The Press. — London, England, 1858-08-14 00:00:00

788 of the defendant without, and she thought that by consenting she shoal.' have the '• pall " on him. She said that she intended to go to his house and knock at the door and then bolt into the parlour and say to the defendant, " Here are your two —, turn out whichever you like." (A latigh.) Oa a second call she Lela him that the defendant was still visiting her, and that she had got 101. out of him, and she also said that she had been in the habit of borrowing a sovereign of him whenever she wanted one. This was the case for the plaintiff. Mr. JAMES submitted that there was not the least evidence to support the assu:nption of any promise of marriage having been made. Mr. Justice WILLEs said he would rather that the opinion of the jury should be taken. Mr. JAMES then made a very able and humorous speech for the defendant. Ha said there was not the slightest pretence fur the action, and that it was merely au attempt to extort money from the defendant, who, it was thought, no doubt, would rather pay u sum of money than come into a public court and have his folly exposed. He wished that the forms of law permitted him to put them in pos session of all the facts Of the case ; be . , although he was prevented from doing this, he said the jury must sea pretty plainly the nature of the case. His learned friend had told them that this lady was a widow, and this was all the information he bad condescended to give ; but surely he could have told them who she was, whose widow she was, and what her real position in life was ; but he had given no such ►nformation. The story, as it appeared to him, was quite absurd. All that appeared was that the plaintiff had walked into the shop, and then it was suggested that this inflammable chemist, of fifty years of age, had fallen desperately in love with her, and had made her an offer of marriage. He admitted that ha had acted very foolishly, and the truth was that the plaintiff had endeavoured to take advantage of his folly to extort money from him. The jury immediately returned u verdict for the defendant. TUE NAILSEA CHILD MURDER. At Wells, on Wednesday, Elizabeth Caul was in dieted for the wilful murder of her sun, James Card, at Nailsea, on the 21th of July. She pleaded " Not Guilty." Mr. H. T. Cole prosecuted; and, at the request of the learned judge, Mr. Prideaux watched the case on behalf of the prisoner. This was a very sad case. The prisoner was the wife of a haulier, living at Nailsea ; and some quarrel having taken place between her and her husband on the 25th of July, she left her own home and went to her mother'., who lived at some short distance. She returned on the following Tuesday, but appeared to be very much afraid of going to her own home. She was seen by a woman named Ann Day, who lived next door, who spoke to her; and on saying, " So you are come home," she replied, " Yes, but not for long, as my husband will kill me if I ant not (lead before he comes home." She then went into the house and closed her door, and was heard to go into an upper chamber. Very shortly after wards Mrs. Day heard the screaming of children, and on going into the house she found the prisoner on the bed with her throat cut, and her child lying on the floor in a pool of blood quite dead, and with its throat cut. Mrs. Day immediately went for assistance, and on speaking to the prisoner, she said, " I did it myself; it was not my husband." To another witness she stated that she killed the child because she feared it would be starved, and that she wished the others were lying by her side. In the window of the room a razor was found, with which it was clear that the unhappy woman had killed her child and attempted her own life. It appeared from cross examination that the husband of the prisoner was a drunken, worthless fellow, who treated her with great brutality; that tha poor creature was in the family-way at the present time ; and that a person with suicidal tendencies frequently destroyed those nearest and dearest before taking their own lives. Mr. PRIDEAUX, in a pathetic address to the jury, urged that at the time of this unhappy transaction the state of mind of the prisoner was such as to render her net responsible for her acts ; and called Mr. Nicholls, the surgeon who had attended the prisoner since her committal, who cookfirmed this view. Mr. COLE having briefly replied on this evidence, the learned j udge summed up, and the jury, after retiring to consider their verdict, acquitted the pri soner on the ground of insanity. The learued judge directed her to be detained during her Majesty's pleasure. DOUBLE CHILD MURDER AT CLEVEDON. Elizabeth Williams was arraigned, on the same day and at the same place, on two indictments , and on th e coroner's inquisitions, charging her with the wilful murder of her children, Elizabeth and William John Williams, aged 'respectively eighteen months and three years. She was accommodated with a seat in THE PRESS, AUGUST 14, 1858,_ the dock, and during the proceedings covered her face with a handkerchief. Mr. Cole prosecuted ; Mr. Prideaux defended. The prisoner was the wife of a painter, residing at St. George's, near Bristol; and it appeared, princi pally from her son's statement, that on the 2nd inst. she had some slight disagreement with her husband. Unlike the C/140 reported above, the prisoner and her husband lived usually in harmony and happiness ; but ou the day in qaestion the prisoner fancied that her husband treated her less kindly than usual. On the morning of the 3rd she got breakfast as usual for her husband, and !tepee:red to think that he treated her more kindly than the day before, when the disagreement took place about the payment of some taxes, or some immaterial matter. After the husband hal left to go to his work nothing more was seen of the prisoner till about two o'clock in the afternoon of that day, when she was met in Bristol by her father-in•law, having with her the two children. S . .enti little conversation took place between them, during which the father'•in law observed that she appeared to be in an excited state, and she went on. Ahout eight o' clock the same evening she went to a small public house at Clevedon, kept by a Mrs. Salmon, still having the children with her, where she had some refreshment, and left. Nothing more was seen of her till about eleven o'clock the next morning, when a policeman Rained Francis met her near Nailsea. Neither of the children were then with her. She had neither bonnet nor mantle on. Her dress was very wet, and her manner was wild and excited. She told the policeman that she had drowned her two children at Clevedon, and that she wished to give herself up. She gave her right name and address, and detailed the male in which she had destroyed her offspring. In consequence of this statement the inspector went to Clevedun, and at the rising of the tide the bodies of the two children were washed up within a few feet of the spot the prisoner had indicated. The mantle and bonnet were also found at the place at which she stated she had left them. The cross-examination of the father•in-la v showed beyond all doubt that the prisoner had for many years been subject to aberrations of intellect, and that her father, grandfather, and sisters, were per sons of unsound mind. After hearing this evidonca, the learned judge directed au acquittal, and the unhappy waaan was ordered to be detained during her Majesty'i pleasure. ) o where they were booked as " Mr. Ewenn e and io They left the next day at two p.m. for Philadelphia, reachioe Jones's hotel, where they were " Mr. Emerson and wife, of Arka nsas. " They left next morning for Baltimore, stopped at the Eutaw, where they were quartered as " Mr. Eltusley and w if e ." They left this next Ethernet ,e at fi ve o ' clock, and took the bridal state room on the steamer Louisiana, for Norfolk, whence they were tracked to Old Point Comfort, Hygean.house, where they stopped a week as " Mr. Elmslie and wife." They seemed to find Old Point quite agreeable, as they staved a full week, returning to Norfolk and to Baltimore by steamer, stopped a day there, patronizing the Eutaw, and left on the morning of June 28 for Phi ladelphia, where they where Elliott took dinner Eatolloodangdoodhi'as hotel, Walnut street•wharf, dotty sat after dinner on the balcony, enjoying the cooling breeze. Mr. Bowyer hunted through Cape May, but was off the track, and returned to New York, having no trace from the 10th to the lOth inst., amid 4.)n the night of the 10th left for Newport, where he found next morning the names of " Mt. Elmslie and wife" on the registry of the Ocean house, but the bird had again flown. Bowyer finally found that lie hail taken Mrs. Black's cottage near the beach, and watched the house till two p.m., but found no bird. He then ascertained that his gentleman had left for New York the very night that he (Bowyer) left this for Newport. Mr. Bowyer came directly heine, and pacing the streets all day, espied for the first time about noon his gentleman walking iu front of the St. Nicholas. He recognized him instantly by the description, and kept close watch of' him. Elliott went into the hotel, but could not be arrested during the Sabbath, as the process was a civil one. Bowyer kept close watch, however, and at two o'clock a.m. of Monday knocked at the dour of the loving couple, who were fast asleep. Deputy-Sheriff Crumble was in company with the process. A continuous knock• ing brought the gentleman to the door, who inquired, " What is wanting ? " " Mr. Eltnslie." The door was cautiously opened a little way, when Bewyer's foot was inserted, and the ominous words " I want AIL James Sutton Elliott " apprized the gentleman that he was indeed wanted. A shriek from the laly did not much interrupt the proceedings ; and Mr. Elliott was soon lodged in Eldrige-street gaol. He is to have a hearing, ou the application of his counsel that he be discharged without bail.—New York Tribune. Two DARING ESCAPES FROM GAOL, hitherto 811C cessful, have been tffected during the past week. At an early hour on Sunday morning last a convict named Thomas Forside, a man of most determined character, who has beer' twice transported, arid is now under sentence of fourteen years' penal servitude, made his way out of St. Mary's convict-prison, 01111- ham. The convict, who had been at work during Saturday iu Chatham Dockyard with the other con victs, was confined in his cell at the usual hour in the evening, when he must havu at once commenced his operations to escape. The part of the prison iu which the cell was situate was nearly at the top of the buildings, and in order to prevent any of the convicts making apertures in the walls to enable them to escape, the ceilings and walls are covered with stout sheets of iron of about the eighth of an inch in thickness. During the day the convict must have obtained possession of some instruments Irani the dockyard, which he contrived to secrete about his person. On being locked iu for the night, lie commenced what would have appeared the almost impossible task of cutting away a portion of the iron ceiling of his cell, and, astonishing as it may seem, succeeded in making an opening of railer more than a foot square, just large enough to admit of his body passing through. This task occupied hint several hours, as it was not until between three and tour o'clock in the morning tlia: he effected his escape. Before quitting his cell he tore up his sheets and blsnkeis, and tied them together to be used as a rope. After getting through the ceiling he crawled for some distance between the rafters and roof of the prison until he found an opening, when he let himself down into the yard, the early hour enabling him to elude the vigilance of the warders. He then crossed. the prison-yard, and by means of his rope succeeded in scaling the high boundary wall of the prison. On descending the other side lie was seen by one of the coastguard men stationed at St. Alary's-creek,who called upon him to stop , threatening to shoot him if he did nut. The eonvict, however, ran oft; the man firing at hint without effect. As soon as the escape became known, a number of warders turned out to endeavour to capture him, but so successfully had be carried out his escape that he was not missed even by the man on duty in his part of the prison. After leaving St. Mary's it was ascertained that he broke into the railway station at New Broinpton, and stole some clothes, throwing those which he wore away, taking the direction towards Canterbury. 1 10 was followed by Superintendent E ver i s t as tar es Sittinghourne, where all traces of him were Yesterday week a convict named Robert Boyd, who had been sentenced on the previous Monday at the Al EXCITING CHASE AND CAPTURE. James Sutton Elliott was senior military store keep. at Weedon, near Lmidon, ranking as lieu tenant-oolonel, receiving nearly 2,0001. a year, and could have retired at any moment on half-pay, having served about thirty-five years. He is between fifty and sixty years of age. Ou the '22nd of May he absconded, and is charged with embezzling 10,800 dots. of the Government money, leaving an aged wife but no children, and bringing away an actress named St. Clair, about twenty-five years of age. They left England in the America on the 22nd of May, and arrived at Boston on the sth of June, under the name a Mr. and Mrs. Brooks. On the 111th of June Mr. Robert W. Bowyer, special detective, was applied to by Mr. Henry Whittaker, a lawyer of this city (New York), to take the papers and try to trace the de faulter. Mr. Bowyer went to Boston, and there got a trail of the fugitive through the Custom-house officer who passed his baggage. Mr. Bowyer had been apprized from England that the runaway had assumed the name of Brooks, and had a young woman with him. Mr. Bowyet here found his sig• nature," J. Brooks," by which lie traced hint to the Tremont-house and there obtained a tnlre accurate description of IL the man and his paramour, who was a small, dark, attractive personage, and was louspicuoui among the hotel boarders. lie learned that they left on the 7th, in the three p.m. express, for New Yurk. Mr. Bowyer followed, and made every search here, but did not find them. He then judged that they had left the New York line at Springfield and made for Albany, whither he now proceeded, some fortnight behind them. Mr. Bowyer tracked them (by the defaulter's handwriting) at the Delavan, where he had entered the names of " Mr. Everett and lady, of Toronto." They had remained in Albany till the morning of the 9th, and then took the western train. Tbe next trace Mr. Bowyer found of them was at Syracuse•house, where Elliott had declined giving his name, but remained two days, living on the fat of the land, as usual. Mr. Bowyer next traced them in Buffalo, where they were booked as " Mr. and Mrs. Edwards," remaining two days at the American hotel. Mr. Bowyer next traced him at the International Hotel, Niagara Falls, when: the parties were booked as " Mr. and Mrs. Evans." Mr. Bowyer failed to trace them at the Clifton, at Saratago, or at any other point above Albany, though he was satisfied that they were on their return to the coast. He next struck them on the Isaac Newton, where they were booked as " Mr. and Mrs. Everett," arriving in New York on the morning of June 15. Mr. Bowyer then traced them to the St. Nicholas, I