DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.70303#0111
WONDERFUL DISCOVERY OF A MURDER. 93
the house, till they found her dead next morning; there-
fore, if she did not murder herself, they must be the mur-
derers ; and to that end further proof was made.—First,
that she lay in a composed manner in her bed, the bed-
clothes nothing at all disturbed, and her child by her in the
bed.—Secondly, that her throat was cut from ear to ear,
and her neck broken; and if she first cut her throat, she
could not break her neck in the bed, nor e contra.—
Thirdly, there was no blood in the bed, saving, there was
a tincture of blood on the bolster whereon her head lay ;
but no other substance of blood at all.—Fourthly, from the
bed’s head there was a stream of blood on the floor, which
run along on the floor, till it ponded on the bending of the
floor, to a very great quantity, and there was also another
stream of blood on the floor at the bed’s feet, which ponded
also on the floor, to another great quantity ; but no conti-
nuance or continuation of blood of either of those two
places, from one to the other, neither upon the bed, so that
she bled in two places severally : And it was deposed, turn-
ing up the mat of the bed, there were clots of congealed
blood in the straw of the mat underneath.—Fifthly, the
bloody knife, in the morning, was found sticking in the
floor, a good distance from the bed ; but the point of the
knife, as it stuck in the floor, was towards the bed, and
the haft from the bed.—Lastly, there was a print of a
thumb and four fingers of a left-hand on the dead person’s
left hand.
Hyde, Chief Justice, to the Witness—ii How can yon
know the print of a left-hand from the print of a right-
hand in this case ?”
Witness.—“ My Lord, it is hard to describe ; but if it
please that Honourable Judge to put his left-hand on your
left-hand, you cannot possibly place your right-hand in thy
same posture; which being done, and appearing so, the
• Defendants
the house, till they found her dead next morning; there-
fore, if she did not murder herself, they must be the mur-
derers ; and to that end further proof was made.—First,
that she lay in a composed manner in her bed, the bed-
clothes nothing at all disturbed, and her child by her in the
bed.—Secondly, that her throat was cut from ear to ear,
and her neck broken; and if she first cut her throat, she
could not break her neck in the bed, nor e contra.—
Thirdly, there was no blood in the bed, saving, there was
a tincture of blood on the bolster whereon her head lay ;
but no other substance of blood at all.—Fourthly, from the
bed’s head there was a stream of blood on the floor, which
run along on the floor, till it ponded on the bending of the
floor, to a very great quantity, and there was also another
stream of blood on the floor at the bed’s feet, which ponded
also on the floor, to another great quantity ; but no conti-
nuance or continuation of blood of either of those two
places, from one to the other, neither upon the bed, so that
she bled in two places severally : And it was deposed, turn-
ing up the mat of the bed, there were clots of congealed
blood in the straw of the mat underneath.—Fifthly, the
bloody knife, in the morning, was found sticking in the
floor, a good distance from the bed ; but the point of the
knife, as it stuck in the floor, was towards the bed, and
the haft from the bed.—Lastly, there was a print of a
thumb and four fingers of a left-hand on the dead person’s
left hand.
Hyde, Chief Justice, to the Witness—ii How can yon
know the print of a left-hand from the print of a right-
hand in this case ?”
Witness.—“ My Lord, it is hard to describe ; but if it
please that Honourable Judge to put his left-hand on your
left-hand, you cannot possibly place your right-hand in thy
same posture; which being done, and appearing so, the
• Defendants