Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-08-24 00:00:00

HORRIBLE MURDEM

Oa Friday afternoon a most determined murder was
committed in Wolverhampton-street, Dudley. Between
four and five o'clock a number of Irishmen assembled in
that part of the street known as Craddock's End. They
soon began to quarrel and fight, and the place became the
scene of great excitement. Several of the party had long
entertained an aversion to a man named Michael Hickley,
and after the whole party had left Mr. Berry's beershop,
Henry Higgins, one of the disturbants, struck Hickley
upon the head. The blow was a very violent one, and
exasperated Hickley very much. Maddened by the pain,
he ran into an adjoining butcher's shop, seized a large
knife, and making a desparate dash at Higgins, he plunged
the knife into the upper part of the abdomen. The
wounded man fell, and in spite of medical aid, which was
quickly in attendance, the poor fellow expired within 15
minutes after the blow was struck. The police were soon
on the spot, and secured Hickley and two other men who
had been concerned in the former part of the quarrel.

THE TRAGEDY IN TES WHEN'S BENCH PRISON

At the Central Criminal Court, on Friday, Antonio de
Salvi, 29, described as a servant, was again placed at the
bar. The indictment charged him, in the first count,
with maliciously and feloniously stabbing and wounding
Robert Henderson Robertson, with intent to murder him ;
and, in the second, with the intent of doing him some
grievous bodily harm. A jury, partly composed of
foreigners, was empanelled to try the prisoner. Mr.
Bodkin and Mr. Sleigh conducted the prosecution ; Mr.
E. James, Q C., and M. Serjeant Parry were specially
retained, with Mr. M‘Mahon, to conduct the defence.
Mr. Bodkin having briefly opened the case, the followin4
witnesses were then examined :—Mr. Richard Thompson
said : I am a solicitor, and have acted in that capacity for
the prisoner. I accompanied him to the Queen's Bench
prison on the Bth July. Saw Mr. Robertson. Mr. Gower
went with us. I had some conversation with Mr. Robert-
son before the prisoner came into the room. He was
sitting in au arm chair with his back to the window, and I
was sitting ou his loft side: The prisoner came into the
room, and was standing about five feet from Mr. Robert-
son, in front of him. The prisoner drew nearer to Mr.
Roberson, and it appeared to me that he struck him with
his fist. There was an angry feeling between the prisoner
and Mr. Robertson on the subject of the debt, the latter
denying that he owed it. The prisoner struck him four or
five times on the cheek, the right side, the temple and the
shoulder, and he fell to the ground, and I observed blood
flowing from his person. De Salvi- and Mr. Gower
then left the room, and I went up to Mr. Robertson
and supported him. Mr. Wild said: At the time of this
transaction I was an inmate of the Queen's prison, and I
saw the prisoner and Mr. Gower go towards Mr. Robert.
son's room, and immediately afterwards I heard a scuffle
in his-room, and the prisoner and Mr. Gower came out
together, and walked along the corridor. I then went into
Mr. Robertson's room, and found him b'eeding and
wounded. I went in the direction the prisoner had come,
and I picked up the knife now produced, with blood on it,
and the point broken off, about five yards from Mr.
Robertson's arm. After this I saw the prisoner and
said to him, " You are De Salvi—you are the assassin."
He made no answer, but stepped back. Mr. C.
R. Manson said : I was in the Queen's prison in June
last, and I remember about that time seeing the
prisoner and Mr. Robertson together, and the prisoner
was speaking about a debt due to him upon a bill for £2uo,
and he said that if some satisfactory proposal were not
made to him respecting that debt, he must have his life.
I told the prisoner it was a very serious expression, and I
should take particular notice of it, and should not leave
the room unless Mr. Robertson required it, and I remained
until De Salvi left. I remember hearing a cry of murder
from Mr. Robertson's room on the day this occurrence
happened, and I went out immediately and saw the pri-
soner in the passage below leading to the yard. I recog-
nised him directly as the person who had made the threat
formerly, and I laid hold of him and asked him if he did
not recollect me. He said he did not, and I told him I
remembered him very well, and I should not release
him until I had handed him over to the police.

Mr. said: I was over the room occupied
by Mr. Robertson on the day in question, and I heard a
noise and a cry of " Murder," and the prisoner came out,
followed by Mr. Gower, and they ran along the passage
as fast as they could. Mr. Gower said " Oh" and
shuddered when he came out of the room, as if horror
struck. I saw the prisoner after this, and told him he
should not go, as he was one of the parties, and he re-
plied, " Oh, what is it ?"
Mr. Colville, the chief turnkey of the prison : On the
day this matter happened I heard the alarm, and took the
prisoner into custody. He was surrounded by a great
many people, and there was a cry of "He did it." The
prisoner was taken into one of the rooms and he then said,
" I did it, and Mr. Gower had nothing to do with it.' He
then made an effort to speak to Mr. Gower, but he said,
"Dent speak to me." I was present when the deposition
of Mr. Robertson was taken in the presence of Mr. Combe,
the magistrate. Mr. Wakem, the surgeon of the Queen's
Prison, said that he saw Mr. Robertson about half an-hour
after the fatal occurrence, and he found him suffering
from four wound S—one in the face, one in the collar-bone,
ono in the temple, and another in the nape of the neck.
The last was the most dangerous wound of the four.
Paralysis, total on one side, and par' laity on the other
had supervened, and Mr. Robertson was in a very
dangerous state. He was of opinion that the broken part
of the knife still remained in the wound in the nape of the
neck. Mr. James, Q.C., addressed the jury for the
prisoner, after which a verdict of stabbing, with intent to
do grevious bodily harm, was returned, and De Salvi was
sentenced to 15 years' penal servittule.