The Press. — London, England, 1856-03-22 00:00:00

MARCH 22, 1856. bent backwards --the lower extremities are extended an stiff, and the soles of the feet are concave—the skin be. l ames livid—the eyeballs prominent, and the pupils Alined and insensible After several attacks, increasing in se verity, death ensues from spasm of the muscles of the chest, producing suffocation. That these are the symp• toms during life produced by strychnine all men of science are agreed. That similar symptoms were experienced by 3lrs. Dove 'le Coroner referred to the evidence of the different witnesses, and said that " all these appearances were well marked and fully and clearly defined on the .ight of Mrs. Dove's death." Further, drawing at tention to the purchase of strychnine by the prisoner, his knowledge of its effects, and his remarks with reference to his wife that some might have been spilt over her food, the Coroner thought the proof a strong presumption of Mr. Dove's guilt. The jury retired to consider their verdict at five minutes past one o'clock. They returned into court at a quarter to two : The Cosossa : Mr. Foreman, have you agreed upon a verdict? Foreman : Yes. We find that Harriet Dove has died from the effects of strychnia, wilfully administered by her husband, William Dove. The CORONER: That is a verdict of Wilful Murder against William Dove ? Foreman : It is. The prisoner was then formally committed to take tie trial at the next York summer assizes. It is un lerstood that his solicitor, Mr. J. M. Barrett, or Leeds, has already retained Mr. Sergeant Wilkins, and Mr. Robert Hall, barrister, for the defence. ALICE GRAY was at length put upon her trial last Saturday, for perjury, in the case of the two boys Bindle and Perry. The facts of the case are well known. The prisoner, in October last, while at Wolverhampton, accused these boys of having robbed her. So speciously was the charge maintained, that the boys were sentenced to twelve months' imprison went, with hard labour, while Alice Gray obtained pecuniary relief from the bench. An alibi on the part of the boys was now distinctly proved, and, after an attempt by Mr. Motteram on behalf of the pri soner, to prove that the case was only one of mistaken identity, as the money of which Alice Gray declared she had been robbed had undoubtedly been given to her by the Rev. Mr. Morris, who met her in the train, and had taken her away from the station, to which she returned after a couple of hours—t the rev. witness was ill at Clifton, and unable to attend at Stafford)—Mr. Baron Bramwell summed up strongly against the prisoner, who was found guilty. On being brought up on the following Monday for sen• tence, Mr. Justice Cresswell, in addressing her, said : You have been found guilty of perjury. I don't want to address you at any length. I can hardly conceive a worse case than the one of which you The Prisoner: Well, if you please, pass the sentence with as little ceremony as you can. The JUDGE : I Will. I was going to do it. The Prisoner :I know it is a hard thing for me to suffer innocently. The RIDGE : Four years' penal servitude is the sentence upon you; I make that in addition to six days' imprison. went. The Prisoner : You cannot make me lire it out. The prisoner was then removed from the dock. A DISPUTED-WILL CASE, of great length, threatened this week to occupy the attention of Justice Cresswell and a special jury tor scme days at Stafford. The ques tion was simply to decide, by airection of the Master of the Rolls, the state of mind of the testator, Samuel Swinfen, Esq., of Swinfen-hall, who, on the 7th July, 1854, executed a w ill l eav i ng Swinfen to the widow of his deceased and only son Henry. This will was disputed by the heir-at law, Frederick Swinfen, nephew by half blood to the testator. Sir Frederick Thesiger and Mr. Alexander, Q.C., appeared for the plaintiff and widow; the Attorney-General, Mr. Whateley, Q.C., and Mr. Keating, Q.C., for the de fendant and nephew. On the case being resumed on Monday, by the recommendation of ..he Judge a com promise was happily effected between the parties, and the court left free for more pressing business. The defendant, the heir-at-law, is, we believe, to enjoy th e estate, w hil e the plaintiff is to be allowed 1,004)1. a year, with 1,2001. for costs. THE MURDER OF A SOLDIER IN THE GERMAN LFGIoN by a brother private was committed on Tnursday week at Maker Heights, Devonport. The body If the murdered man, Jacobi, was found lying in a field near Maker Church brutally mutilated. A large stone covered with blood and hair was found close by. The last man seen in his company on the same day was another soldier named Hansen. On Hansen being arrested, several spots of blood were observed on his jacket. His attention being called to them, he started back, and said, " I did not kill the man." An inquest was held, and a verdict of Wilful Murder returned against Hansen, who has been corn witted to Bodmin Gaol. THE MURDERER BOUSFIELD, Whose execution WAS fixed for the 24th inst., will not be hanged till Mon day the 81st, THE PRESS. THE VALIDITY OF A STAMPED RECEIPT W 11.9 ques tioned in a case of embezzlement heard at the Hammersmith Police-court this week. Mr. Beadun said that on examining one of the receipts produced he found that the stamp had been marked with the amount of the bill, and not with the name or initials of the receiver of the money, am required by the act. A gentleman present said it was done every day, and he had seen it frequently among lawyers. Mr. Beadon said that the act of Parliament made it im perative to write upon the stamp the initials or name of the person receiving the money, and the receipt before him would not be valid in a court of law. A QUESTION OF IMPORTANCE in all future cases of poisoning has been mooted by Mr. John Smith, of Birmingham, the solicitor engaged in the defence of Palmer, in a recent correspondence, first with the solicitors employed by the Crown, and subsequently with Sir George Grey. Mr. Smith contends that the written reports of Dr. Taylor, containing a record of the circumstances and the deductions by which he arrived at the conclusion that the deceased had died from the effects of certain poisons, are, in fact, sub stantive portions of the depositions, and that as such should be furnished to the prisoner, who might thereby know, according to the true principle on which all the formalities of English law are based, what he has to answer. Mr. Smith's request to be furnished with these details has been refused by Sir George Grey, on the authority of the Crown lawyers, as unprecedented and informal. THE HIGH SHERIFF OF CARMARTHEN was fined 1001. by Mr. Justice Williams, last week, for not pro viding the usual number of javelin men and bailiffs to attend the judge. upon his entry into the county. A Gram DIGGER lately arrived home in the James Baines, was robbed last Friday, in his lodgings at Liverpool, of 4781. in sovereigns, and nearly 2001. worth of gold dust and specimens. A bag with 200 sovereigns was found stowed away in the oven of the house. Two other lodgers have been arrested oa suspicion. BEAUCHAMP, THE CRICKETER, indicted for the murder of his wife a short time since, was tried on Wednesday before Mr. Justice Coleridge, at Kingston. The prisoner was found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to four years' penal servitnde. THE MURDERER Fowxzs, convicted of the murder of his nephew, at Snarestone, in November last, was hanged on Monday in front of Leicester gaol, and before 20,000 people. The prisoner confessed to the murder before dying, and also admitted that he " in tended to have shot his brother Bill, if hefould have got them both in a line." Mr. NOLDWRITT, the Custom house agent, charged with perjury, attended before Mr. Norton this week, in discharge of the recognisances entered into by him on Saturday, and was bound over in a sum or 1,0001., and two sureties of 5001. each, to appear and meet the charge at the summer assizes for Surrey. -SAMUEL CHESHIRE, the Rugeley Postmaster, and Palmer's friend, was tried at Stafford last week, upon the well-remembered charge of opening a post letter from Dr. Taylor to Mr. Gardener, during the post mortem inquiry into the late Mr. Cook's death. The prisoner was found Guilty, but recommended to mercy from his previous good character. Mr. Baron Bramwell sentenced hint to one year's imprison ment, without hard labour. PARTICULARS as to the previous life of the young man Murdoch,who murdered the gaoler at Hastings, have been supplied by the London police. It ap pears that the boy has been a young thief, a sea apprentice, a labourer at the docks, a pickpocket, a soldier, and finally a robber at Hastings. In the intervals of his offences, he professed repentance, and was rather patronised by the London police, to whom he was useful as an informer. The prisoner is barely twenty-one. A SECRET AND SINGULAR SYSTEM OF ABDUCTION OF YOUNG ENGLISH GIRLS by procuresses who traffic between our towns and the Continent has been ex posed this week. The case in point was that of a young girl of sixteen inveigled away from home by ' the artifices of a Belgian procuress, put on board the Hamburg boat, and carried off at once. Luckily the father of the girl heard of his daughter's error, and immediately applied at the Mansion-house for assistance. A telegraphic message was at once despatched to the Hamburg authorities, who de tained the girl on her arrival. Meanwhile, two de tectives started in pursuit. rhe girl was found in custody, and happily brought home direct; but before leaving the detec'ives ascertained that, withont doubt, a regular system of this sort was carried on under our very eyes to supply the continental towns with young English girls. The British Consul at Hamburg admitted and regretted the fact, but ac knowledged his inability to cheek it. His opinion was that the direct interference of the Government would be necessary to put a stop to this abominable system. A SERVANT GIRL in the service of Mr. Wilkinson, of Hartlepool, died last week under rather suspicious circumstances. A belief that she had been poisoned prevailed, and a postmortem examination was made; ut no traces of poison discovered. 275 A CLEVER AND NEATLY EXECUTED ROBBERY of Royal plate was effeaed last Saturday from off the van conveying twelve chests or plate trom Backing• ham Palace to the Paddington Station, en route to Windsor. The van was in charge of four men and a royal servant. When they reached the South-wharf road, they stopped at a public-house (the old story), and went in, only for "five minutes," to have some thing to drink. When they came out they remarked some appearance of disturbance in the covering cloth, and, on looking closer into the van, found the binding Tope cut, and the smallest chest—packed in the very centre of the cart, and containing nursery plate to about the value of 5001.—stolen ! Here Was a dilemma for the carters. There was no help for it; the chest was undeniably gone, and so they set off on their way to Windsor. On Monday, the empty plate-box was found in Bonner's Fields, the hinges torn off, the plate stolen, and the silver handles of all the knives and forks carefully removed, while the steel blades, with the maid's petticoats and stockings in which the royal plate was packed, were left be hind. A reward of 1001. has been offered for any information leading to the apprehension and convic tion of the thieves, and another 1001. for the recovery of the plate. The placard states that the chest was stolen from a van on Saturday evening, while standing in Porcheste: street, Paddington, opposite the Ma sons' Arms, and that it was supposed to have been removed by a man on foot, and placed on a cab or omnibus. There is, however, another and a very reasonable conjecture. The place where the robbery was committed was close to the Regent's-canal, and the field near the Victoria•park where the usk chest was found on Monday morning without the plate, is on the line of the same canal, and within 100 yards of it. It is not at all improbable that the chest was placed on board one of the canal barges, and taken down the canal to Bethnal-green. At present the police appear to be at fault. THE PRISONERS FOR DEBT now confined in the United Kingdom appear in a return of the House of ;Commons delivered on Tuesday. The length of time of imprisonment, distinguishing those de tained for an indefinite from those remanded by ad judication for a fixed period ; the amount of debt in each case, and where practicable the amount of costs ; the age of each prisoner, and whether transferred from other prisons; and, where practicable, the terms of confinement in them, and what are the ci ief impediments to an ear►y release, are fully spe cified. The returns, in the form of tables, cover thirty-nine pages. Some of the replies to the ques tion, " What is the chief impediment to an early re lease ?" are remarkable. One man, owing 301., and enjoying an annuity of 12s. per week, had refused to assign over weekly a certain portion for the benefit of his creditors. Another man, imprisoned in Chester gaol, owing 571. debt and costs, and having been in prison five years, filed his petition several years since, but will not file his schedule. He states tt at he will have the sum of 2001. at the death of an aged lady, which interest he will not assign. At Bodmin another man owes 1361., and has been in prison two years; he states that his affairs (are in the hands of his attorney, from whom he can get no information. In Devon county prison a person whose initials are given as V. 8., and who owes 751., has been in prison 33 years. In a return from Dur ham county gaol, the chief impediment to the release of ET. is said to be " the Commissioner of the Bankruptcy Court, Newcastle-upon-Tyne." From the Somerset county gaol about the most remarkable case is reported : J. H. is ninety.four years of age, end has been in the gaol twelve months, at the snit of his own son ; sent by him apparently to avoid his maintenance, and that he may be buried at the cost of the county. Application was made to the son and his friends to obtain his release with out effect, and the excellent society in London for relief of poor debtors caused the necessary documents to be pie pared to procure his discharge through the Insolvent Court, but the wretched old man, knowing that his treat ment under the gaol regulations is better than be would receive if discharged, refuses to sign Lis petition, which, under the existing law, is the only other means to bring him before the court. Among the bad characters, G. B. in Norfolk Gaol must be mentioned, the chief impediment to his release being " drunkenness and reckless conduct — has had a fine estate, but not paid his debts." ' A silly person in the same p►ison is detained by his own obstinacy, pretending to have been falsely arrested. In the Queen's Prison (Surrey) there is a formidable list of prisoners, mostly transferred from other prisois, and including sundry bankrupts. One is. a debtor to the tune of 17,3981., and at the mercy of the Court of Bankruptcy. A prisoner in York Castle, committed at the suit of the Attorney-General for contempt, refuses to put in an appearance, and " has apparently no desire to leave the gaol." This person is seventy years of age, and he has been de prived of his liberty 'for seven years and a half. From the House of Correction at Knutsford one gene ral answer is given on behalf of all the prisoners:4— " The chief impediment to a release is the , inahilleytof the prisoners to pay their debts." MARCH bent backward stiff, and the comes livid dilated and ins s everity, death chest, producii toms during fil are agreed. That similar s the Coroner witnesses, a' were well ma night of Mrs tention to tho his knowiedi reference to I over her food presumption The jury minutes past at a quarter I The CORONE verdict? Foreman : 1 from the effect husband, Will The CORO! against Williai Foreman : 1 The prisor his trial at ti derstood tha' Leeds, has a' and Mr. Rot ALICE OR . Saturday, fc Bundle and known. Thi Wolverhamp her. So spe the boys wer went. with pecuniary r( part of the b an attempt Boner, to pro identity, as I she had beet her by the train, and 1 which she rev. witness Stafford)-3 against the being brong l knee, Mr. said : You have b address you a case than the The Prison with as little The JUDGE The Prison innocently. The RIDGE upon you; I went. The Prison The prisone A DISPUT: this week to and a specie tion was sin of the Rolls Swinfen, Es 1854, execu of his decea disputed b nephew by 1 Thesiger an plaintiff ar Whateley, 1 fendant and Monday, by promise wt and the cou The defent enjoy the et 1,0001. a ye THE M t LFGION by Tnursday body If the in a field ni large stone close by. same day s Hansen be observed of to them, 1.1( the m an. " Wilful Mul been corn n THE MIN fixed for thi day the 81st