The Express.
London, England, 1851-04-08 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 8, 1851.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
OXFORD CIRCUIT.—OLOUCESTER, APRIL 5.
GAISVOOD V. KAlllt, CLIMM.—CILIM. CON.
In this case the jury disagreed, and remained locked up
in their room until half-past 10 at night, when his lordship
sent 14 them to his lodgings, and, on their saying that
there was no chance of their agreeing if lucked up for
month, discharged them without agreeing to a verdict.
APRIL 7.
COMP Cot IM.—B•loam Ma. MVIICi TALIOVID.
HIGHWAY ROBBEUT.
Edward Gibbons and Fretkrirk Prosser were indicted for
having assaulted and robbed James Cheslin Wheeler, on
the 11th January, at Longford, near Gloucester.
The case occupied a day and a half, and created a large
amount of interest on account of the position of the parties,
the prisoner Gibbons keeping a public-liowie in Gloucester.
Mr. Wheeler is a nucecry and ined.unin, carrying on busi-
nee. in Gloucester, and having a country house at Longford,
about two miles and a half out. On Saturday evening, the
llth January, about 7 o'clock, he went from Gloucester
home. He was on foot, and had got ruttier more
than a mile from Gloucester, when he was sud-
denly jumped upon from behind by a man, who
t his hands round his throat and ulmost throttled him.
While held in this position another man approached from
the front, and was called upon by his brut assailant to
" come tureard and stop his mouth." Gibbon., for he was
the man, then put his hands over Mr. Wheeler's mouth,
the other man continuing to grapple him by the throat.
He cried out "Murder" as well as he could, and became
partially insensible, and was thrown to the ground, but al-
moet immediately recovered. He then saw the two men
running away, and missed his gold watch and guard. Next
day lie pointed Gibbons out to the police, but had not seen
the face of the other man. A nunilmr of women swore to
having seen both prisoner together just before the robbery
near the spot, and one saw them running away after the
cry of .• Murder." One woman, named Meadows, saw
them together, going in the direction uf Longford, just be-
fore nine o'clock, and Prosser said to Gibbon., " Come on,
and the first man we meet d—d if we don't knoek him
down,"
1 or the prisoners an alibi was set up, and numerous wit-
nesses swore to having me it both men in Gloucester be-
tween seven and eight o'clix.k.
The jury, however, gave no credit to it, and immediately
found both prisoners Guilty.
Sentence—Transportation for life. Huth had been con-
idea before.

STAFFORD, APRIL 7.
BAINARIGOV. r. BAIN NILIGGE_

The new trial is the great will cause, Ilniubrigne r.
Braiiihrigge, having been fixed fur this morning, Mr. Jus-
tice Putteson arrived from (...limeester on Saturday night.
The ourt was. opened at half-paNt nine o'clock, and the
special jury called, but before the jury were sworn, an ml-
joutem,nt took Iflace for two hours.
.tt half-past deceit the hurried counsel again came into
court, followed in a tuummt or two by Mr. Justice rat-

testa*.
The Attorney-General immediately rose and am
happy to be enabled to state that there will he no necessity
fur our troubling your lordship to try this cauc..., which
would uecesuarily have been greatly protracted. It 11115
been arranged that a verdict •hall pass, pro forma, for the
lessor of the plaintiff; 1w and the defendant are relation•,
and I hope they will in future be friends; if such should
be the result of the arrangement we have agreed upon to-
day, it will be additionally satisGsctory.
Sir litsroy Kelly nest rose and said,—l merely ri•e to
echo the expressions of my learned friend the Attorney-
General, who l am happy to designate as such, rued on be-
half of the defenehuit and all concerned I need only say
that I believe the arrangement will be highly satisfactory,
as it is highly .honourable, to both parties.
11w jury immediately returned a formal verdict for
the lessor of the plaintiff, as suggested by the Attoniey-
General.
phasing done so, Mr. Justice Patteson said, " I have no
doubt but that the best thing hat, twin done,"
The court hnmediately.adjourned, to the manifest disap-
pointment of a very large auditory.
The terms under which the arrangement has been made
did not publicly transpire.! Mr. Moss, o I Derby, the plaintifs
attorney, declined to supply them, but there is good author-
ity for saying that the estate is to be valued and equally
divided, the cats incurred on catch side to be borne by tke
ropective parties.
'flit rumour is that the entire costa fall little short of
20,0110/.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.—TAUNTON, Aruit. 3.
ell %unit or ?kb:aura.
Joseph Plante was indicted for the murder of his wife,
Maria Clarke, at Bath, on the lath February last, by forcing
a stick into her person.
It appeared that the prisoner hail been married to his wile
about 10 years. She was a Is rson coming from a eery re-
Triable, though somewhat reduced, family in Olourester.
The prisoner was in a much lower rank of life than his wife.
The marriage was, therefore, against the consent of her
family, by whom she had is euneanuence been abandoned.
titre had recently fallen into habits of intoxication and dissi-
pation. They hied at No. d, Lampard's-buildings, Bath.
Ihe prisoner had la en much attached to tor, almost to
jealousy. They had three children. The primmer used to
leave her on the Monday mornings to go to his work some
miles off, and Taunt again on the Saturday night, when he
I generally timid her in A sad state of intoxication, nod his
children neglected. On the Saturday night preceding
Tuesday, the lath of February, lie Caine home as 11.1131.
His wife was nut at home. lie knew not where to find
lc.. Ile was told these ,hut :,µ bad
been constautly drunk, and that one of his three little
children had Leon found in flames, and, haul nut some
one accidentally passed the room, it would have triad
burnt to death. The man said, " Poor unfortunate. wretch!
I don't know what I shall dui with her." She did not
return ou the Saturday night, nor on the Sunday, nor, in-
deed, belbre he left home to go to work on the Monday
morning. It would seem that the man felt the sad situation
in a itich be had left hi, children, and he returned house on
the Tuesday following. Shortly before his arrival, however,
his wife had returned; she was in the most beuatly state of
intoxication. She west to her roam, and threw herself on
the bed. Aft.r the prisoner had gone upstairs noises of
apparent struggling and blows were heard, and the woman
was heard to say, .• Oh, don't Clarke, don't Chirac ;" and
then there were cries of " Murder." One of the inmates
of the house went upstairs, and, finding the door of the pri-
soner's room open, they looked in and saw the prisoner ap-
parently supporting his wife. The prisoner shut the dour.
A noise of some person falling down very heavily was
heard. Shortly afterwards some one again went to the
room, and the wife was then found to be dead. A great
deal of blood was about the room, and there was a pan
in the room which was broken in pieces. The prisoner
was asked what lie had done to his wife He
at first said nothing, but afterwards said lie had
beaten her with a stick ; and a stick which had
been broken was bound in the room. It had a large quan-
tity of lung hair upon it. I'art of her hair had beau turn
from her head by vide nce. Some one suggested that a bur-
geon should be bent tor, and the prisoner said. " Oh, pray
do." Surgeons came, and upon an examination they found
that the . le of her person had been much lacerated, as
li they coneeived, by a stick. They did not consider it pos-
sible that the injuries could have been accidentally inflietid ;
they did not believe they could have arisen from her falling
down. 'there was ono other mark of violedce over her eye-
brow, and that was all. Iler clothes were not injured. The
stick which was found had apparently been recently seripcd
at one end. This stick, the surgeon said, would have caused
the injury if it had been used for the purpoae. Upon further
examination they found what is called " the drunkard',
liver." She died troll loss of blood, caused by the lace-
rated wound in her person. The wound was two inches
and ahalf in depth. The prisoner had been out of the
room for a short time after the cries of " Murder" had been
heard. When the prisoner was asked where the blood which
was on the floor came from, he said e did not know. The
prison, r, when he was appreh aided. said, I am the cause of
her death. It was shown that the prisoner had always borne
an excellent character, and had always treated his wife with
the greatest kindness.
Mr. Slade, fur the prisoner, addressed the jury. and urged
that the death was caused by accident, by the woman tail-
ing down upon the pan.
The jury returned a verdict of Manslaughter.
The prisoner was sentenced to transportation for life.

the defendants Haggerty, Griffin, Feehen, and Brown. The I
learned gentleman went over the whole evidence, pointing 1 i
out the several discrepancies which it contained, and I :
charged several of the police with stating what was not I i
true. Ile said not one of the respectable tradesmen who ,
had been culled had identified one of the defendants, the
while being spoken to by police officers, anti them only. In
torelusiun, he called on the jury, upon the oath they had
taken, to pronounce the defendants not guilty.
Hr. Weisby also addressed the jury on behalf of Fit:-
lain:nuns and Griffin. He asked why the meeting was not
I a public one, and attacked the magistrates for the part they
had taken, observing that some of them within the walls
of he palace or parliament could attack the Pope and his
cardinals in a manner which they would not venture out-
I side. lie contended that the evidence, as it stood, did net
warrant a vonviction; but he should prove beyond all
doubt that his clients took no part in the riot, but were
absent at the time.
Mr. Yeas. Curran deposed to seeing the Liverpool
',nap clear the area in front of the Town Hall. Before
llOct time the crowd, which consisted of about 200 persons,
were in good humour. Finding the people did not go back,
1 the police used their sticks and drove them back. One
man was wounded, and his shirt front was covered with
blood. Ile then deposed to the second row, and said after
the Rev. Mr. Brown entered the Town Hall the police
Isafied out and commenced an attack upon the people, and
beat them. The people then attacked the police, beat them,
and drove them into the Town Hall. Ile also said he saw
the Registry.office shoring the row, and Mr. Bretherton did
, not address the crowd from the window of that building.
Several other witnesses were then called to prove that the
police were the attacking party. They, in positive terms,
, contradicted the evidence given on the part of the prose-
, cution, particularly that given by Grimley, the police
, offiaer ; and Mr. Bretherton, solicitor, positively swore that
, he was not in the office of the Registrar at all, as had been
, stated by Oriniley.
The case was proceeding when our &spats& left Chester.

If, however, you are a respectable young woman, nnd re-
solved to force your way out, here is a knife which may assist
you; but for God sake do not tell the old woman, who will
soon come up, that I gave You the knife, or any advice or
assistanco." A respectable-looking old woman Caine up
shortly afterwards with something in a glass, which sloe
compelled the coinplainant to swallow. The draught bail
a strange effect upon her, and all after that seemed like a
confused dream. She remembered seeing a gentleman in
the room, who attempted to take liberties with her, which
he resisted. She broke a quantity of glass, and had an in-
distinct idea of cutting somebody with a knife, but could
not say who it was ; the fact might account for the blood on
her hands. She was then again forced into a cab, and re-
membered nothing more until she awakened to a sense of
consciousness in the Infirmary ; but .he did not think that
her person had been violated, an opinion in which Mr. Ro-
bertson seemed to coincide. In addition to this, it was
shown by the evidence of Richard Roberts, an optician
(the young man who was paying his addresses to the com-
plainant) that on the Tuesday following lie met
the prisoner at the Standard Theatre, and after
adjourning to a neighbouring public-house the latter said,
I had a line lark with a girl last night. I got her into a
cub at Stepney, in which we drove about through Lime-
house and l'oplar, and I had connexion with her three
times. Witness, on whom the officer had preciously called,
made a casual remark, to which another young man in
the compan observed, " Dick (meaning wanes.), you're in
a nice mess," (implying that it was his sweetheart the pri-
soner had been driving about).
In answer to Mr. Yardley, Roberta said that his addresses
to the young woman were honourable. That nobody was
aware of the fact hut his mother and a particular friend of
his, and he could not conceive how the prisoner could
come to any knowledge of the lint. Ile hail never written
the letter making the appointment.
Mr. Yardley 'aid that there was some csidenc., sustain-
ing the charge of the capital olknce, and he should,
. thetefore, remand the prisoner till Saturday next. In
the interim, the constables must exert themselves to
discover the house to which the prosecutrix was taken,
and also to find out the cab which was used on the

occasion.
The prisoner iu his defence (after the usual caution) staid
that he k mild prove, if an opportunity were allowed, that he
passed his time from four in the afternoon till twelve at
night on Monday in such a manner as to preclude the pox
sibility of his connexion with the present charge. Ile, at
the same time said, that he could get bail to any amount if
the ma:trate would accept it.
Mr. Yardley declined to accept bail, and the prisoner was
remanded until Saturday next.