The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-04 00:00:00

CRIMINAL COURT-(THIS DAY.)

(Before Mr. Baron Platt and Mr. Justice Williams.)

MANSLAUGHTER.

Thomas Gustave Brunell, 22, Andes Akala, 30, and
Give Gustave Koonkelin, three Russian sailors, were in-
dicted for the manslaughter of Thomas Brosnahem.

Mr. Bodkin and Mr. Clerk con ducted the prosecu-
tion ; and the prisoners were defended by Messrs. Clark-
son, Ballantine, and Parry.
Mr. Bodkin opened the case to the jury, and admitted
in the outset that he thought the evidence would be
found of a too conflicting character to justify the con-
viction of the prisoners. It appeared that sonic time
ago the prisoners belonged to a Russian ship lying at
Deptford ; and one evening, while they were there, they
went on shore. In the course of their rambles they
Caine up with some women who were in company with
the deceased ; and one of thew having spoken to the
women, an altercation *took place, which resulted
in a fight between the deceased and one of
the prisoners. The deceased was several times
knocked down, and during the scuffle he received a
wound from a knife, which eventually proved mortal.
While in the hospital he identified Brunell as the man
who inflicted the injury upon him, but afterwards, when
Keonholm was produced before him, he was equally
positive in declaring that his was the hand that struck
the fatal blow, and therein was the discrepancy in the
evidence to which the learned counsel had already
adverted. In law the three prisoners could not be
held jointly liable for an act done by one under the
circumstances just described, and the learned counsel
thought it would be a waste of time to go into the
evidence without first taking the opinion of the judges
upon the state of the facts lie had ventured to open to
the jury.
Mr. Baron Platt did not think the facts disclosed
were sufficient to make out a case of manslaughter
against the prisoners, as there was nothing to show that
they had conspired together to do an illegal act, while
the evidence was equally defective in fastening the
fatal injury inflicted on the deceased on any one of
the prisoners.
Mr. Justice Williams concurred in this opinion, and
no evidence being offered against the prisoners, a verdict
of not guilty was taken under the direction of their
lordships.

The prisoners had originally been committed on a
charge of murder, but the grand jury ignored that bill,
and substituted the present one for manslaughter.

BAD NEWS FOR THE MILLION.—This morning there
was a general rise of a halfpenny on the 41b. best wheaten
and seconds bread, and coals advanced 2d. per cwt. in
many places.

" DESTRUCTION OF THE LANSDOWNE ARMS, ISLINGTON,
BY FIRE, THIS DAY.—This morning, at half-past one
o'clock, a fire of a very rapidly destructive character,
attended with great loss of property, broke out at Mr.
William Belton's, Lansdowne Arms Tavern. No. 10,
Old Paradise-row, Islington. It appears that the police
on duty discovered the flames raging in the lower part
of the building, and immediately raised an alarm ; but
such a strong hold had the fire obtained, that the building
was shortly in one entire mass of flames, and it was with
gi eat difficulty that the inmates escaped. The reflection
of the fire was the medium of alarming nearly the whole
of the metropolis, and without loss of time the London
Fire Brigade engines from Watling-street, Farringdon-
street, and Whitecross-street, were quickly on the spot
but, owing to the heavy snow and the hard frost,
the supply of water from the New River mains was ex-
tremely late. The fire at this period assumed a most
frightful aspect, and the destruction of every houses on
that side of Paradise-row appeared inevitable- The fire-
men set tolwork in a most praiseworthy manner, but, not-
withstanding they were unable to get the mastery over
the flames until it had communicated to Messrs. Ash-
well and Paul's, silk dyers, John Jones, dairyman, and
not until property valued at some thousand of pounds
was destroyed. The cause of the fire is unknown. The
different parties are all insured.
ANOTHER FIRE IN CHRAPSIDE.—This morning be-
tween one and two o'clock, a fire broke out on the pre-
mises of Messrs. Robb, lock manufacturers, which at one
time threatened distruotion to the whole of the building.
The origin of the fire was the blocking up of the flue.
The premises are insured.

THE OBELISK .AT THE ELEPHANT AND CASTLE, WAL-
WORTH.—Yesterday the workmen of Mr. J. Hook, the
contractor, cleared away the old obelisk which has stood
so long opposite the Elephant and Castle, Walworth,
smaller one having been placed near the site of the late
turnpike. It is supposed that this alteration will less
impede the traffic than before, the new obelisk only
,partially obstructing one road, while the other obstructed
the whole of the six roads ; but it is doubtful whether
the change will be thought satisfactory by the pedes-
trians, who availed themselves of its aid in crossing so
crowded a thoroughfare.
FATAL ACCIDENT ON THE MIDLAND RAILWAY.—An
accident, by which a poor old man named Thomas Mid-
dleton, between 70 and 80 years of ago, lost his life,
occurred on Monday morning, between the Mangots-
field and Bristol stations of the Bristol and Birmingham
branch of the Midland Railway. The deceased, who
was very deaf, was crossing the line as the train was
proceeding at full speed. The driver did not observe
him in time to pull up ; he was knocked down by the
buffer of the engine, and the whole of the train passed
over him, mangling his body in a dreadful manner. This
is the second accident of a similar character which has
occurred within a week at the same spot.
ACCIDENT ON THE ST. HELEN'S AND RUNCORN GAP
RAILWAY.—On Monday afternoon a very serious col-
lision occurred on the above line, by which several
passengers sustained considerable injury. The late
severe frosts having rendered the utmost caution neces-
sary, the 12.40 p.m. train, with about 30 passengers,
from St. Helen's, was a few minutes behind its time in
reaching the Oak Tree station, where the Runcorn line
crosses the St. Helen's • and just as the passenger
train from the latter Place reached the crossing it
was met by a luggage train proceeding to Parr.
The engine driver of the luggage .train, which. at
the moment was descending the incline, upon seeing
the passenger train, instantly endeavoured to stop
the engine, but, owing to the slippery state of the rails,
the break would not act, and a violent collision occurred.
The engine of the luggage train struck the other engine,
shattering it almost to pieces, causing a great concussion
of the carriages, and severely wounding several passen-
gersaThe Rev. Dr. Burton, of St. Helen's, sustained a
severe injury to his nose, which, it is feared, he will en-
tirely lose. A young lady sustained a severe contusion
in her lip, and was taken to the hotel, where she had a
succession .of fits. One man who was in the act of
taking a pinch of snuff when the collision took place,
and his teeth striking against the carriage, had two
of them knocked into his snuff-box. Botll engine-
drivers escaped unhurt.