The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-10 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT.—MAIDSTONE, MARCH 9.
(Before Mr. Justice Coleridge.)
ATTEMPT TO MURDER.

Frederick Lovell, 45, was indicted for the capital of-
fence of feloniously attempting to discharge a loaded
pistol at Sarah Smith, with intent to murder her.
Mr. Deedes, who appeared for the prosecution, stated
the facts of the case, which were of rather an extraordi-
nary character, and the following evidence was then
adduced :

Sarah Smith, the prosecutrix, a good looking young
woman, deposed that she had been for five years and a
half housemaid in the family of Mr. Wackerberth, a gen-
tleman residing at Sevenoaks. A woman, named Anne
Brown, was cook in the family, and the prisoner acted
as coachman and butler. In August last year, the
prisoner had the charge of the house during the ab-
sence of her master, and Mr. Wackerberth had pur-
chased him a revolving pistol with six barrels for the
purpose of his protection. About this time she had ob-
served that the prisoner was very strange in his conduct,
and that he appeared very excitable and violent, and
she noticed it particularly on the 6th of August, the
day on which this occurrence happened. About ten
o'clock in the morning the prisoner went out upon the
lawn, and he then discharged all the barrels of his
pistol. At half-past one o'clock they all sat down
to dinner, but the prisoner did not eat anything, and
his appearance alarmed her so much that she left the
parlour and went up to her own room, and shortly after-
wards she heard the prisoner go to his room and take
the pistol out of the drawer in which it was kept, and
she then heard a noise which she thought was the report
of a pistol. In consequence of these proceedings of the
prisoner she and her fellow servant, Anne Brown, went
out and applied to the magistrate for a warrant against
the prisoner, and she accompanied the constable Hindley
to her master's house. She then saw the prisoner sit-
ting near the door, and on her going in he addressed
her, and said, "You have done this—it is all your fault."
He then pulled a letter out of his pocket, and asked her
if she had written it, and she told him she had. She
had written the letter the same morning and placed it in
an open desk, from whence the prisoner must have taken
it. The moment she told the prisoner that she had
written the letter he exclaimed, "Take that," and she
screamed and turned her head, and at the same moment
she heard the click of a pistol, but there was no report.
The officers immediately upon this secured the prisoner.
On the following morning she found a percussion cap on
the floor which appeared to have been trodden on, and
when she threw it into the fire it exploded. She had
not had any quarrel with 'the prisoner before this took
place. A short time before August the prisoner was
very ill and kept his bed, and after this illness she noticed
a good deal of difference in his conduct.
The letter referred to by the prosecutrix was put in
and read. It was addressed to a female acquaintance,
and, among other matters, it contained a complaint of
the prisoner's conduct, and stated that Mr. Wackerberth
would be ready to discharge the prisoner if she and the
other servants desired it, but she was unwilling that this
step should be taken as the prisoner was a married man,
and she hoped he would mend.
In answer to a question put By Mr. Deedes, the pro-
secutrix said that the prisoner had never attempted any
improper familiarities with her. •
Cross-examined—The prisoner had only been about a
year in the service of Mr. Wackerberth in the country at
at that time, but he had been in that gentleman's service
in London four or five years before. Up to the period
of his illness he always behaved very well. He was at-
tacked with intermittent fever, and after he recovered he
frequently complained of his head. She was not aware
that he was out of his senses at any period of his illness,
but afterwards he was frequently very excited and quar-
relsome, and he frequently said that he was a much worse
man since his illness. It was after his illness that her
master procured him the pistol to protect his house and
property. She did not hear the prisoner say after the
transaction that if he had shot her he intended to have
shot himself She and the nook were alarmed at his con-
duct, and they wished to have _ him bound over to keep
the peace, but the prisoner was not aware of it being
their intention to make such an application against
him.

By the Court—The prisoner had frequently professed
an attachment for her. She did not consider it was love
but merely friendship. He never made any improper
overtures to her. She knew he was a married man, and
therefore paid very little attention to what he said. She
had no doubt that the prisoner entertained an affection
for her, and she did not discourage his advances so much
as she should have done, because she was afraid of him.
His excited manners and behaviour caused her to feel
great alarm on his account, and she was fearful that he
would do her some violence.

Anne Brown, the cook, deposed that on the day in
question, after prosecutrix had left the room, the prisoner
became very violent, and on her remonstrating with him
he made use of very bad language, and said he did not
care a curse for her or Sarah, or his master.
Cross-examined--Until the prisoner was ill he always
appeared to be a quiet, inoffensive man. She was not
aware that the prisoner had been drinking on this day.
Elizabeth Morris, the daughter of the gardener, proved
that after the two women had gone out to apply for the
warrant, the prisoner came to her father's cottage and
asked if Sarah was there, and an her telling him she was
not, he ran up stairs to look for her. He appeared in
such an excited state that her mother said to him, " Oh,
Lovell, what is the matter with you?" The prisoner
replied, "It is of no use ; I will have my revenge."
James Handley, the superintendent of the police at
Sevenoaks, spoke to the presentation of the pistol to the
first witness. After the prisoner was in custody he said
it was a good job that the pistol had missed fire, for if he
had killed the girl he intended to have also destroyed
kimself.
Blackman, the other constable, corroborated the evi-
dence of Mr. Handley, and said that while he was
struggling with the prisoner, and the pistol was resting
upon his arm, he discharged four of the barrels.
Mr. Horn then addressed the jury for the prisoner,
and after observing upon the extraordinary nature of the
case, he submitted that the jury would be fully war-
ranted upon the evidence that had been adduced in
coming to the conclusion that at the time the prisoner
committed the desperate act with which he was charged
he was not in such a state of mind as to render him re-
sponsible for his actions.
Mr. Justice Coleridge having summed up, the jury
found the prisoner Guilty, and he was sentenced to be
traisported for twenty years.