The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-19 00:00:00

7 e.,

r rapidly sunk, there was no chance of saving hits
life, and he died at 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Pre-
vious to his death, Mr. Wells, a magistrate, saw the
deceased, to hear any statement which the unfortu-
nate man might be disposed to make. At that time
the deceased was perfectly aware of his position,
ejaculating "My God, my Jesus, my Saviour,"and
other similar exclamations proper for a man to utter
who was desirous of making his peace with God,
whom he was soon to meet‘ After stating deceased's
account of the melancholy occurrence taken down
in writing in the regular way, the learned counsel
read the dying declaration made by the deceased,
and it was as follows :—" No one was present. We
were by our two selves. I opened the room door.
He pointed the gun at me. I said, Don't shoot.
He said, I wln't come in. As soon as
1 got in he took up the gun. I slipped rotzod
and seized hold of the gun. I struggled wild
him. He pulled the trigger. I was standing it:
front of him with my hands hold of the gun. I
cannot say which. part. I went into the room be-
cause he fastened himself no. We had tried the
doors and found them fast. We were afraid he was
going to do something with himself. Th.tt is all I
know. He had been in a queer state all the morn-
ing and all the night. It. wcts George Smith with
whom I snuggled, and who I :It:scribe :is being lx
queer state of mind." In a minute or two itter the
deceased was shot the prisoner was seen coating out
of the kitchen, and was observed to leave the botike.
At about a mile distance from his residence,
the prisoner was met by his cousin, a person
of the same name as himself. His rela-
tive asked him where he was going, and he
replied, To deliver myself up to the police,
I have shot a man." Smith, not believing this
statement, said, " Nonsense ;" but the prisoner re-
peated that he had shot a man, remarking that
buckles tried to get the gun from him, and it went
off accidentally. These were the whole of the cir-
cumstances of the case, and it would be for the jury
to say whether the prisoner pulled the trigger of
the gun and caused the deceased's death, or whe-
ther the gun went off accilentally in the course of
a struggle. By the latter view of the case the pri •
so er wouldof the deceased, b e entitled to
however, an acquittal.o eyer, The dying
declaration
showed that
the
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jury should be of opinion the prisoner had
d
pulled
the trigger intending that the gun should go of, he
would be guilty of an unlawful act amounting to
manslaughter. If the gun was discharged acci-
dentally in the course of a struggle the prisoner
would be entitled to his acquittal.
The jury retired, and were absent for about a
quarter of an hour, when they found a verdict of
not._ guilty.

CHESTER CIRCUIT.—CHESTER, Dec. 18.
(Before Mr. Baron Bramwell.)
TRIAL OF THE BIRKENHEAD RIOTERS.
The trial of the Birkenhead rioters, which (as
already reported) was opened on Tuesday, was
brought to a conclusion yesterday.
Mr. Baron Bramwell sentenced Henry Lennon
to 15 years' penal servitude. This man was charged
with having made a brutal attack upon Patrick
Kearney and John Haswell, two of the Birkenhead
police constabit'.?; while in the due execution of their
duty on the 15th ot" October last. At the close of
the evidence, which detaLled the particular assaults
of which the prisoner was accused, his counsel com-
piained of the prosecution taking tiLis ease first, as
if the origin and nature of the riot luta' been shown
mild have
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circumstances favourable to the accused IN
appeared. It might then have been shown tt2at the
constabulary took a violent course, and that :he
mob had only resorted to the measures they made
use of in their own protection and self-defence. The
learned concise commented with some warmth on
the invitation to the disturbance offered by the
debating society in making use of Orange placards
in the midst of an 1 riah population. The learned
judge, in summing however, said it was per-
fectly immaterial to the jury whether the discussion,
of this so-called Parliamentary Society was reason-
able or otherwise. It was equally immaterial
whether the placards were orange or any other
colour, or no colour at all; and as to the complaint
of the learned counsel that the prosecution had
taken this case before some others, that was wholly
without foundation. It was clear that the prisoner
struck the blow, and it was urged that he did so in
self-defence; but the evidence showed that the
police were only doing their duty, and, even
supposing they were Not, no man hal any right to
I turn round and strike an officer in this manner.
In addition to Lennon, nine of the male prisoners
were sentenced to two years' and three to one year's
hard labour. Catherine Larkin was sentenced to
one year's hard labour, and the other women to six
months' hard labour each. James Fynan was
acquitted.
In the course of the trial, on Tuesday, Mr. Pope
Hennessy, one of the counsel for the defence, asked
a witness whether he considered that the meeting
of the Parliamentary Debating Society was cal-
culated to produce a disturbance in Birkenhead.
His lordship held that such a question was inad-
missible.

Mr. Hennessy then cited an opinion of Mr. Baron
Alderson to the effect that any meeting calculated
to endanger the public tranquillity was an unlaw-
ful assemblage.
His lordship said he agreed with that opinion ;
but he considered that opinion referred to meetings
which were intrinsically unlawful or bad in them-
selves. He hoped it would never be the law of this
land that people could not expt ens their opinions on
ell subjects, and especially in a private room, with-
out being prevented by a number of ignorant savages
armed with missiles. He was of opinion that the
question was not tenable—in fact, he had not the
slightest doubt about it. .
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