The Express.
London, England, 1862-08-22 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EI7iENDFCit AUGUST 1862.

them ; everything, except one chair, was removed booths •
place.
Mr. Bury, attorney for Mr. Carnet, the toner of 16s
house in which the prisoners lived, proved that the primmer
had been told that all the rent which was due would be
forgiven if be world give up the key of the premises, but
he refused.
This closed the ease for the proeecution.
Mr. Pope, in his address to the jury on behalf of the male
prisoner, pointed out the deep responsibility that la upon
them when they were charged to inquire into all the cir-
cumstances attending this ease, and to say wbethea their
verdict ought to consign a fellow creature to the scaffold as
being guilty of wilful murder. The simple ease he had to
lay before them was whether the prisoner was conscious at
the time he committed the act with which he was charged
in the indictment of the quality and nature of the act he
wee doing. In order that he might put the question fairly
and fully, as he believed it would be left by the learned
judge for their determination, he would use the words of •
learned judge in laying down the law in a case of similar
character—was the prisoner at the time this occurrence took
place upon the Main of Mr. Meller's roam labouring under
such a defect of mama as not to know the nature or quality
of the act he was then doing: or, if he did know, that be
was not 3001010 U that he woo doing what was wrong? He
(the learned counsel) was aware that the defence of insanity
was a dangerous one ; and that. except upon very strong
grounds, there was a natural feeling that such a defence
should prevail. There was a repugnance on the part of all
juries to listen to such a defence unless they were driven to
that conclusion from the mature of the cam and the conduct
of the prisoner ; yet there was an awful responsibility,
which filled him with awe if they took away the life of a
man whose sanity remained in doubt. Mr. Pope contended
that it was not naseassay in order to sustain the plea of in-
sanity that a man should be in the condition of a raving
maniac ; and quoted from several works, including Dr. Wil-
liams, a high authority on mouomania and insanity, that
the course of insanity might be entirely unobserved until
some act which consummated it brought the defect of mind
into prominence. He urged that the character and dream,
stances of the act itself were evidence of the unsoundness
of Taylor's mind, and showed that be was possessed with
one all absorbing conviction, impelling him forward in his
proceedings. Ile dwelt upon the great and unnecessary
violence used by the prisoner, the calmness with which he
acted during the tragedy, the absence of any attempt to effect
his escape, though opportunity wss afforded, and the
want of any effort to conceal his proceedings, together with
all the other attendant circumstance, as generally leading
to the belief that he was not conscious of the quality of the
acts which he was committing. While the learned oouoeel
was referring to the melancholy fate of the children and
the desolation of the house, the male prisoner, who had
been standing in the dock, soddenly fell backwards to the
ground in a fainting fit, and some minutes elapsed before
the proceedings could be resumed.
Mr. Overend, Q.C., on behalf of the female primmer,
explained that he had nothing to do with the state of mind
of the male prisoner when he committed the act. He did
it, and what they had now to consider was whether the
woman participated in the act. In vain be looked through
the whole one for a single expression of anger used by the
woman or of violent feeling towards Mr. Moller. If she
went to the place with a common intent with her
husband, and if she took part in the act, she was
responsible for her conduct ; but the learned counsel
strougly urged that she had not gone to the place with
a guilty knowledge, but, on the contrary, that the evidence
tended to show that she had no knowledge of what were her
husband's intentions. There was no indication of malice in
her conduct; and she had taken, at least, no active part in
the commission of the crime. The learned mussel contended
that the statement of young Steller, that she presented •
pistol at him, arose from an error of perception in the con-
fusion of the moment ; she, unaware of her husband's in-
tentions, was astonished at the struggle which arose hr
tween him and Atelier, and naturally held out her hands in
amazement at the proceedings ; it was this act, Mr. Ovemed
urged, which young Moller had misoonceived to be the
proceeding he described, and was more probable than the
act he had stated it was. In conclusion the loathed counsel
made an earnest and eloquent appeal to the jury to my that
his client had gone to the place without knowledge of her
husband's ietentions, and that she had not been • Oartici-
pater in his acts.
The Judge, in summing up. explained that the jury were
asked to say that the male prisoner was insane. He, how-
ever, showed no conduct that was otherwise than the sot of
• sane man, except, it was contended on his behalf, the one
on which he now stood charged. There was no word he had
spoken which indicated that he was insane—there was no
proof that in the ordinary affairs of life he did not conduct
himself as sane men did ; and therefore it was admitted that
he was sane on all other occasions except when he did the
act for which he was tried. With regard to the other psi.
goner, if the women was not cognisant of her husband's
intention, and took no part in the crime, she would not be
guilty of the crime he committed. If the was there,
intending to take part in the act, aiding and 'misting him—
present with • common object, although her hand struck no
blow, the would be equally guilty of the crime. His lord-
ship then Went carefully through the whole of the evidence,
and, in reading it over, pointed out its bearing upon the
conduct of the prisoners with reference to their guilt or
innocence.

The jury retired to consider their verdict, and during
their short abeenoe the utmost excitement prevailed in
court. After a brief consultation the jury returned and
announced that they found the woman Not Guilty, and the
man Guilty, of wilful murder.
The learned judge then Resumed the block cap, and in
sentencing the man to death, said—" Prisoner at the bar,
the jury have found you guilty of this most barbarous
murder. Acting under a sense of supposed injury you have
wreaked your vengeance upon a man who was only the inno-
cent instrument, and not in any way the cause, of your
trouble. You must have been aware that when you took
that man's life you did so at the forfeit of your own. I have
no desire to enlarge upon the enormity and the wickedness
of such au act. You stand there an example to those who
see you of the vehemence of had missions nurtured and
fostered till they have impelled you to this most bloody
deed. May your sentence be a warning to other. Let me
=treat you to apply your remaining boors to make your
peace with Heaven, for assuredly you bare much to do."
The judge then in the usual terms sentenced the prisoner
to be hanged.
Taylor, who appeared to be mentally tu
posituin was then removed from the dock.

of his