The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-05 00:00:00

EILRAO.RDI

An inquiry was held by Mr.ll.Raffles WaltheW,
the deputy coroner, on Wednesday night, at Poplar,
respecting the death of Mrs. Ann Benson, aged 59,
who lost her life under the following singular cir-

cumstances :
John Webber, a bargeman, said that on Monday,
as he was navigating his barge near the Five Mills,
Bow, on the River Lea, his attention was attracted
by the loud barking of dogs, and a moaning sound.
He saw something floating under the surface, and
upon getting near, he found it to be a lady full
dressed. She was still alive, and he got her on
shore. He saw two rough-looking men standing
near, and he called to them to go for the police and
a doctor. They ran off, however, and no one came
until he shouted out for help. Ultimately she was
removed in a cab. She could not have got into the
river, where he found her, by walking in, as there
was an iron railing around.
Wr. C. F. Wilson said that deceased was his sis-
ter-in-law, and was possessed of property. She had
lost a sum of money in the Deposit Bank, and being
apprehensive that under the winding-up of that
concern she would have to pay for the deficien-
cies of others, her mind more or less gave way,
and she became subject to delusions, and thought
she was doomed to poverty. That fear was, how-
ever, quite without foundation. On the day men;
tioned by the last witness she went out to visit at
Bo w, which she evidently did by railway as the half
of a return ticket was found on her. She had not
been robbed, as a guinea was found in her purse.
He did not know how dhe got into the water.
Dr. Carnell said that he was called to the de-
ceased, who was in a state of collapse. She became
sensible, but did not say how the affair occurred,
merely stating " that it was too dreadful to talk
about." She died from the immersion. He had
recently been called in to tun deooaMed, and found
her prostrate from poison—laudanum. When with
difficulty he recovered her, she said she took poison
only as a medicine. She was subject to delusions.
He discovered a quantity of laudanum in a bottle."
The jury returned a verdict—" That deceased
died from immersion in the River Lea, but how she
came into the river there was no evidence to show.

On Wednesday an inquest was held at the S
Helen's Inn, Chesterfield, on view of the body of G
Cooper, who came to his death under the following
circumstanceet—lt appeared from the evidence given
at the inquest that deceased left his home, in Stone-
gravel, about 10 o'clock on Monday night, to accom-
pany Mary Ant' Holt, his sweetheart, to her resi-
dence in Spa-lane. They had proceeded about half
a mile, and were turning into Station-road, which
is close to the parish church, when they were met
by two Irishmen. The tallest pushed rudely against
the young woman, and deceased very naturally in-
quired what he meant by pushing against her in
that manner. Without saying a word the Irishman
raised a life-preserver, or some instrument of that
description, and struck him a fearful blow on the
right temple. Poor Cooper was knocked down
and partly stunned by the force of the blow, and
the villains at once decamped, and turning
round a corner, were lost sight of. The un-
fortunate man was raised by the young woman, and
he accompanied her home (a distance of about 200
yards), but never spoke a word, and appeared like
a person walking in a dream. He left her at her
door and went home, but must have taken about
double the time to return that was consumed in
going. He reached home a little before 12, and
complained that his head was very bad. In a short
time he became stupid, and made no reply to ques-
tions addressed to him. During that night and on
the following day he remained in a state of insen-
sibility, his general condition indicating an effusion
of blood on the brain. About 11 o'clock on Tuesday
night he expired. The inquest was adjourned to
Friday for a post-mortem examination. This is the
result of a long series of breaches of the peace by
the Irish, which commenced with some riots that
took place on the occasion of anti-popery lectures
by the Baron de Camin. It will be remembered
that a serious riot took place on that occasion, and
since then there has been a deal of ill-feeling be-
tween the lower class of Irish snd Protestants. On
Sunday last a serious affray took place in one of the
principal streets, and two policemen were seriously
wounded by the Irish, who used pokers, loaded
shillelaghs, and other formidable weapons.
Late on Wednesday night the police, under Mr.
Superintendent Radford, succeeded in apprehend-
ing two Irishmen of notorious character, who were
concerned in the attack on the police on Sunday
night, and were heavily fined by the magistrates on
Monday last. The two men, who are named re-
spectively Thomas Flannery and John Ball, answer
the description given by the young woman, Mary
Ann in their personal appearance; but they
have not yet been identified by her, as the clothes
which they are known to have worn on Monday
have been concealed. It is the intention of the
police to secure them if possible, and cause the
prisoners to be dressed in them befere the young
woman is permitted to recognise them. In per-
sonal appearance the taller of the two, Flannery,
very closely answers the description given
by Holt, one point mentioned being that he had a
short beard and no whiskers, which is the case with
Flannery. When apprehended and questioned as to
where they were on the night of the murder the
prisoners gave contradictory accounts. The prisoners
were brought up before W. Drabble, Esq., ex-mayor,
yesterday morning, and remanded until 12 o'clock
this day, in order to hear the result of the adjourned
inquest. A dense crowd of Irish (who number be-
tween 2,000 and 3,000 in the town) surrounded the
municipal hall dnring the time the prisoners were
undergoing examination.

THE MURDER OF A POLICEMAN IN
SUFFOLK.

On -Wednesday, John'Ducker, who was committed
list week on the local coroner's warrant, charged
with the murder of Tye, the policeman, at Hales-
worth, Suffolk, was brought before the magistrates
on the same charge, together with a chimney-sweep
named Stephen Warne, and his wife, who were
charged as accessories after the fact.
The statement made by the prisoner, in which he
sought to inculpate another person, was not at all
supported, and ho was fully committed for trial on
the capital charge.
The other prisoners were discharged, and ad-
mitted as witnesses against Ducker. They stated
that they heard him on the night of the Sunday
preceding the murder make use of threats against
the police.
An important piece of evidence was supplied on
Monday, Sergeant Taylor of the East Suffolk con-
stabulary, having on that day found a cap, proved
to have been worn by the prisoner, within two
yards of the sp)t at which the body of the deceased
was discovered,

---- ---.......-------------------....--••---_______: ~.--------' ----
office, and the gentlemen who are in attendance assaulted her,
from the Dome-office will produce all that there manslaughter, and
but still his offend
manslaughter •of an aggra-
were there. Many were not in the office, and lam vated character, for wh;ch he must Pass a sea-
) amounted to
x
not sure whether this letter was there. tence of penal servitude. (The priso
h,•ive mercy.
u 7
s)
Mr. Irwin referred to a case in " 7 Dowling" to claimed, "I hope not, my lord, pY
very serio ,
show that a Sec._ of State was bound to pro- Such a punishment was no doubt a
.1
e offices ot
duce documents in his possession. ner nere e
,_
one to a man who 1:w saw had filled ti. .a a re_
The Lord Chief Justice—=But the document is churchwarden and overseer, and had oce, IPI-e..
not in his hands. You can call the other gentle- spectable position ; but his duty to the p, bl
men, who will produce it if it exists.
Sir G. Grey—lndorsements are made upon peti- penal u.
eict
in
him no alternative but to order him to be l& p
servitude for three ycars.
tions of right, or memoranda upon separate pieces This concluded the busine,ss of the assizes.
of paper, but these simply contain the substance of
the answers to be sent to th® persons sending them left

OXFORD CIItCUIT.—STA FFORD, DEC. 4.
(Before Mr. Justice Mellor.)
Jesse Watts, William Henshaw, Hannah Sirarasy
re
and Mary Downing, found guilty on
the p
day of the manslaughier of Henry Swinnerton, wete
brought up to receive sentence. Watt.%
asked if he wished to say au:ything, mettle a •
state;
ment which directly negatived cart of the Ovide/3,,,cr0
of the witness Kelsey. Se
15
11 Ye";
penal servitude ; Renshaw, 15 months' hard la bah,
on being
Simms and Downing, 6 years' penal servitude t 5c
CUTTING AND WOUNDING.
Alfred Curtis, 22, puddler, was charged with
fe'
loniously assaulting and wounding Thos. William SI
on Nov. 7th, at Hanley, in the parish of Stoke
upon-Trent, with intent to murder him. Prisoner,
with his wife, had been employed by the prosecutor,
who is a wax-figure manufacturer, and also an W
hibitor of the same, at Hanley. On the night pre,"
viously to the commission of the offence prisoner:s
wife had been discharged because she had got intos.l;
cated, and had quarrelled with her husband °a
tb,
prosecutor's premises. On the following mornilbor
prisoner went into prosecutor's bedroom, carrying
large Highland sword in his hand, remarking',
" What made you attempt ?" and dealt the prosecn:
tor, who is an old man with a bald head, a fearful
blow on the left temple with the iron hilt the Old
sword. Blood began to flow profusely, and the 13'
man ran out of the room, followed by the prisoner'
who, shouting he would have his life, and no
tinuing to attack him, struck hirat an additiouP
blow with tft!3 weapon upon the back of tb,,t3p
head. He also kicked him in the side. 11T
old man, bleeding, and still followed by. the P.
soner, made his way across the street in wbi:
his house is situated,. and here his assailant VOI"
secured by some neighbours. Outside tho room la
which the attack was commenced, the pt‘lice-seri;
geant found a razor tied firmly down to the handle
by a strong piece of cord, and also a large k,1110,;',
wound on the temple, and the P
The surgeon deposed to the dangerous state a. '74,
was still suffering from the injuries, not hafil°
been able from pain to sleep on the night ended
The prisoner, when arrested, said that
the razor to kill the dog, if the dog on the pier
tat he intena 70.
should come upstairs whilst he wits aitacking di-lea
master. The prisoner was undefended, and Pltife,
that the prosecutor had attempted to kiss his "t" to
He was found guilty of assaulting.with attelnPojg
do grievous bodily harm, and the judge, rerasr.,es
that possibly some provocation had been gl.
sentenced him to three years penal servitude.

in.
Mr. Irwin—Did you get a letter on May 21,1862,
referring you to a letter of July 15, which states
that the Lord Chancellor had refused his fiat ?
Sir G. Grey—l got an answer from Mr. Pullen,
your solicitor, informing me of your intention to
apply for a mandamus, and asking me in the first
instance whether I refused to present to the Queen
the petition of right, This was the first in!ime.tion
I had received as to the petition of right, except a
letter addressed to me on the 7th September, re-
questing that the petition might be returned.
Mr. Irwin—Did you or not present that petition
to her Majesty, and if you presented it was it with
the advice not to grant it
Sir U. Grey—l submitted it to her Majesty with
that advice, which I thought it my duty as Secre-
tary of State to tender, her Majesty acting always
on the advice of her responsible ministers. I found,
after receiving Mr. Pullen's letter, that my prede-
cessor in office had treated the petition in the usual
way. Ile had informed himself by the best legal
opinion at his command as to what advice he should
tender to the Queen, and acting upon that I advised
her Majesty that the petition should not be en-
dorsed with the fiat "Let right be done." This was
the advice, not of Lord Westbury when Lord Chan-
cellor, but when he was Attorney-General.
The Lord Chief Justice—lf the jury believe the
evidence of Sir G. Grey, I shall inform them that
the verdict ought to be for the defendant. He says
that he presented the petition to the Queen, and
that he accompanied it with such advice as he,
being a responsible adviser of the crown, felt it his
duty to offer. If that is so, he has not been guilty
of that breach of duty which is referred to upon
this record.
Sir G. Grey—l am told that Mr. Pullen was in-
formed of the circumstances of the petition being
presented to the Queen by letter.
The Attorney-General—That was the letter
which the plaintiff refused to have read.
The Lord Chief Justice (to Mr. Irwin)—And
which if you had had any regard for your fellow-
creatures would have been read five hours ago. Do
you think that you have gained anything by inflict-
ing this burden upon the suitors and the gentlemen
who have been detained in attendance ?
Mr. Irwin contended that Sir G. Grey had not
acted in accordance with the Petitions of Right
Act.
The Lord Chief Justice—And I dare say if you
were supreme hn would be made to suffer, but he
is not at your mercy.
Mr. Irwin submitted that Sir G. Grey had not
acted in accordance with the statute in advising the
crown to refuse the petition of right.
The Lord Chief Justice—lt is my duty to decide
what is the law, and I am of a contrary opinion.
Mr. Irwin—And I bow to that opinion—(great
laughter)—but I have the best professional advice
that Sir G. Grey has acted contrary to the statute.
The Lord Chief Justice—l have spent the greater
part of my life listening to words, and I am perfectly
sure that no words of yours will alter my decision.
(To the jury)—The question for you, gentlemen, is,
whether you believe Sir G. Grey.
The jury at once said that they did, and a verdict
was entered for the defendant.
Subsequently the plaintiff applied for leave to
tender a bill of exceptions, but the application was
not granted, and he was told that he could move for
misdirection.

COURT
(Befo OF PROBATE
OAN DI)
ORCE.
reJudge rdD inary.
BARNARD V. BURROUGHS-PART-HEARD.
This morning the trial was resumed and addi-
tional evidence was given on behalf of the plaintiff,
who contested the will of Miss Jemima Bradley.
The deceased was an aged person who had formerly
lived as servant in a gentleman's family, and had
amassed a fortune of about £7OO. She died in
January, 1861, at the house of the defendant, with
whom she was lodging, and to whom she left the
bulk of her property. The plaintiff was a niece of
the testatrix.
The jury, without troubling the judge to sum up,
found for the will; and
The Court condemned the plaintiff in the costs.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENC.F:.

HOME CIRCUIT.—MAIDSTONE, DEC. 4
(Before Mr. Justice Byles.)
John Armstrong, 44, was indicted for bigamy
Mr. Barrow prosecuted. The prisoner was de-
fended by Mr. Addison.
It appeared that the prisoner had been in the
army, and served in the Crimea, and was discharged
with a pension. He married his first wife in July,
1857, at Ballysax, in the county of Kildare, and he
married the second wife at Chatham on the 10th of
August in the present year.
Hannah Howe, the second wife, a comely-looking
little woman, deposed that she kept a lodging-
house at Chatham, and that the prisoner was in-
troduced to her at the commencement of the pre-
sent year, and soon afterwards he paid his ad-
dresses to her. He represented that he was a
widower, and said that his wife had died at
Wolverhampton, and that upon her death-bed she
exacted from him a promise that he would not
marry again until six months had expired. (A
laugh.) She inquired of him when that time would
arrive, and he told her on the 10th of August, and
on that day they were married. (A laugh.) A
very short time after the marriage she saw a letter
that was written by the first wife, and she asked
the prisoner whether it was true that he had a wife
living, and he said it was not, and she then told him
that she would not live with him any more until
the matter was cleared up. The prisoner upon this
packed up his things and left the house, and shortly
afterwards she ascertained that he had a wife living
at Wolverhampton, and the prisoner was taken into
custody. It transpired in the course of the case that
the witness had been in the receipt of a pension on
account of her husband having been killed in the
Indian mutiny, but the pension had been withdrawn
by the Government in accordance with the usual
custom upon her marriage.
The Jury returned a verdict of guilty.
Mr. Addison urged upon the Court the previous
good character of the prisoner in mitigation of
punishment.
Mr. Justice Byles said the case was undoubtedly
not accompanied by any of those circumstances of
aggravation that were sometimes proved, but still
the second wife had undoubtedly been damaged to
a considerable extent. In consequence of the mar-
riage she had also lost the pension to which she was
entitled, but he hoped, as it was a void marriage,
that this would be restored to her ; and, under all
the circumstances, he should sentence the prisoner
to four months' hard labour.
The greater portion of the remainder of the day
was occupied in disposing of cases, the details of
...i....A. ..-- .....,,,z...17 ....at for p—lstz-4-L-in
Alfred Burr Luck, Thomas Stevens, Geo.Allchin,
Joseph Obey, Stephen Burgess, John Catt, and
Joseph Clapson, the seven men who were tried on
Wednesday for the manslaughter of the gamekeeper
and acquitted, and who afterwards pleaded guilty
to the charge of night poaching, arising out of the
same transaction, were then placed at the bar to
receive judgment,
The learned Judge, addressing them, said that
they had pleaded guilty to the offence of being out
at night armed with guns in pursuit of game, and
that the statute which made this an offence was a
most salutary one the circumstances of the pre-
sent case proved most clearly. One man had lost
his life, and another had stood in the position of
being liable to have his life also taken ; and this
was the result of the offence to which they had
pleaded guilty. The jury had acquitted them upon
the charge of manslaughter, and he should not per-
mit that charge to have any effect upon his mind ;
but in the sentence he was about to pronounce he
should endeavour to deal with them according to
the share that each of them appeared to have taken
in the transaction to which they had pleaded guilty.
He then sentenced Luck and Burgess, who,. he said,
appeared to have been the original proprietor_s odf
the expedition, to be imprisoned and kept to
hard
labour for twelve, and the others for four months
each.
As the prisoner Luck left the dock he declared
with great earnestness that he was not the man
had been con-
who shot the deceased.
Wife, was next
nnit oann,s
itahaeg fhatremr e r
of whohis
Written paper to
his lordship when he was placed at
vb
ireol‘thleagdjhootrf uMtph, and he handed up aue
the bar.
Mr. Justice Byles, addressing the prisoner, said
that he had been very properly convicted of the
offence of manslaughter, and he had delayed
passing sentence lest the indignation that must
naturally be created by the circutustances under
which the offence was committed should interfere
with the proper
1
and he would wou
his wife his offence
to
oadiumfliuistration of justice. If
he had intended
let serious mischief upon
undoubtedlyld hbaNe-een been mfourrder
ex-
ecution. He did not believe that he intended
to cause serious mischief to his wife when be