The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-25 00:00:00

IN RE J. STAPLES.

This bankrupt was described as a patent medicine vendor,
of Catherine-street, Strand, and to-day he came up to pass
his last examination and for the order of discharge. The
debts are £2,647, the deficiency being £2,500. The order
was granted.

CRIMINAL COl-JRT,—This Day.

OLD COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Keating.)
CHARGE OF WILFUL MURDER.

Amelia Sutherwood, 22, late a chambermaid at the
Charing-cross Hotel, was indicted for tho wilful murder of
her female infant child. _

The facts of this painful case have already appeared. It
will be recollected that the body of the child was found in
one of the drawers of the prisoner's bedroom with an ex-
tensive wound on one side of the neck.

Mr. Ribton, instructed by Mr. Abrams, from the office of
Mr. Goatley, ably defended the prisoner, and said ho felt
certain, as reasonable men, he need not address the jury at
any great length, because the charge of wilful murder had,
according to his view, failed. There could be no disguis-
ing the fact that concealment of birth had been committed
by the prisoner, and he felt certain that that would be the
conclusion at which they would arrive. To enable them
to come to such a conclusion, he need only recall to their
recollection the prostrate and distressing state the prisoner
must have been in when the circumstance occurred. She
was alone when the event occurred, and in her agony, not
knowing where to conceal the body of her prematurely
still-born infant, she placed the body in one of the drawers,
in the closing of which the lacerated wound on the throat
was produced—the child's head having been loft projecting
outside the drawer before it was hastily closed. The me-
dical man was of opinion that that wound might have been
been caused in the way he had described;; besides which
various other circumstances, which he need not repeat,
would produce the marks found upon the upper part of
the body. He contondea that fhe Child never had a sepa-
rate existence from the mother, and the medical man could
not undertake to swear that it had. Under all the circum-
stances of the case, he felt confident they would acquit the
prisoner of the capital charge, and find her guilty of the
misdemeanour of concealment of birth.

The learned Judge summed up the evidence, and told
tho jury that before they could convict the prisoner of wil-
ful murder they must have no doubt in thoir minds that
the infant had a separate existence from the mother.
The jury retired, and after an absence of ten minutes
returned into court with a verdict of not guilty of murder,
but guilty of concealment of birth.

Inspector Brennan, of the F division of police, said he
had made inquiry relative to the character of the prisoner,
and he had to inform the Court that her former employer
had the highest opinion of her, and up to this charge her
conduct had been irreproachable.
Mr. Justice Keating sentenced her to eighteen months'
imprisonment.

NEW COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Pigott.)
THE RUSSIAN NOTE FORGERIES.

Au application was made to his lordship to postpone
the trial of the six prisoners indicted for being concerned
in the offence until next session.
The learned Judge granted the application.
George Dean, 27, labourer, was indicted for robbing
Thomas Ladd of the sum of 4id.
The jury found the prisoner guilty, and previous con-
victions having been proved against the prisoner, the
judge sentenced him to seven years' penal servitude, his
lordship remarking that, under the circumstances, the law
allowed him no option in the matter.

THIRD COURT.
(Before Commissioner Kerr.)

James Watson was indicted for stealing a £lO bank-
note, the property of Mary Harris, in her dwelling-house.

The jury found the prisoner guilty, and he was sen-
tenced to one year's imprisonment with hard labour.
Thomas Brown, printer, was indicted for unlawfully
attempting, burglariously, to break and enter the dwelling-
house of Auguste Gagniere, with intent to steal therein,
and also for having in his possession by night, and without
lawful excuse, an implement of housebreaking.
The jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to five
years' penal servitude.

FOURTH COURT.
(Before the Recorder.)
THE ROBBERY AT PROFESSOR HOLLOWAY'S.

The three clerks lately in the employ of Professor Hol-
loway, viz., Robert Spooner, Charles Utton, and Thomas
Sellen having been found guilty of stealing various sums
of money and postage stamps, his lordship intimated that
ho should postpone passing sentence until the other charge
connected with the case was disposed of, and, accordingly,
this morning, H. Locke, landlord of the Holyrood Palace
public-house, in the Strand, surrendered to an indictment
charging him with conspiring with Spooner, Sellen, and
Utton to obtain divers sums of money with intent to de-
fraud. The clerks were in the habit of frequenting the
house kept by the defendant, and ho was in the habit
of playing cards and changing cheques for ,the prisoner
Utton for comparatively large sums, which, it was alleged,
he knew must have been dishonestly come by.

Serjeant Ballantine defended Mr. Locke.
The jury returned a verdict of not guilty.
The three convicted prisoners were not sentenced at the
rising of the Court.

Cow-house and Slaughter-house Licences•

Yesterday the county magistrates acting for the Hol-
born Division held their annual meeting, for the purpose
of hearing applications for cow-house and slaughter-house
licences.

Mr. H. Priestman, the Government inspector, was pre-
sent by direction of the Honie-office.
Mr. Priestman reported that he had inspected the places
for which licences were asked, and he had no objection to
make in any case, but simply attended to furnish any in-
formation the Bench might require.
Mr. Hopwood, the clerk of the Holborn Board of Works,
said that his board had come to a resolution that they wore
of opinion that the time had come when the practice of
having cow-houses within districts such as theirs should
cease. He added that they considered that cows should be
kept only under more natural conditions than could exist in
connexion with cow-houses in crowded neighbourhoods.
Tho board however, considering that the law at present
permitted this state of things, had not instructed him to
oppose any application for a licence.
Mr. Harrison, a solicitor, and a member of the St. Giles,
Board of Works, said, on behalf of himself and some other
inhabitants of St. Giles, that they believed that cow houses
in that locality were great nuisances, and endangered the
health of the district. He held in his hand some memo-
randa upon the subject, which had been made by Dr.
Buchanan, the medical officer of the district, who was a man
high in his profession, and who had lately been employed
by the Government to report upon the outbreak of yellow
fever at Swansea. The doctor said that all the cowsheds
but one were in the most crowded parts of the district,
where the population was 400 per acre. The death-rate
there was about 30 per 1,000, and in many years was above
40, mainly in consequence of overcrowding and impurity of
air. Cow-houses, even when conducted in obedience to the
regulations, could not be other than a source of serious im-
purity of air in such a district, and the cattle plague had
had its head-quarters in the London sheds, and had com-
mitted greater proportionate ravages there than in the
country. London derived fully half its supply of milk, and
Liverpool its whole supply, from the country, so that there
would be no practical difficulty in abolishing the London
sheds.

Mr. Adams, a magistrate, said it seemed to him that it
was for the Legislature to determine whether cow-houses
in London should be done away with ; but that whilst the
present law remained, it was the duty of the Bench to
license those cow-houses in which the regulations laid
down were complied with.
Mr. Delano, a cowkeePer, complained that no notice had
boon given of this attempt to deprive them all of their
licences. If the Legislature thought fit they would remove
cowhouses from towns, and would no doubt consider what
compensation should be awarded to those cowkeepers who
had laid out their money in order to comply with the ex-
isting law. He submitted that, at all events, the Bench
would not deprive them of their property in the way which
had been s ggestod.
There were 49 applications for cowhouse licences for the
whole of the division, and all but one who applied had their
licences granted. In ono instance the application was post-
poned;for a month to give time for certain works to be done,
and in another cas3 it was intimated that the licence would
bo continued for this year only, and in the meantime the
applicant must find more suitable premises.
About 40 slaughter-house licences Were granted without
opposition.

The magistrates of the St. James's Division hold a
similar meeting. For the last two years they have refused
to licence any cow-houses within their division, but it was
reported that those who were formerly licensed in Soho
parish had continued to keep cows, and now applied that
the licences should be regranted.
The Bench declined to grant this application, and some
discussion took place, which resulted in Mr. Lewis, the
clerk to the Strand District Board of Works, saying that
he believed that ho could pledge himself that his board
would now take steps to punish any person who kept cows
in an unlicensed shed.

Several slaughter-bouse licences were granted, but the
chairman intimated that they would probably grant no
such license next year, therefore the parties in' 'rested had
butter act• upon this waruiDg.