The Sun.
London, England, 1862-05-02 00:00:00

211 E ARMY.

Major General Stransham,,lnspector-General of
the Royal Marine Corps, has now finished his in-
spection of the Royal Marines. The last division
he inspected was the Portsmouth division of Light
Infantry at Gosport. Respecting their discipline
and efficiency, he expressed himself in the warmest
terms of approbation. Major-General Anderson,
lately promoted from the command of this division,
was present with the Inspector-General.
The reinforcements selected from the companies
of Royal Engineers at head-quarters, Chatham, to
augment the 10th company, recently returned from
China, left Brompton barracks yesterday morning
for Aldershott, where the 10th company is stationed,
to be employed on the engineering duties of the
camp.

CHARGE OF WIFE MURDER AT

PLYMOUTH.

At the Plymouth Guildhall, on Wednesday,
Charles Joseph Pitcher was charged with killing
his wife, Thomazine Pitcher.
Eliza Marshall deposed that she lived at No. 9,
Higher-street, and on the previous day she was in
a room in a beer-house in Stonehouse-lane, between
3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon. She was there
with a woman named Conway, who owed her some
money, and other persons were there. Among those
present was the prisoner, who was sitting at the
table drinking with other men and some women. A
woman came from the taproom into the place where
the prisoner was, and struck him twice under the
ear with her hand. She called him very opprobri-
ous names, and as she struck him she said, "Where's
my money—where's my box F" or words to that
effect. They were both tipsy, and the woman re-
turned to the tap-room. Prisoner arose from the
table and followed her, and the tap-room door was
shut as soon as he entered it. Witness looked
through the glass door, and saw prisoner strike the
deceased under the right ear with his clenched fist.
It was a violent blow, and the deceased fell to the
floor. Witness then entered the room, where she
found the deceased lying on the floor. There were
two men in the room besides the prisoner, and wit-
ness asked one of them to lift the poor creature up.
The prisoner was then reclining on the settle. One
of the men lifted the woman up, and after three or
four minutes had elapsed she went over to the
prisoner, who was still lying on the settle, and again
said, " Where is my box with my money r Pri-
soner replied, " I have spent it ; I have not a far-
thing left." Upon that the deceased struck the pri-
soner two or three times in the face with her fist.
The prisoner then got off the settle and struck de-
ceased several dreadful blows with his fist about the
face and neck. He knocked her down, and her head
came in contact with the door-post. Prisoner then
walked away to another part of the room, and wit-
ness said to him, " Oh, you bad man, you've killed
the woman." He replied, "Do you think I'm going
to be struck by a woman ?" Witness turned the
woman's head, and saw her bleeding from a large
cut over the left eye. She cried and said, " What
has he done to me now ?" and exclamations of a
similar character, and by this time the prisoner had
again retired to lie upon the settle. Witness be-
lieved the woman's head struck the door-post. The
deceased was again lifted up and was placed upon a
form; as she leaned against the table her eye still
bled. One of the men, addressing the prisoner, said
he hope he had not offended him by lifting his wife,
and told him she had a tremendous cut across her
eye. Prisoner made no reply. Witness then fetched
a woman from the court named Mary Burt, and by
the time they entered the room the woman's head
was under the settle, and prisoner standing close by
her. She was groaning, and prisoner was kicking
her violently in the lower part of the abdomen. She
saw him kick the deceased twice. Burt said to the
prisoner, "Oh you blackguard, you'll kill the wo-
man," and lifted her hand to strike him, but did not.
Prisoner desisted, but said, " I'm not going to be
struck by her." Witness and Burt lifted the de,
ceased from the floor to the form, and she leaned on
Burt's shoulder. On looking to the floor witness
saw a great quantity of blood. The deceased
groaned, but witness did not remember that she said
anything, The prisoner again lay on the settle, and
witness left the deceased in the care of Burt. She
was in the room altogether twenty minutes.
The prisoner, on being asked if he had anything
on which to cross-examine the witness, replied that
he recollected nothing about it.
Mary Burt said—l was in a court at the back of
the Travellers' Rest, in Stonehouse-lane, yesterday
about four o'clock, when Mrs. Marshall came to
me, and I went with her into the tap-room. The
prisoner and Thomas Richards, now present, and
the prisoner's wife (whom I have known many
years) were present, and so was Mrs. Marshall. The
prisoner's wife was lying on the floor, under the
table ; the prisoner was standing outside the table,
close to his wife, and was kicking her about the
body. She was lying on her back ; they were
violent kicks. I said, " Holloa, Charley, what are
you doing?" and put up my hand to shove him away.
He said nothing, but left the room. Mrs. Dingle,
the landlady, and a woman named Eliza Govear,
came into the room, and Govear lifted her up, and
cleared up a great deal of blood with a ahovel from
the spot where she had been lying. I did not see
the prisoner kick her more than once ; she groaned.
Myself and Eliza Govear carried her to her own
room, at 77, Stonehouse-lane. The only words .1
heard the woman say were, " The Lord bless you,"
which was said to me. We put her on her bed, and
I stayed with her until she died, about an hour
afterwards. About five minutes after I carried the
prisoner's wife home, Mr. Pearse, surgeon, now pre-
sent, came and attended to her. I saw the prisoner's
wife about 11 in the morning; she was then tipsy.
I had been drinking with her, and when in the court
she fell and struck herself over her left eye. I was
not tipsy when Mrs. Marshall called me.
Cross-examined by the prisoner—Very shortly
after I took her home the prisoner came there, and
remained until she was drawing her last breath.
Cross-examined by Mr. Phillips—l have known
the prisoner and his wife for about nine years, and
they appeared to me to be comfortable, unless they,
had had a drop of drink. They have three chil-
dren, the youngest being four or five years old.
William Pearse said—l am a surgeon, and have
been in practice for upwards of 20 years. On Tues-
day, the 29th ult., about 5 o'clock in the afternoon,
I was called to a room at No. 77, Stonehouse-lane,
where I saw the prisoner, several women, and a
female (whom I have since ascertained to be
Thomazine Pitcher, and I believe to be the wife of
the prisoner). I found her in a dying state lying
on the bed, her clothes soaked in blood, pulselesa,
power of sight quite gone, wholly insensible, skin
cold, and unable to speak. She moaned twice or
thrice, and turned on one side and then on the other,
and attempted to raise her head, but failed. I
examined her person, and found she had lost a great
quantity of blood, enough to destroy life. I used
all the means I could to preserve life, by applying
stimulants, &c., and remained with he r about 30
minutes. I then left, and returned again about half
an hour afterwards, and then found her quite dead.
Prisoner was still in the room. He was intoxicated.
I examined the deceased after her death, and found
the wound to be about an inch in length, in the ex-
tremities, and found clotted blood. I consider that
she died from the loss of blood flowing from that
wound. It was done by some blunt instrument—a
kick from a hard boot or shoe would have caused it.
Whilst I was there the
police came and took the
prisoner into custody.
Mr. Luscombe asked Mr. Pearse as to the neces-
sity of a post-mortem examination, to which he re-
plied that the examination he had already made
was sufficient to convince him of the cause of death.
Witness—l found a wound on the left temple,
and the parts bruised, which might have occurred
from her coming in contact with a stone or leg of
a table, but her death cannot be attributed in any
way to the wound, She had also marks on the
cheek as if she had been struck there. She was a
fine woman, and about 43 years of ago, and appa-
rently in good health before this wound.
Police-constable Manning said—l was on duty in
Stonehouse-lane on Tuesday evening, and between
six and seven went to a room No. 77, where I found
Dr. Pearse, the prisoner, several women, and on the
bed I saw a woman lying dead. Prisoner had been
drinking very hard, but understood what I said to
him. From information I received I said to him,
" You must go with me." He said, " What for ?"
and I told him for beating, kicking, end killing his
wife- He said, " I never touched my dear Tam-
my." I said he must go, and he replied, " Allow
me to kiss her first." He did so, and I then left,
with him. While on our way we met police-con-
stable Julian, who accompanied us to the station-
house.
The bench then remanded the case until next
Tuesday. A warrant would be made out to the

-,areso•

governor of the gaol for his committal thereto until.
that day.
An inquest was held in the course of the day oa
the body of the deceased, and a verdict of man-
slaughter was returned against the prisoner, who
was committed for trial at the next Exeter assizes.

RAILWAY INTELLIG.ENCE.

GREAT WESTERN OF CANADA•

The report of the directors of this company s tates that
the receipts on capital account during the last half-year
amounted to £5,202 17s 9d, making the total receip:s on the
31st of January, 1861, £5,218,300 ss. The exp eoditure
now amounts to £5,001,662 12s 6d. This includes the extra.
cost of renewing wooden bridges in stone and iron, and the
expenditure incurred in fish jointing 81 miles of rails re-
newed during the half-year. There are still 901 miles of
the main line to fish •joint, and the expense of this as it is
hereafter incurred will be charged to capital. It also in-
cludes a sum of £14,616 Os 4d, which it will be observed has
now been charged to capital as loss on value of rails in
stock. These rails form the residue of those purchased
when the road was first made ; a very large proportion of
them were used by the contractors in the construction of the
line, and also in completing its ballasting during several
years after the railway was opened. The rails in this sway
became much damaged in value ; but the stock has nn'W
been estimated by Mr. Reid, at its present market price in
Canada much below the figure at which the rails were ori-
ginally purchased, with the duty and other charges upon
them. The rails which have hitherto been supplied for the
maintenance of the road out of this stock have only been
charged to revenue at their proper value. The sum of
£8,219 3s 7d advanced for the Port Huron and Milwaukess
Railway in 1858, hitherto included in the balance. sheet.
under the head of sundry accounts due to the company, has
also now been charged to capital. The balance at the cre-
dit of capital account is therefore £198,637 12s 6d, With
reference to the charges against capital, it is stated that
during the last two years five additional locomotive engines
with their tenders have been built at the company's w erk-
shops, and paid for out of the revenue, as well as, in accovel.
ante with the last report, the cost of fishing-jointing 96i
miles of road, amounting in all to £11,762 3d. The revenue
account for the half-year ending Jan. 31, 1862, shows
the following results :—Gross receipts, £265,951 lie lid ;
working expenses, including maintenance, taxes, insurance
and rent of suspension bridge, £125,424 17s 10d ; bale nces
£140,526 14s Id. From which there has to be deducted
Interest on Government loan, £17,498 ss; interest on com-
pany's bonds, £37,725 9s 3d ; renewals of rails, sleepers,
bridges, &c., £27,44215s 4d ; Flamborough accident account,
£BB2 lls 8d ; balance of bad debt account, £3,700 5s 6d;
total, £87,249 6s 9d. Leaving the balance from the half-
year's working of £53,277 78 4d, out of which the directors
recommend the payment of a dividend at the rate of 3 per
cent. per annum, which will absorb £50,142 14s 3d, leaving
£3,134 13s Id. To this has been added the surplus from last
half-year, £18,373 Os 6d; balance, £21,507 13s 7d. Frons
this balance the directors have written off the sum of £7,453
7s ld, being one-third of the arrears of interest, amounting
to £22,360 is 4d, hitherto standing in the balance-sheet
against the Detroit and Milwaukee Company, leaving to be
carried forward to next half-year's account the sum of
£14,054 6s 6d, The working expenses of the last half-year
are at the rate of 47.16 per cent., and for the whole year 54}
per cent. The receipts of the Detroit and Milwaukee line
have very satisfactorily increased during the winter, and
the traffic brought upon the Great Western Railway by that
line is estimated to amount during the past half-year to
£25,508 lOs 9d, as against £23,675 19s ld, for the correspond-
ing six months of 1860. The result of the working of the
Detroit and Milwaukee Railroad during the year 1861 was
that, within £2,500, it earned sufficient to have provided.
(but for the debts specially ordered by the court to be paid)
for the payment of interest upon the whole of the bonded
debt of that company. The anticipations respecting the
importance of the earth-oil district as a source of fresh
traffic seem likely to be realised, and the plank road to
Wyoming station from Bear Creek being found totally
inadequate to accommodate the business, the directors
requested the sanction of the proprietors to an outlay
of about £lO,OOO, which would be sufficient, as they are
informed, to provide a rough rail or tramway sufficient
to meet the present requirements of the district and prevent
the trade taking another channel. The directors have much
satisfaction in stating that an agreement was entered into
by them with the directors of the Grand Trunk Railway
Company on Jan. 31, subject to the sanction of the pro-
prietors of both companies, for securing the advantages of'
economy and unity of interest to both concerns, by placing
the whole under one management, with a fusion of all re-
ceipts. This agreement, however, requires that in the first
instance permissive powers be given by the Canadian Legis..
lature, and it is expected that the bill now before it for that
purpose will be in committee by the middle of May. Sosoon
as the fate of the bill is decided a special meeting of the pro,
prietors will be convened. Some of the details of the ar-
rangements are not yet quite complete. The directors,
therefore, trust the proprietors will permit them to abstain
from entering at present into farther particulars upon this
most important metier until such special meeting is called
for its consideration, when they will, of course, be prepared
to afford every information on the subject. By a memoraa
dum just received from Canada, Messrs. Brydges, Iv atkin,
and Carter have proposed to refer the terms upon which the
Buffalo and Lae° nurou uompany may Julu E.:Aeration
of the Grand Trunk and Great Western Railways to the
decision of the chairmen of the London boards of those
three companies for settlement. Immediately after the
London meeting in December Mr. Brydges laid his resigna-
tion before the directors, intimating at tho same time his
willingness to remain in their service till a successor could
quite conveniently be appointed. Mr. Brydges was shortly
afterwards engaged by the Grand Trunk Railway Company
as their manager. Under the circumstances, when the
agreement before referred to was entered into with that
company, it became obviously undesirable to appoint any
successor to Mr. Brydges if that arrangement were to be
carried out. Pending, therefore, the
,decision of the pro-
prietors upon the agreement proposet, the directors have
retained the services of Mr. Brydges in Ihe position he has
hitherto occupied.

COUNTRY 31ARAL:1-.6•.

- I.

NEWARK-APRIL 30.

There was a fair amount of wheat and barley at market
to-day ; business dull, and late prices were reduced from.
is to 2s per qr. Other articles a trifle dearer.
White wheat new, 60s to 63s Barley, grinding. „29s to 31s
Red do. 55s to 51s Oats, old, .. )os to 35;
Old white 603 to 63s , New do '23; to 27s
Red do 46s to 56s i Beans. 46s to 478
Barley, malting 32s to 39s ) Beans, new 444 s to —8
Peas, ....48s to 54s

PLYMOUTH—Arum 29.
The market was fairly attended, with a tolerable demand
for wheat and flour at about the last week's rates. WLite
wheat, 62s to 66s ; red, 63s to 64s per qr ' • French do., €oa
to 62s ; American, 58s to 63s ; Spanish, 74s to 76s ; Rus-
sian, 60s to 625. Barley at previous rates-34s to 38s per
qr for malting ; grinding, 28s to 30s ; oats, 22s to2Bs;
beans, —s to —s ; flour, 43s to 44s 6d.