The National Register. — London, England, 1812-07-05 00:00:00

* THE . NATIONAI, REGISTER. TRIAL OF THOMAS BOWLER. The Prisoner was indicted under the Cutting and Maiming Act, II wilfully and maliciously discharging a blunderbuss, loaded with bullets, at William Bttrrowcs, on the 30th of May last, and wound ing him in the neck and back with the contents thereof, at Alperton, in 'he parish of Harrow. Mr. ADOI.IUS opened the pleadings, and Mr. POOLEY stated the case to the jury. In doing so, he described with technical precision the nature of the offence, which the Act. ender which the Prisoner st. , o d i n h e r e d, was intended to repress and punish, aed also the de ,cription of persons who were to be considered amenable to its provi sinus. Any man, he said, who could discern right from wrong, and who appeared capable of reflecting upon the consequences of the act he committed at the time of commission, was answerable to the law for his conduct, if provided for by the criminal legislation of the country. In detailing the circumstances of the case, he said the pri toner's offence had come precisely under the terms of the Act of Par liament, and it was for him to shew, that at the time he committed the crime, he was in that state of mind which could induce the jury, conseietitiously, to abstain from a conclusion of his guilt.—Heo hen proceeded to call his witnesses to prove the facts of the case, which are already so full in the recollection of the public, that it would Le superfluous to recap4ulate them minutely. The prisoner, it :appear ed, was a fanner of considerable property at Alperton, near Harrow. On the morning of the 30th of May, at an early hour, he was seen out in the village by his neighbours with a blunderbuss in his hand, and "his little grandson on horseback following him. Cpoo being asked by a blacksmith what he was going to do with his fire-oen , he said he was going to shoot a dog, and requested that the blacksmith would do something at the back of the piece to enable it to do execution. !With this the blacksmith complied, when the prisoner, after walking about in the road backwards 'and forwards for a few minutes, took the blunderbuss from the blacksmith's shop, and stood under an elm tree by the road side, apparently watching very earnestly for some objet that was approaching. Mr. Burrowes shortly afterwards, in a taxed cart, came over a bridge which crosses the junction Canal, and advanced within a few yards of the prisoner, who deliberately levelled his blunderbuss at him, fired, and at the same time exclaimed, 46 There d—n you." .lr. Burrowes, who observed kis motions, and seeing the danger which awaited him, dipped his body to endeavour to avoid the consequences, and receiving two of the balls in his neck and one in his back, fell, apparently lifeless, over the shafts of the cart. His horse, alarmed with the report of the piece, ran off' at full speed with his wounded master lying in that. position, whilst the prisoner, after having made his grandson dismount from his own horse, gallopped oil' as fast as he could. The prisoner was not apprehended until the I.3th of June, when he returned to his own house and was taken. These were the leading facts of the case. The attention of Counsel was chiefly directed to the proof of the prisoner's sanity at the time of the trans actisn, to which evidence was examined at considerable length. All the witneses for the prosecution agreed, that at the time the ailair took place the p risoner seemed perfectly cool and collected, and rational. His son-in-law, however, related a variety of instances, on his cross-examination by Mr. Wetherall, which indicated at various periods considerable derangement of intellect ; such as various acts of inconsistency in t tic management of his affairs—sudden loss of memory -- incoherency of 'conversatson-L-rising at unseasonable hours of the 41 "ning—dining at unusual hours of the day—and going to ba at mut - common periods of the evening. The testimony of the other wit nesses, however, want to show, that within the last two months his A conduct was perfectly rafi6o4l, - and that of a man whose set,, • • • complete and unimpaired ; so much so, that on the day next bu- • to tit: transaction in question, lie had made a fresh will. The motive assigned in the evidence frr the prosecution, for the sanguin: • v purpose of the prisorer, was some displeasure the prosecutor ti -at given him in the month of March last, by lopping some trees which divided their respective premises. Tne prisoner was afterwards heard.to say in St. James's market, to a mail named William Shep hen', when the latter mentioned that he had bought same hay of Mr. laurrowes, " D—n that Burrowes—l'll Burrowes him—'tore long I'll be the death of him ; he shan't live beyond the middle of June. it I die next morning." The evidence on the part of the prosecution having been closed. the Prisoner was asked if he hud any thing to say in his defence; but he,said he would leave it to ilia Counsel, who immediately set up a plea of insanity. To support this his house-keeper, Elizabeth Bargum, a servant maid in his house, and several neighbouring farmers wet e examined. They so.ted, that frem the time the Prisoner had talien from his horse, in July last, his behaviour had never been the same as it !no! been before—that his memory and intellects seemed from that time to the present to have been totally deranged, sun( that in consequence of numberless instances of incoherent conduct, by threatening to destroy himself, they were obliged to watch and prevent him from so doing, and that down to the very day on which the crh.n was committed, they believed hint to be incapable of acting or judcirg for himself, and to be in a state of constant mental derangement. Mr. Hyatt, an apothecary, who attended him at the time of his fall, Dr. Aineley, who had at tended him since his committal to prison, Dr. Warburton, a medical gentleman in the habit of atteetling persons afflicted w ith deranga. ment of intellect, and Mr. Webb, surgeon to the New Prison, aIL deposed generally that from their own long experience and close attention io disea-es of this kind, and from their repeated visitation of the prisoner since his confinement, they believed him to be in a complete state of mental derangement, even to the present hour. and their practice convinced Om that, although the prisoner might, as was customary with patients during their insanity from apoplexy, be apparently rational and consistent upon many point,, yet upon someone point, which funned, as it were, the key of their derangement, they were usually without any reason or capability of right conduct, and were apt to f, nn unfounded notions of malice and revenge even aphis . : their most intimate friends, upon imaginary .causes, and to be dis i osed to wre.rk vengeance upon those parties ; such they thought the situation of the Prisoner. Several other persons bore testimony to his mental derangement. Sir St mora Ls BL A sc, recapitulated tie evidence for the jury, and hid down the law of the case. I t the Jury believed that the Prisoner, when he committed the act attributed to him, was in a state of mind capable of perceiving right from wrong, and not under the influence of any temporary illusion against the Prosecutor, which rendered him incapable of judging whether he did right or wrong towards that individual, in that case he was not answerable to the laws of his Country. But if they believed that he was capable of discovering right from wrong, and not under such illusions at the time he come mated the act, but sansible that he was doing a wrong aci, then Ile would be amenable to the justice of his Country, and guilty in the cs e of the law. The Jury retired for about an hour and a half, and returned a verdict of— Gt: r.Ty The Court was immensely crowded during the 'whole trial, which lasted front ten in the morning until eight. A strong phalanx of legal assistance was employed for the Pr isoner. He had no less than five Gentlemen of the Bar, Mr. Gurney, Mr. Alley, Mr. Wetherell, Mr. Arrabin, The Prosecutor recommended the Prisoner to mercy, on account of his being a neighbour. We are sorry to find by ad vices from Lisbon, that a horrid attempt Lad nzen made to assassinate CIO. Linzee, of His Majesty's ship Union, by a seaman belongine to that vessel, who stabbed him in the breast. The wound however - did not prove mortal„as was at first supposed ; and we have the stitistaction to state that Captain Linzee, has arrived at Portsinuuth on board the Sabrina, and is in a fair way of recovery.— The assassin was tried by a Cole-martial at Lisbon, and ciecated. He co:dessed his crime, in which it appears he had no associate, nor had he coati - mimic sled his diabolical purpose to any one ; he could not as sign any motive for the act, except some diabolical impulse to commit a murder. SUICLDF. — The village of Alperton, where Bowler shot at Mr. Burrows, has been the scene of auother deplorable event. A respect able farmer, of the name of Kidney, was found drowned in a pond, at the back of Air. Burrows's house, on Monday morning, to the as tonishment of the neighbourhood. The number of French Commissioned Officers and Masters of priva teers and merchantmen that have broken their parole in the three last ) can aiding the .sth June, is 63V; uf whom t:4 . 4 have been retaken, and 440 escaped. considerable number of Officers have besides been ordered into confinement fur various tither breaches !_if their rarolc engagements. ia JULY 5. OLD BAILEY. These Sessions commenced en Wednesday, at justice Hall, in the Old isaih Previous to the arrival of the Judges, the Recorder tried two prisoners of the titian:. of Lee and Tyrrell. for picking the pocket of a gentlcairn in Holborn, who were found guilty. During the trial of rhos prisoners, Bowler (whose trial for shootinia Mr. Burrows was expected to commence that morning) was sitting behind the bar, attended by a friend ; his toot was apparemly bad, fioin the lame manner in which he walked, and the heel of his shoe be!ag tiown. - w wn the two prisoners were found guilty, the Judges Le Blanc and Gibhs, came in ; and Bowler, whose name was first on the called to t lie bar. iht went forward, and when Mr. Shelton, the Clerk of the Arraigns, was about to read the indictment, Mr. Knapp, his Counsel rose, and begged the Court to postpone air.: trial, for the purpose o f giving tittle for the attendance of many witnesses, who were to come from the country. To this Mr. Pooley, for the prose cution, consented, and it was finally agreed to take place on Friday morning —The prisoner, Bowler, being called upon to plead, Mr. Knapp again rose, and requested the Court not to let him plead, as he, in his defence, had that to urge (insanity) which of itself ought not to place him in a situation of pleading at all, till it was shewn that he was in his right mind. This was overruled by The Judges. Bowler pleaded " Not guilty," in an audible voice; and when he was 2 ,k e d, as is usual, " how will you be tr:ed ?" he seemed confused, HI being told to say " by God and my country ;" he did so, and left the bar perfectly collected.