The Sun.
London, England, 1807-08-22 00:00:00

BOXING 111ATCH-F,II',IL EFFECTS.

Yesterday evening an Inquest was held at the
Examination Boom, St. Bartholomew's Hospital,
before Mr. SUELTON, Coroner for .the City ut Lon-
don, in order to teicertaiu the eau4e of the death of
James Watnick, which took placti at the said Hos-
pital early oil the morning, of Monday last. The
following day, the body was viewed by the Jury,
and they adjourned their proceedings till yesterday
evening. The examination of Witnesses commenced
as above, shortly after seven, o'clock.
The
,first 'Deponent was Christopher Meers, a ser-
vant tri a butcher, in-High-street, Islington. The
substance of his evidence was, taken down in writ-
ing, by the Coroner, as waa_ that of all the Wit-
nesses, to whom oaths were administered, Meers's
statement Was to the following 'elle& :---That last
Sunday night,. he Was in company with the Pri-
soner, trigiuut. Fieht about a quarter, before nine
o'cleck, at the Crown public-house, near Sadler's
Wells. The deceased and another person sat in the
same box. His party and that of the deceased
were not in company. Some time after, Field
found occasion to say to the deceased—" I wish
you would keep your own company." There-had
been a, few words interchanged before that relative
to a slight fracas which took place in the room in
the early part of the evening, but which was not
regarded as a quarrel, and ,on which no stress was
laid. The deceased answered, " Why did you not
keep your own company this afternoon ?" Field.
replied, " Because I did not like to see an old man
used UV—The deceased said, " I'll serve you the
same, aitd I'll split your nose, and I'll fight you."
The answer %%as, in, elle& ‘.' You can't—l don't
think you can."—The deceased then said, I'll
fight you for ten, five, Or one pound." Field answer-
ed, " I dont wish to.fight ;' I have no money." The
Deponent then produced two seven
.shilling
which he offered to lay down ; but expressed
his wish that, the fight might he put off till the Mon»
day,
‘when mol. could be made up. The deceased,
however, said he would tight then. Soon after, they
went to. Sidle s' Wells fields, where they fought
several rounds. Deponent declined giving any par,
tieolar description of the battle. Not long after
the comrnencczneur, the deceased, was observed by
hint to be supported by his second and it was
&Aid that he would continue the fight if *another
.11. note was laid down. Of this
.11eponent-took
no notice, but stated, that the fight continued' for
longer than an hour after;,, at length the deCeased
gave in. He was himself. second to Field. Field
and the deceased closed and fell together. The
latter was taken up by his . own second. .He oh-
`i'served nothing particular towards the close of
.he
tight. He never saw the deceased before that daY.;
nor did he believe that Field ever did, or,. at least
that he had known him. kield was a greotti to a
Gentleman. •

Towards the close of this Deponent's testimony,
be was sharply rebuked by the Coroner for his for-
wardness to offer to lay down money, with a view
to the parties fighting, which was, in fad, encourag-
ing them to it.

Mr. John .tyddell, the House Surgeon of St. Bar-
tholomew's Hospital, was then examined:. This
Gentleman stated, that at about half past ten o'clock,
on Sunday night, the deceased was broUght to the
Hospital. He found him labouring under symptoMs
which indicaied a pressure upon the brain. He Was
immediately put to bed. On examining him, he
found no external injury upon the skull. He *as
then induced to think the alleaiOn on'the brain pro-
ceeded from-blood. In consequence, betook twelve
ounces from him. In three quarters of an hour,
he sent for an Assistant-Surgeon. Shortly after,
a few ounces of blood more were taken from the
deceased. About twelve o'clock he left him, desir-
ing that lie might be called at four o'clock, if the
patient should then be alive (which he did not ex-
pe(;t). . At three o'clock, the than came to tell hiin
the deceased was no more. The same morning he
opened. the head of the deceased, when he foUnd
about an ounce of blood upon the brain, and which
in his opinion occasioned his death.: the blood lay
generally on. the brain, but in greater proportion at
the .top part of the- head ; it might • have proceeded
through a rupture of some of the vessels of the brain,
from a blow, fall, &c. and there were some bruises
in different parts of his body, but none which he
thought could have produced death.
The next Deponent who was regularly examined
was

Jeffery Morgan, a carpenter 'l4 trade, and living
in Cumberland-road, Islington., He happened to be
with his wife and children, at. the Crown Public-
' house, when this unfortunate affair took place. He
was seated, for .a time, at the further end of the
table at which the parties 'sat. He corroborated
what the first witness stated as to the irritative Jan.;
gunge of the deceased to, Field, as above; and added,
that the former got up, and expressed his deter:hi-
nation to fight .diro&ly, and rose apparently with
that intent; but blows were prevented by seine of
the company interfering. The deceased said, •he
would light Field for" t 01. 51: or IL but would not
fight him for nothing. Field seemed to decline,
saying, be would rather leaVe, it alone then. The
Landlord interfered—begged there might be no dis-
turbance in the room, and requested payment °fate
reckoning, which was complied with. He observed
one of the party take out two pieces of gold and-of-
ftired to deposit them to bind the bet as le the fight-
ing on Monday. The, deceased was against putting
off; the fight, and said he was: ready to fight then for
a one pound .note. • He afterwards' went "bragging"
about, and used taunting language; saying, " they
wetre cowards ; had no money ; that be was able to
get his living by fighting," &c. Scion after, the
parties went out into the fields, when a proper.spot •
was seletaed, they stript. Field wore boots. The
Deponent said every thing in hiS power to induce
the parties not to fight. Field cal ressed" his Or •
litignessie Blake up the matter over a .put of beer.;.
but the deceased, and:.alSo his friend; -I.ttfusetP—he'..
Would fight, or the money must be deliVered to
them. Field rather kept back, when the adverse
party said:—" Wpat are you hanging 'back for ?
Why don't you . come, on ?" They then set-to.
About the third round; the deceased's second .kept
singing out, f‘ Five to four, or another li. owe,"
or language to that aid,' The Deponent expressed
hire opinion, that the deceased had used the Prisoner

cruelly.. The fight lasted a long time; at length thee
second of the deceased said, either that he should
not, or.could not fight any more,4;‘He saw no foul
play whatever on the part of the. Prisoner. The de-
ceased was takim from the field to the Blue Coat Boy
Public-house, and thence to the hospital.
The CORONEIt then addressed the Jury upOn the
occasion. He stated, in et a&, that they were to
'iletertnine from the evidence adduced, as to what
had been the cause of the death Of the party ; of
which, indeed, there could be little doubt : but as
to the further considerdtion, which went to affed
the other party, they were to consider from the cir-
cumstances of the case, whether the Prisoner was
justified'in acting ir. such a thanner, legally, in his
own defence, and thereby causing the death ; in
that case they would shape,.their vertiid. In such a
case the law laid down, that when a man was com-
pelled, for his own safety, or the preservation of his
life, to use that degree of violence which occasioned
the death of another, in such case the law would
deem the party as wing in his own defence; but
how far such a consideration applied to the case of
the prisoner and the deceased, was a question 'to be
decided from the circumstances in evidence ; they
had gone out and agreed to fight, and although the
provocations were very great on the one side, yet
the law would not consider, in such circumstances,
the death of one of the parties as proceeding from
the necessary self-defence of the other : in such a
'case, the law constituted the crime to be that of
manslaughter.
After some further remarks, of which the fore-
going was the gist, the room was cleared, and the
Jury, deliberated About half an hour, when they re-
turned a Verdift of Manslaughter against William ,
Field.

After the Jury returned their Verditi, the Colon-
NCit ordered all the Witnesses to be called in, when
he addressed Meets, in a very impressive manner,
on his conduct ; remarking, that it was partly owing
to his laying down the money to bind the bet, the
battle took place; and, as a warning to him not to
be guilty of the like again, he should make him be-
come the Prosecutor against his friend in this case,
and accordingly bound . him in the penalty of 401.,
and also Jeffery Morgan to give evidence.at.-the next
Old Bailey, Sessions.