deposed that the places in which the
discoloration had been observed in the first
instance were, at the time of the second
examination, greatly decomposed, but that the rest
of the body was, on the contrary, in a quite
sound and healthy state. He further stated
that there was no apparent ground whatever
for the imputations cast on the girl's
character. Upon his cross-examination, this
gentleman admitted that he had not observed
on the first inspection of the body any crease
or mark, as of a rope, about the neck, or any
appearance as of strangulation. But, upon
this part of the case the opinions of a number
of medical gentlemen were taken, who all
decidedly expressed their conviction that the
deceased had not come to her death by
drowning. The sound state of her person,
with the exception of those parts which had
the appearance of having been injured by
violence, proved, they said, that she had
imbibed no water, which would speedily have
caused decomposition; but she must have
imbibed water if she had gone into it
alive. A drowned person, it was argued,
sank, whereas a dead body floated. In
proof of this, Edward Clement, a seaman,
was called, who deposed that he was present
at the sea fight of sixteen hundred and
ninety, off Beachy Head, and that all the
dead bodies which were thrown overboard
during the fight, floated: that he saw
hundreds so floating at that fight. He
deposed further that in sixteen hundred and
ninety-one, he witnessed the shipwreck of
the Coronation. The crew were walking on
the larboard side of the ship when she sank,
after which they swam about like shoals of
fish, hovered one above the other, and finally
disappeared: sinking downright as soon as life
was extinct.

Another seaman deposed, that when they
buried any deceased persons at sea, weights
were fixed to the bodies, because otherwise
they would not sink, but would float.

So far there was a strong case, at least, for
the presumption of foul play; but there
appeared to be a great defect in one very
material part of the case—namely, in
evidence as to the general character and conduct
of the deceased during life, which might show
whether or not she was likely from her past
conduct to have committed any error which
might possibly induce an act of self-destruction.
No near friend or relative could be
examined—all her relations and connections,
even her mother, being Quakers, steadily
declined to take an oath, and were for that
reason, according to the state of the law in
those days, not admissible as witnesses.

On the other hand, the traversers produced
a number of witnesses, casual acquaintances
of the deceased, who were all witness to her
melancholy disposition. To a draper from
whom she purchased a dress, she remarked
that she did not think she should live ever to
wear it; and when he taxed her jestingly
with being in love, she did not deny that,
but declared it never should be said of her
that she changed her religion for a husband.
It was further proved that she had been ill
for some time previously, and that upon a
lady's advising her to consult an eminent
physician, she said it would be useless,
because her disease was in her mind. It was
proved also that she had been very careless
of herself throughout this illness, and was
heard to say, openly, the sooner it put an end
to her the better.

These, and other like facts, were produced
in evidence on the part of the traversers, to
show on the part of the deceased predisposition
towards suicide; and—for the reason
before given—there was no evidence on the
part of the prosecution, by those who might
be supposed able to disprove it.

Spencer Cowper himself conducted the
defence of himself and his friends in a most
able manner; minutely sifting all the
evidence, and deadening every point made for
the prosecution. On his own behalf he
appealed to the bench and the jury to consider,
"whether, under the circumstance in which
he was accused, he, a man of some fortune in
possession, in expectation of a better, in good
professional practice, living within his
income, never in debt,—in fact, he might truly
say, never owing five pound at any time for
the last eight years,—having no possibility of
reaping any advantage by the death of the
deceased; having no malice towards her, or
such would have been proved; but, on the
contrary, as appeared from the evidence for
the prosecution, in perfect amity and friendship
with her up to the day of her death;
was likely to be guilty of her murder? He
submitted that he, having a fair character
and a stake in society, should all at once
abandon such a position for no assignable
cause or motive, and begin at the beginning
of all baseness and wickedness, was incredible.

Doctors Sloane and Wollaston, two of the
most eminent physicians of the day, and
Cooper the anatomist, were examined on
behalf of the traversers, and were all of opinion
that so small a quantity of water might
cause death as to leave little or no trace of it
discernible. Mr. Herriot, a sea surgeon,
declared, from his experience, that dead bodies
would sink on being thrown into the sea.
Another seaman deposed to his having seen
dead bodies float. Cowper, ably contending
that there was no proof whatever that a
murder had been perpetrated, urged also,
that even as regarded the floating of the
body of the deceased gentlewoman, it
appeared by the evidence for the prosecution
that the body of Miss Stout was raised and
supported by the stakes in the dam, as any
other body or substance would have been, by
the force of the current on meeting an
impediment in its course. According to Sarah
Walker's evidence, she heard the street door
close shortly before eleven o'clock, at which