The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1867-04-16 00:00:00

tab, ant !trim.

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A MAN KILLID ftr HIS Wine.—On Thursday James
Cliff,', • man 62 year' of age, died at Henley from
injories indicted upon him by his wife.. Cliffs we.
etuldoled as a blaal,ealith at one of Earl Granville's
collieries, and on the 50th ult, his wife went to the
smithy and lashed him for some money. He refused to
give her any, and this led to • wrangle, and ultimately
the woman struck him • violent blow with an iron
imple.nent, whioh laid his head open. He was taken
to the North Staffordshire Infirmary, bat erysipelas
noon set in, and lie gradually stink under the con-
eequences of the injury. The woman is in custody.
11.1.1ciotia Paosaconos.—At the Oxford Assizes
bookmaker. named Reynold, broeght an settee against
Yeast% Knight and May, boot manufeeturers, I.f
Tewkesbury. The plaintiff bed been grneral manner
to the defendants, and on the 28th of January of last
year he was eslled into the defendants' front office,
where he found two policemen. A warrant was read to
him charging him with embezzlement, and ad was item..
diattly taken into custody without having any oppor-
tunity of explaining the transactions with which be was
accessed. He was subsequently also charged with
stealing a pair of sheets from the defendants' establish.
meet. On the charge of larency be was triad at
Tewke.abary Sessions. The ease of embezzlement was
bent by the recorder of that borough to be tried at the
Gloneester Arises, owing to the feeling displeyed in
court on the trial of the Ant ahem. Both trials
✓esulted in the plshitiWs acquittal. The eireametanoes
under which the sharps were made against the
plaintiff were detailed to his lordship and the jury, and
It was alleged that the prosecution of the plaintiff wee
ly intended by the d andante as • masceavre to bids
the true TOL3OOa for their insolvent oondition. The
jury found for the plaintiff—danisges, £2BO.

MURDER A? COLCHISTII.—On Friday morning Mr.
J. A. Church, borough coroner, concluded an inqunr7 at
Colchester upon the body of a woman found in the neer
Cothe. The body had ayperently been in the water live
or six weeks, and, although little notice had been
taken of the circumstance in the interval, its diaeovery
receded to the recolleetion ot the inhabitants of the
neighbourhood that on the evening of Saturday,
February 23, aereams and cries of diskette, apparently
from a woman, were beard in the direction of a garden
adjoining the river. The deceased, whose name was
Mary Ann Pettit!, 26 years of age, was the wife of •
railway labourer, who had left her In the Colchester
Union Workhouse while he went in search of epsploy-
went She was in company with a man named Henry
Page Deeper. on the Fnday writhing referred to, at
6 o'clock, and near the apot on the banks of the river
from which the cries were beard. The deceased and
Draper were in and out the publiehouse several times,
and in the intervals were walking up and down the
Ipewish•road ; and what was heard of their conversation
ooaveyed the impression that she was unwilling to go in
the direction Draper wished. The last tints they left
the poblichoum together was about half Test 7 o'clock,
and about 90 minutes to 8 the cries of distress was
heard in the direction from the river side. Draper was
sworn, and admitted that he was in company with the
woman during the afternoon and evening up to 7 o'clock,
or thereabouts ; that after they left the Rittman he
made a proposal to her, which she would not allow, and
he then left tier. He did not kill her. The jury gave •
verdict of "Wilful Murch-r against If en 7 Page Draper."
The accused vehemently protested his innateness. Lis
was immediately taken ii.to custody, and the Coroner
committed him for trial at the July Anises at
Chelmeford.

MOILDNIt AND SVICIDI —On Monday the bodies of •
woman and child (the child clasped in the woman's arms)
were discovered in Om Regent's Canal, at Paddington.
On Wednesday Dr. Labeller held an inquiry. The
woman was found to be Miriam Hughes, married, and
aged 24; the child wee her daughter Elisabeth, aged
eight months. Polieasergeant Hoskin produced • letter
found on the body of the woman. It was as follows : I
"Whoever picks me up, I am Mrs. Hughes, 3, Salem.
road. Moseow.road, and my deer baby. Go to Mr.
Hughes, boutmaker, 3, Salem road, Mmeow•road. He
has been • bad man tome; but mind, God forgive
him." William Hughes, the husband ',hived to, having
been swore, said he had not seen lila wife for • fortnight.
Thvy disagreed so much that tboy came to an arrange.
nivot to @operate. He wanted to take case of the child,
and offered to put it out tc nurse at ss. a week, but bis
wife would not let him. He banded • letter which be
bad received from his wife into murk the latter part of
which was sa follows :—"So you shall never me me or
my dear baby dive no mote, unless you meet me before
you get this. I hope, if you have any one el .e, you will
never say and do to lier as you have dons to me. You
say I never was • wife to you. lii have not I hope the
nest you have will. So I must say good bye for ever and
I ever. From your wife and Mild, and E. Hughes."
The medical man engaged in the case deposed that death
resulted from drowning in both cases. The injuries
to the bodies were caused after death. The jury found
—"That Miriam Hughes committed suicide whilst of
unsound mind, and that Elisabeth was drowned by her
mother."

A SMISATION Pi • JUST Box,—Os Thursday after-
noon, at the Sheriff's Court, before Yr. Commissioner
Kerr, a juryman objected to go into the box where two
other jurors had already taken their seats, on the
pound that one of them wee a convicted felon. His
Honour: You are cooking a serious charge against •
person who has been returned by the Sheriff as fit and
proper to take the °Mae of juryman. Of what has he
been imprinted? Juryman : Of pretty latency. The
person against whom the objection was made here said.
"This is all don. out of spite. We are neiebbours. end
he owes me • grudge." His Honour : Have you ever
been convicted? Juryman objected to: IdW get into
trouble. His Honour: I know of no law under which
you can claim exemption upon the ground stated. We
apply to the sheriffs, who compile the list, to furnish us
with the names of certain oiliness. At and proper
persons, to try the muses. The sheriffs have returned
to us a certain list, and amongst the names I find that
of the person to whom objection has been raised. Ido
not consider that you have any right to claim exemption
nor to raise the objection in consequence of the con-
viction of the person alluded to. If the learned
I counsel engaged in the cause shoes to object 10th. canon
in question because of the conviction, it would be quite
another matter. Mr. Collins. one of the counsel in the
cause: Perhaps it would not be expedient to trya muse
with a jury divided by personal feeling, and, therefore,
It would be better for the juryman objected to to retire.
His Honour: I cannot order him to retire unless he is
challenged in the usual way. It was explained to his
Honour that there was • full jury without the person
objected to, and his services, as well as those of the
juryman who bad complained, were dispensed with.