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    SIR JTITZROY KELLY'S OPINION ON THE BE11...

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    The patent of appointment to the Chancel...

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    The late Mb. C. H. Wild.—We have to reco...

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    Trial By Jawry. Tub Case Of Bacon Illust...

    its principles , so wildly blundering in its practice . Then slie turned but to be mad ; but meanwhile it struck censorious people that the man who was suspected of killing his children and falsely accusing his wife , had lulled his mother to get at her property . He AV a 3 —to the disappointment of many—acquitted of the murder of the children ; but society hungered for a victim , and there was still some hope of the meal at Lincoln . It has satisfied the want .

    Mrs . Ann Bacoj * , a woman sixty-three years of age , gets ill after dinner , on Sunday the 13 th of May , 1855 . She rallies , however , on the following morning , continues to improve during the whole of that day , but relapses on Tuesday , and dies in the evening . The medical man who attended her , Mr . Edwaiid Babbjsb , believed that she died from disease of the brain , gave a certificate accordingly , and Mrs . Ann Bacon was quietly buried . JSearly two years after , the son of ihis Mrs . Ba . con is accused of setting his

    house on fire and murdering his children . Suspicion , always alert , then suddenly recol-Ieets the death of the mother , and Dame Justice gives orders to exhume the body ; and verily the doctors find arsenic . Dr . TAYLOuean state " it positively ns a fact , that ' the analysis prod ueed altogether t hree-quarters of a grain . ' Thereupon , Thomas ! Fxri . iiEB . Bacon is accused of having administered the said poison , and put upon his trial . It is clear that Mrs . Ann Bacon had

    been poisoned , but by whom ? Bacon is shown to have purchased arsenic , to have tended his mother , to have used a bottle \\ hich was afterwards removed by him , to have indecently entered on the possession of the property ; and the jury , from these facts , assume guilt . They refuse to look at the bearing of this evidence on Bacon ' s wife , uho has been actually convicted of murder . WIio knows that she began with her children ? ' We do not hesitate to say that Bacon did not have a fair trial . Let us look at some

    other ' . points . The Crown arrays talent of iho highest order against the prisoner . All the machinery of law and science ( if analytienl'chemistry can be called a science , which is rather doubtful ) is put in movement to oruah the accused . In the meantime he stands unbefriended , public opinion , doctors , barristers , and professors , are all against him . His own ' natural' friends even refuse the means for a successful defence ; he stands as alone and unpiticd as the hare brought out into the field for the purpose of being hunted

    down . To complete the mockery of the law , the judge appoints him a , counsel at the eleventh hour , as if it were possible , even with the very bcBfc and enthusiastic intention , to argue , after but a few hours' p reparation , against adversaries prepared for weeks , if not months , with every item of evidence , and every fact , possible to be used as weapons of destruction .

    At this trial in Lincoln , Ba . oon was jusfc in the position of that red-eyed old creature , the witch , whom our wise forefathers used to try by the vox populi . The trial was simple enough : the accused hag was thrown into the water : if she could swim , well , that was sufficient proof of witchcraft , and she was condemned to be burnt ; but if she happened not to swim , she proved her innocence in sinking .

    It is true the public prosecutor very feelingly in his opening speech implored the jury to dismiss all other considerations , and to judge , the prisoner ion the adduced evidence alone . Very fine all that , and q uite touching ; but unhappily quite uncared fbr . The twelve men in- the box , like all other mortal beings , have a memory —a fixture -which cannot be dismissed at will , but must

    be kept , bon gre , mal gre . To tell them , therefore , to dismiss all thoughts from their head , was not only an utter absurdity , but an insult to their understanding , to which all men in a box might not submit . For weeks and months the jury and all the world had read descriptions of the brutish behaviour of the accused . He was an unfeeling

    monster , who ate tremendous steaks and chops , and was * not in the least affected at his frightful position . ' Did Mr . Meiloe really think that twelve men could read this coolly , and then at his bidding dismiss it from their memory ? Alas ! we are afraid that the unfeeling behaviour has done more harm to Bacon than all other things put together .

    Meanwhile it has not been proved that Bacon murdered his mother , nor is there sufficient even of circumstantial evidence to justify the fact of the condemnation . For even if Mrs . Ann Bacon was poisoned , there were other persons who stand under a remarkable accusation through the evidence . The ' Doctor in the Witness-box' has of late become an important functionary in assisting the twelve good men and true in the search after truth . Medical gentlemen , in general , are not very ' cute when poison is adtreatment

    ministered to patients under their ; but they seem to become suddenly wide awake and super-detective when poison is looked for , after a rumour to the effect has been started , and the men of the wig have taken up the entangled threads of the law . The Standrikos at Stockport poisoned their children in 1839 , to get a few miserable burial allowances from a club , and what medical man saw anything before their death ? Several medical men surrounded the bed of sickness of poor Mrs . Wooixeii ; for a long time they discerned not the slightest symptom of poisoning ; some of them rejected the suggestion of a young assistant ; but all became wise

    whenthe grave had closed over the sufferer ; and then they gave astounding evidence before the judge . Their evidence was followed up with no less extraordinary remarks of the learned judge , to the total bewilderment of the twelve good men , that somebody else ought to have been accused rather than Wooi / leu . Again Mrs . Palmier was quietly poisoned by her loving husband , and the symptoms were quietly looked at by her medical adviser as those of an ordinary disease . And again , Mrs . Ann Bacon was drugged with arsenic , and not a voice told the tale , till her son , accused of other crimes , drew suspicion on himself .

    These points are left aside—they are too obscure , too little telling for the eloquence of counsel , or the summary consideration of any but a Chancery Judge . Bacon had been acquitted once ; he Beeins a disagreeable fellow ; and the shortest way was to condemn him now , and so keep even the ¦ ' balance of justice' - —acquittal in one scale , condemnation in the other .

    Sir Jtitzroy Kelly's Opinion On The Be11...

    SIR JTITZROY KELLY'S OPINION ON THE BE 11 TOLAC 0 I CA . SE . Tub Duchy of Lancaster , from its earliest institution as a separate * appanage' of the Crown of England , has been governed by « , Chancellor and a Council composed of certain special officers , namely the Receiver- General , the Attorney - General , tho Survcyor-Goneral , and tho Auditor . The Chancellor is appointed by the Sovereign , and ho is empowered to nominate , in tho Sovereign ' s name , tho olflcors above mentioned and constituting tho CounoH , as woll as Stewards and Receivers feodarios , Auditors , Eaohoators , Coroners , Bailiffs / & o . Tho Constitution of tjio Duohy is not defined by

    any particular enactment , bat every Charter and Act of Parliament , and document relating to the Duchy from the earliest period of its history , ex . pressly show that its * government and guidance ' and the control and management of its property , are confided to the ' Chancellor and Council '" conjointly . The Auditor of the Duchy has invariably taken his seat as a member of the Council ' ex officio •' and this privilege is necessarily implied from the nature and responsibility of his duties , and from , the terms of his patent of appointment and of the usual oath administered to him .

    On ' the 15 tk May , 1854 , Mr . Pjiancis Robert Bertolacoi was appointed to the office of ' Auditor' by the Chancellor of the Duchy upon the resignation of Mr . Lockhart , but has been excluded from the Council . Under these circumstances your opinion is requested as to—Whether the Chancellor was legally empowered to deprive Mr . Bek . tola . cci of his seat in the Council , and to divest his office of a privilege coeval with the first institution of the Duchy , and exercised , without any exception , by all his predecessors ?

    The Patent Of Appointment To The Chancel...

    The patent of appointment to the Chancellor of the Duchy being , as far as it is before me , silent upon the question whether the Auditor is a member of the Council , and the patent of the Auditor himself being also silent upon this point , it appears to me that the right of the Auditor to sit and act as a member of the Council depends altogether on usage . I do not find that , under any Patent or Charters , or other legal instrument , the members constituting the Council are specified . Under these circumstances , therefore , if the Auditor has always sat and acted as a member of the Council , it must be presumed that lie has done so of right , and lie cannot lawfully be excluded . ( Signed ) Fitzro y Kelly . Temple , July 27 , 1857 .

    73 g TH E IiEA D E ' lL [ No . 384 , AuausT 1 , 1857 .

    The Late Mb. C. H. Wild.—We Have To Reco...

    The late Mb . C . H . Wild . —We have to record the death of a young engineer of great promise , Charles Heard Wild , -who , as is well known to his professional brethren , has for some time past been the victim of a painful and lingering brain disease—the result of overwork at an early period of his career . Mr . Wild was a pupil of John Brathwaite , and afterwards studied practically in the factory of Messrs . Brathwaite and Co . At a very early age he was entrusted with an important mission in Fiance , to superintend the construction of Ericsson ' s propeller boats . On his return to England , lie was placed at the head of Messrs . Fox , Henderson , and Co . ' s drawing-office at Birmingham , were the

    designing of many very important works was confided to him ; and he here displayed such a remarkable aptitude for engineering science , that he was , on being introduced to Mr . Robert Stephensori , engaged by him as one of his principal assistants on several works of magnitudeamongst others , the Britannia-bridge , where Mr . Wild largely assisted in devising and carrying out the floating of the tubes . In Mr . Edwin Clark ' s work on tho « Britannia and Conway Tubular Bridges , 'there is a very valuable paper on ' The Deflection and relative Strains in Single and Continuous Beams , ' from the pen of Mr . Wild , which furnishes a very high'idea of his powers . On the recommendation of Mr . Stephonson , Mr . Wild

    was appointed assistant engineer under Sir William Cubitt , to tho building in Hyde Park ; and on tho formation of the Crystal Palace Company , Mr . Wild was appointed engineer to tho building at Sydonham , which was erected under his engineering superintendence . It was at this period that tho painful disease , which has juat terminated fatnlly , first declared itself ; and he was recommended by his medical advisor to resign his post , and to travel abroad for two years , which ho did , with , however , but little benefit . Since his return hia health has gradually declined , until ho was reliovod from all the author

    suffering on the 19 th instant . Mr . Wild was of several valuable improvements in railways : hia railway switch is now universally adopted , and it is considered by engineers that ho completely solved tho problem of a change of rails . ' Warren's Girder , ' whion w now bo much employed for railway bridges , owes iw success to Mr . Wild ' s assistance , notably at the Nowarkbrldgo and tho Crumlin viaduct . Hi * ho . togon turntable , ' and doolc-gatos , ' aro alao amongst tho valuable improvements Mr . ^ Wild has left behind him , in some way to compensate for a life of such groat promise being thus early terminated . —The Builder .

    Tub Tjukplh Qiwnou . - — Tho Queon of the Netherlands , Accompanied by Lord Brougham , MJss «" * ° " Coutts , and aovoral members of tho buUo , attended W » - vino Borvice at tho Tcmplo Church on Sunday morning , and aat in tho stalls of the bonohora of tho Inner Tompw . TJio church closes to-inprrow until ( be iiwt Sunday in October ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 1, 1857, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01081857/page/16/