Transcription
Trial & Sentence. Account of the Trial and sentence of WILLIAM DIVAN, before the High Court of Justiciary at Edinburgh, on Monday the 14 th day of June, 1824, accused of murdering his own Wife in the Gorbals of Glasgow, on the 6th of April last, by cutting her throat with a Razor, in which state she was found an entering the house; also an account of the sentence of Samuel M'Menemy, who was found guilty falsehood, fraud and wilful imposition at the last Circuit Court of Justiciary here. EDINBURGH, June 14th, 1824. This day, came on the trial of William Divan, accused of the barbarous murder of his own wife by cutting her throat in his own house, in Paisley Loan, Gorbals, on the 6th day of April, 1824. The woman's throat was cut, and the blood was running through the house. She was discovered by two of her own children on their coming home to dinner. The Police examined the house, and found nothing missing, so that plunder was not the object; they found a bloody shift, and the razor with which the horrid deed had been perpetrated, which belonged to one of his neighbours, from whom ne borrowed it, in order, as he said, to shave himself With. After the Jury had been sworn in, the pannel being asked whether he was Guilty or Not Guilty, the prisoner pled Not Guilty, and the trial proceeded when after the examination of a number of witnesses, the Jury were ably addressed by the Crown Counsel, and afterwards by the Counsel for the prisoner. The Lord Justice Clerk then summed up the evidence in a clear and distinct manner, when the jury were enclosed, and ordered to return their verdict, whieh they accordingly did, finding the prisoner Guilty, and sentenced him to be Executed at Glasgow on wed- nesday the 21st day of July next, and his body to be given for dissection; before passing sentence, assured him that his days were numbered; he had cruelly bereft his wire of life, whom he ought to have protected and cherished ; you stand this day at the bar another awful example that " murder will not hide."?I beseech you to humble yourself before God whose laws you have so grievously offended? mercy you had none, and none you can expect on earth, but may God have mercy upon your immortal soul. The deceased is said to have been a quite inoffensive woman, Vary industrious, and did every thing in her power to gain an honest subsistence for her family, but did not live in such comfortable circumstances as might have been expected, owing to her striving to gather as much as she could for family necessaries, and he, On the contrary, endeavouring to get possession of her earnings, for the purpose of enabling him to join in company with his acquaintance ,which was the cause of all the quarrels in trie family. Samuel M'Menemy, who was found Guilty at the last Circuit Court in Glasgow, of falsehood, fraud, cozenage, and wilful imposition, and who was bent to Edin- burgh to receive sentence, was brought up on Monday the 7th of June last and was sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment in Glasgow Bridewell, and to be kept at hard labour; he received a suitable admonition with regard to his future con- duct in society, and it was hoped he would make ample atonement for his past offences, by his good conduct in time to come. W. Carse, Printer, Glasgow.
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Date of publication:
1824 shelfmark: L.C.Fol.73(073)
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