The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-01-14 00:00:00

MURDEROUS ASSAULT.

On Sunday morning, a little after midnight, a man
named William Cooper, about 30 years of age, and of a
strong muscular frame, was set upon and brutally assaulted
in the neighbourhood of that redoubtable quarter, Angel
Meadow, Manchester, and so severely injured that. his
life is despaired of. The officer on duty found a man on
some steps in R)chdale Road, about half-past three in the
morning, bleeding profusely, and so weak that he was
insensible. By the assistance of 801113 other officers
he had him conveyed to the infirmary, where the home
surgeon at once expressed his fears that the wounds 41Mt
prove fatal. The man remained insensible until ten o'clock
the following morning, and then he was able to tell his name,
and described the man who had so murderously assailed
him. From the description he gave the man was appre-
hended ; his name is John Lynn, living in the neighbour-
hood of Angel Meadow. So soon as the wounded reilu
regained consciousness, Superintendent Leary, learning
his dangerous state, at once proceeded to the residence of
Mr. Maude, stipendiary magistrate, at Pendleton, who
immediately returned with him to the Infirmary, to take
the dying man's depositions, in the presence of the
prisoner. From this dt, appeared- that Cooper was a
striker to smiths, and was last working in a foundry at
Knott Mill. He had been out of work for some time, and
on Saturday went to Openshaw, where among some men
of the same trade 3s 6d was raised for his benefit. He
returned to Manchester about midnight ; and getting to
the neighbourhood of Angel Meadow, he addressed him-
self to six or eight men who were standing at the corner
of a street, and inquired whore he might get lodgings.
Having some notion of the character of the vicinity, he
had secreted 3s. in his shoes, and had only 6d in his
pockets. In reply to his inquiry, the prisoner, Lynn,
stepped out and said he would find him lodgings, if he
would stand sixpence. Cooper gave the sixpence he had,
but instead of being led to where he might find lodgings,
the sixpence was spent in ale, and he joined the rest in
drinking it. When the ale was finished, the prisoner said
to him that he must stand another gallon. He replied
that he had no more money. Upon that he was struck a
blow with something sharp on the right side, which his
jacket prevented penetrating his body, and then he
received a similar blow on the left side, from which the
warm blood flowed profusely. H e shortly afterwards
became insensible, and remainegl so until, as wo have said,
he had been some time in the iillrmary.

MERCHANT SXAMEN'S PENSION.—AS much as £91,415
were p.id last year in pensions.
ANnTHER INN^CINT CONVICT.—In addition to tre sad
case of John Markham, innocently convicted of forgery, ex.
Sheriff Rose mentior.s the following :—" By the exertions
of the Ordinary of Newgate, another man, Martin by nate
who had been convicted and sentenced to four years' penal
servitude for highway robbery, with violence, at Bethel.'
Green, was proved to be innocent. I heard this man triel,
and doubted his guilt. When undergoing his sentence lie
came under the care of the Ordinary of Newgate ee
believed him to be innocent. We ransacked Bithnal Green
for three days, and got endoubeed evidence that he leas
not guilty, and, moreover, discsvered who was the guilty
man. Martin also was pardoned, and not long since he
stood in my office, an emaciated wreck of his former
self. Before he went to Milibank he said he didn't 'crow
his own strength, and could work without fatigue the
longest day."
LORD PALMERSTON DICT•tTOR.—Lord Palmerston, teen,
is a dictator. Globe. Our readers will do well to ponder
on the tone adopted by our cotemporary, because it is a
singular confirmation of the speech of a certain Ros al Field
Marshal at the Trinity dinner, and, taken in connexion
with the communication we recently made of a "transac-
tion" between the Prince and the Premier, is singularly
significant. Our cotemporary need not boast of the
honours or the power of Palmerston. The public men or
the day have proved themselves so lost to the great national
honour, and so doubtful in pub'ic character, that tlic publig
welcomed Palmerston on the principle "that bad is the
best." A political charlatan of the first grade, he had
dexterously contrived always to make good his retreat to
ihe Tory or any other ranks, and in his defection from his
party laid the basis of the nondescript ministry we
now tolerate. His career is not that of a dictator, and has
no strength or greatness of character to render it historical;
bat is an interlude between the death of a dishonest party
and the formation of a better. He is tolerated and despised.
Neither his allies nor his cabinet trust him.—Atlas.
UNDETECTED BURGLARIES AT BRADFORD.—Two some—
what remarkable burglaries have within the last few days
been committed at North Brierly, within this dietrict,
and no clue whatever has, as we write, been found to lead
to the detection of the robbers. The first of these was
committed between two and three on the morning of the
elth, in the house of Mr. Joseph Hanson, beerseller. A
large hole had been bored by a brace and bit to enable
the parties to insert a hand and withdraw the bolt, and
by this means they had gained admission. Neither Mr.
Hanson nor any or the family had been disturbe l, but
when he rose in the morning he dsiscovered that a desk
in his bedroom had disappeared, and that the kitchen
door was opened. The desk contained a dozen silver
tea spoons marked " J.H." a pair of silver sugar tongs,
a watch guard, and a memorandum book containing a
cheque for £450 on the Bradford Banking Company,
and about .tl2 in silver. The thieves had evidently
been well acquainted with the premises, and also
with the fact that Mr. Hanson had a largo sum
of money in the house, he having, when he went
to bed, concealed a bag and 500 sovereigns under his
pillow; but the thieves thinking no doubt that the desk
contained the whole of the expected booty, decamped with
it alone. The empty desk was found in a field about a
quarter of a mile distant. The payment of the cheque has,
of course, been stopped, but the guilty parties are still at
large. A similar burg'ary was committed on the evening
of the 9th, in the same district, when the house of Mr.
Mason, a schoolmaster, was broken into in a similar
manner, and with the utmost adroitness, without disturb-
ing the inmates, and the following property carried away—
Several silver teaspoons, three sugar spoons, six book-
binders' tools for lettering the backs of books, &c. To
this property was added .€l2 les in cash. A large quantity
of wearing apparel was found tied up in a shawl ready for
removal, but whether the thieves had been scared away,
and thus left the bundle, is at present a mystery. These
depredations, connected with the fact that several known
burglars reside in the neighbourhood (most of whom have
already been convicted), have created considerable alarm,
and persons who never dreamt of using fire arms aro now
earnestly providing themselves with them as the only
means of defence.

THE LATE DISTRESSING CASE OF ATTEMPTED
SUICIDE IN LONDON.

Martha Rebecca Jukes, a widow about 30 years of age, was
brought up on remand before Mr. Selfe, at the Thames police
court, on Monday, charged with administering laudanum to
her son, William Jukes, aged five years, and also with taking
laudanum, with the intention of committing suicide. The pri-
soner's husband committed suicide a few months since, while
she was attending her father's funeral at Yarmouth, in Norfolk,
and she had since endeavoured to snpport herself and child by
needlework, for which she was• very badly paid, and becoming
quite destitute, she procured fourpenny worth of laudanum,
and after administering some of it to her little boy, swallowed
the rest herself. Something strange in the appearance of the
prisoner caused her landlady to send for medical aid, and she
was conveyed to the London Hospital, where the wretched
woman and her child were relieved by emetics, and the
poison dislodged from their stomachs. Both mother ani
child were in a state of partial insensibility when brought to
the hospital. They remained under the kind treatment of
Mr. Burch, the resident medical officer, for several days,.
until cured. Mr. Burch was of opinion enough laudanum
had been taken by the prisoner and her boy to destroy life,
and that the prisoner was in a state of great mental depression
and physical exhaustion when brought to the hospital. She
became exceedingly penitent, and was very sorry for what she
had done. The depression was such as to cells° that state of
mind called melancholis. Mr. Selfe s'ated that be haul re•teivel
a letter from the Chaplain of the Cleikenwell House of De-
tention, stating what he had no doubt was very true, that the
prisoner was extremely penitent, and regretted the rash and
dangerous act she had committed. If he consulted his own
feelings, he should not send the prisoner for trial. Ha must,
however, commit her for trial, on the charge of administering
, poison to her child. He was afraid, if he did not do so, others
would take advantage of the lenity exercised and commit
similar offences. There was no doubt the prisoner had seen
much trouble and sorrow,and he had letters from kindly disposed
persons who would receive her when she canoe out of prison.
Elo would tike etre that these communications and others
should be made tothe judge who presided on the trial. Bridg-
land, a police sergeant, No. 39 K, said a gentleman had called
upon hint and 'remised to assist the prisoner and her child
whenever she obt►ined her liberty. There was a good deal of
sympathy manifested for the poor woman. The depositions
were then formelly taken by Mr. Pyer, the chief clerk,
and it appeared the prisoner bad been in a low and
desponding Late ever since the lamentable suicide
'of her husband, and that she was almost starved
on slop work. The depositions having been comeleted,
Mr. Burch said he wished to make a few remarks relating
to the sale of poisons. The prisoner procured four separate
pennyworths of laudanum at as many druggists' shops. A
great rosny persons had been brought to the London Hospital
during the eleven years he had practised there, suffering from
the effects of poisons, which they readily procured at the drug
shops. A case of that kind was brought to the hospital that
' morning. He thought something shonhl be done to stop the
• indiscriminate sale of deadly poisons. If these druggists who
• , had sold poisons to persons, which bad in numerous cases been
the cause of death, were not legally responsible, they were
mcially so. Mr. Selfe : Mr. Buu'ch, it is difficult to say where
. line is to be drawn. It would be going too far to say to
chemists and druggists, " You shall not sell a pennyworth of
laudanum," or some other drug, which, if used judiciously.
did good. Many persons buy laudanum to relieve the
uoothache. It is not like prussic acid, strychnine or arsenic,
which, under no circumstances, ought to be sold by druggists,
or dispensed in any way, except under the advice of a properly
. qualified medical practitioner. If the sale of laudanum, and
other drugs, are to be prohibited, it can only bo done by such
restrictions and regulations as would be sore to be obnoxious to
Englishtnen. I don't like to blame the parties who sold the
laudanum, unless I know all the circumstances under which it
was procured. Mr. Burch was of opinion it was a dangerous
practice for druggists to sell laudanum at all, and hoped that
the matter would be brought before the Legislature in a proper
form. The prisoner was then committed for trial, and in
answer to an application from the prisoner's brother, to put in
bail. Mr. Selfe observed that he wished the prisoner to obtain
the seclusion of a prison, and receive the attention and kindness
of the governor and chaplain of Newgate, to which prison she
was going. He refused to take bail.

LORD STANLEY ON THE TICKET OF
LEAVE SYSTEM.

A general meeting of the members of the Law Amend-
ment Society was held at No 3, Waterloo place, London,
on Tuesday evening, Lord Stanley in the chair. The
Secretary read a letter from Lord Brougham, directing
special attention to certain matters in the administration
of criminal law. Mr. Hastings then read a report from
the criminal law committee, on the paper recently real
, before the society, by Mr. F. Hill, on the " Means of
Freeing the Country from Dangerous Criminals," the
suggestions in which were embodied in the following
resolutions : 1. That the fourth section of the 16th and
17th Victoria, cap. 99, ought te be repealed, and that
terms of imprisonment equal to the former terms of
transportation, should be adopted in the place of the
periods of penal servitude laid down by that section.
2. That courts of justice ought to be empowered to
inflict, at their discretion, one of such terms of imprison-
melt on any offender convicted of simple larceny,
without any proof of previous conviction of felony.
a. That it is not expedient to establish a new
penal colony, or to renew the former system
cf transportation, but that it is highly desirable
to encourage the emigration of reformed criminals,
after they have passed through a proper period of punish-
ment and probation in this country, to such colonies as
may be willing to receive them. Mr. Hastings con-
cluded by moving that the report be received, and
printed for the use of the members. Mr. Edward
Webster objected to the resolutions being received as
part of the report, and therefore moved as an amend-
ment, that the report alone be received and printed. Mr.
Elliott also argued that there was no possibility of
reforming criminals by keeping them in this country.
He seconded the amendment. Some discussion here
took place, in which Mr. Apsley Pellatt, M.P., Mr. F.
Hill, and others took part. Lord Stanley said the subject
of transportation had to be divided into two distinct
parts; first, they had to settle what should he done with
criminals while under punishment ; secondly, what
should be done with them after their term of imprison-
ment had expired. As regarded the first, he believed
there was a very general opinion that you can more
advantageously, in all respects, detain the criminal here,
than you can send him abroad ; there is no possibility
of his mixing with the population, and there are plenty
of public works, either in esse or in posse, at which he
could be employed. The real difficulty was, what was
to be done with the criminals when their penal term
is expired? It seemed to him (Lord Stanley) that there
was only three possible courses which could be adopted
—one, to send them to colonies already occupied ; the
second to found new colonies expressly for the purpose
of receiving them ; and thirdly, to keep them in this
country, with tickets of leave, or without, The first course
he altogether disapproved of, as it would be difficult to get
colonies already occupied to consent to receive them, and
without such consent no sane man would think of act-
ing. The alternative lay between founding a new colony
for their reception, and keeping them at home. [His
lordship having reviewed the plan of founding a new
colony for the reception of criminals, considered the
subject beset with difficulties.] He then proceeded :
The only thing left was to try to make the best of some
system of retention at home. He did not think the
ticket-of-leave system had yet had a fair trial, or
whatever its faults may be, that it was responsible for
the whole amount of crime which now exists--.,3 large
proportion of which might be attributed to the disband-
ment of the militia and a portion of the army. He
considered the ticket-of-leave system should involve the
principle that the residence and occupation of every man
holding one ought to be known —so that, if there were
merely a strong suspicion of his getting his living
dishonestly, he might upon that suspicion alone, be
called upon to answer for the manner in which he got
his living. To be carried out with success, the system
required to be carried out more strictly than it had been.
rt struck him as a great mistake that in our prison
discipline there was no intermediate state between the
absolute seclusion of imprisonment and freedom of life
out of doors ; and it was most injudicious to turn a man
out of prison without any means of gaining a livelihood,
and without friends, no course being left open to him
but a return to his former crimes. He approved of the
principle of placing it within the power of the criminal
to reduce or lengthen his own imprisonment, and it was
worth consideration whether we could not undertake to
find work for discharged convicts who might be willing
to accept it. Ills lordship concluded by stating that, as
things now stand, he did not pretend to say that we can
see our way out of this difficulty, but the next best thing
was to warn the public against trying vain and fallacious
remedies. The amendment was then pat and carried, and
the meeting adjourned.

EXPORTS IN CANADA.—An official notice has been pub-
lished in Canada, announcing that alt railroad companies.
whose lines of railway cross the provincial boundary, or
terminate at such boundary, shall be allowed to transport
goods without being detained at frontier posts for the
purpose of being examined at the Custom-house, or for
the execution of frontier bonds. A compliance with
certain regulations on the part of the railroad companies
is required. These regulations are published, the most
important of which rt quire that the companies shall
provide proper warehouses and offices, and that cars
shall be specially set apart for taking the goods through
and having them locked up.

SINGULAR ACTION AGAINST THE EASTERN
COUNTIiS RAILWAY COMPANY.

In the Shoreditch County Court, on Monday, before Mr.
Serjeant Storks, the judge, a somewhat singular action was
brought against the Eastern Counties Railway, by a mer-
chant in the city, named Jones. The plaintiff sought to
recover 163., the value of a hat ieft by him in a first class
carriage, under the following ciecumstancet :—Mr. Jones
was in the habit of travelling on his own account; and on
the 13th of December, 18.55, left Yarmouth, in a first class
carriage, by the 2.10 train from London. The plaintiff
alighted from the train at a station on the other side of
Thetford, when he discovered some commercial travellers
with whom he was acquainted in the next compartment.
They invited him t ) ride with them for company, and
he did so, leaving his hat hanging in the compartment
he had previously occupied. When the train arrived
at Shoreditch, after a long, dreary journey, and much
behind its time, the hat could not be found. Plaintiff
enquired for the station master, to whom he made known
his loss, and a gentleman then came forward and said
he saw the hat remese I at Thetford by the station master.
Upon this the officials promise] that search should be
made, and in the event of the bat being found, it should
be forwarded to plaintiff's residence. Hearing nothing
respecting it, plaintiff wrote a letter to the company, in
which he passed some very severe strictures upon the mode
the business of the line was conducted, and demanded his
hat, or the value thereof, threatening to summon the com-
pany unlees he received satisfaction. Several letters passed
between him and the company, and ultimately he received
a letter from the secretary ( \lr. Owen) which stated that
every possible means had been taken to find the hat, but
without success. Accompanying this letter was one from
the station master, at Thetford, who denied that the hat had
ever been seen there. The company refusing to pay the
value of the hat, plaintiff brought the action, and contended
that a 3 the article formed a portion of hie personal luggage,
the employ was clearly liable to replace it. To account
for the l'agthened period that had elapsed between the
time the hat was lost and the action brought, the plaintiff
stated that he had been promised by Mr. Goodson, one
of the directors, who belonged to the same club as him-
self, that if the hat was not found it should be paid for.
The Judge : A very foolish thing for Mr. Goodson to do
over a glass of good grog. (Laughter). He should not
have pledge] the c )mpany that way ; but it does not alter
the else. Mr. John Blackman Owen, the secretary, was
called by the plaintiff, and said that it was possible for a
person to leave a station with two hats, without attracting
attention. Everything had been dine to find the hat, but
without success. The Judge said the question would be
whether plaintiff had any right to take his head away
leaving his het behind him. (A laugh) Mr. Malins,
solicitor to the company, submitted that if the case was
decided in favour of the plaintiff, there would be no limit to
the liability of the company. If parties were allowed to
change their carriages, leaving property behind, and the
company were held liable for it, in the event of it being lost,
many false claims might be made, the company being unable
to prove whether the articles had been lost or not. Clearly,
the hat had been in plaintiff's own custody, and it had been
lost by his own 13, glig,ence. The Judge said it was a nice
point, and one that had never been before him up to that
time, to settle how far a person was liable to take care of
his own personal property. After looking into the acts of
parliament, the learned Judge said it was quite plain that,
if a person did not take proper care of property which had
been in his own custody, he could not recover for any loss
he might sustain. It was clear that hats, coats, and
walking sticks were included, and he thought um'Tellas
also. ConsEquently, he decided that the company were
not liable, and the verdict would be for the defendants.