The Sun.
London, England, 1824-08-27 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

MONMOUTH ASSIZES, AutiusT 23.
•
MURDER.
Richard IVilliams, a decent.latiking countryman,. aged 30,
and Mary Morgan, single woman, a person wholly devoid of
personal attractions, aged 26, were indicted for the wilful mur-
der of William Evans._

Mr. Ruessir. stated, that on the night of the.26th of April,
Williern'Evans, who was an acquaintance of the prisoner Wil-
liams, had been drinking with him, but no sort of enmity sub-
sisted between them ; and at eleven that night the two prisoners,
the deceased, ;and a girl named Nixon, were' in company to-
gether at a place called Kinison ; there was also near them a
man in a white frock. The prisoners proceeded forward, and
soon after the deceased and Nixon followed. He might now
state, that both'Nixon, whom he should call as a witness, and
the female prisoner, were women of •the town. After they had
proceeded a little way, Nixon and the deceased turned off.the
road, and went into a saw-pit, anti in a few moments a large
piece of timber was thrown into this saw-pit,' anti fell on the
head of-the deceased ;it instantly killed him, and the woman
Nixon, who was standing near the deceased in the pit and speak-
ing to him, was also considerably injured. The piece of timber
was a very heavy plank, weighing about three hundred weight.
He should prove that it could not have fallen into the pit by ac-
cident, and a witness named Davis, who was in a boat near would
prove that he heard the timber fall, and the cry of a woman. He
would also prove, that hesaw a man and another woman itand-
ing near one end of the pit, and on hearing the cry, that man so
standing, instead of going to the end of the pit nearest to where
he was, went round the pit and got into it at the other end. He
should also prove that the female prisoner was on bad terms
with the girl Nixon, and had often expressed herself in a violent
way towards her; and after the occurrence, Nixon desiring her to
get a light and 'give her assistance, she, instead of doing so,
went home and smoked her pipe ; and on a girl named Phillips,
also a woman of the town, asking her why she did not assist,
she said, " Do you mean to take her part? If you tIO, you shall
be served the same, for whoever did it they did not mean to
hurt the man, it was Rosser (a nickname by which Nixon went)
that they wanted." The male prisoner got into the pit to assist
the woman Nixon, and he lifted her out of the pit, and though
the pit was of so small dimensions that it appeared impossible.
he should not have known the presence of the deceased, he did
not appear to know of his being there; but the man in the
white frock came up and said, " What is become of the man ?"
and the prisoner Williams made no reply. He should also put
in the statements made by the, prisoners before the' Magistrate,
as in such a case it was proper that every thing should be laid.
before the Jury.
Elizabeth Nixon stated—l live at Newport, and so does the
female prisoner, who is called "Cardiff Mary ;" we lodged at
the same house. On the evening in question I went out at
eleven o'clock; I went to Kimson, that is a public-house, h
the canal side, out of the town of Newport. I saw Cardiff
Mary and Richard Williams (the two prisoners), and the de-
ceased and a man in a white frock. The female prisoner said to
me, " What the devil do you want here ?" I said, "Are you
drunk or mad ?" She said, "Go to h-11." On the night he.
fore we quarrelled about her bringing a young man into her
lodgings. She said she would be up to me. The two prisoners
went on beyond Kinison, and I stayed with Wm. Evans, the
deceased; our lodgings were only a few_yards off; the deceased
proposed to go there, but 1 would not take him. He proposed
going to the Red Cow. I said, "Go on and I will follow
you ; ' and he did so, and we then met the two prisoners. The
female threw her arms round the neck of the deceased, who,
however, told her to go away, and the deceased and I went into
the saw-pit, which is 3 or 4 yards off; It is a sloping descent
that you may walk down into it at one end, by the assistance of
sonic steps in the wall of the saw-pit. When we went into the
saw-pit we left the prisoners talking near the Red Coiv. It was
dark, but the prisoners must have seen us. We were standing
in the saw-pit, and the deceased had his hand on my shoulder,
when the piece of timber came down. It struck me on the right
side of my face and on the side. It struck me down. 1 never
heard the deceased cry out. I was senseless, but for what length
of time I cannot tell ; but when I came to my senses again I
was lying in the pit, with the timber on me. I could not get
up.—[Here the female prisoner fainted. As soon as she reco-
vered the examination was resumed.]-1 cried out for help, and
Mary Morgan, the prisoner, came up and said, " What the
devil Is the matter with you ?"- and I. asked her to get some
help and a light, to see what was the matter. She, however,
neither came back nor sent any light; but in a few minutes the
male prisoner awe and lifted the timber up, and got me out
of the pit, and the man in the white frock helped him, and the
prisoner Williams took me home. The man in the frock asked
me, " Where is the man who was with you in the pit ?" I
said I did not know, unless he was gone away, and I believed
that lie was gone before the timber came down. I heard no
.noise of any one near the pit. When I got to my lodgings I
was very bloody. I saw the female prisoner, who said nothing;
and I said, " Mary, I will never forgive yoti : it would not
have been too much for you to bring a light and see what was
the matter." She was then smoking. We had lodged together
for about a month, but had not been on good terms, because
informed against a house for midi* in men. I went before the
Mayor of Newport about it, and she was put in prison about
It. She often said she would be up, to me.
It was here discovered that the male prisoner was a Welsh-
man, and did not understand English (as is the case with many
thousands of the Welsh). An Interpreter was sworn, and the
evidence of' Elizabeth Nixon read by the Learned- Judge from
his notes, and repeated in Welsh to the prisoner.
Examined by the Learned 4nhar,.-I can form no .idea of
how long I had been 'insensible. The prisoner 'Williams
helped me out of the pit, and took me home. Ha- said,
Wiltlt the devil is the matter with you ?" When he got me
out
near.
Eri ofean rhopit he seated me on some other timber which was
Phillips stated—l am not a married woman ; I lived
use
in the same' ho with the, prisoner and Nixon ; I went home
to my lodgings after having been in the streets on the evening
irvi guration ; I saw the feMale prisoner, Cardiff Mary; I saw
her smoking her pipe ; she asked me, " Are you alive ?" I
said, .a Di4you hear 1 was killed ?" and she only laughed ;
I saw Nixon come in about ten minutes after, very bloody; 1
said, " What's the matter ?" and Nixon said; " Oh, Mary,
no
you have served me pretty well to-night ; I would not have
served you so. It was not much to bring a light and eee what
was there ;" and the prisoner said, " D!ye think I would bring
a light and be killed myself ?" I asked Nixon how it happened,
and she said she had gone with a man into the sawpit, and some
one had thrown a piece of timber upon her. I said the pri-
soner, " Mary, where were you ? and she said, " I was not
far (Art" and she said she saw sonic one near the sawpit, and
knew them very well; I asked who they were, and she
said, " I won't tell you to-night ;,I will tell you to-morrow
morning." I went out with the prisoner on our nightly walks,
and asked her why she did not go to the sawpit on hearing
Nixon call ? and she said, " If you are going to take her part
you shall have the same yourself, for that is nothing to what
she shall have ; that is only a beginning," The other prisoner
was at the door, and asked me how the girl was. I said, "Do
you know something about the girl ?" " Yes," he said, " I
went to the pit and helped her home." I was in prison with
the female prisoner at Newport Bridewell, and I said,'" We
have brought ourselves into a pretty hobble.". She said, " Yee,
all through Betsey Rosser," which is another name fbi' Nixon.
I said, " You told me that you. knew those who were about
the sawpit." " I thought sO," said she; "it was hot their in.
tont to kill the man, but to kill the girt" Nixon and Cardiff
Mary were not friends.

Elizabeth Nixon recalled.—The prisoner Williams took me
home to the door, but did not offer to go In. I remember the
keeper of the house shutting the door, but I don't remember
her telling him he must hot come in.
David Thomas, a boatman, stated—My boat Was in'the canal
near the place in question, and I was on board. I was as near
the sawpit AS the length of the Court, but there was a block.
maker's shop between me and the pit, but l could see the path
leading to the pit, and thuld, from the stern of my boat, where
I stood, see the ensi of, the pit, It. was a dark night. ',heard •
a noise like two 'planks falling on each other. The sound
came from the
_pit. I heard afterwards a moaning ; it seemed
to be a woman's voice, and I saw a man and woman either at
the lowerendof the sawpit or on the tramroad near it. I had
heard the moans before this. I saw the man, go to the further
end of the sawpit, and get into it, and the woman stood at the li
door of the Red Cow. The person in the it cried out " Mary"
twice, and the woman called to said, " Why don't you get
out ?" I did not see the man in the white frock. I went to
the sawpit next morning, between five and six o'clock, and I
saw the deceased lying in it. Many persons were assembled by
that time.
John Young stated—l am a timber-merchant, and live within
fifteen yards of the sawpit. As I was going to bed I heard a
woman cry out. I feared she had fallen into the canal, but after,
wards beard her cry out, " There is a piece of timber on me."
I opened the window and found that the cries came from the
.sawpit. I saw a woman near the Red Cow, and I saw a man
come front the direction of the canal, and go up to the pit; he
had a flannel frock on. The woman in the pit cried out, " For
God's sake Mary, bring a light."
Thomas Phillips stated—l measured the 'place In question ;
blr.,Young's house.is 53 feet from
the distance from •Kimson to the sawpit is 77. yards, from the
and breadth four feet.'
,tßheedrGoit",
and the tthlleeipteirtnnoffeetDitis'e boat 72 feet. The length of the
and worked at the nit
in question. I remember leaving my work at six o'clock on. the.
pitTltirosl.ftsVlagtefresestt'adteeloLthlsi:MfenetSiawyert
,evening in question. Ott one side of the pit was a slab of timber,
It was 14 inches from the edge of the pit ; it was laid length.
wise at the side.of the.pit t it had been there". week ; it was, of
oak; seven, feet lung, and twenty-two inches broad, and about

eight inches thick at the thickest part, but it ran taper to about
six inches thick, it weighed 324 pounds ; it could not AIR% of
itself; I put it for my own safety, as I worked in the pit. At
six o'clock the next morning I found a dead person in the pit.
with a slab upon him. One person could have shoved it in as
it lay " on edge" against two posts; one person aught have
turned it over into the pit, it lay so near. As it stood, to hare
turned it over into the pit would have taken a strength of about
80 pounds. I have replaced it as it stood, and tried it in that way.
Thomas Mercer stated—l am a pilot and live at Newport.
I was at the saw-pit at about half-past four the morning after.
I saw the dead body, and I saw also the prisoner and a man
named Green. I went into the pit, and found the deceased
lying there on his left side, with the plank against hint. I said
" this is Jack of Llanmonoth." The prisoner did not say any
thing. 1 did not take the timber off the deceased, and the.
prisoner did not speak.
• David Francis stated--I am a carpenter at Newport.. I saw
the both? ; it was the body of Wm. Evans. There were
" skahrsls—that is hatchet marks and splinters—on the end of
the timber, which answered the wounds on his head.
Mr. James Hawkins, a surgeon, stated—l am a surgeon, AS
Newport. I examined' the body : on the right side of thehesd
were wounds to the extent of two inches each way; there were I
four or five circular punctures just above the ear. took (Oche.
top of the skull, and found several pieces of bane driven in; the
skull was fractured to the length of five inches in various
direc-
tions ; a piece of bone had been driven into the brain. I con-
sider this to have caused his death.
Mr. Phillips, the Town Clerk of Newport, put in the exami-
nation of the prisoners, as it was taken before the Mayor of that.
plaCe. The male prisoner was examined in 'Welch; but the
answers were translated into English, and written down.
The examination of Richard Williams stated nearly the
same facts as proved by the witnesses; hut he denied his guilt,
and did not explain any of the circumstances.
The female prisoner's statement was read : it was very lone,and denied a good deal of the evidence given by the women'
but stated no new fact.

Neither of the prisoners made any defence.
this
Mr. Justice PARK, in his summinu observed,
was an inquiry of the deepest consequence; that the derel'e,
came by Ids death by the mode charged seemed clear, bu
whether the timber was thrown down by the prisoners, or either
of them, was the question the Jury had to try. The law woi.
that if a person doing an unlawful act, intending the hurtl`:
another, and death ensued, though death was not intended, tire,
crime would be murder or manslaughter, accorn to the t
cumstances of the ca.se, such as the nature of hetnstrumeitri
with which the injury was indicted. And it had longber
held, that if the instrument used was of such a nature as otst
.
cause great injury, and it did cause death, the'crin3o was mur.
der. It could hardly be supposed that malice could hoe acei
tuated the parties at the outset ; for he must say, rb at ti:lsrich
saw a deliberate murder attempted to be committee .h.t
means. It was an important question, for he ivoidd sAl,O"i
it was a case of the greatest nicety. The two women ail pot
appear, to be on good terms; and, according to the ev)Viiii,
of Elizabeth Nixon, bad vowed revenge.—(His
then read over the whole of the 'evidence, and conimen,e
that
on it as he proceeded.)—llis Lordship then left it to tum,
Jury to say whether either or both the prisoners had e9ons
mined this act, and, in conclusion, said, that the observatire.
in favour of the man were very strong indeed ; and, "hole
could
to the woman, It seemed difficult to suppose that
commit the offence alone. It should be observed, too'
that the witness Nixon spoke under a feeling of irritation;
she, as well as the witness Phillips, were women of such hapre
of life as would not entitle them to particular credit ; but at be,
same time he for one would never advise a Jury, moll,
cause women had thrown Wall moral and religious obligatau-ii
that they were therefore not to be believed under the solmetnet,
sanction of an oath. Another question would be, if they thou ~
the prisoners guilty, whether they committed the of
ciously, and knowing tbat tbe deceased was in the pit? "1
against the male prisoner there was not the slightest evidence()
malice, and as against the woman the expressions of mailte
appeared to be the speeches of a person of most depraved IA;
bits, and if they thought it was done foolishly and out 0,
wicked sport, and not intending to kill, the crime would till
be manslaughter. But, on the whole of this case, they would'
say what was their opinion. The prisoners could not have
gone there intending to kill, because they did not .cry the
timber with them; and they could not have known that;;;.
deceased or the witness Nixon would have gone into t" r—
at all.
The Jury, after deliberating a quarter of an hour, found the
prisoner Richard Williams Not Guilty, and the prisoner Oa
:Morgan Guilty of Manslaughter.
Mr. Justice PARK addressed the female prisoner, and ea'
pressed himself highly satisfied with the verdict of the Jury'
He rejoiced that tune was spared to her to repent of het life 0_
iontistchonisdmucant,. as ldifeae
tshpesnhteiwniedrictrnlgy,ffuswielatyri,ngtiloaungdhdietbatichputpeaterff:
4
that. her bad intentions were directed against another. He "
bound in justice to the country to prevent a person of such ur:,
bridled passion from doing more injury. His Lordship ?,'"
sentenced her to be transported for the term of her natunali""

DREADFUL ACCIDENT.-011 the road bet"er.
Bridge-end and Llantwit Major, a boy
years old, in the employ of a farmer, was latt',..l/
returning, driving a spirite d inure in a cart. v.°
descending a steep craggy hill (the flies tormeel,i
ing the animal), she began kicking violently, 91/A
set off at full speed ; the boy lost his seat, 9.7
the knee part of his breeches became entanglea
with the breech-band, and he hung with his hea
..
touching the ground, hurried forward by the
.alit
most speed of the animal, kicking at him with 11,/
the viciousness possible. The poor fellow ";"
dragged in that manner for a quarter of a I"e°
until the part of his garment by which he was 3,17;
tached gave way, and he dropped apPeren;,:i
lifeless. Mr. Thomas, of Wallece, came 011;
a faipt respiration, denoting that life was n°t,:L.);
tinct, induced him to send for surgical aid,
in half an hour arrived. The head of the P°l;
lad exhibited a shocking spectacle—the scs'i
from the back part to the temples and foreille!
with the arteries and muscles lacerated and his
fourteen
tached from the skull, hung in one piece over Di
race, the pericranium completely grouud ne,,06
the friction of the wheel, a fissure extenu're
through the right parietal bone. The parts wets,
well cleansed, and restored to their natural I ijat
ations/ as well as circumstances would allow' se,
with scarcely a hope of his surviving, ja, iiid
CO
quence of the violent concussion the WI" ale
undergone, combined with external jell'
remained four days alternately in a state 0,„ and
rium and stupor, swallowing cold gr";;ible,
water ; on the sth he slept, and became se% the
and the wounds discharged copiously opig
Bth he was so far better as to be removed 111,1
home with every chance of his doing well' 011'
recovery may be attributed to incredible cillato
ties of blood taken from the head and arm,
n iv
-
or three times every twenty-four hours, up
s'
the fifth day, so as to produce a temporary
pension of the circelatien. d or
A gentleman residing in the neighboarheuito
Care y -street, Lincoln's Inn-fields, retorning Iwo
a dinner, where he had made rather ton
who
with•the bottle; was met by
.an Of
kindly undertook to see him home. 1,1";°,
was as kindly accepted ; and on arriving
residence, he could do no less than requit' soil
for his services by asking him to take a tir1.10,.•
desired_ his wife to hand out the brandy betr,
Puriag her temporary absence, and wilt roe
husband was nodding, the kind friend 0111;00,
with his gold watch, worth thirty 13,111-'OLI
which was iticautiousti lying on the table' 40'
decamped.

On the
Sth. °lvferainst
s of hr,
24th inst.
tr_ Esq. of a daughter.
—..lrtcraaY, Mrs. H. %Villas, of Queetthithe, 3
DTEt. o°'
at
n
Cht Wednesday:, the firth • aged 12 itionthss
Du,Bpylpi4atinsTlastinttil.l4.o:::::)Earnri,, al °f
. Hear
Printed
Pubusheoll fee the knoraxsiOgs4
°FfiCis No;£l2, Strand, by J. B. CAROmP