The Sun.
London, England, 1812-07-04 00:00:00

OLD BAIT,pIr, JUL 3.

Thonins Bowl& was. capitally indicted, for wil-
fullyoualiciously, and-feloniously firing a loaded
hlunderbusS. at William ]3urrowes, on the 30th of
May last, at Alpert,on, in the parish of Harrow.
This trial lasted from ten in the morning until
seven in, the- evening.

The first 'witnesswas William Burrowes, who
stated, that be is a far Mer at Alperton, in the
parish of Harrow, and a hay-salesman in St.
James's hay-market.' He usually passes from
his own residence every market morning, by that
of the prisoner,- ou his way to town ; and about
seven in the morning above stated, he was travel-
ling towards London, in a chaise-cart, over the
canal-bridge, near his house, and the forge of
a blacksmith, named Jones, -when he observed
under the shade of a tree, close by the, road-side,
and, at about twenty yards from him, the legs.
and thighs of a man., whom he took to be the pri-
soner, and, when he came within 15 yards of hint,
the prisoner raised a blunderbuss, took deliberole
aim at him, and immediately the witness stooped
down in his cart, and requested he would not
fire. The prisoner immediately exclaimed,—
" your eyes take that," and tired.—The wit-
ness instantly found himself wounded in the head,
neck, and back. lie fell forward in the cart
across the shafts; and his horse, affrighted by the
report of the piece, ran away with hi'm. Wit-
ness. had no previous quarrel with the prisoner ;
had, some conversation with him the Wednesday
before. There had been some trifling dispute be-
tiveen them on account of the witness having lopt
some trees which he did not know to 'l)e prison-
er's property. This was about the middle of
March, and nothing had passed between them
personally on the subject of those trees.
Cross-examined by Mr.KNApp.--Witness said he
had observed nothing in the prisoner's 'manner,
conversation, or conduct, on the preceding Wed-
nesday ivlign he conversed with him, to give him
reason to think he was not right in his mind ;
nor did he ever declare any opinion that a statute
of lunacy should be taken out against him. He
had, some time ago, borrowed of the prisoner
about 2001. for which prisoner called on him ra-
ther suddenly. - He paid him the money with some
expressions of resentment ;, but the 'prisoner
would not take the interest, which albounted to
about 31. or 41.

Henry Jones, blacksmith, said, that on the
morning stated, he met the prisoner on the bank
of the. Canal, near his house; with a blunderbuss
in his hand, on foot, accompanied by a boy, his'
grandson; named Bargain, on horseback. He
told the witness his blunderbuss would not hold
the priming, and wished him to go :to :shop
and put it in order. Witness accompanied him
to the forge, where the prisoner laid it on the
vice-board, and told him to take care of it, as it
was loaded, and on full cock ; he told the wit-
ness he only wanted to shoot a dog withit, hut
did not wish to let the boy know,' he hoped it
would fetch the dog dower. He 'then went out,
leaving the blunderbuss there, and walked up
and down the road till near seven. He heard
him tell his grandson, that, !be:Waited to see
William Burrowes, as he wanted him to purchase
a load of straw in, town, and save himself the
journey. The prisoner returned, and took away
the blunderbuss, and posted, himself. close to the
opposite ditch, under the shade of :an elm-tree,
which concealed him from the view of any per-
son coming from the bridge. In a little One af-
terwards, when. Mr. Burrowes came over the
bridge, and was within a short distance, of the
prisoner, he raised thd blunderbuss to his shoul-
der, and tired at him in the manner already
described ; on which Mr. Burrowes fell in the
cart, and his horse ran away with him. The.boy
dismounted ; and the prisoner, in endeavouring
to mount the hors4e, dropped his hat ; but he
picked it up, put it on, mounted, and galloped off
over the bridge, calling to his grandson, " Never
mind ! damn your eyes, follow me !"
Jane Jones, wife of the last witness, and Mary
Anne Bond, both eye-witnesses of the transac-
tinn, corroborated the foregoing testimony; and
produced two leaden bullets, with the hat ofßur-
rovVes, perforated by two shot-holes, which they
picked up on the spot where he wasjwounded.—
Mary Church had immediately afterwards found
the blunderbuss beside the .ditcb, where the pri-
coner had thro7.-n it ; and it was identified by
Jones, the blacksmith, as the one he saw.

Wm. Sheppard, a stable-keeper, of Bolsover-
street, knew the prisoner and prosecutor. In
March last, the prisoner said to him in the
market, St. James's,---" Damn that .Burrowes's
eyes, I'll Burrowes him before _long : he sha'nt
live to the end of June, if I was to hang the next
moment." Witness said, " Mr. Bowler don't
take away a life, because you can't give it again."
But. the prisoner answered, " d-d if I.
don't be the death of him before the,middle of
June, if I was to be hanged the next morning."
Witness acquainted Mr. Burrowes with what
Bowler had said ; and he answered, " I don't
fear him, he is too fond .of his own life to take-
away mine."
John Earner, brother-in,law of Mr. Burrowes,
proved that he
_apprehended the prisoner, who
had absconded, on the 6th of June, att his own
house, and brought him to town ; that the pri-
soner, on the road, entreated him not to take him
from his own family; ..said that aS,he was a rela-
tion of Mr. Burro Wes, he could do :a great deal,
for him ; and that if he _would 'suffer him to re,
main confined with his daughters and grand,-
children, he would give him ten, twenty or thirt-
thousandpounds. The witness, however, briought
him to MarlhOrough,street Office.
Mr. Withers, , attorney and son-in-law to the
prisoner, proved, that the dispute between, the
prisoner and Mr. Bnrrowes about lopping the
trees was adjusted without any law-suit. Tic said
that he had a fit List July in his hay-field,
.and fell
from his hone, and that from that time to the
present he appearedmuch deranged in his Memo.-
ry, intellect, temper, and deportment, and parti-
cularly since March last ; that he was in the ha-
bit of rising at two or three o'clock in the:morn-
ing, breakfasting at four or five, playing eards
with his housekeeper 'till nine or ten, when he
usually dined 4porr meat half raw, and sometimes
scarcely, warmedlliroug,h, and going to bod again
at three o'clock; that • he one time proposed. to

this witneSs,to &ince for him while he played'on
the gridirOn. -He seemed, to be much oppressed
with an apprehension that he had committed.' some
Mistake in purchasing his land-tax, which,ren-
dered him liable to be exchequeted, and deprived
of estate ; and be could not be persuaded to
the ;:nttrary, although no such mistake existed;
and sw-, one time he gave the witness a blank
check on, his banker to fill up -At his discretion,
for any-sum that might be necessary to save him
from the consequences of his -supposed ytistake.
lie talked of leaving the. country, and said that it
was owing to tt: conspiracy between Mr. Burrowes
and some of his neighbours, that he was to be
exchequered. Tlid witness, however, admitted,
on ilk cross-examination, that the prisoner was
allved to manage his owh affairs, and that not-
witastanding his threats, and the apprehensions
of leis friends for the destruction of tits own life,
he was f allowed to- shave himself ; and that no
steps were taken to restrain him as a person de-
ranged. Witness; refrained front'stich steps through
motives of delicacy, but he thought his wife sent
for a medical man to attend biro. -

• Mr. Winkley, a, school-master, of Harrow,
swore, that, consequesce of directions from the
prisoner, he waited
,on him between five and se-
ven in.the evening of the Wednesday previous to
the Saturday on which the fact wa,; perpetrated,
to take instructions for 'altering his will. He
took those instructions in the presence .of two .of
neighbourk, drew the new will on the follow-
ing day, and waited on the -prisoner in lze pre-
;-0.4,0f those witnesses on the Friday kftemoon,
when be, declared it was all right, and executed it
duly in the presence of two other witnesses', wlio
signed their names, and all those witnesses de-
posed, that the prisoner appeared to them;
throughout the whole of this transaction, to, be
perfectly 'collected, and in a state of mind quite
capable of transacting the business he was about;
in fact,' they saw nothing the matter with him.
Here the evidence closed on the •part of the
Crown.

.The prisoner said nothing in his own defence
but a considerable number of witnesses appeared
to prove his insanity fro; the time he had the
fit and fall in his hay4iehl, in 1811.
- Mr. Hyatt, an apothecary, of Ealing, was the
person who attended him, and deposed to that ef-
fect. He admitted, however, that he had not ad-
vised his friends to proceed to a Statute of Lu-=
nacy, although he attended a consultation On
that stibject a few days before thit unfortunate
event, and -he had it fully in his intention to re-
commend such a proceeding. 'He had always
considered the prisoner to be a violent and pas-
sionate man, but never so much so as since July,
1811.

Dr. Ainsley had visited the prisoner in jail since
his apprehension, on the I ith, 12th, 13th, 15th,
27th, and. 29th of June ; and comparing the
symptoms of his derangement with the reports
of Mr. Hyatt and.his, friends, who had seen him
during the last year, was convinced his derange-
ment must have been of long standing, and- of
the character of the derangement arising from
epilepsy ; be was persuaded that his derangement
continued down 'to the present moment, with
some variation for the better,
,or worse, at times

Mr. Warburton, who has been many Years in
the habit of attending on insane patients, said it
is a characteristic of insanity arising from
_epi-
lepsy, for the patient to conceive strong anti-
pathies, and desire of vengeance, against.some in-
dividuals for imaginary Causes, and even against.
their dearest friends, and not to be sdsceptible of
persuasion to the contrary, although rational and
collected on every other subject.. :He was quite
convinced of the prisoner's' insanity, and that he
himself could not be deceived by appearances,
merely assumed.
Webbe, surgeon of New Prison, was of
the same. opinon.
Mrs. Hsyden, the prisoner's housekeeper for
twenty years, sustained the testimony of Mr.
Withers,. about the prisoner's unseasonable' hours
of rising and lying down, his dining in the.morn-.
ing on raw meat, his playing cards, and his fre-..,
quent threats to destroy his own life by hanging,
drowning, or cutting his throat, or by a nice
jump" from the top of the hopse into. the farm-
yard. • But although- she admitted she had at
nights taken awayhts pocket-knife and garters, to
prevent fatalities, yet.lie 'transacted his own bu-
iiness, always shaving himself, and had his razors
in his bureau always at his own command, and
the keys in his own pocket; .and that the very
bliniderbuss always stood in the corner of his
room, she did not know whether loaded.or not
In other parts of her evidence she 'grossly con-
tradicted. herself,' and swore directly contrary to
all the witnesses examined upon the subject of
the will.

Charlotte Pearson, a servant under his house-
keeper, and who had lived seven years in the f:.:-
mily; was in total variance with her mistress on
many material points of her evidence.. ,
Mrs. Withers, the prisoner's daughter, bore-
testiniony to his derangement. • -
Mr. Charles Holsship, Clerk of the Petty Bag-
Office, in the Court of Chancery, produced the
Statute of Lunacy obtained against the prisoner,
Under the Great Seal,.and bearing date the 17th
of June, 1812, with the decision of the Jury, that
he was deranged since the 30th of .March last.
Sir SIMON La BLANC now' summed up the evi-
dence for the 'Jury With great perspicuity 5 and
concluded by stating; that the poiat for the Jury
to consider in thiS case (for the fact was proved
beyond all doubt), was, whether, at the time the
prisoner Committed the fact, he was or was not
in such a state of mind as to be able to distin-
guish between rig ;t and wrong; or Under the
influence of any illusion towards the particular'
object, which rendered his mind at the moment
insensible to the Mature of the fact he was about
to commit ; for if he was so influenced, he could
not be deemed responsible to the law but if the
Jury should. think otherwise, it would be their
duty to ,find him guilty.
The Jury retired at seven o'clock and aftei•
deliberating some time, returned their verdict—
Guilty,
. .
Richard Read, Thomas Dardis, George Green..
away, ,john Davis Saintsbury, and James Browne,
alias Leaton, were convicted of feloniously having
in their possession;.without lawful excuse, certain.
forged notes, with a guilty knowledge.