The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1876-07-15 00:00:00

" A SHOCKING CASE.

At the Durham Assizes, John Williams, 37, pitman, was
barged with the wilful murder of John Wales, his brother-
n-law, at Wilton Gilbert, on the 23rd of June last.

Mr. John Edge and Mr. Granger were the counsel for the
Crown; Mr. Greenhow, by request of the Judge, defended the
prisoner.

- This was a most shocking case. The prisoner lived
with his wife and family in the same house with his
mother-in-law and his brother-in-law, Joseph Wales.
in a pit village called Edmondsley. He had returned
from his work, and while asleep on the bed one of
his eons brought in about £6, the united wages of the
family, and laid it on the bed beside him. He awoke,
had his tea, and then, about nine o'clock, took up one
of the sovereigns cif the bed and went to a public-
house about a mile away. He had a few pints there,
when his wife came in quest of him. He said, "What's
setting you here ?'' She gave him a " ding " on the
breast, and replied, "Thou knows well enough." He
answered with a blow on her face, and she fell against
the landlady, who told him not to quarrel, and put him
out. He went home, took down his gun, and, having
loaded it with loose blasting powder from a jug,
rammed it down, and left the ramrod sticking four or
five inches out of the barrel. While he was ramming
the powder down he said, "I'll make her jump ;" and
in answer to his little girl, who asked him what he WAR
going to do with it, he replied, "I am going to shoot
your mother." His mother-in-law remonstrated with
h;m, but he left the house with the gun and returned
to the publichouse where he had left his wife.
While he was standing outside using threatening lan-
guage, a friend came up and said, "John, just let
me talk to you a few minutes; the passion is getting
the upner hold of you," and tried to pacify him, but
he replied angrily, "Stand back, Geordie, or I'll shoot
you just as soon as any other man." Ultimately he
returned home about ten o'cleck and sat down opposite
the door with the gun in his hand arid the ramrod
still protruding from the barrel, and expressed his
intention of shooting the first person who came in.
His mother-in-law said he would be shooting once too
often, but he replied he did not care. Alarmed at
his conduct, although knowing there was to be a wed-
ding on the following day, and thinking he had very
likely got the gun merely to give the bridal party a salute
on the morrow, she did not believe he intended carry.
ing the intentions he had expressed into effect. She
sent for the police, and went herself to warn the pri-
soner's wife and her sons Joseph and the deceased man
John against entering the house. Joseph, however, and
John went to the door and found the prisoner had
baited it and reftised them admittance. Joseph said,
"Jack open the door' hinny; here's the police coming,"
to which he replied, "No Joe. I will not open the
door." Thereupon the door was pushed open, and the
brothers Joseph and John entered, and the former, walk-
ing towards him, said, "Stop a moment ; I want to talk
to you." The prisoner stepped back, with the gun
in his hand, and, said, "Stand back, or I'll shoot
you," pointing the gun towards them. The deceased
man, John, however, followed him up and attempted
to snatch the gun from him. As he did so the prisoner
seems to have raised the gun, put it up to his shoulder,
and shot the deceased man dawn, at such a short dis-
tance that his clothes were set on fire by the flame
from the gun. The unfortunate man died two days
afterwards, and upon a post-mortem exanaination it
was discovered that a portion of the ramrod had
entered his right arm and the ferrule had passed
through the lungs and lodged near the spine.
The defence was that that the prisoner was under
the influence of liquor at the time; that, so far from
intending to shoot any person, he had merely got the
gun for the purpose of having what be called a "crack
or two" on the occasion of the wedding of the land-
lady's daughter on the morrow, and the fact that he
had told the landlady this before he went for the gun
was relied upon in support of this view of the case;
that although he had uttered the threats spoken to by
the witnesses, he did not really intend to carry them
into effect, and that the discharge of the gun was
accidental and the result of the deceased attempting
to snatch it from him.

The jury found the prisoner Guilty of murder, and
sentence of death was passed upon him in the usual
form.