Ghosts and a Bleeding Corpse in the Courtroom March 9, 2018
Author: Beach Combing | in : Modern , trackback
Introduction
In that wonderful book by Andrew Lang, Dreams and Ghosts (1897) there is a description of a phantom finding its way into a British courtroom in 1829 (pp. 143-144). Lang did not have access to the British Newspaper Archive – what fun he would have had there! – so his reference is brief and unsatisfactory. Here is the original supernatural passage from the trial. First though some background. 25 Oct 1828 one William Edden (aka Noble Edden, aged 69), a market gardener was murdered on the road at Haddenham Field near Thame (Buckinghamshire). In the summer of 1829 two men were put on trial for the murder, Benjamin Tyler (32) and Solomon Sewell (19). In the trial Edden’s wife gave evidence. Her contribution is remarkable for three points.
First, she believed that she had seen her husband at the moment of his death.
Second, and for Beach most incredible, neither the judge, lawyers or the accused, mocked her for this. Things would have been different by 1850…
Third, and Lang with his inadequate sources missed this, she herself had attempted to test Tyler by having him touch her husband’s corpse to see whether it would bleed or not. For this belief that a bleeding corpse could reveal a murderer see previous posts: Murder Will Out; and Blood and Judges.
The Wife and the Ghost
Here is the passage, note that it has been set out, for ease of reading, as a court transcript.
Mrs Edden: l recollect my husband telling me, that as he was going to his own garden at Crendon one morning last spring, about three o’clock, he met Benjamin Tyler and Solomon Sewell with something but what he did not know; it was concealed. The following morning a sheep, belonging to Mr. Harding, was reported to be missing, and my husband said it was very likely that it might be that he had seen them with, for they were spotted with blood. I do not recollect at what time this took place. I thought nothing of it until my husband was murdered. After my husband’s corpse was brought home – it was on a Wednesday evening – I sent to Tyler, for some reasons that I had, to come and see the corpse. I sent for him, five or six times. I had some particular reasons for sending for him, which I never did divulge.
Sir John King: Have you motive for not divulging those reasons now?
Mrs Edden: I will tell my reasons if you gentlemen ask me, in the face of Tyler, even if my life should be in danger for it.
Benjamin Tyler: And I can look you in the face too.
Mrs Edden: When I was ironing a shirt on the Saturday night my husband was murdered, something came over me, something rushed over me, and I thought my husband came by me. I looked up and thought I heard the voice of my husband come from near my mahogany table as I turned from my ironing. I ran out [of the house?] and said, ‘Oh dear God! My husband is murdered, and his ribs are broken [they were broken in the attack]!’ I told this to several of the neighbours. Mrs. Chester was the first to whom I told it. I mentioned it also at the Saracen’s Head.
Sir John King: Have you any objection to say why you thought your husband was murdered ?
Mrs Edden: No. I thought saw my husband’s apparition and the man that done it; and that man was Tyler, and that was the reason I sent for him.
Sir John King: Did Tyler come?
Mrs Edden: Yes, he came at last, and stood at the foot of the coffin, which was in a room down stairs. I asked him if he would come and touch the corpse.
Sir John King: What did he say?
Mrs Edden: He said, No; he had rather not; he did not like to touch a corpse. He turned out of the room, and said, ‘Poor man, he has been murdered safe enough.’ It was on Friday morning when he said, ‘He has been murdered safe enough.’ I replied, I hope it will be found out. When neighbours asked me what was the matter when I ran out, I told them I had seen my husband’s apparition. When a Bow-street runner came to me, which he did several times, I did not tell him. I told him that ‘shadows did not give a note’ [??] of anything, and it was not worth my while to risk my own life by saying anything. Yesterday was the first day I mentioned it. I mentioned it to Mr. Hollier. When I mentioned it to Mrs. Chester, I said ‘My husband has been murdered and his ribs are broken; I have seen him by the mahogany table.’ I did not tell her who had done it. Mrs. Chester answered. I was always frightened since my husband had been stopped on the road. [The editor added here: The deceased Edden was once before waylaid, but was then too powerful for his assailants.] In consequence of what I saw, I went in search of my husband, until I was taken so ill that I could go no further.
Benjamin Tyler: Why did you send for me to sell the panel for you if you thought I had murdered your husband?
Mrs Edden: I sent for you to see whether you could face me or whether you could not. [Tyler] did come, but did not buy the panel.
Lord Nugent [judge]. What made you think that your husband’s ribs were broken?
Mrs Edden: He held up his hand like this (holding up her arm), and I saw a hammer, or something like a hammer, and it came into my mind that his ribs were broken.
It is a remarkable document: ‘Murder of Edden’, Huntingdon, Bedford & Peterborough Gazette (5 Sep 1829), 4. There are slightly earlier versions but the type was clearer here…
Inconsistencies
A couple of points to clear up some confusion in the case more generally.
Tyler and Sewell were actually found not guilty at the end of this trial. But they were arrested again March 1830 for the same crime: not sure how double jeopardy worked back then…
The evidence now adduced was principally circumstantial; but a material part of it consisted in statements made by the prisoners in conversations between themselves or others, which had been overheard, but altogether forming a chain so complete that it could not controverted. Shortly before eleven o’clock, the jury returned a verdict of guilty against both the prisoners, and the Judge pronounced the awful sentence of death. Bucks Assizes, Cambridge Chronicle and Journal (12 Mar 1830), 4.
Sewell admitted his guilt before his death, but Tyler claimed that he had been falsely sworn, making a speech to that effect on the scaffold. Tyler was a manipulative bad ass. Sewell seems to have been out of his depth. He may even have been ‘simple’.
There are some contradictions about the date of Edden’s death in our sources. Lang was correct. Edden was murdered on the night of Saturday 25 Oct.
Also, for those who take joy in the events of the past: in the coroner’s session one of the key witnesses was a lollipop-maker.
Challenge
This is the latest bleeding corpse reference in a courtroom for Britain known to this blogger; can anyone go later for an English-speaking or European country? drbeachcombing AT gmail DOT com, Earlier references from this blog: Murder Will Out; and Blood and Judges.
