The Press. — London, England, 1858-04-17 00:00:00

THE PRSS, APRIL 17, 1858. on the night of the 11th December. Evidence was also given to prove the purchase of a brace of re volvers by Orsini and Pierri of Mr. Hollis at Bir mingham on 20th October lust, and on 23rd Novem ber of another revolver by Pierri. King, a clerk of the South-Eastern Railway Com pany, deposed to Bernard having sent through him to Paris a case containing a brace of revolvers and a sample of pitch on 2nd January last : He then made some inquiries as to the arrival and de parture of the trains. He did not sign a declaration of the contents of the package, but he made a verbal de claration, which I took down as he spoke it. It was as follows :—" Two revolvers, value twelve pounds ; samples of pitch, no value." He said I need not be afraid at his not signing the declaration, and he afterwards said that all the expenses would be sorely paid, as the articles were going to a highly respectable person at Paris. After this I gave the prisoner the particulars of the departure of the trains, and I then inquired whether he was going to Paris, and he said be was not—he should only go there when " the other one " came back here. Ho at the same moment pointed behind him. 1 asked him what he meant, and he replied, " Wait a little while, and you will soon see." He at the same time pointed to a trico:our that was in the street, and said, " Votre bun *Hie " (your good ally). The whole of our conversation was in French. I put the seal of the company upon the parcel. (The covering was shown to the witness, and he identified it.) M. Outrequin deposed to having received this parcel, but he cou:d not swear that the pistols now produced were the pistols he received : Orsini came to my house on the same day I received the pistols, and we examined them together. He referred to the prisoner's letter in which he requested me to give him the pistols, and he said that I was not to pay any regard to what Bernard said, but I was to sell the pistols as soon as I could. I consequently retained possession of the pistols, with the intention of selling them, but I saw Orsini almost every day, and he almost always in qaired if I had sold the pistols, and as I could not suc ceed in doing so Orsini took one of them away with him in the case in a carriage. The second pistol was taken away during my absence. Upon one occasion, after he had taken away the pistol, he accompanied me to the Hotel de France et de Champagne. This was on the Sunday before the attempt on the life of the Emperor. Allsop asked me to show him the way to the Hotel de France et de Champagne, and I accompanied him for that purpose. He told me before this that he expected to make one of his German friends, whom he expected shortly to arrive at Paris, purchase the pistols, and he told me that the name of this person was Pierri. I afterwards saw Pierri and Orsini at No. 10, Rue Monthabor, and from that time Pierri came to my house several times, but .II did not see him. The last time I saw Orsini before the attempt was on the Sunday before it took place. Orsini paid me the expenses for conveying the parcel containing the pistols from London. He paid me 2•S francs 85 cen times. There was a sample of pitch contained in the package with the pistols. Ido not know what became of it. Eliza Radio, whose appearance was regarded with much interest, stated that one day, shortly after Christmas, Bernard came to her husband's lodgings in Bateman's-buildings, Soho. Rudio was out, and Bernard, after inquiring into their circumstances, called again at ten p.m : The prisoner inquired if there was a bell, and I said there was; and I toll him he must ring twice for my room. The prisoner then said that when he rung my husband was to go down to him, and he went away. He did not say who he was, or what he came about. Between ten and eleven the same night I heard the bell ring twice. My husband was at home, and 1 had communicated to him what the prisoner bad said. My husband went down stairs, and was absent about ten minutes or a quarter of an hour. The bell was rang twice on another occasion, and my husband went down, and was absent about the same time ; and when he came up he brought fifteen or sixteen shillings. Upon another occasion the prisoner came when my husband was out. He came into my room, and asked me if my husband had got any clothes, and I told him he had not got many. He then wanted to know whether he had any stockings or shirts, and I said he had only got enough to change himself. I all t told him he bad a coat in pledga. The prisoner then said that he would buy my husband some clothes, and he inquired whether he had a carpet-bag, or anything to carry luggage in. I told him he had a boa, and showed it to him, and he said it was too large, and he would buy him a carpet-bag. Upon this occasion the prisoner gave me a half-sovereign, and said that was to get some coals and some other things to go on with, and he also said that when my husband wanted any money he was to go to him at the Cafe Suisse, and he should have come to hint before. I toll him my husband did not like to go. When he went away he said he should call again. My husband came home in about halt an hour, and I told him what had taken place, and showed him the ha'f-sovereign. On another night in the same week the bell rang twice and my husband went down. I looked out of the window, and saw a man talking to my husband like the man who had come upstairs. My husband left home on a Saturday, and I never saw him again in this country. At this stage of the inquiry one of the jurymen was indisposed, and he left the box. He returned in a short time, and a medical gentleman who had been in attendance upon him expressed his opinion that it would not be prudent to keep him much longer in the court. The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE upon this said that the ease should be adjourned at the conclusion of the examination of the witness who was at present in the bar. The examination of the witness was then pro ceeded with. She said . On the Friday night before my husband left the bell rang twice as before. My husband was out, and I went down and brought the prisoner up into my room, and shortly afterwards my husband came in. The prisoner on this evening gave me half a sovereign ;to fetch some of my husband's clothes out of pledge, and I went to a pawn broker's for that purpose. I took a coat and a waistcoat out of pledge, and took them to my lodging. The prisoner was gone when I got back, but my husband was there. The prisoner came a second time to our lodging on this night, and I went out of the room, leaving him and my husband together. Before I left I heard the prisoner tell my hus band that he would go away iu the morning. They talked in a foreign language. I was sent out to fetch a pint of mild ale, and I did so ; and when I returned they were still talking in a foreign language; and the prisoner also wrote several notes, but I do nut know what they were. He folded them up, but I don't know what he did with them. My husband went out and fetched a carpet-bag, and the prisoner said he would give me 12s. a week while my husband was away, and he told me he woul , l bring it to me every Monday night. We had no money on this Friday night until Mr. Bernard came; bat after he wits gone, I saw a piece like one of our crowns, and another like a half-sovereign, on the table. During the conversa tion between the prisoner and my husband, I heard some thing said about a street in Paris, and the number 277. The prisoner said that when my husband arrived at the end of his journey he would find somebody he knew, but he did not say where las was going. Until I saw some thing afterwards in the newspapers, I had no idea where my husband was going. My husband went away about nine o'clock on the following morning, and he took the carpet-bag with him. This witness further stated that, on the following Monday, Bernard called, gave her 125., and said she was to leave her lodgings for Nottingham, her native town : He then inquired if there was a train went that day, and I told him no. He then said I was to go by a train the nett morning, and if I read anything in the newspapers about my husband I was to take no notice ; and he then gave me a sovereign to pay my fare. On the same occa sion the prisoner told me I was to say that I was going to my mother at Godalming, and not to Nottingham. The prisoner told me he would send me some money on the following Monday, and he said I was to go by the name of Eliza Booth, which was my maiden mime, when I got to Nottingham, and he would send me the money in that name. I knew the prisoner's address, and he asked me if I had told it to anyone, and I said I had not, and he said that was quite right. I inquired of the prisoner how my husband's name was to get into the newspapers, and he made me no answer. The prisoner also told me that if anyone asked me about my husband I was to say that I knew that he was very well. The indisposed juryman having become extremely unwell, Lord Campbell desired that the court be adjourned. On the fourth day (Thursday) the cross examina tion of Mine. Rudio was proceeded with, but her previous evidence was not in any way shaken. Seve ral other witnesses were then examined. M. and Mme. Mechenheim, residing at Brussels, deposed to Pierri's arrival there on the 7th of January, and his departure for Paris on the same day : Pierri said he found the train by which he was about to leave Brussels went earlier than he had anticipated, and he would be obliged to go by the last train that evening. He said he must return to my house, for he had left his railway wrapper there. He then gave me a package, say ing, " Madame, will you take this ?" and I said, " Thank you." I thanked him at the moment because I thought it was something he had brought for me from England. I remarked that it was very heavy, and I asked him what it was. He said it was a new invention. He asked me to hold it for him while he went for the railway wrapper. It was wrapped up in brown or very light paper. went to the house of s friend in the Rue St. Gudule, while my hus band and Pierri went for the railway wrapper. I carried the parcel in my muff. I guessed it was metal by the weight of i► I knew there was a hole in the arti'le in the parcel, for i placed my thumb in it. It was something rather oval in shape, like an entire orange with a hole in the top, on which I placed my thumb. I did not undo the paper. It was loose and shook in my hand. Clerks from the Bank of England deposed to the fact of Orsini having exchanged 4251. in gold for notes on the 26th of November last; the notes now produced were part of those issued to Orsini. While Mr. Spielman's manager identified Nos. 89,027 and 89,032 notes for 201. (two of the above), as the ones changed and endorsed by Bernard on the 2nd and 6th of January last. The evidence of fellow lodgers of Rudio showed the extreme poverty to which he was reduced before Bernard called upon him. " I have frequently lent him;' said Harriet Fay, "4d., 6d., or Is. to buy a loaf of bread with :" I remember Mr. Bernard coming to the house, and I remarked that they immediately showed signs of being better off. Mrs. Rudio and her husband repaid me the sums I had lent them, and they took several articles out of pledge. Before that they appeared to be in ♦ery deep distress, pawning their clothes from day to day. I twice saw Bernard myself. Evidence was also given of the conduct of the four conspirators in Paris, and the case for the prosecu tion was then closed. Mr. JANES intimated a desire to postpone his address until the morning, WI said that it might be -----=---- _..-- convenient, probably, if he were to hand in before the adjournment of the court a statement of th e points of law upon which he depended, and which he wished reserved. The LORD CHIEF JIMITICE said that it would be convenient if the learned counsel were to do so. Mr. JAMES then said—The first point which I venture to submit to be reserved for the opinion of the fifteen judges is, that the prisoner is not one of her Majesty's subjects within the meaning of the 9th of George IV., cap. 81, sec. 7, which is the act that gives your lordships jurisdiction to hold this special commission. The second point is, that the pr►soner was not an accessary before the fact to any murder within the meaning of the aforesaid statute. The third is, that there is no proof of any murder having been committed within the meaning of that statute. ['he fourth is, that the murder to which the prisoner is charged by indictment to have been accessa r y b e . fore the fact is proved to have been committed by aliens upon an alien within the kingdom of France, and not by any of her Majesty's subjects or upon any of her Majesty's subjects. Fifth, that no evidence of any acts done by the prisoner on land out of the United Kingdom and withoutl.the Queen's dominions, or of any act done by any person in pur. suance of any authority from him on land out of the United Kingdom and without the Queen's dominions, was properly receivable in evidence on this trial. Sixth, that th principal offence of murder charged in the first three counts is not alleged to have been committed by any of her Majesty's subjects. Seventh, that the letter of the Ist of January, 1857, signed " T. Allsop," was improperly received in evidence against the prisoner. Eighth, that by the special commission this court is only authorized to inquire into and to try the prisoner on the charge of being an accessary before the fact to a murder committed by Orsini and others upon Nicholas Bettie and a person name unknown, and that it has no jurisdic tion to try the prisoner on the charge of wilful mur der as principal. Ninth, that the 4th and sth counts, which charge the prisoner as a principal, set forth that the alleged murder was committed in Paris out of the Queen's dominions, and that the prisoner, being an alien, cannot be tried as a principal for an offence so committed. The LORD CHIEF Jusricz.—There appears to be no objection to reserving any of those points except the seventh ; but that point, as you must be aware, was argued before us, and we were unanimously of opinion that the letter was admissible. Mr. JAMES.—If your lordship think it right not to reserve that point, of course I will not press it. The LORD CHIEF Jusnca.—l think that all the other points which you have raked are very fit indeed for the consideration of the fifteen judges. Mr. JAMES.—I have endeavoured to raise them in as clear and concise a form as possible. The LORD CHIEF JusTrcE.—As they involve points of novelty and importance, the court will take the opinion of the fifteen judges upon them before pro nouncing sentence in toe event of the verdict of the jury upon the facts being unfavourable to the pri soner. Mr. Jere.—That is all that I require. On Friday, as soon as the court bad assembled, Mr. JAMES rose for the defence. The learned coun• sel having prefaced the defence by a violent tirade against the conduct both of the French and English Governments, came to the facts of the case before the jury : The Government sought to establish the guilt of the prisoner by several propositions. First, by a connection with Al!sop, the Englishman, and through him with the grenades, which were ordered by him and paid for by him in October and November, 1887. They alleged that Allsop gave them to Bernard, and that be took them to Brussels and handed them to Gigi, but the link of identity was entirely broken, and there was no proof at all that the grenades bought in Birmingham were those which did the mischief in Paris. Six grenades were made by Taylor, at Birmingham. Three exploded in Paris, two were found afterwards, and one had escaped; but not one of these grenades had been traced to Dr. Bernard. No doubt the prisoner took over some instruments to Brussels which were to assist in bringing about a general rising for the regeneration of Italy, but he denied altogether that the instruments had, as far as Dr. Bernard was concerned, anything to do with the attempt on the life of the Em peror. Dr. Bernard, it wee said, gave these articles to Giorgi, a gentleman who had a most elastic memory, and upon whore evidence he thought the jury would admit no great reliance was to be placed. Now, that witness stated there were not more than five or six holes in any of the grenades, and who that ever held one of those grenades which were used in Paris in his hand could have made such a mistake? He swore positively in his croos-exanti nation that there were not more than five or six holes ; but, on being re-examined, the sword which was hanging over his head flashed across his mind, and he swore that there were twenty five holes. (Laughter.) The learned counsel then proceeded to analyse the evidence of Rhigenzi, the Meohenheims, and others, in reference to the identity of the grenades, end maintained that it completely tailed to establish any guilty knowledge on the part of the prisoner. The only evidence, he said, proved that they were no t grenades at all which were given to Giorgi, and W wahosaaaustrvu in run WIALIOSS WLIO WAS lib premium. w I,lle air. JAMES intim a t e d a d es i re to postpone his only evidence, he said, proved that they we re nos bar. ' address until the :morning, WI said that it might be grenades at all whioh were given to Giorgi, sad W