The Sun.
London, England, 1809-07-25 00:00:00

YORKSHIRE SUMMER ASSIZES.

David Purdon, jun. of Beverly, bUtcher, was
charged with the wilful murder of Robert Gardener,
of same place, on the loth of April last, by stab-
bing him in the side with a knife. ,
This was a trial which- excited much interest ;
the Prisoner was: much respeled, and the particu-
lar circumstances under which the deceased came
by'his death;, poWerfully interested the feelings 'of
the, Court, in' the:Prisoner's favour. :It appeared
that the deceased was suspected by the Prisoner,
and, as appeared I rotn- the evidence, not without suf-
ficient reason, of a criminal intercourse with his
wife. A few minutes before this unfortunate event
took place, he found his wife, at a very unseason-
able hour, in company with the
,deceaSed, in the
street, which .so• irritated him, that he declared he
would. stab him if ever he Came'into his house or
'premises. The deceased unfortunately persisted in
accompanying the woman into the housr, and the
Pris'onei- immediately said to the deceased, " D—n
'you, Gardener, I will stab you ;
,you have huddled
my wife in the street," and itnmediately made a
thrust at him with a knife lie had snatched froth the
"able, and wounded him mortally. The unfortunate
man languished until the 16th of April, find then ex-
pired. Previous to his death' he admitted that the
• suspicions of the Prisoner 'were :,,l'ell-founded, and
which was, indeed, sufficiently apparent from other
circumstances laid before the Court

The JUDGE, ,in explaining the law to the Jury,
said,: that if a man slisuld
_kill another in the aa
a criminal intercourse with his wife, it Would not be
murder, but manslaughter; but if a person, who had
received such injury shoUld deliberately contrive the
death of the person who had so injured him, it would
doubtless be murder; his Lordship, however, thought
that any. circumstances which fell shot:col the-atual
crime, and yet should clearly indicate such an inten-
tion, mitglit come within the meaning of the law.

The fury, withoUt a moment's deliberation,_ ac-
quitted the Prisoner of the murder; jand found him
guilty of inauslaughter -only, to' the satfsfadion of a
crowded Court.

John If ilkinson was charged with, having, on
Tuesday, the 23d of May last, violated the person
of Elizabeth Sykes, a female child about eleven
years of age, in Parnley Wood, in the parish of
Leeds.

Mr. HARD T stated the case,. on the part of the pro-
secution, with his-.usual ability and perspicuity.
The first witness examined was Elizabeth 'Sykes.
She stated, that on the 23d of May last, as she Was
returning from her
,worlc in the evening, she=was
accosted by a map, who asked her
.to shew him
the way to Gadersome, through the wood ; the wit
ness pointed it put to him; but he said he could not
find it, unless she went with him, and he would
give her half-a•crown. The witness ,accordingly
accompanied him; they had only gone, a little way,
when they,met a person of the name of John Brom-
ley who asked her why she was going back ? She said
she was only going a little way, and would return
iiumediately.—Witness said, they went on the foot-
path, through the wood, and she frequently wished
to return-, but he always wished her to go a little
further, which
.she did. When they had got into
the middle of the wood, he threw her upon the
ground; she cried; and he, taking a knife troth his
pbcket, said, if she made a noise he would cut her
throat ; this frightened her so much that she made
no further noise. T,h e man 'then completed his
abominable design, end-.left her, giving her two-,
pence.. The witness 'on• her return home, met
with her father, who'asked her what she had been
doing? She replied she durst not tell him, and begged
him not to beat her.- Her mother soon discovered
the cause of her distress, and:next day she came
to Leeds, and saw a man at the Chief Constable's
and the Rotation Office, whom she knew to be the
man that had used her ill, She 'knew him- both by
his dress and his look. Witness was asked if she
should know him at present. She,replied, she could
not tell. On being desired to look round. on the per-
sons in CoUrt, and see if she could. point h4n out,
she could not fix upon the person of Prisoneri
and though
.the Judge ordered her to be brought up
again, at the conclusion. of the-case on the part of
the prosecation, and had. her attention- fixed upon
the Prisoner, she could not identify him: as the per-
son who had committed the outrage.,
Wm. Sykes, the father of the last witness, stated
her age to be rather under eleven years ; remembers
going to.seek his daughter on the night 9f the 23d
of May'; when he met her, -he was much struck
with her appearance. The next day he went in
search of the Prisoner, and found him in Leeds. On.
being asked if he.was at Gildersome the preceding
night ? he-said, "I do not knciw such a place as Gil-
dersome." •

Sarah Sykes, the mother of the child, corroborated
the testimony of the child, as to the violence exer-
cised on her person.
John Bromley corroborated the evidence 'of the
child, as far as respected his meeting her and the man
in the wood, and swore, pOsitively, that Wilkinson
was the man.

Benjamin Sawyer was called, to prove that the
Prisoner, having lived at Wortley eight or ten
years, must have known Farnley Wood, a distance
of about half-a-mile, and the village of Gildersome.
He stated the Prisoner to have borne a good cba-
ra6ter.

The JUDGE said, the question on which there
could be any difficulty was, as to the identity of
the 41.soner, whether he was the person who com-
mitted. this tape; for that a rape had been commit-
ted he thought-was clearly wade out ;,and the Jury,
in determining this point, would take all the circum-
stances of the caw into their consideration.

The Jury retired for a considerable time, and, on
returning into Court, found the Prisoner—Not