The Sun.
London, England, 1853-03-21 00:00:00

NISI PRIUS COURT.

Pierre Adolphus Augustine Sebire was indicted for
having feloniously discharged a loaded pistol at Emma
Hillyer, at Plymouth, on the 12th of December last, With
intent to kill and murder her. There were other counts
in the indictment varying the charge.
Mr. H. T. Cole was counsel for the prosecution ; Mr.
Cox defended the prisoner.
This was a very extraordinary case. It appeared that
the prisoner, who was a fine, sailor-looking young man,
was a native of Jersey, the owner of several vessels trad-
ing from Jersey to Plymouth, one of which he com-
manded himself, called the Medora. In November last
he happened to be at Plymouth with his vessel, and
became acquainted with Mrs. Hillyer, the mother of the
girl he was charged with attempting to murder. Hear-
ing that she had a pretty daughter living with her uncle
and aunt at Devonport, he asked the mother to intro-
duce him to her, and accordingly on the 24th of Novem-
ber he went to Devonport with the mother, and called at
the uncle's, and they took the girl out for a walk. She
is a very pretty interesting girl of between 17 and 18,
and she gave her evidence with great propriety. During
the walk the prisoner appeared to be much pleased With
her, and before she returned home asked her if she should
like him for a husband. She said she thought she should.
He then said he would marry her on the following Tues-
day, and gave her his gold watch and chain, saying it
should be a pledge for the performance of his promise,
and that if he did not marry her it was to be forfeited.
On the Monday he made an excuse for not marrying her
the next day, saying he could not complete some busi-
ness which he had. All went on harmoniously till the
11th of December, when the prisoner called on the
mother of the girl and said he would be married on the
next Sunday; that he had taken lodgings for them, and
bought the ring, and wished the girl to go out with him
and get the licence. The mother assented, and they
went out together. While out he made an excuse
to go into an ironmonger's shop for some article,
leaving the girl -outside, but it afterwards appeared
that he there bought a brace of pistols for 31., and gun-
powder, caps, and balls. He then took the girl to see the
lodgings. She sat down on a sofa, but perceiving that
ps was endeavouring to take the key from the
out of the door she thought he meant to lock the door
Vtake liberties with her, and became alarmed and
de her escape and went home. The prisoner came
a
there also, and in the evening they all went, as had been
before arranged, to the prisoner's lodgings,
her mother sleeping on a sofa-bed inthe
parlour. r.The
next day they weintheout for a walk, and returned in the
ai
ng
beingo tea.
aa.
out withoutlpri
Boner seemed rather annoyed at
theirpassed.eve While tea was pahriemp.a,
ribnugt
thneothpirnigsonpearrtaiesuklaedr
Mrs. Hillyer to fetch him
gepiezutiltlofihbo:uterir,taeand while she
was absent he said, ~ Emma,
night ke
e a;
hew
dasl
said
d? 1 '
She said she should not
: "Wont you ?" She replied, "No?,
am not ashamed to look at you ;" to which Jliesare replied,
~ Nor am I ashamed to look at you.,,
lie thenpsaid
"One for you and one for me—one in each hand." . 'p'
asHsede,
then raised his hand, in which was a pistol, and levelled
it straight at her head, andT fired. He Ilnie was at this time
aesnoQathpeer,
about 6 feet from her. h
the room,
her.
The girl, dreadfully alarmed,
thh hrooln,
just over her head and lioadgmeeddi,n
rtahne shnnuhttetenrpf
te
pistol discharged.then The prisoner f out
meadeearhdis
screaming, and just as she went
and was not seen again till three er our days after,When,

he was apprehended, at which time he had two loaded
pistols in his pocket.

Mr. Cox addressed the jury for the prisoner, contend-
ing that he was in such a state of mind at the time he
did the act that he was hardly responsible for his actions,
and therefore could not be said to entertain the dreadful
intention of murdering the poor girl to whom it appeared
he lo'red so deeply.

Mr. Justice Erie having summed up,
The jury found the prisoner guilty of shooting with
intent to do grievous bodily harm. He was then sen-
tenced to 15 years' transportation.

HOME CIRCUIT—KINGSTON, MARCH 19.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justieo Coleridge.)

Mary Anne Temple, 36, was indicted for the wiful
murder of her female illegitimate child by suffocating it.
Mr. Locke conducted the prosecution. The prisoner
was defended by Mr. Lilley.

The circumstances under which this charge was pre-
ferred against the prisoner lay in a very narrow com-
pass. It appeared that she had had two other children
besides the one in question, and that at the time the oc-
currence took place she was in the service of a respect-
able family at Chertsey. It would seem that she was
delivered of the child on the morning of the 7th of
March, and a very short time afterwards the prisoner
went to the house of a woman named Humphreys, who
lives at Chertsey, and she produced the infant, which
was at the time wrapped up in a shawl, and asked her to
take care of it for her for a short time. The woman, ob-
serving from the appearance of the child that it had evi-
dently only recently come into the world, was somewhat
alarmed, and she put some questions to the prisoner,
who said that the mother of the child had given it to her
to take care of. Mrs. Humphreys inquired who the
mother was, but the prisoner refused to tell her, as she
said she had promised not to do so, and Mrs. Hum-
phreys said that under such circumstances she would
have nothing to do with the child, and she must take it
away. The infant, which at the time appeared to be
perfectly healthy and well, was accordingly again
wrapped up in the shawl, and also in a flannel petticoat,
and the prisoner placed it under her arm, and went
away with it, and from this time the infant was never
again seen alive. In consequence of something that
transpired ♦ery shortly afterwards, Mr. Biddelcomb, the
superintendent of the Surrey constabulary stationed at
Chertsey, felt it to be his duty to go to the house of the
prisoner's mother, where he saw her, and asked her to
tell him what had become of the child she had taken to
Mrs. Humphreys, and afterwards carried away under
the circumstances stated. The prisoner told him she had
taken the child to its mothe-, but she said she did not
know where the mother lived, and she added that she
bad given her the child at the church, and she took it
away with her, and she knew nothing more about it.
Upon hearing this story, Mr. Biddelcomb obtained the
assistance of a medical gentleman, and upon the fact
being ascertained that the prisoner had very recently
been delivered of a child, the officer took her into cus-
tody, and placed her in the Chertsey police-station. He
very soon afterwards received further information, which
induced him to go to a cottage in the neighbourhood of
Chertsey, which had been occupied by the prisoner's
father, but which was at the time empty, accompanied
by a constable named Moore, and upon making a search
they found a hole in the floor, which was covered with
a bundle of rags ; and on the constable putting his hand
into the hole, he pulled out the dead body of an in-
fant. This turned out to be the same child that had been
taken by the prisoner to the house of Mrs. Humphreys,
and the surgeon stated that it was a full-grown and appa-
rently healthy child, and the result of a post mortern exa-
mination clearly showed that death was the result of
suffocation ; it was suggested on the part of the prosecu-
tion that when the prisoner took the child away from
Mrs. Humphreys she had wilfully suffocated it by press-
ing it forcibly in her arms while it was enveloped in the
shawl and petticoat. There was, of course, no direct
evidence of the fact ; but it was proved that while the
prisoner was left in the charge of a woman, the wife of
one of the constables, at the station-house, she appeared
in a very low and desponding state, and she asked the
woman whether she thought that she should be hung,
and on her replying that she did not know, the prisoner
said, "I did it." The woman then asked her what she
had done, and she replied, " I suffocated the child ; but
I must have been out of my senses at the time, and the
devil tempted me." The prisoner then went on to state
that it was her intention to have destroyed herself, and
she said that she went home to her master's and sat up
all night, and if her master and mistress had not been
about she should have jumped out of the window. It
also appeared, upon searching the prisoner's box, that
she had not provided clothes or necessaries of any des-
cription for the infant which she must have known she
was about to bring into the world.
Mr. Lilley made a most earnest and forcible address
to the jury on behalf of the prisoner, urging upon their
attention that the main evidence against her consisted of
her own statements, which, he said, in her wretched and
miserable condition ought not to have full effect given to
them, at all events to the extent of taking them as ad-
missions that she was guilty of the crime of wilful mur-
der ; and he submitted the possibility that, in her alarm
and excitement at the moment, she had carelessly pressed
the child so as to cause its death, lie likewise urged
upon the jury the possibility of the child's death having
been the result of mere accident, taking into considera-
tion the manner in which it was packed up as it were in
the shawl and petticoat, when it was taken away by the
prisoner.
_ _

- The learned Judge summed up the case in his usual
kind and impartial manner. He said that if the jury
thought the child was accidentally suffocated by the pri-
soner, of course she was entitled to an acquittal altoge-
ther. If, otherwise, they should think it was not an
accidental occurrence, but that the prisoner by gross
negligence and want of proper consideration for the frail
being she was conveying had caused its death, in that
case it would still amount to the crime of manslaughter.
If they should, however, be of opinion that the prisoner
had deliberately caused the death of the child, in that
case it would be their duty to find her guilty of the crime
of wilful murder.

The jury, after deliberating a short time, found the
prisoner guilty of manslaughter, but recommended her to
mercy on account of the condition of mind she was in at
the time.

The learned Judge, in passing sentence upon the pri-
soner, said that the jury had taken a most merciful view
of her case. The crime of infantcide appeared to be
greatly on the increase, and the judges in the course of
their duties could not now go into any county in Eng-
land without finding one or two, and frequenting more,
of such cases in the calendar. There were some very
dreadful circumstances in her case. The infant in ques-
tion was not her first child, and she must have been per-
fectly well aware of her condition, and yet she had pro-
vided no clothes or other necessaries for the infant ; and
it was difficult to account for her taking the child and
concealing it in this unoccupied cottage in any other way
than by supposing it was her intention that its should be
sacrificed. The jury had, however, very mercifully ac-
quitted her of the crime of wilful murder, and had only
found her guilty of manslaughter, but upon that verdict
he felt that he should be neglecting his duty if he did not
pass upon her a severe sentence. He then ordered the
prisoner to be transported for 15 years.
Just before the grand jury were discharged, they re-
turned a true bill against Edmond Allain Etienne Bar-
ronnet, Emanuel Barthelemy, and Phillippe Eugene
Mornet, for murder.
It will be remembered that the prisoners, who are
Frenchmen, are charged with killing one of their coun-
trymen in a duel at Egham, in the autumn of last year.
Upon the application of Mr. Parry, who appears for
one of the defendants, the trial was fixed to take place
on Monday (to-day).
Mr. M. Chambers, Q.C., and Mr. Ballantine are also
retained for the defence.

NORFOLK CIRCUIT-NORWICH, MARCH 18.
CROWN COURT.

Samuel Borth., aged 38, was indicted for assaulting
Ann Proudfoot, at Yarmouth, on the 14th of October,
and attempting to murder her by placing a pitch-plaster
over her mouth and nose.
Mr. Palmer and Mr. Bulwer were counsel for the
prosecution; and Mr. Prendergast, Q.C., defended the
prisoner.
The prosecutrix is a woman 38 years of age, who had
bad four illegitimate children in Yarmouth by different
fathers, and would appear to have formed a similar con-
nection with the prisoner, who was at the time a fellow-
servant of her's, the result of which was that she again
became enceinte. As soon as she became aware of it,
, she acquainted him with her situation, demanding
money, which seemed to perplex him. Plowever, they
met by appointment on the Denes, a large sandy district
just outside the town, on the evening of the 14th of Oc-
tober last, for the purpose of discussing the matter. As
they were sitting down so engaged near the Northum-
berland Arms Inn, the prisoner all of a sudden jumped
up, and, applying a plaster to the face of his unsuspect-
ing paramour, attempted to hold her down. She, how-
ever, managed to get on her legs, and, tearing off the
plaster from her face, fled from him. He pursued her,
and, overtaking her' renewed the attempt to apply the
plaster, and made a ferocious attack on her, tho violence
of which may be conceived when the surgeon, who
was called in by those who, being alarmed by her
cries, discovered ber lying insensible, and on her face
near the inn, stated that her front teeth were knocked
in, and her whole face swollen to a level with her nose,
while on her throat were pieces of pitch. Being taken
to the hospital the prosecutrix was soon ascertained to
be free from vital injury; but she was an inmate of that
establishment for a fortnight before she could resume he
usual business. When her cries attracted the landlord
of the inn to her, a pitch plaster adhered to her gown,
and a brace was found lying by her side ; but no one
was near her. As soon as she recovered her senses she
charged the prisoner with having attempted to burk her
with a plaster, which even then was hanging by her side
and seemed to have been made of tar or pitch, spread
upon a small piece of cloth. As soon as she made known
the person of het assailant, the police went to the house
of the prisoner, whom they found sitting composedly
with his wife and children, and enjoying a pipe; but, on
examining his person, it was found that he ha but one
brace on, while his left hand was all smeared with pitch
and tar, and a tar-pot and brush were discovered in the
house.
Mr. Prendergast then addressed the jury on behalf of
the prisoner, and, having contended that there was no
proof of the.capital charge, even if the jury should be of
opinion that the prisoner was in any way connected
with this extraordinary case, proceeded to call witnesses,
who gave him an excellent character.
The jury found the prisoner guilty of attempting to
put a plaster over the face of the prosecutrix, but not
with the intent to murder her.
Sentence—ighteen months'. imprisonment.