The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-15 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

SOUTH WA LES CIRCUIT. - CARMARTHEN,
MARCIE 13.
311:RDEMNG A Win.

Daniel .loaeB was indicted fa• the wilful murder of his
wife, Hannah Jones, in the parish of Llanddarog, in
this county, on the night of October 21.
Mr. J. Evans, Q.C., Mr. Gowen, and Mr. Meriva,le,
wer, counsel fur the prosecution ; Mr. Giffard defended
the prisont.r.
From the statement of the learned counsel for the
prosecution, and the evidence (many of the witnesses
being the prisoner's children) it appeared that the pri-
soner was a horse dealer in a small way of business, and
he was occasi,nally'employed in haulling coals from
the neighbouring pits to the town of Carmarthen. On
the morning of the day named in the indictment, he left
his home early in the morning with a load of coal for
Laren. rthen. He did not reach his home until 12
z'eloek at night. At that time the deceased was sit-
ing up for him, with two children—wit girl of 11, and

a boy of 8. The other children, boys of 13 and 12, I
having retired to bed in an adjoining room. The pri-
soner had placed his cart in the carthouse, and his horse
in the stable, before the children heard bins coming
home. On his entering the house his wife asked him if
he would have supper. The prisoner, whom some of
the witnesses described as being under the influence of
liquor, appeared very violent, and said to her, "No ; I
have heard enough about you to-day. You have stripped
for Bill Saunders." The wife denied the imputation,
and, according to the evidence of the children, the only
witnesses to this part of the transaction, their father
commenced beating the deceased violently with the butt-
end of his whip, which was produced.. It was not a
very formidable weapon. He then commenced shoving
her towards the fire, when she fell. He then kicked her
about .the lead and stomach. When she implored for
mercy, he said, "I will not finish with you u.stil I kill
you." The children, becoming alarmed, ran to the house
of a neighbour named Rees, also of their uncle, David
Jones. The prisoner shortly afterwards followed them,
and begged Rees to come down to his house, "as he
had given an unfortunate blow to his wife." Eventually
Rees, his wife, and David Jones, prisoner's brother,
went down to prisoner's house, and they found the de-
ceased Trite dead on a bed, her face, head, and other
portions of the body presenting a frightful appearance.
There were six or seven deep cuts and bruises on the
head and floe, with marks of burning. One of the pri-
soner's children said that, on looking in :it the window
after leaving the house, he saw his hsther take some fire
out of the grate and throw it with a tin upon his mother,
as she lay upon the floor. He also saw him beat her with
a small stool. There was no witness to the main part of
the violence, as the children had left the house betore
the unfortunate woman was deal. Rees found in the
house a piece of an iron ploughshare cevered wit's hair
and blood. He picked up some hair from the floor.
Prisoner, who had become very violent, called for a
knife to cut his throat, but. Rees restrained him. He also
asked that witness and his wife to assist in laying her out
and that she must be buried on the following Tuesday ;
that it was quite unnecessary to give any information to
the coroner, as he (prisoner) had last seen her alive. He
offered the wife a sovereign for washing the body, but
she declined, and prisoner then did so himself. Some
evidence was likewise given, with the view of showing
express malice. This consisted of a threat against his
wife used by the prisoner five weeks before ; also of an
expression used by him to a female whom he met at a
house at which he called on his road home, to the effect
—" The old woman is almost breaking my heart. I will
put an end either to her or myself this night." The me-
dical evidence was not very satisfactory with reference to
the weapon by which the frightful wounds on the head
were caused. It was suggested on the part of the prose-
cution that some of them might have been produced by
kicks from the heavy plated shoes worn by the prisoner,
and others by blows from the iron ploughshare produced.
To some of the witnesses who visited the house imme-
diately after the occurrence, the pr4ener said that the
injuries resulted from the kicks of his horse while the
decased was assisting him to release the animal from the
cart.

At the conclusion of the case for the prosecution, the
court adjourned, the jury being conducted to lodgings
provided for them.
Next morning(Tuesday) Mr. Giffard addressed the
jury at great length, contending that the crime amounted
not to murder, but to manslaughter.
Mr. Justice Crompton having ininut dy summed up
the evidence, the jury retired at half-past one o'clock.
On their return to court, in the course of tin minutes,
they pronounced a verdict of manslaughter.
Sentenced to transportation for life.
This concluded the business of the assizes.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.-YORK, MARCH 13.
100TH V. THE LANCASIIRE AND YORKSHIRE RAILWAY

COMPANY.

This was an action brought to recover compensation
in damages for an injury received by the plaintiff in a
collision on the defendants' railway. The defendants
paid 251. into court, and pleaded that this wai sufficient
compensation. The plaintiff replied, taking this sum,
that he had received greater damage, upon which issue
was joined.
Mr. Watson, Q.C., and Mr. Bagley appeared for the
plaintiff, and Mr. Serjeant Wilkins and Mr. Tomlinson
for the defend ,nts.

The plaintiff, it appeared, was an attorney at Roch-
dale, but acting as the managing clerk to another attor-
ney in that town. On the 21st of October last he had
occasion to travel by the defendants' railway by the
half-past eight a.m. train, and when between Todmorden
and Eastwood the train in which he was travelling at
the rate of 25 miles an hour ran into another train on
the same line, breaking the carriage in which the plain-
tiff was sitting, bruising the calf of his leg against the
seat, and giving him a blow in the pit of his stomach,
which caused him great pain. The blow on the stomach
caused constipation in the bowels for several days, for
which ho took caster oil. His kidneys were also af-
fected, for which his back was rubbed with turpentine,
and he was confined from business about days. In con-
sequence of the concussion his nervous system had been
much shaken, and he had become nervous. The me-
dical man who was called to prove the injuries the plain-
tiff had received, was cross-examined as to what " ner-
vousness" was, and, after various attempts at an expla-
nation, he gave it up, and said it v, /IA inexplicable. A
cold would produce constipation in the bowels. His bill
for attending the plaintiff was Si. 10s.
For the defence it was contended by Mr. Serjeant
Wilkins that the plaintiff had made the most of the lucky
piece of bueiaess into which he had got on his own an
count, and that if he were paid at the same rate every
two or three months for such accidents he would find it
a much more profitable occupation than quill driving.
The surgeon's explanation of what " nervousness" was,
said the learned serjeant, reminded, him of a question
put at a railway station by an old lady to a very porn•
pons-looking gentleman who was talking loudly about
steam communisation. " Pray, Sir, what is steam ?"
"Steam, Ma'm, is, ah !—steam is—eh !* all !—steam is
steam !" " I knew that chap couldn't tell ye, said a
rough-looking fellow, standing by, " but steam is a
bucket of water in a tremendous perspiration." (Laugh-
ter.) The jury must not let themselves be decieved by
the karst words of the surgeon, who could not ex-
plain what they meant, when in reality they meant the
commonest ailments, which might have come upon the
plaintiff from catching a cold ; and for such real injury
as he had suffered he submitted the 251. paid into court
was ample compensation.
His Lordship, having summed up, left it to,the jury
to say whether the amount paid into court was sufficient
compensation for the injuries the plaintiff had received ;
if they thought it was they would find for the defen-
dants ; if not, they would give the plaintiff such further
sum as they thought the justice of the case demanded.
The jury retired, and, after a short absence, found a
♦erdict for the defendants.