THE trial of William Samuel had gripped Montgomeryshire in the summer of 1886.

Samuel stood accused of the murder of William Mabbutt in Welshpool took place in Newtown on July.

The previous month a Mr Mabbutt had been murdered in Welshpool and William Samuel had been charged.

Little is known of the case but the trial, held at Newtown Public Rooms, had been packed for the trial and recorded by the press.

The building is today the Newtown Market Hall.

The accused sat in a high dock and ‘watched the proceedings with interest, his face was a little flushed and bore the traces of deep anxiety,’ reported the Cambrian News on July 16, 1886.

Samuel pleaded not guilty in front of a jury excluded from any of the ‘Welshpool district.’

As the trial continued to a second day the prisoner had appeared more anxious than the opening day and had several ‘short consultations with his council’ which had chosen not to call a single witness for the defence.

The judge summed up the evidence for more than an hour and the defence solicitor for almost two hours with the accused now ‘appearing to feel his position acutely, his head dropped upon his shoulder and eyes closed for some time’

When asked by the judge if he had anything to say when he ‘should not die according to the law’ the prisoner had made an effort to speak but silenced when the judge had ‘at once put on the black cap and passed sentence.’

A murmur ran through the court when the fatal decree was pronounced, and the public pressed around the dock to catch a glimpse of the prisoner.

Samuel trembled slightly, and immediately turned to the warders, who assisted him down the steps.

At night, long before the mail train was due, the railway station was besieged by large crowds.

A special prison van, all the windows and doors of which were barred, was drawn up alongside the platform.

About a quarter of an hour before the train was due the prisoner arrived at the station and reported to be ‘very much affected’ and had to be assisted by the warders across the platform to the van.

Much sympathy was expressed for the prisoner's mother and wife,he had only been married three months, who were on the platform shrieking and crying in a most heart-rending manner.

At Welshpool there was great excitement, and another pitiful scene was witnessed, and at Shrewsbury the prisoner was hooted as he left the station.