The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-05-07 00:00:00

CU.RIOUS CHARGE

~..~-~

OF MANSLAUGHTER

madeAn eexatrme. Orer
dclinneasrayaC,,h.!:rgEeaosftbMciurannSel7bgeufhotio:eri was.
ev, a
Ihrby: chairman, agtusi Timm
schoolmaster, who was accused of havhig killed
one of his pupils, named Reginald
The Rev. J. H. Cancellof, brother of the
deceased boy, last 'saw hird alive in February.
He died on the 25th of April,- and the witness
then carne to Eastbourne, in consequence of hear-
ing what took place at the inquest. I asked Mr.
Hopley why a medical man had not been sent for
directly he discovered that the boy Was dead. He
said that I must make allowance for his agitation
at the time. He had recently been so shocked at
findinr, him dead that he didn't wish anybody
else .tt'o go suddenly into the room. His first
impulse was'to lock the door, and then go for a
medical man. The witness, after describing the
interview with Mr. Hopley, proceeded as folfoirs :
—I then said,, " Mr. Hopley, you told my father
that you left my brother's room about ten ; I find
froni the report of the inquest that you there
stated that you left at half-past eleven ; and how
was it that Screams were heard from my brother's
bedroom when you told my father he was pun-
ished down stairs?" He said, "I wished to spare
your father's feelings, and so did not wish to go
into painful details." Mr. Hopley said to me
that he carried the .boy up to his. bedroom;
because he would not go when told ; and he
punished him in his bedroom. He told me that
my brother took no notice of the punishment till
after the last flogging, when he burst into a flood
of tears; and then, ho said, my brother put his
hand on his breast, and asked to be allowed to
say his lessons. Mr: Hopley told me, in answer
to my question;
.that he did not faint nor swoon.
I asked hitt If he drew blood when he flogged
him, and whether there were any marks of blood.
The prisoner—You say you asked me how it
was' hat screams were heard at such and such an
hour ? Witness—l did. •
Prisoner—Not a word. of the sort was ever
said. You also say that you put some questions
to me about faintiag and swooning ? Witness—
I did.
Prisoner--I say nothing of the sort was said.
It is a question whose word is to be taken. Sir
Charles Locock first spoke to me about swooning,
and then I expressed my surprise, and asked one
of the servants who sleeps in the next room to
the deceased ; but it was useless to ask any of
the other servants, because they sleep at the
bottom of the house,
Alice Deacon, housemaid to prisoner, said—l
remember the death of deceased. On Saturday,
2ist April, at half-past nine in the evening, Mr.
Hopley told me to send deceased to him in the
dining-room. I went to the mess-room and told
him, and that was the last time I saw him alive.
He was then in his usual health. About a quarter
to ten I heard Mr. Hopley and Master Cancellor
in the room.. Mr. Hopley called him to the pupil
room, and after he had been there about five
minutes I heard him beat him. I waited up till
nearly eleven to take 'Master Cancellor's candle.
He did not go to bed, and so I went to my bed-
room, which is at the bottom of the house.
Master Cancellor's bedroom was at the top of the
house, which is four stories high. -He cried when
he Was beating him, and sometimes ran about the
room. It continued off and on from a quarter to
ten to nearly half-past. eleven, so far as I heard.
Master Canceilor went to his bedroom about half-
past eleven or twenty minutes to twelve. It
seemed by the noise they made going up stairs
that Mr. Hopley: was either carrying or pushing
him up. • -
Mr. S .;adding----Have you seen what he beats
the lads with ? Witness—l have seen him take
up a rope.
The Chairman—That is no evidence in this case.
Witness continued—On Sunday morning I saw
blood on the carpet in the pupil room. It seemed
as if it had been powLred and rubbed. After I
had done that room I went up to Mr. Hopley's
dressing room, and I saw in a chair -a pair of
trousers and drawers. The left leg of the
drairers, and also the left leg of the trousers, had
been washed out and were wet. One sock was
also wet, and the 'other sock had marks of-blood
on it. They were Master Cancellor's. In Mrs.
Hopley's bedroom I saw that two dusters had
been washed out ; they were lying on the floor.
There was a sheet in the dressing-room with
marks of blood on it. I went up. into the room
next to Master Cancellor's room, and heard Mr.
and Mrs. Hopley in his room. At a quarter past
eight Mr: Hopley rang his dressing-room bell,
and called me' in. He told me he had been to
Master Cancellor's bedroom, and had found him
dead ; and that he and Mrs. Hopley had made
him comfortdble, and put on him a clean night
shirt.- I asked Mr. Hopley if I could help him ;
he said I might help Mrs. Hopley after break-
fast. ',Mi. 'Hopley. said lie would send for his
friends and Dr. Roberts.
Ellen-Fowler, nursemaid, and Fanny Holland,
cook, were also examined.
Dr. Robert Willis, of Barnes, Surrey, who made
a post-mortem examination of the body, said that
the lad died of fainting, or syncope, from the
immediate effects of this personal violence, the
severe punishment which he had received.
- After a lengthy hearing of upwards of seven
houra, the prisoner
_was committed to take his
trial at the assizes, bail being"acceptod, himself
in £l,OOO, and two sureties in £5OO each.
The court was crowded throughout the inquiry,
and .the case created great excitement in the
town.

COURT FOR DIVORCE AND MATRIMONIAL

CAUSES'.

*ELLS V. WELLS AND RTISHBY..

This was a petition on thepaitoi the husband,
Frederick Wells, praying for a dissolution of his
co-respondent,
b e s
i3yn
nrdenansto,n aof
and
his wife'sntn
recoveradu adultery er y
damageswh i with
marriage
against the latter, who denied the adultery.
It appeared from the evidence that the peti-
tioner was a railway porter, and resided at the
village of New Lake, Lincolnshire, and that the
co-respondent, Rushby, was a farmer in the same
neighbourhood. The marriage took place in
1854, and the alleged adultery was said to have
commenced in 1858 with the co-respondent,
Rushby, who availed himself of the absence of
the husband from home, attending to his' duties
at the railway, to seduce the wife of the peti-
tioner, and induced her to leave her husband,
and they were afterwards traced living at various
places, and cohabiting together as man and wife.
Mr. Overend addressed the jury on behalf of
the co-respondent, not denying the adultery, but
confining himself to a reduction of damages.
The learned'Sudge summed up.
CALLWELL v. CALLWELL AND KENNEDY.
The petitioner, Mr. William Callwell, was a
gentleman of property in Kildare. He married
the respondent on the 16th of March, 1850, ai:d
had had three daughters by her. In 1858, while
he was in London on business, she eloped with
the co-respondent, who was a friend of the
family. On the 9th of Stine she sent the follow-
ing letter to her husband, at the Conservative
Club, in London. It was written at Dover,
before she crossed over to the continent with her
paramour :—" I am wine, William, for ever. I
never dared to tell , you all my deceit and
treachery. Curse me, for you may well do so,
for lam a curse to all I belong to. Oh ! I feel
well assured that you will be better off without
such a miserable wretch.--Farewell." Mr. Henry
Callwell, the brother of the petitioner, • subse-
quently went to her at Munich and brought her
home with him. She was confined at Norwood
of another child on the 19th of November ; but
she afterwards renewed her intercourse with the
co-respondent.
The jury found for the petitioner, and assessed
the damages in the full amount claimed--03,000.
The decree was suspended, in order to allow an
application to be made with respect to the settle-
ments and the disposition of the sum awarded as
,mages.

THE PRUSSIAN ARMY.--A Berlin letter says :—" The
Prince Regent has approved of the works proposed to be
executed in the course of the present year for the com-
pletion of military ports at Jasmund, in the Isle of
Rugen, and at Jande. A great deal of money was spent
in these projects under the preceding Cabinet without
any great result having been attained. The report of
General Stavenhagen on the military part of the bills
relative to the Prussian army is terminated, and is now
being printed. It
,pronounces against the demands of
the Government, aria proposes to reduce the duration of
the service to two years for the infantry, and three for
cavalry, and to allow non-commissioned officers to attain
the grade of officer. Curiosity is felt as to whether the
Government will decide on incurring the risk of having
the measure discussed and voted on by the chamber, or
will prefer to take for a year only the sums required, in
conformal with the proposition of M. Kuhner, so as to
gain time. Petitions against the bill continue to reach
the chamber ; one of them is from 500 of the principal
inhabitants of Dusseldorf.
THE SUNDAY SCHOOL UNION.—The 57th anniversary
meeting of the Sunday School Union was held in
Exeter Hall, which was crowded. In the unavoidable
absence of the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, the chair was
occupied by Mr. Alderman Abbis. There was a large
muster of the lay and clerical supporters of the union on
the platform. Dr. Archer, having offered a prayer, the
chairman congratulated the union on having arrived. at
the 57th year of its existence. It seemed to him to grow
stronger as it grew (Add. He was glad to see that it
did not circumscribe its usefulness, and that its opera-
tions embraced the world. Mr. Watson read the report,
from which ft appeared that the union was issuing
eight periodicals, the yearly circulation of which was
1,340,352 copies. The trade operations of the union
had increased, the sales at the depository having
amounted to £17,041. 3s. 6d., being £2,277 in advance
of
ftlieprevious year. The profits from these sales had
been £1,092. 17s.
fund
had duringb ee n thez l n
t
7d. The Expenditure of the benevo-
,ylela6r. h7asd.
3been
leavingLl,lB a balance 5. l7s . 4d.
o The
incomef
£69. 10s. ld. to be carried to the'account in the ensuing
year. A number of addresses were delivered,
to t the report
benevo-
lent
was adopted, and resolutions favourable 'll '
e aseocut-
, don were passed.