The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-07-24 00:00:00

CONVICTION FOR MURDER

(BEFORB MB. BARON MARTIN.)
DORCHESTER, July 21.—Eliz lbeth Martha Brown, de-
scribed as a shopkeeper, aged 44, was arraigned for the
wilful murder of her husband, John Anthony Brown, at
Broadwinsor, on the 6th of July, 1856. Mr. Stock and
Mr. Compton appeared for the prosecution ; Mr. Edwards
for the prisoner. It appeared that the prisoner and
deceased were formerly fellow-servants in a farmhouse,
and about six years ago they were married. Deceased,
who was about 19 years of age, kept a horse and cart,
and acted as a general carrier,:while prisoner kept a shop
for the sale of groceries. The result of the marriage
was not very happy, and the prisoner was jealous of
a woman named Mary Davis- On Saturday, the sth
of July, about six o'clock, deceased and a carrier
named Fooks, left Broadwinsor for Beaminster. On
their way they were joined by Mary Davis, who how-
ever left them as soon as she got to the place where
she was going to work. Fooks and deceased returned.
from Beaminster about three or four o'clock in the after-
noon. On arriving at Broadwinsor they remained
drinking and playing at skittles till a late hour. About
midnight he and Fooks left to go home. They went
together till they came to Mount's corner, where Fooks
left deceased going towards home with his horsy and
cart, when, although intoxicated, he was quite capable of
taking care of himself. About five o'clock in the morn-
ing the prisoner called no Richard Damon, deceased's
cousin, who lived about 130 yards off, and begged him to get up, as the horse had nearly killed her husband.
Damon went to the house, and found deceased lying on
the floor of one of the rooms, and found that he was dead.
The deceased had a great many cuts on his head, and a
handkerchief was bound round it. In reply to questions
Damon and others put to the prisoner, she stated that
about two o'clock she heard her husband come down to the
window, and that when she went out to the door she helped
him in ; she said "Oh ! John, where have you
been, or what have you been about?" and he said just
"The horse," once, and that was all; she helped him in,
placed him in a chair, and he laid down in her lap ; he
took hold of her dress, and held her so tight for three
hours, that she could not go to call any one ; that when
he gos weak he let her go, and she went out and called
Damon, The points chiefly urged against the prisoner
were the absence of blood outside the house, on the door
step, and in the passage (by which latter alone deceased
could have been brought into the apartment), the absence
of blood from deceased's face, and shirt front, the absence
of dirt from his hands, and the testimony of the medical
gentleman that the wounds could tint have been caused by
the kick of a horse. Another remarkable circumstance
was that there was a wound at the back of the head,
as if he had been struck while in a stooping position.
The deceased used to keep a small hatchet in the
house, but after his death it could not be found. Mr.
Edwards for the defence, urged that the wounds deposed
to would have required extraordinary strength, and it
could hardly be conceived that the prisoner had
inflicted them ; that the prisoner had an interest
in her husband's life, and that instead of thinking
of murdering him, it was shown that she had prepared
his supper for him. The fact that the coroner's jury had
returned an open verdict was also noticed. The learned
Judge having summed up, the jury retired, and after
remaining three hours in deliberation, returned a verdict
of "guilty." His Lordship, who said he entirely concurred
in the decision of the jury, then passed sentence of death
in the usual form. Before the prisoner left the dock she
was asked by the Rev. A. N. de la Foss whether the story
about the horse was not trumped up, to which she replied,
"it was." She added, that the way in which her husband
came by his death was by falling down stairs, and declared
with an oath that she never struck him at all.

ADVICE TO OFFICIALS WHO WILL TAlK.—Persons in office
cannot watch too carefully over their words. Better for a
minister to do twenty foolish things than say one foolish one !
—Punch.

APOLOGY FOR EX—EPISCOPAL INCOMES.—A bishop ought
to be well paid for the performance of his duties. Now,
one of the principal duties of a bishop is, when necessary, to
set an example of resignation.—Punch.
WILLIAM Sum{ O'BRIEN, ESQ —We have heard that
William Smith O'Brien, Esq., has been waited on at
Dromoland, by a deputation of the electors of Tipperary,
requesting he would be a candidate for their choice. It is
stated that Mr. O'Brien declined.

THE WISH OF A VETERAN.—" Dash it Sir ! " cried a
poor old Major, on bearing the amount of the retiring
allowances of the Bishops of London and Durham, " I wish
I were an officer on half-pay in the Church Militant."—
Punch.

THE QIIREN'S APPROACHING VISIT TO IRELAND.
Horning Chronicle states that the approaching visit o
Qu•en to Inland, as announced more than

The

tely on her Majesty'

a month ago,
s return from

going next month. Her
Vieenstown, and proceed direct for