The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-19 00:00:00

ASSIZE IMELLIGENCE.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—GLOUCESTER, Dec. 18.
(Before Mr. Justice Mellor.)
MURDER OF A POLICEMAN.

Robert Morgan, 27, labourer, was indicted for the
wilful murder of Christopher Wickham, at the
Welsh Back, Bristol, on the 25th September.
Mr. Harrington and Mr. Cock conducted the
prosecution; Mr. Cripps defended the prisoner.
On the night of the 23d August the deceased, who
was in the Bristol police force, was on duty in the
Welsh Back, Bristol. The prisoner was behaving
indecently to a woman in the street. The deceased
interfered, and told him to go home quietly, and
went on his beat, walking a little behind the pri-
soner. The prisoner, on reaching the coroner of the
street, waited for the policeman, who then told him
if he didn't go home he should take him to the sta-
tion-house, and he laid his hand on the prisoner's
shoulder, who then kicked him on the shins and
stabbed him in the neck, under the ear, cutting
the carotid artery, and penetrating to another
artery, which could not be reached by the surgeons.
The artery had to be tied by the surgeons, but it
broke out again several times, and he died from the
cffeet of the wound on the 25th September.
Mr. Cripps addressed the jury for the defence,
contending that the crime was one of manslaughter
only.
The learned Judge summed up, and said if the
case was one of manslaughter it was a very aggra-
vated one; but if the jury were satisfied the police-
man was in the execution of his duty when the blow
was struck, then the offence would clearly be mur-
der.

The jury found the prisoner guilty of murder,
and the judge passed sentence of death on him.
Mary Ann French was indicted for the murder
of Alice Dyer at St. George's-road, Bristol, on the
Bth October.

Mr. Cooke prosecuted; Mr. Sawyer defended the
prisoner. _

It appears the prisoner French and her husband,
and the deceased and her husband, all lived toge-
gether at the house of a Mrs. King at Bristol. On
Sept. 24, it appeared, a row took place between the
two families, husbands and wives all fighting toge-
ther outside the house where they lodged. The
woman French was taken into custody, but allowed
to go again. On getting home another row com-
menced, and a witness named Harris stated that
she heard the prisoner tell her daughter to fetch a
flat iron, and while the two men were fighting,
the prisoner leant over her husband's shoulder and
struck deceased with it on the head. Deceased was
taken into another room and attended to, and while
there prisoner forced her way into the room with a
poker, and struck deceased with it on the head,
felling her to the ground. Death resulted.
A verdict of manslaughter was returned, and the
judge sentenced the prisoner to 15 years' penal ser-
vitude.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT—YoRK, Dec. 18.
(Before Mr. Justice Keating.)
George Smith, 27, was charged with the man-
slaughter of Thomas Duckles, at Goole, on the 20th
of October last.

Mr, Blanshard and Mr. Meynell were for the
prosecution; Mr. Digby Seymour, Q.C. (who was
specially retained), and Mr. P. Thompson, defended
the prisoner.
Mr. Blanshard, in stating the case, said that the
prisoner was a respectable farmer at Goole Grange,
and farmed about 400 acres of land under the Earl
of Beverley. For some time previous to Oct. 20 the
prisoner had been suffering from delirium tremens,
and on the 19th of that month he was so ill that Mr.
Johnson, a medical gentleman, was called in to at-
tend upon him. He had a revolver, and paced about
from room to room in his house, and alarmed the in-
mates. Mrs. Martin, his housekeeper, being afraid
that he would either injure himself or others, with
a laudable discretion got the revolver from him. On
Oct. 20 the prisoner rose from his bed at about 8
o'clock in the morning, and what was then upper-
most in his mind was to get possession of the revol-
ver. He went into the front room and locked him-
self in. Mrs. Martin was alarmed lest something
should happen to the prisoner, and she knocked at
the door asking for admittance, and the prisoner in
reply said that he would let her in in a moment.
In a minute or two afterwards, the door being still
Locked, Mrs. Martin went outside of the house and
looked in at the window. She then saw the pri-
soner seated with his head leaning upon his hand.
Mrs. Martin knocked at the door, desiring admit-
tance, and the prisoner answered as before—" I'll
let you in in a moment." Mrs. Martin, however,
was not able to gain admittance into the room, and
she therefore sent for the unfortunate deceased,
Thos. I)uckles, who was a favourite servant of the
prisoner, believing that he would be able to prevril
upon him to open the door. Deckles had been in the
service of the prisoner and his family for about 30
years, was a confidential servant, often slept with
the prisoner, and his son-in-law also was foreman on
the prisoner's farm. The deceased was sent for from
the steam-house; he told the prisoner that he had
the revolver, and he was immediately admitted into
the room. The report of fire-arms was heard almost
instantly afterwards, and the deceased was found to
holding
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'the deceased was placed in a chair, and he appeared
to be suffering greatly from the injury he had sus-
tained. Mr. Johnson, surgeon, was sent for, and
after seeing the deceased he ordered the poor man
to be removed upstairs. He was laid upon a mat-
trass, and it was then discovered that in the front
part of the abdomen there was a wound about the
size of a half-crown piece, and the bowels protruded.
Everything was done by Mr. Johnson that his pro-
fessional s/r,ill could suggest, but the deoe‘med

g.'i:fit,!
--:,. t 4 ,='-:.7- 'IVA tf,
, sunk, there was no than eOl litivlo , '•
- ler'
.nd he died at 3 o'clock in the affe*On. _Pitt,',.. 14,7,
vious to his death, Mr. Wells, a magiisliit; stitA.. - t.::iiit..4
deceased, to hear any statement whielk th.4,iutrici: 2-_..7:,:rttr
nate man might be disposed to make. trilliretifi -
the deceased was perfectly aware of his Ositie +'
ejaculating " My God, my Jesus, my Saviour,"and
other similar exclamations proper for a man to utter
who was desirous of making his peace with God,
whom he was soon to meet. After stating deceased's .
account of the melancholy occurrence taken down
in writing in the regular way, the learned counsel
read the dying deolarsition made by the deceased,
and it was as follows :—.... wad present. We
were by our two selves. 1 .. ...:d the room door.
He pointed the gun at me. I said, Don't shoot.
He said, I won't come in. As soon :t5
1 got in he rook up the gun. I slipped round
and seized hold
oi tile gun. I struggled with
him. He pulled the
trigger. I was standing ii
front of him with :fly hat.:ds hold of the gun. I
cannot say which part. I w,:4ut into the room be-
cause he fastened hiuo,elf un. t% had tried the
doors and found them fast. We were afraid he was
going to do something with himself. mat is ail I
know. He had been in a queer state all the' morn-
ing and all the night. It was George Smith with
whore I struggled, and who I describe as being ia
queer state of mind." In a minute or two I, It er the
deceased was shot the prisoner was seen coming out
of the kitchen, and was observed to leave the house.
At about a mile distance from his residence,
the prisoner was met by his cousin, a person
of the same name as himself. His rela-
tive asked him where he was going, and he
replied, "To deliver myself up to the police,
I have shot a marl." Smith", not believing this
statement, said, " Nonsense ;" but the prisoner re-
peated that he had shot a man, remarking that
Duckles tried to get the gun from him, and it went
the whole of the cir-
off accidentally. These were
cumstances of the case, and it would be for tine jury
to say whether the prisoner pulled the trigger of
the gun and caused the deceased's death, or whe-
ther the gun went off actziittntally in the course of
a struggle. By the latter view of the case the pri •
soner would be entitled to an acquittal. The dying
declaration of the deceased, however, showed that
the prisoner pointed the gun at him, and pulled the
trigger when he was stanoing in front of him.
The learned Judge, in summing up, said it the
jury should be of opinion the prisoner had pulled
the trigger intending that the gun should go off, he
would be guilty of an unlawful act amounting to
manslaughter. If the gun was discharged acci-
dentally is the course of a struggle the prisoner
would be entitled to his acquittal.
The jury retired, and were absent for about a
quarter of an hour, when they found a verdict of
not guilty.

Dec. 18.
CHESTER CIRCUIT.—CHESTEIi,
(Before Mr. Baron Bramwell.)
TRIAL OF THE BIRKENHEAD RIOTER.S:
The trial of the Birkenhead rioters, whiCh (as
already reported) was opened on Tuesday, was
brought to a conclusion yesterday.
Mr. Baron Bramwell sentenced Henry Lennon
to 15 years' penal servitude. This man was charged
with_ having made a brutal attack upon Patrick
Kearney and John Haswell, two of the Birkenhead
police constables, while in the due execution of their
duty on the 15th of October last. At the close of
the evidence, which detailed the particular assaults
of which the prisoner was accused, his counsel com
plained of the prosecution taking this case first, as
if the origin and nature of the riot had been shown
circumstances favourable to the accused would have
appeared. It might then have been shown that the
constabulary took a violent course, and that the
mob had only resorted to the measures they made
use of in their own protection and self-defence. The
learned counsel commented with some warmth on
the invitation to the disturbance offered by the
debating society idling use of Orange placards
in the midst of an b population. The learned
judge, in sutnmii-.t .however, said it was per-
fectly immaterial Cr lury whether the discussion
of this so-called Parliamentary Society was reason-
able or otherwise. It was equally immaterial
whether the placards were orange or any other
colour, or no colour at all; and as to the complaint
of the learned counsel that the prosecutiOn had
taken this case before some others, that was whOllY
without foundation. It was clear that the prisonei
struck the blow, and it was urged that he did so in.
self-defence; but the evidence showed that the
police were only doing their duty, and, even
supposing they were not, no man had any right to
turn round and strike an officer in this manner.
In addition to Lennon, nine of the male prisoners
were sentenced to two years' and three to one year's
hard labour. Catherine Larkin was sentenced to
one year's hard labour, and the other women to six
months' hard labour each. James Fynan was
acquitted.
In the course of the trial, on Tuesday, Mr. Pope
Henneesy, one of the counsel for the defence, asked
a witness whether he considered that the meeting
of the Parliamentary Debating Society was cal-
culated to produce a disturbance in Birkenhead.
His lordship held that such a question was inad-
missible.

Mr. Hennessy then cited an opinion of Mr. Baron
Alderson to the effect that any meeting calculated
to endanger the public tranquillity was an unlaw-
ful assemblage.
His lordship said he agreed with that opinion ;
but he considered that opinion referred to meetings
which were intrinsically unlawful or bad in them-
selves. He hoped it would never be the law of this
land that people could not expiess their opinions on
11 subjects, and especially in a private room, with-
out being prevented by a number of ignorant savages
armed with missiles. He was of opinion that the
question was not tenable—in fact, he had not the
slightest doubt about it.