The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1803-03-23 00:00:00

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YORK ISSI2PS (coxttwutD)

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%AIL TRIAL OT 11'1111.11P SANWEL etetsree, Esq. Or
SUICOATES, FOR TILL MIALDLR OF HIS SON AND
teeecaere.
The case was stated to the Jury by Mr. Serjeant
Coceter, in the my impressive manner.- He
stated the unfortunate pi Ironer to be a man of consi-
derehle property ; that the question for the Jury to
decide was, s hether the prioner was in a state of
insanity at the time he committed the fatal deed:—
W he was in a state of insanity, they could not find
the prisoner guilty; because, though they might
have no doubt of his having been the Cause of the
death of his unfortunate children, [his son is elso
dead, since his commitment for the murder of his
daughter], yet, if there was evidence of his insa-
nity, their verdict must be—Not
The servants of the prisoner were called as wit-
nesses; they proved, that upon hearing the report
of pistols, they supposed that their master had shot
himself; they accordingly went to his room door,
and found it locked ; they then went and climbed
up to the weldor:, and saw that the prisoner had
shot his children. Upon Smith, his man-servant,
exclaiming, " Oh! Sir, whet have you done ?" the
prisoner exclaimed, " Done!—Don't you see what
I have done?" The proper measures were then
taken, and the door broke open.
Mr. PARKE. on behalf of the prisoner, addressed
the Jury, in a strain of language and visible agita-
tion, which, we observed, made a COOSidt`rablC im-
pression upon every person xrho heard him. He
said, he should produce before them two witnesses,
whew charafters and eminence in their profession
were so well known, that he need only mention
their names, and the Jury would pay that deference
to their testimony which it so deservedly merited.
William Smith, butler to the prisoner, was
exemiued by Mr D. Sykes, as to the commission of
the fatal eel in question; and cross-examined by
Mr. Parke, on the part of the prisoner. Front his
Evidence it appeared, that he had known the prisoner
13 years in Lelia ; that in all that time ho had ne- •
ver seen him .different front other men—Chearful,
benevolent, and adive in all the duties of his station;
hospitable and attentive to his friends, kind and
communicative to his dependents. That after he
had determined to conic to England, the witness
agreed to accerupany him as butler; that he was
remarkably cheerful for two iennths on board of •
the ship ; but that before they reached St. Helena,
he became all at once reserved and low-spirited ;
that he avoided the company and all intercourse
with his friends in the common room, and
.kept
close quarters in his own ap irtments ; tha' he
never seemed to complain of any thing, but fre-
quently sighed. That at St Helena, during, as be
supposed, a sudden it of delirium, he threw him-
self from the leads of the house where he Indeed ;
that he refused to come home in the ship in which
he had taken his passage, and a&ually sent away
the children; that he attct wards took his passage
home in another ship, and, till arrived in Lon-
don, continued in the same melancholy state
of mind. After coming to Hull, he appeared
something better, for a time, whilst under his
uncle's roof; but that after he had pnrcha.ed
a house for himself, he never gave any dire nuns
either for what he should eat, where he should sleep,
or even enquired how they were supplied with mo-
ney, or who enabled them to go on with hoti,e-
keeping ; that he never saw him take up a hook, or
even set pen to paper, except once to answer two
notes; that he usually walked about the room, or
the passages of the house, during the whole time he
was at home ; that at the period the aft was com-
mitted he appeared unusually fond of hie children.
The prisoner's housekeeper and coachman corro-
borated the above evidence.
1:r. Wires was then c.c.:deed, who said, be re-
membered visiting the patient, and thought him
labouring under a mental derangement, constantly
occupied-by one train of thinking, which could not
be eriven from his mind ' • or, at least, that he was
not able to divert hint from it; and therefore he
• him partially insane, liable to sudden fits
• • • • • in whieh fits he night commit any ad of
r. Nam. • e:
e- eint,- was then interrogated. The prise,-
• ; eeee eve or six weeks at York, under his
. • ,e saw nothing remarkable in his case at the
7 ; !hit he appeared not so cheerful as he had
formerly been, but to be evidently depressed in his
spirits; that cheerful society, he then thought,
might perhaps restore him. Such a state of mind
ceeteinlr often terminatee in suicide, but he had
never known any one in a similar eituation commit
violeace nn others.
The learned Jus!g,• then n.l.iressi:d the Jury, and
after expatieting tieon the enormity of the crime
tor ivh;eh the iniiorivr cti,•A charged, he pointed
out to them how the lief steed provided in such cases
as the present ;—that where a pigeon took away the
Fr cf Another pereien, hut at the time of doing so
was in a state of insenite. he was not guilty of blur-
den—he (the learned Judge) wa. satisfied, tint,
from the evidence given, the Jury woad. be fully
cone:Aced tt the pnsouer was in a state of insanit
at the time of committing this unfortunate erime of
which be stood charged, and would therefore give
their Verdia eteiudingly.
. The Jury then retareetl their verdict of—Non
Cathy, IN arreissfib:e heave", of tis. fine.

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Colonel Putt.trs has just been appointed Demur
Adjutant General at Malta; an office which has
been vacant nine mouth., and which it was supposed
would never have been again filled up. Several
other officers have been appointed to complete the
staff of that islar.d, and hence it would appear there
it no erpcaation of evacuat:ig it soon.
Mr. 8 titer ros's Bull at Edinburgh, on Monday
sennight, was extretne!y brilliant. Among the
coniNnv who honoured it with their presence, were
the Duchess of BLCCLLUGH, the Countess of Hoch,
Ladier. CAROLIVIL and HARRIET MONTAGU, La-
dies (71. elk, DOUGLAS, SrLwAKT several of the
French Noblesse, the younger part of whom con-
tributed much to the enjoyment of the evening, and,
with their usual politeness, condescended to pia in
the country-dances. The Duchess of lluceLkeGil
remained until the dancing had concluded.
About a.week :Ign, in the evening, a most desperate
attack wae. m3,:e on the hcases of Mr. Byrne and Mr.
Macd .nnell, residing at Dolphin's, Barn's Town,
near Dublin, by a numerous gang of ruffians, who
tieloperately wounded every body who opposed their
entrance, and rubbed the houses of property to the
Tp aunt of between 2 and so9ul. Many of the rob-
ers wore masks.

L.