The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-01-03 00:00:00

LAW AND CRIME.

SHOOTING A WM{ AT PRESTZIGIC —lt will be re-
membered that in October last a deserter from one of
Her Majesty's regiments, named Morris, shot his wife at
• ilace called Knisham, near Presteign, the charge of
the gun tearing away the scalp and part of the skull, so
injuring her that death was for some days expected to
result therefrom, but ultimately she recovered. The
husband decamped, and all efforts to capture him
till Wednesday proved unavailing. For some time Past
it was thought he had returned to the vicinity of his
home, and accordingly Superintendent Massey, of
Presteign, took means to ascertain if this was a fact.
On Wednesday night it was ascertained that • person
answering the description of Mortis had been seen to go
in the direction of the cottage, where his wife lived.
The bones was thereupon surrounded and Morris
captured. He WM conveyed to Prest,ign gaol, and
locked up in one of the cells, where he had been only a
short time, when a peculiar noise was beard, and on
going in it was found that tie prisoner had tied one end
of his neckcloth tightly round his neck, and the other
round the grating, and had succeeded in nearly
strangling himself. He was immediately cut down, and
medical aid summoned, but life was found to be nearly
extinct.

A BURGLAR DISPUTING WITH A JUDGlL—Messrs.
George Smith and George Carr, forwerly in business as
burglars, but now convicts in oonfinement, seem to be
rather interesting specimens of their class. Breaking
into a house at Witley, in Worcestershire, they
happened to encounter, just as they bad placed •
quantity of stolen goods ready UT removal, the owner
of that house, who shot one and so belaboured the other
that he was obliged to lie down, as his companion had
done, to await the arrival of the police. Brought before
Mr. Justice Ryles at Worcester Anises, on Tuesday,
their behaviour was worthy of their previous conduct,
and their sentence • just reward for both. Mr. Smith.
who by characterising something immaterial in one of
the statements of a witness as a " tbundring lie,"
showed his general admiration of truthfulcess, also
endeavoured to shine as • logician. Inasmuch as he
had stolen nothing, he could not see how he had been
brought in guilty of burglary. Of the attempt I.was
prepared to admit himself guilty, that being only a mis-
demeanour ; but of the actual crime he contended he
was innocent, Mr. Justice Bales pointed out to him,
in the mildest manner possible, that to break into •
dwelling-house, even without stealing anything, was
burglary, and that a manifest intention to steal was
theft. 'But," argued Mr. Smith, with great elegance
of diction, "If I was to shove my hand into your
pocket, and not to take anything, what would you
charge me with—stealing, or the attempt?' Replied his
lordship,avoiding the direct question—in view, no doubt,
of the recent decision of Queen's Bench—" If the goods
are removed with an intent that they shall be stolen, it
is stetilin.t." Still Mr. Smith was not contented, nor
was Mr. Carr, for they both returned to the argument,
and after .ome time declined to be convinced against
their will that the essence of crime lies in its
intent. They were evidently dogged old thieves,
so his lordship gave them a sentence of five years' penal
servitude—a sentence which was amply jurified.by the
blasphemous piece of impertinence with which its re-
cipients took leave of the presiding judge.—Birmingham
Post.

_
THE PRICE OE A KISS.—A young man named
William Scott was charged, on Wednesday, at the New
Bailey, Manchester, with having committed an assault
on Margaret Nurney, a woman residing in Pendlebury.
The prosecutrix had been locked out on the previous
night, and was sitting on a door-chop in the neighbour-
hood of Swinton. awaiting the arrival of a policeman to
direct her to lodgings, when the prisoner, who was in
charge of a wagon, came upend assaulted her. He also
snatched a kiss from her, for which the presiding
magistrate (Mr. Trafford) fined him £5, or, in default,
two months' imprisonment.
RZYOLTING CASH Or CHILD MORDER.—A short
time since Mr. Inspector Gaskins, who is stationed at
Southern, Warwickshire, was informed that a yonne
woman named Emma Raven had been delivered of a
child at the village of I:Mon, near Harbury, and that
the child had mysteriously disappeared. Having learnt
that Sarah Raven, a sister, was in the Southern Work-
house, he proceeded there,and questioned her repeating
the matter. Sarah, who had herself been confined of
an illegitimate child in the workhouse, confessed that
her sister had been delivered of a female child on the
21st of November last, and that it was destroyed by the
child's mother, and afterwards buried in the garden
adjoining the cottage' in which she resided with her
father and mother. The inspector then went over to
Uftoo,and saw the grandmother of the child,who denied
all knowledge of the affair. Being closely exami ned,ho w-
ever, she at first hesitated, and then admitted that a
child had been born in the house on the dey named,
and that it was buried in the garden, where the officer
found it buried. A post-mortem examination showed
that the remains were those of a full-grown female
child, that its skull had been fractured, and that there
were other mares of violence on its neck. On Monday
last Mr. W. S. Poole, coroner, of Kenilworth, held an
inquest upon the body. Emma Raven said that on the
morning of Monday, the 21st of November last, she was
delivered of • female child at her mother's home at
Ufton. Her mother and her sister Sarah were both
present at the birth. Her father was out at work, and
would not return home until the Saturday night
following. When the child was born it was removed to
a distant part of the room, and there she heard it crying
for five or ten minutes. Her in -ther said she did not
know what to with it; ehe dare net tell her father when
he came home. An soon as she said these words., Sarah
Raven who was standing near, exclaimed " D the
little thing, let's kill it;' and immediately threw herself
upon the body of the child, sod lay upon it
until it wee quite dead. The body remained
In the room all day ; on Tuesday, the 22nd
November, it was removed by her mother and buried.
The apron in which the child was found was
identified as belonging to Sarah Raven. The story of
the grandmother was very cmtradictory ; she put all
the blame upon her daughter Ssrah. Sarah Raven said
that she fell with her body across the child, but it was
accidentally done. She also admitted using the words
given by her sister in evidence. Whatever she had
done, she said she had done it at the instigation of the
mother. She further stated that the day after the
child's birth she was coming to Leamington, to look out
for • place of service, when her mother asked her to
bring the child with her and throw it into the canal,
but she refused to do so. The jury returned a verdict
of " Wilful murder" against the grandmother end aunt,
and they were both committed to take thsir I ri at the
next assize upon the coroner's inquisition. The mother
of the child has been detained in custody upon a charge
of concealing the birth.
GROSS CRULLTT TO A Fox.—At the Hyde Petty
Sessions on Monday, Thomas Henry Harrisen, landlord
of the Globe Inn, Hyde, end J. Etohella, were charged,
on an information laid by the Royal Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animele, with torturing a fox.
It appears that on the 210 t November, the defendant
Harrison got up a fox-hunt near Hyde, which was at-
tended by such cruelty that a paragraph got into a
local paper in condemnation of what had been done,
and was subeequently noticed by the Feld, and this
ultimately led to the above society sending an ageni
down to Hyde, and the present prosecution. Mr. Lord,
after opening the case at length, called, amongst others,
William Timperley, an officer of the above society, who
said that in consequence of infortnatien he had reeeived
he went to the 01-be Hotel, Hyde, on the 10th Decem-
ber, and there saw the defendant Harrison. Observing
that his finger was bandaged, witness asked Is in what
was the matter, when he replied a fox had bitten him.
Afterwards, in convereatiou, Harrison paid he had
bought a fox for 15s. two or three weeks ago, from a
'Dan named Hague, to have a hunt with, and the fox
was produced. Its off bind leg was hanging and clang. '
ling down. The fibres and sinews were both visible,
and its tail and body were covered with congealed blood.
The leg was partly bound round, and ,t looked as if it
had been chopped with a knife or some sharp instru-
ment. Harrison said that he had had • nice bit of fun
with the fox on the previous Monday, for when he
turned him out he had only three legs, having broken
his leg two or three days before the hunt; and he
acknowledged that the fox had thus been turned out

that he might be caught by the doge, because he did nok
like to lose the fox. Samuel Mason, an overlooker at.
Hyde, proved that he was at the hunt. The fox rats on.
three legs' MO of the hind ler. dangling se the fox ian.
When it had rim tie I ngth of t.:o or the.. fiehls thy
dogs came up, but they dutyl not form it. The def.ml-
ants then went and lilted mei up and brought hen balk,
And then EtchelLs again turned him and there was
another bunt Erchells then caught the Cm by tl.a,
tail, and carried him back to Harrison's :,mite. Mr.
Ellison, in defence, said the animal was a will
And when turned loose it was ni t unlawful within the
act to hunt it. Harrison wai fined £5, or to be im-
prisoned for two months with hard labour
Etchels £2 and costs, or two mouths with hard labour.
—Manchester Courier.

ESCAPZ or PRIBONERS AT COLCHISTER.—On Wed-
nesday afternoon three pritoneig, awaiting their Vial
at the quarter sessions, to be held this week, eff.eted
their escape from the Colchester borough gaol. The
priton (which does not pos-ets the neceseary Ciliate
to enable it to be used as a place of punithment after
tentence) is of very old construction, dating from long
before the introduction of the separate syttein, sad
the prisoners during the day-time are necetsarily
kept together. Escapes have in various ways been of
frequent occurrence. In this instance, however, the
blame does not rest with the security of the praon, but
with the gross careleseness of a turnkey. It appears
that four or five prisoners were in the airing-yard in
charge of a turnkey named Carter, who with unsecoont-
able reckleasnets went to get some beer at a public.
house close by, leaving the door unfastene I. When I,e
returned two of the prisoners wire gone, and while be
was making an excited search for them in the differ.nt,
rooms, still leaving the door unfastened, • third quietly
walked out and made off. The police were immediately
put upon the alert, but it being already dark very little
could be done beyond watching the nutlet' of the town,
and telegraphing information to other police-atations.
At present none of them have been recaptured. The
names of the essaped prisoners are Charles Mum-tells,
drover, charged with stealing a sheep from a truck at
the Colchester Station of the Great Eastern Railway ;
Edward Cook, farm labourer, charged eith fowl steal-
ing ; and Joiepli Lynton, a tramp, charged with house-
breaking. Mari-ells, it seems, is a ticket-of-leave man,
having been convicted at Norwich of burglary with
violence, for which he was sentenced to death, but had
his sentence commuted to transportation for life, and
at the end of 13 years received a ticket of leave. His
reformation was of • very transient character, fer I.
had not been discharged many months from Portland
Prison when he committed the robbery he is now
charged with, and which, no doubt, if again committed,
will involve a revival of his former sentence.

TRIPLE CHILD MURDRIL —For some six months pest
a young woman named Emma Smith, &bout 17 or is
years of age, has been living in the service of • Mr.
Wilkes, at the Leysters, near Leominster. On Monday,
December 26th, Mrs. Wilkes had occasion to go up-
stairs, when she saw the girl in one of the bed-rooms
with a large slop pail full of water. Mrs. Wilkes said
she would carry it downstairs for the girl. To this
Smith made strong obj. diens ; the suspicions of Mrs.
Wilkes became aroused; she insisted upon taking the
pail away with her, and eventually carried it down
stairs. Mr. Wilkes was communicated with, and he
examined the contents of the pail with • stick. He first
brought up to the top of the weter the arm of a child,
then the body of a fine-grown infant; he next brought
up the leg, and afterwards the body of a second child,
and at last discovered a third. The three ehildree were
all, of course, dead. The girl Smith had delivered her-
self of the three children at a birth. The girl, who has.
always borne a good character, is in custody.
SUICIDE OF A PRISONER IN READING GAOL.—COR-
siderable consternation was created amongst the officers
of the County House of Correction, at Reading, on
Monday, in consequence of one of the prisoners in that
establishment having terminated his own existence is
the cell in which he was confined. The deceased was.
young man named Joseph Mince, respectably con-
nected; and on Thursday last, at the Beck, winter
assizes, he pleaded guilty to haying violently assaulted
Benjamin Wheeler, at Newbury, on the 24th ult., and
stolen from his person 148. and several articles. Being
previously convicted, he was sentenced by Mr. Justice
Byles to five years' penal servitude. There is no doubt
but that he felt acutely the nature of his position ; still
there was nothing in his demeanour to lead the prison
officials to the belief that it was necessary he should be
constantly watched. On Monday morning the deceased
arose at the usual hour, and he was visited at seven
o'clock, hut shortly efterwards it was discovered that he
was dead, and he had effected his object by fastening
the h ,mmork strap around his neck.
THE MILITARY VERSUS THE CIVIL POWEIL —On Satur-
day evening William Carlin, a private of the 74th
Highlanders, at present stationed its Edinburgh Castle,
was walking in Lavromarket towards the Castle, and
being very disorderly and unruly, he was taken in
charge by a comrade who happened to be passing at the
time. Notwithstanding the entreaties of this comrade
Carlin persisted in behaving in a riotous manner, and •
large crowd in consequence assembled. The polio,
fearing that a disturbance would ensue, interfered, and
were about to take Carlin into custody, when the picket
of the 74th appeared. Instead of endeavouring to help
the police in the maintenance of peace the serjeant of
the picket, William Adams, demanded that C.rlin
should be delivered over to his custody, and, 1.13 the
police iery properly resisted this deinand, Adams
became infuriated, and made a rush neon the police,
immediately after which the picket under his charge
followed his example, and attacked the police. Sonia
of the picket even went the length of drawing their
bayonets and threatening to stab any one who should
attempt to rescue Carlin. In consequence of the large
number of people who assembled during the disturb-
ance, the police were unable to identify and appn bend
the whole of the transgressor,; but Serjeant A.iams
and Private Carlin have been taken into custody.

CHRISTIAN CHARITY.—The Bishop of Trevim
(Venetia) ham published a pastoral letter strictly for-
bidding Cathoies to attend the (upends of Jews.

FORBIDDING INC &DINS. —On Sunday, after the
publishing of some half.dosen pairs of banns of marriage
at the parish church, Camborne, by the rector, the
father of one of the youthful swains, named Moyle,.
said, "I forbid them there banns." The forbidding the
banns at this church 4 a circumstance that has not
occurred before for many years, and the congregation,
were not a little surprised.

THE LATE INUNDATIONS IN SHEFFIELD.—The cause
of the giving way of the embankment of the Bradfield
reservoir, near Sheffield, by which 238 lives were lot,.
and £400,000 worth of property de-troyed, in March
last, has been keenly speculated upon by engineers.
The water-works company has consulted several of the.
most eminent hydraulic an., other engineers of the day,.
and the report of those gentlemen was issued to the
shareholders on Friday morning. The document is
prefaced by • correspondence with the Home-office, in
regard to the resumption of work on the Agden
reservoir, which was stopped by the directors imme-
diately after the accident at Bradfield. It may be
interesting to state that Mr. Rawlinson (Government
Inspector) stated at the inquest that the substance of
that bank was as " porous as a sieve." He attributed
the failure of the Bradfield bank to • fracture or disloca-
tion of the p.pss, which are embedded in the solid earth
beneath the base of the bank. In his reply to a letter
from the directors, after they had received the report of
the engineers, Sir George Grey says —"I: am to
acquaint you, in reply, that as Sir George Grey ender-
stands the works at Agden to be now precisely in the
same state as when they were inspected in March last
by Mr. Rawlinson, and in his report of the result of his
inspection of these works is in possession of the
directors, together with the reports of Messrs.
Rawlinson and Beardmore, on the bursting of the Brad-
field reservoir embankment, and a copy of the evidence
given at the inquest held at Sheffield, Sir George Grey
does not see what additional information eould b.
obtained by a farther investigation made at the instance
of the Government." In their report to the share-
holders, the engineers (Messrs. Simpson, Hawkealey,
Bateman, Fowler, and Harrison), enter at some length
into the circumstances attending the construction of the
, Bradfield reservoir, and concluded as follows :—"The
' filling of the reservoir commenced in June, i 863, on the
occasion of a heavy flood, and from that time, with some
intermissions, gradually increased in depth, and at the.
time of the accident, on the 11th March, 1864.
it had attained to • height which was withim
three inches of the top of the weir. During the
whole of this period no imperfection of any kind
had been perceived, the embankment and the
reservoir being absolutely water-tight; for although a
small spring of ochreous water issued from a shale
bed in the escarpment on the south side of the river
below the bank, yet this equally appeared whether the
reservoir was full or empty, and was, therefore, fed
from other sources. Moreover, this water still continues
to issue although the reservoir has been emptied of its
contents for many months. There was no fracture of
the pipes, nor any creep of water along the outside of
them. The embankment was composed of materials
which would not have slipped if the base on which it
rested had been immovable. We must, therefore,
look for nausea other than supposed imperfections in the
quality of the materials of workmanship for the failure
of the reservoir. The weather during the fortnight
previous to accident had been exceedingly wet, the
rain so swelling the rivers as to inundate all the leer
country in the East Riding of Yorkshire. It is in such
seasons that masses of earth, commonly owled
'landslips,' become saturated with water or lubri-
cated on their basis, and, although at other periods
comparatively or altogether stable, now begin to move.
After a full consideration we are unanimously of opinion
that the accident was occasioned by a landslip which
occurred in the ground immediately on the east aide of
the embankment, and which extended beneath a portion
of its ster slope, involving in its consequences the ruin
of that portion of the baok,and producing the catutrophe
which followed. We are, moreover, of opinion that all
the arrangements made by your engineers were such as
mirht have been reasonably expected to have proved
sufficient for the purposes for which they were intended,
and that if the ground beneath the batik had not moved
this work would have been as safe and as perfect as the
other five or six large reservoirs of the company, which
have been constructed in • similar manner, and which
have so long supplied the town of Sheffield and the
rivers Rivelin, Loxley, and Don w.th water."
AN OLD PuUR•HOHISED STAGECOACH WILL ERE LONG
be lees a novelty than premature Grey Hair. which is
fast disappearing under the effects of Herring's Magnetic
Brushes and Combs, which recent improvements have
rendered almost infallible, in restoring the color to Grey
Hair, and also in removing the Agony of Tie Dolorene
and Nervous Headache.
N.B.—Counterfeits are being made.

Offices, 32, Baaingball-street, Lond-on.
SANDRINGHAM HALL.—One of the chief improve-
ments, in • small way, at Sandringham Ball, has been
the adoption of RECRUITS' DIAMOND BLADE LEAD, for
polishing the stoves no doubt it bas added a lustre to
even the brilliant fireside of the Prince and Princess of
Wales.
IMPORTANT IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
PAINT.— A patent has just been taken for the manufao-
facture of a carbon paint, which promises to be of the
greatest general ut lily. Toe paint is produced in any
oolour, and is adapted for all out-door work, agricultural
imp'emente, copper shratng for ships, ships' bottoms.
iron roofing, railings, Ito.; and for which purpose
black, brown, and rod are almost indestructible, being'
solely carbonaceous bodies. This patent carbon paint,
unlike other cheap paints, is free from offensive smell.,
and it posnesses immense body, covering nearly four
times the extent of ordinary oil paint, and dries ins;
quarter of an hour after application. For ship-builders
it is invaluable, for it is not acted upon by sulphureted
\crimes°. For terms, dm, apply to Ouse, Smith, Ned
80, Fenchurch-street, London.

I hyarotoo•
Co., P'^ -

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