The Sun.
London, England, 1855-08-22 00:00:00

IN RE HENRY OPPE'SHEI3I.

This; was a meeting for last exami.. ation. The bank-
rupt re:eded at Harbour-place, Ramsgate, carrying on
business a s a ship chandler, custom house agent, &c.
Mr. Du ncan opposed, and Mr. Buchanan supported
the bankrni. 4.
The balan, ce-sheet extended from March, 1354, to
May, 1855. His creditors unsecured were stated at
1.904/., and his profits at 573/. His good debts were
73/., doubtful ant; bad 11., property less creditors in full
4541., excepted an idles 201., trade expenses 4081., in-
terest and banker's co mmission 431., law costs 31., repairs
221., domestic and personal expenses 3771., losses 9801.,
deficiency at commencement 1001.
Mr. Duncan opposed the bankrupt on several grounds.
One was that he had omitted to enter in his balance-
sheet a debt of 251., goods supplied on sale or return.
Until that had been amended and other matters ex-
plained, the bankrupt milt not to pass his last exami-
nation.
Mr. Buchanan contended the omission complained of
was not material, being an error easily remedied.
His Honour considered the omission complained of
fatal to the bankrupt passing his last examination to-
day, and accordingly adjourned it to allow of the
balance-sheet being amended.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.-(T1L1,5
___.

DAY).

OLD COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Erle.)
Rebecca Turton, a middle-aged woman, was indicted
for the wilful murder of her husband, Thomas Turton,

by strangling him.
The learned counsel for the prosecution said that the
circumstances of the case were rather of an extraordi-
nary character, the offence imputed to the prisoner hav-
ing been committed so far back as April, 1854, and he
said that the delay had been occasioned by the circum-
stance that the prisoner immediately after the act had
been committed was in a state of decided insanity, and
was confined for nearly 12 months in a lunatic asylum.
She was now, however, sufficiently recovered to enable
her to take her trial, and the jury would have to
say by their verdict whether the evidence that he should
lay before them was sufficient to justify them in coming
to the conclusion that the prisoner was guilty of the
serious crime imputed to her by the present indictment.
He then proceeded to state the facts of the case, and it
appeared that the deceased was a labouring man, and he
and the prisoner occupied two rooms in a house in
Richard-street, Bromley. It appeared that about 9
o'clock at night, on the 21st of April, the deceased came
home partially intoxicated and went to bed, no one, of
course, but the prisoner being with him, and between
1 and 2 o'clock on the following morning the prisoner
gave an alarm and said that her husband was
dead, and upon the landlord of the house going
into the bed-room the deceased was found lying upois
the bed, and there was a cord mark round his neck, as
though some ligature had been tied tightly around it
and the death of the deceased was evidently the result
of strangulation. Upon a search being made in the
room, one of the braces worn by the deceased was found,
and when this was compared with the mark upon the
neck of the deceased, it corresponded exactly, and the
buckle, in particular, seemed to have been the cause of
an abrasure that was manifest upon the neck, under the
left ear. The prisoner, who appeared in a very excited
state, was taken into custody, and on the following
morning she asked the female searcher to allow herto pray,
and she knelt down, and then said it was a very bad job,
and she afterwards exclaimed " What will the devil not
tempt any one to do when they are in a passion !" She
subsequently said, " Poor Tom is dead, and I did it."
The surgeons who were examined expressed their opi-
nion that the deceased had been strangled suddenly in
his sleep, and that he was unable to offer any resistance,
and there appeared to be no doubt that the prisoner's
was the hand that inflicted the violence. It appeared,
however, that she bad for some days before the fatal
occurrence behaved in the most extraordinary manner,
and on the night of the 20th April she had taken a
policeman into her husband's room, telling him that
he bad poisoned himself with arsenic ; but it ap-
peared that he was perfectly well at that time
and when the policeman told him what his wife
had said he said that there was no foundation for her
statement, and he added that he did not know what to
do with his wife, and he thought she was going mad. It
also appeared that the prisoner bad called out to a po-
liceman from her bedroom window, and asked him if he
was the devil, and also said that she could see the cats
scratching dead bodies out of their graves. It was like-
wise proved that when the prisoner was committed to
Newgate in May last to take her trial for this offence
she was insane, and not in a condition to plead, and it
appeared that she was removed to Bedlam, and subse-
quently to a private asylum.
The learned Judge, at the close of the evidence of Mr.
M'Murdo, expressed his opinion that it was unnecessary
to proceed any further with the inquiry, as he did not
think the jury could entertain any doubt that at the
time the offence was committed the prisoner was insane.
The jury said they were of opinion that this was the
fact, and they at once acquitted the prisoner on the
ground of insanity,

NEW COURT.
(Before the Recorder.)
John CoNog and Joltn Clarke, two respectable•looking
young men, were indicted for stealing a fishing-rod,
valued at 145., the property of Frederick Nicholson.
Mr, Robinson prosecuted, and Mr. W. Cooper de-

fended.
It appeared that upon the 18th of July the prosecutor,
e aotferwas missed it. Infor-
a youth, was at a friend's at Cranbrook, Essex, fishing,
rdli cseen in the neigh and some hours
ra
and having left off placed his rod against a wall inside of
the garden,
and some tim
afterwards a ti o having e
twobee n
prisonersgive n tt he
were p o
seen
bourhood, one of them with the rod, which he was openly
carrying, and h told e immediately the police that they
had found it in a garden.
Both prisoners, it appeared, bore an extremely good
character at Ilford, where they had lived nearly all their

lives.
The jury immediately acquitted the prisoners.
Ta MARTLEBONE MURDER. —lu the course of the
day the grand jury brought it' a true bill against Henry
Watts, for the milder of Sarah Watts his wife, at Mary-
lebone, by kicking awl- beating her in a mot brutal
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