Part 26 (1/2)

DEW--Because I cried out, 'They hurt her arm.'

COWPER--Was she not within the stakes?

DEW--No, this shoulder kept her out.

COWPER--When you complained they hurt her arm, what answer did they make you?

DEW--They stooped down and took her arm out from between the stakes; they could not have got her out else.

COWPER--After she was taken out, did you observe any froth or foam come from her mouth or nose?

DEW--There was a white froth came from her, and as they wiped it away, it was on again presently.

COWPER--What was the appearance of her face and upper parts at that time?

DEW--She was so much disfigured, I believe that scarce any of her neighbours knew her, the slime of the water being upon her.

COWPER--Did you see her maid Sarah Walker at that time?

DEW--No.

HATSELL, BARON--Mr. Cowper, do you intend to spend so much time with every witness? I do not see to what purpose many of these questions are asked.

COWPER--I have done with him: call Young.

HATSELL, BARON--Mr. Cowper, I would not have you straiten yourself, but only ask those questions that are pertinent.

COWPER--Pray, give an account of what you know of the matter.

YOUNG--On Tuesday morning between five and six o'clock, last a.s.sizes----

COWPER--What officer did you say?

YOUNG--I was constable.

COWPER--Was you employed by the coroner?

YOUNG--Not by him in person. Between five and six o'clock some of the men that came into my yard to work, told me a woman was drowned at the mill; I staid a little and went down to see, and when I came there, I saw a woman, as they had told me, and I saw part of her coat lie on the top of the water to be seen, and I looked strictly and nicely within the bridge and saw the face of a woman, and her left arm was on the outside the stakes, which I believe kept her from going through; so I looked upon her very wishfully, and was going back again; and as I came back I met with R. Dew and two of my neighbours, and they asked me to go back with them, and said they were going to take her up; and being constable, I told them I thought it was not proper to do it, and they said they had orders for it; so I being constable went back with them, and when I came there I found her in the same posture as before; we viewed her very wishfully; her coat that was driven near the stakes was seen, but none of her coats, or her legs; and after we had looked a little while upon her, we spake to Dell and Ulse to take her up, and one of them took hold of her coat till he brought her above water; and as her arm drew up, I saw a black place, and she laid sideway, that he could not take her up till they had let her down again, and so they twisted her out sideway; for the stakes were so near together that she could not lie upon her belly, or upon her back; and when they had taken her up, they laid her down upon a green place, and after she was laid down, a great quant.i.ty of froth (like the froth of new beer) worked out of her nostrils.

HATSELL, BARON--How much do you call a great quant.i.ty?

YOUNG--It rose up in bladders, and run down on the sides of her face, and so rose again; and seeing her look like a gentlewoman, we desired one Ulse to search her pockets, to see if there were any letters, that we might know who she was; so the woman did, and I believe there was twenty or more of us that knew her very well when she was alive, and not one of us knew her then; and the woman searched her pockets, and took out six guineas, ten s.h.i.+llings, three pence halfpenny, and some other things; and after that I desired some of my neighbours to go with me and tell the money; for when it came to be known who she was, I knew we must give an account on it, and I laid it upon a block and told it, and they tyed it up in a handkerchief, and I said I would keep the money, and they should seal it up to prevent any question about it; and during all this while of discourse, and sealing up the money, the froth still worked out of her mouth.

COWPER--Have you measured the depth of the water? What depth is it there?

YOUNG--I measured the water this morning, and it was so high that it ran over the floodgate, and the height of it was about four foot two inches; but sometimes it is pent up to a greater height than it is to-day.

COWPER--Was it higher to-day than when the body was found?

YOUNG--To the best of my remembrance, it was as high to-day as it was then.