The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-18 00:00:00

ASSIZE INYELLIGENCE.

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—GLOUCESTER, Dec. 17.
(Before Mr. Justice Mellor.)
Wm. Mealing was charged with the wilful mur-
der of Sarah Moss, at Rendcome, on Oct. 23.
Mr. Cripps prosecuted ; the prisoner was defended
by Mr. Cooke.
The prisoner had formed an acquaintance with
the deceased Sarah Moss, a woman about six years
his senior, who was living with her father, and who
had an illegitimate child aged three years. Anim-
proper intimacy had sprung up between the prisoner
and the deceased, and the latter was pregnant by,
him. They had agreed to be married, and the pri-
soner professed great love for the woman, who had
saved up some money for the wedding, which was
to come off in a few days, the banns having been
asked in the parish church. The prisoner lived at
Moss's house, and was in the habit of sleeping with
the deceased. On Thursday night, the 23d of
October, he went to Moss's house, and bad tea
about 8 o'clock in the evening, afterwards going
to bed with the deceased, whose little child slept
in a small bed in the same room. The murder
is supposed to have been committed about mid-
night,
for between 1 and 2 o'clock in the morn-
ing the prisoner went to the house of the parish
constable, and having knocked him up, said, " I am
come for you to take me up and hang me, for I
have been and murdered the woman at the place
where I was lodging." He was without hat or coat,
and his clothes and hands were covered with blood. I
The constable went back with him to Moss's house,
and on going upstairs found the deceased's child
crying in its little bed, and the deceased lying in a
pool of blood in her own bed, her head having been
nearly severed from her body with a razor, which
was lying on the bedcl, thes. The bedclothes were
thrown off the deceased, who was nearly naked to
the shoulders. Marks of bloody hands were found
on the bannisters and stairs. He said he had done
it with the razor which was on the bed, and that
the reason why he ha done it was that " they had
had a few words a few days ago, and he was obliged
to du it." According to the evidence of the prisoner's
mother, the prisoner had for some time complained
of pains in his head, and had expressed fears that
lie should do some mischief to himself or other per-
sons. He had, when a lad, received an injury on
the head, from which he had suffered at intervals
ever since, and he had lately asked his mother to
put the knives and other dangerous weapons. out of
Ills Way, that he might not do any injury to 'umbel:

Evidence as to the prisoner's state of mind having
been given,

Theeprisoner was found not guilty on the ground
of insanity.

James .Summers, alias John Alex. Conroy, was
charged on three indictments with forgery and
bigamy; bigamy,in having married two young ladies,
Miss Emily Dawson Graham at Windsor, and
Miss Jane, Cowley Date at Cirencester, his wife
Margaret being living. The other charge was that
of forging a cheque for £lOO on Messrs. Hopkinson
and Co.

Mr. Grippe, having opened the case and read a
number of letters which had been concocted by the
prisoner as purporting to have been written by Sir
John Lawrence, by the Lady of Major-Oen. Dames,
whom he represented as his sister, and others,
vouching for his position as Captain Conroy, of the
Bengal army, called
Mr. Date, landlord of the King's Head Hotel,
Cirencester, who deposed that the prisoner came to
his house on the 16th April last, and remained
there till July. He pa.id,his addresses to Miss Date,
representing himself as Capt. Conroy, of the Indian
army. Witness looked into the" Army List," and
not finding his name there he called the prisoner's
attention to the fact, when he expressed his sur-
prise, and said he should write to his friend Sir J.
Lawrence. He accordingly wrote to Sir John, and
in a day or two Mr. Date and the prisoner received
letters purporting to be from Sir J. Lawrence (but
which were proved to be forgeries) vouching for
the fact that the prisoner was a captain in the Ben-
gal Infantry. This he (witness) considered satis-
factory, and the prisoner became the accepted
suitor of Miss Date, and they were married on the
9th July. On that day, just as the newly married
pair were leaving for their wedding trip, the pri-
soner lost his purse, and witness was asked to ad-
vance some money. A few days before thie the pri-
soner had given the prosecutor a cheque on Messrs.
Hopkinson and Co. for £lOO to keep for him, and it
was suggested that this should be cashed. Accord-
ingly Conroy indorsed it, and the Cirencester
bankers cashed it.

Evidence was given that this cheque was a for.
gery.

Mr. Graham, official assignee of the London
Bankruptcy Court, proved that the other cheque,
which the prisoner had placed in the hands of Mr.
Date to keep for him, was also a forgery.
The case for the prosecution being closed,
Mr. Sawyer addressed the jury for the prisoner
resting his defence on some slight discrepancies in
the evidence of the several witnesses, and sub-
mitted that there was no evidence that the prisoner
had a knowledge that the cheque was a forgery.
His lordship summed up with great care, and the
prisoner was found guilty.
He was then charged with bigamy, and pleaded
guilty to both cases of bigamy.
Sentence, 15 years' penal servitude.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT—LIVERPOOL, Dec. 17.
Neal O'Donnell and James Coyne were indicted
before Mr. Justice Blackburn to-day for the wilful
murder of a sheriff's officer, named James Morris,
on the 15th of September last.
Mr. Deighton, who opened the prosecution, said
that the prisoner O'Donnell was the brother-in-law
of a person named Byrne, and Coyne was the uncle
of O'Donnell, and also the uncle of Byrne's wife.
Byrne was a furniture broker, occupying two shops,
Nos. 3 and 4, Derby-street, Whitechapel. Up to
the 19th of August last, and for some time pre-
viously, the prisoner O'Donnell had boarded and
lodged with James Byrne. He paid nothing for his
maintenance, his services in superintending Byrne's
shops being taken as an equivalent. On the 19th
of August some misunderstanding occurred between
Byrne and O'Donnell, which resulted in O'Donnell
leaving Byrne's house, and the shop No. 3 being
closed, and the key left with Coyne. The shop No.
3 was the one which had been chiefly attended to
by the prisoner O'Donnell, having been taken by
Byrne in O'Donnell's name, though Byrne paid the
rent, and was the actual tenant. The shop was
closed until the 23d of August, when Byrne sent
in some men to remove some of the furniture,
and a dispute took place with O'Donnell on this
occasion, but nothing of importance took place.
The shop remained again closed, Coyne retaining
the key. On the 15th of September Byrne gave
instructions to the bailiffs (Brooks and Warden)
to go into the shop and remove the goods to
the warerooms of a person named Heys. The
bailiffs took with them about 16 men,including the
deceased James Morris. They entered the premises
about two or three o'clock in the afternoon, and
found the prisoner O'Donnell there and his brother
Charles. The prisoner left the shop for a short
time, and then returned with Coyne. Some scuffling
took place, but the result was that the bailiffs pre-
vailed, and the prisoners and Charles O'Donnell
were ejected. O'Donnell then went to a provision
shop in Whitechapel, took from the counter a Ist ge
bacon knife, and with this returned to the shop,
which he entered in company with Coyne, who was
outside. O'Donnell flourished hia knife about, and
while James Morris was running back to escape his
violence, O'Donnell stabbed him several times, one
stab penetrating deeply between the eighth and
ninth ribs. The police were called, the knife was
wrested from O'Donnell, and Morris was taken to
the hospital, where he died in a few minutes after-
wards.
Witnesses were then called.
For the defence Mr. Pope contended that all the
facts showed that O'Donnell had sustained great
provocation at the hands of his brother-in-law,
Byrne, and that the prisoner's anger at Byrne's
conduct had been lashed into ungovernable fury
by the last act of injustice which he was about to
sustain at his brother-in-law's hands, viz., the for-
cible removal of the goods from the premises. Byrne
was not justified in sending the bailiffs at all, as
there was a negotiation pending for a partnership
between the prisoner and Byrne. O'Donnell, Mr.
Pope urged, had killed Morris in the heat and vio-
lence of passion, with no malice prepence, epd with-
out any predetermination to kill. The learned
counsel, therefore, claimed a verdict of manslaugh-
ter in O'Donnell's ease. With regard to Coyne,
Mr. Pope scouted the evidence of his knowing that
O'Donnell had a knife as slight and inconclusive.
After a careful summing up from his lordship
the jury retired, and after an absence of forty
minutes, returned with a verdict of " Man-
slaughter" in the case of O'Donnell, and of " Ac-
quittal" in the case of Coyne.
His lordship remarked, that though he did not
find fault with the verdict of the jury, this was a
case so near one of murder that be felt bound to
sentence the prisoner to penal servitude for life.
Coyne was discharged.

CHESTER CIRCUIT.—CHESTER, Dec. 17.
(Before Mr. Baron Bramwell.)
TRIAL OF THE BIRKENHEAD RIOTERS.
At the sitting of the Court this morning the trial
of the Birkenhead rioters was resumed, when the
several learned counsel engaged for the prisoners
addressed the jury.
Mr. Welsby, in opening the defence for the eight
prisoners on whose behalf he was retained, said
there could be no doubt that a formidable and dan-
gerous riot took place at Birkenhead on the night
of the 15th of October, but contended that the
police And the magisterial authorities were much to
blame for allowing the borough to remain in the
hands of the mob for so many hours, when the
military were so close at hand, and that, therefore,
they were responsible to a great extent for what
took place.
Mr. Bevan and Mr. Macintyre next addressed
the jury on behalf of their respective clients.
Mr. Pope Hennessy, M.P., followed on behalf of
the prisoners Tracy and Shoolin. The learned coun-
sel warmly denounced the conduct of the members
of the Birkenhead Debating Society, who had pro-
voked the disturbances by the ostentatious display
of their Orange placards. He also complained of
the conduct of the police, who, by their indiscri-
minate attacks upon the people, had aggravated
them and goaded them on to violence. He de-
fended Father Goulding from the imputations
which had been cast upon him, remarking that he
was there from the most humane and praiseworthy
motive--that of pacifying the mob—and that the fact
of his having addressed the mob, and called for
three cheers for the Queen, abundantly proved he
was endeavouring to restrain them from continuing
the 'jot.
A great number of witnesses were called to esta-
blish an alibi on thb part of several of the prisoners.
Mr. Grove, Q.C., then replied for the prosecution.
His Lordship summed up with great care ; and
After an absen2.e of an hour and a quarter, the
jury returned a verdict of guilty against all the
prisoners, with the exception of Fynan.
Some slight disturbance arose among the crowd,
and

The Court intimated that if order was not strictly
maintained the hall would be cleared. The learned
Baron then, in feeling terms, ordered Patk. Fahey
the elder to be discharged on his own recognizo,nces,
Catherine Larkin to be imprisoned and kept to hard
labour for 12 months, and the other female pri-
soners for six months each. Shovelin, Patrick
Fahey the younger, and
, Michael Fahey and others
he sentenced to one years imprisonment, Buckley
and Hogan to two years imprisonment, and Lennon
to 15 years' penal servitude.

A UrENTLEMAN FOUND DROWNED IN THE RIVER
along the towing path
LFA.—Yesterday morni,
they ng, as Borne bargemen were going
observed a black bundle &at-
ing in the River Lea, and having procured a boat brought
a body ashore. It was then removed to the workhouse to
be viewed and the inquest held. Deceased is described as
about 30 years of age, fair complexion, five feet four inches
in height, and on his person was found a pearl-handle knife
—linen marked "A., 9,"