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Leader (1850-1860), 24th April 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 393, Untitled Article

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      entering which he perceived the body of his sister lying dead upon a box , while close to her head stood a covered saucepan in which was a quantity of decomposed coffee : It was evident that the old lady could not have met her death by violent means , as the slightest mo vement of her body would have caused the saucepan to fall- The floor of the room was sprinkled with blood just below the dead woman ' s left leg and arm , which yrere hanging over the side of the box ; and it was likewise discovered , on further examination , that the flesh bad been gnawed off the knuckles of the right hand . A candle , part of the grease of which was devoured , stood by the side of the box properly extinguished , from which it would appear that the old lady had lain down to rest in her clothes , and had been attacked by rats and mice while asleep , the wounds being of so severe a nature as to cause death . Three bank-notes of 51 . each , a bunch of keys , and some loose gold and silver money , wrapped in different parcels , were found upon her person , and several pieces of meat , cooked and uncooked , together with bread , vegetables , and an unusually large number of candles , were in the front parlour cupboards ; but the house was in a most filthy and wretched -state , and almost wholly devoid of furniture . A ticket-of-leave convict , named Rodgers , living near Belper , was making his way home a few days ago across some fields , and was in the act of getting over a fence , when the owner of the field ( who is also a constable ) called out to him . Rodgers knew that the police were at that time looking after him on a charge of felonj-, and , being alarmed , he ran off towards the river Derwent , which flows through the fields . He was pursued by the constable , and , leaping into the water , swam more than half way across , when he became exhausted and was drowned . Seven men were washed overboard from the bowsprit of the packet Solent in the Gulf of Mexico during a violent gale . Five men manned one of the boats , and she was dropped into the water . One of the seven men washed overboard was washed on board again ; two held on at a single round life-buoy , and kept themselves above water ; and another was able to swim . These three men were saved ; the other three out of the seven were drowned , and amongst them was the boatswain . An alarming explosion occurred on the morning of Friday week in one of the coal-pits on the estate of Lord Vernon at Poynton . Two hundred and forty men were in the pit at the time of the catastrophe , and three were killed . The others were extricated in about two hours : they were then in a state of stupefaction , but have since recovered . The explosion is supposed to have arisen from the removal of the top of a Davy lamp by one of the workmen . Mrs . Simms , wife of the station-master at the Strctton station of the Midland Railway , has been killed on the line . She was running across the railway just at the time the Leicester coal train with empty waggons was passing . The engine knocked her down , and the wheels of the carriages cut the body into numerous pieces . The husband was standing on the embankment close by at the time , and was the horrified spectator of his wife ' s death .

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      THE TRIAL OF BERNARD . This protracted and most important trial came to a termination last Saturday afternoon . Lord Campbell , having summed up the facts of the case with great care and minuteness , concluded thus : — " In the address of the learned counsel for the prisoner , it was not insisted that these balls were to be applied to any discovery relative to gas , and ho said that they were not for the purpose of assassination , but to be used as instruments of war . He said that there was in contemplation a revolution in Italy ; that Bernard , with others , was engaged in it ; and that ho was assisting in collecting instruments of war in Paris for the purpose of that revolution . Now , gentlemen , if these grenades wore for military purposes—if that should bo your opinion—I think your verdict should bo Not Guilty , because , although it would bo an offence against tUo laws of this country for either natives or foreigners residing hero to ' plot or to prepare the means of invading » foreign country , still that is not the offence now laid to the charge of the prisoner . The offenoo with which he is charged is that of being accessary to a plot for assassinating the Emperor of the French , which produced the death of Nicholaa Battio , one of the Garde do Paris , whoso life was sacrificed upon that occasion ; inul , unless you beliovo that the prisoner was implicate ! in that conspiracy , I think ho is entitled to your verdict . But if you boliovo that ho , being acquainted with Alleop , and knowing thut Allsop h » d got those grounded , assisted in having them transported to Brussels ; if you beljoyq Mi at . Ji ? bought the materials for making the fulminating " powilor ; "ifyoTrbolioVe - that-hoMn-this-countr-y - —and uguin I warn you that you nro only to find him guilty of acts committed . In this country—if you believe that he , living in England and owing a temporary nllogianco to our Sovereign , aontovoron the 2 nd of January revolvers , with a view to their being used ii » consummating the plot which had boon formed against tho llfo of tho Emperor of the Fronoh 5 if you should' boliovo that ho engaged with Rudio to join tho parties then naaemblod At Purls , they wishing to have a fourth man to assist thorn ; and if you believe that ho gave money for

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      CRIMINAL RECORD . Wife-Murder . —A woman named Mary Turner has been murdered at Rochester by her husband , a labouring man . Some feeling of jealousy had been excited in the mind of the husband by the fact of his wife being verymuch in the company of a young single man uamed Taylor ; and the fatal act had its usual preliminary of drinking . The husband and wife had been carousing at a public-house for some hours , during which time they appear to have been on good terms . They left between twelve and one o ' clock , and no quarrelling was heard in the course of the night by the other lodgers in the same house . At six o ' clock , however , a heavy fall on the floor of Turner ' s bedroom w as beard by one King and his wife , who slept beneath . King immediately got up , and was proceeding up-stairs when he met Turner coming down without his shoes , and the lower part of his clothes covered with blood . The latter remarked , " Bill , I have done it , " and afterwards added , " I have murdered my wife . ' * King went up into the room , and saw the woman lying on the floor with her throat cut . A razor also lay on the floor , and beside it was a poker broken in two , as if from a violent blow . The husband said be meant to give himself up to the police , and King went with him to the station . It appears that in the course of the night Turner missed his wife , and , going out , found her ( in company with Taj'lor ) at the public-house where they had been drinking during the evening . He returned home , and waited till she came in ; and , on her entering the room , he attacked nnd murdered her . Afterwards , he again went to tho public-house , and told Taylor of what he had done . The inquest has terminated in a verdict of Wilful Murder , and Turner has been committed by tho magistrates for trial . This Docblb Muiidisr nha . ii Taunton . —John B . iltor Bucknnll , tho young man arrested under suspicion of murdering his grandfather and grandmother at Creoch St . Michael , as mentioned in our last issue , has boon , examined before tho magistrates , and committed for trial . The coroner ' s jury have also returned a verdict of Wilful Murder against him . Tho prisoner had himself called tho attention of a Mr . Morris , on tho morning when tho murder waa discovered , to tho fact of his not being able to got into the houso . Mr . Morris , young Bucknnll , and the father of tho lnttor , wont to tho pluce , and found all tho doors fustoncd . Smoke was seen to issue from tho roof of a collar wlicro tho body of tho old man was afterwards found 5 nnd at length an entry was forced . The accused wont in with his father and Mr . Morris . Old Buuknall was thon found with hia body lying on » omo liny , which was smouldering , and tho olothoa of the corpse wore just breaking out into a flume . Ho had been shot through tho head . Mrs . Dueknall . waB-touna-InJ ^ cJiB ^ itgtftlrs ^ wlth hor throat cut , and her face and hands also wortnflSar ^ TWnniljJ-eot-of-the--murder aouma to have boon robbery ; for tho house boro evidences of having been rifled . Tho circumstantial evidence of several parsons tonda to implicate young liucknall , who reserves hia defence for tho trial . This IIubukb . at Poutbmouth . " -Wo liavo already announced tho capture ( under suspicion of guilt ) of a brother of Mr . Hart , or Howard , tho person lately ahot « t hia own door at Portsmouth , A long inveatigatlou

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      that purpose—then it will be for you to say whether he had a guilty knowledge of what -was intended . It is for you to draw your own conclusions from the facts stated in the evidence ; The verdict must be yours and yours alone . You will , without considering our own Government at home or any foreign Government , draw your own conclusion from the evidence . You will likewise consider the letter in the disguised hand written after the assassination was attempted , and when all the circumstances were known ; and you will consider whether that letter may not afford evidence of a bygone conclusion and bygone purpose on the part of the prisoner . I will only advise you not to allow yourselves to be led away by the notion that , if you come to the conclusion that the party accused had

      that guilty knowledge , that he was an accomplice in the conspiracy , a verdict in accordance with that ' opinion will interfere with that asylum which it has ever been the glory of this country to afford to persecuted foreigners . That glory , I hope , will always belong to this country . But , gentlemen , that asylum amounts to this : that foreigners are at liberty to come to our country , to remain in our country , and to leave our country at their own will and pleasure , and that they cannot be disturbed by the Government so long as they obey the laws . They are under the same laws as native-born subjects ; if they violate those- laws , they are liable to be prosecuted and punished in the same manner as any native-born subject of the Queen . Treat Simon Bernard exactly as though he were born in the metropolis of the empire to which

      vou belong ; treat him as you would a native-born subject ; let his case be exactly the same , for I do not believe , in point of law , bis being a foreigner makes any difference whatever . At all events , it will be your duty to treat him precisely the same as a native-born subject , as if it had been Allsop ; and , if you find that he was implicated in this conspiracy , and that be had a guilty knowledge and guilty purpose , and did plot with others the death of the Emperor of the French , I think it will be your duty to find . 1 verdict of Guilty . With these observations I leave the case in ycur hands . If you have any reasonable doubt of the guilt of the prisoner , give him the benefit of that doubt ; but , if you have not , then , by the duty you owe to yourselves and your country , you will find the prisoner guilty of the offence with which he is charged in the indictment . "

      The jury were then about to retire , when Bernard , an a warm and excited manner , and with violent action , said— " 1 declare the words which have been used by the Judge are not correct , and that the balls taken by Georgi to Brussels were not those which were taken to Paris . I have brought no evidence here , because I am not accustomed to compromise any person . I declare that I am not the hirer of assassins ; that Rudio has said at Paris , on his trial , that he himself asked to go to Orsini . I was not the hirer of assassins . Of the blood of the victims of the 14 th of January there is nothing on my heart anv more than on any one here . We want only to crush " despotism and tyranny everywhere . I have conspired , and I will conspire everywhere , because it is my duty , my sacred duty , as it is of every one ; but nevernever will 1 be a murderer ! "

      , The jury retired at twenty minutes to three o ' clock , and returned into court at four . Their faces were very pale , and a deep silence testified to the solemnity with which all in court regarded the coming verdict , whatever it might prove to be . Tho Judges , who had retired at the same timo as the jury , were sent for , and the Clerk of tho Arraigns then put the usual question . To this , the foreman of the jury answered , "NOT GUILTY . " Tho scene that followed was one of tho most extraordinary that has been seen in an English court of justice for many years . Tho audience burst forth into a loud and long-continued cheer , in which even some of tho members of the bar joined ; nnd this waa repeated again and again . Men waved their hats , and ladies tho lattestanding their

      their white handkerchiefs , r on seats to give greater emphasis to tho ovation . Lord Campbell and the officers of tho court in vain endeavoured to still tho tumult ; and tho cheers wore soon augmented by tho glad vociferations of those outside , who had by that timo heard the result of the trial . Bernard ' s eyes glistened and bla framo trombled with strong emotion ; and at longth , when silence was restored , ho said , in a loud voice und with energetic action : — I do declare that this verdict is tho truth , and it proves that in England there will always bo liberty to crush tyranny . All honour to an English jury ! I no choeriiiK lions burat out again , and Bernard wus temporarily removed from the , dock , when silence waa rostorcil , und ho waa brought back . anothor indictment

      Mr . Simon : " There is agamat tho priaoner , on which tho evidence would bo exactly tho sumo . I prosuino tho Attornoy-Goiieral will not proceed with it . " — Tho Attorney-Gcneral : " It ia not » tho-iiUentiou-oUl » B .. Ox 9 , ttaio nrococd further with that indiotmoi ) t . "~ Mr . Simoiir ^ " PorliTps""tird- ~ Attornoy Genoral will allow a verdict of acquittal to be taken . That is the usual course . "—Tho Attorney-General : " Understanding that tho more utmul , though not tho uniform coumo in to conaont to a vordiet of acquittal umler fluch olroumstanooft , Iwill consent to that verdict being taken . "— The Lord Chief Justice : " That ia what I Hhoultl liavo rccoraroondod . "— Tho Clerk tlion road tbo indictment , charging tho prisoner with tho inurdor of Eugene Rlguor . Bornard Boomed somewhat astonished

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      at this proceeding ; but his solicitor explained to him that it was only formal , and he pleaded " Not Guilty . " The jury thereupon immediately returned a verdict to that effect . The greatest excitement ( say the daily papers ) had prevailed in the court during these proceedings ; and . when the second verdict was returned , the cheering recommenced , and there was once more a general waving of hats and handkerchiefs in the galleries . The Judges were evidently quite disconcerted , and made a hasty retreat from the court , the Lord Chief Justice not even addressing one word to the jury or paying them any compliment for their long and patient attendance . The verdict , however , seemed to give satisfaction to almost every one , and the jurymen , when they got into the street , were loudly cheered . The utmost excitement prevailed in the neighbourhood of the court during the whole afternoon . Men might be seen running along the chief thoroughfares , shouting , " Acquitted ! acquitted ! " Omnibuses stopped for a time , that the riders might learn the news ; and there were wavings of hats and many exclamations of pleasure . In a very short time , the evening papers had distributed the result all over the metropolis , and the telegraph had flashed it across the land . The verdict has given general satisfaction . Bernard , having been released on bail , was present at Wyld ' s Reading Rooms , Leicester-square , on Tuesday night . He was received with very warm congratulations , and made a speech on the occasion of his health being drunk . He said : — " Gentlemen , I thank you for this demonstration . You do not drink my health , but the health of your own country ; you drink to liberty . But my mouth is shut until after my last trial ; I must not speak . Yet I must express my gratitude to you and the jury who tried me . I relied firmly on a jury of Englishmen . I must speak no more . I thank you from my heart . " This speech was received with cheers . Three cheers were then given for Mr . Edwin James , and three cheers for the jury . The scene was one of great excitement .

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      No . 422 , April 24 , 1858 . ] THE LEADER . 393

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 24, 1858, page 393, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2240/page/9/