to
so balance the evidence as to leave it open to my jury to return
either verdict, and thus keep the reader in a state of mild suspense
during the progress of the trial. How far I succeeded may be gathered
from the following extracts:
_'A jury that required to deliberate at all in such a case
ought to have been hanged.'_--BRIEF.
_'The way in which the feeblest of cases is worked up to a
verdict of guilty is a trifle ridiculous, and a slander on
judge, bar, and even jury.'_--LEEDS MERCURY.
_'It is absurd to suppose that upon such evidence any judge
and jury could have convicted her of murder.'_--VANITY FAIR.
_'A tangle of circumstantial evidence which is supposed to be
conclusive, but on which we feel confident that no English
jury would convict.'_--NEW ZEALAND MAIL.
_'The prisoner is found guilty on what seems to us most
insufficient evidence.'_--DAILY CHRONICLE.
_'It is difficult to believe that the jury on the evidence
could have brought in a verdict of guilty.'_--DAILY NEWS.
_'The evidence being purely circumstantial, as well as
flimsy.'_--ACADEMY.
[N.B.--Several of the above reviewers were friendly to the book on
other points.]
_'In Scotland the verdict would certainly have been "Not
Proven."'_--GLASGOW HERALD.
_'Though the evidence is purely circumstantial, it seems at
first sight so strong that no magistrate could fail to
commit.'_--SATURDAY REVIEW.
_'The evidence of guilt is very strong.'_--MONMOUTHSHIRE
BEACON.
_'Certainly the evidence, purely circumstantial, is very
strong.'_--PUBLISHER'S CIRCULAR.
_'A case of circumstantial evidence which all seemed to point
one way, and to fix a horrible crime upon a young
girl.'_--WEEKLY SUN.
_'The evidence against her is damning, though purely
circumstantial.'_--LITERARY WORLD.
These extracts, taken together, seem to me to throw a most interesting
light upon the subject of trial by jury--the object of a sneer in one
of the above quotations. When it is possible for a number of educated
minds, engaged in highly intellectual pursuits, to take such opposite
views of the same set of facts, it may surely be urged that, if
miscarriages of justice occasionally take place, they are due, not so
much to any defects in our judicial system, as to those native
diversities of the human mind which no legislation can remove. A
change is fast coming over our legal procedure in the direction of
dispensing with juries, and leaving everything to the decision of a
single trained lawyer. Whether this change is certain to ensure
greater correctness of decision is, perhaps, more open to argument
than is generally supposed.
In conclusion, I have only to express my thanks for the many cordial
notices--some of them, I fear, hardly deserved--which this rather
slight work received on its first appearance. The kindness of his
reviewers has at all events encouraged the author to strive that his
future work may be a little better worth their attention.
A. U.
_May_, 1895.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. THE INDICTMENT 1
II. THE BRIEF FOR THE PROSECUTION 2
III. COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENCE 23
IV. THE ASSIZES 44
V. THE CASE FOR THE CROWN 68
VI. THE WITNESSES 85
VII. HALF AN HOUR 113
VIII. THE DEFENCE 127
IX. THE JUDGE 154
X. THE VERDICT 175
XI. THE PRISONER'S STATEMENT 192
XII. THE C.C.R. 212
XIII. UNDER THE GREAT SEAL 229
THE
QUEEN AGAINST OWEN
CHAPTER I.
THE INDICTMENT.
'MYNYDDSHIRE TO WIT.--The jurors for our lady the Queen upon their
oath present that Eleanor Margaret Owen, upon the first day of June in
the year of our Lord eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, feloniously,
wilfully, and of her malice aforethought did kill and murder one Ann
Elizabeth Lewis against the peace of our lady the Queen, her crown and
dignity.'