The Express.
London, England, 1866-12-21 00:00:00

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TO COLLESPONDINTS.
kdverthiemente Intended tor " The Express," Louden Evemlng
, must be at the 0010 e, 10, Boarmie-etreet, by Two
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MAYMARLIT.
Twts %maga, A GAME OF (SPECULATION. Mesas. C.
Mathews, Chtepeadale, Begets, ate.: Mesdames Manillas:a, Lava,
de—ANTNY AISD CLEOPATRA. Mears, C. Mathews,
tea, te. ; Madames Mathews d Rlll.—Flllll OUT OS WACTIN

STRAND
Tins ETzirnici, NEIGHBOURS. Messrs. PaneHs, Belford,
sad Murray ; Mesdames Swaaborougli, Jolmeturst. and Hughes.
KEN I LWORTH Moores. James. Tames, & t Won: Mesdames
bwanboodußd & Ilayidasm.—and BOOTS AT THE SWAN.

HOLBORN.
TRH Erieute, st 7, MY TURN NUT. Mr Bellmore; Humes
Foote sod lADIVOI.—And FLYING SCUD. Mean Del-
more, Blake, Yollsire. do. ; Mesdames F. Jeecobe, C. dsoodies,
Deeds Foote. Flddes. LUSO& Alleilband.

HIGH Mali AT LONDON BRIDOI.
nos DAT —Worming, Ob. Igai Afternoon. lb. 210.
TO-NOonoif—Norning, lb. 48nt Afternoon. fit. 14e.

LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 21,

Ova Assize intelligence yesterday contained the
record of one of those cues which invite specula-
tion precisely in the degree in which they perplex
science and embarrass the administution of
justice. In a cane of homicide, tried on Wednesday
at Leeds, an indictment for murder was met by
the plea of insanity. The age of the seemed, his
relations with his victim, and the circumstances ac-
companying the act whose legal and moral character
was in question, distinguish it from ordinary
examples of alleged criminal lunacy. The pri-
soner, HINRY GARRITY:B, a boy of sixteen, was
apprenticed to a draper in Sheffield, and at the
time of committing the offence charged against
him, had served two years and eight months of his
time. ARTHUR ALLEN, a younger apprentice of
fifteen, had served nine months. The lads ap-
pear to have been tolerably close companions and
good friends, occupying the same room, and asso-
ciating together in their spare hours. For some
slight offence committed by ALLEN, but apparently
in his master's view connived at or not checked
by the elder boy, both of them were forbidden I
the privilege of going out after business hours in
the evening. The prisoner remonstrated, saying
that it was very bard that he should be deprived
of his liberty through the fault of another; but
he showed no animosity towards ALLEN. On the
contrary, up to the night of the murder he conti-
nued, according to the testimony of his employer,
to be, as he had always shown himself,
" remark-
" ably docile and amiable," " deferential to his
" master, and kind to his brother apprentices."
On the night of the 21st November the boys
retired to bed as usual. At seven next
morning their master, Mr. DRAPES.,
awakened by a knock at his bedroom door.
He inquired what was wanted. The answer came
in the prisener's Tees, " I have killed ARTHUR."
He added, in reply to his master's incredulous ex-
clamations, " I've hammered his head with a I
" hammer, and stabbed him with a knife ;I
" I've killed him." On ascending to the II
chamber, Mr. DRAPER found the imfortunato
lad "weltering in his blood—on the dressing-table
" a bloody hammer, and on the bed a carving-
" knife, bloody and broken." His skull had been'
fractured and driven in by two blows, and there
was a surface wound on the neck. While the
prisoner was on his way to the police-office he said
in reply to the inquiries of ono of his inuow.np.
prvittiees, that he had done the deed for ?evenly.
When at the poliee-ottice, he expreesed himself
sorry for what had been done. "At the Town-
" hall," said Mr. DRAPER, "ho thing his arms
" ?lewd my neck, and kissed mu, and bade me
" geod-bye." The hammer and knife had
liven wanted with a deg are of contrivance,
roietile?, tV, the counsel for the crown arglit.‘l,
to
premeditation, and therefore to wilful murder.
The ground of defence renewed the old ciewlict
between the legal and medical definitions of
insanity. I'mpiestionably the prisoner knew the
diterenee between right and wrong, in the sense
in whelk lawyers understand it, namely, be-
tween the lawful and unlawful ; and he was aware
of the probable consequences of his act. lint,
criminal, like every other forum of reaponaibility,
do-
ponds upon two things : dearness of perception and
power to control the will. Was this power want-
ing to Gamma t The evidence for the defence
undoubhally established great physical and mental
infirmity ; and moral qualities irrecxmcileable with
the enormity of his crime. It was proved that
in childhood he had been subject to epileptic fits ;
that after his mother's death, when he was seven
years of age, ho had been treated with conside-
rable harshness by his father and ste
utp tha erd
;
and that he was " a kind and good, b dull n
" daft boy." Tho medical witnesses for the pro-
secution testified that his mental and physical
organization was defective. His schoolmaster
deposed to his freedom from any passionate
or vindictive impulses. " Scarcely any other boy
" was so constantly well-conducted." After the
murder, the boy said that his stepmother had
spoken of his ending his days on the gallows.
" He always had a belief that he should kill seine
" one or himself ; and finding himself in a bed-
" room with a fellow apprentice, he thought his
" opportunity had come, and ho seized it. He
" had never had an opportunity before ; for-
" merly lie slept with an assistant. He thought
" of killing him ; but he thought he would be too
" strong for him. He said his stepmother had so
" instilled into his mind that he must come to
" the gallows, that he felt he must kill some one."
These statements followed the commission of the
crime ; but it is not necessary to regard them as
self-exculpatory inventions, since the prisoner at
the late trial first pleaded guilty, and was only
induced by the urgency of his counsel to with-
draw that plea.
Tho jury found him guilty of wilful murder. The
facts, interpreted by the legal definition of insanity,
which restricts it to ignorance of legal right and
wrong, and of the consequences of violating the
law, left no other course open to them. The age
of the prisoner, his previous good conduct, and
his imperfect mental and physical organization,
render it probable that the jury's strong recom-
mendation to mercy will be acted upon. The
question of the lad's future fate is not,
therefore, for him one of life and death. But
it may be for others. If, being subject to