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vougoout . I am longing to meet again , sweet love . We shall be so happy . I have a bad pen—excuse this scrawl—and B . is near me . I cannot write at night now . My head aches so r and I am looking so bad that I cannot sit up as I used to do ; but I . am taking some stuff to bring , back the colour . I shall see you soon again . Put up with short notes for a little time . When I feel stronger you shall have long ones : Adieu , my love , my pet , my sweet Emile . A fond , dear , tender love , and sweet embrace . Ever , with love , yours , —Mimi . " No . 119 was a copy of a letter in L'Angelier ' s handwriting , taken by a copying machine . Its reception was objected to on the part of the prisoner . A debate took place , and the judges by a majority decided that it was admissible in evidence , leaving its authenticity and value to be determined by the jury . It was as follows : _ . 'Glasgow , March 5 . —My dear sweet pet Mimi , — I feel indeed very vexed that the answer I received yesterday to mine of Tuesday to you should prevent me from sending you the kind letter 1 had ready for you . You must not blame me for this , but really your cold , indifferent , and reserved notes , so short , without a particle of love in them ( especially after pledging your word you were to write me kindly for those letters you asked me to destroy ) , and the manner you evaded answering the questions 1 put to you in my last , with the reports I hear , fully convince me , Mimi , that there is foundation in your maTiiage with another . Besides , the way you put off our union till September , without a just reason , is very suspicious . I do not think , Mimi dear , that Mrsl Anderson would say your mother told her things she had not ; and really I could never believe Mr . Houldsworth would be guilty of telling a falsehood for mere talking . No , Mimi , there is foundation for all this . You often go to Mr . M . ' s house , and common sense would lead any one to believe that , if you were not on the footing reports say you are , you would avoid going near any of his friends . I know lie goes with you , or at least meets you in Stirlingshire . Mimi dear , place yourself in my position , and tell me , am I wrong in believing what I hear ? I was happy the last time we met—yes , very happ } -. I was forgetting all the past , but now it is again beginning . Mimi , I insist on having an explicit answer to the questions you evaded in my last . If you evade answering them this time , I must try some other means of" coming to the-truth . If not answered in a satisfactory manner , you must not expect I shall again write you personally , or meet you when you return home . I do not wish you to answer this at random ; I shall wait for a day or so , if you require it . I know you cannot write me from Stirlingshire , as the time you have to write me a letter is occupied in doing so to others . There was a time you would iave found plenty of time . Answer me this , Mimi" Who gave you the trinket you showed me ? Is it true it was Mr . Minnoch ? And is it true that you are directly or indirectly engaged to Mr . Minnoch or to any one else but me ? These questions I must know . The doctor says I must go to the Bridge of Allan . I cannot travel five hundred miles to the Isle of Wight and five hundred back . What is your object in wishing me so very much to go south ? I may not go to the Bridge of Allan till Wednesday-, if I canavoid going , I shall do so for your sake . I shall wait to hear from you . I hope , dear , nothing will happen to check the happiness we were again enjoying . May God bless you , pet , and , with fond and tender embraces , believe me , with kind love , your ever affectionate husband , Emile L'Ahoeliek . " Other letters from Miss Smith to L'Angelier , down to the 13 th of March , are written in the former style of devoted fondness ; but , on the 16 th of March , she writes to Mr . Minnoch , addressing him as ' My dearest William , " and speaking of him as one she lovea . On the 21 st of March , she writes to L'Angelier the letter quoted by us Ia 9 t week , commencing , " Why , my beloved , did you not come to me ?" At the commencement of the proceedings on Monday morning , in reference to the memorandum book which -was found in the desk of L'Angelier , the counsel for the prosecution proposed to have it admitted as evidence ; but the Judge decided that this could not be done , stating that it was commenced when the prisoner had i rejected L'Angelier , and demanded to have her lcttera ; back . These memoranda appeared as if written for the purpose of increasing L'Angelier ' s power over the young lady . ' This closed the caeo for the prosecution . ' For tho defence , thirty witnesses were called , the tenor of whose evidence went to show that L'Angelier , had confessed to using arsenic , that ho took laudanum ; and poppy seeds , and had frequently expressed his opinion < that suicide is justifiable under circumstances of great : sorrow or disappointment . On one occasion ho declared ; — " I wish I had courage to blow my brains out . " Tho i evidence proved that L'Angelier was very depressed after t the breaking off of ( ho love affair ; that ho was excited i at times , and talked wildly ; that he frequently wept , i and spoke of killing himself in various ways ; that ho i wua often ill previously to his quarrel with Miss Smith ; j that ladies havo boon greatly interested in tho viso of i araonio as a cosmotio ctinco tho publication , about two i years ago , of artlcloa in JJlaokwood ' a Magazine and Chambera ' a Joxtrrml ; and that washing the faoo and < e . is r . > t 0 it il y d [ - n e it y , s - d e i . L , - r ii i 3 , t i I » 1 l l s I 1 , j 2 , l 1 [ f t i
\ hands in arsenic is not necessarily dangerous . Doctors Lawrie and Douglas Maclagan testified to this from personal experience . Janet Smith , the prisoner ' s sister , a girl of thirteen , who gave her evidence with great composure , was also examined , and stated that she slept with her sister on the night of Sunday , the 22 d of March ; that they both went to bed at the same | tune ; and that Madeline was found in bed in the morning as usual . She addedi in cross-examination : — " I remember the morning Madeline went away . I suppose she came to bed that night , but I was asleep that night before it was her time to come . I missed her in the morning on awaking . " ¦ ' The evidence for the defence having closed , the Court adjourned at five o ' clock till Tuesday . The Lord Advocate , on the part of the Crown , replied to the evidence for the defence on Tuesday , and went elaborately through the whole facts , observing that , though he should have been far better satisfied had the testimony of the witnesses enabled the Crown Jo witlidraw from the prosecution , it appeared to Kim that " everv link in the chain of evidence was so firmly fastened , every loophole so completely stopped , that there did not remain the possibility of escape for the unhappy prisoner from the net that she had woven around herself . " This reply occupied the whole of Tuesday ; and on Wednesday the Dean of Faculty addressed the Court for the prisoner . After remarking on the touching nature of the circumstances about which the jury would have to come to a decision , the Dean alluded to the letters written by Miss Smith to L'Angelier , and remarked that at first they showed nothing but gentleness and propriety . But , he added , " in the spring of 1856 the corruptfng influence of the seducer was successful , and the prisoner fell . How corrupting that influence must have been , and how vile the arts were to which he resorted for his nefarious purpose , could never be known so well as by looking to the altered tone of this poor girl ' s letters . She had lost not her virtue merely , but , as my learned friend ( the Lord Advocate ) said , her sense of decency . Whose fault was that ? Whose doing was it ? Think you that , without temptation , without vile teaching , a poor girl falls into those depths of degradation ? No . Influence from without , most corrupting influence , could alone account for such a falL And yet , gentlemen , through the midst of this frightful correspondence , whicn I wish to God could have been concealed from your eyes and those of the public—and if it had not been , as my learned friend thought , absolutely necessary for the ends of justice that it should be produced , I feel satisfied he would not have done so—eren through the midst of this frightful correspondence there breathes a spirit of devoted love towards the man who wronged her , that strikes me as the most remarkable . " The Dean then referred to the facts of the case , contending that it was not satisfactorily shown that the accused and L'Angelier met on the 19 th of February , and particularly that there was no proof that Miss Smith possessed arsenic until the 21 st of February , though all the druggists ' shops in Glasgow had been searched , and the prisoner ' s purchases had been openly and frankly made . The Crown must therefore choose between the horns of this dilemma : —If L'Angelier was ill from arsenic at that time , some other hand than the prisoner ' s must have administered it ; if he was not , the whole foundation of tUe case was shaken . After maintaining that the ovidence disproved their having met on the 22 nd of February , the second occasion on which she was charged with attempting to poison , the Dean referred to the absence of all proof whatever that they had met the night before the death of L'Angelier . The appointment was made for Saturday , not Sunday . The prisoner went to bod late that night with her sister , and there was not a tittle of evidence that the house was disturbed or approached in tho course of the night . She could have hud no motivo to destroy L'Angelier while he had such letters in Ins possession , and every circumstance in the case spok , o strongly against the probability of her committing a foul and deliberate murder . The Dean dwelt on tho probability of L'Angelior ' s death being tho result of suicide or arising from other causes , and implored the jury not rashly to tear aside the veil of mystery in which Providence had wrapped this man , and prayed them to bring their hearts as well as their minds to tho judgment of the case . Tho Lord Justice Clark then commenced his charge to tho Jury . Ho observed that poisoning by arsenic was almost always a secret crime , and waa generally to be proved by circumstantial evidence ; that evidence , however , must bo complete , distinct , and satisfactory , and must oxaludo tho possibility of innocence or of unexplained mystery , and they musb not supply any defoot in tho prosecutor ' s cuse by suspioion or presumption against tho accused . They must ho satisfied that tho accused had tho purpose and tho opportunity ; thoy must L > o satisfied that tho partios mot that night . Thoy might havo a strong suspicion thoy did so , or tho probabilities of tho caso might favour that view ; but , unices they could , by just , Batiafuctony , and inevitable inference , conclude that thoy did moot , a link remained wanting in tho caso , and tho catastrophe and its alleged cause wore not found together . Tho numerous theories
for the defence might not be of ; thei failure could in no way strengthen the case for the pro secution , which must be of itself complete and conclu sive , and carry conviction to their minds . —His Lordshi ] had read over nearly half of the parole evidence , wher the Court adjourned at six o'clock till Thursday . On that day , the summing-up was resumed ao < finished , " the Lord Justice again impressing on thejun that they must not convict even on a very strong sus picion of guilt , but only on the strongest conviction He concluded by beseeching an All-wise and ^ All-seeing Providence to direct them to a right verdict . Manj persons in Court were affected even to tears by thi solemnity of this address .
The jury then retired to their room , and , on their re turn , the Foreman , in the midst of a breathless silence said " We find the prisoner Not Gurxxr on the firs ! count , and Not Proven on the second and third . " A loud and long-continued burst of applause followed th < announcement ; but this , of course , was checked as soon as it could be . The excitement outside the Court was
. During the fearful moments of suspense between th < retirement of the jury and the delivery of the verdict Miss Smith preserved the same astounding demeanoui of complete calmness and indifference which she had exhibited all through the trial ; but , when the foreman pronounced the finding of the jury , she gave a heavy sigh of relief . According to one account , there was a slight shade of sadness on herface ' at the commencement of the day ' s proceedings ; but she did not appear to b ( in any degree cast down when the Lord Justice Clerk , in the progress of his summing up , brought forward tat strong points against her . A more wonderful instance of self-control has never been seen in a court of justice , on a trial for life , than that presented by Madeline Smith .
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EXECUTION OF MANSELL . After remaining in suspense for some six months , hanging literally between life and death on ' the threat of a legal technicality , Mansell was at length on Monday morning publicly killed . It will be recollected that h < shot a corporal of the Forty-ninth Regiment , to whicl he also belonged ; and that the arguments in two law courts with respect to the alleged flaw in the construction of the jury which tried him have delayed his execution up to this time , though he was found Guilty at the winter Assizes . He appears to have buoyed himself up with the idea that , after such frequent respites , he would not be hanged at all ; and many others shared _ this belief . Efforts were made to save him ; but Sir George Grey , who seldom leans to the side of mercy , said lie saw nothing exceptional in the case , and therefore refused to interfere .
When informed that he must die , Mansell seemed greatly shocked . He exhibited considerable irritation after the failure of the second attempt to reverse his sentence ; but this gradually passed , and he evidently reckoned on a commutation . To the last , he showed no contrition , 'affirming that the overbearing conduct of the corporal justified him in what he did . His only living relative is a brother , who is now confined in a lunatic asylum ; so that there was no final interviews with members of the family . Upon seeing the ordinary and the governor of the prison on Monday morning , he shook hands with them , thanked them for their kindness , and
asked thorn to forgive him for the trouble he had given , and for the manner in which he had acted upon several occasions . He then requested that tho medal , which he had received for- good conduct as a soldier , might be handed to one of the officers of his regiment , and he was assured that his request should be complied with . The prison clock having struck twelve , he asked , very composedly , "Are you not a little behind time ? " Ho refused the assistance of Caloraft in mounting the scaffold , and ran up the stops by himself . According to ono account , ho appeared to die in an instant ; according to another , he suffered greatly . The crowd was much smaller than is usual on those occasions .
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CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT . Tho July Sessions commenced on Monday , when Rosa Bush , a young woman of twenty , was tried for tho « bduotlon of Elizabeth Harris , a girl under fourteen ycare of ago . Tho girl was a Jewess , of very prepossessing appearance , and scorning to bo older than her years } and a butuhor named Clarke made advances towards her . Bush , who was a servant In tho employ of Eliza-
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much valuebut THE LEADER . [ No . 381 , Juey 11 , 1657 . bob . - - ¦ ; -- ^ - ~
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MIDDLESEX SESSIONS . Tho July General Quarter Sessions wore opened on . Monday . On that day , William Spencer , recently a constable in tho polico force , -was found Guilty of a criminal ussault on a servant girl . Ho was sentenced to . eight months' hard labour . Thomas lieevca has boon found Guilty of obtaining money by false pretences from tho Rov . William Skynner ,, Sir Arthur Httllam Elton , tho member for Bath , and others . The faots havo boon alroady related in these columns . Previous convictions for similar frauds wore proved against him ; and ho was sentenced to penal servitude for tliroo years .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 11, 1857, page 656, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2200/page/8/
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