The National Register.
London, England, 1820-03-05 00:00:00

CHARGE 01' ►IURDBR.

Thomas Pertly and Gvorae limier had been indicted
for the wilful murder ni W Jliant liar', w.;ii was thrum;
01l the Holyhead NI ;11, of which Pertly was the driver,
and which had been upset by theCttester of which
Butler was the dater, in conscquence of fife nusrnnduct
of both pri:•onvrs, who had been raeina tnelr coact', s
near St. in the ono;:th of August last, but the
Grand Jury having thrown out the hill for the elynal
offence, they were now tried on a charge of Nlauslangh-
tcr. _ .

Mr. Brodrick stated the case for the prosecution. The
first witness called was

Mr. Arche►, a respectable boot-maker, of No. 91,
Cheapsitle, who presented a mutilated and broken down
appearance, having been one of the anhappy sufferers
irons the misconduct which occasomed the death of the
deceased. He stated, that he was an outside passenger
by the liolyhead Mail on the loth of August last, in-
truding to go to Coventry on business He sat on the
hoz with the prisoner Pertly. %Viten the coach arrived
at that part of the road beyond Highgate, where a junc-
tion is formed between the Archway Road and the old
Highgate Road, the Chester Mail came up. Both coach-
men began to whip their horses, and put them into a
gallop, and drove abreast of each other at a furious rite
for a considerable distance, when the driver of the Ches-
ter Mail slackened the pace of Isis horses, and seemed
conscious of the impropriety of his conduct ; but, how-
ever, when the coaches approached St. Alban's, and had
arrived at the hill, about a mile from that town, the pri-
soner, Pertly, put his horses into a furious gallop down
tile hill. His example was followed by the mites
who endeavoured to overtake him, and a most

terrific race ensued between the two carriages, the Mot
city of both increasing by their own specific I.:,ravity down
an abrupt hill. The road was wide enovglt fu: three
carriages to pass each other, but the prisoner, Under,
perceiving that Pertly was keeping a-head of him,
pushed his horses on, and waving bis hat and cheering,
he suddenly turned his leaders in front of the leaders of
the Holyhead which, in consequence of being
Jammed in between the bank of the road and the other
vehicle, was immediately upset. The consequences
were frightful ; the deceoed was killed on the spot ; the
witness nad a leg and an Arm shattered most dreadfully,
and a gentleman's servant, named Denier, was taken up
almost lifeless, and remailed afterwaals at fit. Alban 's
seven or ceps days before he could be removed. The
witness stated, that he could not identify the prisoner,
Butlet, but he remembered that just before the accident
happened, he heard a person on the box of the Chester
Mail cheering very loudly in a triumphant manner, and
saw that pvram waving his That, and he believed it was
the coachman. After the race Pally spoke to ender,
and said, "Oh, it is you ; 1 did not thinl: it was you."
Lie afterwards observed to witness, that Hitler was a
young hand on that road, and did not know that he,
Nerdy, was to be at Redbourn by a particular time, Wit-
ness had no doubt that the mischief had occurred in
consequence of the Chiter Jlail delver having turned
the leaders upon the leaders of the plot tread, and com-
ing so near the latter. The accident happened half a
nude south of Si, Alban's.

:11r. IVebster, a surgeon of St. Alban's, proved that
the deceased cattle by his death in the wanner alleged.
A Mr. Butler, a friend of the deceased, slated, that
the latter had liven parish clerk of liaitley, 111:ar Slow.
bridge, in Worcestershire, and that rot the 10th of
August he had dined with witness before ho went nit ►.y
the
The prisoner nutlet., svho is a stout well fed matt.
sail, that the 11,iises whic it hu drove were young and
high tnettlld, and that he helloed one of them had
never been iu baruco„treforc j thatthey had started off

_ .
in consequence of the rattling of the other coach, end
became unmanageable ; and that, if ten thouiand lines
were at stake, it was quite out of hii power to prevent
the accident.

The object of Peril.'s defence was to throw the whole
blame upon Butler. After the accident happened the
prisimers had aliscondeil, and were not taken into
custody until towards the end of Fehruary.
Several witnesses gave Butler a high character fin
civility, sobriety, and caution as a driver.
The prisoner Perdy also received a good character,
and was described by the witness .s to be a civil, sober,
man.

Mr. Baron Garrow summed tip the case for the Jury
in an eloquent and impressive manner. TheJ fouud
the prisoners Guilty.
The Learned Judge, in passing sentence, commented
on the conduct of the prisoners in terms of strung ani-
madversion. Their conduct was marked by the most
brutal indifference to the lives of his Majesty s subjects.
t was no answer to a case of this description, that they
had pot their own liv es in the same peril, because they
depended upon the chances of their own skill and
dexterity in driving, in which the passengers had no
share. The nature of the defence set up by one of the
prisoners was a serious aggravation of his crime, for if
lie knew that his horses were high spirited, he ought to
have been the more cautious its his mode of (hiving.—
For the itilbritration ofcoacii proprietors, he thought it
his duty to censure the practice of putting unbroken
horses into a public vehicle. Coach proprietors were
not to traits their horses at the expence of the lives of
the public ; they should take care to provide such castle
as would not incrust the ordinaty danger Of stien con-
veyance; bin above all, they should provide drivers upon
whose discretion and good conduct reliance could be
placed. II is Lordship laid it down distinctly, as a pro•
Ixuutiou not to la' disputed, that it was tot awful for the
driver of a public coach to pun his horses nun a gallop,
and that he was answerable for all the (4... sequences of
an this ingement of this law. The di is et . t coach
was bOffild to protect even the ihtogic tt.stt, !ue blind,
the aged, awl the helpless against their own Willt of
caution or improdeuce. The case now before the Court
presented circumstauces of gross aggravation atid his
Lordship tel• a sus dirty to pronounce the tteserest judg-
ment that time law .vill allow, which was, that the pri-
sotterS ‘nourid be sekerallv confined in the common gaol
of this county for the term of nor year.

ONOlls otyritAill,

Catharine Hierties and 'Fatima, Kentish were in,
dieted as anti accessary to an assati4 alma
Ehza Harris, ao infant, under Inc age of 1(1 years, with
Introit to CoMotaii gn),". (son atte On her peril, 11.
It Is inipowno!e. to .•,i.ez nni a &lad of the circtun.
stances of this roc,oits and dialiiiheal transaction.
which excited, in an iitintensely crowded Court, feelings
of horror and indignation. _ _ .

Toe Jury, under the Learned directions,
loo•.4 the prisoners Guilty.
Tiiey were sentenced to three years imprisonment each
iu Heriiiird ward,
The female prisoner evinced in her countenance the
most audacious impudence and confirmed profligacy.
The other prisoner, %% as equally unprepossessing in his
appearance.

DESTRUCTION OF A VILLAGE.—'They write from
Lausanne,under date of the Imh February.—A deplora-
ble event occurred on the 'a:7th December, in the valley
of Visp, iu Vallais, by the sudden detachment of a part
of the Glacier of ‘Veiphorn, which has destroyed a
great part of the village of 'Linda. It was about six
ti chock in the morning that a frightful noise announced
to the inhabitants of the valley the danger in which
they were placed. Neither the glacier itself, however,
nor its f:aginents, touched any part of the village ; but
the pressure of the air, caused by .its tumbling down,
tore up the trees, destroyed cattle, and overthrew houses.
Roofs of houses, blocks of smite and ice, were carried
away to a considerable distance. A great number of
cattle, the only resource ofthis Alpine people, ocrished.
Twelve individuals were buried under ruins , ten were
extricated, living, by the prompt assistance given theta;
the remaining two were crushed under a heap of rub-
hish. Deplorable as is the situation of these unfortunate
persons, it is feared that they still suthu more severely.
As the precipitation of the glacier was confined to one
put of it, and as the other part threatens a similar eisi•
onion to this unhappy country, the deco UCtioll of the
remainder of the village is via; probable, and the mill
resource which the inhabitants h use left is, to abandon
a territory, which, if they rtotem there, will become
their general grave.
In the Consistory Court, on friday, sentence .of
divorce was pronounced iu several cases, among which
was that of the well-known actor, Mr. Harry Johnuop,
Mr. A Ihiutt, pf Clapham was ordered to serve the olhoe
of elturchwar4on of Allhallows, Barking. Dr. Swabia
moved the admission of an al legation.on the part of Lai ly
Hawke, otherwise Corri, bringing into Court one of kee
Latly.llo slockings, with Lord Hawke's name niarla3l
norm it, pleaded to be by his. Lordships Oirecti.
uns, when he ordered the samo of one of his
tradesmen Mr her use. The Court gave leave to bring
in the allegatiou, and at the same time observed " This
evidence was not very material."

The late trials and ()cotyledons ft n. election bribery
and corruption beve east a damp on the hopes of
electors of rotten boroughs that ars corrupt, The
candidates and their agents will beware how they
infringe the law, for none can oxptet to eseano pu-
niihinvnt if fimiul offending, after the exampleh that
have bean lately outdo, _ .

Mrs, Coutts on Friday scot 1001. to Mr, Birnie,
in be appropriated to the subscription for tho oth.
c'era, and the worthy Magiptrato received in the
whole 1721. in the course of the

The metropolis was visited on Thursday morning
with a tremendous storm of wind and hail. Between
five and six ()limit the wind began to blow with
great violence from the north-west, and speedily
increased to a perfect hurricane, which continued
unabated till nearly eight o'clock. The streets
were strewed witk bricks and tiles, blown from the
roofs of the houses ; on the south side of Lincoln's-
inn-square, a whole stack of chininie3 was blown
down. In St. James's Park, several trees were torn
up by the roots, a circumstance which reminds us
of the propriety of suggesting that the vacancies,
thus frequently occasioned in this shady retreat,
ought to be filled up by }Amaing new trees from
time to time ; otherwise there is a danger of its
being, at no very distant period, completely denuded.
On the river, the storm was felt severely. A num-
ber of ships broke from their moorings, drifted down
with the tide, and, running against each other, re-
ceived considerable damage. Below Black wall,
there are several slips on shore much injured; but
they are expected to be got off on the return of the
tide. A number of coal and corn barges have been
also driven on shore, and a boy belonging to or.. of
the latter is reported to have been lost. ‘Ve have
Rut heard of any other accidents to individuals, with
the exception of one of the guardians of the night,
who received a chimney-pot on his head, in Petti-
coat-lane, but owing to the thickness of his hat, he
escaped without any serious injury.
During the high wind on Thursday, the driver of
a cart stopped opposite the Gardeners, near Vauxhall
Walk, to deliver a cask of vinegar. He had just
got out of it when a large chimney pot fell front on:a
of the houses into the cart, precisely on the spot
which the carman bud occupied one instant before.
The Editor of the Edinbuq.fh -'inTcsiitntletii was
on Monday last fine 1 by the Court of Justiciary, ill
the sum of 5i., for a paragraph contained in that
paper, which was calculated, in the opinion of the
Court, to prejudice the case of Gilbert M'Lcod,
recently found guilty of libel, while under trial.
Alexander Murray, compositor on that paper, and
who was the author of the paragraph complained of,
was at the same time sentenced to one month's im-
prisonm e n t.
It was the late Earl of Bristol, and not the Duke
of Grafton, whose will contained the injunction not
to print the memoirs of his life during that of his
late Majesty. The following is an authentic copy
of the lust codicil :

"By way of codicil, I write this with my own hand,
and hereby give to my natural son, Augustus Hervey, the
bolo, or chest, with all my father's manuscript writings
the►eiu contained; and in ease of his death, I give the
same to my brother, Win. Hervey, but with strict lupin.-
lions bulk to our and the other never to print or publish
them, or my Wiwi's memoirs, dining the reign Of hi, p4e-
aent Majesty, or for any time, or at any time, to give, or
lend, us leave them to my brother Frederick, the present
Bishop of Derry ; as witne,s my hand tiiis 2 th day of
flay, one thousand bevel' hawked and seventy-nine.
(Signed) ••

IMPORTANT TRIALS —The trial of Sir F. Burdett
for the letter sent to his Constituents on the Man-
chester business, will take place in Leicestershire on
the 20th instant ;—that of Mr. Hunt fur the Conspi-
racy to overturn the Government, also arising oat
of the calamitous sixteenth of August, which will
take place at Yurk, is fixed thr the 16th instant.
The verdicts of the Julies may be considered as re-
cording the opinions entertained of the Manchester
affair; and they will therefore be looked for with
great anxiety.
Mr. Hunt has published a letter, addressed to all
the persons who were present ut Manchester on the
lfhli of August, in which he requests, that they will
call Meetings in their respective rarislie..; and out
of every hundred individuals attending the s•snte, to
choose one who saw what passed at Manchester on
that day, and who shall proceed to York, li)r the
purpose of being a witness on behalf of himself and
the other defendants. if this is done, he calculates
that he shall have about 1,500 witnesses, every one of
whom he intently to examine, in his defence, which
he means to conduct himself. Should suck a course
of proceeding as this be adopted, or permitted by
the Court, the trial may last for a tOrtnight or more.
llenry Harris, Esq. and kis brother, it is sail, have
become the Patentees of the Dublin Theatre, and
lively hopes are entertained, that by this connexion
between the two Metropolitan Theatres, the most li-
beral encouragement will be given to performers, by
an alternate employment of their talents at both.
The following novel mode of gaining prizes took
place on Candlemas-day, at the market stand of
the hill of Kirrymuir, under the direction of James
Cummine, baker, there. The articles to be com-
peted for were ten new wheel-barrows. The cumuli
dates paid 6d. each, and were required to roll the
barrow blindtidded from one pole, erected for the
purpose, to another, at about the distance of our;
hundred yariis, and the nearest to it carried off the
prize. lu this wuy four were disposed of The
circuitous routes, segments, and zigzag perambu-
lations of the different competitors, would have
puzzled any disciple of Euclid, and utfortled great
diversion to the employ assembled.