The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-05 00:00:00

J UNE 5, 1847.

MURDER AT KIDDERMINSTER
KIDDERMINSTER, THURSDAY.—The inquest on the
body
Mr. R. Docker, at the Town-hall. The excitement con-
of Phillpotts was re-opened last evening, before
tinned as great as on the previous day.
It will be seen from the following report that a num-
ber of witnesses were examined, and in consequence of
the reluctance of one of them to appear, the Coroner
issued a summons for his appearance.
Tile evidence of Cornelius Thomas, painter, was first
taken. This witness was in the street at the time t, the
affray took place. After some quarrelling and fighting
he saw Lloyd take refuge in the house of Lockley, and
saw Phillpotts and Lloyd strike each other in the door-
way,'lmmediately on which Phillpotts rushed back into
the street covered with blood.lThe witness corroborated
I several portions of the evidence given. .by the witnesses
on Tuesday evening. He was the party who first saw
the knife in the back kitchen. When he picked it up he
did not notice that it was bloody, the light being bad.
It was a two-bladed knite. The witness on being exa-
scia:l returnijilosie'rpohalbeginning to end. He
deposed homeward from a club walk
exa-
mined by the attorney for the prisoner, and by the jury,
said he did not see any person strike Phillpotts. Any
one might have done so withoutH hilils,
ing it.
)
T
(witness
fruiterer, a
sawobs e therv-
whole
h e
t,f nextthe
that wtorn h
iatunea
he encountered a body of nearly 20 people on Lion-hill.
They were quarrelling, and witness, it appears, did his
best to restore peace among them. Two of the Kidder-
minster police came up, and carried one man off to the
station-house, after which the quarrelling recommenced,
and Lloyd and Lockley retired to the house of the
latter, as already stated in the evidence of other wit-
nesses. Lloyd aad Mrs. Lockley stood at the door, and
Phillpotts coming to the footpath before Lockley's door,
called to Lloyd to "come out,' and he would have a
round or two at him." To this Lloyd made answer—
" If you'll come here, I will show you the way to Brum-
magem." Some of Phillpotts's friends then incited him
dgotoasttrrikAeoy" him, and Lloyd and Phillpotts struck ,
a r
tdhoee
y. As soon as they had '
struck at each other, X'hillpotts turned back into the
str.,et, and cried , in a deep voice,
"Oh, dear," and
, but bearing this he
L:ttohtleeenv‘ ' eah cryoth
wasin rtahiseeddotohrawta his throat had been cut.
street, saw the blood
The witness was holding Lockley in a chair to pre-
ventspoutin, from a wound in Phillpott's throat nearly a
yard in front of him. The deceased fell to the ground
shortly after he ran from Lockley's house, and was
picked up by a young man, who held him in a sitting
got uhpi, ma
and fighting runningwi thin Pardue,
posture on the ground. He appeared almost insensible,
and witness sent for a surgeon, and fetched Phillpotts's
brother's wife The deceased was then gasping, and
died s: drily afterwards. The witness then detailed the
circumstances of the finding of the knife, as already de-
fy,szd to by the witness Thomas. On the knife being
found Mrs. Lockley declared that it belonged to Lloyd,
but Lloyd denied it. Mrs. Lockley's hand was slightly
cut; and the inspector of police having asked her how it
},app med, she replied that she did not know, but
,sup-
posed she must he %e received it in the scuffle when Lloyd
turned from the do, 'r. The several partie, were thet
questioned by the police, and the prisoner Lloyd was
taken off to the police-station,

Police-inspector Peters, on being called to the spot,
about two o'clock on Sunday morning, found the de-
ceased in a dying state, with his clothes saturated with
blood, which had flowed upon the ground in consider-
able quantities. Having looked to the deceased, he
entered Lockley's house and searched it with Inspector
Merrefield. The knife already spoken of was produced
by the witness Thomas, and witness asked Lloyd if it
belonged to him. He replied in the negative, but Mrs.
Lockley declared that it did, and said that she had bor-
rowed it of him frequently. On looking at the knife by,
the light of a candle, witness found marks of blood upon
the handle and blade. Witness told Lloyd that, believing
he was the guilty party, he should take him to the sta-
iion-hout,e, which he did. When at the station-house
he examined the prisoner very minutely, and found
three spots'ot blood on the back of his right hand, and
a stain of blood on his waistcoat. The blood on his
hands was quite dry, and two of the spots were as large
as a fourpenny piece. The prisoner said he did not know
how he got the blood upon him. There were marks of
blood on Lockley's front door.

Mr. Bradley, surgeon, of Kidderminster, deposed to
the nature of the wound in the deceased's throat. The
wound was a clean cut wound, nearly three inches long
by two deep, and upwards of an inch wide. The external
carotid artery was completely severed, as were also the
external jugular vein and tour other arteries and veins
in the neck. The body on examination was in a most
healthy condition, but quite drained of blood in all its
parts. There could be no doubt that death had been
caused by the wound in,the neck, which was sufficient to
have caused death in Oleic minutes. The knife pro-
duced by Inspector Petelptiaight have inflicted the inju-
ries of which the deceased died. The knife is sharp, and
must have been used with considerable _force, by the
party by whom the wound was inflicted.
Other witnesses were at hand, but the jury said it was
unnecessary to call them, as they were quite satisfied.
The CORONER then addressed the jury on this shock-
ing case, and pointed out the distinction between the
crimes of murder and manslaughter. Ile also read over
the whole of the evidence, and
The jury having retired for a few minutes, rettfrned a
verdict of " Manslaughter" against Lloyd, who, accord-
ingly, stands committed for trial at the Worcester as-
sizes, to be held next month.

THE MURDER IN MARYLEBONE.
INQUEST ON THE BODY.
Last evening, at six o'clock, a most respectable jury
was empannelled before Mr. Mills, deputy-coroner for
the western division of Middlesex, at the Carpenters'
Arms, Adam-street West, Bryanston- square, to investi-
gate the circumstances connected with the death of Mary
Stowell, the aged woman alleged to have been murdered
by a woman named Mary Ann Hunt, on the night of
Tuesday last.
The jury having viewed the body, which lay in the
back kitchen of the house, No. 40, Adam-street West,
the evidence was entered into.
Charles Battersby, police-constable 124 D, was first
sworn. He said, on the morning of Wednesday last, I
found the deceased dead in the back kitchen of the house,
No. 40, Adam-street West, at about a quarter-past five
o'clock. About a quarter-past four on the same morn-
ing, I was passing through Adam-street West, and saw
a woman, named Mary Ann Hunt, put her head outside
the street door of No. 40. She had her bonnet on, and
the moment she saw me she drew her head back and
closed the door. I thought this looked suspicious, and
I concealed myself. About a quarter before five the same
woman came out with two bundles ; but seeing me she
threw the bundles in again, and then went in and shut the
door. Shortly after the door was opened, and I got
my hand in, and forced it open. I then saw Mary Ann
Hunt in the passage, and said "Do these bundles belong
to you?" She said " Yes." I said she was not an honest
woman, or she would not have tried to avoid the police.
She said she lived up stairs with an old lady, and I could
go up and see if I liked. She went up a few stairs, and
said "I suppose it is no use telling you a lie." I said
"No, nor a thousand, unless I see the old lady." She
then said she lodged with the old lady in the front
kitchen. I went down stairs with her, and she said, "It
is no use knocking, she is as deaf as a stone." I went
into the area, and on looking through the window, saw
the room was quite empty. I said, " This is the second
lie you have told me, when are we to come to the truth?
As we passed back towards the back kitchen door, my
shoulder touched it, and she then said, "You have come
to the truth now, but don't say I did it, for I haven't
seen her since last night." The woman Hunt had a reti-
cule on her arm, and sne took a pound's worth of silver
from it, and said she would give it me if I would let her
go. I said, " I was suspicious before, but I am confi-
dent now that something is wrong." I then took her up
to the persln who iivPd in the shop, and she identified
the woman as living with the deceased in the back
kitchen. I then took her down stairs again, and atter
knocking at the door without effect, I went into the
yard to look in at the windoiv, and whilst I was doing

as 411431r1eu _ „
trying to strangle herself. I then took her up, anL
having given her into custody of another constable, I
went down stairs and got into the back kitchen by
means of the window. I then discovered the body of
the deceased lying with her head under the grate, with
the rope I now produce tied tightly six times round her
neck. I found a great deal of blood on my hands, and
then saw her face was covered with blood. It appeared
to me, from the deceased's hands being up, that she
had struggled very much. Her cap was by her side.
Saw the m :rks of a severe blow on the left jaw, appa-
Herly inflicted with a poker or some such instrument.
hair was completely saturated with blood. After
the discovery. I ran up stairs, and having sent the
woman Hunt to the station-house, I sent for Mr. Moat,
a surgeon, who came in a few minutes. The person who
committed the act must have got out of the kitchen win-
dow as the door was locked, and I found the key under
the body. There was no money in the room, but I have
two watches, a brooch, ring, and other trinkets, which I
found in deceased's pockets, and her daughter has iden-
tified them as the deceased's property. On examining
the woman Hunt at the station I found that the gown
she had on at the time I took her into custody was
covered with blood. It was stained on the left arm to
the extent of throe or four inches. There were
several spots of blood on the breast and front of the
gown. Her hands were clean, and there was an appear-
ance as if she had attempted to wash some of the blood
from the wrist of the gown.
The witness here produced the poker, which was
covered with blood and hair, as also the clothes of the
accused, for examination by the coroner and jury.
Susannah Nisbett examined—l reside at No. 40,
Adam-street West. I last saw the deceased alive about
three o'clock on the afternoon of Tuesday. I was then
in the yard, and deceased was on the kitchen stairs.
She then appeared as usual. The woman Mary Ann
Hunt lived with the deceased, and was, I believe, a set.-
vant out of place. She had lived ten or eleven weeks
as a fellow-lodger with the deceased. I last saw Hunt
about nine o'clock on Tuesday night, coming along the
passage from the kitchen stairs. She held down her
head and appeared ashamed. I heard Hunt quarrelling
with the deceased on Monday night, and in the course of
it I heard one of the voices, which I believe to be Hunt's,
say, "I will do for you."
Sarah Sinclair, another lodger in the house where the
murder took place, stated, that she did not see deceased
alive after three o'clock on Tuesday. About half-past
nine o'clock I saw the accused, Mary Ann Hunt, lying
on the kitchen stairs. I had a conversation with the
deceased at three o'clock on the Tuesday afternoon. De-
' ceased asked me it I heard her quarrelling over night
with Hunt, as she was afraid to go to bed, as Hunt
said she would do for her. I advised her to lock Mary
Ann Hunt out, and we then parted.
The witness Nisbett was recalled, and in answer to a
question, stated, that she had heard the accused, Hunt,
say that she knew the deceased was an old miser, and had
got plenty of money in that drawer, pointing to one in
the kitchen.
Elizabeth Wills, the daughter of the deceased, stated
that she took tea with her mother on Sunday, when she
said she wanted to get rid of Hunt as a lodger, as she
would have a man come and visit her. She said she
became acquainted with Hunt at Colonel Wyndham
Smith's, where she had been at service, and having left
her place, she took her to lodge with her. She had seen
her mother take money from a drawer in the kitchen.
Constable Battersby said he found the drawer in ques-
tion open with a key in it, but it was perfectly mpty.
Another daughter of deceased said, her mother had
told her she was saving a little money to bury herself
deuntly. She was 78 years of age.
Mr. Hayman said, I am the landlord of the house,
No. 40, Adam-street West, but reside at 43. I was called
in on Monday evening on account of the quarrel betwee
Hunt and deceased. The deceased said Hunt had been
abusing her because she asked for her rent. On speak-
ing to Hunt she said deceased was avvetous old wretch
and would not lend her daughter 6d., although she bad
plenty in that drawer, pointing to a drawer in the'
kitchen, and that she had seen it.
Mr- W. Crofton Moat—l reside at 28, Upper Berke-
ley-street, and at half-past five o'clock on Tuesday morn-
ing I was called to see the body. It was stone cold, and
the limbs were rigid. Blood was flowing from the nose
and mouth. I found the cord produced tied six times
round the neck, but it was not tight enoh to rodhad
uce
strangulation. My impression is that the deceased
been dead about eight hours. I have, by order of the
Coroner, made a post mortem examination. Externally
blood had flowed over the chest and right arm, and the
head laid in a pool of blood. On the right side of the
scalp there was a mark of violence, but the skull was
ymosis ex sited around the right eye;
sound. Great ecch
prominent,caused by a severe bruise ; the
the )
tongue e 'epwroajse projected three -quarters of an inch beyond the
gums. The marks on the neck did not indicate
that the cord was tigmosis extendinght. 111-!cler the left
from side
the
of
the jaw there was ecchy
A similar mark was near the
esphiinnaltovetrhteebagle. The ribs on both sides were
very extensively fractured, indeed broken quite
rough. There was great congestion of the vessels
of the chest aroun.l the fractures. The rings of the
pipe
.were fractured by violence and the trochea
wind
g urged with blood. The lungs were crushed by the
fr't: ctured ribs. The cause of the deceased's death was
the rush of blood into the air vessels of the lungs, caused

by the crushing in of the ribs upon them. The ribs
m►ght have been broken in by stamping with the feet,
but I should think it was done by a larger surface. I
believe that she was first injured over the right eye by
an instrument at lea3t two inches in circumference. I
do not think the poker produced was the weapon used.
I have no doubt that death has been produced from the
crushing in of the chest. I ha►e seen the gown produced,
and I have no doubt the spots on them are marks of
blood.

Elizabeth Quarterrnan proved that the cord produc'd
was the part of a clothes-line she had placed along the
passage of the kitchen's in the house where deceased
resided.

There being no further evidence, some cPscussion en-
sued between theDeputy-Coroner and jury as to the non-
production of the accused before the c..urt.
The DEPUTY-CORONER then proceeded to sum up the
evidence, and the jury, atter a short deliberation, re
turned a verdict of " Wilful murder" against Mary Ann
Hunt, and the Deputy-Coroner issued his warrant tor
her committal to Newgate-
The inquiry did not terminate until a late hour.

LAW INTELLIGECE.
ROLLS' COURT, June 4

ATTORNIT•GENEILAL V. GILBERT.- NO EDWARD'S GRAM

MAR-SCHOOL DT BIRMLNOHAM.
The ATrOILNEY-GXNERAL replied to-day at considerable
length in this case. The matter came before the
Court upon an ex-officio information filed by her Ma-
jesty's Attorney- on the recommendation of the
Charity Co ers, made so long ago as September,
1835, for theintirpese of settling a scheme for the administra-
tion of a charity, to set aside certain leases of the charity
property alleged to have been improperly granted, to take
an account of the profits accruing to .the lessee in respect of
the property, and for the application-of the income, as to part
thereof at least, in a manner different from the present usage.
From the statement of Counsel, it appeared that a Mr. John
Milward, who was born in Birmingham, received part of his
education at Brasenose College, Oxford, and resided for a con-
siderable period of his life in Haverfordwest, being desirous of
bestowing some lasting benefit on those three places, inserted a
provision for that purpose in his will, bearing date the 10th of
June, 1654. The clause was to this effect :—And in respect of my
estate, with the appurtenances in Bordesley, in the county of
Warwick, now let for a term to Michael Hunt, at the rent of
261. a year, and all my right in the house and premises with
the appurtenances, in the town of Birmingham, called the Red
Lion, I devise the same to the bailiff of Birmingham for the
time being, the principal of Brasenose College, Oxford, for the
time being, and the mayor of the town and county of Haver-
fordwest, and their successors, to hold the same to the uses
hereinafter mentioned; as to the first two years after my
decease, that the rent of the estate be paid by Michael
Hunt to my executrix, for the five daughters of Jenkins
Howell, of Haverfordwest, and for the residue of the term,
8/. 13s. 4d., one-third part of the annual rent, to be paid to
Michael Hunt, by the direction of the bailiff; to the school
of Birmingham, for the maintenance and use of the school-
master, 81. I3s. 4d., by a like direction of the mayor, &c ,
to the school at Haverfordwest, for the schoolmaster, and
8/. 13s. 4d. to Brasenose College, Oxford, for the part main-
tenance and education therein of a scholar to be placed or
sent there by the schools of Birmingham and Haverfordwest
in turns; and the income of the Red Lion to be applied in
three equal shares for the use of the college and the schools.
And after the expiration of the existing lease of the estate in
Bordesley, the same as well as the Red Lion was to be let at
an improved rent by fine or otherwise, so that a rent of 26/.
be always reserved as before, and if a fine be taken,
that it be equally for the schools and the college.
And the testator appointed Elizabeth Thomas his execu-
trix. After the death of the testator the trusts of the
will were carried out in this way. The principal of
Brasenose College, the mayor of Haverfordwest, and the
schoolmaster of Birmingham, leased the property at first
together, and afterwards separately, and the rents and
profits were received by them and divided equally, and
ultimately, when they began to lease separately, each re-
ceived his own share. The schoolmasters of Birmingham
and Haverfordwest, however, each received the entire of the
one-third of the proceeds, but the college retained their one-
third for their own use, except Qui sum of 81. 13s. 4d., which
they paid to a scholar when there actually was one sent up
by the schools, but which they also retained for their own
use when there was no scholar. After the parties began to
make leases separately of their respective shares, which was
as far back at all events as 1710, the leases were for a teat
of twenty-one years, at a rent of 261, renewable every seven
years on payment of a fine. This continued till
the year 1762, in which year the mayor of Ha-
verfordwest granted a lease for ninety-nine years, at 881.
a year, the Birmingham School and the College con-
tinuing to let as before. In 1829 the Birmingham School
granted a renewal of the lease of their third, at a fine
of 158/. 175., and in 1838, Dr. Jeune, the then master,
agreed with Mr. Taylor, the lessee, for the renewal of
that lease, but subject to the approbation of the Court,
the information having been filed. Dr. Jenne had
got the appointment of Dean of Jersey, and, there-
fore, wished to exercise his right to renew before leav-
ing the school. The information sought to establish the
right of the scholar sent from Birmingham or Haverford-
west to the whole of the one-third profits of the estate,
whether in the shape of rents or fines, and of course to de-
prive the college of the beneficial interest therein; but it
did not prop,so tty disturb the apnlicatlon of the funds
T-thinlAlT—a-a--gi.i4h:iffoLV,:riV'coasnlcYlu°sion of the Attor-
ney-General's reply to-day, postponed giving . judgment, in
order to afford all the parties an opportunity of seeing whether
or not some arrangement could be come to among them.
The case was ultimately ordered to stand over to the 11th
Of the present month.

COURT OF COMMON PLEAS, June 4.
(Sittings in Banco.—Trinity Term.)
IN THZ MATTER OF THOMAS SUNNING.
Mr. PAsSILEY moved, this morning, that Thomas Binning,
brought up out of custody on a writ of habeas corpus, ob-
tained yesterday, be forthwith discharged. The prisoner
had been committed to custody for the non-payment of an
instalment of a debt owing by him, and which. he was or-
dered to pay off by instalments, after hearing the statement
of his circumstances, by one of the judges of the County
Courts. The Bth and 9th Victoria, chap. 127, sec. 1, gives
power to the judge to commit a debtor to prison for not
more than forty days for any fraud, or concealment of his
ability to pay, and for non-payment of such instalments of
the debt as, after hearing the case, the judge may deem him
to be capable of paying. In the applicant's case he failed to
pay an instalment of his debt thus ordered to be paid; and
on proof of this, to the satisfaction of the judge ex parte by
the creditor, the applicant was committed to gaol. The
Learned Counsel now raised several technical objections to
the sufficiency of the warrant of commitment; and also
urged as the chief ground why the prisoner should be dis-
charged, that before any such commitment, on default of
paying an instalment, the prisoner was entitled to be heard,
because the punishment to be awarded was discretionary, the
statute enacting that it should not be " more than forty
days," and he might be able to show a sufficient reason to the
judge to excuse the default or to mitigate the punishment.
This was the chief argument relied on, and it is not neces-
sary, the judgment being founded on this, to notice the other
objections.
Mr. PYTERSDORFF, on behalf of the creditor Or a party
interested, contended that this was not a penal enactment,
but a power given to the creditor, suspended on the pertorm-
ance of the condition of payment. It gave the creditor a
limited ca. sa. against the debtor. An arrest of a debtor on
an ex parte statement was not unusual. An arrest on mesne
process was always on ex parte statement ; for notice to the
debtor would defeat the whole object of the creditor in mak-
ing the application to a judge for the warrant. So notice here
to the debtor might have the same effect. He might aoscond
and avoid the arrest.
The LORD CHIEF JUSTICE said, the Court had looked very
anxiously at the question which had arisen on this part of
the statute, it having come before another Court, which bad
not be able to come to a satisfactory conclusion upon ,
the veryen Learned Judges of that Court differing as to the
construction of the statute. The Court thought that this
return was not sufficient, and that the defendant was en-
titled to be discharged by reason of the insufficiency of the
warrant under which he was taken into custody. This
gave a
ta-
tute was to a consi terable extent penal, because it
power of imprisonment not bay of satisfaction of the debt.
If a party was taken upon a ca`pias ad satisfaciendum the im-
prisonment suffered under that writ was a satisfaction of the
debt; but here it was simply used apparently by way
of punishment or coercion, and the party was sub-
jected to an imprisonment which was to vary accord-
ing to the circumstances of his particular case. It
appeared by the section in question that, if a party
wished to enforce payment of his debt, he was to apply
to some one of the Courts for an order on his debtor.
1 The debtor was to be summoned, and an inquiry was
to take place on certain matters. One of those matters
was the debtor's means of p:tyment, and the judge was to
exetcise a discretion as to the time for the payment of the
debt, which was to be regulated by the means of the debtor
to pay ; and the judge had the power of imprisonment for
the concealment of those means or for failure of pay-
ment ; but that was not a satisfaction of the debt, it was
a punishment. If a judge found that a debtor had the
means to pay and would not pay, the judge had the
power of committing him. It was obvious that it was
material at all times to know when the debtor had the
means of payment. The general purview of the Act seemed
to be this, that it was inhuman to send a man to prison for
non-payment of his debt when he had not the means of pay-
ing it, reserving power to punish him for fraudulently with-
holding the debt if he had the means of paying it. Ajg
was to inquire into the then circumstances of theparty,
and as to his future probable means of paying e
It was enly on the presumption that he had not the
present means of payment that the jThenudgc i 1 wuf time was
authorised to grant time for payment.
granted in reference to the debtor's means of payment, anhd
power of c( )
appeared that
judge, dp,ayt: hme jen tudl-ase hot made according toin
t. e
What was tobe the
datoys.be formed with regard to
omibtri uadanneptr of h
d at notio d
n exceed
et
ehei n g
flirtjudgment3'
the time for which the debtor was to be committed ?
Could it be doubted that the debtor's means of payment
must be one of the essential points of the inquiry ? And
if it could the judge by possibility make an effectual
inquiry into a person's means of payment unless he heard
the debtor, who might be the only person to know his
means ? Many circumstances might exist, either of
hboadvielyhommisefoarhtsunofe or of
knowing. As
swthhiechpehriiosa corfeodoitmormioh
might
etidoinsearieyt,it,
and commonpre-supposed anstiosioche
seemedinquir tot
to re-
quire
re-
gulateasdi
' stehre ion
that a party should be heard before being sent to gaol.
nted to an inquiry of
w
When therefore, the Act distinctly poi
some kind, as it must be taken to do. when it made the
period of imprisonment discretionary, it seemed on general
principles that the parties should he heard. The C ant
thought that the safest rule of construction was, that a
debtor should have notice before he was committed.
The Court found the statute
based altogether on the
principle that the debtor should not be n • p•s° ne dwho had
not the means of payment. He thought,
therefoethat the
warrant was defective, and that the prisoer was therefore,
to
his discharge.
Their Lordships severally gave judgments concurring with
that of the Lord Chief Justice.
The prisoner was, therefore, ordered to be discharged.