The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-01-25 00:00:00

SATURDAY, JANUARY 25, 1879.

spot from the hong).
Cross-examined: The prisoner was perfectly col-
lected when he made the statement. It would take
a man twenty minutes to run from the place where
Meredith was killed to where Mary Terry lived at
Common Side.
Mary Terry, of Common Side, stated that she bad
kept company with the prisoner for about six months
He promised to marry her on the day before Christ-
mas. He had several times told her between the
months of November and December that he had £3O
saved up, and that he was going to give her £25 of
it. On the night of December sth he told her he
would give her the money on the next day: and
wished her good-bye, as he Was going to a sob in
Shropshire. On the following evening he came to
her house at about half-past four o'clock, and laying
ilia head upon the table, said, " Oh, Lord, my head
will drive me mad." He had previously told her
that his head was bad. The prisoner put something
in a purse, which she took upstairs, and when she
came down he had been apprehended by the police.
She gave up the purse to the police-officer.
Cross-exanined : The prisoner often complained
of his head. She used to notice that he suffered from
a discharge from the ear, and at one time when he
was out with her he threatened to commit suicide.
Re-examined: It was three months ago when he
made that threat.
Police-constable Keenan proved apprehending the
prisoner in the house of the last witness. Prisoner
opene I the door and as soon as he saw who it was
he sprang to his coat which was in the corner, but
witness seized him. In the coat he found a pistol
(produced), which was loaded with slugs and p ,wder,
and there was a percussion cap upon the nipple
Mr. Burton, Chief Superintendent of Police.
Dudley, said he received the prisoner into his
custody, and gave several conversations which the
prisoner had with him. The prisoner said, "If you
take me to the field I will find you the money." He
took him and pointed to the spot where Meredith
was shot, saying, "That's where I done it." In a
field near Common Side prisoner stooped at a. hole
and took out a bag containing £179 in !gold, tit) in
note's, and some loose silver, the total being £2OO ss.
9d. On the roadpack to the station he said, "Mr.
Burton, you have made a mistake calling it a slug:
they were bullets. I flattened theist between two
bricks to make them fit tighter. I didn't mean
murder, but I meant having the money."
Cross-examined; The prisoner was very cheerful
all the time he was in his custody. The pistol found
in the prisoner's possession was a very common one.
The prisoner always talked coherently.
F. S. Goulder, house surgeon, at the Guest Hospital,
Dudley, stated that the deceased died in consequence
of a pistol shot having entered the brain and caused
an abscess thereon. He had heard that the deceased
had a discharge from the cars that might arise from
an abscess of the brain, but more probably the
abscess was due to other causes.
This closed the case for , the prosecution, and Mr,
Streeten intimated that lie would not address the jury.
Mr. Darling, in ' cOmmencing his address to the
jury for the defence, asked their indulgence, remark-
ing that he did not stand their retained for the pri-
soner by his friends, but was there simply through
the kindness of the learned Judge. He would not
deny for a moment that the prisoner fired the pistol
at Alfred Meredith,ibut the question which he would
ask them to decide was whether the prisoner was mad
or not when he fired the unhappy shot. The jury
must take all the circumstances of the case into their
most serious consideration, and consider that in a
case where there was no provocation that the man
must either be a cool, calculating murderer, or else
such a man as could not be responsible for his acts.
What wasthe reason that caused the prisoner to take
down the blind at Mrs. Humphries's house? It was
to look for his si-ter ; and he urged that had the pri-
soner been in the house on the look-out for the de-
ceased he would have stood up and looked over the
blind, and noelrhave asked the landlady's permission
t) remove the blind. He asked the jury to recollect
and take into their most serious consideration the fact
that the prisoner had attempted to commit suicide,
and was only restr.tined by his sweetheart, Mary
Terry. The jury must also look at the fact that the
£25 he had promised to his sweetheart was given
openly, and that there was no attempt at concealment
The prisoner, he submitted, never intended to kill
Meredith, and what he did was done in a moment of
temporary aberration, when he was not responsible
for his actions. This was one of those cases to which
the jury ought to give their careful consideration,
and if they did that he believed they would come to
the conclusion that the prisoner had been guilty
unconsciously of a crime, and that they would bring
in a verdict that he committed the murder when in an
uusound state of mind If they did then his lord-
ship would pass the sentence which was invariably
passed when such a verdict was returned.
His Lordship, who was very indistinctly heard,
then summed up. He dwelt at some length upon
the defence which had been set up by the learned
advocate, and said the various acts d the prisoner,
showed that there was reason in what he did. His
following Meredith to the mound where the Nelson
Engine House could not be seen showed reason; his
loading the pistol a second time in order to defend
himself also showed reason; and his • calling at his
sweetheart's house, and his subsequent conversation
with Superintendent Burton proved that he was able to
do all the acts of a reasonable man. The evidence
showed tbat the prisoner had acted with premedita-
tion; that he had acted with cunningness and design,
and it would be a most dangerous thing if it was to
ba understood that in this country great crimes yr. re
to pass unpunished because they were committed in a
moment of aberration. The law in all cases presumed
every man to be sane and to possees a sufficient
degree of reason to be responsible for his crimes until
it was proved to the satisfaction of the jury that at
the time of committing the act the party was labour-
ing under such defect of reason from a diseased mind
as not to know the nature and quality of the act he
was committing. In a case of this description the jury
must look at all the circumstances. It was ingeni-
ously suggested by the learned counsel for the defence
that the prisoner discharged the pistol when suffering
from insanity, but there was an absence of proof that
he was so suffering. His lordship proceeded to review
the evidence, and having done so, said he did not feel
he ought to leave to the jury the question of the :pri-
soner's sanity or insanity, but would ask them to con-
eider the real question, Which was "did he fire that
pistol ?" If he did, then he was guilty of murder.
The jury then proceeded to consider their verdict,
and after a few minutes' deliberation the Foreman in
timated that they wished to retire. The jury left the
Court, but returned in course of half an hour, the
Foreman stating that they found the prisoner "Guilty"
The prisoner was asked if he had anything to sty
why sentence of death should not be passed upon him
but he made no reply.
His Lord-hip, having assumed the black eap, said :
Prisoner at the bar—You have been convicted of the
crime of wil: ul murder on evidence which must have
satisfied any reasonable being. The jury have given
full consideration to your case, and yeti have had the
benefit of counsel, who has set up an ingenious defett..as
on your behalf. In the long coutse of my experience
I scarcely ever heard of a more cool and deliberate
murder. It is no part of my duty or desira to aggra-
vate your feelings, The sentence of the Conrt—for
the wilful murder of witich you have been found
guilty—is that you be taken from the place where you
now are to the prison from whence you came, .and
then on the day appointed taken to the place of exe-
cution to be hung by the neck until you are dead, and
that your body be buried within the precincts of the
gaol where you were last confined, and may the Lord
have mercy on your soul.
Throughout the trial the prisoner appeared to be
totally unconcerned as to what was taking place, and
scarcely seemed to realise the nature of the crime with
which he was charged. During the greater :portion
of the day he was accommodated with-a seat and he
frequently gazed around the Court as if in search of
acquaintances. When the jury left the Court to con-
sider their verdict the prisoner stepped lightly from
the dock, and recognising someone ix the body of the
I Court smiled and nodded to him. ITe heard the
k:Judge pass sentence of death with the utmost com-
posure and left the dock unaided. Throughout the
day the Court was crowded, and in the morning wien
the Shire Hall opened considerably over a hundred
persons were unable to gain admission.
The High Sheriff of Worcestershire ar. F.
Elkington) has fixed Monday, the 10th of February,
for the execution of Enoch Whiston.
A petition is about to be prepared at Worcester for
presentation to the Home Secretary asking, him to
advise her Majesty to remit the sentence of death
passed on Enoch Whiston, on Tuesday, at the Wor-
cestershire Assizes. The ground of the petition is
that the condemned man was not at the time of the
murder responsible for his actions, and that he has
always been regarded by those Who knew him best as
frequently suffering from mental derangement.
Whiston is being attended daily by the chsplain of the
gaol, the Rev. C. G. Salt, but does not yet seem fully
aware of the extremely painful position in which hq ía
placed.
_

yard in/hat state. The burns rece:ved caused the
child's death the same day. A verdict in accordance
with the above facts was returned.