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Leader (1850-1860), 14th April 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 343, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      announcing the decision , they rose en masse , and cheered vociferously for several minutes , no ^ one present attempting to stop this extraordinary ebullition of feeling . am w j This elaborate trial did not conclude until Wednesdayj having ; extended over seven days . ( ,

      Untitled Article

      THE CASE OF MRS . RAMS BOTH AM . At the M iddlesex S essions , on Wednesday , Mrs . Ramsbothain surrendered to take her trial on a charge of two distinct larcenies—viz ., one of two sleeves on the 15 th of March last , and one of four handkerchiefs on the 27 th of March ; the articles in both cases being the property of the prosector , John Watkins Moule . The accused , who was accommodated with a seat , pleaded Not Guilty . The facts of the second count are so well known , that they need not be repeated ; but those connected ¦ with the first count were now for the first time stated as follows by Mr . Bodkin , counsel for the

      prosecution : — " On the 15 th of March Mrs . Ramsbotham went to the prosecutor ' s shop , and was served by an assistant named Churchouse , and he , on turning round , observed the frills of a pair of sleeves hanging from beneath her shawl on her arm . At that time the prosecutor was not in the way ; but Churehouse mentioned the circumstance to Mr . Moule , jun ., who came into the shop . The frill , however , had then entirely disappeared under the shawl , and thinking that it might possibly be a mistake , and as his father was away , Mr . John Moule did not tax her with it . But after she was gone , the sleeves on the counter were counted , and one pair was missed ; and , as lie had stated , in the conversation relating to the subsequent charge she admitted that she did take them , and it was with this knowledge that Mr . Moule took the

      course he did . With respect to Mrs . Ramsbotham ' s denial of having been to Mr . Moule ' s shop when pursued after the second theft , Mr . Bodkin admitted that in the - \ rery same breath she corrected herself , and said , " Oh , yes , I have ; " so that it was not contended that Jisr first reply was an absolute or wilful denial . The chief-point in the evidence was the assertion by the shopman Welsh that he had said to young

      Moule , on the 27 th of March , - " Here is Mrs . Ramsbotham coming in ; " and the counter-statement by Moule that he had not heard that remark , and that , though he knew it was Mrs . Ramsbotham who took the sleeves on the 15 th , he did not know it was she to whom he offered the gloves on the 2 . 7 th . This discrepancy afforded Mr . Ballantine , who appeared for the defence , the text of the most effective argument ( its touching the matters of fact ) in his speech . He said : —

      " The object of young Moule in placing these gloves before the prisoner was , not that she should buy them , but that she should steal them ; it was a trap laid for the victim , and poor Mrs . Ramsbotham fell into it . The conduct of the prosecutor had not been that which one JeUow-Chri 3 tian _ should _ puTsujeJjowftrds _ another . When the affair of the sleeves took place he shouldliave warned Dr . Ramsbotham . He should have said ' Your wife has done so-and-so ; I won't prosecute ; ' and then told him to take cave of her . He knew who she was , and where she lived , and he could easily have done so . Did lie not know that many ladies had a mania of this kind ? It was well known and notorious . Could he not then have warned Dr . Ramsbotham of what had occurred ? Had he done so , it would have been much better than his tempting her to take the handkerchiefs , so as to make sure of her . The former would have been neighbourlike and Christian conduct . "

      Mr . Ballantino then contended that the accused was in a state of " delusion" at the time , and wns not conscious that she was committing theft . Ho aided : — " There is an instance of a well-known legal gcntlemnn talcing a knife away from a shop unintentionally , and the morbid delusions and appetites which the state of pregnancy produces upon women are not denied . Women in that condition are guilty of acts for which they really are not responsible ; and juries had said in such cases that they were not criminally guilty , because tho felonious intention was not present when the act was

      committed , A morbid affection of tho bruin produced in some persons one thing , in some another . What I have said of women in a certain condition does not apply to the prisoner . She is a woman advanced in life , and has reached that period of exiatenco when an important constitutional change takes place with women . There wore women who , during that chnngo , wore in constant nervous excitement , under continual hallucinations , rcsult ' ng from a morbid affection of tho brain , Hupcrindnccd by the change I have alluded to . It was unintelligible and almost incredible ; but yet it was so . A morrn < l action of the brain doe 3 exist , as much as cancer or any other disease . "

      Mr . Ballantine concluded by somo indignant observations upon tho conduct of thu magistrate who committedhls client ; and expressed his belief that in that court there would bo fairness , judgment , and

      honour . An attempt was made to cheer the speech ; but it was soon repressed . The Rev . Dr . Russell , Rev . H . Brown , Rev . Mr . Gibson , Dr . Tweedie , Mr . Lewis , attorney , a number of ladies , and several tradesmen were then called , and they . spoke of the prisoner , from a long knowledge of her , as a Woman of the highest honour and integrity in all the relations and transactions of life . The Assistant . Judge , in summing up , dwelt upon the morbid condition of mind to which Mr .

      Ballantine had alluded as consequent , in women , upon the transitional period mentioned , and which passes away when the constitution is re-established . He also alluded to the strange conditions of mental action to which all persons are subject ; and instanced the case of the boy Jones , who , when he got into the Palace , stole nothing but an envelope , a twopenny coin , and a few other trumpery articles , though he might have taken things of great value . It was , however , for the jury to say whether Mrs . Ramsbotham was or was not actuated by a felonious

      intent * The jury , after a short deliberation , expressed a wish to retire . They were accordingly locked up for nearly four hours ; at the end of which time it appeared they were equally divided with respect to their verdict . They were accordingly dismissed . After a few remarks from the Assistant-Judge , to the effect—that—there was no imputation upon the conduct of Mr . Moule , and that it would be better if the editors of newspapers would postpone their comments upon criminal cases until after the trial , the prisoner was discharged , and left the court with her friends .

      Untitled Article

      TRIAL AND CONDEMNATION OF BURA . NELLI . At the Central Criminal Court on Thursday , Luigi Buranelli , aged thirty-one , was tried for the murder of Joseph Latham , and for shooting at Mary Anne Jeanes . The prisoner pleaded Not Guilty . Upon being asked whether he would be tried by a jury composed half of foreigners , or by one composed entirely of Englishmen , he said he would be tried by an English jury . . - The evidence with respect to the murder merely recapitulated the facts which have already come out at the inquest and the police examinations ; but in the cross-examination of Mrs . Williamson , the woman with whom the prisoner had for a time cohabited , some curious particulars touching . Buranelli ' s state of mind were given . She said that she went with him one evening to the

      theatre" The piece we saw was the Qorslcan Brothers . The prisoner appeared to be very much-delighted when one of the brothers shot a man who had shot his brother , and he said he should like to appear to me after he died , the same as the ghost did in the Corsican Brothers . I told him I thought it was very ridiculous for him to talk in such a manner , and that I should not like him to appear to me when he was dead . The prisoner frequently told me that he would shoot himself , and I endeavoured to reason - him . out jjf . .. suchnotions , and spoke of his soul , and that it was very -wicked of him to talk iii such a manner . He frequently said that since he knew me he had forgotten his child , and he also said he thought that some medical man had injured him . I told him it was

      nonsense , and that he only imagined such things , and he said he did not . I told the prisoner that he used to read so many operas that he at last fancied he was one of the beings who were in them . Housed to say that the } were very beautiful . It never occurred to me that he was mad , but I thought he was a man of great imagination . I do not think I ever said to any one that I thought ho was mad , but I may have said , in a joke , that I believed he was going out of his mind . . . * . . He told me that he had undergone a surgical operation in the country . Ho frequently complained , of pain in his left side , and wet weather appeared to have an efl ' ect

      upon him . Tho death is not occasioned in the Coroican Brothers by shooting but by stabbing , and the ghost of one brother appears to the other . The prisoner made the observation that his ghost should appear to me , in a jocular manner . Ho always spoke to me in terms of strong attachment . Ho talked of shooting himself while wo wore living in Foloy-placo . Tho prisoner was jealous of mo , not with regard to any - particular person , but generally . Hungarians and Italians used to visit tho prisoner while ho lived in Newman-street . 1 judged that tho prisoner was jealous from his talk , not from his actions ; ho frequently expressed a fear that I should bo intimate with somo ono else an woll as him . "

      For tho defence , several witnesses wero called to prove that tho prisoner was doniontcd . Sonic persons who hud known him when ho lived at 1 ' onshurst deposed that after the death of his second wife in child * bed in 1854 , he became very depressed and strange in his manners . Ho would weep all day , and talk of committing suicide . He hired a little boy to be with ¦ him because ho would not bo alone , Ho was continually talking of dying , and would exclaim , " Poor Louis , poor Louis ! Many troubles—many troubles !" On one occasion , he asked one of tho witnesses to shoot him , and said ho thought his doctor had

      attempted to poison him . He would also talk of ; having awful dreams . Before the death of his ^ wife , he was a very cheerful inoffensive person . ' Dr . Butler , the medical man who attended him at Penshurst , said that about three years ago he was suffering from congestion of the liver , arid that after the death of his wife he' appeared to be oppressed with " melancholia , " which the witness explained to be in no . different from melancholy . He was also subject to extraordinary delusions . The woman with whom he lodged after leaving Lambert ' s house , stated that two or three days before the murder she heard him talking very loudly to himself , and that he

      frequently complained of pain in his head and heart . One of the nurses at the Middlesex Hospital , where he had been last year , said he insisted upon several occasions that his bed was flooded with water ; and Mr . Henry , the assistant-surgeon , stated that he was decidedly of opinion that Buranelli was of unsound mind . In this , Dr . Connolly , who was afterwards called , concurred ; but , on the part of the prosecution , Dr . M'Murdo , surgeon of Newgate , Dr . Mayer , and Dr . Sutherland disputed that conclusion , and said that Buranelli was suffering from simple hypochondriasis , which would account for his illusions , and that upon examining him they discovered no signs of mental aberration . The jury returned a verdict of Guilty ; and the prisoner was assisted from the dock almost in a fainting state .

      Untitled Article

      OUR CIVILISATION . Iixeg-ai , Flogging of British Seambn . —A summons against the owner of the vessel Flora M'Doriald was obtained at the Mansion House on Saturday . The allegation was to the effect that four of the seamen had been charged with insubordination at Colombo , and had been punished by twelve weeks ' imprisonment with hard labour , and the forfeiture of the wages then due to them ; and that two more of the-men , having been charged , with assaulting the

      master , had been sentenced to hard labour and imprisonment for three months , arid to receive twenty lashes on-the-bare back . The legality of the stoppage of the wages , and of the flogging , was disputed ; and , the master not being in England , the summons was ^ applied for against the owner . A further summons was asked for , on the ground of the ship having been sent out with an insufficient quantity of provisions for the voyage , thus leading to the insubordination of the men ; but this was for the present refused . ¦ _ ;•

      AllecedMuudek at Sea . —John Milligan , master of the Lord Dufferin of Belfast , has been committed for trial at Falmouth , charged with the wilful murder of William Dawson , one of the crew . The ship , it appears , made a good deal of water , and it was necessary to force the crew to work very hard . Some , however , objected ; and Dawson being particulary refractory , the captain shot him . The crew then carried the dead body aft , and said they did not like to be shot down like pigs . The captain rejoined that , if they did not go to their work , he would shoot some" riiore of tliem "; Upoir which they turned- to their duty , and worked well for the remainder of the voyage . On cross-examination , one of tho witnesses , who had himself been among the refractory seamen , admitted that , if the deceased had not been shot , tho vessel would have been lost , as the crew had

      refused to work . Cuuklt y to A Child . —The Worcestershire Chronicle reports a case of shocking' cruelty to a child , which has just been brought to light at Stourbridge . The sufferer was a boy , eight years of age , named Henry Edward Henefer . His mother has been dead some time , and his father , Thomas Henefer , bus married again . It appears that a sister of the child ' s mother , having a fear that he was not being properly attended to , had applied at the father ' s house , near the , Gig Mill , to see the boy , but had been donied . Last week she went over to Stourbrulgo again ; but her approach was seen and the door locked against ^ her ! She threatened , however , to burst it open it ' refused admittance . With great reluctance , the wife let her in , and she found the poor child reduced to a complete skeleton . She insisted on taking him at le the child

      away , which was refused ; but ngth was rescued by force . The aunt at onco informed the police ; and tho child was brought before tho magistrates . A more shocking spectacle of extreme emaciation could not bo conceived } it produced a sickening offect upon all present . Iho clad was utterly unable to stand or sit , and was carried in tho arms of his aunt . Flesh there was none , and even tho bones seem to hnvo shrunk , being Hinuller than usual in a child of his age . Both his feet were bandaged , several oC JuV toes having rotted away during the late severe weather . The bench ordered tho child to be taken to the union , and tho matter to bo brought before the guardians , that they might call the parent and his wife to account . When taken to the union , tho child , though eight years old was found to weigh less than 14 lbs . JJ-xtreino weaknoss prevented him from giving much

      Untitled Article

      April ! 4 > 1855 ] T H E 1 E A £ > E R . 3 fJ 8 ., ,.

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1855, page 343, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2086/page/7/