Catherine Bainbridge

343

Maureen Withey on 22nd March 2022

Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 22 March 2022), September 1832, trial of CATHERINE BAINBRIDGE (t18320906-65). CATHERINE BAINBRIDGE, Killing > murder, 6th September 1832. OLD COURT. FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 7. Second Middlesex Jury, before Mr. Baron Bailey. 1791. CATHERINE BAINBRIDGE was indicted for the wilful murder of William Francis . ELIZABETH BOWLES . I lived at No. 4, Match-walk, Shadwell ; the prisoner lodged with William Francis in the room facing mine - they had lived there together not quite a week; both came there together - whether they had lived together before I cannot say. On the 19th of July Francis came home between eleven and twelve o'clock, before the prisoner; I saw him - he did not appear to me at all intoxicated nor elevated with liquor; he appeared to me ruffled in his temper - he knocked at my door, and asked for a light; I gave him one, and while I was getting it, he put his hands together, and said to me, "You would have been frightened to hear the expressions she has been calling me up in Shoreditch;" he said she had said she would not let him come in that night, and he would not let her in; the prisoner came up stairs in about a quarter of an hourshe opened the room door and went in; I heard him tell her to go out - I did not hear whether she made any answer; I then heard basins, plates, and things being broken - I could not tell whether they were striking each other, but there was a great rustle between them, which continued a very few minutes; whether any blows were given I cannot possibly tell, but I heard her say, "I will stab you with a knife;" she had been in the room a very few mintes when I heard that - it was altogether a very few minutes; they had been rustling together before I heard her say that; she almost immediately called Nancy! Nancy! meaning Leonard, who lived in the room underneath; she seemed frightened - Leonard went up immediately; I was partly undressed, and did not go into the room till the Policeman took the prisoner away; I then went and asked for a light; I had heard no words between them but what I have stated - there were words between them, but what I could not understand; it was before she said she would stab him - but they were both in a passion, and I could not understand what was said, nor tell whether any blows were given; there might or might not be blows - I heard the crockery breaking before I heard her say she would stab him; the deceased was about fifty years old, or more - he was a very powerful man. Cross-examined by MR. BARRY. Q. He was a black, I believe? A. A tawney - he appeared a foreigner; I had not seen the prisoner the early part of the day, and did not see her come in that night - I was in my room with the door closed; I knew her by her voice. COURT. Q. How many minutes do you think she had been in the room before she said she would stab him? A. I suppose five or six - they had been quarrelling all that time. ANN LEONARD . I lodge in the same house - Francis had been there six days; I knew the prisoner before she came to that house; she had only lived with Francis about a week the last time - she had lived with him before, and they parted when he went to sea; he had returned about a week - I was not at home on the 19th when he came in, but was at home when the prisoner came in, and heard her go into her room; I had not heard Francis say any thing before that - when she had been there about five minutes, she called out Nancy two or three times pretty quick; she did not seem much flurried - if she had not called I should not have known any thing had happened; I had heard the crockery breaking, but how it was broken, or by whom, I cannot tell - the prisoner said, when I went up stairs, that she had broken it; when I went up stairs I found the prisoner laying on the floor, and Francis had his foot on part of her body, and her hair in his hand, and he was aiming to strike her - she had her cap off; I said, "Francis, what are you doing?" he put his hand to his breast, and said,"See what Kitty has done!" his breast was streaming with blood - it was all over blood; I thought he had a red flannel waistcoat on - I asked Catherine how she had done it; she said she had thrown the bason at him - nothing more passed: the prisoner was very much in liquor - whether he had beat her when she came home I cannot tell; I have known him beat her - his temper was violent; I do not know whether he was in liquor. Cross-examined. Q. Did you ever know him to bite her? A. I did not see him bite her, but she showed me a mark on her arm; they did not lodge in our house then, but we lodged with the deceased. Q. Had she been in the habit of calling you before? A. No; she used to get out of his way when they quarrelled; she has often got out of his way because she was afraid of him - I live in the room under them; she called loud enough for me to hear; a struggle might happen in the room without my hearing it - they so often quarrelled, I did not notice whether there was struggling or not; the breaking of the crockery sounded loud, as if it was dashed about the room; when I went up, he was making an aim to strike her with his fist, and had hold of her hair to beat her; she could not get away from him. COURT. Q. Had you seen her that evening before? A. Yes, at the George and Dragon, about half-past eleven o'clock, and desired her to come home; she came home in a few minutes - I told her to come home, as I knew how he used to beat her, and I was afraid he would beat her for being out late; she did not express any unwillingness to go home, nor ill-will against him - she went directly; he was very jealous of her. MARY SPURDEN . I lived in the same house as Francis. I was in bed, and heard him come home alone, and in about a quarter of an hour I heard the prisoner come home - she went up stairs - I did not hear her go into her room; as soon as she got up stairs I heard him say, "You shan't come in," and heard her say she would come in; I heard no quarrelling or scuffling - I heard the crockery break-I heard a rustling, as if he was endeavouring to keep her out, and she was endeavouring to get in; it appeared as if only one person was throwing crockery about; by whom it was thrown I cannot tell - I heard the prisoner call Nancy three times quickly, as if she wished her to come up as soon as she could; I should not have known any thing had happened if she had not called - I went up stairs; the man was then laying under the window, and the prisoner sitting on a chest. JOHN DOUGLAS . I am a Policeman. On the night of the 19th of July, about five minutes before I went up to the room, I was in the street and heard the prisoner call out Little Ann! Little Ann! very lond a great many times, as if she was anxious for her to come - I heard nothing more till I was called up; the first thing I then saw was the deceased in an inclining position over the back of the chair - the prisoner was going about the room backwards and forwards, as if in distress; I noticed the blood spurting from a wound in the deceased's right breast - I then said he had been stabbed; the prisoner replied, "No, he has not been stabbed - I have only set his nose bleeding by throwing a basin at him;" I then looked at him and saw another wound bleeding fresh over his left eye - I said again to the prisoner; "This man has been stabbed:" she said, No, he had not - I looked about, and just on the other side of the room, by a chair, I picked up this knife; there are marks of blood on it, particularly on the lower part, and high up it is greasy; the other knives in the room were not of the same kind as this - they were all round points; when I picked the knife up, the prisoner said, "That is not the knife, it was little Ann's knife" - I turned round to little Ann, and asked where her knife was; Tucker said she had taken little Ann's knife down stairs - I went down to little Ann's room, and on a table found a knife, which I now produce; there are no marks of blood on that - the knife was damp; I took the prisoner to the station-house: when I told her I must take her into custody, she immediately rushed to the table, and took another knife out of a drawer, which I took from her; and as we were going to the station-house, she said, "This is through my speaking to another man" - she afterwards said he had no business to leave his money in Old-street as he had, and that he had left 20l. odd, with somebody else in Shoreditch. Cross-examined. Q. How far were you from the house when you heard the cry for little Ann? A. I stood in the street opposite to the house; the window was shut - I had been there before, on account of hearing them talk loud; I had heard a noise about ten minutes before from the same room, from the prisoner only; I did not see her, but knew her voice - she had been released from the deceased's grasp when I got up, and was pacing the room; the knife is a table knife - the deceased was cook on board ship; I found the room in confusion, broken crockery laid about, and some was outside; there was no cloth on the table, the crockery was dinner articles. SARAH TUCKER . I am landlady of the house - the prisoner took the lodgings for herself and Francis - I heard him come in on the night of the 19th; I was in bed, and heard the prisoner come in about half an hour after him - I heard the crockery breaking, and heard her call Nancy two or three times; I went into the room almostly directly, and saw the deceased with his foot on the prisoner's body, her hair in his hand, and his hand was rising as if he was about to strike her, but he seemed very faint - he gave me a round pointed knife out of his hand - it was Ann Leonard's; he turned round when I saw the blood on his breast, and said, "See what Kitty has done" - he did not say what had been done with that knife; that was all he could say - the knife he gave me was not bloody, when he turned round I saw a great cut over his left eye - when I saw the blood on his shirt; I said, "What have you been doing?" the prisoner said, "I threw the basin at him:" when he said, "See what Kitty has done" - he staggered and fell; I saw him die in a very short time - he was in the habit of beating her violently; he was passionate - he would scarcely speak while he was beating her. Cross-examined. Q. I believe this is also a table knife? A. Yes; the large knife belonged to the deceased - he used to keep it in his room, it is rather sharp: he had a knife in his hand while he was bleeding - ithad no blood on it that I saw; it was in the hand he was aiming with to strike her. COURT. Q. Then, if he had had strength, you think he would have struck her with that knife? A. Yes. WILLIAM BUTLER . I am a Policeman. On the 19th of July, a little before ten o'clock, I was on duty, and saw the prisoner and deceased at the top of Old Gravel-lane, having a great many words - Andrews, my brother officer, was coming up the lane, and moved them on; they crossed the road and went on quarreling - hesaid, "Kitty, I will have no row with you to night;" he crossed over on myside again - she started off, and ran for nearly fifty yards; then stopped, and looked back - when he got nearly opposite to her, she said, "You shall not come into the room to night - I will go home, and fasten the door, or fasten you out;" I saw nothing more till I went up to the room, after the deceased was stabbed - as Douglas was going to the watch-house with the prisoner I heard her say she did not do it, if she did, it was with the crockery; I picked the crockery up and examined it as narrowly as I could, but could find no marks of blood, except one drop on a little bit, as if it had come from his eye - as I was taking the deceased down stairs to go to the hospital he died. Cross-examined. Q. Were they both sober at ten o'clock? A. The prisoner had certainly been drinking -I have known her a good while; I never saw them quarrel before - I had not seen the man above three times. JOHN TRIPE . I am a surgeon. Mr. Bird was called in to see the deceased; I examined the body about seven o'clock in the evening - the death was occasioned by a wound on the right side of the chest; either of these knives would produce that wound. JOHN WILLIAM BIRD . I examined the body; the stab in the chest was the cause of death; either of these knives would produce it - the blow seems to have been struck on the collar-bone, and the large knife was bent in the blade- I cannot say which knife it was done with. ANN LEONARD. The small knife is mine; the prisoner had asked me to lend it to her on the Monday; I lent her two knives and forks. GUILTY of manslaughter . Aged 22. Transported for Life .