The Express.
London, England, 1852-07-28 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS WEDNESDAY

Croarezmnined—He did sot think that a fell from the
bed to the f1,.0r would hare caused the injury to which he
referred. Ile had hsen frequently called in to attend cases
of children newly born falling in this manner, but he
never saw any such scrilus in jury caused as appeared in
this ease. In one instance, within his own knowledge,
a child fell a distance of four fet t on the stone floor without
receiving any apparent injury. This child grew up under
his observation and • ppeared to suffer any 'inconve-
nience from the fall._ . .

By Mr. ltebton—This was certainly an extraordinary cir-
cumstance, and he bore it in his mind on that account.
The learned counsel for the defence then made a most
feeling and f•reible appeal to the jury on behalf of the pri-
m., lle said that !Ales of this description were the
must distressing that the court, the jury, or the advocate
could be concerned in, and although he felt perfectly assured
that the jury would do their duty conuientioualj, yet at the
same time he was equally certain that they would not COD-
Viet a mother of the dreadful and horrible crime of wilfully
destroying her own offspring, unl. is the evidence was en-
tirely conclusive of her guilt. Ille admitted that the cit.-
cumstances of aeucsy under which the gnomes' took the
lodging at Mrs. Brown's, and her concealment of the fact
that she was in the family way at the time, were suspicious
circumstances, and that if the child had been born
'lead, the jury would have been justified in returning
a verdict convicting her o! concealing the birth of
the infant • but inasmuch as the infant was clearly
proved to Wave been bora alive, he said he was bound
to tell them that they could not legally convict the
prisoner of that offence, but were compelled to find
her guilty of the crime of wilful murder, or
acquit her altogether. The !canted counsel urged that the
evidence was not sufficiently cogent to justify then: in
finding the prisoner guilty of murder, and he dwelt with
considerable force upon one of the points mentioned in the
evidence of Mr. Sanders, to show that the prisoner had
done all in her power at the time to save the life of the
child, and concluded by earnestly entreating the jury to
pause before, under such circumstances, they returned a
verdict the inevitable effect of which would be to consign
the unfortunate woman at the bar to the •eat Told.

Mr. Justice Maule then summed up, and the jury, after
• short deliberation, returned a verdict of Not Guilty.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.--STAFFoRD, JULY 26.
Bataan Ma. Jtencs Waaatits.
SINGULAR CHARGE OP ARRON.

John Wilk,nson tiziiail) surrendered to take his trial
on an indictment, charging him with feloniously setting fire
to a certain dwelling- oust and office, at the pariah of
Westbromwich, on the 12th of April, the property of
Richard Raines, with intent to injure and defraud him.
Mr. Whitmore, with Mr. Kettle, conducted the prosecu-
tion. The prisoner was defended by Mr. Iluddleston.
The case was opened at some length by Mr. Whitmore,
and it appeared the 'intoner, a man of highly respectable
connexions, had been engaged for fifteen years as
the confidential clerk of Messn. Haines and Spittle,
coal masters, of Westbromwich; in fact, so implicit was
their confidence in the integrity of the prisoner
that during his connexion with them he had never been re-
quested to render a complete balance sheet of his accounts.
In February last, however, the younger partner, Mr.
Spittle, died, and as he, in connexion with the prisoner,
had had the management of the hocks, Mr. Haines, the
surviving partner, requested the prisoner to draw out a
statement of the accounts of the firm, with a view to their
final sentiment. The prisoner, who also collected the ac•
counts, was to get his statement complete before his neat
journey in April, when it was to be examined by a disin-
terested party. Piismier lived in a house at one of the
collieries, called the Wiley Colliery, st Westhromwich, to
which house the office was attached. Early on the morning
of the 12th of April, the prisoner got up for the
pur:•ose of lighting a fire in the office, intending to draw up
the statement of account. Instead, however, of sitting up
then, he retired once more to bed, and was aroused about
four o'clock by the servant with the cry of Fire." On
ooming down stain several portions of the furniture were
burnt, and in the upper office, which was separated from
the house by a brick wall nine feet high, the ledger and
cash-book were nearly burnt to ashes. The tire was extin-
guished, the circumstances were communicated to Mr.
Haines, and, in consequence of the almost entire destruc-
tion of the books, the statement of account could not be
rendered. On the part of the prosecution it was sought to
be shown that the prisoner had burnt the ledger fur the
porno/a of avoiding the necessity of drawing a balance-
sheet, and had set the house and office on fire in different
places to lull suspicion.
To prove this Mr. Smith, a surveyor, was called, who
produced plans and a model of the house and office, in
which were marks of the different burning', there being
at several places distances many feet in length between one
burn and another in the course the flames had keen repre-
sented to have taken. It was also represented that in
passing from the house to the office the flames had passed
throuith an aperture over a wall, nine feet high, to the
stairs on the other side, where the marks of burns were
again visible for several steps from the bottom upwards,
from which spot it must have ascended into the upper office
to a table on which the ledger and cash box were lying.
For the purpose of !assigning a motive on the part of the
prisoner for the perpetration of the crime,
Mr. James, an accountant at Birmingham, was called,
who proved that he had found in the remains of the burnt
ledger an error in a Mr. Oilbert'a account of 400 L, the sum
in the debit being 443/. lls. 7d.; whilst in the totals of
&his due to the firm, brought forward quarterly, the sum
appeared to be 431. lls. 7d. This error was earned on one
quarter after another, although in the total casting of the
quarter's debit the amount appeared to be in accordance
with the ledger account. An error of a similar natare was
also found in a Mr. Cetterill's account; but with those ex-
ceptions no mistake was discovered in the prisoner's ledger.
It was suggested that these discrepancies were intentionally
made to decciee the prosecutor and his partner in the
amount due to the firm.

deveral other witnesses were called, after which the jury
Argautted the prisoner, who, amidst the ,coegratulations of
his friends, left the court.
The trial occupied eight hours, and the court did not rise
until after ten o'clock.

NORTHERN mum', JCLY 26. 11
Their lordships, Chief Justice Campbell and Mr. Justice
Wightman, yesterday forenoon attended Divine service in
the cathedral in this city, accompanied by the high sheriff
and the ander sheriff. Drayers were read by the Bishop
of Ell ter, at prisent in residence, assisted by the Bev. J.
B. Dyke. The amiss sermon was preached by this lion.
and Rev F. N. Clement*, vicar of Norton.