The Express.
London, England, 1866-05-11 00:00:00

THE CANNON-STREET MURDER.

FURTHER EXAMINATION OF THE PRISONER.
(THIS DAY.)

William Smith, alias William Denton, the man
who stands charged with the wilful murder of Sarah
Million, in Cannon-street, was this morning brought be-
fore the Lord Mayor, at the Mansion-house, for further
examination.

Mr. Wontner again appeared for the prosecution ; and
Mr. Mason Williams, inetracted by Mr. Scarth, for the
defence.

The ease still appears to create a great deal of public
interest, and the court was crowded the moment the doors
were opened for the admission of the public.
The prisoner maintained the same cool and confident
appearance that has characterised him throughout the
inquiry.

Mr. Wormier, addressing the Lord Mayor, said he did
not propose to adduce any additional evidence on the pre-
emit occasion, but he thought it right to state that, since the
last examination, further inquiries had been made in re-
ference to the matter, and particularly with regard to
the extraordinary evidence that was given by the wit-
ness named Smallmen. He thought it was only
an act of justice to the prisoner to state that the inquiries
that had been made with regard to this witness had led to
the result that in his opinion be ought not to ask that this
witness should be bound over as a witness against the pri-
soner. His lordship would remember that the testimony
of this witness was very extraordinary, but from the in-
quiries he had directed to be made he was of opinion
that the jury would not consider it was reliable, and he
therefore felt himself justified in withdrawing hie evidence
altogether from the case, and he had come to this conclu-
sion after the most careful consideration. The prisoner,
as his lordship was aware, already stood committed for
trial upon the coroner's inquisition, and when the evidence
of the witnesses had been read over, he should ask his
lordship also to commit him for trieL
Mr. Williams said that before his lordship gave any de-
cision, he felt it his duty to protest in the strongest pos.
eiblo manner, not only against the way in which the prose-
cution had been conducted, but also spinet the application
that had just been made by Mr. Wontner. It appeared
to him to be altogether too late to talk about fairness,
and he complained that the prosecution against the
prisoner had been conducted most unfairly, and that there
was the more cause for complaint when it was considered
that the question of life or death was involved in the
inquiry. With regard to the application that the witness
referred to should not be bound over to attend at the trial,
he considered it was a most unprecedented one, and
on the part of the prisoner he should ask his lordship to
bind over that witness as well as the other. Mr. Wontner
had stated that the reason he did not wish this
witness to be bound over was that his evidence
could not be relied upon ; but if this was the
ground, he thought it equally applied to the
extraordinary evidence that bad been given by another
witness, the woman Bayley, for be thought that after the
admissions she had made in cross-examination no jury
would think of placing the slightest reliance upon her evi-
dence. The case against the prisoner, as it appeared to
him, was of the slightest possible character, and that
it depended entirely upon identity and the nicest
possible measure of time, and he had no hesitation in
saying, ea an old Eton man, and well acquainted with
every inch of the distance, that it was impossible for the
prisoner to have gone from the Mem-arch-bridge at
the time he was seen, to catch the train at Slough ;
sad that a man on horseback could hardly have done
It. Them was no lack et funds on the part of
the prosecution, and yet there was no evidence as to
the distance, and this was another circumstance that he
thought he had a good ground for complaining of, on the
part of the prisoner. He concluded by stating that he
hoped the Court would not needs to the application of
Mr. Wontner, but that the whole of the witnesses who had
been examined would be bound over.
The clerk then read over the depositions that bad been
taken at the former examinations against the prisoner.
The witness Smallman, who was examined at the last hear-
ing, was not in attendance for the reason stated by Mr-
Wontner, but his deposition was read with the others.
The Lord Mayor said he should not make any
further observation relating to the nee then, but in
answer to what had been said by the learned solumelis
to the blunder of the pollee, he would observe that it ap-
peared to him that they had performed their duty very
properly, and he wee perfectly satisfied. All he had to de
was to cement the prisoner to take his trial.
The usual formal caution wee then given to the prisoner,
and he said in reply, " All I have to say is that I am en-
tirely innocent of the charge, but by the advics of my
counsel, I reserve ay defense."
The prisoner was then formally committed.