Dr. Pritchard, moved, as it is asserted, by the entreaties
of his daughter, has made what is called a confession. It is a most unintelligible affair. He states that he had become intimate with Mary M'Leod, and in May last year produced a miscarriage, that Mrs. Pritchard knew of his intrigue and endeavoured to cover it, that she had become exhausted from want of sleep, and that at her own request he administered chloroform. " It was about midnight. Mary M'Leod was in the room, and in an evil moment (being besides somewhat excited by whisky) I yielded to the temptation to give her sufficient to cause death,—which I did." He denies any share in the .death of Mrs. Taylor, alleging that the aconite found in her opiate was put in after her death, in order to create the idea of misadventure. It is exceedingly difficult to understand the motive of this strange statement, which is as in- consistent with the known facts as with the criminal's former defence. We have .suggested one possible solution in another place, and add, another here. It is possible, from the wording of The confession—which it took him two hours to write—that he intends to deny any premeditation at all and any use of antimony, and so reduce a singularly deliberate and cruel murder to a mur- der committed under sudden temptation. What good such a tale is to do him or his children no one can perceive, while it inflicts a further and, to judge by the evidence, a wholly undeserved blow upon his victim, Mary M'Leod.
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