The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-12-07 00:00:00

-,.;,e..-
(Before Mr. Baron ALDERSON.) se
''''
At ten o'clock, on yesterday, after the usual proclamation
had been made, the following gentleinen were sworn in as
the grand jury :
William Brown, Esq., M.P. Richmond-hill, fore-
man ; Henry Ashton, Esq., Woolton Wood, Liverpool .;
Henry Ashworth, Esq., The Oaks, Bolton ; Richard Miley,
E• 11.- 102a:Ej.J40111A-C-09ke,,,Paa,,,ballnbriAgs Inc...
cnesterT-Ttiornas---a-tittarr 'Porde, Esq.; Chester ; Henry- A.-
Grey, -,,Live.rpool ; John Grimshaw, Esq., Ardenshaw
Lod anefiester ; Jolin. ;William garden, Esq., Liver-
-41
pool ;James Collier Harter, Esq.„ Tetlow Fold, Manchea-
EiTUFcrige—HOlt, Esq., Rake-lane, 'Liverpool.; Henry
Houldswortl4.-/Etq., Oak.,hill, lifanhesteir ; ' John Buck
tlcry,tleZsq., Lifelipo6l; 'John Bramley Moore, Esq., LiVer-
pool,siTheinas Edwards. Moss, .Esq. ;Roby ,Hall, •Prescot;
4olseet.-Needhara• Philips, Esq., :The Park, Manchester ;
liVilliam-Ra.tlabone, Esq., Green Bank, Liverpool ; William
t.iiarti.: Esq., Rumford-place, Liverpool; :.Oliver Omerod
Walker, Esq., Chesham, Bury ; Charles Carrill Horsley,
Esql;iltlett Hall, Manchester ; and James Aspinall Turner,
Esq., Penstlebury House; Manchester.
..111is 14440iitin,,tlien.proceeded to charge the , grand jury.
He said—Gentlemen of the grand inquest, you are here, as
unhappily has been. the case tor several years at this season
of the year, for the purpose of discharging the gaol of the
county: of Lancaster ; no doubt a 'necessary, though to you,
I dare saY,- an' 'unpleasant proceeding. But, at the same
time, I am quite certain that you will always do that which
thneetintry expects from gentlemen in your position in life,
and;that` you will the-more readily discharge your duties on
tail occasion; as I- see that- you are a numerous body, though
notNnite-so -numerous as might have been serving on this
grail:lift:quest. We have but-21 instead .of 23 gentlemen ;
ltatti Tit LW that -atthi4 period of the' year it is a very ad-
mirable attendaiicemiosdoribt, of gentlemen in your station
lir life:. Gentleindni) thetio is somewhat a bad calendar for you
to consider. There are a great many cases of murder—one of
them -a very serious one, principally resulting from the very
bad state of the law as I think, which permits burial clubs
to exist in the manner in which they do exist at the present
,i.l.c.i.i.nt_ The motive appears here to have been, if there
be any motive, the obtaining of . ....m. of money, for the
purpose of burying two little children—a motive which
mightivell-tenapt,..a-Rerkei of hiid.Mind and,eril disposition
to earniiiii'Offelices; 'perhaps even the offence with which
the prisoner in this instance is Charged. Now, I cannot
Ise/p!thfriliirig.tthit it is a Very bad-state of the laW which
poriniti persons thus so to speak, to be prompted even to the
commission
.of the crime: of murder. • We knoW that on
night ok daeidne itOsas lbeen plainly demonstrated in'courts of
jsistine;i that; inelf, restiltS-- haste felloWed from - s rich premises;
an diitibljhovei; theie who 'have infltiened. in parliament=4
see your forman is one of the, rnenibers'for the county of
LancasW-,and ,theidore• I address •myself particularly to
lairesi-Ltoisbe whether they eannet'by a very easy and simple
arfaiiifernent put an. prick to the: temptation, and perhaps,
with the temptation, to the crime. It is a most simple
alteration '-whieh could be made, as- it seems to me,
for,thes pltrpose of . -preventing ' this offence. Why it
lam. -never' :been 'done, Passes my comprehension ; and
17,-teigkotl: it--because 1 -do. not think that anybody
au.gifVto find fault with the existing law, if he cannot, so-
ditrtlirieettS hie-itttlgrnent,- ii.36.est a better .tats of the law
thi'll tiaal of which he coMplains. It seems to me that this
could ,lie '{done by : preventing money being given for
t*epurpose., of burial, and by compelling the clubs
o bury the nienibers themselves. They might sup-
ply all that was : necessary . for the funeral, and
bY.tliaf)ineati4lthere- would be no temptation to. the re,
..
cipient as there would be no profit at all. There would be
no surplus money to be handed over to the family and,
titurefortc-ftfrt6friptatioh *Aid
.be entirely taken away, if
instead of giving money in order that the parents or rela-
tives might burr perhaps at a cheap., ate; the persons who
are dead, they were compalle,d;tO furnish, through an under-
tklar,lho firdral requisites, 'more' Or'less subject to control
accardirkto the subscriptions which had been paid. That
secysaitonielo.he an easy and simple remedy for removing
the temptation to this offence ; and: I do hope 'that I may
root speak in vain' upon 'this subjeCt, 'gentlemen, With re-
Spect to the present case; of course you will investigate it
witklars•lsn ions &tire to come-:to: .a correct conclusion.
There are circumstances attendant-on the case . which show
the presence' of the tWo unhappy ehilNeii whO are the sub-
iectiof the.inquiry 'with the prisoner, and that the prisoner
:tra* subsequently found *ith'sVet Clothes Without the' chil-
4ren, _but where they had been threitir into the canal and
where they had been both previously seen. _ There are other
.
noes iiii I.„_i *r ;asp. ~into wilsiplis you will ,looV atten-
-47 Astif they lead you to a reasonable :conclusion that
tlle priionerli guilty of the crime, you will find the' bill
and put liiM on his trial. There is another case of murder
in which it will be necessary for you to take into considera-
tionthe nature of the circumstance under which it has been
committed ; for as to the commission of the offence—either
manslaughter or murder—there cannot be a doubt, as it was
seen to be done. But the question whether it amounts to
murder or manslaughter will depend on circumstances to
which I beg to call your attention. It is the murder of a
police-officer of this town by a young person who was appre-
hended Under circumstances to wi3....4 your attention shalt
Ls drawl:. It appears there was a riot, or something of
that sort, and that a police-officer interposed, and that he
was struck by. the prisoner in attempting to apprehend him,
as he had a right to do, for the misdemeanour of which he
was then guilty. The officer then ,seized him and calling
theldeeeiled' officer to his, assistance, they take him into their
cusfoidy, end they had him in their .custody- under circum-
stance4' if the depositions in the case be true, in which they
had aright tolav,!hini. He was therefore bound to obey the
law,• gilt . -while 'thus in lawful custody, he uses the knife,
'stabis giVen,' arid lhopelice-officer dies immediately. I
tun Wand to tell you that, if these. facts be proved, it is not
marishthghter, but murder. 'lt would be manslaughter if
he Nirete .in 'unlawful custody ; for although he had a right
4 tesetie'littiSelf if -iii inlaWful custody, he had no right to
do so by killing
_another person, unless that was absolutely
necessary:- It would amount to manslaughter if in unlawful
custody7to murder, if in lawful custody ; and that is the
pMiit you will- have to consider. In the case of the appre-
hension .9f a felon, the officer, though he has not seen the
fdtony'comniitted, may. apprehend, for the purpose of bring-
ing up the party to justice ; but in the case of a misde-
wraith*, he can only apprehend on the misdemeanour
being' committed iii his presence. If it be committed in his
absence; then he must go to a magistrate, and act under his
warrant. That is the distinction between felony and misde-
mt.ationr, and the'duty of the officer in respect to these two
cases. " There is another case of a woman, who is accused of
miirder, but who, according to the depositions is apparently
of unsound mind, .You will not take that: into considera-
tion ; but if yen are satisfied that the child was killed by
her,--and looking at the facts contained in the depositions,
there seems to be no reasonable doubt of it,—you will find
the bill, in order that the trial may take place,- and that the
proper result as regards her state -of mind may be ascer-
tained in open court. There is another case to which I shall
also call your attention, in which a man is said to have been
killed in the Calabar river, in Africa, and it being com-
mitted by an Englishman abroad, it is within the jurisdic-
tion of the. Admiralty ; but by a late act it may be tried
here in the county of Lancaster, or wherever else the party
maybe, instead of as formerly being tried at the Admiralty-
seiSions at the Old Bailey. The question will be whether or
not there has been any such man murdered either in the
place stated or elsewhere. The usual and cautious
course of the English law has been not to try any
murder whatever, unless it be certain that some body
has been murdered. Now, you. must not make pro-
bable conjectures as to that, but you must be first
---,e-e s -- 4-,, the fact before you inquire into who has
done it. The only eire&u........,, ,i- -, —.., chow that are to
begleaned frOm the depositions, and are to this eueta.—
that at about 200 yards from the land in the Calabar river,
some of the sailors went ashore and got into a scrape with
the natives. There was a frightful tumult, and the captain
of the ship came for the purpose of .carrying back the sailors
who had left without leave. The unhappy. person about
whose death, if he be killed, we are to inquire, was one of
the. three sailors who had thus left, and the only evidence of
his being killed is that some of the witnesses, theflerle la
that respect there are others who Contesa:..,o mem, state that
they heard the captain e-Y wnen the man was in the water
atteriel4-5 0, escape, " shoot," " shoot"—that then they
near( two guns fire, and that they never saw the man again.
Does that entirely satisfy you, the man being only a very
short distance from the shore, that he has been killed at all?
He'niight have swam ashore at another place and landed.
Oi'does it satisfy you that he was killed by the shot if he
was killed at all ; for I am told, and some of you know it
better than I do, that there are adventures which happen
in the river on the coast of Africa, in which persons are
killed Whe are swimming, either by sharks or alligators, or
animals of that description, which frequent those rivers.
What is there to show that if he be killed, that he was
killed by the shots ? Nobody. sees anything—they only hear
the, shots fired, and the man is not seen afterwards. There
is contradictory evidence in the depositions as to whether
any shots were fired at all; but on that I do not speak, be-
cause it will be a proper question for you to consider. The
case would be somewhat clear if any one had seen the man
dead, and you will therefore consider whether, under the
existing circumstances, it s7vould be right to put any
man ou his trial for the crime of murder. It would
seem to me that you would act very rashly in so doine.;
for4_ would be a very awful thing if a man were executed
in this country to-day, and that the person for whom he
su(fered subsequently arrived here, having escaped from
Afsaea with. life. . That would be a very awful thing ; and
thqrefore it would be better to wait for distinct evidence to
sea, thatove had some person killed, before we put any man
°Otis trial-fer murder. . There am other matters in the
calendar to which it is not necessary to call your attention ;
but there are two classes of eases upon which I shall say a
word—not upon the individval cases, but upon their cha-
racier and number,: ,I find no fewer than seventeen cases
of stabbing. -Among eighty-three prisoners, there are
sevesiteen who: are accused of the offence of stabbing ; and I
hay;e beenfuthished, I am sorry to say it, by parties who
have Wien pains to inquire into the matter, with very satis-
fac,tory evidence to show that this crime is increasing in a
most enormous extent in this country. In: the course of the
lastpthree years the gutilber of such cases was this—from
184 to Igsl, there were 77 persons accused of this offence
iu this country ; from 1861 to 1852, 62 ; and in the present

.