Thanks Keith, this was a nice addition to our usual business. I enjoyed it
very much. I even learned a few new terms, pattens, instant, not familiar to me
in the states. I thought maybe he had knocked her out with her pattens, as he
was holding them the night before, and when she finally came round he was
dead. Way off, but got me thinking...Thanks again.
Jennifer
In a message dated 4/30/2004 6:53:49 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
keith(a)morris5199.fsnet.co.uk writes:
Hi,
The final paragraph of the report was:
"The foreman of the Jury, after a short consultation, stated that the jury
were fully satisfied, and a verdict of Not Guilty was then recorded."
Nobody thought that Mrs. Manning was guilty. A few commented on the fact
that the Coroner was about as useful as a chocolate teapot :-)
Call me cynical, but I think that there is more to this case than meets the
eye. My thoughts are:
The natural reaction, one would have thought, on finding her husband dead,
would have been to scream the house down, or at the very least wake the
couple next door and ask for help???
If she had nothing to hide, why try and mop up the blood, and go to the
trouble of shutting the razor and placing it on the table top? What was the
bundle of clothing all about???
Why did it take Mrs. Manning between 3 and 4 hours to set off to report the
death?
Why walk to Caernarfon to her son's house, a distance of about nine miles,
when there was a police station at Bangor within easy walking distance.
Could it have been so that Mr. R. A. Poole, Esq., would have time to "fix"
things???
Those are some of my thoughts. You can shoot me down in flames now :-)
Also some background information:
Elizabeth Poole, Widow, of the Parish of St. Mary, Lambeth, married Thomas
Beckett Manning, of Bishop's Stortford, Herts. on 28th. August, 1819,
presumably at Lambeth. A Thomas Beckett Manning was baptised at Plymouth in
December 1781.
For those with local knowledge of Caernarfonshire and its history, the Poole
family are well-known. They were a rich and influential family, and they
were probably on first name terms with all the officials in court that day.
Mrs. Manning's brother in law was Owen Anthony Poole who lived at Gorphwysfa
until his death. He was a prominent Attorney at Caernarfon. Her son, Richard
Anthony Poole, was, in 1823, County Treasurer, and also an Attorney. The
kind of people the Pooles interacted with socially is illustrated by a list
of the members of the "Menai Pitt Club" for 1809. Owen Anthony Poole and W.
P. Poole, Esq., were members, along with such luminaries as Sir W. Bulkeley
Hughes, Knt.; T. Assheton Smith, Esq., M.P.; Richard Edwards, Esq.,
Nanhoron; William Wynn, Esq., Llandegwning; Evan Jones, Esq., Gelliwig; and
Rice Thomas jun., Esq.;. A veritable who's who of the movers and shakers of
Caernarfonshire society.
Murder or suicide? Was it all swept under the carpet to save the family
reputation?
We'll never know, but at least it has passed an hour or two, and increased
our historical knowledge of the county.
Regards,
Keith.
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