The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-21 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE

OXFORD CIRCUIT.—STAFFORD, Dec. 20.
(Before Mr. Justice Keating.)
TRIAL FOR MURDER.

Charles Christopher Robinson' 18, no occupa-
tion, was arraigned, charged with the wilful murder
of Harriet Seagar, on the 26th August, 1865, at

the borough of Wolverhampton.
Dr. A. S. Hill and Mr. Brindley conducted the

prosecution ; and Mr. Motteram and Mr. Young

-defended.
Dr. Hill stated chat both the prisoner and the
deceased were of the same age, and lived together
in the house of Mr. Josiah Fisher, house-agent,

Ablow-street, Wolverhampton, who for eight years
had been the prisoner's guardian. The deceased
lived in the same family, performing some of the
duties of a domestic, but not occupying altogether
a menial position, for she was the sister of the wife
of Mr. Josiah Fisher's son, named Isaiah Fisher,
who kept a public-house in Sidney-street, which
runs parallel with the back of Ablow-street. The
communication between the houses of Mr. Josiah
and Mr. Isaiah Fisher was almost constant, and
was carried on by the garden which stretched be-
tween the two houses. At about three o'clock on
the afternoon of the 26th August Mr. Josiah Fisher
and his wife went out for a drive, leaving the pri-
soner and a companion, a young man named Wilson,
in the garden, shooting at sparrows, with a small
gun. Shortly after Mr. Josiah Fisher went out the
prisoner said to Wilson, " Harriet is crying, but I
don't know what for." A little boy named Alfred
Fullwood, who was accustomed to play in the
garden, would show that he did know why she was
crying. Fanwood, before Mr. Josiah Fisher went
out, saw the prisoner go up to the deceased and
attempt to kiss her. She resisted, and he gave
her a severe blow on the face, " as if," Fullwood
said, "to knock her over." This disagreement
between them was further to be shown by the evi-
dence of a young girl named Emma Silletoe, ser-
vant to Mr. Isaiah Fisher. She having lent her mas-
ter's knifeboard to the deceased, and now requiring
it, went to the deceased, whom she found in the
scullery attached to Mr. Josiah Fisher's house, and
which had a window looking out into the garden.
The deceased seemed to be crying, and Robinson, on
the outside of the scullery, and near the door, in a
sullen mood. He said that the board was not done
with, and she must come again. When she went
again, Seagar threw the board out of the scullery
door, and Robinson kicked it into the garden. Pre-
sently, Silletoe, whilst in her master's house, heard
the report of a gun and a scream from a boy that
" Harriet was shot." On running into the garden,
she saw the prisoner come down stairs carrying a
razor in his hand, dripping with blood. He went
into the scullery, and through the window she saw
him go up to the looking glass that hung on the wall
and three times cut his throat with the razor. An
alarm was raised, neighbours came in, and Harriet
Seagar was found dead lying on the floor of the scul-
lery, surrounded with blood anda wound in her throat
that had severed all the main arteries, and that must
have caused her death almost immediately upon its
infliction. It was now 6 o'clock, and Mr. Josiah Fisher
came home. Robinson had been taken into the house,
and his wounds were being dressed. In reply to Mr.
Josiah Fisher, he first said, "It's your fault ;"then he
said, "Kiss me ;" afterwards, " It is the drink." Be-
fore being taken into the house, and whilst with his
throat cut, he had said, " I've killed her, I've killed
her." To assist in dressing the prisoner's wounds a
woman named Mary Ann Lewis was sent to the pri-
soner's bedroom to bring down a garment. There she
saw the stains of a man's bloody hand upon the bed
clothes, as if whilst the blood was upon his hand he
had turned down the clothes. In the same room Lewis
saw a gun that seemed to have been recently ex-
ploded, and some of the plaster off the ceiling on the
floor, as if the charge from the gun had struck the
ceiling. All these facts pointed to the sanity of
the prisoner. He was paying his addresses to the
deceased, and was known to be fond of her.
Evidencein support of the above facts having been
given,
Mr. Motteram, in his speech for the defence, con-
tended that there was no motive whatever shown
for the committal of the offence, and that the pri-
soner at the time the fatal deed was committed was
under the influence of insanity, which in his case
was hereditary.
Evidence in support of the latter part of the
learned gentleman's statement having been given,
Dr. Hewson, the present chief of the County
Lunatic Asylum at Stafford, was then examined for
the prosecution.. He deposed that he had twice exa-
mined the prisoner in past,fertnight, and 'could
not find any traces of -insanity.
At 7 o'clock Mr. Justice Keating informed the
ury that he should sum up az half-past 9on the
'ollowing morning.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT—LIVERPOOL, Dec. 20.
NISI PRIUS COURT.
Li the course of the day Mr. Baron Martin again
spoke of the impracticability of holding a complete
winter assize for the southern division of the county
of Lancaster. He said that if the cause list were
not gone through by Christmas day, he should cer-
tainly come down rnd finish it, if only for the pur-
pose of showing the impracticability of holding a
complete assizes at this period of the year. It was
impossible to hold a perfect and complete assize for
the southern division of the county a fortnight be-
fore Christmas. In fact they had an assize for the
Hundred of West Derby occupying two judges
three weeks.
Mr. Brett said he had always been of his lordship's
opinion. He could not conceive what good the pre-
sent arrangement did to anybody. He did• not be-
lieve there were four of the causes in the present list
that could not perfectly well have waited till March.
The matter then dropped, and his lordship proceeded
to try common jury causes ; and the criminal busi-
ness having been finished in the afternoon, Mr.
Baron Pigott proceeded to take civil causes.

MIDLAND CIRCUIT—LEEDS, Dec. 20.
(Before Mr. Justice Shee.)
MURDER AT LEEDS.
Patrick Welch, 3, labourer, was charged with the
wilful murder of John Rouane, at Leeds, on the 29th
October. The prosecution was conducted by Mr.
Hannay and Mr. Bruce • the prisoner was defended
by Mr Blackburn and Mr. Gully.
Me. Hannay, in opening the case, stated that the
deceased man, John Rouane, met with the wound
which caused his death in the streets of Leeds on
the night of Saturday, the 29th of last October, and
he died on the following Monday. He was a young
married man, 29 years of age. The prisoner was
also a married man. A man named Doherty, who
would give evidence in the case, and several other
witnesses, lived in Lower Cross-street, in the Bank.
On the night of the 28th October Rouane had, in
company with Doherty, been at severalpublichouses,
and in particular at one named the Shuttles, which
was near to the place where he lived, up to, or al-
most up to, 12 o'clock. He (Mr. Hannay) laid no
great stress on the fact that the deceased had been
at other publichouses in the course of the evening,
because though there might be contradictions and
discrepancies in the evidence, it was agreed on all
hands that deceased was sober. As to the prisoner,
he believed the evidence would show that he was tO
some, but not to a great, extent in liquor. After
leaving the Shuttles, Doherty and Rouane proceed
in the direction of Lower Cross-street, accompanied
by their respective wives,- who had come to the pub-
lichouse to fetch their husbands home. On reaching
the street in which they lived the two men told their
wives to go into their homes, whilst they remained
in the street a little longer. It was unfortunate for
the deceased man that he did so ; for in a very short
time afterwards he received the wound which caused
his death. The prisoner, who, they would remem-
ber, also lived in Lower Cross-street, was going in
the direction of his house as the deceased and
Doherty were walking up the street. Some words
were exchanged between Doherty and thedeceased ;
the former, it was said, asked him if he had stones
in his pocket, referring to some bygone affair,
and no doubt some conversation of a not very pleas-
ing character passed between them. No very seri-
ous quarrel, however, occurred. The prisoner
walked up the street on the causeway, and stood at
his own door ; the deceased was at that time stand-
ing in the street. The prisoner threw out a general
challenge to fight any man in the street who chose,
and the challenge was accepted by Rouane, who
said he would fight him, and that he was never
afraid of any man. Thereupon Welch crossed over
to where Rouane stood. They immediately closed,
got into a " cuddle," as one of the witnesses de-
scribed it, and in a moment Rouane was heard to
exclaim, "I am stabbed," or "I am done." Welch
walked away and was not seen again that night.
The occurrence was altogether of a momentary
character. The men had only one deadly embrace,
the deceased was wounded, and the prisoner disap-
peared. The wounded man fell into the arms of a
person named-Cowan, and was carried away from
the spot. It was discovered that he had received a
wound in the stomach, and that his bowels were
protruding. Believing that he was about to die, he
made a statement of the facts. He afterwards
rallied somewhat, but inflammation of the peri-
toneum setting in, he died on the Monday morning.
A search had been made for the prisoner. It was
found that he had left the town ; the police were
sent after him, and he was apprehended in Goole.
The policeman charged him with being the man
who stabbed Rouane in Lower Cross-street, and he
at first said he had not been there ; but afterwards
admitted that he had. After half an hour's absence
the jury found the prisoner guilty of murder, and
sentence of death was passed.

THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

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certing measures to obviate such a deplorable state
of things. A formidable force, consisting of the
greater part of the regular troops stationed in the
colony, with a battery of artillery, and a very consi-
derable number of volunteers, was soon assembled at
Ladysmity, the nearest town to the frontier pass, and
the greatest enthusiasm appears to have prevailed
amongst the whole body. At great loss and incon-
venience to themselves the volunteers in every
town and county turned out and eagerly pressed
towards the point of danger, anxious not only to
prevent any future incursions of the barbarians, but
to inflict upon them such a lesson as would effectu-
ally deter them from a second time attempting to
violate the sanctity of a British province. Every-
thing was prepared for an advance, and there can
be no doubt that the Natal forces would, if moved
forward at the proper time, have overtaken the
Basutos, and recovered a large portion of their
plunder. Unhappily, however, a delay of some days
occurred, and the object of the intended expedition
was defeated. This most unsatisfactory state of
things was entirely owing to the anomalous posi-
tion of the Government, whose powers were
limited with regard to all relations with the native
tribes of the interior. Without the sanction of
the High Commissioner they were prohibited from
acting with that degree of promptitude and vigour
so essential in dealing with half-civilised people
and long before an answer could be received from
that officer, the offending Basutos had got safely
off with their booty. It would appear, however,
that to a considerable extent the Natal authorities
are liable to censure for having shortly before the
raid took place disbanded a mounted polled force,
whose duty it was. to watch the frontier line, arid
also permitted the detachments of troops to be
withdrawn from the outposts—facts of which/
no doubt, the Basutos were apprised before
' they attempted to cross the Drakensberg Moun-
tains with felonious intentions. It is true, the
mounted police force consisted only of thirty men,
a number quite inadequate, as may well be con-
ceived, for the protection or careful watching of all
expansive border of 150 miles in extent. The pre-
sence of so insignificant a body of police was Do
doubt calculated rather to cause than allay irrita-
tion ; yet, in the peculiar circumstances of the
colony, we should have thought that the authorities
would have shown more prudence in augmenting
so useful a force than in doing away with it alto:
gether. The reason assigned for the withdrawal
of the troops from the outposts was an objection
raised by the medical officers, in whose opinion it
would have been unsafe for troops just arrived front
China, and in a sickly state, " to be exposed to the
dilapidated barracks at these places." It is very
questionable, however, whether it was politic W
withdraw the troops before, as was intended, other
accommodation could be made for them in a more
central position, equally available as rallying po
for the inhabitants in time of danger, as well a°
reliable outposts. On these points it seems very
evident that a blunder was committed by the colo-
nial authorities. The abandonment of the outpost
offered to a certain extent an inducement to the
lawless tribes beyond the limits of the colony to
undertake marauding expeditions across the frctil
tier ; and the disbanding of the mounted police
force, who might have been extremely useful
videttes notwithstanding their limited number, ice
must look upon as a serious mistake. But the
short-comings on the part of the colonial authori-
ties, and for the unfortunate results of which they
are alone responsible, are in reality of small conse-
quence as compared with the serious inconvenience
and positive injury the country is liable to Buff. eY,
from the circumstance of the supreme ruling
power residing 1,000 miles away from the colony:
and only to be heard from after a lapse of several
days. This is a state of things that manifestly 011'
for the prompt interference of the Imperial authe;
rities ; and we cannot but agree with the people o'
Natal, in view of the present advanced state of the
colony and its more intimate relations with the 10;
terior tribes, that no valid reason can be adduce'
for the perpetuation of the office of High Como3:
sioner, an officer who resides 1,000 miles' distal"
from the colony, yet without whose especial sanctioa.
the Government of Natal are prohibited, eveu.,T,
1 extraordinary instances, from dealing with to"
1 native tribes in the adjoining country.