prisoners on the criminal side should be finally locked up for the night,
and without candles. For fourteen hours (that is, until seven o'clock on
the next morning) they were left unvisited, and in total darkness. Time,
therefore, Williams had for committing suicide. The means in other
respects were small. One iron bar there was, meant (if I remember) for the
suspension of a lamp; upon this he had hanged himself by his braces. At
what hour was uncertain: some people fancied at midnight. And in that
case, precisely at the hour when, fourteen days before, he had been
spreading horror and desolation through the quiet family of poor Marr, now
was he forced into drinking of the same cup, presented to his lips by the
same accursed hands.

* * * * *

The case of the M'Keans, which has been specially alluded to, merits also
a slight rehearsal for the dreadful picturesqueness of some two or three
amongst its circumstances. The scene of this murder was at a rustic inn,
some few miles (I think) from Manchester; and the advantageous situation
of this inn it was, out of which arose the two fold temptations of the
case. Generally speaking, an inn argues, of course, a close cincture of
neighbors--as the original motive for opening such an establishment. But,
in this case, the house individually was solitary, so that no interruption
was to be looked for from any persons living within reach of screams; and
yet, on the other hand, the circumjacent vicinity was eminently populous;
as one consequence of which, a benefit club had established its weekly
rendezvous in this inn, and left the peculiar accumulations in their club-
room, under the custody of the landlord. This fund arose often to a
considerable amount, fifty or seventy pounds, before it was transferred to
the hands of a banker. Here, therefore, was a treasure worth some little
risk, and a situation that promised next to none. These attractive