The Sun.
London, England, 1862-03-17 00:00:00

FATAL CASE OF SIABBING IN CAN

BRIDGE.

Much commotion was caused throughout Cam-
bridge on Friday, by the report that a man had
been murdered on the East-road ; and all sorts of
rumours were afloat as to the cause, and other cir-
cumstances attending the melancholy event. The
assailant is a man named John Ballard, a wood
carver, living on the East-road; and the victim was
named Johnson, an itinerant dealer in whitening,
who lived in the same neighbourhood.
One of the witnesses at the inquest was George
Moore, who said-1 live in Wellington-row ;I am
a carpenter. I knew deceased ; he lived in Gas-
lane. I saw him this morning about 5 minutes be-
fore 1 talking to Ballard at his door; Ballard had
hold of the door. They appeared to bo having high
words. I saw Johnson take a ball of whitening
from the boy's hand who stood by the side of him.
Johnson carries whitening to sell ; it was deceased's
own little boy. Deceased showed the ball of white-
ning to Ballard, who slammed the door in his face
as hard as he could. I was walking slowly, and
when I got as far as the Waggon and Horses I saw
Ballard open the door and make a rush out, and
then they apparently had a`fight. Deceased had
his fists up, and Ballard had something, which I
afterwards found to be a .gouge, in his hands.
Johnson turned round and made across the road up
to his cart, and fell flat on his face. I went back,
with two or three others, to see what was the mat-
ter, Ballard having at the time a gouge about three
quarters of an inch wide in his hand, and standing
against his door. Ballard is a carver, and the gouge
is a tool used by him in his business. Walton came
up and said to Ballard "Do you know what you
have done—you are liable to be taken—for you have
killed the man." Ballard said, " I would stab any
man if he came to interrupt me." I did not hear
anything more said. Walton said to me " Come
away, or he will stab you as well."
By the Coroner—Did you actually see Ballard
strike Johnson ?

Witness—Yes, I certainly did, sir. I did not see
any blood ; I was too far off. I felt sure he must
have cut him. I did not hear Johnson say anything.
Several persons lifted Johnson up and carried him
away.

From other evidence it appeared that the quarrel
was caused by deceased expostulating with the pri-
soner for striking a boy, the son of the deceased.
The accused (Ballard) entered into a lengthened
statement descriptive of the grievance between him-
self and Johnson's boys on Thursday evening, and
expressed his annoyance at the boys throwing
stones at his door and windows. Ballard described
what took place between himself and Johnson on
Friday morning, and said that Johnson swore at
him. Ballard told him to lie off, saying, " I want
none of your abuse." Ile denied ill-using the boy,
and endeavoured to reconcile Johnson. Proceeding,
Ballard said, " Johnson struck at me several times,
and I said, You old --I you had better be off.' I
held out my gouge, the handle at first, not at all ex-
cited at the moment, not intending to hurt him.
There was a scuffle between us, but I was not aware
that the gouge had pierced him, as I only held it in
front to keep him clear of me, but I did not expect
he would run against it. Walton cautioned the
people about going near me, and I told them they
need not fear, as I was quite reconciled. I acknow-
ledged to police-constable Deeks that I had used
the gouge, but I said, I dor.'t think he is stabbed
—I hope he is not hurt.' I also told Deeks that the
gouge was on my bench; but I had no ill-feeling