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No. 420, APBH. _ iO, 1858.] THE LEADER, ...
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TRIAL OF THE EEV. SAMUEL SMITH. The tria...
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CRIMINAL, RECORD. Mb. Samuel Wauuun on t...
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CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT. John CAiiTitn, a...
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.
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Transcript
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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.
Continental Notes. That Narrow And Unchr...
radames . The chief was betrayed and slain by one o f his followers , and 'his head has been brought into Tripoli with great rejoicing . An Ottoman steam liner and frigate , having on board 3000 troops from Constantinople , put into Corfu on the 19 th , and left on the 22 nd cf March for Albania , to suppress the depredations committed on the Turkish ( frontier in the Adriatic , and to protect it against an invasion from the Montenegrins . MONTENEGRO . Prince Danilo , being still in negotiation with the Sultan about the cession of a strip of land in exchange for his submission , has interdicted his subjects from committing warlike acts , except in case- they are attacked . Austria has sent more men to the vicinity of the disturbed districts , and the Montenegrins seem to look on that power as their natural protector . PRUSSIA . At a meeting of the shareholders of the Bank of Prussia , held at Berlin on the 31 st ult ., a proposition ¦ was made to vote 8340 thalers towards the subscription for building the Protestant cathedral ; but it excited so much opposition that it was withdrawn . RUSSIA . Six more governments of the empire have applied for permission to form committees for the emancipation of the serfs . As a matter of course , the authorization ¦ was at once accorded . Preparations on a most extensive scale are now being made for a fresh campaign against the Circassians . Never before , it is said , have such powerful means of . attack been brought into action against these populations . GREECE . George Conduriottis is dead , and King Otho has ordered five days' mourning for him .
No. 420, Apbh. _ Io, 1858.] The Leader, ...
No . 420 , APBH . _ iO , 1858 . ] THE LEADER , 34 S
Trial Of The Eev. Samuel Smith. The Tria...
TRIAL OF THE EEV . SAMUEL SMITH . The trial of Samuel Smith , clergyman , of Clifton , and Sarah Smith , bis wife , for a murderous assault on John Leech , took place on Tuesday at the Gloucester Assizes . The facts will he within . the recollection of the reader , as they occurred no longer ago than the 3 rd of February ; so that it will be sufficient here to state that the charge against the prisoners was that they had conspired to lure the prosecutor down to a lonely common at Yate , on the Bristol and Birmingham Railway , and that they there ¦ endeavoured to murder him . This conspiracy was carried out by writing letters to Leech , in which Mrs . Smith falsely pretended that her husband was dead , and that she was a widow , and willing , if Leech felt so disposed , to renew their former . acquaintance and to marry him . "When a single woman , some nine years ago , Airs . Smith had been courted by Leech and by her present husband , and finally she married the clergyman . Leech , however , had often seen her since , and it would seem that he seduced her . Me was closely cross-examined on this point by Mr . Huddleston , Q . C ., counsel for Mrs . wnetner several
Smith , and declined to say , on . occusions referred to , he had lnid intercourse with the lady . At the conclusion of the case for the prosecution , the Rev . Mr . Smith , who was undefendod , addressed the jury from a written statement which ho held in his hand . He said " he should have to tell the jury of his shame and of his wrongs , and to give the history of his marriage . He would not conceal the truth , but would roveal every circumstance that might ead the jury to aright conclusion . In September , 1848 , he first met his wife and proposed marriage , buing told timf . ol « . I . r ., 1 l . a » n in Bnmrw'H nfr Swilll mid KdiTllr ' tt . Ulld 1 kt « ---
'V ** l * U DIO «* V « , lf \ J **** ¦• * » - •**• » »*» - ™» ™ .. , _ , F was going to another situation . He would have married her at once but for his circumstances ; but ho had been obliged to labour for his support since tlie age of fifteen . Ho had gone to Cambridge , whore ho gained a scholarship , and became senior optimo in 1818 . Ho married his wife in July , 1849 , but did not take her homo , because , as master of the Bishop ' s school at itristol , ho hud but 100 / . a year . lie therefore thought it bettor to leave her'for a time with her friends in Kent , whore ho unpaged to pay for her board . His wife wanted to oome to him ; but , as ho was still reading for holy orders , ho could not rocolvo her in hit ) lodging , and proposed that she should go to board at u milliner's at Bristol . Ultimately his wife came to livo with him at
Clifton , in lodgings which ho took tor her . In lool , she was confined lit her friend's Ijouho in Kent , and Again in 1852 ; and then he took a house , when u third child was born , In 1854 . Ho then rertijmod his situation * t Bishop ' s College , and opened a wcliool of hi « own , when ho hud u fourth child born . He did duty in aevonil iiln (< nn in tho neighbourhood , and was earning
about 400 / . when this calamity eume upon him , mid a terrible disclosure was brought to his knowledge . Ho — ' -hud-ofton—obaorvert-tlmt ^ thero-wHis- 'ft' - 'iiiolHUoholy-ftbout . " Ws wife , and hIio would sigh on his buaoin and toll him that eho wna not worthy of him . llo had ol ' tou oompUined of her atuying so much in Kent , mill that there iBUBt bo somo reason for hor inalauolioly , though ho could nut toll -what It was . Shu onoo told him of n letter who had rooolvod from tha mini Luuuh , and inoutloned other circumstances which tended ruthor to ox .-oito his Jealousy . Hut hu overlooked it , ua she
continued to bear him children and managed the house well . At length , on tho 22 nd of last January , she told him something which made him very unhappy ; but he said he would forgive her if she would take an oath that nothing had happened since their marriage . She then knelt down , and told him of the circumstances under which the prosecutor Leech induced her to meet him at Canterbury , and committed adultery with her , and that Leech afterwards met her in London and promised that , if she would go and live with him he would marry her in seven years . The idea racked his mind that perhaps the children were not his own . His wife , however , assured him that she had never done anything wrong since she had been living with him , and " he told her that he would forgive her if she would bring the man to Bristol , in order that he might retaliate . It was under his directions that his wife wrote the letters , which he dictated . He insisted on his wife writing the letters , and disguising herself as she had done , on the promise which he made her that he would not do Leech any serious injury . He bought the revolver for his own protection in case Leech should draw a knife upon him ; but he solemnly denied that he had ever intended to use the pistol aggressively against Leech : had he done so , he would not have acted as he had , so as to lead to his detection . His only object was to do what lie had done—viz . to give Leech a good beating , in order to solace his outraged mind . He could not justify his conduct , which he should always deeply lament ; but he hoped his acts would be justly appreciated by the judge and jury , who could not blame him for the burning indignation which had overcome his whole being . He implored the jury to put themselves in his place , and ask themselves what redress the laws of the land and courts of justice could have given him . lie took the law into his own hand ; but who could deny that he had sinned against human nature , or that Leech had had more than he deserved ? The jury might find I
him guilty of an assault it they would ; but lie implored them notto ii nd him guilty of a felony , which would ruin his prospects in life , and deprive his children of their bread . " j Mr . Huddleston , in addressing the jury for the wife , I described her as the victim of Leech when she was only sixteen or'seventeen years of age , and suggested that she was under the coercion of her husband when acting j j as she hud done on the day of the assault . AVith re-I spect to the husband , he contended that , at the most , he could only be convicted of unlawfully wounding-. The jury found both the prisoners Guilty of cutting and wounding with intent to disfigure and to do grievous bodily harm ; but they added that the female prisoner had committed no actual violence , and that she had acted throughout under the coercion of her hnsband . On the following daj r , the clergyman was sentenced to four years' penal servitude , and the wife was allowed to go at liberty . She is described as a person of forbidding exterior . Mr . Smith is a muscular man , of very resolute aspect . He showed much solicitude for his wife , who was greatly overcome on the second day .
Criminal, Record. Mb. Samuel Wauuun On T...
CRIMINAL , RECORD . Mb . Samuel Wauuun on this Pkkvention of Chimb . —Mr . AVarren , in opening tho Hull Easter Sessions , last Saturday , made some observations on tho good effects produced by tho reformatory system . A groat decrease has taken place in the number of juvenile male criminals in tho gaol . At the beginning of tho year 1866 , the number was twenty-nine ; this fell to twentysix in tho following June , and now there aro only six in
tho prison . In tho course ot his address , Air . \> arron spoke of tho necessity of controlling " those pest-houses called beer-shops . " Execution at Yoiik . —Joseph Shepherd , tho murderor of Bethel Parkinson on VVadsworth Moor , near Halifax , w , h hanged last Saturday at York . The criminal persistently denied his guilt , died imponitent , and conducted himself during hia last days with tho utmost , levity , lie laughod in tho faoo of tho clergyman whenever tho lnttor conversed with him on religious subjects , and , upon boiug told that ho would have no rest in the next world if ho bolmvod in that way , replled , " If there'll no rest for mo thero , I might as well have us much rest as 1 can lion ; , " and then laid down on tlie uoiorw inn
condemned cell to a room on the opposite side of tho Castle-yard , and adjoining the scaffold , at about -six o ' clock in the morning . When the officers were ready to conduct him , he walked away quietly ; his nerves were unshaken , and he appeared determined to meet hi 3 fate with perfect coolness . On coming through , the office , in which there is a clock , Shepherd looked ' at it , and , observing the short , hand at six , remarked , ' When that gets to the top , I shall be done foT ; it will be all over then . ' On dressing himself , he was full of joke and fun . When the officers of the prison were conducting him across the Castle-yard , he was in high glee , and laughed as before . He looked at Clifford ' s Tower , and said , ' That ' s the old tower , I suppose . ' When he arrived at the apartment adjoining the scaffold , ha threatened that , if he had the chance , he would ' knock Jack Ketch over . ' The culprit , since his condemnation , had expressed a wish that he could obtain arsenic and poison himself , and had said that he deserved to be hanged , although he did not murder Parkinson . " Just before the lowering of the drop , he ejaculated , two or three times , " Lord have mercy upon me . '" and in a . few moments afterwards he was dead . From ten to fifteen thousand persons were present . The Tragedy at Lerwick . —Further particulars are published in the Scotch papers of the horrible affair at Lerwick , of which we gave the main facts last week . Mr . Williamson appears to have armed himself with a heavy iron hammer or cleaver , a knife , and a razor , with ; which he murdered , one by one , his wife , his daughter , and two sons , frightfully wounded another son , and finally killed himself . The wife and little girl slept together ; and , after slaying them , Mr . Williamson went into an upper room , where the three boys lay , and commenced an attack on them . The eldest boy , after receiving numerous wounds on the head and throat , escaped down stairs to the servant ' s bedroom , and , leaping , terrified and bloody , into the girl ' s bed , suddenly l . _ T _ _ A . _^ _ ^ -k > -1 ,- > - _ i * -m ^» » •¦« s * ba . » ^ v «¦ 1 Jw AWMA 1 O B ^ TT ^ & tiui ui iivnuiia
| | ¦ . ^*^ ** . *^ *^ " ^ ^ ^ ^ WOKe licr LO a . staryu cuji : * sm ; aD me * jj which she was surrounded . The youngest boy was killed instantaneously , and the middle one , after escaping for a minute or two to a lower room , was pursued ! by the father and despatched . The murderer then cut | his own throat , first sitting down upon the floor , laying j his neck against the leg of a table , and passing his arm ' round the leg of a chair , to ensure steadiness to the gash . When found , his throat was cut from ear to ear , and the razor had penetrated the bone . On the house being entered by some persons who had heard the noise of the massacre , Mrs . VVilliamson was still living ; but she soon died . The son who escaped will , it is thought , survive his wounds , though he is probably weakened for life . There can be 116 doubt that the murderer was insane , but the cause of hi 3 insanity is unknown . On the evening before the tragedy he had been talking with some friends very pertinaciously on the subject of murders and of the best way to take life ; but he had transacted his business as usual . jMiddlesicx Sessions . —A man named Thomas Jone * has been convicted at the Middlesex Sessions of stealing n wntnti from a Mr . James Slie in a carriage On the
Camden Town Railway , while the train was in motion . The robbery having been effected , the thief leaped out of the window , and escaped , though with some cuts and bruises . He was afterwards arrested , and , at the policeoffice , assaulted some constables . Ho was now sentenced to penal servitude for live years ; on which , smashing his hat , he said he didn ' t mind its being known that he was a ticket-of-lcave man . A Hesi'ite . —Tho day for tho execution of John Barwiclc for tho murder of Maria Mlackiuore , at Linton , in tho north of Devon , was fixed for yesterday ; but tho
culprit lias been respited . Matiucidk . —A terrible crime has boen committed at Trieste . A young workman , who maintained hinidslf ? and his mother by his daily labour , gained so little that they lived most wretchedly , liy dint of privations , however , ho saved up sulliciont to purchase a ticket in a lottery . The drawing took place a few days ago , and his ticket gained a prize of 1 ( 5 , 000 florins . Wiid with joy the young mmi hurried to hi 3 mother , informed hor of his good fortune , and asked for the ticket . " Alas , my son ! " snid she , " I sold it somo time back . " AVithout a word , tho young man drow hid knife and stabbod hor until sho foil dead at hia foot . Ho was arrested tho same day .
tho bed . 1 ins was < my uxucuuuu , « uu « u slept soundly during tho night . Ho was told that ho would go to hfll if ho did not repent of his siuo ; to which hu replied , " Never mind ! 1 shall bo all right in the snowy weather ; I shall bo right during ono half of tho your , whon thu weather ' s cold . " Ho inquired llippuntlv nbout his oollln ; expressed a hope that ho should
huvo " a good blow-out " before he was hanged ; and uttered lilmmhomioa which wo refrain from ropoating . 4 Iia-fathoruviidJiia-wUb-v , isitod ^ Jiiin » o . u _ tliia 3 Vlctln « 8 . ili » y ^ prooodlng hia death . Tho wife was groatly attbotod , but the father was as little movod as tho criminal himsulf . On leaving , the old man intimated that ho uhould see " tho finishing stroke " on Saturday . Ho saw hia son again on the Thursday , and romnrkod , on < iulttlug tho cell , " 1 think it is of no , uho stopping nny longer : I only just wanted to look at thoo . " Tho culprit , snys tho ' ncQount in tho daily papors , " was romovod from tho
Central Criminal Court. John Caiititn, A...
CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT . John CAiiTitn , a young man employed at an extensive linondrapery o .-ttnbliahmoiit in AVhitoohapol , was tried on Tuesday on a cliargo of stealing two shillings from his employers . Tlie theft was ono of u Horloa . Tho cutirso uuii is mat cusiumur
ot Uu . itnoss at tlio . nu , wnuu a (> mchaso . s any urticle , two bills uro made out by the shopman \ vl \ q aervort , h ^ . which tho amount is statod j "' id <>»« of ^ " tlio " so bills in ' tit inipodHfiyTITo oaiilFior fliut rofimioiVTcTtho customer , and tho other i » retained by tho cathlur ua a chock upon the shopman . It Hoomod to have boon tho habit of Carter to place Hiuiillur amounts upon tho bills than tho goods sold actually amounted to ; and , wuon ono bill had boon ritampoil by tho cashier , uud tho . amount upon It rooolvod by him , ho took tho othor to tho customer , filling in thu actual amount , and pocketing
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 10, 1858, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10041858/page/7/
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