Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-04-25 00:00:00

SERIOUS

CHARGE OF ASSAULT

AGAINST

A CHESTER TRADESMAN.

On Saturday, the County Magistrates' Court, at Chester,
was crowded, to hear a serious charge of assault preferred
by Mr. John Bentley against Mr. 'Ellis Ecela, a blacksmith,.
in an extensive way of business,•and a man of propertlsY
investigated. There were four magistrates on the bench,.
including Mr. Potts, who presideu, and Mr- Peter Ewart:,
Mr. MdWard BrOthcrton, of Birkenhead anti Liverpool,:
,defended Mr. Eces.
The complainatt, who appeared in'court with his left ann.:
in a sling, said—On the 9th cif this,month I went to the;
'defendant's boric, and saw his -daughter, who was prepared
with soot and grease, whiet .she -ratted all over my?,
face. •.

The Clerk:. What, was Miring at; hilsaid ?
The Complainant : Nothing at -'all' es said. I bnck(iii:
from her, an tumbled dorm, And shrwent into the house,
got an handful, and did likewise v'ailc I was on 'the
ground. 1 got hold of her to .-puA her from rue, •and
Eccles came up. I get ,np by some means, and we got
hold of •each other, and he struck mecyer the head with a

drawing knife or spokeshave. I caught hold of it with my
left hand to prevent hire striking me mgain, and he wrestid.
it out'of fray hand and cut it tremendnusly. He struellne
over theto.ek of the head with the instrument, and then I-fell:
down, and don't remember anything afterwards. -Onthe
Sunday morning I sent for 'Dr. Weaver. The first blow
cut through to the 'lone, but the -second blow must have
been 'With the haft, as it only raised a lump.
Mi,'Ewart : How long were you confined to your heti'?
Complainant : Ever ' I °Cy got out a little hit
yestelkday for the first -tine. •
Ins cross-examination by Mr. -Bretivrton, the complainant
said .that he had had drink : that he' bad not been at thede-
fendanr s house previously that day, -nor had he been in his
garden on that day, -and walked' <CI with a dahlia stick ;
thet'he had not seen fie defendant's 'daughter previously that
day; that he had been • ten minutes previously
standing in some pig styes that were not in
Eccles's premises, and that he went there to ask Eccles why
he'had put up a flag again. Ho wortid not be certain What
think he had between one and four o'clock that day, but he
remembered that ithaa Higginson.dr.sw him a pint of hoer,
and she said, " John, you will get tipsy; and you shall have
no more." He had been foul-times before their Worghips
for being tipsy, and-twice for assaulting. He was never
charged- with abusing any parties os the high road, 'but he
had been charged With putting !them in the ditch.
Mr. Bretherton : Oh yes ; that is-nothing. (Laughter.)
Complainant : But that was ottiv once. He had 'not
abused a boy named Darlington, but he had fought -With
him. (Laughter.) He had ,been accused of heating a
man named Spencer ; had never been charged with beating
'his own father ; never pulled his father out of bed by the'
hair of his head,- and beat him with a crow-bar; never
broke open the door of his father's house, and never tem-

promised the matter in court.
Mr. Bretherton-: -Well, now, will you venture to tell
their Worships that. you never assaulted your own father ?
Complainant : I have done so, but not in that way. That
was nothing to do with this case.
Mr. Brethert,on : But, Mr. Bentley, when you come
here for protection, their Worships want to know your true
,elaracter.
The cross-examination continued : Did you ever beat
your own sister ? Never. Five months ago did you beat
her. No. Five months ago was she confined ? I believe
she was. Was the Child still born? It was. Had she
been beaten the day'before. Never. ITor touched ? No.
Nor turned out of n'doors ? I have witnesses here. But,
nevertheless, the next morning she was confined of a still-
born child ? Yes.

Mr. Potts said, therthought the line of examination was
beinc, carried too far.
Mr. Bretherton said, it affected the general charge, and
had reference to the complainant's character.
The Complainant denied that he had torn Miss Eccles's
dress off her back, but he did lay hold of her when she
rubbed his face a second time with a sort of-grease. He went
to the defendant to ask why the flag was put up, and if he
would take it down, for, if he did not then, he (complainant)
would pull it down for him.
Mr. Robert Lee said he saw the defendant strike the
complainant over the head with a drawing knife. In cross-
examination he stated that the defendant did not strike the
complainant until the latter had torn his shirt front. Eccles
only struck the complainant once. When he (Bentley) fell
and was bleeding, Miss Eccles brought some water, and her
father bathed the complainant's head, and bandaged it up
'for him. _ _ .

Mr. Ewart pressed the -witness with several questions,
with a view to show that two blows might have been given
without the witness soeing them both. He said he only
saw one blow.
In continuation of his emamination, he sal& he saw the
young woman's petticoat come off when the plaintid had hold
of her. She was appoently trying to get away from him.
She had, previous to laying :hands on him, asked him to go
away, but he did not do so.
Dr. Weaver described the nature of the two wounds ; one
an incised cut, which had •very likely been caused by the
back of the blade, and the other a clean cut separating the
Tittle finger from the third, on the left hand, and
.cutting across the palm: The wound en the

head - was about one-third of an inch deep,
and cut to the bone ; it was - now healed up ; tirtat on
the' hand was nearly healed, and the only thing.to be
apprehended was that lock-jaw might supervene.
Mr. Bretherton, in his defence, did not for a moment
mean to contend that a man could, be justified in the use of
such, a dangerous instrument as a drawing knife, except in
the most extreme case, but what he did mean to contend
was 'this —the plaintiff was ©n the defendant's premises,
clearly for an unlawful purpose-; .he was drunk too, anctle
(Mr. C.) would ask was that tbetime to go and do such-an
act as that to his' neighbour, who lived a quarter of a mile
from • 'him. Four times during .that day had the com-
plainant been at the defendant's prem.ises ; he was per-
suadedEio g o away, and then he went pito the garden and.
got a stick, which was taken from him by the,
daughter, then he came twice tothelig -styes, and on being:.
sent away on each occasion he wertio the public-house, but
returned to annoy. the whole family. The complainant had
omitted t 4 tell the bench one importantfact that had been stated
by his own witness Mr. Lee, and that was, :that before lay-
ing a hand on Bentley, she suggested that he should go
away, and asked him to go. The complainant must have
known the fact, for it was hardly lileely -that a man could
come in contact. with a girl or young woman, without hay-
ing a vivit.recollection of such a fact. .AsAke refused to go,
she rubbed'his face with a greasy rag. 'Ho -caught hold of
her, and held her until her petticoat strings gave way, when
the unfortur.ate defendant came up—unfortunate, because
he bears a very estimable character, .and had never
been subjeeted before to any charge whatever.
He was ill tr,i.,ated by the complainant, who.tore his shirt;
he had seen his daughter ill used, and he •was,betrayed into
doing that, on,the spur of the moment, 'or which he was
exceedingly sorry. Mr. Bretherton contended that the
blows on the head and hand were contemporaneous, and that
whilst striking.the complainant with the lilunt.mle of the
knife, the sharp side had caught Bentley's .hand and
cut it.

Miss Ann Eccles was called, and she stated-that the
complainant had 'been at her father's house that day, at one
o'clock, when he -struck her mother on the Sareas; that
he went into the garden and took a . stick
which was taken from him, and that he subse-
quently came twice and annoyed the faufily. On
the last visit she toldlim, if he did not go away she .wauld
blacken his face, ant Las he did not go, she ful&led her
threat., He Caught told of her, pulled her top slcirt off, .
and then her father ea-ifie and struck hits with the knife
over the head once.

Ellis Eccles, jun., ga7,-e similar testimony.
After a long consultat,,n,
Mr. Potts said that, a fortnight ago, Mr. Eccles
charged Mr; ilentley with pulling down a flag-staff and
flag, a mitter upon will& the bench had adjudicated,
and then Eccles appeared to have done a very irritating
thing by putting up a party ag again. It was very true
Bentley was a very drunken fellow, and nothing was to be
said in his favonv ; but, at the same time, Eccles had used a
most tremendous weapon, for -the purpose of inflicting
punishment upon him. The cast was a most serious one,
indeed, but the Bench hoped that the very livoderate
decision they bad arrived at would be the
means of prcuerving peace between the two per-
sons concerned in this case. If it did not,
they would find -themselves dealt with in a very severe
manner. The defendant was ordered :to pay 43 4s. flue,
and costs.
The Court-room mks soon cleared, for the case had created
some stir in the city, *ad when disposed of., ;left the justice-
room almost desolate. •

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