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Northern Star (1837-1852), 14th August 1852, Edition 1 of 2, Page 6, LAW AND POLICE.

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    • LAW AND POLICE.
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      Untitled Article

      HOME CIRCUIT . THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CONVENT CASE . Gtuildford . —Before the court finally adjourned on Friday night , some additional evidence was given on behalf of the defendant . On Saturday morning , Mr . Chambers replied at great length . The Chief justice then summed up , and the jury retired for about three quarters of an hour , when they returned into court and gave a verdict for the defendants .

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      WESTERN CIRCUIT . MURDER BY A LUNATIC . Christopher Smith , 28 , pleaded guilty to a charge of having wilfully murdered John Bush . The learned Judge postponed the sentence to have an opportunity of taking medical testimony as to the prisoner ' s sanity . The first witness examined was Mr , Walker , surgeon , of Shepton Mallett , who said he had seen the prisoner for a quarter of an hour every day or every other day for three weeks , and had conversed with him in order

      to discover the state of his mind . Prisoner ' s conversation turned to the different murders to which he had confessed , to the famine in Ireland , and to the potatoe disease there . Prisoner was an Irishman . Prisoner had confessed to a murder committed 17 years ago , when he could only have been 13 years of age . He said he had destroyed a man at that time . He said he threw Mm into a ditch after he murdered him . He also confessed to having murdered a man at Liverpool . He considered bimself a remarkably powerful , strong , and well-grown man , and able to compete with any two men . Witness considered him

      anything but a strong man . He said he was tired of life and wished to be hung , and he thought if he confessed these murders he should be hung . He said he committed the present murder with a clasp knife , which had a very sharp point . The knite discovered was not so . On other subjects his answers were perfectly rational . Witness should say he was decidedly insane , and thought him unfit to plead . He was in March last in gaol and appeared perfectly sane . On being liberated he fetched Ms child front the workhouse , and had said he murdered it . The child had never been seen or heard of since .

      Examined by Mr . Phinn—Witness had no doubt of prisoner ' s insanity . Mr . Christopher Arden , surgeon of the prison at Dorchester , had conversed with the prisoner on various topics disconnected with the murders , and believed him to be perfectly sane . Dr . Robert Boyd , medical superintendent of the Somerset County Lunatic Asylum , had attended to diseases of the mind for the last 17 years . Had upwards of 350 patients under his care . Saw the prisoner yesterday for the first time , and conversed with him only a few minutes . He conversed rationally

      on all subjects but his murders . He told witness he had committed seven or eight murders ; He mentioned the murder of a lady at Balfour . He said he had broken a vow he had made against the use of tobacco , and inconsequence of this the famine had visited Ireland and destroyed thousands of persons there . He said he wished to be hung . Witness ' s impression was that the prisoner was decidedly insane . It was quite consistent that a lunatic should be sane on every other topic but that in respect of which he is labouring under a delusion .

      The jury was of opinion that the prisoner was of insane mind , and Mr . Baron Platt ordered him to be detained during the Queen ' s pleasure .

      ALLEGED MANSLAUGHTER BY A SURGEON . Wilts . —T . Bourne was charged with the manslaughter of Ann Noakes , on the 21 st of June , at Wellow , in the neighbourhood of Bath . Prisoner was a surgeon , and deceased the wife of a labourer . She was taken ill on the 20 th of June , and her friends and neighbours visited her . Finding the case likely to be a difficult one , they sent for the prisoner . He came and attended the deceased for some time , but at last went away . The deceased and a woman who was acting as midwife begged of him to stay , but he said must go , and that he had brought the case so far that the nurse could manage it without him . The woman , however died . '

      A great number of witnesses were called , but the details to which they deposed are unfit for publication , and the jury eventually acquitted the prisoner .

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      Richard Mercer , joiner , of Burnley , deposed to having been going home on the morning of the 23 rd May , at about a quarter past twelve o ' clock . He saw a man and woman go through the lime kiln gate , and four or five men following . After reaching home he was alarmed by loud screams of " Murder , " and , went to the stone yard , from whence they seemed to issue , where he saw six or seven men upon the ground . He did not see a woman , but he heard a woman ' s voice say , " Don't take advantage of a poor Scotchwoman , the mother of nine children . " He procured assistance , and going to the spot afterwards found Pollard in custody , and the prosecutrix lying upon the bank of the canal , much exhausted , and stripped nearly naked . James Crooke and Thomas Smith gave similar evidence .

      Mr . George Sraithwaite , surgeon , spoke to having examined the prosecutrix shortly after the commission of the felonious assault upon her , and to the injuries she had sustained . She was much bruised and was in a state of great debility . The jury , after a short consultation , found Pollard Guilty , and acquitted the other two prisoners . ' His Lordship , in sentencing Pollard to fifteen years' transportation , said that in the annals of crime a more atrocious case of rape than this had never been proved . It had been attended by circumstances of brutality that were quite appalling , and t was marvellous that any person wearing the human form could concur in such an abominable outrage .

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      Assault asd Robbery at MAJtcw ? m . ~ Ja ? nes Boughley , aged 28 , Charles Mack , 26 , Martin Seffem , 35 , and Hannah Mooreffi were charged with having atManchester , on the Uth of May last , violently assaulted John Mitchell and robbed him of £ 4 13 s . Mr . Monk prosecuted and the prisoners Soughley , Mack , and Moore were defended by Mr . .-Atkinson and Mr . Sowler . It appeared , from the evidence adduced , that the prosecutor was induced by the prisoner Heffem , a railway porterto visit a beer-house in

      , bpeer-street , kept by a person named Sykes , where upwards oi twenty persons were assembled , drinking , and that , after partaking of a pint of ale there , the prosecutor was violently seized upon by the prisoners , his head held back , his clothes torn open , and the above-named sum feloniously abstracted from Ins waistcoat pocket . The prisoners were all found Guilty ; and Koughley was sentenced to two years' imprisonment , and Mack , Heffern , and Hannah Moore , to fifteen years' transportation .

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      MANSION-HOUSE . Defraudino Emigrants . — . Mr . Thomas Woolley , of Cullumstreet , ship-agent , was summoned under the provisions of the Passenger ' s Act , 1849 , 12 and 13 Vic , cap . 32 , sec . 32 , for the return of a deposit of £ 10 10 s ., and for compensation for breach of contract to convey Mr . H . F . Bastard , of Portsea , to Port 1 hilip , Australia , by the ship " Prince Alfred , " advertised to sail on the 7 th of July last . There were several emigrants present who were stated to have similar complaints , and the case attracted a deal of curiosity , attributable , no doubt , in a great measure , to the discreditable notoriety attached to the late emigration enquiries before Sir R . W . Garden .

      The Lord Mayor presided during the examination . Mr . Wontner appeared for the complainant , and stated the facts as detailed in the following evidence . Mr . EL Joseph Bastard , of Portsea , said—The complainant , Mr . H . F . Bastard , is my son . He was desirous of proceeding to Australia ; and in consequence of an advertisement stating that the ship " Prince Alfred" was to sail on the 7 th of July , for Port Phillip , I came to London on the 9 th of June , and applied the next day at the office of Mr . Woolley , who informed me that the vessel would certainly start for that destination on the 7 th of July . We agreed for an enclosed cabin , and I paid ten guineas as the moiety of the passage money , and received from his clerk the following acknowledgement : —

      " I beg to acknowledge the receipt of £ 10 10 s . deposit on account of your passage money as intermediate passenger per ' Prince Alfred' for Port Phillip . The balance £ 10 10 s . to be paid to me prior to embarkation . —I am , sir , your obedient servant , Thomas Woolley . " " To sail about the 7 th of July . " When the money was paid and the receipt was given , the word " about" was not written in it , but immediately afterwards one of the clerks asked me for the receipt , and having altered it by putting the word in , he returned it to me . I then

      returned home . We had got everything ready for my son , who was living at the time at Portsea with me . About this time , an advertisement appeared in the Times , announcing an alteration in the time of starting , and that the ship woukfsail on the 17 th of July . On the 10 th of July , however , Mr . Woolley wrote to Mr . H . F . Bastard that the vessel could not get away till the 25 th of July . On the 18 th of July another letter was received from Mr . Woolley , dated the preceding day , and stated that the " Prince Alfred" would leave the docks on the 30 th of

      July . I sent my son to London on the 26 th of July , suppos ¦ ing that the vessel would assuredly sail on the 30 th . A further postponement till the 5 th of August succeeded , and my son , having been backwards and forwards two or three times , and after having incurred great inconvenience and considerable ex pense , determined not to go by the " Prince Alfred , " and sent a notice to Mr Woolley , requiring the deposit , and offering to accept £ 10 as a compromise for the inconvenience and expense incurred . In reply to that application , Mr . Woolley wrote a letter denying that my son held any contract from him to sail on the 7 th of July , but offering to return the deposit , or pay detention money , which in conversation he limits to one shilling a day from the day my son came to London , °

      Mr . Gull requested that the Lord Mayor would , before he came to a decision upon a matter of such vast importance at the present time , allow the subject to be discussed before him by professional men . It would , he assured his lordship , be quite impossible for ship agents to aid in the extensive emigration now going forward , if the responsibility upon contingencies of such a description were to descend upon their heads . The Lord Mayor—I consent , upon your payment of the day ' s expenses , to postpone my decision until to-morrow , as the matter is of so important a nature , and concerns such multitudes of our fellow-country men . Sir Robert W . Garden expressed a sincere hope that the appeal which he had a few days ago made to the benevolent public

      Untitled Article

      for contributions to aid the poor emigrants who had been defrauded by the Australian Gold Mining and Emigration scheme would not be made in vain . The amount already received did not exceed 50 guineas , which would go but a little way in pavnient of the expense of giving to them and their families a passage to Australia , where they would be most useful by theiv skill and industry , and the excellent characters which ev ° rv one of them possessed . He trusted that the public would not loose time m sending in their benefactions to the Lord Mayor for the assistance of these worthy poor fellows .

      Untitled Article

      GUILDHALL . Alleged Robbery . —John Norm , of 15 , Bowling Alley Wlntecross-street , book-keeper at Messrs . Parker ' s , the carriers ' bkmner-street , Snow-hill , was charged on suspicion of bavin * robbed Lucy Hudd of 61 sovereigns . The complainant stated that she was a widow , living next door to the prisoner On bunday night , between 12 and 1 , she went to the prisoner ' s house , having at the time a bag with 61 sovereigns , in her bosom , one had occasion to leave his house , and went into her room next door , took a sovereign from the bag , and replaced it in her bosom . She then returned to the prisoner ' s roonl where fi !^? nS mi l ^ lockpnwakingthe next morning she

      ; missed the bag , and though she had looked everywhere she had been unable to find it . Hannah Griffiths , sister of the prosecutrix , stated that she came to see her on Sunday evening arid about half past 11 they went into a public-house , and had some Deer , and then as they were returning to her sister ' s the urisoner ' s wife called them in . After they went into the prisoner ' s room , his wife went to bed , and while the prisoner was fondling her sister about , his wife called her to the side of the bed . When there she suddenly looked round , and saw the prisoner drawing what she thought was a thread from the bosom of her sister ' s gown . They remained at the prisoner ' s till about 1 o ' clock , when they w . erit home . Ill the morning her sister told her she had lost her bag of money from her bosom of which , until then , the witness knew nothing . She immediately said , « Then Norris has got it » Witness had left her bonnet

      and shawl on the bed at the prisoner ' s , and it was found next morning at her sister ' s door . The prisoner stated that he had natUome drmk on the evening in question , and had no recollection of much that occurred , except that the complainant and her sister came to his place drank , and he did not know when they went away . No charge was made against him till he returned home from his business in the middle of the day on Monday , when , hearing that he was accused , he sent for a policeman , and gave himself into custody . Nothing relating to the missing property had been found on the prisoner ' s premises , and he was at once discharged , there being no evidence against him .

      Attempt at Starvation and Suicide . —John Thomas Parry , a compositor , was brought up by Waee , the pierman , at Blackfriars-bridge , on a charge of attempting to commit suicide . John William Ware said , at about 5 o ' clock in the morning his attention was called to the prisoner in the water , and on rowing to the spot indicated , he saw the prisoner roll over into deep water . Witness , however , succeeded in rescuing him , and having taken him to the receiving house ashore , searched him , and found only a farthing and some trifling articles of little or no value . Prisoner told him that lie had been driven to

      desperation by poverty . —The wife then stood forward , and in answer to interrogatories from the Alderman stated that her husband had had very little work to do lately , and sometimes did not earn as much as 5 s . in the week . She had 10 children , and eight of them were young and at home with her , and in great distress . Her husband left home on Friday morning to seek for work , and finding he did not return on Saturday , she applied to the West London Union for relief , when she was told

      to send her husband . —Alderman Finnisthen asked if she stated her children , were actually without bread , and on receiving a reply in the affirmative he commented with some warmth upon the cruel neglect in leaving the children to starve until the husband could be found to make a personal application for relief . He would remand the case , in order that the relievihg-officer and overseer might attend and explain why they omitted to relieve the distressed family and the prisoner . —The prisoner was remanded .

      LAMBETH . Irish Syotm . —Timothy Lane , Thomas Linn , Boach , Margaret Connor , and Johanna Connor were brought before the Hon . G-. C . Norton , charged , the men with fighting and assaulting the police , and the women with attempting to rescue them from custody . John Meadows , police-constable 160 L , said—About 12 o ' clock on Saturday night , he was on duty in the Vauxliallroad , when he saw Lane , Roach , and two other men not in

      custody ^ coming along quarrelling in the road . When they arrived in Glasshouse-street they stopped and Commenced quarrelling again . Witness then went up to them , and said , '' Now , my lads , cut away home , and dont' annoy the inhabitants . " They went a little distance down Glasshouse-street , when witness heard some one say , "There ' s only one b—policeman there ; we can do for him . " When a little distance off he heard cries of " Police , " and on returning down the street he saw Lane and Roach on the ground , and the latter beinsr kicked bv

      tne former . He took hold of Lane , when Roach gave him into custody for assaulting him . While he had Lane in custody he said he would not go unless he took Roach also . With that he commenced shouting , and in less than a minute the street was crowded with low Irish . Lane then caught hold of his coat , and tore it from the buttons , when he was immediately surrounded by a mob , who closed upon them . Margaret Connor came up at the time and seized hold of the tail of " his coat , when he was struck by some one several times in the ribs with such violence that he was compelled to pull out his rattle and spring it for assistance . He still kept hold of Lane , and was attempting to him

      get along when Linn came up and attempted to rescue nun from his custody . Roach helped him a little way , but as soon as the mob collected he turned against him . They were both drunk . Linn was extremely violent , and had not other constables come to his assistance they would have seriously injured him . The Hon . Mr . Norton said , after carefully looking into all the circumstances , he did not think that it was any premeditated attack on the police , but a mere fight between a lot of drunken Irish . He should fine Roach 20 s ., or 20 days-He should also fine Linn 20 s ., or 20 days ; Lane 10 s ., or 10 days ; and discharge the women ; but lie hoped this leniency would be a warning to them not to create such disturbances , or assist in any attack on the police while in the execution of their duty .

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      NORTHERN CIRCUIT . KAPE . —SHOCKING BRUTALITY . Lancaster . —John Pollard , aged 40 , John Crooke , aged 21 , and James Booth , aged 23 , were charged with having on the 22 nd of May last , committed a rape upon the person of Susannah Stewart , at Burnley . Susannah Stewart stated that she had been a widow for the last seven years , her husband having been a soldier . She was the mother of nine children , and had lived at Newcastle-on-Tyne till about eighteen months ago . On Friday , the 21 st May , she went to Burnley in a state of destitution , and on applying for relief she was refused . On the following day she went in search of lodgings , but could find none . She went afterwards to a beerhouse to look after a Scotchwoman . The Scotchwoman was not there , but there was a man seated there drinking who heard what she had to say , and gave her a glass of beer . He beard her tell the landlady she wanted to see the Scotchwoman , to see if she could procure lodgings for her , and he observed at the time that he could find her lodgings . Thinking that he was laughing at her , she left the house , followed by the man who ^ repeated that if she went with him he would find her lodgings . She said she was afraid , and he said she need not be He took her up a dark and lonesome lane , and she said to him ' "I hope you are not taking me astray , I would much sooner turn back . " He replied , " No ; don't be afriad , come on you'll soon seethe house I'm taking you to . " She then went a little further with him , when he suddenly took her hy the arms and threw her on the ground . As soon as she was on the ground , she was surrounded by a number of other men but she could identify none of them . It was quite dark at the time She screamed "Murder , " and found that her legs and shoulders were held by some of the other men . Her clothes were torn off her . [ Witness here described the particulars of a rape committed upon her by five persons in succession . ] The witness was cross-examined at considerable length lm * , 4 fWS | rop | b to shake her testimony . b ' mmmmm KobauAioaxis

      Law And Police.

      LAW AND POLICE .

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      6 THE STAR OF FREEDOM . August 14 , 1852 .

  • Citation
    • Northern Star (1837-1852), Aug. 14, 1852, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1691/page/6/