The Press.
London, England, 1856-01-05 00:00:00

JANUARY 5, 1856.

I have been married to the prisoner about two years,
during which period his emiduct towards me has been one
of continued ill-usage. Shortly after our marriage he corn.
nienced knocking me about ; and when he was drunk he
would often Caine home, pull me down on the floor, and
then drag me about the room by the hair of my head. On
oue occasion he pulled me from the top of the stairs to
the bottom by the hair of my head. He went out on
Friday last, aving me without any food to eat, and no
money in then ouse to get anything with. I saw nothing
further of him until yesterday afternoon, about half past
two, when I saw him iu the Lamb and Flag, publichouse.
kept by Mr. Collins. 1 then said to him, " I thought you
were going to stop here for dinner," when he ordered me
to leave the house. 1 did so, and on getting outside my
husband said, " I will give yon a ticket for this, and will
learn you to come to a publichouse after me." lie then
went home, and kicked me in the ribs, and afterwards
commenced breaking up the furniture. He afterwards
said, taking up a knife, " I will settle you shortly, and then
you won't want to eat either dinner or tea." I went out.
side, and he then threw the knife at me, and finding that
did not hurt me, he took up a brick and hurled it at my
head. I then went into the house of Mrs. Dobson, a near
neighbour, when the prisoner followed, knocked me down,
dragged me across the room by the hair of my head, and
kicked me both on the head and arm. I was twenty-four
years of age last Tnesday, and when I married the prisoner
I had a good box of clothes, but owing to his drunken and
dissolute character lam not fit to be seen. I have always
endeavoured to keep myself respectable, and have tried to
get my living by washing and chafing.
Several other witnesses, having corroborated the fact
of the assault on Friday last, the prisoner, when
called upon for his defence, said :—" I have nothing
t 9 say. She is lazy, and won't give me a clean shirt!"
Mr. Collie sentenced him to four months imprison-
ment, with hard labour, and ordered that 20s. should
be given out of the poor-box, for the purpose of pur-
chasing some clothes for the complainant, and to
assist her in her endeavours to obtain a respectable
livelihood. —At the same office, on Tuesday,
William Kellard, a tailor, was charged with assault-
ing his wife. From the evidence adduced, it appeared
that the prisoner was of a most violent temper, and
was constantly ill-using his wife and children. With
respect to the assault in question, his wife stated
that on Monday afternoon, on her interposing to pre-
vent him striking one of the children, he knocked her
senseless to the ground, seriously injuring her. The
prisoner, it appeared, had but shortly come out from
two months' imprisonment for a similar offence, and
Mr. Corrie, after reminding bim of his former pro-
mise of amendment, committed him for four months,
with hard labour, and directed that 2s. ad. a week be
granted to the wife and children, during that term,
from the poor-box.
A BLACKSMITH ATTEMPTING TO POISON HIS WIFE
was detected and brought before the magistrates at
Newcastle-on-Tyne on Monday last. It appeared
from the evidence that the prisoner, Thomas Robson,
was a deserter from the Coldstreams, and had been
on bad terms with his wife, who lived in service, and
had threatened to report him at the barracks if he
did not allow her more money. On the evening of'
December the Ist the prisoner visited his wife, and
on leaving gave her a lemonade bottle full of a
whitish liquid, which he said was milk and whiskey,
and recommended her to take some at night, and
give her fellow-servant some also. When the women
went to bed they both drank a little of the mixture,
but it burned them so much, and made them so
sick, that they suspected something, and, seeing a
powdery deposit at the bottom of the bottle, threw
away the liquid and carried the powder to a doctor.
Dr. Richardson, of the town, then deposed that
there was sufficient arsenic to kill three persons.
The prisoner, who had tied to and besn arrested at
Hexham, protested his innocence, and denied that ho
had been to the house on that night. The bench
remanded him for a week.
AN INQUIRY INTO THE ALLEGED STARVATION OF
Two CHILDREN AT HACKNEY was concluded 011
Thursday, when the evidence of Dr. Letheby on the
analysation of the intestines of the children was
taken. Dr. Letheby being examined, deposed that
he had found nothing to lead him to suspect the pre-
sence of poison, and, from the total absence of fatty
matter in all the tissues, attributed death to starva-
tion. After other evidence to the same effect, the
coroner summed up, and the jury returned a verdict
of "Wilful murder" against Edward Harvey and
Harriet Ray."

SOME EXTENSIVE ROBBERIES OF BONDED SPIRITS
AT BRISTOL, to the amount of 3,000 gallons of spirits
and wine, have led to the examination of the Custom-
house docker and receiver, and the apprehension of
one Bendale, a retired perfumer and money-lender
in the town. A the close of the investigation on
Thursday Bendale was cominitteed for trial, and the
other prisoners remanded till this day.
THE PRISONER CORRIGAN, remanded last week for
the murder of his wife in the Minories on the 26th
ult., was brought before Mr. Yardley for re-examina
Lion on Thursday. The evidence given was simply a
repetition of that given before Mr. Conic last week
No new facts were elicited beyond the strange and
reserved conduct of the prisoner towards his wife
mmediately before the murder, his having led a

!