State Trials, Political and Social Volume II Part 20

She saw the body the day it was found; it was not swollen; she did not see any water about it. She had seen a child which was drowned in the same place about ten weeks before; it was drowned at night and found the next morning; it was found at the bottom of the river, the eyes were shut, and the body was very much swelled.

_Sarah Peppercorn_ saw the body of Sarah Stout when it was brought to Mrs. Stout's house. She saw bruises on the head and near the ear. Mrs.

Stout asked her whether her daughter had been with child, and she said she had not; she was a midwife.

_Elizabeth Husler_ was sworn.

JONES--Had you the view of the body of Mrs. Sarah Stout the day you heard she was drowned?

HUSLER--She was not drowned, my lord; I went thither and helped to pull off her clothes.

JONES--In what condition was her body?

HUSLER--Her body was very lank and thin, and no water appeared to be in it.

There was no water about her mouth and nose; there were bruises at the top of the collar-bone and upon both her ears.

_Ann Pilkington_ saw the body, and gave the same evidence as to its general condition as the other witnesses.

COWPER--Had she any circle about her neck?

PILKINGTON--No, not that I did see.

COWPER--Pray, did you not make some deposition to that purpose that you know of?

PILKINGTON--Sir, I never did, and dare not do it.

COWPER--It was read against me in the King's Bench, and I will prove it; was not Mr. Mead with you at the time of your examination?

PILKINGTON--Yes.

COWPER--Did he not put in some words, and what were they?

PILKINGTON--Not that I know of.

COWPER--But you never swore so, upon your oath?

PILKINGTON--No, I do not believe I did; if I did it was ignorantly.

JONES--Here is her examination, it is 'cross her neck.'

_Mr. Coatsworth_, a surgeon, was called and deposed that in April he had been sent for, by Dr. Phillips, to come to Hertford to see the body of Mrs. Stout, who had been six weeks buried. Various parts of the body were examined; the woman had not been with child; the intestines and stomach were full of air, but there was no water in them, or the breast, or lobes of the lungs; there was no water in the diaphragm.

Then I remember I said, this woman could not be drowned, for if she had taken in water, the water must have rotted all the guts; that was the construction I made of it then; but for any marks about the head or neck, it was impossible for us to discover it, because they were so rotten.

The inspection was made on the 28th of April, and the woman was drowned on the 13th of March. The doctor had offered to examine the skull, to see if it had been injured, 'but they did not suspect a broken skull in the case, and we did not examine it.' All the other parts were sound.

JONES--Call John Dimsdale.

COWPER--My lord, I would know, and I desire to be heard to this point; I think where the Coroner's inquest have viewed the body, and the relations have been heard, and the body buried, that it is not to be stirred afterwards for any private inspection of parties, that intend to make themselves prosecutors; but if it is to be taken up, it is to be done by some legal authority; for if it should be otherwise, any gentleman may be easily trepanned: for instance, if they should have thought fit, after the Coroner's view, to have broken the skull into a hundred pieces, this was a private view altogether among themselves. Certainly, if they intended to have prosecuted me, or any other gentleman upon this evidence, they ought to have given us notice, that we might have had some surgeons among them, to superintend their proceedings. My lord, with submission, this ought not to be given in evidence.

HATSELL, BARON--Mr. Cowper, I think you are not in earnest; there is no colour for this objection: if they did take up the body without notice, why should not that be evidence? unless you think they had a design to forswear themselves.

COWPER--Had you a _Melius Inquirendum_, or any lawful warrant for making this inspection?

COATSWORTH--No, there was not.

HATSELL, BARON--Suppose they did an ill thing in taking up the body without some order, though I do not know any more ill in taking up that body than any other; but, however, is that any reason why we should not hear this evidence?

COATSWORTH--Mr. Camblin, sir Wm. Cowper's surgeon, was there by.

_Mr. Dimsdale, senior_, a surgeon, was sworn and deposed that he had been sent for on the 28th of April by Mrs. Stout, to view the body of her daughter.

Finding her head so much mortified, down to her neck, we thought all the parts were seized, and had a consultation, whether we should open her or not; but Mrs. Stout was very enraged, because a great scandal had been raised, that her daughter was with child; and she said she would have her opened to clear her reputation.

The body was examined, with the same result that the other witness had described, no water being found either in the stomach or the lungs.

After this we had a consultation, to consider whether she was drowned or not drowned; and we were all of opinion that she was not drowned; only Mr. Camblin desired he might be excused from giving his opinion whether she was drowned or not; but all the rest of us did give our opinions that she was not drowned.

The grounds for this opinion were the absence of water from the lungs and intestines; and this was a sign which would show whether she had been drowned or not weeks after her death. In answer to Cowper he admitted that he had never seen a body opened which had been drowned six weeks. If a body had been drowned a fortnight, the bowels would be so rotten that it would be impossible to come near it.

_John Dimsdale, junior_, believed that the body had not been drowned, and signed a certificate to that effect after looking at the body; he believed it, because he found no water in the body. He had seen the child that was drowned the morning after it was drowned, and had found abundance of water in the body then.

_Dr. Dimsdale_ saw the body after it was opened, and on finding no water in the thorax or abdomen, signed the certificate. Had the woman been drowned he would have expected to find water in the thorax.

COWPER--Is it possible there should be water in the thorax according to your skill?

DIMSDALE--Yes, we did think there would have been, if she had been drowned.

He would have expected to find traces of it after six weeks.

COWPER--Pray by what pa.s.sage does the water go into the thorax?

DIMSDALE--It will be very difficult for me to describe the manner here; but we should have found some in the stomach and intestines.

COWPER--Pray, sir, how should it go into the thorax?

DIMSDALE--By the lymphaeduct, if carried by any means.

No water would come into a body after it was dead, but he questioned whether or not it might come into the windpipe.

COWPER--Sir, I would ask you, was you not angry that Mr.

Camblin would not join with you in opinion?

DIMSDALE--No.

COWPER--Did you not tell him that you were a graduate physician, and was angry he would not join you?

DIMSDALE--Suppose I did?