The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1870-08-16 00:00:00

CHILD NORDEN.

IT.li:akih Steadman, 33, was indicted for nutting end
wouaoiog !towns Steaciwair, in LJOLIOII, with uitout to
do her gileyoul boaily harm.
Tim prig ,uer cot lb.) throat of her own child, an
infant of three years old, tuAiug an inci.iou some 21
inches in Irnatb, and althon‘b not aboolutoly daogorona,
was. IICI:11AIS
.euou4b. .

The ju.y (mind prisoner guilty. bid there bemire some
doubt as to her Aste of trued at the time of the com-
mission of the offence. hi. Lorchlip deferred sentence.

11011DRRING • Will.

A man named Career vu indicted for the murder of
hie wt. l'riauner is a abopkeeper at Croy don. Hosed his
wife .4 ten quer idled, rtld U. ti-oo to threaten her. Olu toe
morning of 2tith ot May. he was heard abusing his wife,
and in the al trrnoun, when be came hum«, he quarrelled
with her again. A grittier., Who happoutri to count to
the shop door about hail pot two, hard the prisoner
use eel language to his wire,and another witness heard
him say in the room at the back of the shop," l'l3 hones
yoe.r brains out." "I' lie wituese atoot 10-king, and saw
...he prisoner fall, as it were, from one part of the r.eou
towards another, and then saw him raise his baud three
or four times, sail strikiug something violently. This
witness, however, was lon far off to see eau:titer or
thit there was anything in the luau's Land, and, not
appithending anything of a fat.sl ctiaracter,went away.
Auother witness I Ripening to look in saw the deceased
winuen lyiug on die doir .n I the prisonrr lying artiiell
Afoot qu atrr of no hour afterwards the
• etlkd to • Wi.llll•l3—a neighbour—to go for a
dotter, as he thought his wife was dead. This woman
• it. Ve..r woman lying on her back on the floor, but
oo.ereee an the tu.,ineut not, ing to indmate what had
occionst.iiO went t .Irtch • doctor, and on her relict ii
tottoil tint the pri on. r had owned to, dress of his wife:
and tho there am a wound in hr aide, the boot from
w. h(4, impesrsil Imo g iitstru the inner garments
ser arts*. 'the ante sit ma' thot the pour women
!as d!ol.. and said to the prisoner '• You wretch
He soil ' an siei :net. My wile wave We a dirty
plow ot to tol I took the l'ices and
sosui:ehbod.at .
ein;:.:nthe ono iii I o Hie act of cutting
and lurk. :IGO ribbed at toe
And
pa.hed mc _ _
e
mica Wi the Clair, eel at tom, with
the knife in my hang, 44, '
p.u.sget uu it I &la sue-
periled the fork di I not iii.trr y
s body t 4 *w. blue went
and sat oil • Choir about tirtiontinte,andthelt di*
Sell, and I picket her up." •
wu straight. and it eticered tbr Ulirioct."'Tnlt's'iwiuhueuwdouwnaad
the cause of sleetti, ar.,i it
th, surgeon
said,.
Wile death at least iii le,, wow.. le *tomer to
KW. h' lir raid it rirt th the wou'Wed
might have heels eau.ed by tin woman ru-hin
the knife. SA the prisoner reor,s„„r„.4. . upon
lam the nature
of the wound tallied with Ida account of it .rh, feting prisooer gouty, recommending him
to nierey on the ground of preemie ion.
Tne learned Judge asked whist provocation theg
meant.
Tie F ,reman sail thoe thought 'hat nottMg the dirty
piste helm, the p.-noner bet provoked him.
The pitsonsr being called up 's to say what hi geoid
urge against lientrliCe, said he was innocent; that the
evidences of the chief witness (the RIM who had sworn
he saw Ids band rai od ill in blows) OM false, and that
he should die happily, as he Iciew he was innocent.
The learned Judge then addressed the prienner.tmlioll
—You hare been convicted by the jury, the Droner
jucges of the fact. It WAY it 4:101140n of fact for them,
met they have found yen guilty. Their recommends.
lieu, and their refire.entation sal to the ground on which
they rade it. Will be seat to tie proper authorities;
hut what I have to do, and I have no alternative. is to
ea-• num yo• raCtitno of death. The learned .ledge
Weed wobefice of &sib.

ATTIIMPIID MUDD MBES 1.1111311 L
A labourer named Smollpiere was initiated for
feknlottily cutting au i wounding • woman named
Hewley, at Walton, with intent to murder her, or to do
her some grievous heady hat in.
The prisoner suddenly seized the woman, threw her
down, knelt upon her, and began tocut her throat with
• knife. Happily • ne,ghbour came in and saved her.
He was apparently, she paid, quit!. cool and collected,
and he himself ..ton afterwards SRO he had nearly cut
• woman's eol off OS nem as might be." No motive
was "g4eittd tur the mu, and the .1. fio cc was that the
prisone. • is. so addicted to drinking thlit he was .übject
tot Miriam tremens, siot that • lit had come on upon
d,d h ,t ap,.ear that he was under the
intinence of recent drinking at the time; but the
au•seon who gave evi.leuee on his b half stated that •
oti subj o &
ect -tZoltan (mons was more liable to
.1%; when ~,prie,al .4 drink. When asked in cross-
eismication, ouwev. r, whether be would recommend
drink or not under such circumstances, be said certainly
The prisoner, however, he said, was labouring
u▪
nder an attack of deli, ium tremens on the previous
Sunday, but the witnes, only told him to go to church,
• iewonwended no rein,ily.
jiju learned Judge, in summing up the case to the
jury, said drunkenness was no defence, though insanity
am, supposing there was auch an absents%) of reason that
the prisoner did not know the nature of the act he did.
Although, however, drunkenness was no txcuse, it might
fortis an element in the question of intention. But
proud Jack a povon must he taken to know, and to
mean, what ho did, and unless the prisoner was so
, drunk as not to know what he did, there could hardly
he ad• fence on that ground. Here the only ground
for t:m &fermi set up was that the man had a fit of
delirium tremens on the pievioui Sunday, but the
surgeon seemed to have peculiar ideas on tne subject,
and advised no rtinedy. Assuming the prisoner knew
the nature of the aut he did, tire intent was to he judged
of frous the nature of tne wound, and a prsa,n who
tried to cut the throat of another could hardly have hsd
any other intention than to kill or di moue grievous
injury. It was, however, open to the jury, if they
doubted, to convict the prisoner of unlawfudy wLund-
ing, without the felonious intent.
t his the jar; dui, awl the ornerier was sentenced to
nine months' imprisonment, with hard labour.