8vo. 26pp. With an engraved frontispiece depicting the scene of the crime. Uncut. Stitched, as issued, in original publisher's powder blue wrappers. A trifle creased and marked. Scattered foxing.

The third known copy of an account of the trial, at the Croydon assizes of August, 1809, of James and Mary Cooper under indictment for murder. The first count alleged the murder to have been committed by fracturing the skull of the deceased, Joseph Hollis, whilst he breakfasted; the second stated the cause of death to have been a wound to the throat. Hollis resided in a tenement that adjoined the home of Mr. Cooper and his mother, to whom he let the property. It would appear that, following an argument over unpaid rent, Cooper brutally murdered his elderly landlord, bludgeoning him
with a poker before slicing his neck open. Cooper was found guilty following the testimony of his mother, who, though not directly involved, conspired to cover up the atrocity. She was acquitted; her son, meanwhile, was hanged.

COPAC records copies at two locations (BL and London Library); OCLC adds no further.