Recollections of John Thurtell, who was executed at Hertford on Friday, the 9th of January, 1824 for murdering Mr. W. Weare. Including various anecdotes, and an account of his demeanour after sentence was passed. Also, the condemned sermon, and a correct view of the execution, taken on the spot by an eminent artist / by Pierce Egan ; being an appendix to his account of the trial.

Pierce Egan

Date:: 1824

Credit: Recollections of John Thurtell, who was executed at Hertford on Friday, the 9th of January, 1824 for murdering Mr. W. Weare. Including various anecdotes, and an account of his demeanour after sentence was passed. Also, the condemned sermon, and a correct view of the execution, taken on the spot by an eminent artist / by Pierce Egan ; being an appendix to his account of the trial. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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$a4 But before it was $0 stretched? There was no stretching ; the integumeénts which covered the skull, a solid substance, had been bruised when forced th that solid substance. which had been broken beneath it by the violence of the blow. The integuments of the skull were not torn away, but were rent in halves} as it were. ) i Would that drawing you have made denote the size of the aperture if it had been drawn out? ‘It would have been of considerable size. I could have put my finger into it, Mr. Justice Park. Mr. Platt, I think the case is very clear. The skull was fractured ; the bone produced tous was driven into the brain, and the skin or scalp was rent. I think, Mr. Ward, you have given your evidence very clearly, __ Mr. Platt. Was the rent of the integuments made in that kind of way, that a larger instrument could have been forced through? Certainly. The jugular vein was divided, which, if not stopped, would produce death, was it not? Yes Was any artery divided? No. You could have judged that great hemorrhage had taken place? No. Was there an appearance as if the wound that divided the jugular vein had been inflicted on the living person? There was every appearance as if it ha’, and nothing to show that it had not been inflicted on the living person. Could you say,on your oath, that that wound could have been inflicted ver death? I think it possible. Have you not the means of judging whether a wound that appears on a dead body has been inflicted Hudson or after death? Not after a body has been soaked in water three or four days; the indicia are not such that I would trust them in such a case. Then the body must have been altered by lying in the water? Yes. Are not the features more altered in persons dying of hemorrhage, so as to make it more difficult to recognise them? Yes, when the hemorrhage is pro- tracted. : | Is the hemorrhage from the jugular vein protracted? The bleeding, in the case of a wound of the jugular vein, is uncertain; sometimes it is protracted, sometimes not. In this case the jugular vein was divided? Not entirely divided; but the wound was very considerable. Suppose an individual had been bled to death, and laid for a week in a pond, would it not in such a case have been more difficult for persons to ascertain who that individual was? It would; but I conceive, from the appearance of the body I saw at Elstree, that if I had known the person in his life-time, I should have recognised him then. __ ; Ay Re-examined by Mr. Broderick. What, in your opinion, was the cause of death? The injury to the brain by thepistol. _ Mr. Ruthven, the officer, called. He brought into the court with bim a large bag of carpetting full of various articles, a hat in a handkerchief, and a dressing case. Sworn, and examined by Mr. Bolland. I am an officer of Bow-street ; I apprehended the prisoner, John Thurtell, the Wednesday after the. Friday of the supposed murder (the 29th Oct.), at Tetsall’s, the sign of the Coach-and-Horses, in Conduit-street, Bond-street, Loudon. I found in his. coat pocket a pistol, not loaded, I found a pistol key ard a kunife in his waistcoat pocket, and a key which belonged to an air gun. I found a muslin. handkerchief in a drawer close to the bed side: it appeared to be marked with blood; the marks were just the same then as they are now. In a drawer I found a shirt, stained with blood in each corner of the collar where they roject above the neckcloth.~ I found a black Kerseymere waistcoat, with marks of blood on each pocket. I found this on his bed. I found also a black coat, with marks of blood on both cuffs, and a mark on the left shoul-. | der; I found this coat on his bed; I found a hat [produced]; there is a mark$

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