Yes.
Coroner : How long did you stay with him?
Mrs Farley : Not a second. I ran across the room and took his razor case off the dressing-table. He didn’t seem to notice that I took it but I did. I threw it into another room, and then ran back to my husband.
Coroner : You didn’t know whether the razors were in it or not?
Mrs Farley : No. I did not. My only thought was that he might make use of them.
Coroner : On your return to the deceased did you see any blood?
Mrs Farley : My husband was on the floor.
Coroner : Did you observe any blood?
[The witness nodded]
Coroner : Did you see any wound?
[The witness shook her head]
Coroner : Did you notice where it was flowing from?
[Again the witness shook her head]
Coroner : Where was your husband lying?
Mrs Farley : At the foot of the bed.
Coroner : How long did he live after that?
Mrs Farley : I should think nearly ten minutes.
Coroner : There must have been a quantity of blood on the floor?
Mrs Farley : An immense amount.
Coroner : Did you ever hear the prisoner say he would commit suicide?
Mrs Farley : No, never. He did not like us to know that anything was wrong.
Coroner : I suppose there had not been any misunderstanding between the prisoner and yourself?
Mrs Farley : No.
Coroner : You are sure he had nothing in his left hand when he came into the room?
Mrs Farley : I could not see anything. I saw him standing there, with a candle in his hand, looking fearfully white. It was a shock to me, and I said to Mr Farley,
‘Good gracious, the man is mad.’
For the moment, the coroner had come to the end of his questions so now it was the turn of the jury to ask about anything which was unclear to them. Samuel Stearn, the foreman, went back to the moment when Arthur had stood beside the vicar’s bed.
Foreman : Did you see the prisoner handle Mr Farley at all?
Mrs Farley : No.
Foreman : You were not looking at him all the time?
Mrs Farley : No, I was not. I should not have been surprised if he had sat down in a chair and said, ‘Oh dear, I can’t sleep.’
Foreman : You didn’t see him turn the clothes down?
Mrs Farley : No, I did not. The clothes did not seem disarranged. My husband was quite placid upon the pillow. I saw nothing at all on the clothes.
Foreman : What did he do after that? Did he leave the house?
Mrs Farley : I went to him again afterwards, because I could not get anyone to help. I tried to staunch the wound with a cold water towel and screamed for someone to help me. I said to Mr Cooper, ‘Come and help me; you don’t know what you have done.’
It is interesting to note that at this stage there was no mention of Harriet Louisa’s sending for Bilney. However, she seemed somewhat attached to the phrase ‘you don’t know what you have done’ for she reiterated it later in answer to the foreman’s question as to whether or not she had conversed with Arthur on his return.
Coroner : Did you see him [Cooper] when he returned in the morning?
Mrs Farley : I went up to his room after he came in, between five and six o’clock on Sunday morning.
Foreman : Did you have any conversation with him?
Mrs Farley : I said, ‘You don’t know what you have done.’ He looked at me, and I said, ‘Shall I write to your mother?’ He said, Oh no.’ He was very boyish in some of his ways. He was only a boy.
Coroner : What do you mean?
Mrs Farley : Well, he is over 30 but I treated him quite as a lad. Sometimes I could look up to him for counsel and advice.
Then followed questions about Arthur’s poor appetite and inability to sleep and Harriet Louisa’s attempts to alleviate both conditions. The jurors, like the modern reader, found certain aspects of the events difficult to understand.
Mr Gocher : You say when you saw Mr Cooper at the door you immediately locked it again because you were afraid of him?
Mrs Farley : Yes; it was an unusual thing for Mr Cooper to come to my room at that time of night.
Mr Gocher : You had never seen
Coroner : How long did you stay with him?
Mrs Farley : Not a second. I ran across the room and took his razor case off the dressing-table. He didn’t seem to notice that I took it but I did. I threw it into another room, and then ran back to my husband.
Coroner : You didn’t know whether the razors were in it or not?
Mrs Farley : No. I did not. My only thought was that he might make use of them.
Coroner : On your return to the deceased did you see any blood?
Mrs Farley : My husband was on the floor.
Coroner : Did you observe any blood?
[The witness nodded]
Coroner : Did you see any wound?
[The witness shook her head]
Coroner : Did you notice where it was flowing from?
[Again the witness shook her head]
Coroner : Where was your husband lying?
Mrs Farley : At the foot of the bed.
Coroner : How long did he live after that?
Mrs Farley : I should think nearly ten minutes.
Coroner : There must have been a quantity of blood on the floor?
Mrs Farley : An immense amount.
Coroner : Did you ever hear the prisoner say he would commit suicide?
Mrs Farley : No, never. He did not like us to know that anything was wrong.
Coroner : I suppose there had not been any misunderstanding between the prisoner and yourself?
Mrs Farley : No.
Coroner : You are sure he had nothing in his left hand when he came into the room?
Mrs Farley : I could not see anything. I saw him standing there, with a candle in his hand, looking fearfully white. It was a shock to me, and I said to Mr Farley,
‘Good gracious, the man is mad.’
For the moment, the coroner had come to the end of his questions so now it was the turn of the jury to ask about anything which was unclear to them. Samuel Stearn, the foreman, went back to the moment when Arthur had stood beside the vicar’s bed.
Foreman : Did you see the prisoner handle Mr Farley at all?
Mrs Farley : No.
Foreman : You were not looking at him all the time?
Mrs Farley : No, I was not. I should not have been surprised if he had sat down in a chair and said, ‘Oh dear, I can’t sleep.’
Foreman : You didn’t see him turn the clothes down?
Mrs Farley : No, I did not. The clothes did not seem disarranged. My husband was quite placid upon the pillow. I saw nothing at all on the clothes.
Foreman : What did he do after that? Did he leave the house?
Mrs Farley : I went to him again afterwards, because I could not get anyone to help. I tried to staunch the wound with a cold water towel and screamed for someone to help me. I said to Mr Cooper, ‘Come and help me; you don’t know what you have done.’
It is interesting to note that at this stage there was no mention of Harriet Louisa’s sending for Bilney. However, she seemed somewhat attached to the phrase ‘you don’t know what you have done’ for she reiterated it later in answer to the foreman’s question as to whether or not she had conversed with Arthur on his return.
Coroner : Did you see him [Cooper] when he returned in the morning?
Mrs Farley : I went up to his room after he came in, between five and six o’clock on Sunday morning.
Foreman : Did you have any conversation with him?
Mrs Farley : I said, ‘You don’t know what you have done.’ He looked at me, and I said, ‘Shall I write to your mother?’ He said, Oh no.’ He was very boyish in some of his ways. He was only a boy.
Coroner : What do you mean?
Mrs Farley : Well, he is over 30 but I treated him quite as a lad. Sometimes I could look up to him for counsel and advice.
Then followed questions about Arthur’s poor appetite and inability to sleep and Harriet Louisa’s attempts to alleviate both conditions. The jurors, like the modern reader, found certain aspects of the events difficult to understand.
Mr Gocher : You say when you saw Mr Cooper at the door you immediately locked it again because you were afraid of him?
Mrs Farley : Yes; it was an unusual thing for Mr Cooper to come to my room at that time of night.
Mr Gocher : You had never seen
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