On this page

• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Masch 28,1857.] LH B , IijB . AP:P-B.- _...

  • 

    __ THE ASSIZES. [Under this head, last w...

  • 

    Cuuki,tyto Cats.—A horrible case of crue...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    0-Uk- Civilization. +¦ — Witchcraft In S...

    often sank very , low , the farmer and his -wife had rather frequent recourse to the brandy and gin bottles . These . sights and sounds -were so well described by- Mrs . Charlestvorth in her evidence , that we here repeat her own words : — " Gn the 28 th of April , 1856 , we heard the cows all lament , the horses prancing , the dog howling , and a many strange noises . There was something about three o ' clock that was louder than the dog- The men -were called up . I asked the men to drive it away . I heard it no more . In the morning , I told the prisoner . He looked sleepy . He said he knew we should have an awful night , but he durstn ' t tell us for fear of putting us in bad spirits . One night he took a knife and plate , and asked me and my husband to go into a room with him and he -would show us all our enemies ; but we were too ill to go . He would not let Mrs . Copestake go with him . When he came out of the room , there was a blueness over him . When he went in , he said it would be either death or glory to him , and when he came out , he said he had succeeded . In bed one night , after I was asleep , I was snatched up a 3 straight as I am now , and I was shaken all to death . The prisoner was in our room , sleeping there . " We had no spare room . He said he would stay "with us a few days till we were" better . I asked the prisoner what he was doing , and he got out of bed and lit the candle . I was very ill . The prisoner came to the bed and brought my Bible . He said it had been with old Bull , of Yeaverley , and that was why I ¦ was shaken so . When I asked what he was doing , he said nothing was the matter ; I must go to sleep again . When the prisoner came to me , I asked him to give me a little sip of brandy . I was "better after that . " In cross-examination , she stated : — " My shakings lasted for two hours . There were like cats fighting in the room . I can ' t tell what shook me , whether it was a spirit or not . No man could shake me as I was shaken . ( Laughter . ) I went better after the prisoner lighted the candle . A little spirits ( brandy ) soothed me , and I went better . ( Laughter . ' ) The yells were like unto a dog , but louder . The yell went away when my man ( the carman ) bid it go . He is not here to-day . We believed that we were bewitched from April , 1856 , till February 11 , 1857 . I never take spirits , except when I have spasms . . . .. My husband has brandy sometimes ; he is so troubled with tie wind . ( Laughter . * ) I take it for the spasms , and he for the wind . ( Laughter . ") Brandy always relieves us . ( Laughter . ) One night there was an awful shake at the door , and we said the

    Lords Frayer . From the evidence of Ann Richardson , the dairymaid engaged after the first was dismissed , we gather some more particulars : — " On the night of the 11 th _ of February , master was very ill , and we heard something come into the yard like a carriage . Something came in the passage like the wind . There was our dog , and the shape of another dog after it , all on fire . Our dog went behind the door in the yard with his tongue out . I did not see what became of the fiery dog . The prisoner on Sunday night asked me to make him some tea . I refused , because I thought he had dosed me or bewitched me . " It seemed that the girl had felt sick Tunmciitt iiaa

    and ill after taking some conee wnicii prepared ; and the same results had ensued -with hex master . Mrs . Charlesworth ' s infant , indeed , died ; but it is not imputed to TunnicliiF that he killed it . "He said , " continued the dairymaid , " he hnd found out something about me and the cowman , and I gave him a bil of my mind . { Laughter . ) My master only took a meatspoonful of brandy when he was poorly . My mastei had had some drink on the 10 th of February—somt

    little . I don ' t know how a man looks when he has had some little—I leave that to your judgment "how you look . " ( Laughter . ) This was addressed . th « counsel for the defence . " I could not think how the fire-dog got through the door . I did not smell any brimstone . Our dog sat behind the door -with his tongue out . It seemed to me a quarter of a yard long . " ( Loud laughter . ) Finally , the girl complained of Tunnicliff to her master ; the farmer , getting worse , was obliged to send for a medical man ; and , summoning up courage , ordered the great witch-tamer off the premises , and told him not to come on them again . " I don't believe in witchcraft now . " he said at the trial . " I am all right now . " He

    has gained , something , therefore , for his 30 / . The defence was that Chnrlesworth was lubouring tmdeT an absurd delusion before ho sent for Tunnicliff , and that ho afterwards infected the latter with his own folly ; that many of the delusions , and all tlie illness and shivering , were to be accounted for by the fact that ho and his wife were suffering from delirium tremena , owing to their drinking habits ; and that tlio money paid to th \ i accused was for liis services in farm work .

    Several witnesses were called to prove the drunken habits of Mr . and Mra . Charlesworth ; and , indeed , the former , in his cross-examination , while denying that ho was a drunkard , had acknowledged to pretty frequent potations . "I got a little freah sometimes , " he suid , 41 but not drunk . Sometimes I keep a bottle by my bedside . It contains brandy , or perhaps a little gin . Sometimes we have a little brandy , and sometimes a

    little gin . My ' missus' takes a little . ( Laughter . ) Wo take it if wo are unwell , sometimes two or tliree times in the night . " An ingenious legal point was also urged — 'Viz ., whether , ns the alleged offence was obtaining money under fsflse pretences , and as a fills * pretence must bo understood aj referring to some exiting faot ,

    , he promise to put an end to witchcraft could be so regarded , " there being no such tiring recognized by the law as witchcraft . Mr . Justice Willes said he would reserve this point , and consult with Mr . Justice CrowdeT on the subject . Having done so , he said that the opinion of both was that the objection was futile . Tunnicliff was convicted , and sentenced to a year ' s hard labour .

    Masch 28,1857.] Lh B , Iijb . Ap:P-B.- _...

    Masch 28 , 1857 . ] LH B , IijB . AP : P-B .- _^_ J _ 297 >

    __ The Assizes. [Under This Head, Last W...

    __ THE ASSIZES . [ Under this head , last week , owing to the wrong 1 position of the paragraph relating to the burglary at ] Manor Oaks , it would seem that that case was tried at i Bedford , instead of at York . The paragraph should j have followed , instead of preceding , the next ; which would have indicated the real pla . ee of trial . ] Hugh Orr , captain of the Hannah Jane , a commercial i vessel , was tried at Exeter on a charge of wilfully murdering Edward Devue , on the high seas , on the 3 rd of < last July . The vessel was on its return voyage to England , and Devue , who was a black man and a native of Boston , United States , was the cook . It was alleged against the unfortunate man by the captain and some of the crew that he was -very filthy i n his habits , and that he tainted the vessel with a foul smell . While they -were in the Senegal river , the captain and the mate commenced a series of unparalleled cruelties . Devue was frequently beaten with the " cat , " struck with heavy instruments , and kicked . He was sometimes lashed down to tlie captaia ' s chest by tho thumbs , and then flogged on the bare back . He was tied up to the forerigging , his heels higher than his liead , and beaten till the blood flowed from his mouth . This was done on the Sunday preceding the Thursday on which he died ; but similar treatment seems to have taken place day after day for some -weeks . The captain and the mate flogged the man by turns ; and violence of other kinds was not wanting . He was struck over the legs with sticks , and his face was gashed and battered by a handpike and an instrument called a " lizard . " The skin of his back became , in the language of one of the witnesses , " allknocked up , broken , and raw ; " and liis whole body was covered thick with sores . Sometimes his torturers would seem to relent a little , and would cause his skin to be oiled ; but one day the captain ordered one of the seamen to scrub the cook ' s back , raw as it was , with a brush and sea water . The sailor refused ; but this almost incredible act of ferocity was carried out by one of the ship ' s boys , according to his own relation at the trial . On one occasion , the captain gave the wretched creature forty-eight lashes , and the mate three hundred and sixty-six . Two days before " his death , he received about the same number of stripes . " When he was dead , " continued the boy , " the body was cut every where . The mate saw him lying-, on the deck the night before he died , and kicked Jilm on the breast with his heavy sea-boots , and struck him with a large heavy block . " " With respect to tlie allegation _ uncleanliness , this witness threw a terrible light upon its : cause : — " The man was clean till after he was beaten , and then he 0 > t dirty" Devue used to cry for mercy , : and call upon the crew to come and help him ; but they : dared not interfere . When the vessel reached lUo Grande , the crew informed the consul there of the treatot las ueatn '

    ment the cook had received , ana ; one me consul said he could not do anything in the matter . The ship arrived at Plymouth in December , and then an inquiry was instituted , -which ended in the captain being sent to prison for trial . The mate had deserted at ltio Grande . The defence was that the witnesses had perjured themselves in many important particulars ; that it was not probable that any application was made to the consul at Rio Grande , ns tliat functionary would infallibly have sent tho captain to England in custody ;

    and that death , resulted from the acts of the mate . Iho jury , however , found Orr Guilty of manslaughter , and he was sentenced to transportation for life . Two cases of alleged child murder by the mothers of illegitimate infants were tried last Saturday by Karon Channell at Kingston . Both ended in Acquittal as regards the imputed offence , -with verdicts of Guilty on tho ground of concealment of birth . The first case—that of Mary Ann Miles , a woman of thirty—was stopped by t . hn Jiui ™ . nftfir some evidence had been given , his

    Lordship observing that , although there was cause foi grave suspicion , there was no evidence to show that tbc child was bora alive , or that the wound in tbc throal was inflicted during life . The woman , it appeared , hn (] been convicted of concealment of birth seven years a ^ o and was then sentenced to four month a imprisonment . She was now condemned to nine months * hard labour . AVitli respect to the other woman—Eliza Broolior , aged twentythree—several respectable witnesses gave her a good character for humanity and kindness . As oho had been ir prison since last October , her sentence was only threi months' hard labour . John Porcival , a farm servant , aged twenty-two , ha boon Acquitted at Derby of tho manslaughter of a bo ; named Kobert Mitchell , on the 22 nd of last December The lad , it was alleged , was frightened to death by foolish trick which had been played on him , ao as t make him believe he had fieen a ghost ; but one of th doctors who attended on him during his last illness , fol lowing on tho supposed ghost vision , said that tho boy constitution had been weakened by overwork , -whic

    would render any shock to the nervous system moj aorious , and it wan . not quite clear that the death , yn

    caused by fright . It was also a question whether the " act committed by the accused was unlawful ; so he was - discharged with a warning . He has been in prison since " *"

    ; : ¦ December . James Cope , the assessor and collector of the land and .. proper ty taxes at Darlaston , -was charged at Stafford with obtaining various sums of money from divers per- ' sons by false pretences . He had been for two or three . yeare in his late post , and tho charge now made against him was that he had in numerous instances compelled . parties to pay land tax who were not liable ; and , with . respect to the property-tax , he had surcharged various parties beyond the sum at which they were assessed . The defence was that tho persons charged with land tax were really liable , and that the surcharges of propertytax might have been mistakes . A letter which Cope wrote : to his uncle last ' Christmas-clay , admitting mis- conduct of some kind ( not precisely stated ) -with respect to the taxes , but expressing a hope that he should be ¦ mercifully dealt with on account of his " distressed wife and poor children , " another of whom was expected every hour , was put in as evidence by the ^ prosecution . The counsel for the defence loudly condemned this , and Mr . Justice Willes , in summing up , said lie thought the letter would have been sufficient ' to touch a heart of stone-, and wondered at the uncle giving it-up . Tlie jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty . Thomas Wootten has pleaded Guilty at Derby to the burglary , recently detailed in these columns , which- ' was committed at the house of the Rev . Joseph Nodder , at Ashover , on -which occasion he was shot by the clergyman , and seriously hurt . He was ¦ condemned to trans- ' portation for twenty-five , years , and received the sentence-with a smiling countenance . John Smith and ' James Miller were found Guilty at Cambridge of a highway robbery , of the garotte species , committed in that town , at eleven o ' clock on the night of January 12 th , on the person of a Mr . Anibery , an undergraduate of St . John ' s College . John Johnson pietuied Guilty to . being concerned in the same offence . Mr . Anbery-was . rendered quite insensible byt"he attack- ; but the under porter of Jesus College , named Scott , who was passing at the time , succeeded in capturing Johnson after a desperate struggle . Smith and Miller escaped for the time , but were subsequently apprehended . James Williams , an old man , was charged , together with the others , on the ground of having received part of the stol « n property ; but he was Acquitted . The rest "were sentenced to twenty years' . . transportation ; ' The usual reward of 21 . was given ' Scott for his courageous " conduct . John Spencer Noldwritt -was tried at Kingston for wilful and corrupt perjury in falsely swearing , iu an ! action brought nearly two years ago , that the acceptance to ; a certain bill of exchange , purporting to be his signature , was a forgery . The facts have already appeared in this paper . The jury Acquitted Mr . Noldwritt .

    Cuuki,Tyto Cats.—A Horrible Case Of Crue...

    Cuuki , tyto Cats . —A horrible case of cruelty oceu- ' pied the attention of the T 5 ow-streut magistrates last \ . Saturday . A dissipated-looking old woman was charged witli skinning live cats . The details are too sickening to repeat ; and it will suffice to say that the charge was fulLy proved , 'and that the-woman was sent to prison for three months , with hard labour . This detestable piece of barbarity appears to be commonly practised by a sot of wretches , who make it a trade . If the skins aro taken off the animals nfter death , they are said to be deficient in gloss ? , nnd to be nearly worthless ; but , if , pro-cured by the horrible process alluded to , they will fetch 2 s . 2 d . each . The public should refuse to buy any articles made of cat-skin , nnd thus cut away the market for so great a crime . —Another charge of the : same kind was brought before the Worship street magistrate on Thursday . A man named Jumos Glander was discovered by some boys shooting the half-dead ' borlies of the wretched creatures on to a dust-heap . The boys stuck to him , though lie flung one of them i down ; and he was given into custody . On being tulcen to the police-court , lie was pursued by a furious . mo h , and it wus found necessary ' to got tho assistance of ¦ about a dozen policemen to protect him . lie denied tho i clinrgo , nn < l exhibited a degree of excitement which looked likd a disordered intellect . The magistrate ro-! mn . ndo < l him for n week . ! , -A . TTEMIT TO UP . SKT A lt . AH , WAY TltAIN- An at-1 tempt was made a few days ago to upset a train on the , JLluuelly and Lnndilo . Railway by altering the switches , 2 so thatthc carriages should gooff the lino . Tho enginei di-Lvcr , observing tho mischief , promptly shut off liia - steam , mid put on the drags and . breaks . The Hpeed - was thus greatly ttlackenecl , and , though the train went 1 on to the wrong line , no injury was done . The mia-2 creant has not been discovered . Fuatiucidk . —A man named George Edwards lias a murdered his brother nt MaidHonc . The act grew out Y of a quarrel caused by George refusing to do any work , ¦ . mud becoming a burden to thofnmily . u Akkkay NitAit Baknhmcy . —The village of Smithloy , o al » out n milo from tho Lumlhill Colliery , Iiarnslcy , has e recently been infcHtcd by uovcral marauders . » upposcd to 1- belong to an extensive gang of thieves , who have long ' a curried on a sericH of depredations in tho Hurrounding , h country . A few nights aince , n terrible affray occurred ro between a police-constable of Wombwoll and a number \ s op ruffians in 801 UO OclUs bolonging 10 ft fnri « er living at .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 28, 1857, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28031857/page/9/