The Press.
London, England, 1857-11-14 00:00:00

THE PRESS, NOVEMBER 14,1857.

place to see the accident. The principal engineer on the
works, Mr. Dixon, stood in the centre, near the stage the
witness referred to, and which was placed half-way between
the two drums, in order that any signals from it might
be clearly seen from both. The operations which I
directed to take place, and which led to the accident, were
as follows :—1 directed a certain length of each chain to
be eased out from each drum, and the breaks to be put
gently on. A light strain was then put on the two presses,
and a small strain on the tackle at the stern. As soon as
the pressure came, the ship moved more freely than I had
anticipated, and a pressure on the breaks was barely suf-
ficient. That on the foremost drum was just sufficient to
check the ship, and but for the accident at the other end
we should prcbably have gone on slowly ; but the aftermost
drum had rather the heaviest end of the ship. The
pressure on the breaks was not sufficient, and a sudden
strain on the chains moved the big drum a little beyond
the slack given out, and by the jerk made the handles
revolve rapidly. That caused four men, who had hold of
the handles at the time, to be struck. About ten men
belonged to these handles, of whom the deceased was not
one, and the bulk of them had very properly withdrawn
from the handles, as directed. The instant it occurred
the breaks were put on tighter, and the operation of the
launch was altogether suspended for the time.
The Coroner : And you ascribe the accident to the mo-
tion of the ship?
Mr. Brunel : The ship moved more freely than I ex-
pected, and the breaks were not so hard on as at the time
when the launch was again attempted. In the meantime,
the ship was prevented from sliding down by means
of chains. There are now two preventive chains
on her. I believe that the deceased had been put where
he was by the men out of charity, and had really no busi-
ness there. He would not have been engaged, for he was
an old man. _

By a juror : I believe the other three men who were
injured had a right to be there, but they were told to stand
aside. If I had been there I should have had no hesita-
tion in laying hold of the handles, and, therefore, I can-
not say the men were to blame. At the time they had
nothing to do.
The Coroner: Do you believe that it was purely acci-
dental ?

Mr. Brunel: I do; but I may say that I blame myself,
as I did not anticipate it would have gone down so rapidly.
The ship went down five feet at one and and three at the
other.

The jury after some further evidence returned a
verdict of "Accidental death."

in height, and apparently about forty years of age,
was respectably dressed in the usual clothes worn oy
the labourers of the district, but wore no smockfrock.
He seemed to regard the whole proceedings with
callous indifference. He was not handcuffed. All
the exertions of the police to discover the hat of the
policeman and also the smockfrock in which the
prisoner was dressed on the night of the murder
have been hitherto unavailing. Some clothes seized
by the police at Carpenter's house, which the prisoner
stated were his, were sent to Professor Taylor for
examination, and the evidence of that gentleman will
be found below. The additional evidence given
on this occasion was that of Inspector Hawkes and of
I'rofessor Taylor. Inspector Hawkes, having stated
the circumstances connected with the discovery of
the body of the deceased in the pond on Monday,
the 2nd of November, said that about twenty yards
from the pond witness observed the marks of a
dreadful struggle ; the field was partly in grass and
partly in turnips :

The spot at which the scuffle took place was in grass,
and it was much beaten down, and the ground was saturated
with blood. Some of it was in a coagulated state. There
appeared to have been betwE.en one and two quarts of
blood in that spot. The bloody appearance was so great
that it seemed as if a sheep or some other animal had been
slaughtered. There was also an appearance as if a heavy
body had been dragged along the grass to the edge of the
pond; the grass appeared to have been beaten down in
one direction. He saw no footmarks. The grass was too
high to leave any imprints of a man's feet on the ground.
He directed the body to be removed to an inn in the
village (the Chequers), and left some officers to watch the
spot. He then pursued his investigation of the field, and
about ninetyfive yards from where he discovered the blood
and in a portion of the field covered with wheat stubble he
came upon another spot where there were marks of a
struggle, and on examining the ground he found a quantity
of wheat strewn about. The soil was disturbed there a
good deal, and there were marks of feet on the grcund,
but not distinct. He saw no • traces of blond there. The
wheat appeared to have been split. Between the spot
where the wheat was split and where they found the blood,
nearer to the latter, a pair of handcuffs were picked up by
one of the police constables. There were also marks of
persons having passed between the two spots.
Mr. PRIOR : Was there any blood, or traces of blood,
upon the hands of the deceased ?
The witness replied that there were no such marks.
The prisoner's clothes had been taken possession
of, and submitted to a chemical and microscopical
examination by Professor Taylor, who was then
called, and delivered important evidence, and which,
as exhibiting the minute nature of the examination,
and the vast powers of detection possessed by science,
is extremely interesting. A shirt, a wicker basket,
a bottle of liquid, a smozkfrock, a spade, a pair of
corduroy trousers, a pair of boots, a pair of gaiters,
and a knife, were examined. Professor Taylor thus
recorded his conclusions as resulting from his
analysis :

That there were stains of blood inside the handle of the
knife, on the button, and on the corduroy trousers, on the
outside of the gaiters, on the shirt, and on the wickerwork
of the inside of the basket; that the stains found on the
inside of the handle of the knife, on thu button of the
corduroy trousers, and on the wickerwork of the basket,
had the appearance of coagulated blood. This appear-
ance would be assumed by blood issuing from the body of
a living person, or of one recently dead—that is, before
the blood had naturally set or coagulated. That some of
the small bloodstains on the shirt have been apparently
produced by blood reaching it from the outside. That
the bloodstains above mentioned present the characters of
human blood. At the same time there are no certain
criteria by which, in the dry state, human can be distin-
guished from animal blood. No certain opinion can be
given of the date at which the stains were produced on
the handle of the knife and gaiters. The stains found on
the button and on the wickerwork of the basket have the
appearance and properties of recent or fresh blood. Soap
in large quantities and blue vitriol have been applied to the
left wristband of the shirt—the soap subsequently to the
washing of the shirt, and the production of the stains from
blue vitriol. The lotion in the bottle would not account
for the appearance and condition of the wristband.
Several witnesses were then examined, whose evi-
dence before the coroner was taken and reported.
After the examination of these witnesses the pri-
soner was remanded till Tuesday next, and in the
meantime the police will make a further search for
the clothes of the prisoner, there being strong rea-
sons for supposing that a portion at least of them
have been buried, and that those taken by the police
on the Monday following the murder were either
some old clothes belonging to the prisoner, or some
that he had obtained from another labourer. On
this hypothesis the garden of the prisoner and one or
two others have been dug up. It is generally be-
lieved that the prisoner went out the night after the
murder for the purpose of concealing the clothes,
and also to dispose of the body of the murdered man.

NFORMATION of an embezzlement of 15,0001., by
one Wright, in the employ of Mr. Purton Chasse-
reau, of 15, Finsbury-place, has been received at the
metropolitan police .offices.
No TRACE of the robbers and murderers of Mr.
Butcher, of Colue Engaine, Essex, hes yet been

1107

COLONEL SHIRLEY, late of the Turkish Contingent,
was condemned in damages of 1381. 7s. Od., and costs
besides, in an action brought against him by one Cross,
who had attended the colonel to Turk?), in December,
1855, as kennel huntsman in charge of a pack of
hounds. On the peace in 1856 the Turkish Contin-
gent was broken up, and Colonel Shirley in May offered
Cross a passage home. Cross said he preferred
remaining out. Colonel Shirley thereupon paid him
off. On the sth of July the hounds were sold to a
Mr. Whittle. Cross shortly afterwards caught fever;
and finally, after much trouble and suffering, reached
home iu May, 1857. He now brought an action for
wages and expenses between May '56 and May '57.
It appeared in evidence that Colonel Shirley had not
given Cross notice of dismissal, and the jury there-
fore held Cross entitled to his claim for damages.

A. VERDICT OF " MANSLAUGHTER " in the Case of
Mr. Ashman, who was killed by the recent collision
on the South Wales Railway, has been returned
against Mr. White, the station-master at Stormy,
and against the clerk and porter at the Port Talbot
station. The trial will, in all probability, take place
at the winter assize.

MRS. CHERRY, who, it will be remembered, was
some time since forcibly carried off at Reading by
her husband, the Rev. H. Cherry, and whose house
she had left on account of his ill treatment, has this
week obtained protraction from the Court of Queen's
Bench and an attachment against her husband.

BAKER, the unhappy man who about twelve days
previously murdered his sweetheart, Helen Hatfield,
at Beverley, and then cut his own throat, died last
week, after having endured great pain. He bad
determined not to take anything to eat, and this reso-
lution he kept, and he was literally starved to
death. On Thursday afternoon an inquest was held
at Beverley on his body, when the jury returned a
verdict of "Insanity."
A SURGEON named Andrew Halliday Carmichael
recently practising at Mexborough, near Doncaster,
has undergone several examinations before the West
Riding magistrat,s at the latter town on the charge
of procuring a' ,rtion on the person of a young
woman who hex been in service as housekeeper.
The proseciitiix appeared before the bench for the
first time on Saturday, but was in a very debilitated
condition, and unable to stand. The proceedings
were conducted strictly in private, on the ground that
the publication of the proceedings might tend to
defeat the ends of justice ; but, after an examination
of upwards of five how s, the prisoner was fully com-
mitted for trial. He was removed to Wakefield prison
in the evening in a very dejected condition, he having
suffered much mental anguish since his incarcera-
tion at Doncaster. Bail was refused.
THE GREAT SWYNFEN WILL CASE is IO be tried over
again. The Master of the Rolls has decided against
tie compromise entered into at the late trial, and has
directed a new trial to take place, unless, indeed,
some arrangement, which his honour strongly re-
commend, should be come to between the contend-
ing parties in the suit. Mrs. Swynfen remains in
possession of the estates, giving security to account
for the rents.

MR. JUSTICE COLERIDGE, in addressing the grand
. . .

jury at the Court of Queen's Bench on Tuesday last,
pointed out with some force the broad distinction to
be drawn in cases brought before the court under
Lord Campbell's Obscene Publications Act—between
publications the spirit of which was impure and the
intention immoral, and those in which isolated pas-
sages, taken per se, were highly objectionable, but
which, considered relatively rith the subject dis-
cussed, or treated either in art or literature, were
accepted for purposes of instruction.

SIR BENJAMIN HALL AND HIS
IMPROVEMENTS.

THE following letter we extract from the Times of
Wednesday, for the purpose of calling attention to a
subject which interests the inhabitants of this
metropolis:—

Sir,—On passing through Kensington-gardens this
morning on my way to town, I was astonished and not a
little indignant to see a number of labourers busily at
work felling one of those beautiful trees which adorn the
walk running to and parallel with the Bayswater-road. I
had not proceeded tar before I overtook a truck laden
with the trunk of another forest tree, so that I greatly fear
mischief is intended in this part of the gardens. Many
years ago, when Sir John Cam Hobbouse was Chief Com-
missioner of Woods and Forests, the destruction of these
trees was determined upon; but the outcry then raised,
both in Parliament and out of it, put a stop, after much
damage had been done, to the barbarous design. The
reason assigned was that the trees were dead, which was
untrue ; and if the same excuse be made now it is equally
untrue. The unfortunate tree which has so recently come
to an untimely end was in vigorous health yesterday, and
it will take at least 100 years to grow such another.
If you can do anything to help na in this patter,
*ill much oblige, sir, your obedient servant,
London, Nov, 10, Ank.noof.

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