Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1857-11-04 00:00:00

XI RIM ALE SESSIONS,

'I hese Befsions were commenced yesterda► morning, at
the Kirkdale Court House The Right Hon. Lord Stanley,
M.P., presided. The other magistrates present were
Messrs. Hall, Benn, Campbell, Rosson, rheekuto❑e J K
Green, Sandbach, ar d Captain Atpinall
The court having been formslly opened, His Lordship
took his seat in thy• private room, for the purpose of
transacting the general routine bus'ness of the district.

TIIN VISITING X 4GISTRATX.S REPORT.

This report stated !hat the building of the jail was in a
most substantial condition ; the,: its sanatory state was
most efficient; and that the g moral heal'h of the pri
Boners was all that cyald be desired. The visiting magis
trates were re-appointed.

TUB JAILORS REPORT.

Mr. Gibbs, the governor of the jail, reportel that
during an past year he had had 2 407 prisoners committed
to h's charge. On the present day there w,re 375 males,
and 63 females, making a total of 4t3. This report was
accompanied by a statistical pspsr, enumerating the
classes of offences, but as it had not bean Lr warded to the
Secretary of State, it was not deemed desirable to publish it.

THE CUM? CONSTABLE'S REPORT.
The repert of this officer showed that the Government
Inspector of England hid, since the lest sessions, inspected
the force under his charge, and after a most minute ex
smioation, expressed it as his opinion, th t the force was
mitt efficient and satisfectory. The Chief Constable ex-
preated his regret that so many of the men lutcl had to be
discharged for drenkencess, an offence which he considertd
of snob a serious nature, that it could not be orerlocked,
at the Fame time stating it as his opinion, that he con-
sidered the tempta ion,' in the way of police-constables
were very great, and that the force was quite as efficient
as any in the kingdom. The report went oa to state that
the force corn isted of 657 n en, that during the past quar-
ter 19 h.td been dismissed for drunket nem', and 32 had
resigned. These resignations were to be attributed to the
constables getting better si:nations in other forcer. Tt
farther appeared that the police had apprehended 2,682
persons, of whom 157 had been sent for trial 1,821 sum-
marily convicted, and 671 had been discharged ; by °the-
parochia' authorities, 2,191 bad b.ea sumcn Ted, 223 of
whom had been discharged, 65 did not appear, and against
six, warrants had been ssu d fcr their appreh nsion. The
total cost of the police establishment had been £33 576 ls.
The cost of clothing, £2,972 6s. 21. Total, £36,5407a 7d ,
which would make the quarterly aczount fcr the police,
£9,137 12s.
His Lordsh'p considerel the reprt extremely satis-
factory.

TIIR CIIAPLAIN.9 RE! ORT,

This report WAR ordered ,o beptinted:but it was such a
valuable document that we m.ke the fallowing extracts :
"In presentirg to the magistrates my eighteen' h annual
report, I am sorry to hays to repeat the regret which I
expressed on the last occasion of my addressing them,
at the appearance of no inconsiderable iccrease in the
number of commitments during the yea;. Low under review,
over ihose of the previous corre•ponding period. That
increase has been, however. solely in the u,nm .ry convic-
tions ; in the present instance, there hav7ng been, in fact,
fewer commitments to the a.s:zes and tke sessions than in
185 G, as will be seen from the following comparative
table :

Total number committed to 1850.
the Winter, Fpring, and
Summer Assizes 447
Do., four County Sessions 2{o
Do., four Wigan k9efrsions
rr
Do, surnmsry comic ions,
from Pct. 20 to Oct. 20 1676
Deduct decrease
Total number in the two - -
years reTective'y ...... 2357 .. 2520 .. 172 48

435
185
13

- .. 12
- .. 15

1896 . : 220 .. -

- -
"Our A size Calendars hive presented, as usual, a
sad catalegee of crimes of the darkest chara2ter, no fewer
than 28 persons having been charged with murder and
murderous attacks ; 44 with violent assaults (most of
them with dangerous weapons and iroolsments), witkout
intention to rob those attacked ; 103 with street and
highway robbery (exceeding by more than one-half those
charged with sneh offences in 1856, and almost all of them
acting under circumstances of g, eat violence and brutality) ;
17 wish manslaughter; with burglary ;13 with ripe ;
and 15 with forgeries of various kinds.
"In comparing the Sessions" Calendars of the two years,
I find a considerable decrease in the thefts of watches,
jewellery, and groceries ; ar.d in base coin transactions,
and a sight decrease in the'ts of weerirg apparel and
poultry. whilst there is a slight bat unnoticeable increase in
several minor offetces,
"With regard to the suernsty convictions, which. se I
have remarked are considerably in excess of those of the
previous year, I have to call the attention of the msgis-
trate; to the lamentable fact of the number of those com-
mitted for being drunk and disorderly havirg advanced
fr.9.gt r'illoliriVt`tAnTr6itli:rs"ffas—iiCe el( d
that of 1856 by 78, and that there have been 135 cent to
us for being out late and sleeping in out-buildings (21
more den thr,se of the previous year). Although our
Assize Calendar: confa'n so many charges of the most
serious nature, I have had the painful duty of attending
one man only to the seeffeld during the year. Henry
Rogers, tle captain of a merchant vessel, who with his
two mates. William 111Pes and Charles Edward Se' mour,
was found guilty of caning the death of a seaman of the
name of Rose, at the last Assizes. The evidence egainet
these men was that of the crew, and was to the effect that
the man had died in consequence f successive acts of
cruelty during the paesege. The following is my notice
of the execution in my journal .
`• Sept. 12 : Captain Henry Rogers executed this day at
noon. He had been most assiduously attentive to his
religious duties ever since his condemnation, and died, I
bal.:eve, a true penitent, and fill of hope that his soul
would be saved throug'a ;ha merits of his Redeemer.
He exacted from me a promise that I would make it known
that he did not consider h'mself guilty of a single act
which had conduced to the death of the seaman Roe:), end
both he and the two males have through ut, in the most
consistent manner, exp wined all the essential facts given
in evidence against them, so as to divest them of all their
atrocity, wirhou denying them altogether. So tr.thful
did their statement appear to rue, that I felt it my duty
to make it known to the Secretary of State through their
attoiney who had a long, but— as far as the captain was
conce.ri ed—a fruitless interview wish him during the
past week. Rogers has left a wite and fire young
children. On Friday merring I adminit.t, red the
Ho'y Communion to him and his wife, and
the two mates, and again to him and Mr.
Wright, the well I nown prison philanthropist,
immediately befne the execution. The truly Christian
firmness with which the captain advanced to the scaffold
was most extraordinary. At our last stopping plale, the
old press room, he uttered a coherent end totrhing
and whilst the rope was round his neck, he called me
forward to ark me the exact words of the prayer of St
Stephen, which we had agreed together that he should use
at that awful moment. 'Are they,' he said, Lord Jeans,
receive my thank.. ? ' and upon my setting him right, he
calmly repeated the words two or three times, • Lord
Jesus, receive my and all was over.
"The two fall wing cases of murder, by insane persons,
have cczurred during the year and excited feelinas of
the deepest commisserwion wherever they have tecome
known.

" Tao 2 : Agnes BraTey (the wife rf a man in respec•
table circumstances) c ,mmitted t) the Assizes for the
wilful mucler of her son, ten months old, by poison, in a
fit of religieus melancholy. She labour under the
impression that she has c:;mmitted the unpsrd,-nable sin
of the Gone!, and says that she took her child's life in
order that he might g) to heaven, whilst too young to be
guilty cf the same.

"May 2 : John Gibbons, an Irishrn.n, for trial at the
Assizes, for the murder of two children, by cutting their
throats with a knife, anit afterwards attempting to murder
his wire and a third child, in a Et of insanity, at Liver-
pool.
"My journal is, as usual, fiiled with the criminal results
of the all pravailng vice of intemperance. I shall, as
usual, give a few extracts from various date., which refer
to the most eeriols of those results•

" Oct. 23 : J. B. a young married man with one child,
committed to the Assizes, for a rape at Liverpool, up ma a
girl whom he had persuaded to take a walk wick tam,
whi7sl
"Nov :D. W. for trial, for causing the dealt of a
drunken woman at his beer-house, by pushing her down
some steps.

" Nov:18 : Two men, committed for being drunk and
disorderly. tell me t. at there are two days in every month,
the Monday on which they are paid, and the following day,
when no work is done by the colliers in the neighbourhood
of St. Hslen's,- and Ashton, and that these are very
generally spent in drinking
" Nov. 25 : Two men, for the ASSrZ?A, one of them a
letter-zarrier, for abstractirg £5OO in Ba k Notes, and
Bank Post Bills, from the letters which he had to deliver,
the Dian hiving been laid at a public house the night before
where the men were drinking.
"Nov. 27 : An Irishman, charged with m ,nslaughter,
for beg ing a man to death with a poker, at Manchester,
at one o'clock in the morning. He had been burying a
child that day, and carousing all night after with his
friends !

Dec. 31: A moot respectable-looking otonemaxon, for