The Sun.
London, England, 1862-08-08 00:00:00

CROWN COURT.

James Holt, 42, a post-office letter-carrier,
pleaded guilty to an indictment which charged him
with feloniously stealing a letter containing two
half-sovereigns and two postage stamps, the pro-
perty of the Postmaster-General.
Mr. Harrell and Mr. C. Pollock conducted the
prosecution.
The prisoner was employed as a letter-carrier
and sorter at the Epsom Post-office, and while em-
ployed in those capacities it appeared that he com-
mitted the offence imputed to him.
He was sentenced to four years' penal servitude.
Charles Rawson, 50, described as a tutor, was
charged with feloniously setting fire to a stack of
straw, the property of Thos. Lemand, at Kingston.
Mr. Kingston prosecuted. The prisoner was de-
fended by Mr. Oppenheim.
The prisoner was committed for trial at these
assizes in 1860, but upon that occasion it appeared
that he made a desperate attempt to destroy him-
self, and there was no doubt that he was insane, and
the jury found that he was not in a fit state of mind
to plead. Upon this he was sent to Bedlam as a cri-
minal lunatic, and since that time, as his mind has
become restored, he was, by order of the Secretary
of State, sent back to take his trial. The evidence
went to show that prosecutor was a farmer, living
near Kingston, and that in the beginning of 1860
the stack in question was discovered to be on fire.
The prisoner was met by a police-constable coming
from the spot, and it appeared he admitted that he
had set fire to the stack, and his conduct was such
as to leave very little doubt that he was at the time
in a state of insanity.
Mr. Oppenheim having addressed the jury for
the prisoner, they returned a verdict of not guilty
on the ground of insanity, and the prisoner was or-
dered to be detained during her Majesty's pleasure.
Robert Randall, 37, painter, was charged with
feloniously cutting and wounding Anne Hills, wail
intent to murder and do her grievous bodily harm.
The prisoner was also charged with bigamy, in
having feloniously intermarried with the same pro-
secutrix, he having a wife alive at the time.
The Hon. G. Denman and Mr. Sharpe conducted
the prosecution on behalf of the Treasury.
The prosecutrix in this case was a woman about
the same age as the prisoner, and it appeared that
they were married at Croydon in Sept., 1860, and
lived together in that town, and about a year after
the marriage had taken place the prisoner admitted
that he had a wife living. On July 25th the real
wife of the prisoner came to the house where the
prisoner and the prosecutrix were living, and ex-
pressed her intention to give prisoner in charge, and
he asked the prosecutrix whether she would aa-
She told him that she would,
pear against him.
and he then pulled her upon his knee and wanted
to caress her. She requested that he would let her
go, and got away from him, and went to another
room, and the prisoner's wife told her to put on her
bonnet and shawl and go with her to the police-
station, and they went out together, The prisoner
followed them, and they met a policeman, and the
wife wanted to give him into custody for bigamy.
The police-constable, however, refused to take the
charge without a warrant, and the two women and
the prisoner walked on towards the police-station.
When they had gone a short distance the prisoner
addressed the prosecutrix, and said, " Anne, do you
mean to press the charge against me ?" She leplied
that she did. The prisoner then said that she had
better say " No," and if she did he would go right
away, and at the same time put his arm round her
neck, and again urged her not to press the charge.
She told him that she would, and the prisoner in-
stantly made a desperate attempt to cut her throat
with a razor, and wounded her in two places in the
neck. The injuries, however, were not of a very
serious character, and this probably arose from the
fact that she had on at the time a thick woollen
shawl, which was cut completely through before
the skin was reached. After the act had been com-
mitted the prisoner went into a shop, where he was
seen to close the razor, and he then went to his own
house, where he was taken into custody. It was
stated in the course of the case that the prisoner
had been at one time insane, and was confined in a
lunatic asylum, but that he was discharged cured.
The prisoner cross-examined the prosecutrix
at some length in a rambling incoherent man-
ner, his object apparently being to show that
the prosecutrix had conducted herself in
an immoral manner. She denied that this was true,
but she admitted that she lived with the prisoner
for some time after sbe was aware that he had been
married before and that his wife was living.
When he was examined before the magistrate it
appeared that the prisoner said "I am not going to
condemn myself much ; my first marriage was a
very unhappy one,
and I walked the streets of Lon-
don all night, and was eventually sent to a lunatic
asylum ; but thank God I am now cured, and am
perfectly sane."
The prisoner, when called upon for his defence,
addressed the jury in an excited manner, and de-
clared he loved the prosecutrix most dearly—that
he loved the ground she walked on, out she had
acted most cruelly towards him, and she and her
companions had assaulted him, and he was driven
beside himself.
Barou Bramwell having summed up, the jury
found the prisoner guilty of wounding the prosecu-
trix with intent to do her grievous bodily harm.
Evidence was then gone into upon the charge of
bigamy, and it was clearly made out that he had
married his first wife 16 years ago, and that she
was still alive.
He was found guilty, and Mr. Keene, the gover-
nor of Horsemonger-lane Gaol, stated that the pri-