The " Whitechapel trial," the trial for the murder of
Harriet Lane, ended on Thursday in a verdict of wilful murder against Henry Wainwright, and of being accessory after the fact against Thomas Wainwright. The Lord Chief Justice passed sentence of death upon the former, and of seven years' penal servitude upon the latter. It is impossible for any one who reads the evidence to question the justice of the de- cision as regards Henry Wainwright, although, like several pre- vious murderers, he solemnly called God to witness that he was innocent of the murder of "these remains ;" and as regards Thomas Wainwright, the only doubt is as to the righteousness of his acquittal on the first charge of being accessory before the fact. The Jury, however, who heard the evidence, and took great pains, were clear on the point, and so was the Judge, the lucid lenity of whose summing-up on this part of the case was a marked feature in the trial ; and the decision, even if hereafter it should be proved erroneous, was an error on the right side. There was quite enough doubt, to say no more, as to Thomas Wainwright, to make it impossible that he should be convicted. The trial throughout was remarkable, even among English trials, for the extreme fairness and forbearance with which the accused were treated.
