The Sun.
London, England, 1852-10-26 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

COURT OF BANKRUPTCY—Ocr. 25.
(Before Mr. Commissioner Gottlburn.)
COSTS IN SUMMONS CASES.
Mr. Kearsey applied for the plaintiff's costs in an un-
defended trader debtor summons, in which the defendant
had signed the admission of the debt.
Mr. Neale resisted the application.
His Honour said the defendant having made no resist-
ance to the process of the court, and tho plaintiff having
obtained what he sought for, he did not think the appli-
olden ought to be acceded to. The plaintiff, had now,
so to speak insured himself. If the debtor, having signed
the admission, did not pay, secure, or compound the debt
to the satisfaction of the creditor within seven days, he
committed an act of bankruptcy. The costs must be
refused.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.—Oct. 25.

OLD COURT.
CHARGE OF MANSLAI7GHTER.

Richard Perry, 54, was indicted for the manslaughter
of Jane Perry.
Mr. Clarkson conducted the prosecution.
It appeared from the evidence of several witnesses
that the prisoner and the deceased, who was his wife, oc-
cupied a room in one of the houses in Broad-street, Lam-
beth, in which there were several other lodgers. The
deceased woman was very mach addicted to habits of
intemperance, and about 12 o'clock at night on the 18th
September she came home very drunk, accompanied by
the prisoner, who, it appeared, was sober, and very soon
after they got into their own room a woman named Mit-
chell, who occupied a room with her husband directly
under that of the prisoner and his wife, heard them
quarreling and abusing each other, and very foul lan-
guage was made use of by both the deceased and the
prisoner. After a short interval this witness heard a fall
with great violence upon the floor of the prisoner's room,
and after that, as she expressed herself, there was a
"shocking" silence. Very soon afterwards the prisoner
alarmed the lodgers in the house, and exclaimed that
his wife was insensible, and upon a light being brought
the unfortunate woman was found lying at the foot of
the staircase leading from the prisoner's room quite dead.
Mr. Thompson, a surgeon, who was called in upon the
occasion, said that upon examining the body of the
deceased he found a number of severe braises upon the
face and other parts of the body. Tne immediate cause
of death was concussion of the brain, which appeared to
have resulted from a blow upon the forehead.
The Recorder asked the surgeon whether he was able
to express an opinion as to the injuries that appeared
upon the body of the deceased having been occasioned by
blows or falls.

Mr. Thompson said he was unable to form any satis-
factoryw would
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easily
accountedupon this
for point;by
and,fact
of a
indeed,h
bound to say, that the bruises were all of a character that
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woman tumbling about.
The prisoner, when called upon for his defence said
that his wife was in the habit of taking his money while
he was out hard at work, and getting drunk with it, and
on the night the fatal affair happened, she came home
very drunk. He denied having struck her, and declared
that she received the injuries by falling down the stair-
case, owing to her drunken condition.
The Recorder, on his summing up, told the jury that
in this case there were two difficulties which must be got
over before the prisoner could be convicted upon the
charge of manslaughter. In the first place, it appeared
to be very doubtful whether the injuries which caused
the death of the deceased might not have been caused by
herself, by falling about while drunk, and even suppos-
ing they were the result of blows, there was no evidence
whatever to show that the prisoner had inflicted a single
blow upon the deceased.
The jury at once returned a verdict of Not Guilty.
HOUSEBREAKING.
William Rex was indicted fur feloniously breaking
and entering the dwelling-house of Mary Lltub, and
stealing five coats and other articles, her property.
The prosecutrix was a widow, and resided in a cot-
tage at Twickenham. In the evening of Sunday, the
17th inst., she went out, leaving no one in charge of her
cottage, and upon her returning shortly afterwards,
she was very much astonished at seeing a light in her
bedroom. She gave an alarm to her neighbours, and
some of them stationed themselves at the front door,
and others at the back, and in a short time an attempt
was made by some persons inside to open the front door.
The people on the outside held the door fast, and an
endeavour was made to force it open with a poker from
the inside, and finding they could not succeed in doing
so, there was a cry of "- your eyes, shoot, e .
This had the effect of intimidating the persons on the
outside, and they retreated a short distance, and two
men, one of whom was the prisoner, then rushed out of
the house. A man named Al'Cree laid hold of the pri-
soner, who immediately struck him on the arm with a
crow-bar, and he succeeded in getting away a short
distance, when be was secured, but his companion sue-
ceeded in affecting his escape. Upon going into the
cottage the bedroom of tne prosecutrix was found in
a state of great disorder, all her drawers having been
ransacked, and the contents strewed about, and several
skeleton keys were picked up in different parts of the
premises.
The jury found the prisoner Guilty, and he was sen-
tenced to be transported for ten years.

NEW COURT.
(Before the Common Serjeant.)
BIGAMY.
William Henry Powey, 30, gardener, was indicted for
liabella Graham, his wife being
feloniously marrying
then alive.
The first marriage was proved to have taken place on
the 30th of June, 1839, at St. Mary's, Crawford.street,
Portman-square.
Jane Sleaman, the wife of a ropemaker, residing in
Gillespie-street, Edinburgh, stated that the prisoner was
married on the 23d of August, 1851 (having been on a
visit for three weeks previously), to her sister, Miss
Graham, and after staying a few days with them, and
living together as man and wife, sailed for England.
They were married by the Rev. Mr. Reed, minister of
the United Presbyterian Congregation in the Lothian-
road. They were married in witneu's house: it is the
custom in Scotland, and witness had heard that the
banns had been proclaimed in the usual way.
Cross-examined—I was married in a private house.
It is the custom. The banns were proclaimed when I
was
married. My sister's was a regular marriage. I
know the Rev. Mr. Reed to be a minister. I attend his
church.
The clerk to the magistrates of Edgowaro produced a
copy of the record of the marriage of the prisoner with
the second wile.
Mr. Parry asked him where he got it from.
The witness said ho obtained it from the sessions
clerk.
Mr. Parry objected to the admission of the document,
contending that it could not be admitted as evidence
unless accompanied by a proper certificate of its being
legal, and in conformity with the Scottish statutes.
The Common Serjeaut said that he could not admit
such a document as evidence of the marriage.
The constable who took the prisoner said that when
he told him
what he wis charged with, prisoner an-
swered, " I fully expected it."
Mr. li,iarsly said that was the case for the prosecution.
Mr. Parry then, at some length, argued that there was
no proof whatever of a second marriage.
The Common Serjeant said it was a case for the jury.
He was found Guilty; sentence postponed.