The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-07 00:00:00

LAW INTELLIGENCE.

INSOLVENT DEBTORS' COURT, JAN. 6.
(Before Mr. Commissioner Phillips.)
IN THE MATTER OP OTTO RODOLPH PETTER.

This insolvent, a German, who had been a merchant
and commission agent at Ghent, in Belgium, applied to
be discharged from Whitecross-street prison.
Mr. Parry opposed, on the part of Mr. Farminger,
merchant, Great Winchester-street, and for Mr. Joseph
Dodson, another creditor ; Mr. Cooke and Mr. Sargood
'supported.
The complaint was fraud. The insolvent had been
supplied with flax by the opposing creditors to sell in the
Belgian markets. From Mr. Farminger he had a sale to
8071., for which he paid, and a consignment to 7971., for
which he had not paid. He had goods from Mr. Dod-
son, and now owed him a large sum • that creditor could
not attend on account of illness. The insolvent and Mr.
Farminger were examined. It appeared that the insol-
vent should have remitted the proceeds of the consign-
ment to Mr. Farminger when he received the money.
On getting the goods he " hypothecated " them, as it
was termed, or in other words pledged them with the
Bank of Flanders, and afterwards sold them. Some
money had been remitted to take up bills, but not in part
payment of the flax consigned by Mr. Farminger. That
gentleman went to Ghent, and expressed his indignation
at the insolvent's conduct. Subsequently the insolvent
was invited to come to England in order to show his ac-
count-books. He came to England, and was arrested on
a capias, as about to leave the country, and lodged in
Whitecross-street Prison, from which place he now ap-
plied to be discharged.
The insolvent was examined. He had some foreign
creditors and debtors which were not inserted in the
schedule.

Mr. Commissioner Phillips directed various amend-
ments to be made, and an application made for, the
books.

The case was adjourned till the 22d instant, to af-
ford an opportunity of communicating with the foreign
creditors.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT—Jan. 6.

OLD COURT.

Johanna Connell, 20, was charged upon an indict-
ment which, in the two first counts, imputed to her the
capital offence of feloniously administering to George
Wm. Lapham, a quantity of oil of vitriol, with intent
to murder him, and in others with committing the said
act with intent to do grievous bodily harm, which of-
fence, under the present state of the law, is not capital.
Mr. Clarkson and Mr. Dearsley appeared for the pro-
secution; Mr. Sleigh and Mr. B. Thompson defended
the prisoner.
It will be remembered that at the November sessions
of this court, the prisoner was tried for murder, arising
out of the same circumstances, but in consequence of
the medical testimony failing to trace any immediate con-
nection between the administration of the vitriol and the
death of the child, the jury, under the direction of Mr.
Baron Alderson, who tried the case, returned a verdict
of not guilty; but the prisoner was ordered to be de-
tained to answer the present charge. The counsel for
the prisoner had, it appeared, placed a plea of autrefois
aquit upon the record, in reference to the two first counts
of the indictment.

This plea led to a long technical argument before the
case was gone into, and it was contended by Mr. Sleigh
that, under Lord Campbell's act, the prisoner might,
upon the former trial, have been found guilty of an at-
tempt to commit the felony and murder with which she
was charged, and that as she had thus been placed in
jeopardy upon the very charge which was now contained
in the two first counts of the indictment, her plea of
autrefois aquit ought to avail her with reference to those
two counts.

Mr. Clarkson, on behalf of the Crown, contended
that the statute referred to never intended to give a
power to convict a prisoner under a charge of murder, or
felony of any description, of another substantive felony
created by a distinct act of Parliament. The intention
of the act of Parliament that had been referred to was
clearly to prevent a failure of justice in cases where the
evidence might not be sufficient to support the charge of
felony by giving the jury the power to find the party
accused guilty of the misdemeanour of attempting to
commit it.

Mr. Justice Williams, at the close of the argument,
said that the judgment of the Court upon the point that
had been raised must be for the Crown. He was of
opinion that the prisoner could not have been convicted
of the offence with which she was now charged in the
two first counts of the indictment, and that she had con-
sequently not been placed in any jeopardy.
Mr. Justice Talfourd said he entirely concurred with
Mr. Justice Williams, and he was clearly of opinion that
Lord Campell's act never intended fo give the power to
acquit a prisoner of one felony and find him guilty of
another substantive felony which was only created by a
particular statute.
The case was accordingly proceeded with, but as the
evidence was given fully in the report of the former trial,
and the proceedings before the coroner and the magis-
trate, it will be unnecessary to give more than a brief
outline of the facts upon which the charge was preferred.
The prisoner was in the service of Mr. Lapham, a baker,
in the New-cut, Lambeth, and it appeared that, on the
evening of the 20th October, the child in question, which
was five weeks old, was asleep on the bed of its mother,
and the prisoner was seen to go into the room, and very
soon afterwards the child was heard to scream violently.
The mother ran • upstairs directly to see what was the
matter,. and discovered that the mouth and throat of the
poor child had been burned in a most dreadful manner.
At first the injury was thought to have been occasioned
by a candle, but upon Mr. Sewell, a medical gentleman,
being called in, it was speedily discovered that the burn-
ing was the effect of oil of vitriol. The prisoner was at
once charged with being the perpetrator of the crime,
when she ran into the yard of the house, and fell into a
fit, and upon the water-closet being examined a day or
two afterwards, a bottle which had belonged to the pri-
soner, and which she had represented contained " holy
water," she being of the Roman Catholic religious per-
suasion, was found there, which, on being examined,
turned out to contain a portion of oil of vitriol.
Mr. Sleigh made a very able speech to the jury on
behalf of the prisoner, remarking upon the absence of
any motive on her part for the commission of so diaboli-
cal a crime. He also remarked upon the absence of any
evidence as to how the vitriol came into the bottle, and
the possibility of the unfortunate occurrence being the
result of accident.

Mr. Justice Williams summed up, and at six o'clock
the jury retired to consider their verdict. At half-past
eight they returned into court and gave a verdict of not
guilty.
Richard Witham, 36, labourer, pleaded guilty to the
manslaughter of Joseph Polden.
The court sentenced him to four months imprisoment.

NEW COURT.
(Before the Recorder.)
Robert Nevin, 26, labourer, was indicted for the man-
slaughter of Daniel O'Bryan.
The facts of this case, which very recently appeared,
when the case was before the coroner, were briefly
these :—Both Prisoner and deceased were upon the
28th of December at the Three Neats' Tongues,
Pearl-street, St. Giles's. There were a great number
of persons in the taproom, and prisoner's sister,
being called upon, sang a song, during which a dis-
turbance arose, and the deceased man kept calling for
order, when Mrs. Connelly, who was very outrageous,
seized up twou Po' and, according to her statement,
as soon asthecirivaor:begthan the prisoner seized one and
struck the deceased a most violent blow on the head,
which fractured his skull. He was taken to St. Bartho-
lomew's Hospital, where he soon expired.
For the defence, it was proved by several witnesses
that the blow was given by the woman Conelly, who
aimed it at prisoner, but he stooping down to avoid it,
the deceased, who was standing close by, got the blow.
The prisoner went of his own accord before the coroner,
and there setup the same defence.

After hearing a great delOf evidence, which occu-
pied the Court for a considerable time past the usual
hour of rising, the jury acquitted the prisoner.

TRIED COURT.
(Before the Common Sergeant.)

George Rouse, 19, labonrer, a respectably dressed youth,
was indicted for stealing a quantity of printed cotton,
the property of Messrs. Shepperton.
Mr. Ballantine prosecuted, and stated that the pri-
soner had gone to the warehouse of the prosecutoys, who
he had come from Mr. Southgate, a calenderer, asked
if
wereesale drapers in Cheapside, and, stating that
any goods to be dressed. A piece was
given to him, but some suspicion being entertained,
he are
therewas
olfollowed and handed over to the police, and
hewh
then stated that he had been sent by a man
who asked him to go, and was then waiting for him in
Guildhall-yard. The policeman took him to the Bow-
lane station, where he told the same story, and the in-
spector then sent him out followed by an officer in plain
clothes, but no one was to be found. Inquiry wag then
made of Mr. Southgate, a most respectable tradesman
in the city, and employed by Messrs. Shepperton, who
of course knew nothing of him or the man he alluded to.
Upon being taken to the Mansion-house, he was recog-
nised as having been there on the 11th of September
upon a similar. charge, and be then told the same story,
right address, the alderman let him go.
Thisbut, gtimanen
g his
he gave a false address.
whomscarcelwy Aareached
snnstDatiebd iae'tboov his
bee
The jury convicted him, and he was sentenced to
twelve months' imprisonment.
Thomas bible, 46, mariner, and Lavinia Dible and
Amelia daughters,the
ededrdock,
lck2 y and r
sthe
two
ea ofgirls a
gage, whose
youngest
were
e rhe e a Io sf
in-
dicted upon three separate indictments for felony.
The case was a somewhat remarkable one. The
father, who is a respectable man, belonging to,one of the
Steam-towing Companies, lives, with the two girls, at
Woolwich, and the prosecutors are drapers of the same
town. Having on several occasions missed a great
many things from their shop, they communicated with
the police, and the result was that the little girl, who
was in the habit of almost daily coming to the shop for
pins, and other trifling articles, was suspected, and fol-
lowed to her father's house,; by the police, and finally
charged with the robbery. After' that. the police went
to the father's house, and told him what had occurred.
He said he knew nothing about it, but that there were
two shawls up stairs in his box, which the eldest girl
said her mistress had given to her. The police then found
two new shawls and a piece of print, and also duplicates
relating to a quantity of other property -which had been
pawned at different shops about the outskirts of the town
by the eldest girl. The property was all such as the pro-
secutors found gone from their stock ; but the patterns
being usual 'ones, and all marks having been carefully
taken out, they could not positively be sworn to. The