The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-11-06 00:00:00

VERDICT OF MANSLAUGHTER.

At the Bristol Assizes, Thomas Amos, 23, a bargeman, was
charged with the wilful murder of Albert Edward Miles, at
Bath, on the 24th of August last.
Mr. W. Blake Odgers prosecuted; Mr. Rawlinson defended
the prisoner at the request of the learned judge.—We take
the following report of the case from The Times of Wed-
nesday:—

The case for the prosecution was as follows :—lt
appears that at Widcombe, near Bath, there is a
series of locks by which barges descend from the
Kennet and Avon Canal to the river. On August 24,
at noon, the boy Miles fell into the lowest lock of the
series, being the one nearest the river. The lower gates
of this lock being then open, the water within it was
at its lowest—viz., about 7ft., and was quite still.
The lock when full holds about 16ft. of water, and has
steep sides, affording no hold. The deceased could
not swim, and was evidently drowning. The prisoner
is a bargeman, and at the time in question his barge
was working through the upper locks down towards
the river, and when the boy was in the waterhe was
standing at the side of the lowest lock ready to fill it,
that his barge might descend into it in the ordinary
way. A lad named Weston, aged 15, who witnessed
the accident from a.short distance, but who could not
swim, shoutedto the prisoner, "Why don't you jump
in after the boy?" The prisoner answered, "Let
him get out the best way he can." Weston replied,
"You ought to be ashamed of yourself," and with
that the prisoner turned away laughing, and
walked towards the lower end of the lock. Two
boys, William Vowles, aged 13, and Francis
Hillier, aged 17, then gallantly jumped in after
Miles, and succeeded in supporting him with his head
above water. They began to swim with him towards
the lower end of the lock, where the gates into the
river were open, through which they could have got
out into the river, and so on to the bank. The pri-
soner, however, closed one of the gates himself, and
told two little boys to shut the other. which they did.
Hillier then shouted to the prisoner for a pole, but he
made no answer. Having a winch-winder in his hand,
he proceeded to the upper end of the lock, and was
fixing the handle to the winch, which would lift the
hatch and would let the water from above into the
lock, when a Mrs. Cox, who was standing close by,
shouted to him, "Good God, don't let the water in, or
you will drown the lot of them ! " The prisoker,
nevertheless, proceeded to lift the hatch, Ind the:water
came in with a rush, and washed the boy Miles from
the boys who were supporting him, and he sank, while
the others were saved with considerable difficulty,
Vowles having sank twice before Weston and others
could bring poles and get them out.

In the course of the evidenoe, the witness Weston
stated that when the prisoner filled the lock, the
water was only a foot above the ledge of the lock, so
that the boys if they had got to the edge could have
easily got out. There was some variance between
the witnesses as to whether the deceased boy's head
was under the water at the time the prisoner let the
water in, the defence wishing to show that the boy
was in all probability drowned before the prisoner
interfered.

Mr. Rawlinson, for the defence, after stating that
the jury might find the prisoner guilty of murder, or
of manslaughter, or of no offence whatever, urged
upon them the entire absence of all motive on the part
of the prisoner, and his entire ignorance of the de-
ceased before the circumstaices occurred which led to
his death. The prisoner, in doinc, what he did, did
nothing unlawful, and performed' no act whatever
which would not have been proper if the boys had
not been in the lock. Before the jury could find the
prisoner guilty of either murder or manslaughter,
they must be satisfied beyond all doubt that it was
the act of the prisoner in letting in the water which
caused the death of the deceased. The real question
for them to decide was whether the deceased was not
already dead when the water rushed into the lock.
He then reviewed the evidence, pointing out that a
good deal of it went to show that life was extinct
before the prisoner opened the hatch, or that, at all
events, it left the matter so doubtful that the prisoner
was entitled to an acquittal.
His Lordship then summed up the case, and, having
laid down the distinction between murder and man-
slaughter with considerable minuteness, reviewed the
whole of the evidence with great care, and in the
result the jury found the prisoner Guilty of man-
slaughter. _ _

Fe-ntence was deferred.
A sum of money was collected ammtg the members
of the Bar present (his Lordship and the Sheriff of
Bristol also contributing) on behalf of the two boys,
Vowles and Hillier, who had behaved so gallantly in
trying to save the life of the boy Miles. At the con-
clusion of the case,

His Lordship called the two boys up, and, having
spoken in the highest terms of their conduct, informed
them that this money would be handed over to the
solicitor for the prosecution for their benefit, and that
he intended to write to the Royal Humane Society,
from whom he hoped they would receive a certificate
of honour.