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Leader (1850-1860), 27th March 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 296

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      knife . A little boy was outside the house at the time the death-struggle was going " on , and he saw Davies hastily leave the cottage and lock the door after him , leaving the key in . He gave an alarm , and the dead body was afterwards discovered by the neighbours . The murderer was taken into custody at two o ' clock next morning , in a barn at Leebotwood , about twenty miles off " . The policeman charged him with the murder of Nancy Morgan , and he asked , "Is she dead ? " and , on being answered in the affirmative , he said , " Oh , Lord ! I did not think it was quite so bad as that . " He was then brought to " Wenlock in a cart , and , on the way , he said he had told the old woman he would leave her , and went up-stairs to fetch his clothes . The old woman

      followed him , and he asked her for the watch she had bought for him , and several times requested her to kiss him . He added that , if he had killed her , it was not for money , for he knew where it was , and there was but 6 d . in the bouse , and he knew where the bank books were ; and he observed , "I did love the old woman . " The defence at the trial was an endeavour to reduce the crime from murder to manslaughter ; but it failed , and Davies was found Guilty of the former , and was sentenced to death . —During the examination of the little boy who was the chief witness against Davies , his mother appeared to be labouring under some great mental anxiety , and would not be prevailed on to quit the witness-box . It seems that she was under the belief that the dead ' witch ' still possessed an evil power

      ovei her . Another case involving the belief in witchcraft was tried at Liverpool on Monday . Martin Devitt , an Irish workman , was indicted for bigamy . The facts were clearly-proved ; but he cross-examined the second wife in a very wild way , and at length worked himself into a state of the greatest excitement . " Answer me this , " he shrieked out . " Would you ever let me alone till I married you ? Didn't you " get two candles , and burn ' em all night to bewitch me , and give me some powders to charm me ? Answer me that , now . " The -woman answered "No ; " on which , Devitt , gesticulating violently , exclaimed , " What ! Turn round , and let me look at you . " The woman , however , obstinately kept her back towards the prisoner . Devitt then resumed his ravings , and at last became perfectly unintelligible . He was found Guilty , and sentenced to three months ' hard labour .

      William Charles Browne , an engineer , has been found Guilty , at Shrewsbury , of forging an endorsement to a bill of exchange for 196 / . 16 s ., with intent to defraud the members of the Old Bank at Shrewsbury , on the 30 th of last December . He was sentenced to eight years' penal servitude . A man named William Bennett has been tried at Warwick on a charge of having feloniously uttered a note purporting to be a 101 . Bank of England note , but which was forged . A large amount of evidence was given , showing that Bennett had on several other occasions passed forged notes ; and there was an unusual agreement between all the witnessesa as to the

      appearance of the man , and aa to the clothes he wore . Strong as the prosecution was , however , the defence was almost equally strong . An alibi was set up , and a great number of witnesses , apparently of entire respectability , supported it . Mr . Justice Coleridge , in leaving tl > e case to the jury , told them that the contradictions involved in the evidence given for the prosecution and defence did not necessarily cast on all the witnesses on either side the imputation of wilful perjury . A mistake respecting the days in question might account for the apparent inconsistency . The jury , after a few minutes ' consideration , returned a verdict of Guilty . Bennett was sentenced to ten years' penal servitude .

      Four men have been tried at Shrewsbury for the murder of George Norton , a gamekeeper . An encounter took place , on the 5 th of last December , at Holywell Cover , Child ' s Ercal , between sixteen gamekeepers , armed with heavy nails , and accompanied by savage dogs , and eomo forty poachers , who carried sticks and guns . The four accused -were of the party , and a pitched battle ensued , during which the dogs were set at the poachors 'and several shots were fired at the gamekeepers . One of the gamekeepers was hit by a ebot , and another ( Norton ) received a wound in the abdomen from a dog spear , of which ho died next morning . Mr . Boron Watson said he did not think there was any case as regarded the homicide against two of

      the men ; but they afterwards pleaded Guilty to a charge of night poaching , and were sentenced to eight years ' penal servitude . The other two were found Guilty of manslaughter , and condemned to penal servitude for fourteen years . Charles Rooke , a tradesman of Lewes , has been trlod at-that-town ™ on-a-ehargc-of _ throwing . ftjtQn . 9-ft . t .. 9 JiF 44 , L i on the Brighton and Sou * h Coast Railway . The charge arose out of the disturbances which occurred last November at the funeral of a Roman Catholic convert . The Rev . Mr . Nea | e , a Papistical clergyman , made himself obnoxious on that occasion to the townsfolk , and the stone- appears to have boon simply thrown at him as ho sat in ono of the railway carriagca . Under these circumstances , Ilooko was Acquitted . An unusually painful trial for child murder took placo at Bury St . Edmund ' s on Monday . Emma Groom , a

      young woman of twenty-four , was the mother of two illegitimate children—one a girl , about five years of age , the other a boy under two . In November , 1856 , she was in service with Mrs . Johnson , of Bramford , who was aware of the existence of the children , and allowed the mother to visit them . The little girl was Jcept by its grandmother , though Emma Groom occasionally sent remittances of money ; the little boy was placed with a Mrs . Lay , who agreed , though at some loss to herself , to take care of him for two shillings a week . The mother always appeared very fond of her offspring , and Mrs . Lay and Mrs . Johnson also conceived a great affection for the little boy . On the 31 st of July , the mother took the child with her to a fair ; but she returned late at night to her mother ' s house without him . She knocked her mother up out of bed , and appeared faint and sad , but asked affectionately after her daughter , and then went up-stairs to bed . Early on the following morning , the little boy was discovered dead and nearlj r naked , in a pond near O akley . Emma Groom was immediately suspected , and , on being spoken to , exhibited great distress and embarrassment ; and subsequently she acknowledged the child to be hers . A parcel which she had brought to her mother ' s house overnight , and which she bad told her mother not to meddle , was found to contain the dead child ' s clothes . Two surgeons , who examined the body , and gave evidence at the trial , said that the symptoms were those of suffocation , but not necessarily that of drowning , while many of them were more consistent with the . supposition that life might have been gradually extinguished by the accidental suffocation of the child -while being kept closely wrapped up in its mother ' s arms and cloak . One of the medical gentlemen also admitted that , though he adhered to his opinion that death had been caused by immersion in the water , yet , a 3 a medical fact , it was always difficult to speak positively , and it might be that " the child , having been accidentally suffocated or smothered , had afterwards been thrown into the water . Mr . Mills made an eloquent speech for the defence , and both he and Lord Chief Justice Cockburn were greatly affected . The jury , however , found a verdict of Guilty , accompanied by a strong recommendation to mercy . The judge then pronounced sentence of death , which was listened to by the wretched woman with cries and shrieks . She was with difficulty removed from the dock . —Surely this is a case for a commutation of punishment ; and indeed many will think that the doubts elicited during the trial were so strong that the prisoner ought to have had the benefit of them . William Nattle has been tried at Bodmin for the wilful murder of his mother . The evidence was very " doubtful and unsatisfactory ; but it showed that the mother and son did not live on good terms , and that the latter was very violent when intoxicated , which was not unfrequently . The mother died of apoplexy , but there were marks of violence on her head , which the prosecution suggested were inflicted by the accused with an iron instrument . The jury , however , after endeavouring to bring in a verdict of manslaughter , which the judge told them they could not do , Acquitted the accused .

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      r THE LEADER . [ No . 418 , March 27 , 1858 . I

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      GATHERINGS FROM THE LAW AND POLICE COURTS . An action of ejectment , in order to recover possession of a farm called Cage Farm and other property at Tunbridge , was tried at the Maidstone Assizes last Saturday . The plaintiff was Susannah Johnstone , widow of the late Earl of Annandale , and the defendant is a young gentleman who has lately come into the property in question on tho death of his father . Frances Allchin was the owner of this farm , and had power to dispose of it by will ; but in the year 1817 she became insane , and in the following year a commission of lunacy was issued against her , and she was placed in a lunatic asylum at Ticehurat , in Sussex , kept by a gentleman named Newington . She remained in this state of mind until 1828 , when she recovered her intellect , and became thoroughly competent to manage her affairs and dispose of her property . From this time to her death , however , wnicft took place in the year 184 ( 5 , she continued to reside in Mr . Newington'a asylum , not as a patient , but as an inmate of his family , her reason for this step being tnat she had no friends with whom she wished to live , ana had always experienced the greatest kindness and attection from Mr . Newington's family . In 1830 , an application was inndo to tho then Lord Chancellor ( 1-oro Brougham ) to supersede tho commission of lunacy , a "" an examination as to the state of mind of the ^ tattix was made by Dr . Mayo ( tho nhysician to the estAblianment ) mid Dr . Votes , both gentlemen of great oxponenco in cases of lunacy , and they then gave a certificate tn « the lady was of perfectly sano mind . Tho « PP ica " ° " to tho Court was postponed from that time till tho yea 1852 , when it wob renewed ; nnd upon the testimony « tho two befoio-montioned medical men , aftor an inter--vloww hich-tho-lady-had-. w ith _ Lord ^ Bxojie ! i ft ilI ) l * , «_ commission was superseded . Miss Allchin madei ft w in 1884 , by which she gave the property in quest on tho father of tho present defendant , suhj « ut to »» annuity of 100 / . a your , to bo paid to hor sinter »"""' who was then confined In a lunatic ostnbl « I" »» T Previously to tho commission being suporwodert , u » after she had recovered her intellect , tho tostntrlx «» mado two other wills , by both of which sho g' « v ° l » property to the defendant's family , for whom sho na «

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      Execution ax Swansea . —The two Greek sailors , recently found guilty of murdering a fellow sailor at Swansea , were hung last Saturday morning in front of the town gaol . They died with firmness and decorum , and were attended by a priest of their own religion . A crowd of some twenty thousand persons—many of whom arrived from the outlying districts—assembled to witness Calcraft perform his horrible office . Mukdek in Someksetshirk . —An old man named Thomas Pritchard , a shoemaker , residing at Middlezoy , near Bridgewater , has been murdered by his wife , who is supposed to be insane . He had been married many years , and had several children , one of whom , a daughter , resided with them . On Wednesday , the 10 th inst ., the daughter left her father , who was very infirm and used two ^ stic ks as crutches , sitting in the chimney corner . Subsequently , Mrs . Pritchard went several times to the house of a neighbour named Attwell , and on the last occasion she requested a woman who was present to go with her to her own dwelling . Sho looked wild , and hor iiands were covered with blood . The woman being alarmed refused to go , but one of Attwcll ' s daughters , accompanied by her brother , went to tho house , and on crossing tho threshold tho old man was found lying on his back , insensible , and dreadfully beaten about tho face . He lingered till Saturday night , and recovered sufficiently to state that his wife had suddenly attacked him with the crutch-sticks , knocked him down , and poured boiling water over him . Tho -woman has boon since confined to her bed by illness . This Manslaughter of a Tradesman . — "William ^ "ll ^ lliyJto&UlflSSi JdjJLJKJi " , a »« wifb charged at Worship-street with lulling a tradesman numelFSfiwyor ;" as already related In this papqr , hnvo been committed for trial . Gaiturk op . BimoLAKH . —Two thiovos hnvo boon captured in tho house of Mr . Sangstor , an infirm old gentleman of largo property , living in Craninor-roml , JJrlxton . The circumstances were' rather singulnr . Owing to information which had boon given him , Air . Inspector Kmineraon stationed a sergeant and a constable in ono of tho lower rooms of tho house on

      Sunday evening , while he himself proceeded to Mr . Sane ster ' s bedroom . At seven o ' clock , the servant went to church , and , in about half an hour , the back kitchen window was forced , after two knocks had been given without being answered , and two men entered the housa and went up-stairs . Approaching the bedroom door one said to the other , " All the places are open that ' s a good job ; " and they then entered , one of them carrying a lighted candle . On seeing the inspector , they extinguished this ; but Mr . Emmerson endeavoured to secure both . One , however , escaped from his grasp , and raised a chisel in a menacing posture . The inspector had by this time turned on his ' bull ' s-eye , ' and , on his drawing his staff , the ruffian ran down stairs , and was secured by the constables , though not without a resistance in which one of the constables was cut about the hand . While this was going forward , Mr . Sangster remained in hU own room in a state of great excitement and fear . An attempt had been made on the house on the previous Sunday night . The two burglars were on Monday ex . amined at the Lambeth police-office , and committed for trial . The Supposed Mubder ln Norfolk . —The seventh and last sitting has been held on the bones discovered at Middleton , near Lynn , Norfolk , in December , and supposed to be those of a Mr . Bell , who disappeared in a nrysterious manner in November , 1849 . An open verdict has brought to a close an inquest which has been prolonged between three and four months . A Domestic Tragedy . —A horrible event has taken place at Islington—the scene of a good many recent calamities . A working man named Osborne had a lodging at 15 , Pembroke-street ; but , as his work was at Bow , he slept there during the week , returning home o n Saturday night and going back on Monday morning . His wife , in the meanwhile , lived at the Islington house ; and , after a time , Osborne conceived that she had been unfaithful to him with one of the lodgers . A good many ( quarrels resulted ; and on Sunday there were very high I words . The woman admited her infidelity , and tauntingly said that she preferred her paramour to her husband , and that she would go and live with the former . On this , Osborne Cwho seems to have been drinking ) seized a billhook , and threatened his wife . A Mrs . East , a lodger who was present , interposed ; but Osborne flung her to the floor , saying , " It ' s nothing to you . " East then saw him seize his wife by the hair , and strike her on the head with the billhook . The horrified witness ran to the door , and called for assistance ; and , in the meanwhile , Osborne cut his own throat , and died almost immediately . The wife , though frightfully mangled about the head and hands , appears likely to recover . At the inquest , which was held on Wednesday , Osborne ' s mother said that her son had been liable to fits of insanity ever since his youth ; and the jury returned a verdict to the effect that he committed suicide while in a state of mental aberration .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 27, 1858, page 296, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2236/page/8/