The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-29 00:00:00

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.

BMW ODUST.--Billas Ike Comm And qtr. Aid. Mom.
DictxT.—Dettiol Sisseisir. • Tea a-looking
ma, wee indicted for feloniously la with Jane
Wells, his wife, Ann, being alive. The lloottculare of this
we having very recently appeared in war reline reports a
=ned statement is not now seassearp--11. Elliot, the
clerk at Newcastle-upon-Tya% gignai that in 1839
the prisoner was married in that town le sae Ann Joyce,
who war now alive.—Jane Wells stated that she was married
to the prisoner on Oct. 2.5. 1843,nt Christ Church, Rother-
hithe. She had known him a considerable time, and had
always believed him to have been as he represented, a single
man. Suspicions, however, arose, and on being interro-
gated he amitted that be had been married before, and that
he had been convicted of bigamy. The prisoner, however, ob-
viated the difficulty thus created by insuring witness that his
conviction rendered his marriage a nullity, and that he had
consulted the proper authorities at Doctors'-commons upon
the point, and that they had assured him that legally he
was free from his former marriage. Under this representa-
tion witness became his wife. Witness, in cross-examination,
▪ that she was a widow. The certificates of both mar-
riages were then put in and proved.—Mr. Prendergast, fur
the prisoner, said that his client had, undoubtedly, violated
the law, but he had done so without design, as be was &dial;
*pan the opinion of a proctor in Doctors'-commons upon his
ismer marriage. He had erred, certainly, but It was in
,once of the law.—The Common &duet summed up,
mai the prisoner was immediately declared Guilty.—Two
witnesses were called to speak to the prisoner's character.
One of them bed known him from boyhood, and could tes-
tify to the respectability of his reputation. The witness,
however, admitted that the prisoner had a third wife
at Liverpool, but she bad since died. The witness was
crow-examined by Mr. Beliantine for the prosecution,
with reference to a conviction for felony, for which the pri.
goner suffered twelve months' hard labour.—The witness
very reluctantly said he had beard az much, and that it was
very likely to be true. He also admitted that he was privy
to the prisoner having a wife in Liverpool and another at
Newcastle. A document wan handed to the court, which
showed that in 1843 the prisoner was convicted at Liverpool
of bigamy, and was sentenced to a year's impriamment
The Common Scrjeant, in passing sentence, said that a more
aggravated case he had never tried. Fur the protection of
society from such unprincipled men it was indispensable that
the present ease should be punished with severity. Some-
thing had been said of an opinion from Doctms'-commona,
and if such an opinion was ever given why was it aot
proved, and then the court could Dave believed that he was
acting with Bina city and honesty ? He (the Common fier-
jeant) believed that it never was given. The sentence was
that the prisoner be transported for seven years.
" STAIIILMO TUE Otsze."— Barnett, and John and
Thomas Rude (brothers), were indicted for, and convicted
upon clear evidence of, stealing from a pawnbroker's window
a tray containing 38 gold rings. The act wan perpetrated in
the mode technically called "warring the glaze,' s. e., re-
moving a pane in the window by meaus of a diamond. An
alibi was set up in reply to the case, but it fell to the ground.