The Press.
London, England, 1858-01-09 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JANUARY 9, 1858.

in which it appears was mixed an amazing quantity '
of arsenic. The husband also partook of the pud-
ding, and was ill, but he has recovered. In his exa-
mination last Monday, Puttick stated that he kept
arsenic in the house, that his wife was aware of the
fact, but that she never touched the parcels, although
she had access to them. The medical evidence
proved clearly that the deceased bad died from ar-
senic, and in the absence of any evidence to prove
bow the arsenic came into the pudding the inquiry
was adjourned
THE INQUIRY into the supposed poisoning of Mrs.
Sagan. at Keighley, has resulted in the following ver•
diet :—" That Barbara Sagar died from the effects
of arsenic, but by whom administered there is no
evidence to show." The Leeds Mercury states that
it is worthy of note, in connection with the inquiry,
"that not one of ►he medicine bottles taken posses-
sion of by the police has been analysed, although
the deceased invariably took her medicine from her
husband's hands, and complained that the stuff
burned her."

A PAINFUL EXCITEMENT took place in the
neighbourhood of Upper Eaton-street, Belgrave-
square, on Monday last, in consequence of Colonel
Stewart, residing at No. 28 in the above street, attempt-
ing self-destruction by discharging the contents of a
pistol into his mouth. He was found alive, but
utterly unconscious. From the nature of the wound,
very little hope is entertained of his surviving. The
colonel has been in a low desponding state for some
time, and great anxiety has been felt by his family
and connections. He is an officer of great distinc-
tion, having served through the Peninsular and '
other campaigns.
THE CONVICT BEALE will be hanged on Tuesday
next. He has made no confession of his murder of
Charlotte Pugsley.
THE Two COLOURED GIRLS who recently repre-
sented themselves to Mr. Burcham, at Southwark,
as runaway slaves, and whose case excited so much
public commiseration, have at length confessed
their representation to have been a gross deceit.
A LAUGHABLE CASE occupied the attention of Mr.
Burcham at Southwark on Monday last. Captain
F. Patten, R.N., was summoned before him by a Mr.
F. Lambe, a merchant, for having pulled the said
Mr. Lambe's nose in a second-class carriage on the
North Kent line last Saturday evening. The circum-
stances of the case were simply these. Mr. Lambe
and his family party had shut themselves up in a
compartment of the carriage. There was room for
one, and Captain Patten, being in great haste, en-
tered the same compartment, against the protesta-
tions of Mr. Lambs that there was uo room. No
sooner was he seated than Mr. Lambe charged the
gallant officer with being " very rude." Capt. Patten
denied the charge, upon which Mr. Lambe retorted
that his denial was " false." Captain Patten in-
stantly pulled Mr. Lambe's nose till it bled. Mr.
Lambe, undoubtedly thinking discretion the better
part of valour, said no more, but summoned the
gallant officer to answer for the assault. Mr. Bur-
cham, having duly considered all points of the case,
decided that there were faults on both sides, and
inflicted a minimum fins of ss. on the gallant
officer.
CHRISTIAN SATTLER, the Bavarian charged with
shooting Thain, the detective, on board the Hamburg
steamer Caledonia on the 21st of November last, was
tried at the Old Bailey on Wednesday. The case
presented some points of interest. The prisoner
had robbed a Mr. Ballantine in Huntingdon of 2301.,
and had escaped to the Continent. Thain was sent
after him to Hamburg. The local authorities
arrested Settler on Thain's representations, and
taking their prisoner on board the Ca ledonia,
delivered him over to Thain, who handcuffed him,
locked him up in a cabin, and proceeded with him
to London. The prisoner complained that the hand-
-efie hurt him, but Thain declined removing thorn.
By some means or other the prisoner when left alone
the next day broke open his box in the cabin, took
out a pistol he had packed in the box, loaded it, and,
waiting for Thain, shot him the moment he entered
the cabin on the next occasion. The defence of the
prisoner was that he meant to shoot himself, that
Thain tried to take the pistol from bim, and that in
the struggle Thain was shot. But the evidence of
the passengers and of the deceased himself was clear
to the effect that the prisoner had deliberately shot
Thain, and that he bad acknowledged his intention
of shooting him, and moreover, when handcuffed in
London had threatened to shoot the officer as he had
shot Thain, declaring at the same time that he had
shot Thain "because he had handcuffed" him. Such
were the principal facts proved against the prisoner.
At, the trial two points were made on his behalf—one,
that the act of shooting Thain was not intentional,
but accidental ; secondly, that even if intentional it
was justifiable, supposing the arrest to have been, as
it was contended to have been, illegal. With regard
to the first suggestion, viz., that the act was not
premeditated but accidental, that was very properly
overruled by the court, on the ground that it had

35

absolutely no foundation in the evidence. The other
point created a little more difficulty. It has long
been taken to be the rule that resistance to an illegal

arrest, even if it involve fatal results to the party
putting the arrest in force, is not murder but man-
slaughter ; the limitation upon the rule, as Mr.
Bodkin very properly reminded the court, is this,
that the fatal act of resistance must be committed at
the moment of the attempted illegal arrest ; if it is
committed afterwards, with a view not of resisting
such arrest but of revenging it, the case is one of
murder and not of manslaughter. The mode in
which Mr. Baron Martin left this point to the jury
was in the highest degree favourable to the prisoner.
" If," said his lordship, " they believed that the act
Was committed by the prisoner out of a feeling of
revenge against the officer for taking him into cus-
tody, and, as he considered, breaking faith with hi in
by placing handcuffs upon him, when he had pro-
mised not to do so—then he was bound to tell them
the offence was murder. If, on the other hand, they
should be of opinion that the prisoner—who was no
doubt taken on board the vessel against his will—
had committed the act while smarting under the
impression that he had been wrongfully arrested, and
that the handcuffing was such as, under the circum-
stances, would induce a reasonable man to commit
an act of such a description (as shooting the officer)—
they would in that case be justified in finding lihn
guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter." The
jury took the former of these two views of the case,
found the prisoner guilty of " Wilful Murder," and
Mr. Baron Martin, in spite of Sattler's vehement
protestations against the verdict, sentenced him
"to be hanged."
Ma. J. E. Joinisox has been elected chairman,
and Mr. T. Tilson deputy-chairman, of the Surrey
Sessions, held at Newington.
LEGAL APPOINTMENTEL—ME. Sergeant Byles will
be the new judge, in the room of Mr. Justice Cress-
well, appointed to the Court of Divorce and Matri-
monial Causes. Mr. Sergeant Willa is appointed
the new judge of the S .reme Cnnrt in India. Mr.
Justice Cresswell take .ds seat zu, the new Probate
Court on Monday nes.. The sittings will be held at
Westminster.

Sax ant( Siiitarg fltelligetut.

THE LAMENTED DEATH OF SIR HENRY HAVELOCE
will create a vacancy in the list of general officers,
c.nd render a new appointment to the colonelcy of
the 3rd Buffs necessary in the room of General
Wodehouse. Thomas Wood, of the Grenadier
Guards, becomes a major-general ; Lieutenant.
Colonel James M'Queen, lately commanding a cavalry
depot, a colonel ; and Major Edmund Wodehouse, a
lieutenant-colonel iu the army. Colonel Eden, Com-
mandant at Chatham, is now the senior colonel. By
Colonel Wood's promotion a step will go without
purchase, causing the promotion of Colonel C. W.
Ridley to be regimental lieutenant-colonel ; Colonel
Lewis, to be major; Brevet Major Tipping, to be
captain and lieutenant-colonel ; and Lieut. Thynne,
I to be lieutenant and captain.
VICE-ADMIRAL FANSHAWE, C. 8., it is believed, will
succeed Admiral Lord Lyons in command of the Me-
diterranean station, and that the Royal Sovereign,l3l,
will relieve the Royal Albert, 121, as flag-ship. It is
stated that Vice-Admiral Lord Lyons is to be again
employed in diplomatic service.
ARRANGEMENTS are in progress for the transfer of
the officers forming the field-train department to the
other departments of the Royal Artillery service, in
consequence of the Ordnance Corps having been
placed under the direction of the authorities at the
Horse Guards, and the various departments being
under the supervision of the Secretary of State for
War.
ADMIRAL DOGNMAN died on Monday last at his
seat in Hampshire. The gallant admiral had seen
much service, and was one of the reserved flag-
officers in receipt of the good-service pension.
Admiral Dounman held the naval medal and two
clasps for the defeat of the Spanish fleet off Cape
St. Vincent, and for the expedition to Egypt in 1801.
By his death, Captain Sir Baldwin Walker, Bart.,
K.C.8., Surveyor of the Navy, obtains his flag.

AN UNFORTUNATE DEATH FROX POISON is reported
to have occurred at Moulmein. Mr. J. C Bond, an
assistant surgeon of the Madras Medical Establish-
ment, on the evening of the 28th of October, previous
to retiring to rest, took what be supposed to be two
blue pills, but which unhappily proved to be pills
containing a grain of strychnine each—prepared for
the destruction of the pariah dogs with which the
compounds of all the houses in the vicinity of his
residence were infested. The unfortunate gentleman,
who was very highly respected, expired in a few hours
from the effects of his fatal mistake. Mr. Bond was,
we believe, a native of Edinburgh.