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Leader (1850-1860), 19th January 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 55, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      be safe . Bat if Palmer be acquitted , will not the insurance offices have to pay tie policies on bis brother Walter ' s life ? Or will they contend that they are vitiated by the latter ' s habits of intemperance—a good plea had they not charged an additional premium on account of his previous attack , of delirium tretriens . It is said that tho defence will cost old Mrs . Palmer at least £ 2 , 000 ; the accused being her favourite son , and besides unable , owing to the seizure of his property on a civil process , to defray his own expenses . It is probable that Sergeant Wilkins will be retained . The solicitor , Mr . John Smith , of Birmingham , is peculiarly well chosen in such a case , having a familiar knowledge of the medical

      . The inquest on "Walter Palmer will be renewed on Tuesday next ; not "Wednesday , as reported in the daily papers . The inquiry will then be of a double nature . In the first place , the prosecution has to prove that poison was actually administered to Walter Palmer ; and , failing in positive evidence to this effect , to infer such an act on the cut bono principle . As yet , there is nothing to show that "Walter Palmer died of other cause than apoplexy , produced by excessive drinking . Nor is it even demonstrated that the policies on his life were effected by William Paisner , or for his benefit . It was from Mr . Pratt that the proposal apparently emanated . These are the points to be elicited at the adjourned inquiry .

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      MURDER IN BEDFORD ROW . Mb . Waugh , a solicitor , of Great James-street , Bedford-row ^ was shot by a person named Westron at the corner of the row on Wednesday morning about halfpast tea o'clock . Westron had apparently been waiting for some time in Hand-court ^ and , as Mr . Waugh -was proceeding to his office , the assassin , advanced , presented a pistol , and fired it point blank . Mr . Waugh gave a sudden bound in the air , and exclaiming , " Oh God ! take him—hold him 1 " instantly fell dead on the pavement . The shot had passed tliroueh the heart .

      Mr . Abraham , one of the managing clerks of the office , ran out and seized Westrou , who made no effort to escape , and , in answer to a question , i-eplied , "Mr Waaigli has ruined me . " He repeated this several times / addiug , " He has compelled me to eat bread and cheese for ten days at a time . " To the street-keeper of Bedford-row , who helped to secure him , he observed , "Mr . WVugh ruined me , and I will be the ruin of him . " He asserted that Mr . Waugh wanted his money to go abroad with . To one of the

      by-standers he said , " I did it . I have not got a friend in the world . " He had another pistol with him at- the time , and a large clasp knife of the dagger description , which , he gave up . When being conveyed rn a cab to the station-house , he told the police inspector that Mr . Waugh had brought it all on himself ; that he had cheated Mm of his estate—some acres of land ; and that he had married into his ( Westron ' s ) family . He concluded by saying , " Now lam satisfied . "

      Mr . Waugh was about fifty-six years of age . The prisoner ( who was "brought , on the same day , before the Clerkenwell magistrate , and remanded until Wednesday next ) is n very respectably dressed person , with a hump on his back . At the station-house , a silver watch , the half of a five pound note , the half of a ten pound , and £ 1 12 s . iu cash , were found on him . He and Mr . Waugh were concerned in law proceedings ; and , as ho had frequently threatened his victim , it had been thought necessary to bind him over to keep tlie peace .

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      A WHITE HUSBAND AND HIS BLACK CHILD . A Mtt . Awdridoe , known to tho theatrical world as " Tho African , Roscius , " under which name he has played , in the provinces , has made hit ) appearance , during the past woek , in the Court of Queen ' Bench , in the character of the seducer of hia friend ' s wife . Mr . Stothard , tho plaintiff , is now carrying on business as a surgeon dentiBt ; but iu 1849 , when ho was about eighteen years of age , ho took u fancy for being an actor , and introduced himself to Mr . Aklridgo to bo taught " tho histrionic art and mystery . " Soiling a rovoraion . tp which ho waB entitled for a small sum of

      money , ho gavo £ 50 to the black KoboUib , who sent tho youth to various provincial towns , and shortly ¦ afterwards introduced hhu to a Mihs Ingleclow , whom ho was induced to many . Stothard then went on a professional touv into Wales , and Mrs . Stothard was sent to live with her mother . Hoy husband earned tso little that he could not tvflbrd to keep her ; but it ¦ would eoero that he did not oven write to her £ v \ i * i maoy iu time B P ™ ng "l > botwoou Mrs ! Wtothawl nnd Aldridgo tho birth of a souii-negro child baong tho result . During tholady'a pregnancy , aho roQorvod a letter from Mr . Aklridgo , imputing the misfortune to the husbands viaita , nnd inquiring whotlier any quoationa had boon aakod in connexion with him . After Mm . Stothard ' confinement , ho wrote tlua lottor from Germany , whoro ho wm porlorralng : — *

      assurance thai the child is ' of colour' and that the father is the person you name ( himself)—you under stand me—both you and your child shall not be neglected . Is it a boy or a girl ? Write by return , enclosing the same in the envelope I send you . Seal mine up and then direct it to me . Do not pay the postage . Tell me , does your mother know whose child it is , and is she unkind to you ? Did your aunt leave ' yoti anything ? " Yours faithfully , « Ira . "

      On his return from Germany , he was taxed by the landlady of the house in which Mr . Stothard lived with , being the father of the child . He replied that she had a husband . Mrs . Burgess , the landlady , eaid , " I know that , but white men don't beget black children . " Mr . Aldridge inquired , "Are you a mother ? " and Mrs . Burgess pithily answered that she had had nine children , but had never had a black one . The child had since died . Mr . Stothard , it was . shown , had not lived with his wife for six years . The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff : damages , 40 s .

      i JiOa ? Mudam , —You would not havo boon nogloqtsxl , but I had hoiuq uominuniontlonH nuula to mo ox , naost imprudent conduct on your part which very ttwcfa , annoyed mo and caused mo not to ivldrons you ftgivm . I do ho now , ho-wovor , and if you give mo tho

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      them and the police ; the burglars used pistols ; and finally the police , who appear also to have been armedj shot one of the men in the thigh , and , -with a single exception , they were all captured . ' The wounded man was taken to the Leeds Infirmary , where he has since died . An inquest on the body has terminated in a verdict of " Justifiable Homicide . " Christmas Sport . —Mr . Cornish , a student in St . George's Hospital , who was recently fined £ 3 for wrenching off knockers in Ebury-square , has again been summoned at Westminster for having knockers in his possession . According to his own statement , he had been induced to take the kuockers by some playful observations which had been made by a Mrs . Major Phibbs and her daughters . Major Phibbs vehemently denied this , and said he did not know

      Mr . Cornish , who , however , had been introduced to his house by his son , a youth of fourteen or fifteen . The knockers , it seems , were deposited at the Major's house ; but , when Mr . Cornish was in custody on the former charge , he sent a letter to Mrs . Phibbs , telling her that if she did not become bail for Iiim it . would be the worse for her . After he had procured bail , he went to the house , and , crying in a half frantic manner , implored them not to ruin him by producing the knockers against him . Subsequently , he called on Mis . Phibbs , and said that she must pay him £ 13 for his expenses , or he would bring her forward for having the knockers at her house . The investigation of the affair before the magistrate occupied considerable time ; but finally Mr-. Cornish was fined £ 5 and costs .

      OTJR CIVILISATION . Mobe " Pardon " Cases . — Askham Eyre Tennaiat , a chemist and druggist , who was recently fovmd guilty at the Liverpool assizes of a rape on the person of a girl of'fifteen , has received her Majesty ' s " pardon" after strenuous exertions had been made by his counsel and others . The judge , on the trial , summed up for an acquittal , on account of Certain testimony which had been given by ' two boys , showing that the girl ' s habits were depraved : but the

      jury , to the surprise of every one , found Tennant guilty . Oth « r facts have since been proved against the girl ; and the result is the " pardon" just accorded . —William Rushworth and John Boys , who we re recently found guilty of robbing a sergeant of militia near Hoxton Church , have also received ihe Queen ' s " pardon . " The judge who tried them entertained , together with , their counsel , strong doubts of iboir guilt ; and their sentence was accordingly respited for « kwo sessions , and is now removed .

      Factory Revenge . —Mi * . Ebenezer M Kmlay , ihe manager of a spinning mill at Glasgow , has been sh-ot by Robert Anderson , one of the men who had be « n employed there , but who had been discharged . The -wound ~\ vas serious , but not fatal . Anderson is in custody . The Late Charge of Murder at Paddt ^ gto : * . — =-About six months ago , a man named Henvy Watts , th e keeper of a beersliop in Praed-street , Paddingtou , was committed from the police-court , Marylebone , on the charge of having murdered his wife . He was tried , and , being found guilty of-manslaughter , was sentenced to transportation for fourteen vears .

      Subsequently to the trial , Sarah -browning-, the pi-ineipal witness against the accused , was tried , for perjury in a case which had been preferred by her against the father of Henry Watts for au alleged violent and unprovoked assault upon her . Mr . Handley , managing clerk to Mr . Foley , solicitor , Welbeck-streefc , who had conducted the defence , used his utmost exertions to obtain a , commutation of the sentence passed , by memorialising the Secretary of State for the Home Department , and sotting forth that Watts ' s conviction took place entirely upon the strength of the statement of the ' womau Browning , who had been proved by ulterior proceedings to be almost , if not entirely ,

      unworthy of behef . On Saturday , Mr . Poley received an official notification from the Home-office to tho effect that Sir George Grey had taken all the circumstances of the case into consideration , and that "Watts * s sentence was commuted from fourteen years * transportation to two years' imprisonment , to commence from tho period of hia trial and conviction in September last . —We confess wo do not understand this . To say nothing of tho plaiu fact that the woman ' s perjury in the ensoof tho elder Watta does not prove thntsho perjured herself in that' of tho son , it is obvious that Watts cither did or did not kill his wife . . If ho did not , why tho two years' imprisonment ? If ho did , can that ha punishment sufficient ?

      A Haud-wohking Man . — George Edwards was charged at tho Mansion Houso with stealing two pocket handkerchiefs from tho pocket of a gentleman . Ho loudly asserted his iuuoccuco ; said he hud picked up tho handkerchiefs , and that tho gentleman ¦\ vaa interested in tolling a lio , na ho would thus get possession , of two handkerchiefs whioh did not belong , "to him . A policeman ani < l this was an old cxcuho of hia Edwards further dornandod why he should thiovo , as lio could got his living by hard work , smd was , iudood , fond of hard work , " and no mistake " " Aro you ' /" said Alderman Curdou ; " thon I shall give you six weeks of it . "

      A FiuiiT with Bunor . AK » . —Tho mill of Mcshi-h , G . Crowthor and Co ., of Churohwoll , \ u \» boon broken open by hIx mon , five of whom aro now in custody . Tho robbery being nunpootod boforohand , hIk con-» tablc » woro not to watch , and , about mx o'clock on Sunday morniug , tho thiovoH woro noon to inane- from tho pronxirtoa . A dosporato conflict onnuod between

      A French Author in Trouble . —Ernest Theophile Guignet , a foreigner described in the policesheet as an author , is under remand at Guildhall , charged with conspiring , with a person now in custody in Pails , and others , to obtain goods to the amount of £ 10 , 000 . and upwards under false pretences , with intent to defraud . It appears that there is a large gang of these swindlers in Paris ; but Guignet promises to make disclosures , and asserts that lie was innocently entrapped into ^ complicity . When , he was arrested , he escaped by leaping out of a first-floor window ; was again seized , and again escaped by slipping out of his coat , which he left in the officer's hands ; but was finally secured . Another foreigner is also in custody in London on the same charge .

      Burglary bv a Woman . —ZVIrs . Doughty , the wife of a commercial traveller at Manchester , was roused one night , ducing the absence of her husbaaid , by a grasp on her throat . The intruder possessed a tall , slight figure , and , in a smothered voice like that of a woman , demandeu money .. Mrs . Doughty resisted , and the thief produced a rope and . began to pass it across the bed ; but , on Mrs . Doughty jumping up and knocking for assistance , the intruder ran off alarmed . Shortly afterwards , tlie servant , Anne Coulter , ran into the room with a gag' across her mouth and her arms bound . She said that she had been bound by two men . Inquiries were made by the police , and the result was that the girl ' s mother was arrested as the principal , and the girl herself as an accessory .

      A new Way to' Obtain Credit . — Thomas Stevenson is wider remand at the Mansion-house , on a charge of forging an acceptance for £ 35 , and of obtaining goods under false pretences . He bad set up in business without any capital , but at length succeeded iu getting fifty pounds through a relative by drawing a bill which his wife accepted . He also obtained goods by giving , zm a reference for his character , the South London India-rubber Company ,

      with which he had had dealings . He was not authorised by the Company to refer to them ; but he did so in soven or eight cases . Upon discovering the fact , the mnnavgor of the company demanded what his nieanft were ; when ho said ho possessed £ 400 at tho time he set up iu business , and referred to his father . Mr . Turner , the managor , wrote to the father , and received a satisfactory reply ; Invt it would soem that this was penned by tho accused himself . However , ho had paid tho company all ho owod thorn .

      Moue Poisoning . — -Thomas Roeson , alia * William Wilson , has attempted to poison ui .-s wife and another woman , hor fellow florvant , at Nowcastle-on-Tyno . The man had enlisted in the army , but had boon bought out by hia wife Three voekn afterwards , ho onliatcd in the Coldatvoam Guard ? , from which he shortly doaertod . He thon employed himself in laTDour , living apart from his wifo , l > ut corresponding with her and appearing to bo on utfbotionato torms . Tlio woman- \\ -nfl in Horviea . On tho 1 st of December .

      ltobson visited Kin wife , and , on parting , pulled out a , bottle of ' whiakey , which ho euid was a present for law wife , who waa to rtharo it with hor fellow servant . Shu remarked iv thick - \ vhito look in it , which ho accounted for l > y nnying he had mixed it with milk to provont it « intoxicating hor , and ho inado a pretence of drinking hoiuo . Mm , llobson and tho other woman took a mouthful of tho liquid , and nhortly bocaaui very suck and ill . A subsequent oliomioul examination iletootod sugar of load . Kobfion I ihh ainco l > con nppr * hended , and in now uudor remand .

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      Sanitary 19 , 1856 . ] THE LEADER . _^ 55

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 19, 1856, page 55, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2124/page/7/