The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-10 00:00:00

THE CONVICT HALL.

The following memorials have been sent to the
Home Secretary :

To THE RIGHT HON. SIR GEORGE GREY, M.P., SECRE-

TART OF STATE FOR THE HOME DEPARTMENT.

The memorial of John Skirrow Wright, of Birming-
ham, manufacturer, and William Morgan and Alfred F.
Morgan, of Birmingham, attorneys-at-law,
Humbly Showeth,—That George Hall was convicted
of the murder of his wife at the assizes at Warwick, on
Thursday, the 3d day of March, 1864, and received sentence
of death, and that the jury recommended him to mercy on
account of the provocation which he had received.
That your memorialists have interested themselves in
the case and have carefully inquired into the circumstances,
and one or more of them have seen and examined each of
the persons whose affidavits are sent herewith, and your
memorialists are all satisfied that the particulars of the pro-
vocation received by the convict, and more particularly set
forth in the said memorial, are as follows :--
George Hall was married to Sarah Anne Smith on the
27th of December, 1863, after courting her for several
years, and after the marriage they went to a house which
he had taken for his future home. On the same afternoon
she left her husband, in opposition to remonstrance, but
on the following day her parents brought her back to his
house. On the next day (Sunday) she visited without
the knowledge of her husband a man named Martin Toy,
or Tye. She afterwards returned to her husoand, and
they lived together till Sunday, January 3. During that
interval she was haughty and cross in manner towards her
husband, and did not seem to love him. On Sunday,
January 3, she left her husband without assigning any
reason, and returned to her father's house. On that Sun-
day she saw Toy, and during the following week was fre-
quently with him, and committed adultery with him more
than once.

On Saturday, Jan. 9, she went to the Prince of Wales
Theatre with Toy. They were seen there by a man named
Joseph Flowers, a fellow-workman of Ge.rge Hull, the
convict. Flowers sent a message to Hall, who came to the
theatre to meet th,na as they came out.
Hall described what passed to his master, Mr. Simmonds,
as follows:—When he met his wife with Toy he asked her
what she meant by being with some one else. She replied,
"I mean what you see, and I shall still continue to do so."
Hall said, "If you mean to carry on in this way you must
give me the things that belong to me, or it may be the worse
for you," and she then pulled the wedding ring from her
finger and the earrings out of her ears, and gave them to
Hall, at the same time slapping him on the face, She
laughed at him, and went off with the other man.

According to boy she was about to strike him, but he
said, " Don't strike the fellow." On that night and on sub-
sequent nights, till shortly before her death, Toy had con-
nection with her.

On the 12th January Sarah Ann Hall took out a sum-
mons against her husband fur having, as she alleged, threat-
ened her when they met outside the theatre. On the 11th
the summons was heard before the magistrates, who, upon
George Hall saying that there was a comfortable home for
his wife to go to, advised her to return to him, which she
refused to do. The summons was dismissed.

From the 14th January to the 16th February Sarah Ann
Hall continued to live at her father's and Toy continued to
visit her there. Toy's presence caused quarrels between
the father and mother of Sarah Ann Hall, and led to an
assault by the father on the mother, on the 14th February,
for which he was sentenced to three months' imprisonment
in Birmingham gaol. He is now undergoing that sentence.
During the whole interval between January 3, when his
wife left him, and February 16, George Hall was so much
distressed as to attract the notice of his employer and
fellow-workmen, He described his wife's conduct to his
master anti asked his advice. After the hearing of the
summons on the road home he wept like a child. He said
to his master " I do love her, and could die for her, and it
is such a trouble to me to hear continually of her unfaithful-
ness. I have been told that she slept with another man,
but I will try to forget her. I would hays done right by
her, She never let me know she did not care for me before we
were married, and when she was short of work I have often
helped her. lam doomed to be miserable for life." Mr.
Simmonds then asked Hall whether he had any idea of her
conduct before their marriage, or if he had himself been
guilty of any wrong towards her. Hall replied, "No, I
always treated her well; and never had any wrong intentions
towards her, and when I married her believed her to be a
virtuous woman. I loved her too much to do her harm."
On several occasions ho appeared to Mr. Simmonds and
others so much distressed as hardly to :know what ho was
doing.
During this period, and before and after the scene at the
theatre, he saw his wife in the presence of her mother,
and tried to persuade her to return to bim, and behaved to
her most kindly. On the 16th of February he met her by
appointment, after leaving work, and passed the evening at
her mother's. Her mother said in her evidence that his
manner was very kind. He put his left hand on her
shoulder, and loaned his head against her, as he usually
did, in an affectionate way, and they whispered together.
This went on for some time. When he rose to leave the
house she stood up to follow him before an) thing was said
about following him." She did follow him, and went out
with him. This was shortly ,before the murder, which
took place between eleven and twelve o'clock at night.
When called upon, before receiving sentence, the prisoner
made a long statement with earnest emotion. He said,
among other things, that, at some time or other, his wife
taunted him and said, " The first child shall be sworn to you,
but it will not be yours; it will be another man's." Sarah
Ann Hall died ou the afternoon of the day after she was
shot. Martin Toy was present for an hour and a half before
her death.

George Hall accused himself of having shot his wife
with a revolver, and at the same time gave up a common
pistol as the weapon with which he had done it. One of
the witnesses stated that he said to his parents, " I told you
all I'd do it, and I have done it." Both parents deny that
they heard these words, and declare that no such intention
had ever been expressed to them. At the police-station he
said, " I did not intend to kill her."
Your Immoralists laid before the learned counsel who so
ably conducted the defsnce of the prisoner evidence of the
facts above stated, with the exception of those stated by Toy
in his affidavit, and by the prisoner after verdict, which
were not previously known to your memorialists, They
were advised by counsel that they did not amount in law to
evidence of such a provocation as would reduce the pri•
boner's crime from murder to manslaughter, and that in a
legal point of view they were evidence of motive only, For
this reason no witnesses were called for the prisoner at his
trial, except Mr. Sir:mends,
his employer, who spoke to his
character.

Your memorialists submit these facts to your considera-
tion, in the hope that you may feel that they show the exist•
enco of a form of provocation for which the general rules of
law could not be expected to make provision beforehand,
but which is, at least, as strong as those provocations which
by law reduce murder to manslaughter. They believe that
the prerogative of pardon is especially intended to provide
for such cases, and they therefore humbly pray that you
will take into your favourable consideration the strong re-
commendation of the jury, an I be pleased to advise her
Majesty to communicate the sentence of death passed upon
George Hall for some less severe punishment.
Aud your memorialists will ever pray,
JOHN S. WRIGHT,
WILLIAM MORGAN.
ALFRED F, M ORGAN,

I3irtningham, March 7.

have the honour to forward by this night's post
a memorial from inhabitants of this town and neighbour-
hood praying for the royal mercy on behalf of Geo.
I am informed that the memorial was not eommenced
until Saturday, and that it may be taken as the spontane•
ous expression of the sentiments of the inhabitants. It con-
tains 50,366 signatures, and many further sheets will pro-
bably bo received to-morrow.
I may be permittel o add that the people of Birming-
ham, as a community, are not easily excited and have great
reverence for the law, as evinced by the peaceable character
of all their demonstrations for the last quarter of a century.
I therefore feel that I am justified in submitting to that
that the present expression of the anxious desire of the
people for the exerciife of the royal clemency is entitled to

Improvements at Guildhall,

A committee of the Court of Common Council, to
whom the subject had been referred for considera-
tion, have just reported in favour of a series of im-
provements in and about the neighbourhood of
Guildhall, involving the entire reconstruction on a
now plan of most, if not all, of the offices of the cor-
poration, so as to adapt them the better to the gene-
ral business purposes of the civic authorities, and to
obviate the necessity of a large expenditure on every
public occasion, forlspecial entertainments or other-
wise. They report that from 1800 to the present
time the sum of £72,101 has been expended on re-
pairs and alterations in the Guildhall alone;
£32,928 in fitting! it up on Lord Mayor's days;
£42,312 for special entertainments; and £25,911 in
connection with the law courts—making in all
£173,322. On the Mansion-house during the same
period the cum of £68,581 has been expended in
repairs; £57,199 for furniture, plate, books, &c.;
and since 1852 £10,603 for sculpture, being a total
of £136,383. Although the committee feel that it
would be desirable, if possible, to retain the ancient
Guildhall, they find that from its position dividing
the entire area into two unequal parts, the difficul-
ties in laying out the ground in a satisfactory man-
ner would be increased, and an extension of thespace
for new buildings necessitated. They find that the
area of Guildhall might with great advantage be
extended, and the ha, I itself spared, by taking in
the space occupied by the Bankruptcy Court and
some other adjacent buildings, and they have placed
themselves in communication with the several owners
of property. These have in almost every case stated
that they are not unwilling to treat with the Cor-
poration for the sale of their interests upon equitable
terms, The Company of Coopers, whose ancient
hall occupies a considerable part of the space which
would be wanted, are also ready to co-operate with
the Corporation. The Committee recommend that
as there are funds of the Corporation row awaiting
reinvestment in the purchase of freehold land, and
as it appears to them highly desirable that the build-
ings adjacent to the Guildhall should be in the
hands of the Common Council, not only with the
view of carrying out a plan worthy of the Carpora-
tion, but also for purposes of general improvement
in the neighbourhood, they should be empowered to
enter into negotiations with the several parties in-
terested in the property for its purchase. The re-
port of the Committee, of whom Mr. Kelday is the
chairman, has been adopted by the Court of Corns
mon Council, and referred back to them for oxecu •
tion. In the meantime the existing roof of Guild-
hall, which had become much dilapidated by time,
is being replaced by an open one, in accordance
with the architecture of the building, and after plans
designed by the late Mr. Bunning, the city archi-
tect. The stone front of the hall, being in a crippled
and defective state, owing to its imperfect founda-
tion, is also undergoing repair. The new roof will
be of oak,filled in with Gothic tracery and partially
glazed, and Gothic windows will be substituted in
lieu of the 16 Roman windows on the north and
south sides of the hall. The new roof and win-
dows are estimated to cost £lB,OOO ; the rebuild-
ing the front of the hall, £1,500; the adapting
rooms for the purposes of the library, £2,300;
the repairing and decorating the various law
courts, £2,000; and the painting other parts of the
buildings connected with Guildhall, £400; making
in all £21,200. The contract for the principal
works is being executed by Messrs. Myers, who are
under an engagement to complete them by the let
of October.