ALSO, THE EXECUTION OF
ENOS G. DUDLEY,
AT HAVERHILL, N. H., MAY 23D, 1849.
TO WHICH IS ADDED
THE CONFESSION OF
MARY RUNKLE,
WHO WAS EXECUTED FOR MURDER.
PRINTED FOR THE PROPRIETOR.
1850.
It has probably never fallen to the lot of man to recorda list of more cruel, heart-rending, atrocious, cold-bloodedand horrible crimes and murders, than have been perpetratedby the subject of this narrative, and that too in themidst of a highly civilized and Christian community; anddeeds, too, which for the depravity of every human feelingseems scarcely to have found a parallel in the annals ofcrime.
And it seems doubly shocking and atrocious, when wefind them committed by one of the Female sex, which sexhave always been esteemed as having a higher regard forvirtue and a far greater aversion to acts of barbarity, evenin the most abandoned of their sex, than is generally foundin men of the same class, and we may truly say that wehave never seen recorded a greater instance of moral depravity,or one so perfectly regardless of every virtuousfeeling which should inhabit the human breast, as the oneit becomes our painful lot to lay before our readers, in theaccount of Ann Walters, the subject of this thrilling andinteresting narrative. And we will now endeavor to statethe facts as they have actually transpired; and our readersmay rely upon the account here given of her parentage, asthey have been selected from the most authentic sources,which no pains were spared to obtain.
S. P. Smith the father of the subject of this narrativewas the son of a wealthy nobleman residing in Yorkshirecounty, in the northern part of England. He had in theearly part of his life received a liberal education, as welearn from the pen of one of his youthful companions, fromwhich we principally quote so far as regards his career, butwas regardless of the endeavors of his kind parents to plantin him that youthful impression of morality and obedience,for in vain did they labor to bend his stiff neck. As welearn, by his father’s refusal to comply with his request inmarrying the object of his first love, he fell a prey to thatsoul-destroying monster, intemperance. He then secretlymarried a woman, who, by her intrigue and artfulness, hadsucceeded in drawing his affections towards her, and wasalso very remarkable for the influence she exercised overthe minds of men as will be seen by referring to circumstanceswhich occurred subsequently; for by her great artfulnessshe succeeded in marrying her daughters, four innumber, to persons of respectability, although they wereevery one of them prostitutes of the most common character.On this and many other similar accounts, she wasconsidered by many superstitious persons a witch.
Soon after his father heard of his marriage, whose indignationand anger become so great, that he determinedto cut him off with a shilling, and forbid his ever enteringhis house.
Matters had now come to such a pass that he had determinedto leave his native country, and his wife concurredin the plan; she soon scraped up her effects, for she had asmall estate of her own, and turned them into money. Theyth