The Sun.
London, England, 1862-04-30 00:00:00

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS.

Sittings at Nisi Prins in Middlesex.—(Before Mr.
Justice Williams and a Common Jury.)
BARNES V. PHILLIPS—FALSE IMPRISONMENT.
The defendant in this case was a rag merchant, in
business in Duke-street, Blackfriars, and plaintiff,
down to March, 1861, was in hi 4 service. On the
morning of the 17th October following two sacks
of rags were iound removed from the defendant's
warehouse and placed in a yard a(ij oining ; and Mr.
Goodhall, a neighbour, informed the defendant that
he had seen a man ,whom he described, leaving the
spot in kticL Eari) is thmorning of the 17th of

October. In consequence of this information suspi-
cion fell upon the plaintiff, and defendant went to I
his house and induced him to go out to have some-
thing to drink. At the public house, Goodhall and
a policeman were waiting, and Goodhall having ex-
pressed his opinion that the plaintiff was the person
whom he had seen on the morning of the 17th Oc-
tober, he was taken into custody upon a charge of
robbery, and committed for trial, but was ultimately
acquitted. The present action was therefore brought
and defendant pleaded a special plea, setting out the
circumstances which he contendfld gave him good
ground for suspecting the plaintiff Of the robbery.
Mr. Ribton and Mr. Daly appeared foi the plain -
tiff; and Mr. Hawkins for the defendant.
The jury, after hearing evidence on both sides,
expressed their opinion that the defendant had not
reasonable grounds for believing that the plaintiff
was guilty, and they assessed the damages at £2O.
His Lordship gave the defendant leave to move
for a non-snit, if the court should think there was
no legal evidence that the defendant had caused the
plaintiff to be arrested ; or, if they should think
that enough of the special plea was proved to estab-
lish an answer to the action.

Later in the day, Mr. Hawkins applied to the
court sitting in banco, and obtained a rule nisi to
enter a verdict for defendant, or for a new trial, on
the ground that the verdict was against the weight
of evidence.

COURT OF PROBATE AND DIVORCE.
(Before the Judge Ordinary.)

BXECUN'ION AT DUMFRIES'.

Yesterday morning Mary Reid, alias Timney,
was executed at Due afries for the wilful inierder of
Ann Hann ah at Carp, shad, in the stewartry of ,Kirk-
cudbright, eni the 13'Lli of January last. The cir-
cumstances of the crime for which the unhappy
woman thus forfeited her life to the law were
briefly these :—The deceased, Ann Hannah, live&
with her two brothers, William Hannah and
Lockhart Paterson Hannah, at Carpshad, which is
a small farm situated on the road to the famous
Glenkens. The house in which they lived stands
;tap the roadside, and about; 50 yards from it was
the' cottage of the prisoner, who was the wife of a
lab wring man named Francis Timney. The nearest
house* to these two is a quarter of a mile distant..
The de cIY duties of the deceased were to tend the
cattle an, perform other similar offices about the
farm. On the 12th of January last, the morning'
of the murder, . her two brothers went away, about
9 o'clock, to w, Irk at a place about three miles off,
wed alone in the house. She was
leaving the clece,
left well, and was seen well a little before 10
o'clock by some se!, 'OOl girls, who were passing on
their way to school.
About 1 o'clock a woman
named M'Lellan, pass ed the deceased's cottage on
her way to bake cakes for the prisoner, who had
sent for her that morneug, called, and found the
deceased lying in pools' of her own blood in the
middle of her own kitchen. She called assistance,
chen.
oor woman's skull VMS
and it was found that the p
fractured in four plaevs, t wo of her ribs were
broken, her arms were disenlon. red, and other parts
of her body were wounded.
)3,100d was splashed
about, a butcher's knife was foie nd on the floor
t
covered with blood, and also a potel- marked with
blood and hair. The deceased was*
,no quite dead,
but the only words she uttered -when lifted on abed,
were "Oh dear !" She died tihat eve.ning. The
neighbours remarked to the prisoner th.lt it was
strange she had heard nothing of the murJer ; bat
she said she had never been out oer her house all
day. Upon search being made in her house, how-
ever, clothes marked with blood were found tied up
in a bundle in a dark loft, and some of the clothes
which she wore when accosted by the police were
also stained. The bloodstained tareav dress ha
which the things found in the loft were wrappeci
was identified by the prisoner's own children.
as that which she had WWII on the morn-
ing of the murder. A wooden mallet which
had been recently washed was found behind a meal
tub, marked with blood and hair. Before the mur-
der the prisoner was without money ; after it there
was 7s. 7d. found in her house, and also some tea,
and sugar which were missing from the cottage of
the deceased. When apprehended the prisoner
endeavoured to criminate her mother, for whom,
however, an alibi was clearly established. It ap-
peared at the trial that on the morning of the mur-
der the deceased's brother lent the prisoner's hus-
band 2s. 6d. as he was going away to work. The
deceased had formerly granted the prisoner small:
loans, but had lately refused to continue them.
They had had differences about the prisoner taking
away wood.
At the trial it will be remembered the prisoner
made a heart-rending appeal to Lord Peas when he
was sentencing her to death, crying out, " Oh, mee
Lord, dinna do that !" " Give me anything butt
that, let the Lord send for me !" " Oh, my weans V'
After the prisoner was condemned to deatle
strenuous endeavours were made in Dumfries to
obtain a commutation of the sentence, that the town
might be spared the sickening spectacle of the pub-
lic execution of a woman. A general pbtition was
sent to the Home-office, bearing above ZOOO sig-
natures, and one signed exclusively by 3,187
women. Moreover a deputation of ladies waited.
upon Sir George Grey.
Meanwhile the prisoner made a confession of her
crime, assigning as the principal motive jealousy' Of
the deceased, who she believed had acquired am
influence over her husband. She said she was going-
out to gather wood for the fire, when deceased asked.
her if she was going to " thieve" more of her wood.
High words and some blows followed, after which
the prisoner went home. Some time afterwards
she proceeded to the deceased's house to give her
a good beating, but with no intention to kill her.
The deceased met her with a kick, and blows
having been exchanged the prisoner seized a wooden
mallet with which the deceased had struck her, but
which had fallen down. With this she struck her
a blow which felled her, and in the heat of passion,
followed it up with others.
On Friday official intimation was received that
Sir G. Grey saw no ground for interfering in the
prisoner's behalf, and the law would be allowed to
take its course.
The scaffold was oreefisd on the east side of the
gaol. Calcraft was the executioner, and he per-
formed his dread office after the usual preliminaries.
The spectators were not more than 2,000 or 3,000.
The prisoner when placed on the drop was much.
agitated. Death appeared to be instantaneous.
Great order prevailed. The body wag afterwards
cut down and buried in the precincts of the gaol.