The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1883-02-17 00:00:00

FIVE THOUSAND CHILDREN AT A
PANTOMIME.
_ _ _

In London, on Monday afternoon, some 5,000
children, chiefly drawn from Board schools, attended
a special performance of the pantomime of The Yellow
Dwarf, given for their benefit at Her Majesty's
Theatre.

Over 3,000 nholars came from the Southwark Board
Schools, a large contingent attended from Soho, and
the remainder of the juvenile audience consisted of
charity children and of poor girls from the street.
The bulk of the children, having no distinctive or
uniform dress, did not present the same appearance of
tidiness as the charity children who recently filled Drury-
lane Theatre, but their enormous numbers formed an
imposing sight. As the day was wet, many fem
ill-protected from the weather, must have suffered
from the discomfort -of damp clothing, but their
enjoyment of the pantomime was unbouiaded, espe-
cially as they were liberally regaled with buns between
the acts.
It was stated that the principal members of the com-
pany and the band volunteered their services for the
occasion, and that the Pandora Company gave the use
of the theatre and also paid the salaries of those per-
formers who could not afford to give their services
gratuitously.

Leo XIII. has just given an audience, in the
Vatican, to 1,600 children, from five years of age and
upwards, of the elementary schools established and
Eupported by him. The children, who Bang hymns in
chorus, and recited pieces .f poetry, were accompanied
by their teachers ; and at the conclusion of the
audience His Holiness gave the Pontifical Almoner
2,000 f, to be distributed among the poorer scholars.

The WEST MALLING POISONING CASE.
On Monday, at West Mailing, before the Right
Hon. G. J. Shaw Lefevre, M.P., the Hon. R. P.
Nevill, and other magistrates, the Rev. John Henry
Timins, vicar of the parish, was charged with having
caused the death of Sarah Ann Wright, a girl aged 17
years, the daughter of a labourer, at West Mailing, on
the 14th of December last, by administering to her oil
Qf almonds.

Mr. J. Brennan prosecuted for the county solicitor;
and Mr. Treeve Edgcome, barrister, defended.—We
take following report of the proceedings from The
Tima of Tuesday :

It will be remembered that the coroner's investiga-
tion into the circumstanus of this case resulted, on
the 24th of January last, in a verdict of manslaughter
against the Rev. Mr. Timing, on whose behalf the
defence on that occasion had been that death was due
to apoplexy and not to prussic acid contained in the
oil. Mr. Treeve Edgcome now abandoned that theory
entirely. He would not, he said, attempt to question
the allegation that the deceased died from the effects
of prussic acid contained in the oil, but he intended
solely to rely on the case being one of homicidal mis-
adventure, brought about by the inadvertence of Mr.
Timins in administering a poisonous oil.

Mr. Brennan, the prosecuting solicitor, said that
that announcement greatly simplified the issues before
the Court. The question now arose as to whether the
accused could be considered to be a person possessing
competent medical skill, and, therefore, entitled to
administer a dangerous remedy. The law laid it down
that if a person of competent medical skill accidentally
administered a remedy'which resulted fatally he could
not be held to be accountable, but on the other hand
if a person administered a dangerous remedy, and
was not competent, while medical assistance was
available, and death ensued, then he was guilty
of manslaughter. It would doubtless be urged that
the fact that in his youth Mr. Timing had studied
medicine, although he had never qualified, would en-
title him to be regarded as competent, but he feared
he must urge that he had shown an utter absence of
medical skill in the case. Still, if the Court felt that
they could regard him as "a person possessed of cam-
petent medical skill," then they must determine whether
the remedy which proved fatal was administered in
such circumstances as amounted to gross carelessness,
or whether there had not been criminal inattention
on his part, for if such was the case then the accused
was guilty of manslaughter. Mr. Brennan then com-
mented on the painful nature of the case, pointing out
that Mr. Timing, who had been vicar of the parish
for 40 years, was highly respected for his benevolent
exertions in the cause of poor suffering humanity,
They all regretted that, with the best intentions un-
doubtedly, Mr. Timins should have acted in such a
manner as to render himself liable to the charge, and
if the magistrates, consistently with their duty, could
dismiss the case, personally, he should view that con-
clusion with great satisfaction.
Evidence was then called.

Mrs. Wright, who was greatly affected, stated the
circumstances in which the oil was given, and, in reply
to questions, expressed her belief that Mr. Timins took
some water and not oil after the deceased had had it
administered to her.

By Mr. Edgcome : She was not matisfied with the
treatment of Mr. Timins, and would only allow her
daughter to take two doses of the medicine he sent her
from Mr. Stedman's. She let her take the oil because
she thought it might do her good.
Mary Ann Wright's evidence was next taken. She
said her sister's face turned black in less than ten
minutes after she had taken the oil, while Nurse
Ralph, on the other hand, swore that the face pre-
sented no unusual appearance. She thought the girl
appeared ill, but not so dangerously as that she
would die very shortly. She went for Dr. Pope at
Mr. Timin'e request, and he only consented to come
on the pressure of witness.
- _

Dr. Pounds having stated .that, if proper medical
assistance had been procured after the girl had taken
the oil, her life might have been ssivel,
Mr. Edgcome cross•examined him with a view to
showing that Mr. Timins might have been mistaken
in his opinion as to what was the matter with the
girl. He elicited that if the girl took as much of
the oil of almonds as was alleged, the symptoms
must have appeared instantaneously, and that the
symptoms of prussic acid poisoning and epilepsy were
very similar.
Dr. Pope, after repeating the evidence he gave at
the inquest, said he passed through the room after the
girl had taken the oil, and noticed nothing abnormal
in the girl's condition,
Mr. Edgcome was cross•examining the witness as to
the time when symptoms of prussic acid poisoning
would be apparent, when
Mr. Brennan intimated that he did not rely on any
allegation or negligence in not sending for a doctor.
The negligence he alleged was in administering the
oil. _ _

Mr. Edgcome pointed out that the coroner bad
strongly complained of Mr. Timin's action jii not
sending for a doctor.
The magistrates, before calling on Mr. Edgcome for
the defence, retired to consider the course to be pur-
sued, and after half an hour's aeli.beration, dbeiti.d tLo
case must go for trial. Mr. Timms sought to address
the Bench, but was refused permission.
Mr. Edgcome then made a few remarks, expressing
regret that after the case for the prosecution had been
closed, he was not allowed to address the Court, espe-
cially as in the course of the proceedings one or two of
the points originally relied on had been abandoned.
He thought he should have been given an opportunity
of foreshadowing his line of defence, and of calling
his witnesses.

The Bench ruled that the depositions must first be
read over and signed, and then tke defendant might
call any witnesses he chose.

This- having ben done, Mr. Edgcome called Dr.
Joseph Syer Bristowe, the senior physician of St.
Thomas's Hospital, London, and examiner in
medicine to the Royal College of Surgeons, who de-
posed that between 1845 and 1849 he was a fellow
student of Mr. Timins at St. Thomas's Hospital. The
accused worked hard in all departments of the hospital
school, like any other hard-working student, and he
believed he acquired sufficient medical knowledge to
have passed all the examinations. Indeed, witnessalways
thought he took his diploma. Daring the last year or two
witness and Mr. Timins had rene wed their acquaintance,
and on the occasional visits of the accused to London
he had allowed him to visit the patients in the
hospital under his charge. He appeared, BO far as
could be judged, to have a good acquaintance with
medicine, and a great deal of that knowledge could
only have been acquired by constant reading since
the days of his studentship. Witness could say
nothing about his practice, but in his walks round the
wards he took great interest in the cases.

This was the whole of the evidence, and the defend-
ant was formally committed to take his trial at the
Kent Assizes, bail being accepted to the same amount
as before.