The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-25 00:00:00

1)

V,---'

were most indicative of insatlii,%T. There was dive"-
der of the brain. He had had Eui:idal tend enceiele.
Did not think that at the time he eiimmitt ed the
act he knew right from wrong. It was a case ck
incipient insanity, only requiring time to developer
itself. Ho was liable to a return of mania. The
balance of his mind had been gradually unhinged
for come months previously. There was no acting.
Mr. Cole then addressed the jury with great feel-
ing for the prisoner. They had before them one of
the most painful cases ever heard in a court Of
justice. One of the most kind-hearted fathers, a
man eminent for his morality and piety in the
neighbourhood in which he lived, etond at that bar
charged with having murdered his favourite
child, and this without a motive, without an
angry word, without an unkind expression, without
the slightest provocation. The eldest boy; hearing
a noise, came down stairs, and what was the sight
presented to him ? His little brother lying welter-
ing in his blood, and his father, in an apparent state
of stupor, sitting quietly in his arm chair. Was that
like a murderer ? Could they doubt that reason had
left its piece, and had been supplanted by idiotcy
or momentary- imbecility ? The very act itself
almost proved the perpe'rator of the crime to be
well as other circumstances, They should
in-
:isan_e. Ho was aware it would be said that this was
( antigerous doctrine, but still they must look at
this l
,„E3
give weight to the fact in justice to the unhappy
man before them.
had heard showed trrhheehdrai
disordered. Ther ffineric:andt cfoirrcsuommsetatnimcees they
midnight wanderinemgasn.
Were the sleepless nights, the
goinge from room to room ;
known that the state of the unhappy and had a medical
pinpyhemwaonu,sldmhianvae
was off its balance, and that precaution must be
aonone could have
uwniwthorthy act ;
taken. Had the man been sane
whichd he
imagined him capable of doing
but certainly not such an act as that
now stood charged. No doubt all homicide
murder, but it might be reduced by surrounding
circumstances circumstances to a lesser crime, or to no crime at all.
Through the kindness of the Judge the surgeon of
the gaol (Mr. Goode) had been called. They had not
had before them what were termed mad doctors to
give theoretical leetures, but the surgeon of the gaol
spoke from facts. The symptoms showed that some
great irritation of the brain had been going on, but
had been followed by great depression ; the nervous
system was competely deranged, all arising from the
brain ; and Mr. Goode said that, upon the whole, he
was perfectly of opinion that when the prisoner com-
mitted the act he was unconscious of it ; he did not
know the act he was committing ; and therefore he
did not know that he was doing wrong; he had suici-
dal tendencies. In such cases it was frequently the
fact that the party attacked with violence the great
object of his love, his affection, and regard, They
would hardly, he thought, think it fit to consign
him to a scaffold. If they acquitted him he would
not be set at large upon the world, but he would be
taken care of for the rest of his life.
Mr. Justice Willes then summed up, fully ex-
plaining the law as regarded the question of in-
sanity, and going through the whole of the evidence.
The jury acquitted the prisoner on the ground
of insanity, and he was ordered to be detained
during her Majesty's pleasure.
The prisoner bowed, and walked quietly from
the bar.
Charlotte Cornish was indicted for the wilful
murder of George Cobb, at Longfleet, on the 19th
of April.
Mr. Stock and Mr. Collins were counsel for the
prosecution.

It appeared that Hannah Cobb was delivered of a
child at Poole, about 2 o'clock on Sunday morning,
the 19th of April. The prisoner who was a widow
was engaged as a nurse for the child. As soon as
the child was born it was given to the prisoner, who
kept it in the room where it was born for about two
hours, and then took it down stairs, and when down
stairs a curious noise was heard as coming from the
room where the prisoner and the child were. The
grandmother hearing the noise went downstairs and
saw the child in the prisoner's lap. She went up-
stairs again. In the course of the morning the
prisoner and the grandmother quarrelled, and the
prisoner was dismissed about 9 o'clock. The child
was then placed in the bed of the mother, and about
three o'clock it was looked at, and then some marks
as of finger nails were discovered under the jaw of
the infant. The child died in the course of the fol-
lowing night; it had not had any food during the
22 hours it lived. The surgeons were of opinion
that the death was caused by the injuries it
received on the neck. The chief evidence against
the prisoner was that she had expressed a
hope that the child would be born dead, as it might
induce the mother to bestow more affection on the
children of the former marriage, Cobb having mar-
ried the sister of the prisoner.
The jury at once acquitted the prisoner.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—DURHAM, July 23.
CRIMINAL COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Blackburn.)
Charles Coop, a boy of 16 years of age, was in-
dieted for turning and fixing a point on the Thornley
Railway, with intent to upset and destroy any en-
gine or train travelling on the railway.
Mr. Gully prosecuted ; the prisoner was unde-
fended.
It appeared that on the 14th of March last a fore-
man and a labourer on the Thornley Railway, while
proceeding down the railway at a short distance from
the junction with the Hartlepool Railway, saw the
prisoner stooping down over one of the points or
switches, and on getting within 30 yards of him they
saw him placing a brick between the point and the
adjacent rail. On shouting to him he ran away. The
brick was removed by the men only just in time to
prevent an engine and train of waggons which was
coming on the line, and then only about 60 yards off,
from running off the line, and, in all probability,
coming into collision with other waggons. The
prisoner admitted having placed the brick there, but
stated his intention was only to see whether the
pressure of the point would break it.
He was found guilty.
His lordship, in passing sentence, regretted that
the punishment of whipping could not be adminis-
tered for such an offence to the prisoner, who was
above the age when such a sentence could be carried
out. That was the fittest punishment for so mis-
chievous and senseless an offence ; for ho did not im-
pute to the prisoner that he maliciously intended to
upset the engine and train, and probably cause the
death of persons he did not know. He had already
been imprisoned five months, and the sentence of the
court was that he be imprisoned with hard labour
for 6 calendar months.