The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-08-13 00:00:00

wresTiaLV crna
S6AIERSET

BRIDOWATICE, A its. 10.

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CIVIL SIDE.
Before Mr. Justice GASF.LtE.
There was no case of the slightest public interest In this Court
• Ji.HIIIVN SIDE.
toolay.
Before air. Justice LITTLEDALE.
flanno AINISLAUMITER.,
lt r(1101?(1'1 woe put to dor bar, indicted for killiqg and
slaying her husband, Henry Taunton, a tV7,lllcot-paraile, ,n this
county, on Sunday, the 13th of May last;
.14. throwing him with
mortal and violence upon the ground, witerekethe received d:ven
mortal wounds, brunes, and comusions, Shedi he languished
and died on the 18;11 of May following. wir. afro charged on '
the Coroner's Inquisition with the same offence. ,
Mr. rhesus
at
mar rie the, bar, who it appeared was about 63 yeare of age, had beep
d to the deceased, a man of 95, in .-1 pril last, about six
weeks before the 'occurrence of the circumstance which gave rim
to those nromedings. They were both paupers residing at Bath.
On the evening of the day laid in the indictment, at about half-
past nine o'clock, they were seen walking from Bath nt a place
called Walcouparatle, which was an elevated terrace, with two
flights of 13 steps each, and communicating with the London-road.
IVhen,they came to the top of the step, the deceased stopped short,
and desired the pr toner to go down first. This she refused to do,
and accompanied her refusal with a push which hurled the de.
ceased down from the top to the bottom of the tint fight of steps.
Ile watpermitted to lie there without any assistance being offered
on the part or the prisoner, till some persons came to the spot, who
eooveyed hint home. The deceased then took to his bed, and his
death occurred within about 56 hours of the accident, on the mornt,
in of the litth of May.
The following witnesses were then called and examined for the
Prosecution :.—.
Elisabeth fimith—l was at Walcet-parade, at half-past nine In
the ravening of the 15th yAls , and saw the prisoner %I the b
companied by The
towards'demesed walking side by side. They
comtng from Bath Lon. Deceased vas a very OK
and feeble man. They did not seem to be on the [test terms. r
heard prisoner Mitten; the deceased in a very grosi and inner
manner. fie made no reply. They then proceeded to the tap
' the steps which lead into the London roml, and at that time I woe
within tin yards of them. Deceased said to the prisoner, " You
Conte first;" her answer was, ••• No—you go on." This wasjuat at
the lop of the first flight of steps. The deceased then proceeded to
go down, and before he could put hie foot on thecae p, prisoner gave
him a push between the shoulders, rather high up, and he fell down
usa,
to the bottom. iid pitched upon his head and then tunnel over flat
on his back, and lay stretched ozi the landing. Prisoner remained
at the top.
~,I asked her, what she did it for. She nade no
answer. I Jwent, down and RIM' a little blood where the deceased I
lay. He apperred sensible, and I Raked if lie wns hurt, he!
tortreireldiers"onos nejtin.tiesea‘tol;'' whiche nil
warla abouttre tailigutahretesruorgfero.nn rodursaorteer i
the accident. After prisoner had pushed the deceased, .she came I
wn 7of the steps, and then went up again to the top, where the
ermined without offering to assist her husband. ' -
I'
W. Hawkins-4 ant tithing-inan of the perish cf Wolcott, and
was sent for to see the deceased on the U'unday after the accident. I
i/ found him lying in bed. Ile appeared very bail and use oft he I
pas dying. Ile said, " that woman. my wife, is the cause of this,
eh threw me down the steps, and I'll never forgive I made
answer, " it is a pity you can't live corntnrtably, like other people,
without raising those disturbances." The .deceased complained
that he was suffering severely from thirst. I told die prisoner to
get him some barley-water to moisten his lips. She answered --
Mr. lIALCO3III, who was for the prisoner, here inset:red, and
asked if his Durdship thought that line of examinat:en should be
Ll,
persevered in, as material to the inquiry how before the Court?
Mr. Justice LITTLEDALE thought it material to discover the
disposition manifested by the prisoner towards tbo deceased subse-
quent to the transaction in question, in order to conjecture what it
might have been previously.
Examination resumed.—Prisoner answered—" Oh I Mr. Hate.
kins, it is no good to give my husband anything ; for if I gave him
one thing he'd want another." The deceased said "he was dying
tio
I
for want of something to moisten his lips with." Next morning,
at about half-past mix, the prisoner came to my shop, and said.
she rep Well l , Mr
her. Hhawkinsusband , lie i gone.
had previously expected to ied was dead. I remarked it was only what I
the night before. hear, from the situation I saw him in
Cross-examined—They had only lived in my neighbourhood
three weeks, and a great many disturbances had taken place be.
tween him and his wife during that period.
It. Stallard proved that he was present et Walcot-paratle, and
saw the deceased lying on the landing of the steps. He afterwards
visited him at his house when he was lying abed. Prisoner said
her husband was subject to fits, and would be better by.and-by.
George Brown, whom name was on the back of the indictment,
was ogled, but Counsel for the prosecution declined asking him
any questions.
On his examination by Mr. Rescoatn, he deposed to having'
known the prisoner for eight orj nine years, and the deceased for a
shorter period. They had been married about a month before the,
deceas-W game to his death. The character of the prisoner was
always unimpeached previous to this occurrence. He
did not know
that her husband was a passionate man. 1
Mr. J. Alansford examined—l am a surgeon practising at Bath.'
I saw the deceased, on the night of this recurrence, on the spoil
where it happened. I examine ti hint superficially on that occasion.
My attention was principally darned to a cut on his forehead. On
his being taken home 1 examined him more particularly, and found,
in addition to the injury on the forehead, bruises and contusions on
the chest and hip. There was one bruise on the shoulder, another,
which was slight, on the abdomen, and three or four along the
s der ne
t,
he all triflinsegd in s
their appearance. I did not at (hat time con-
decea' to be in danger. I saw body the
deceased after his death, and opened
it. I dissectedthe the head of,
and
examined the bruise on the forehead. I found no internal injury
corresponding with the external one. The only unheelthy appear-
ance in t
ohe head consisd in a small quantit of ser nm, whic was
elTused n the ventricleste of the brain. This could not haveh been
occasioned by the cut on the head. None of the external injuries
had produced corresponding injuries within, and I don't consider
any of mite contusions, separately, sufficient to occasion death ; but
I think, when taken collectively, they were sufficient to produce
gethat effect upon a subject so aged
and infirm as the deceased. The
neral shock the system must have received by the fall might
cave been sufficient to cause death in such a Subject, or at lost to
shorten life. I think it did do so.
Cross-mtamlned—l cannot positively swear that the deceased (lied
in consequence of the accident, but 'I think he did. This is ml
opinion ; which I beg to qualify by another, namely, that I don't
think the deceased could have lived long even if the accident had
not happened. I form this opinion front the
on
age of the de-
ceased, and the appearances of decay visible on dissection, particu-
larly the reruns effused upon the brain. The deceased could not
have lived many weeks, independent of this accident.
The cale for the prosecution being closed,
Mr. Hat.COMB raised several technical objections to the form of
the indictment. He contended that the mode in which the deceased
came by his death was not set forth with sufficient accuracy for a
case of homicide.
Mr. Justice LITTLVDALE held the objections to be incapable
of support, and considered the indictment perfectly valid, because
it was in conformity with the ordinary mode in which. indictments I
were framed. Formerly it was thought necessary to describe the j
react length, breadth, and depth of the wound in cases of murder
or homicide, but that had latterly been ruled to be unnecessary.
,1
hes
The prisoner having been called on for her defence, protested
dental. ,
innocence, and 'described the whole transaction as purely acci-1
/11r. Justice LITTLIDALT charged the Jury, who returned a
verdict of Girifte.
Mr. Justice LrrreW.Detw, in pasting abntence upon the pet-!
seller, observed, to consequence of her extreme age, he shottldj
only sentence herto six taxman' imprisonment in the lime of
Correction.
UTTERING COUNTERFEIT COIN.
Jesrph Marsh and Aforguret !Words, his wire (a pretty genteel-
looking female were put to the bar, charged with uttering to n
ee
John Elba, at Pechnltiater„ in this county, oa the kith of Jun,
five pieces of counterfeit money, purporting to be the legal silver
min of this realm, calked a hat-crown, at a lower value than they
imported to be, namely, for M.
Joseph Marsh pleaded Guilty to the indictment.
Mr. Justice LITTLIDA,LE adetenished the prisoner that his
plea would not avail in procuring a mitigation of puniebment, and
called on him to reconsider it.
The Prisoner having =suited with his Counsel, persisted in the
same plea.
The female pleaded Not auilly.
The prisoners were Olio charged on a second indictment with
the commistion of a similar offence, as the same plate and time.
The prisoners pleaded as belfore.
The prisoners were indicted a third time for a like offence, to
which they both pleaded Not Guilty ; and no midence being ad-
duced in support of it, they were .Argisitted under the direction of
the Learned Judge.
Margalwt Marsh was then put on her trial on the two first incite*.
Merits, and no evidence being given to substantiate the damp, was
4er/fat/rd.
Joseph Marsh was ordered to be brought up for lesietatta to.
morrow.
' Jetwet Hughes was indicted for stealing a goW watch, two some
' reigns, and other valuables, the property of John Robinson, on the
15th of June, in the parish of St. Peter and Paul, Bath.
The circumstances of this robbery, which occurred at the Chris.
topher Inn, in Bath, Were as follows :—.
Mr. Robinson, the prosecutor, slept in that house on the niche
bed the 15th of June, and on going to bed placed hie clothes by the
bed side. In his pockets were contained the articles laid in the in-
dictment. When he awoke in the morning he discovered that his,
watch had been taken from his pocket in the course of the night,
'together with his purse containing two sorereiems, a ring, and va-
rious other articles. The pro/water immediStely gave the alarm,
and in consequence of some euspicfbn that the prisoner was the
thief, ees sought for ; and It being discovered that he had left
Bath that morning by the Cheltenham coach, a Constable was sent
in Pursuit, who aPPreliended him In the latter place on the same;
evening, with the stolen property In his possession. The prisoner,
who was a lad of not more than 16 or 1; years of age, appeared to
have been lurking about the inn, and seized an opportrnnetty to
carry away the property, but in what manner was not
meta d. Gnilty.—Sentence of death recorded.
The indictment against Ellmbeth Bunten for child murder was, i • by the Grind Jury this day; and in the case of the canary
birds alluded to yesterday no bill was fain