The National Register. — London, England, 1820-03-19 00:00:00

Zszig Sntelitscna. HOME CIRCUIT.—ESSEX LENT ASSIZES. CliEugsFoitu,MAncu 10. [Before the Lord Chief Baron.) CHILD NIURDLIL Rosalie Clerchod, au interesting young female, of great personal beauty, a native of Switzerland, was indicted for the will ul murder of her new-burls male illegitimate child, at Barking, on the 20th of December last. Ti a cis cumstances of this unhappy case were pecnliarly affecting, iudeed pathetically romantic, and excited universal sympathy. The pi ismer, a lovely and interest. ing creature, was the daughter of a highly respectable family at Lausanne, in Switzerlan d . A young gentleman of that town had paid his addresses to her, contrary to the wishes of her family, who had forbidden him the house. His atte.aitions, how ever, were clandestinely coutio tied for a considel able length of time, until Mademoiselle Clut ched's health becoming seriously alerted, her friends guessing the sect et, determined to remove her far from the cause of her indisposition. hoping that, by change of scene and absence, her health would be restored, and that she would for4et the object of her attachment. England was resolved upon as the place of her sojournment, and she took leave of leer friends to collie to this country. The prospect of so painful a separation naturally produced the strongest sensation in the minds of the lovers. An op poi tentity for a stolen interview was found, and in the tumult of ardent passion, excited by feelings of strong attachment, the bellSe of real honour and virtue was foe gotten, and, unhappily, that event occurred which even tually pillaged the object of ill-fated love into the deepest affliction, and even subjected her life to the peril of au ignominious foe 1 eiteire. This being the day appointed for the trial, it is impossi ble to conceive the interest which the case excited. At a very early hour the Court was croweted to excess by male spectatoes, the vulture of the enquiry being such as to exclude the other sex. The unhappy prisoner, during her seclusion in the gaol, had been treated with the utmost delicacy and teinieruess that the nature of her situatiou would admir. At the hour appointed for her trial she was conducted into Court with the assistance of some female attendants. Agitated in every finite, and over whelmed with grief, site was almost carried into the dock, and seated on a chair. She was attired in deep mourning, and lies face was completely concealed with a veil, which, if even removed, would nut have been enough to satisfy the brutal curiosity of some individuals in Court, whose unfeeling anxiety to behold the beauty of her connte silence, called forth the indignant animadversion of the Judge, who checked the apparently inhuman indifference ~ ~,, to her awful situation. Her head, during the whole time, was bowed on her bosom, and like a withered lily of her native relies, seemed blighted by the chilling influence of conscious disgrace and ignominy. Mr. Knapp, the Clerk of Maize addressed her in very good French, and stated to her die substauce of the in dictment,denianding whether she was guilty or not guilty. With great difficulty she sobbed aloud, in French, that she was Not Guilty. Being asked whether she would be tried by a Jury of half Foreigners and half English, or all English, Mr. Watford, who was retained as Counsel Outer be half, interposed, and said, that there was no occasion to put that question; she would waive the privileges of her birth, and be tried by an English Jury. Mr. Knapp thee explained to her the nature of the array, and that she was to say that she would be tried by God and the country, to which she bowed assent. The Jury being sworn without any challenge, Mr. Brod rick opened the case fur the prosecution with great pathos anti feeling. The manner, as well as the matter, of the Learned Counsel, produced a vi s ib le e ff ect upon ie whole auditory, and a general sympathy in fa.. Tour of the peisoner seemed to prevail. He observed, that there was no heart, however obdurate. which could nut but feel affected at the distressing situation of a young and interesting lady like the prisoner, placed at the bar of justice Vo answer with her tile to a charge of the deepest complexion. Melancholy as her situation was, and much as it was calculated to excite the compassion of every man endued with the amiable affections of our nature, the interests of public justice required that the Jury should exercise their fortitude and firmness in the consideration of an enquiry, fraught with circumstances which could not fail of exciting their sympathy. If in the result they should be satisfied that the case he had to lay before them did not bring the serious charge contained in the indict ment home to the prisoner, he felt persuaded that every man who heard him would rejoice at a result which would rescue the unhappy girl at the bar front an igno minious and detestable punishment. The prisoner was a *wive of Switzerland, and was the daughter of respecta ble parents hi that country. She had hewn a French teacher at the school of a Miss Siff kin, at Barking. Deiring the late severe winter she had been dreadfully afflicted with chilblaies, so mucks° as to require surgical aid. This iodesposition a good deal confined her to her chamber. Confinement to her chamber was requisite; but at this tiane.no suspicion whatever was eotertaiucii of her being in a state of pregnancy. On the evening of the NOth of December she desired a female servant iu the house to air her bed linen, expressing a wish to retire early to rest. Her wishes mete complied with, and she went to bed at rather an unusual hour. Next intoning, when the servant went tutu the room, she was still to bed, * . * • • * • •• • • On the following day the unhappy creature summoned strength enough to gu down to Muller with the fatuity, uud she endeavoured to appear cheeriest. The next day she ' appeared again ulowell, and desired to speak in private with the servant. ,She spoke with the latter, and pointing to the giglit chair in the room, said t•. her iu Woken English e• don't tell Miss Selfkiu." lee servant went to the . o . up the tic:vicar; retiring h f e , o h i e l i ad t h ol e a r roam, in - i t . faut.—Alar.. ed at the sight, the servant uttered a .9. t o a f r"l ho o r n ro li r t , til i l e g ud u ler ell the ill ibUller in the most piteous accent besought her not to tell Mies Sifikin. The alarm was giveu, and the dreadful secret was spread through the house. A surgeon a.. rent for, and the prisoner's own situation being alarmiug . I was put to bed, amid every care taken of her health.— /a t m wits no violence visible on the body, and although the long exploded, and even absurd test, of suffusing toe lungs of the infant in water, had bee') tried, told were touted to gnat, yet the result was extremely fallacious, for at the tune of experiment the lungs were in a stale of pm Wefaction, which, even admitting the child to have bass TUE NATIONAL REGISTER. born tread, would have necessarily been the case. Under these circumstances the Jury was fist to pronouuce whether the child was born alive, before they crone to a question, which most materially MlN:tett the case of the prisoner. Mr. Daniel Minor, a Surgeon of Diord, wirF• the 144 n inters examined, and he dt•pmeit as toliows ;—ln the mouth of December I %%as calla .'in to attend the prisoner. Ou the 25c1 of that month I was shown u male ichild. I opened it tno nay. after, and I found the lungs healthy ; they domed in water. From that alone 1 judAed that the child was loon alive) but this is a very fallacious test -1111.1 e so. The t hief Baron here interposed, and said, that the pri soner must be acquitted. There was no proof that the child was horn alive. _ _ The Jury immediately found the prisan-r No' Guilty,. amt also acquitted her of concealing the hi. th. A' Tine verdict seemed to produce very goner:'' c atboat and immediately aftern aids the prisoner w• ! ' to the care of her friends. tit - • I -- The author of her sufferings, a y' !mi. scious, us it should seem, of the tr hick she aas placed, had teen inf.'. ....?es of their illicit intercourse (1.. • exposed), and haul set out a ith 4 • . ~ at iill hazards to unite Lis band to In sue had arrived at I'm is in pursuit of his jr, • , his pecuniary funds beisie exhausted, he was detain, v olllfiig, that he did not reach Eugliiiiil tell three thiyi a, - • the wretohed victim of his attachment had been committed fur the of charg. d in the indictment. The A►aizes finiAied on Friday evening. Twenty-one prisoner. received sentence of death. Two .heep•atealers were left for execution. KENT LENT ASSIZES. CIVIL SIDE. (Before the Lord Chief Baron and Special Juries.) THE ICING V. GARDENER. This was an intbriaation filed by the Attorney Gene ral against the defendant, for assaulting and obstructing Thomas Hamstead, a mariner of the Severn, in the ex ecution of his duty, whilst searching for contraband goods, r.t Deal, on the 13th of Aiwst last. The under case went to the Jury undee"Learned Judge's directions, abd they Hind the defendant Guilty. THE KING v. HICKSON, SHEAF, AND WADDELL. These were similar prosecutions against the defen dants. The cases went to the Jury under the Learned Judge's directions, and they found the defendants all Guilty. BREACH OF PROMISE OP MARRIAGE. RICHARDS V. PUGH. This was an action by the plaintiff for the breach of a marriage promise entered into with her by the defen dant. Mr. Gurney, with whom was Mr. Chitty, stated the plaintiff's case. The following is an outline of the circumstances: — The plaintiff was a young lady of considerable personal beauty and mental endowments, and one of the ten children of a respectable surgeon and apothecary, resid ing at Seale, near Seven Oaks, in this county; the defendant was a widower with two children, carrying on business at Sheerness as a linen-draper. The plain tiff's age was stated to be 27, and that of the defendant 35 years. In the month of July, 1818, during the elec tion contest, which took place on Penington Heath, the defendant happened to meet with the plaintiff, for the first time, and was on the instant struck with her per sonal charms. She was in company with her brother and a young lady, named Pyne; he took occasion to fall into conversation with her, as it should seem uninvited, the subject of their discourse being the merits of the then candidates for election. There the acquaintance seemed to stop, but at the end of eight or ten days afterwards, as was stated by the plaintiff's brother and her mother, he came over to Seale, called at her father'‘ house, and without any prefatory introduction he proffered his hand its marriage to :Miss Richards, and required to know what portion it was in hen father's power to bestow upon her. He was informed that the whole of her fortune was comprebentivi in her person; upon which lie dis claimed the idea of all pecuniary considerations, said he was enamoured of her person, and represented that he was in a very flourishing way of business, and possessed besides 7001. per annum, independent property, and was extremely anxious that the connubial knot should be tied forthwith, and that his wishes should be column. glinted to the young lady. At that time Miss Richards was on a visit with sonic friends in Sussex, and her pa rents immediately communicated to her the offer that had been made. In the mean time the defendant ad dressed a letter to the lady in rather familiar terms, tendering her his hand and fortune, and requiring her, if disengaged, to bless him in a matrimonial alliance.— The young lady returned to her father's house, and wrote the defendant a letter front the dictation of her father, giving him to understand that his addresses would nut be discouraged. Immediately afterwards the defendant again came over to Seale, and spent two whole days in the young lady's company, during which he was extremely anxious lon the immediate consummation of his happiness, but not being then out of mourning for his late wile, she objected to so hasty a proceeding, but consented, at his urgent request, that the day of solem nisation should not be postponed beyond the ensuing Christmas. In the mean time, however, lie made it a condition that he should have the happiness of writing to her, and that she should answer his correspondence. lie then took his leave, after having besrken one of her sisters to act as bride's maid at the nuptials, which were fixed on all hands to take place about Christ 11111S. Between the time of his departure, which was about the middle of August until the month of Decem ber, witen the match was broken off, a most affectionate and ardent epistolary ourrespoadence was kept up be tween the lovers, but towards the end of the year the defendant's letters altogether ceased, when, in conse quence of a desire expressed by the father to know the Cause, lie returned for answer, that his views towards Miss Richards were completely mistaken, that he had never contemplated any thing more than the hap :11 7 5 i ll i l i t .l •l: , t l , o a or n r , i l ag th e a: n othing of corresponding with a woman of education an' .e , l ; "' - i(i)tchoililigseltcl i t i a e s nee fart o h f er ti f t r is on s i u l r i l i ) s r;, ir o - E iw ii 'nation, a professional gentleman was coot' r" , %Anne to the defendant on the subject o'' js promise to the plaintiff, and in answer to that lets e he assigned as a reason for his conduct, that Miss Ric bids had to one of her recent letters intimated to him flat a yom,ger 3110 more worthy rival than the defend i!, had bee" paying her considerable attention, bad p e d h er neasnYs and that she doubted her power to ri° at his importunities to bestow her hmal and heart no-•' him.--'These were the Aa post priouso„.... ciscumstasscvs of the case on the part of The plaintiff. A volume of the defendant's letters was Oen in evidence, and as usual CM such occasions, their contents irroduced a visible effect upon the risible mus cles of the whole court of auditors. It appeared that the defendant had never seen the plaintiff, mote than twice in his life. Mr. Adolphus, for the defendant, addressed the Jury with great ability and eloquence, on behalf of his client. The Chief Baron summed up the case for the Jury, and told them, it had beets admitted on the part of the defendant the plaintiff was entitled to a verdict, and that the question of damages was peculiarly for their consi deration under all the circumstances of thsF case. The Jury retired for about hal: an hour, and returned a verdict for the plaintiff—Daniagt s 7001. CROW N SIDE. • RANI or ENGLAND PROSECUTIONS. William Stepney, a youth aged t 9, was indicted for uttering a tinged one ',Mind Batik of England note, at PI tttt stet!, on the 10th of October last. The prosecution way conducted by Mr. Bowen. The prisoner was without Ciontsel. It appeared in evidence that on the day mentioned in the indictment, the prisoner and another young man named CIUWeli, tendered the note in question to Mrs. Henderson, the landlady of the Red Lion public-house, at Shooter's hill, in payment for some bread and cheese, amounting to i's. and received the change. After they were gone, circumstances of susßicims aeose, and one of the Bow-street parole sitl'iramened to - he on duty in the neighbourhood was sent after them, and having taken them into custody they were searched. Tile prisoner threw from him a piece of paper, which being picked up was found us be a forged one pound note. • Both prisoners were taken before a Magistrate, and were afterwards lodged for safe custody in the parish watch house ; from which, however, they contrived to break out and make their escape. n the 16th of November the prisoner was again apprehended in Middlesex, and on being then searched he threw front him another forged note. The other man, Curwen, has not yet been retaken. The prisoner, who represented himself to be a maker of mats, stated its defence, that be had,received the note in question from a gentleman, wlto had purchased four mats of him on the day mentioned in the indictment. Mr. Baron Garrow summed up the evidence, and the Jary found the prisoner guilty.—Death. .YORK ASSIZES, MARCH JO. TRIAL FOR MURDER. William Booth, William Garrett, and Benjamin Bower, were charged with the murder of Thomas Parkin, a game. keeper in the service of James Archibald Smart Wortley, E. se i. on the 10th of October last, at Tankersley, by shoot. ing him through the body. Mr. Cross stated the case on the part of the prosecution, and afterward called the following witness:— Joseph Parkin stated, that he was employed by Mr: Stuart Wortley to take care of his game and look after poachers. On the night of the 9th of October witness and Thomas Parkin, the deceased, went out to look after poachers: about four o'clock they saw four men upon the road coining towards them. Witness proposed !ts Parkin to go out of the way. William Garrett, one of the prisoners, ran towards them, the other three following close after him. When Garrett came up to them, Thomas Parkin put his hand upon his shoulder, and said, " What, my lad, is it your They then passed the two Bowels, but they said nothing to them: the fourth man Samuel Booth, had a gun, and was not more than a yard or two behind them. Thomas Peskin went up to him, and said, " What, Sam, thou hast got a gun 1 see." lie put his hand on the outside of his pocket, and said, " And thou hest got a pocket full of suickles." S,murl Boo:11 said, " Damn thy soul, art thou going to rob me ?" He turned round and presented the gun, and immediately shot Thos. Harkin, who fell down, and said, "Oh ! lam Matti" The moment the deceased fell, the other men seized the witness, and Booth struck him on the head and shoulder with the butt-end of the gnu. Witness felt other blows, but does not know from whom they came. Witness heard one of the men say, " Hit him hit him!" or " Stick hint; stick him!" he could not tell which.' It was John Bower's voice, At this moment he heard a gun go of, and then, becoming more at liberty, he ran off to procure assistance; but when he returned to search for the deceased lie was gone, and lie afterwards foetid him in a cottage near the ruad.side. Witness said the deceased died on the following evening. The shot entered his left side and came out at his back. Witness, on his cross-examination, said there was no strug gling before the shot was fired, and no assault was com mitted upon any of the prisoners either by the deceased or himself. The deposition of the deceased,taken tinder the impres sion of immediate death, was then put in and read ; which agreed its almost every particular with the statement of the preceding witness, and which expressly denied that there had been any struggle between the parties. The Jury, without retiring, found all the prisoners-- Guilty. His Lordship immediately passed sentence of death upon the prisoners, who were usdeted for execution on Monday. On Monday Samuel Booth underwent the sentence of the law, for the murder of Mr. Stuart Wortley's sante keeper. At half-past 12 the unfortunate man was con ducted to the platform behind the chapel. He was ac companied by the chaplain to the gaol, with, whom hit joined in player for about ten minutes, during which time, though he appeared at intervals to attend seriously to the Rev. Gentlemms, be occasionally looked about witb an _- .0•1