Cowper—It was read against me in the King's Bench, and I will prove it; was not Mr. Mead with you at the time of your examination?
Pilkington—Yes.
Cowper—Did he not put in some words, and what were they?
Pilkington—Not that I know of.
Cowper—But you never swore so, upon your oath?
Pilkington—No, I do not believe I did; if I did it was ignorantly.
Jones—Here is her examination, it is 'cross her neck.'
Mr. Coatsworth, a surgeon, was called and deposed that in April he had been sent for, by Dr. Phillips, to come to Hertford to see the body of Mrs. Stout, who had been six weeks buried. Various parts of the body were examined; the woman had not been with child; the intestines and stomach were full of air, but there was no water in them, or the breast, or lobes of the lungs; there was no water in the diaphragm.
Then I remember I said, this woman could not be drowned, for if she had taken in water, the water must have rotted all the guts; that was the construction I made of it then; but for any marks about the head or neck, it was impossible for us to discover it, because they were so rotten.
The inspection was made on the 28th of April, and the woman was drowned on the 13th of March. The doctor had offered to examine the skull, to see if it had been injured, 'but they did not suspect a broken skull in the case, and we did not examine it.' All the other parts were sound.