The Sun.
London, England, 1853-07-21 00:00:00

IGENCE.

004

904

Mr. Johnson and Mr. Creasy were counsel for the
prosecution ; Mr. Parry and Mr. Sleigh appeared for
the defendant.

The facts of this case having been so repeatedly before
the public, under the head of " The Brighton Card-
cheating Case," that it will be utterly unnecessary to
repeat them on the present occasion.
The prosecutor }lamp was examined, but either from
wr.nt of memory, or some other cause, it was with very
great difficulty that any direct answer could be obtained
from him ; and in answer to a question put by Mr.
Parry, he said that at the time when he was alleged to
have been defrauded by Staden and James, who, it will
be remembered, were convicted upon an indictment
which charged them with being concerned in the tran-
saction, the defendant was asleep on a sofa, and took no
part in the proceeding, and he declared that he had
always made the same statement with regard to him.
The Chief Baron, after hearing this statement, ex-
pressed his opinion that the jury could not be expected
to convict a man of an offence who, it was represented,
was fast asleep at the time it was supposed to have been
committed, and who took no part in it.
Mr. Johnson said that a:',:er this intimation from his
lordship he should not proceed further with the case.
The jury then, under his lordship's direction, returned
a verdict of not guilty, and the defendant was ordered
to be discharged.
This concluded the business of the assizes.

l SOUTH WALES CIRCIIIT.—CARDIFF, JULY 18.
William Price, surgeon, was arraigned upon a charge
of having committed wilful perjury in testimony which
he gave on the trial of a cause Millward v. Miliward and
another, in the County Court of Glamorganshire at
Cardiff.
Mr. Giffard and Mr. Rees conducted the prosecution ;
Mr. Price defended himself, and was accommodated
with a seat at the table, where his extraordinary costume
and appearance attracted much attention. His silvery
beard flowed over his breast a considerable length ; -n4,
w.'nich,
iltcoa t
otteru'a s
twoause
tdhreers swe cilt
within
ias rt
roouwn dB e
rjsa, c
wk eats ovfanlidgyhktegdreaerno,,and
the
edges, and turned up with scarlet ; his wa
also scarlet ; and his cap was made of an
entirei
skin, which he generally wears with t/..ie tail and legs
hanging down his back. He challer:ged a great number
of the jury.
Mr. Giffard stated the case to the jury, and called
witnesses, but
His lordship intimated his opinion that the alleged
perjury was not " material to the issue ;" and, therefore,
an indictment could not be sustained ; but left it to the
defendant to decide whether he would address the jury
on the facts or not.
Mr. Price then read a long and rambling address, in
which ho applied most violent terms to the parties con-
nected with the prosecution, including even the witnesses,
and not sparing the judge of the County-
At half-pasta 2 o'clock
in about three- uut at night the jury retired, and
with a verdict qua
' ers of an hour returned into court,
not guilty.
H

_UDDERSFIELD, July
is themuch
19.—The state of our market
change same as last week's ;we have no important
also the to notice. Seasonable goods are inquired for ;
thicker makes of and browns. We have ha d viool len goods, chiefly in blacks,
some few buyers in town
who have bought for home consumon, but not to any
large amount,Shippori prtys pti
ez4 UV quiet,

HOME CIECUIT.—LLwEs, JULY 20.
(CROWN SIDE.-- (Before the Lord Chief Baron.)
A MARRIED WOMAN CHARGED WITH INFANTICIDE.
_Elizabeth Robinson, 28, was indicted for the wilfu
murder of her female unbaptized child.
Mr. Johnson appeared for the prosecution ; Mr.
Woollett and Mr. Munster were counsel for the pri•
soner.

The circumstances of this case were rather peculiar.
It appeared that the prisoner was a married woman,
and living with her husband in a cottage at Burdham, a
few miles from Chichester. For some time before the
24th of March she appeared very ill, and the neighbours
supposed that she was in the family way, and to one or
two of them she admitted it was the fact. After the
day mentioned the appearance of the prisoner was ob-
served to be a good deal altered, and a suspicion pre-
vailed that she had been delivered, and it appeared that
on the 3d of April a woman named Saunders was in
the prisoner's cottage, and she asked the prisoner's hus-
band, in her presence, what the report was about his
wife, and he replied that they accused her of having a
child, and making off with it, but he said it was not
true, she had not had any child. It would appear that
after this time the rumours upon the subject continued,
and at length the parish authorities felt it to be their
duty to interfere, and at their request a medical gentle-
man named Jones was sent to the prisoner's cottage
to make the necessary inquiries, and after informing,
the prisoner what was the object of' his visit he in-
quired whether she had had a child, and told her
at the same time that there had been a report that
she had had one, and that it had been made away
with. The prisoner upon this said she was very glad
he had come, as it would be the means of clearing
her character, and she then declared that she bad not
bad a child. She told the doctor that she had been ill,
and intimated that she had miscarried, and said that her
husband had buried it in the garden. He made further
inquiries, and from other facts Mr. Jones came to the
conclusion that the prisoner had been delivered of a child,
and he pressed her upon the point, and she at length said,
" God forgive me ! I have had a child." And she then
said that if Mr. Jones would do what he could for her
she would tell him all about it. The prisoner then went
in the cellar and removed some bricks, and produced
from under them the dead body of a female child, which
Mr: Jones examined. He found the mark of a ligature
round the neck, which had been tied very tightly ; and
from this and other facts in the case, he came to the con-
clusion that the child had breathed, and that its death
was the result of strangulation. -Upon being cross-
examined, however, Mr. Jones admitted that in some
cases, and especialy in those where a woman was de-
livered without any assistance, it frequently happened
that strangulation took place accidentally. The story
told by the prisoner herself was, that in consequence of
her falling over a washing tub, labour had been suddenly
brought on. and that she became insensible, and when
she came to herself she found the child lying by her side
dead. She likewise said that her husband had behaved
very ill tooher, and that be had declared the child was
not his, and thereforel he should not employ any one to
assist her in her delivery.
The Lord Chief Baron expressed an opinion at the
close of the case for the prosecution, that after the
medical evidence, the charge of murder could not be
maintained, and the only question for the jury would be
whether the prisoner was guilty of the offence of con-
cealing the birth of the child by secretly burying the
dead body.
Mr. Woollett said he should not attempt to struggle
against a conviction for concealing the birth, the jury con-
sequently returned a verdict by which they convicted the
prisoner of that offence.
Mr. Woollett urged on behalf of the prisoner that
there were good grounds for supposing that she had re-
ceived very bad usage at the hands of her husband. It
was also clear that he must have been aware of the birth
of the child, and it was very possible that to a certain
extent what the prisoner had done was under his co-
ercion.
The Lord Chief Baron, in passing sentence, said he
believed this was the only case within his experience in
which a married woman had been convicted of an
offence of this description, and taking into consideration
that she had been already four months in prison, and
the conduct of the husband in the transaction ho felt
himself justified in passing a lenient sentence, which was
that she should be further imprisoned for one week.
CHARGE OF MURDER.
Sarah, Smith, 43, was indicted for the wilful murder
of Stephen Smith.
Mr. Home and Mr. Attree conducted the prosecu-
tion ; Mr. Hurst defended the prisoner.
It appeared that the deceased was a shoemaker, and
the prisoner was his wife, and they occupied a small
room in a place called Harrow's Mews, St. Leonard's.
The evidence went to show that they were both given
to drink, and that they frequently quarrelled. On the
evening of the 17th of May, which was Whit-Thesday,
they were together at the Queen Adelaide public-house
at Hastings, and left about eleven o'clock at night, and
at this time they appeared to be on friendly terms,
but were both to some extent in liqueur. On the fol-
lowing morning about one o'clock, a lodger in the
house name Cook was awoke by the prisoner, who
begged her, for God's sake, to get up, as she said she had
stabbed "Steeve," meaning her husband. Mrs. Cook
immediately got up and went into the prisoner's room,
where she saw the deceased man sitting in a chair, with
a wound in his 'breast, from which the blood was flow-
ing. lie was alive, but unable to speak, and he was
holding an apron to his breast, while the prisoner was
walking about the room crying. Mrs. Cook, seeing
the state of the deceased, went out to fetch Mr. Gardner,
a surgecea, and upon their returning together to the
room they found the prisoner still there crying ; and
upon her seeing Mr. Gardner she exclaimed that she
had tabbed the deceased with a knife used by him in
his trade, which she had thrown out of the window ;
raid upon a search being made the knife was found in
the yard of the house covered with blood. The unfor-
tunate deceased was found to have been stabbed com-
pletely through the heart, and ho died a minute or
two after the arrival of the surgeon. While Mr. Gard-
ner was examining the deceased the prisoner appeared
to, be very excited, and said that she and her husband
bad been out together, and that upon their leaving the
f public-house to go home she gave her husband the slip,
and when she got home he abused her, and reproached
her for leaving him, and in the course of the altercation
that took place between them afterwards she threatened
him with some violence, upon which he opened his shirt
and said, "Do it," or words to that effect, and she im-
mediately snatched up the knife and plunged it into his
breast. It appeared that the prisoner had never at-
tempted to deny that she had caused the death of' her
husband, and on her being taken to the police station,
she said to the constable, " I have often taken up a
knife to him, but this time I meant it."
Mr. Hurst addressed the jury for the prisoner, urging
that under the circumstances of excitement and liquor
in which the prisoner was at the time of the melancholy
occurrence, they would be justified in taking a merciful
view of her conduct, and acquitting her of the crime of
murder, and find her guilty of manslaughtes only.
The Lord Chief Baron, having summed up, the jury,
after a short deliberation, found the prisoner guilty of
manslaughter.
She was sentenced to je transported for ten years,
THE BRIGHTON CARD-CHEATING.
John Broome surrendered to take his trial upon an
indictment for misdemeanour, in having defrauded Wm.
Henry Hamp of a large sum of money, by cheating al
cards.