The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1875-05-15 00:00:00

A REMARKABLE CASE

At the Central Criminal Court, in London, Thomas Payer,
verging on 70 years of age, has been indicted for shooting at
Thomas Payer, the younger, his son, with intent to murder
him. The circumstances were very remarkable, and the
trial excited much interest.
Mr. Moody, with whom was Mr. A. B. Kelly, conducted the
prosecution; Mr. Morton Daniel the defence.
Thomas Dayer, the prosecutor, whose head was
bandaged, deposed that he is a commercial traveller,
and lived at Spring-grove, Chiswick, with his father
and mother. They kept no servant. lOn the morning
of the Ist of April his father and he came down to
breakfast together and took some cocoa. Witness
then went into the garden to look at some plants, and
‘ then into an outhouse to wash his hands, while so
engaged he felt a blow from behind, after hearing the
' report of a pistol. He put his hand behind his head
and found it was covered with blood. Turning round
e saw his father, with a pistol in his hand, and with
. his back to the door of the outhouse, which opened in-
wards. The door was open. His father said "that is
..b.
me." He was then pointing the pistol towards wit-
ness, who thereupon seized the weapon. Upon that
they bad a " tussle " crutside, and in the struggle wit-
ness pushed him against a fence. The fence gave way
beneath their weight and his father dropped the pistol.
Witness then locked the door and gave an alarm,
leaving the pistol on a box in the yard. On returning
he did not see his father. He went through the fence 1
I again, and in doing so received a cut from the chopper
I produced, and which had usually been kept in the out-
ho
use. n receiving the blow he seized the chopper in
his father's hand and wrested it from him. This was
succeeded by a struggle, in which they both fell to-
gether, witness being undermost. While they lay on
the ground Mr. Flack, a neighbour, came and
held his father down. Upon that witness went
for assistance, and Dr. Weatherhead came, as
did also two constables. Witness was taken to the
hospital, where he remained until the 26th of April.
There had not previously been any quarrel between
him and his father, and he knew of no motive which
could have induced him to attack him. His father
has an annuity of £25. He believed he bad a larger
!sum at one time, but that had ceased. Witness paid
the rent of the house. His father had very often
applied to him for
,money, the last occasion being.
about two tnonths,ago, and witness had aupplied him
with it. About a month before the Ist. of April his
father asked him if he had any money. The reply
was he had not. His father said he had none and was ,
in debt. Witness thereupon said, the more shame I
for him. The conversation then dropped, and the
matter of money was never mentioned again. His
father had had the pistol many years; it had three
barrels.
Being cross.examined, witness said his father wast
69 years of age, and they had lived together about tent
years, and usually on very good terms indeed. Witness i
had an uncle who was out of his mind, and was at one
time, in consequence, put under restraint. Witness
could not suggest any possible motive for the way in
which his father had acted. The uncle was witnese's 1
mother's brother.
Mr. James Flack, a neighbour of the prisoner and
of his son, said he heard a knocking at hie door about
m o'clock ot the morning of the Ist of April. He
went out and found the fence separating the two
gardens broken down, and the prosecutor and his
father lying near the door of the outhoute. The
prisoner held a chopper in his right hand,iand the son
was holding the father's wrist tightly to prevent him '
using it. The on told witness his father bad shot him.
The son was then holding the pistol with one hand,
straight away from his father, and his father with the
other. Witness took the pistol from the son and held
the prisoner down until assistance arrived. Both the
prisoner and the son were bleeding; the atm from the
forehead, which the latter said was done in the'
scuffle.. Witness-repeatedly Asked the prisoner what
made him 'do such a thing; he replied he might as
well be without brains as without money. Witness
held the prisoner down about half an hour before a
constable arrived.
Being cross-examined, witness said the surrounding
circumstances all indicated that there had been a great
struggle. He had known both father and son about
nine years. The prisoner was a very good neighbour.
He had a paralytic stroke a few years ago, and had
certainly not been the same man since. He looked
wild at times. On the morning in question he looked
very wild. He made no attempt to escape; in the
struggle he asked his son not to hold,him too tight and
that be should not hurt him. ' '
By Mr. Moody.—Beyond the appearance of wild-
ness, there was nothing particular in his,manner.
Police-constable Denning, who had' been called to
the house of the prisoner, said he found the prosecutor
sitting on a chair in a back kitchen, with his head
wounded. He went out and found OA prisoner in a
back yard with the previous witness', ...He found the
pistol produced on the mantel-piece. It smelt very-
strong of powder and was unloaded. He found the
chopper on a bench in the outhouse, having been told
by the prosecutor where it was. He took the wounded
man to the hospital. ,
William Goodgame, a policeman, who had appre-
hended the prisoner, said he examined the pistol and
found nothing in it, upon which the prisoner said he
thought one bullet would be found in it. Witness
told him there were three bullets in his son's head, to
which the prisoner replied, !` Oh •' all right then."
Being cross-examined, witness said on the way to the .
station the prisoner was col and colleted, and only
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