The National Register.
London, England, 1820-03-06 00:00:00

CHANGE 01' MURDER.

Thomas Per,ly and G,•orge lead been imlictcri
for the tribal !minim Mtn, W.ill WdS thrum I.
idl the Ilidylieati M of whim Rill!, W 36 ihe driver,
whim had been upset by the Ciiester M4ll,
Buller teas ine drltcr, in C 4 /11St Cilirnce of the ousconduct
of omit prisoners, who had IST'S racitia their otecties
nears. in the ciao th of Atianst last, but the
Grand Jury having thrown out the lull Ihr we Cu
(Metier, 'lvy were now tried on a charge of M.itislaii;tia-
ii:r.
Mr. Brodrick stated the case for the prosecution. •I'he
first witiliento called Was

Mr. Archer, a respectable boot-maker, of No. 91,
Cheapsole, who preseated a mutilated and broken down
appearance, having heen one of the attliappy siderers
hom the ntisemithict ohieh occasioned me death of iiie
deceased. lie stele.!, that he was an outside passeiager
by the Holyhead Mail me the lUtli of. August lasi. in-
tending to go to (;o%eatry oil bossiness He sat on the
pox with the pri-otier l'erdy. %Viten tile coach writ ed
at that part of toe mail heyiittil Highgate, is here a junc-
tion is torined between the Arcitway 'toad mid the old
Highgate Road, the.Cliester .Mall came up. Both coach-
men began to whip thetr horses, and put them into a
gallop, and drove abreast of each oilier at a furious rate
for a considerable distance, wheat the driver of the Ches-
ter Mall slackened the p.ce of his horses, and *clued
conscious of the impropriety of Ills COltdUCt ; but, how-
ever, when the coaches approached St. Alban's, and had
armed at the hill, athmt a mile from that town, the pri-
otter, Pertly, put his horses into a furious gallop tiowit
t.ie hill ills example was followed by the other lot-
s r, who endeavoured ,0 overtake him, and a most
terrific race ensued hei wren the two carriages, the velo•
city of both increasing by own specific gravity down
au abrupt hill. The road was wide enough for three
carriages to pass each other, but the prisoner, Butler,
'Perceiving that Pertly was keeping a-head of him,
posited his horses on, and waving Its hat atid clierrinv,
tie suddenly turned his leaders is front of the leaders (11
the Holyhead Mail. which, in consequetice of being
jammed in between the batik of the road and the other
vehicle, was immediately upset. The consequences
were frightful ; the deceased was killed on the spot; the
witness iiad a leg and all arm shattered moat dreadfully,
and a gentleman's servant, named Fenner, was taken up
almost itteless, and remained afterwards at St. Alban's
seveit or right days belOre he could be renioveil. The
witttess staled, that he could nut identify the prisoner,
Butler, but he remembered that just before the accident
happened, he heard a person on the Ixot of the Chester
Mail cheering very loudly in a triumphant mother, and
saw that person waving ilia hat, and lit belieted it was
the coactsinaii. Alter the race Pertly spoke to Butler,
and said, "Oh, it is you; I did not think it was you."
lie afterwards observed to witness, that liiitier was a
vowing hand 011 that road, and did not know that lie,
Pertly, was to be at Itedhotarit by a particular tittle. N It•
IletiS had no doubt that the mischief had Deem red in
consequence of the Cheater Mail driver hat tog turned
the leaders upon the leaders of the Holyhead, and coin-
ing so near the latter. The accident happened half a
mile south of St. Alban's.

Nir. Webster, a surgeon of St. Alhan's, proved that
the deceased came b. hi, dealt sit the shassiter alleged.
A N.l r. Bade, a frueml m Ilu dereau d, swtrd, trial
the latter bad beets parish clerk of 11.4:1ey, hear S:our-
bridge, iis Woreestersittre, and that oh she 10111 of
August he had dined systis *llllt'bb hefore he we-gaol;
the mail.

prisourr Butler, who is a Liffill wt II fed 111 Jet,
said, mat the homes Witte ii lie drove were youty a."
Pugh nettled, and that lie bylined one of Mew uau
never been iu haruess,.bcfore; thauhey had stanal oil

..... .
ill consequence of the rattling of the other coach. and
became unmanageable ; and that. if ten thousand lives
were at stake, it was quite out 01 his power to pre vent
the accident. _ _ _

--
file of of Perdy's defence was to throw the whole
blame upon Butler. After the aecident liapriied the
prisoners had absconded, and were tint taken into
custody until towards the end: of February.
Several witnesses gave Buller a high character rot
civility, sobriety, and caution as a driver.
The prisoner Perdy also received a good character,
anti was described by the witness -b to be a civil, sober,
wan.

Mr. liaMll Garrow summed tsp the ease for the Jury
in an eloquent and impressive manlier. TheJtary found
toe pristmets
The Learned Judge, in passing Sentence, commented
on the conduct of the prisoners in terms of strong unit
ntadver•ion. Their conduct was marked by the most
brutal indifference to the lives of his Alajesurs subjects.
It was no answer to a case of this description, that they
had put their own lives in the saute peril, because they
depended upon tile chances of their own skill and
dexterity iu driving, in which the passengers had no
share. The nature of the defence set tip by one of the
'insulters was a serious aggravation of his crone. for if
he knew that his horses were high spirited, lie ought to
have hero Cie more cautious iu his mode 0, dlking..,
Fur the infortnatimi olcoach proprietiors, he thought it
ots duly to censure the practice of patiotg unbroken
horses into a 111111111 C %chicle. OEIIOI proprietors were
Ina to train weir horses at the ex!etice to the lives of
the public they should take care to provide such eattle
as would not overcast the ordinary danger of such Cllll.
sevance, buil above all. they should prima,. drivers upon
whose discretion and gist(' cosoloict reI.:MCC could be
!dared. His Lordship I dui it down distisictly, as a pro-
posount nut in he disputed, that 11 W. 1,4 11111jWIIII NO the
driver in a pliblic couch to lost his horses 111t1, a gallop,
and tit it lie was answerahie for all the consequences Of
all inhiptge neat oh thus law. Toe dotter o! a t !ge coach
V. J 5 !wilful to orotect even the intoxicated, the blind.
ute aged, awl the i►elpless against their tool' %viol of
c.to t het or imprudence. The case now before the Court
loci...meal circumstances or 4rI)SS agar wation aunt his
Lortishy felt it his (boy to lootiotio2e the severest
wilt the law will allow, which was, that the pri-
sinitqs should he s.•verallt confined in the common gaol
of tins county for the term of 11111 C year.