_If the deceased be a female, whether there be any marks or bruises that would indicate the commission of a rape?_—The importance of this inquiry need not be argued, nor is it necessary in this place to point out the indications which may confirm our suspicions upon this subject. We must refer the reader to our chapter on rape, _vol._ I, _p._ 416. The interesting trial of Abraham Thornton, for the murder of _Mary Ashford_, abounds with curious evidence upon this point.
2. _Circumstances to be learnt by an examination of surrounding and collateral objects._
The information which may be occasionally derived from the state of the objects surrounding the body, will be best illustrated by the numerous cases in which they have furnished the principal means of discovery.
_Whether the spot in question be of a description to explain the cause of the deceased having been found there; or how far its retired situation excites the suspicion that the body has been conveyed thither for concealment, or some other purpose?_—Having examined all the circumstances which attach to the _person_ of the individual, we should direct our attention to the spot in which the body is found. The Cornish case which is related at _page_ 27, offers an admirable illustration of the utility of such observations. The nature of the place may perhaps suggest the probability of the person having fallen down from some height, in which case any appearance of wounds must be examined with reference to such a suspicion. We may also in the progress of such an inquiry be led to conclude that the spot may have been infested with some unwholesome vapour, destructive of life; the various circumstances which may contribute to the generation of noxious air have been fully examined under the head of _Suffocation_, _vol._ ii, _p._ 48, and were we to discover a dead body in the vicinity of a lime-kiln, or in an unventilated apartment, where charcoal[19] had been burning, or in a cellar where carbonic acid might probably have accumulated, we should derive an important clue for the investigation.
_Whether any indications of a struggle having happened on the spot are visible on the ground, or herbage near the deceased; and whether any footsteps can be traced near the body?_—The Cornish case presents itself to us again in illustration of this question. There are also several cases where impressions upon the snow have led to the detection of the guilty party. In the case of _Wm. Spiggot_, _Wm. Morris_, _David Morgan_, _Walter Evans_, _Charles Morgan_, and _David Llewellin_, for the murder of _Wm. Powell, Esq._ at Glenareth, in Caermarthenshire, March 30, 1770, footsteps were traced from _Powell’s_ house (a deep snow having just fallen) to that of _Charles Morgan_, who was in consequence apprehended, and did not long deny the fact. Some very interesting evidence was delivered upon the subject of footsteps, on the celebrated trial of _Abraham Thornton_, for the murder of _Mary Ashford_, at the Warwick assizes of 1817. _William Lovell_, a workman at Penn’s Mills, and several other witnesses, spoke as to the presence and direction of the footsteps of a man and a woman, which approached each other at one spot; their appearance shewed that the persons had been running, and dodging each other, “as well from the stride, as the sinking in of the ground, and the little scrape at the toe of the woman’s shoe.” The footsteps were afterwards compared with the shoes of _Thornton_, and found to coincide; the shoes, moreover, had a particular nail, called a _sparrow bill_, the impression of which was also perceptible. The same comparison was made with the shoes of the unfortunate _Mary Ashford_, and with a result which appeared to be equally satisfactory and conclusive. Instances have also occurred in which the presumption of guilt against certain persons has arisen from the absence of such marks; this happened in the murder of _Mr. Jeffries_, by _Elizabeth Jeffries_, his niece, and _John Swan_, his servant, at Walthamstow, in July 1751; in which case the perpetrators of the deed were suspected to have been domestics, from the single circumstance of the dew on the grass surrounding the house not having been disturbed on the morning of the murder, which must have happened, had any persons left the premises.