The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-19 00:00:00

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS.

The May adjourned sessions for the county of Middlesex,
commenced vesterday morning at the Court-house, Clerken-
well-green, before the Assistant-Judge and a full Bench of
Magistrates
The names of 82 prisoners appeared for trial in the calen-
dar, of whom seven were charged with misdemeanour, the
remainder being indicted for felony. Of those, 46 were de-
scribed as able to read and write imperfectly, 9 only able
to read, and 27 wholly unacquainted with either reading or
writing.
The ASSISTANT-JUDGE, in his charge to the grand jury,
said there was one most important matter with respect to
the effects likely to be produced upon females who were sen-
tenced to transportation, to which he could not Allow the
present oppsrtunity to pass without adverting—he meant
that system of reformatory discipline which the Government
had established wtthin the last four years in relation to the
female convicts in Van Dieman's Land. By that system the
colony of females received the best of moral and religious in-
struction, and were also instructed in such domestic duties as
would lit them for becoming useful members of society,
and when they showed by their conduct that
they had availed themselves of the benefits of the system
tickets of leave were granted to them, and they were placed
out as servants with persons of approved character. It was i
true the period of three or four years was not enough to
enable them to form an opinion of the perfectability of a
system like this, but still there were sufficient facts to enable
them to come to the conclusion that it was one fully deserv-
ing of a trial, and he hoped it would have a fair one. The
Learned Assistant-Judge concluded by adverting to the
system at present pursued at Parkhurst, so that boys under
a certain height were refused admission, by which many
fitting objects were precluded from its benefits.
Wiliam Burke, for picking pockets, against whom there
were several previous convictions, was sentenced to ten years
transportation.
Ldward Aiken was indicted for stealing a purse containing
seven sovereigns and other monies, the property of Lothian
Nicholson, from his person.
The prosecutor, an officer in the Royal Engineers, was
coming up from Woolwich by one of the steam boats, and
upon the vessel reaching Blackwell he missed his purse, and
recollecting that a man very like the prisoner, who carried
a cloak on his arm, had pressed closely against him, he gave
information to one of the pier police, who took the prisoner
into custody. Six sovereigns were found upon him when he
was searched, and he accounted for them by first saying
that they were the result of his hard work as an umbrella
maker, and next that he got them from a young girl to
whom he was about to be married. The prisoner denied
that the cloak was his, but it was identified by a policeman as
belonging to the prisoner.
The Assiswer-Jusam said, the prisoner was a most noto-
rious character, and always hanging about the Blackwell
steam-vessels and piers, for the purpose of robbery; and he
should, therefore sentence him to be transported for the term
of ten years.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
SOUTHWARK.

James Morris was charged with having discharged a
loaded pistol at Frances Mary Colman Morris, his wife,
with intent to kill her. _ _

1 , The
'I complainant, a genteel-looking young woman, stated
' that she was married to the prisoner in March, 1846, but
that she was separated from him for some time, owing to his
improper conduct, and that since then she had been living
at home with her father, an accountant and estate agent,
Newington-causeway. On Friday last the prisoner called
on her, and said that he wanted to give her a boa and shawl,
and begged that she would meet him the same evening, in
order that he might let her have them. She, however, re-
fused to meet him alone, but submitted that she had no ob-
jection to be at the place of appointment with a female
friend, and she was accordingly accompanied to Weymouth-
street by a Mrs. Staples, a friend of her family. When they
arrived at the place the prisoner was there waiting for
them, and he led them through several obscure streets and
lanes in that neighbourhood, until at length they came to a
very unfrequented spot, when, she being
com-
plained that he was leading them about to no ptuffrlsme.a moment
impatient,
esaid that they would get to the house where_or a
moment.
shawl were immediately, and they stopped 1
at her head. She heard the report,
and while she stooped down the prisonewr.dlshcehnaragaehd,
aan d Pistol
also
,hroaur sr
ae ,n itnht oa
dwbhei ce
nh
say which, had passed and the prisoner ran one
distinctly heard a whiz, as if
tanheualtiedtesaoerf snheort,hsehaed.couAldt
the
say
same instant she screamed out,
she ran for protection..
way and she another, unst
sthdeonceomsopiltatisntaannttanseaoidusslyhet
that he did not appear . , . r had she
her, and hilesandederdeacthheadt aa
obtained against the prisoner a short time assaultingfonro
come time previously to the evening in question.
seen him for
did
at
not
ten the click of the trigger and the report at the
In repley
tthoe
Pistol,ll r C °rit. h leN Ga
Ic
(tA:vii:
moment the flash crossed her eyes. ller bonnet was not
u in-
i ed, and she only suffered from the fright occasioned by
suchr a circamstance. The prisoner had frequently quarrelled
with her, and was of a very turbulent spirit, so much so,
that lie had been in custody and held to bail for assaulting
and threatening the life of his own mother.
Mrs. Ann Staples corroborated the above statement.
Mr. Col-m(3IIAM inquired the reason the prisoner was not
brought before him on Saturday, the alleged offence being
t
perpetrated on Friday evening ?—ln reply to the magistrate,
i -
the complainant's father said, that his daughter informed
him of what had occurred on Friday night, and that he went
and gave information at the station-house, but was told
there that he must wait until the magistrate was made
acquainted with the facts before any steps could be taken in
h
air.
ivr.
this piece of
information, affair. C o TriNcirrAm expressed his surprise at
and said, that a deliberate attempt to destroy
a wife by her husband having been made, it was the duty of
the police to have taken immediate steps for the apprehen-
sion
nsopfeethteorocffeonwdeieri.
said.
that
the
prisoner
custody on Saturday afternoon, soot.
his having shot at his afterer
the court closed,
and that not a word was said then o
wife ; that a warrant of assault was previously issued against
the prisoner, and that it was upon that warrant that he was
charged.

Corm;mum, addressing the prisoner, said that as the
charge assumed so serious an aspect against him, and as 110
had no professional person present to advise with, probably
it would be his better plan at present not to enter into any
defence, or say anything in answer to so grave an accusation
as attempting to shoot his wife. However, he was at liberty
to do as he pleased on the subject.
Prisoner—This is all a conspiracy against me. I did not
lire a pistol at my wife, for, in fact, I had no pistol to lire
if
there was no report, or flash, or anything of the kind ;
had fired a pistol, I should have run away,; but I remained

near the spot, where my wife said she was shot at, and it is
not likely if I had attempted such an act that I should have
stopped behind. Her father, as well as herself, has a spite
against me, and all they want is to get rid of me by any
means they can. Her father took out a warrant against
me on purpose to have me locked up, and he was the
cause of our separation. When my wife left me I took
her in again, and lately we went down to Dudley to her
grandmother's, and had only recently come up from that
place, when, by her father's interference, we again sepa-
rated, and I declare that the story about the pistol is all *
fabrication.
Mr. Corms:minx—Then do you deny being with your
wife and Mrs. Staples on thei evening of Friday ? Prisoner—I
was with them, your Worship; I wrote a note to my wife to
come for her shawl that was in my possession, and she came
with Mrs Staples for it, and she screamed oat all in a mo-
ment, and ran away, saying that I had fired at her. I did
make a noise with my finger and thumb, and likely she
might have supposed it was the click of a pistol, but it wag
no such thing. It is all a plan to get rid of me, as my wife
thinks then that she can do as she pleases. I again declare
most solemnly that I had no pistol, and that it's all a base
conspiracy to ruin me.
Mr. Corristannst here called forward the complainant, and
asked her particularly whether she could have been mistaken
upon the occasion—whether the noise he described he made
with his finger and thumb might have been mistaken by her
for the noise of the trigger of a pistol?
The reply was, that she (complainant) could not have be e!
mistaken on the point ; that she distinctly heard the rePO:-'
as well as the noise made by a bullet or shot passing near `0
her head.
Mrs. Staples was also recalled, and she still adhered to the
accuracy of her previous statement; that it was ridiculous
for the prisoner to assert that he had snapped his
she distinctly saw the flash and heard the report of a Piet°
close to the complainant's head.
Mr. Cornszonam said he should remand the prisoner, in
order that inquiries should be forthwith made respectin tbs
pistol used on the occasion ; and also to procure the attend-
ance of some other parties who heard the report of the were
pon at the time it was fired off.
fingers, Sol