Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-08-12 00:00:00

LIVERPOOL SUMMER ASSIZES.

Yesterday the Summer Assizes were formally opened for
business in St. George's-hall, before the Hon. Baron Wat-
son and the' Hen. Mr. Justice Hill, the former sitting in
the Crown Court, and the latter in the Nisi Prins Court.
The calendar contained the names of 98 prisoners for trial ;
this„raise the number to 107,
m neither read nor write, and
i read only, and 9 can
en compared with

9 late commit

favourab.

grand jury

A. 11. II

6amtle
Dunca

Icla Myers, Esq

a, Esc!

Esq.
)yds, Esq.
osiah Evans, Esq... A Samuel Taylor, Esq.
F. C. W. Gerrard, Egg. ' 'Charles Turner, Esq.
Edward Gibbon, Esq.- . R. Theakstone, Esq.
Sir Jas. G. Hesketh, Bart. James. H. Rigby, Esq

Frederick

ifter the usual pioclamatiOn against vice a'na'imniorality

vas. read,

e grand jury. . Ile
, on the presentoccasion,
timorous in point of prisoners,
and not so serious in point of 'crime, as it was two years ago,
when he had the honour of presiding in that nourt. On the
former occasion there _were 176
.prisoners for trial, and on
the present occasion there . were .only 106. On the former
occasion, there were somewhere between 140 and 150 cases
to try ; and on the present' occasion there were only between
80 and 90 cases. This was a considerable diminution, and
he hoped some good cause might be found for it. But still

His Lordship in'oceerina

that the calendar was na

the calendar was a very g,reat-one—grave and serious in the
cases to be tried. There were thirty-eve cases of cutting,
stabbing, and wounding, by which eighteen persons had
come to their deaths, the cases thus becoming homicides ;
and in the remaining sovente:n, the results had not gor.ze to
that length. There were no less than seven cases of high-
way robbery, fifteen of burglary, and eight of. rape. These
were all cases of violence that could not be too quickly re-
pressed in a very populous county like that of Lancashire,
having within it large towns like Liverpool and Manchester.
There were three cases of.murder, to which he would direct
attention. No. 48 was the case of James Davies, wh!, was
eha-ged with the murder of his wife, at Liverpool, by
striking her a blow on the head, from which death
resulted. They had not lived on happy terms, and had been
married Only a few months. But the question for the
grand jury to consider in this case, was, whether the blow

given was such a one as a reasonable man would imagine
would end in death ;,because, without there was that reason-

able expectation, then the offence became one of manslaughter.
But from all, he could gather from what took place before and
after the blow was given, 'he could see not
to the conclusion that the ml
wifnthouglit it one. from whit

ng to lead MTh
m who gave the blow to his

vas a e 4

r them for one offence
was anothor case of

He always liked. to .try peoplE

tar, Mileton Garai, (

foreigner, NO. 3 in the

ri Liverpool

zed with having murdered
tround.

The first case ar

y nearly the

from the prisoner I
which she returned,

treet quarrel, in which file' pri-
; and the second case resulted
en turned out of a house, to
up a chimney ornament, and
1, and caused her death.
le different cases occasiofled

without premeditation, caused
guilty of Manslaughter. It
case of the foreigner, whether
the woman certainly was sti
It was for the irranc

f a person in hot blood, and

!lhe death of another—he was
was not quite clear, in the
r or not he was struck ; but
ruck, and turned, out of the

hether, under
the irritation of blows, ihe had committed the graver or
lesser offence, because mere words should not reduce the
offence. There were a number of cases to which he begged
the grand jury to give the closest inquiry. These were
cases of rape, the public investigation of which he thought
was, a very great source of mischief; at the same time,
when the crime was perpetrated, it was right and proper
that the offender should be brought to justice and -punished
v'that crime; In these' assizes there were several cases of
Tie would mention to
re they should look

le case No. 12,

knee, also at the woman's statement.
evidence in these cases was that of the

only corroborative evidence generally.
the case of (05), John Battersby. In

at case there was no surgeon examined
e case (68)—the case of. Riley,

reqiiired close examination

There was