The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-07-20 00:00:00

DREADFUL EFFECTS OF ANGER.

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Amongst the many dreadful occurrences which fall under our
notice, we have to add the following lamentable ease of man-
slaughter. What renders it more distressing to the feelings is,
that the crime has been perpetrated by a father upon the person of
his own son, an infant of between six and sevsn years of age, and
the catastrophe arose front giving way to an unbounded fit of pas.
sine, excited by a cause the most trivial. The unhappy man, who
now stands charged upon the Coroner's warrant for the offence,
is a Mr. Banton, a person about fifty years of age. and holding a
respectable situation in society, that of steward to Thomas Boner,
Eaq. of Elmstead Lodge, about two miles below Bromley, in
Kent. From what taez facts have come t o our knowledge, it ap-
peared that the child was in the habit of going daily to school
to Bromley, but on account of the diatance was in the habit of
going home only once a day, at the close of the -school in the
evening. About ten days since, the boy, upon leaving school,
loitered on his way, which occasioned him to arrive home consider-
ably after the usual time. Upon going in doors, his father ques-
tioned him as to the cause which had kept him so long, and the
child not giving a satisfactory answer, the unguarded parent ordered
him into a room. On entering the room the door was fastened
by the father, when it appeared he took up the nil of a chair,
which was lying upon the lbw, and began to chastise t!ie psor child
in a most unmerciful manner ; the cries of the child only served
to exasperate the frenzied fit which had taken possession of the
father. The boy, endeavouring to avoid the blows, stooped,
when, horrible to relate, the stick lighted with the utmost violence
upon the buck past of his head, and in an instant he fell
senseless on the ground, the blood gushing in torreets from the
wound. The unhappy man, on beeing the fatal effects which
his passion bad occasioned, instantly gave the alarm. The intelli-
gence was promptly carried to the house of his master, and a mes-
senger was despatched for surgical aid. In the course of a quarter
of an hour a surgeon arrival. who attempted to bleed the child, but
medical aid was of no avail, the vital spark having fled. Upon the
surgeon examining the wound he found the skull fractured, which
produced a concussion of the brain, and was the immediate cause
of death. The medical gentleman, upon finding his skill of no
use, inquired how the accident had occurred, when a female who
was present stated, that the parent of the child had been chastising
him with a stirrup, the buckle of which had entered the head.
At this instant the unfortunate mother rushed into the room, ex-
claiming that her child had been murdered, and that it had been
done by the rail of the chair, and not the stirrup. A further ex-
aminaion then look place, when a violent blow was discovered
near the abdomen, shich, from the discoloration, was evidently
produced by a kick, but which the same female endeavoured to
account for by saying that the child had been bathed with strong
vinegar.
Upon the day following the dreadful catastrophe, the Coroner
held an inquest on the body, when, after the examination of two
witnesses, a verdict of " Manslaughter" was returned, and the un-
fortunate man was committed to Maidatone gaol, to take his trial
at the Sessions for the offence.