The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-05-27 00:00:00

EX A.MINATION OF THE PRISONER.

In our impression of yesterday, we gave the facts con-
nected with an awful trege y that task place on Monday
night, in B istock-street, Scotland-road, and we now give
the details !hat transpired at the Police-court, and before
a coroner's jury yesterday. The unfortunate p-isoner,
James Dares, is a tailor, and worked upon his own
ecceuat. He appears to ha about thirty-seven years of
age, and is by ne means a ferocious looking person. The
wretched man who fell under his hand was named Rennes,
a sailor. and had b,en married to a sister of Devies, but
she died some sevea years ago. The parties, for a long
time, lived on the best of terms, but it seems that au ill-
feeling had sprung up, ie consequence of Davies suspecting
that something wrong existed between the deceased ani
his wife. This feeling, according to portions of the evi-
dence, which we do net publish, seems to have been well
founded Tae prisoner was brought up at the Police-
court, at one o'clock, before Mr Bente, when the
following evidence was given, in order to found a
remand, as Mr. Clough was not prepared with
evidence for a finel committal. The prisoner did not
seem to be much affected, but at the same time was not
at all careless. He h lard the evidence with atten ion.
The fi eAt witness called wa-. Robert Hodson, who said : I
am a baker by trade (hat now a porter), and live in 13
C ,urt, Kew street. I know the prisoner, who lives in
Rostock-'treat. I was in Irvin's publichouse, corner of
Boa ock-street, at seven yesterday evening. The
prisoner came to me there, and asked me to
go to his house, as there was a man iu bed with his wife,
and he would show me some fun. He was very d unk at
the the time. I went w;th him to the house ; the wife
was siting on a chair under the window, as we went in at
the door. He etruelt her in the face, and called her ill names,
and accused her. She ran out, and I have not seen
her since. He asked me to ge up stairs, and I went
to the middle room. Re said the man must have got
under the bid. I looked, but there was no
man the e. We went up to the garret, and
saw a man on a b on the floor. That
was the deceased. He had an old sheet or blanket
over him. The pr sonar said " here's the --
here." He jumped on the deceased's face. The deceased
turned on to the floor. Tne prisoner took from his right
baud pocket a pair of scis-ors like those now produced and
thrust them into the side of the deceased twice. I said
" Are you going to kill the man?" I went towards him,
and he said " If you don't stand back I will serve you the
same." He then welt down and went out. The deceased
bled from the wounds, but never spoke, nor made resist-
ance when the prisoner jumped on him, he aid not speak,
but turned on to the floor. He never spoke at all. The
prisoner want away and I wear for Dr. Horrocks. I went
beck with the d ictor, who said the man was dead. He
was lying in the blond on the floor. Mr. Wybergh : Do
you wish to ask the witness any questions ? Psi-
s, net : No, I do net, hut he mad a different state-
ment before Witness : No, I made no other statement.
Joseph Little, No. 42. p dicernan, said: I was on duty in
Scatla id-roa.l a little b,fore eight o'clock last night. I
was informed that a man was stabbed. I went in search
of the prisoner, and got him in a public•hou e, corner of
Hopwood-street. I told him he was charged with stabbing
a man, ani he said it was perfectly right. The last
witness then came in, and staid that, the man told him (the
prisoner) he must go to b..-id well. He was drank, but
walked, and did not resit. Came back after I left him at
bridewell, and searched and found the sciAore about two
feet up toe ehire-ey. There was blood and soot sticking
on them. Me Vir ytylrgh : Have you any thing to ask this
witness, or have you any thing to say why you should not
be remanded ? P isoner : No, nothing. He was then
I remanded to this day.
THE INQUEST

took place at half-pa=t two, in the Coroner's Court. In
another p .rtion of our impression will be found some
imramtant observations made by the respected coroner in
ref ranee to the police magistrates in cases of murder. In
addition to the evidence given at the Police Court, as
reported above. The following was given before the coroner
and jury :
Nathan Anson, a boiler maker, living in 15 Court, Bos-
tock- grreet, was examined, and said he knew Davies for
two years, and had seen his wife now and then in the
street. He was going home, in Scotland-road, between
seven and eight o'clock on Monday evening, when Davies
came up to him and said he thought he had i:illed a man,
but did not say who it was. He asked him why he did so,
and he said he caught bis wife in bed with him. George
Floyd, a porter, living at 19, Bevington-street, was exa-
mined, and said he was brother-in-law of the prisoner;
they married wo sisters, an i the deceased, whose name
was Robert Rennes, was married to a sister of Davetts,
but she is dead some seven or eight years past. The de-
ceased was a eafaring man, and generally madeDavies' house
his home when on shorn. Thee was some doubt on the
mind of Davie as to his wife'; fidelity, in censeqaecee of
the deceased stooping there; at one time they were remark-
ably great frie lds Heard Davies say to deceas d
About six weeks back that he loved him once, but
that love 'von d tur.. to hatred. The witness then related
a conversati ma that took place between the prisoner and
deceased, in which the latter admitted that there was an
improper intimacy between hi n and Davies' wife. The
deceased caused a disturbance between them ; he went
out is the Africa to America, and witness knew no more
of them until he saw deceased dea l that mornin g. Mr.
W H. Horrocks, a surgeon, said he examined the body of
deceased. F mud two wounds on the upper part of the
left breast; the face had contused wounds on it. Made a
post mortent examination of the body, and found the wounds
spoken of were incised wounds, made by some sharp-cutting
instrument The auorta was wounded in two places cor-
responding with the external wounds. The loss of blood
from the injuries caused death. F., and two other wounds
on the chest that had penetrated the cavity of the chest.
There was a quart of blood on the floor. The scissors
produced would make such wounds. The officer, No. 42,
was then sxami, e.I, and gave the same evidence as he did
at the P. Mica Court The Coroner then, in his usual lucid
st,le, addressed the jury, and reeapitulattd the evidence,
and left the question to the Jury, who, af'er a short con-
sultation, found a verdict of " Wilful ...Herder" against
D vies, but at the same time said, he had received an ex-
traordinary amount of provocation. The wife of the
prisoner Was in court all the time, but did not seem much
affected, Several p ,rtions of the evidence, which for
decency sake we omit, left no doubt on the minds of all '
who heard it that she was an unfaithful wife.

TH2.I FINANCES OF DPINOLIINATIoNAL [NsTITUTIONS.—
Remar:ing 021 the stand-still condition of many of the
denominational societies in regard to finances, the Free-
man urges that mace of this is due to theunneeessery
multiplication of claims upon religious societtes:—" City
mi-,sions, the rage for education, the mania for chapel
building, and the taste for lavish expenditure on what will
gratify- the eye, have all diverted funds which might
otherwise have been poured into the mission treasury."
Defective piety the Freeman considers as having some-
thing to do with it. There are families and churches
which, " like a sponge, give not until squeezed. Like a
long-necked bottle, they pour forth but little at a time, and
that not without much grumbling. The old tenth which
the Israelite gave to the Lord has been exchanged by them
tar a mech smaller fraction of their income. They pau-
perise their ministers. They starve their Sunday schools. i
They are slow and reluctant n every domestic charity.
To urge their assistance in a philanthropic movement is as
crateful to them as dragging them to the whipping post.
It is not surprising that distant claims are unrecognised,
and the smallest sums are contributed which decency will
allow." There is another class, whose position is stated
by the Freeman. " Those of the middle class live up to
or beyond their incomes, maintaining a perpetual struggle I
between gentility and poverty, keeping up an appearance
of wealth at the expense often of domestic comfort, some-
times of honour, and always of benevolence. They must
live in a fashionable quarter, have a large establishment,
give their children a costly education, sparing out of .E6OO
or £BOO a year, not £2O in charity, and forgetting all the
while that Christ and souls have at least as. much calm,
on them as the " lust of the eye and the pride of life."
AN AYRSHIRE WAG. —Some years ago there lived in
one of the principal towns of Ayrshire an Irish porter,
named David Berry, who was famed for his waggery and
ready wit. One day David was wheeling his barrow
along the main street of the town, loaded with a cask of
water (this was a job in which be was often employed by
spirit-dealers, on account of the peculiarly mixable
quality of the water), when be was accosted by an
aelnaintence, who shouted to him, " What's this you've
got in the barrel, Davie !—is it whusky ?" " No, by the
powers," quoth David, "but it soon will."
EXPORTATION OF POTATOESFROMLIMERICK.--limerick,
Friday Morning.—During the last fortnight much dis-
satisfaction has been evinced by the operative and working
classes in this city at the large quanties of potatoes which
have been daily purchased in the public market for expor-
tation to Cork, Dublin, London, and Liverpool, The
result has proved almost ruinous to the poor, as the price
of potatoes, which are the chief food of the majority of
them, has advanced from 5d to 8d per stone ; and, in
addition, the esculent is becoming scat ce. Both eircum-
stanets give rise to apprehension of scarcity before long,
and in order to guard against such a fearful consequence,
a public meeting is convened for this evening, at the
Tneatre, for the purpose of devising means to put a stop
to the exportation of potatoes, and to adopt such other
measures as may be deemed essential to make preparations
for sale of cheap food, as the dearth of employment in
Limerick is very great.

ATTEMPT AT MURDER.

An attempt at murder was on Sunday made at Witham, Essex,
under the following circumstances :—A young woman named Free-
born, cook to Mr. James Upson, farmer in the parish named, became
"engaged" to a young man named Charles Finch, who was then
working at a tarm in the neithbourhood of Kelvedon. Soon after the
commencement of this engagement he went out to the Crimea to join
the Army Works Corps, or as a navvy, and but recently returned to
the neithbourhool. In the meantime it seems the young woman had
formed an attachment in some other quarter, which appears too likely
to cost her her life. A few minutes after three on Sunday, she left
her master's house for the purpose of proceeding to the parish church,
distant about hall-a-mile, and, so far as her own statement con be
understood, hat nos proceeded many yards before she saw 'Finch
s thing on the bank, much t her surprise, for she had not seen
him since his return, and, indeed, believed ]urn to be in London
He waited until she was quite close to him, then suddenly sprang
upon her, threw her do In in the d tch, and with a razor cut
her throat, without uttering a single word. He then left her ;
but apparently fearing he had not fully accomplished his
purpose he returned again a few minutes afterwards and made a
second incision, and then immediately made off. The poor girl must
hive been very soon found, for about 3 30 a messenger arrived at the
Witham police station. The constables, with the exception of one,
were at the parish church ; they were, however called out during the
service, causing, as may be supposed, no small consternation among
the congregation, and with Mr. Superintendent Cock, of the Essex
constabulary were speedily on the spot. Mr. Thomas, Tomkin, a
medical gentleman, being already in attendance. The young woman,
who is about 94 years of age, and bears a respectable character, being
re noved to her master's house, search was immediately commenced
in the woods, and in a few hours Finch was captured by a labouring
min named Green, as he was attempting to escape from the wood.
Police constable Medley, who was near, took him in charge, and by 7
o'clock in the evening he was longed in a cell at the Witham police
station. The windpipe is completely severed, but the main arteries
have escaped; so that there is some chance of the poor woman's
recovery.