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    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 : — " On 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 abont 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

    he promise to put an end to witchcraft could be so regarded , " there being no such tiling recognized by the law as witchcraft . Sir . Justice Willes said hes would leserve 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 ha . nl labour .

    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 as 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 aad 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 Bhaken 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 . K " o 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 the 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 Lord's Prayer .

    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 and ill after taking some coffee which . Tunnicliff had prepared ; and the same results had ensued with her master . Mrs . Charlesworth ' s infant , indeed , died ; but it is not imputed to Tunnicliif that he killed it . "He said , " continued the dairymaid , " hehnd found out

    something about me and the cowman , and I gave him a bit of my mind . { Laughter . ) My master only took a meatspoonful of brandy when he was poorly . My master had had some drink on the 10 th of February—some 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 . to 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 . " E am all right now . " He has gained , something , therefore , for his 301 .

    The defence wa 9 that Charlesworth was labouring under an absurd delusion before he sent for TunniclifF , and that ho afterwards infected the latter with his own folly ; that many of the delusions , and all the 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 thfe accused was for liis services in farm work . Several Witnesses were called to prove the drunken habits of Mr . and Mrs . Charlesworth j 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 fresh sometimes , " he said , 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 , as the alleged offence was obtaining monoy under ftAse pretences , and as a false pretence roust bo understood a * referring to some exiting toot ,

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    THE ASSIZES . pUnder this head , last week , owing to the wrong position of the paragraph relating to the burglaTy at Manor Oaks , it would seem that that case was tried at Bedford , instead of at York . The paragraph should 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 vessel , was tried at Exeter on a charge of wilfully murdering Edward I > evue , 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 bv the captain and

    some of the crew that he was -very filthy in 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 the thumbs , and then flogged on the bare back . He was tied up to the forerigging , his heels higher than his Lead , 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 tlie 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

    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 beeu in prison since December . - •> James Cope , the assessor and collector of the land and propexty taxes at Darlaston , was charged at Stafford with obtaining various sums of money from divers persons by false pretences . He had been for two or three yeare in his late post , ami the 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 , lie bad surcharged various parties beyond the sum at which they were assessed .

    The defence was that the persons charged -with land tax . were really liable , and that the surehnrges of propertytax might have been mistakes . A letter which Cope wrote : to his uncle last Christmas-day , admitting misconduct 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 Bfr . Justice Willes , in summing up , said lie thought the letter would have been sufficient to touch a heart of stone-, and wondered at the wncle giving it up . The 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 Asliover , on ^ Yhich occasion he was shot by the clergyman , and seriously hurt . He was condemned , to transportation for twenty-five , years , and received the sentence with a smiling countenance . John Smith and'James Miller were found Guilty at Caivkbriclge 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

    plea-ded Guilty to being concerned in the same offence . Mr . Anbery was rendered quite insensible bytlie 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 « ai property ; but he was Acquitted . The rest were sentenced to twenty years' transportation . The usual reward of 21 . was given to Scott for his courageous conduct .

    John Spencer NoMwritt was tried at Kingston for wilful and corrupt perjury in falsely swearing , . iu an action brought nearly two years ago , that the acceptance to ii certain bill of exchange , purporting to be his signature , was n forgery . 'The facts have already appeared in this ' paper . ' The jury Acquitted Mr . Noldwritt .

    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 bod } was cut every where . The mate saw him lying-, on the deck the night before he died , and kicked Mm on the breast with his heavy sea-boots , and struck him with a large heavy block . " "With respect to the allegation of 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 conic and help him ; but they dared not interfere . When the vessel reached Eio Grande , the crew informed the consul there of the

    treatment the cook had received , and of his deatli ; but the 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 tlie captain being sent to prison for trial . The mate had deserted nt Itio Grande . The defence was that the witnesses had perjured themselves in many important particulars ; that it was not probable that any application was mado to the consul at Rio Grande , as tliat functionary would infallibly have sent the captain to England in custody ; and that death resulted from the acts of the mate . The 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 Baron 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 the Judge , after some evidence had betm given , his Lordship observing that , although there was cause for grave suspicion , there was no evidence to Hhow that tbe

    child wns born alive , or that the wound in the throat was inflicted during life . The woman , it appeared , had been convicted of concealment of birth seven years a ^ o , and was then sentenced to four months' imprisonment . She was now condemned to nine months * hard labour . With respect to the other woman—Klixa Broolior , aged twentythree—several respectable witnesses gave her a good character for humanity and kindness . As Hho had been in prison since last October , her sentence was only three months' hard labour .

    John Porcival , a farm servant , aged twenty-two , has boon Acquitted at Derby of the manslaughter of a boy named Robert Mitchell , on the 22 iul of last December . The lad , it waa alleged , was frightened to death by a foolish trick which had been played on him , ao as to make him believe he had Ream a ghost ; but one of the doctors who attended on him during his last illness , following on tho supposed ghost vision , said that tho boy ' a constitution had been weakened by overwork , -which would render any shock to the nervous system more aorious , and it wa , B not quite clear that the death , Trfta

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    Cuuki , tyto Cats . —A horrible case of cruelty occupied the attention of the Bow-street 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 thnt 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 inken off the animals after death , they are said to be deficient in gloss ? , nml 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 , and thus cut away the market for so great a crime . —Another charge of tlio same kind was brought before tho Worship * street magistrate on Thursday . A man named Jumos Glander was discovered by some boys ahooling the half-dead bofiic * of the wretched creatures on to a dust-heap . Th-c boys stuck to him , though lie flung one of them down ; and he was given into custody . On being taken to the police-court , he was pursued by a furious mob , and it was found neees . snry to # ot tho assistance of about a dozen policemen to protect him . lie denied tho chnrgo , and exhibited a degree of excitement which looked like a disordered intellect . The tnagistratc romiLiidcid liim for n wi » i'k _

    . Attkmit to Ui \ skt a Railwa y Tkaiw . — An attempt was made a few days ago to upset a train on the Lluiielly and Lnnclilo . Railway by altering tlie switches , so that the carriages should go off the lino . The enginedrLvcr , observing tho mischief , promptly shut off liis stiiani , and put on the drags and breaks . The speed Wt 8 thus greatly Blackened , and , though the train went on to the wrong line , no injury was done . The miscreant has not been discoveretl . PitATmciDK . —A man named George Edwards has murdered his brother nt MnM ^ tonc- The act grew out of a quarrel caused by George refusing to do any work , aind becoming a burden to tho family .

    Afkkay nkak Barnhmcy . —The village of Smithloy , al » out n milo from tho Lundhill Colliery , IJarnsley , has recently been infeHtcd by several marauders . » upposed to belong to an extensive gang of thieves , who have long curried on a sericH of depredations in tho Hurrounding country . A few nights since , n terrible affray occurred between a police-constable of Wombwell anil a number vF ruffians in some Gelds bolonging lo a f « ru » er living at

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    March 28 y , 1857 . ] T-HE L-EA D . E E ,. ___ 297 ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 28, 1857, page 297, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2186/page/9/