The Sun.
London, England, 1812-12-18 00:00:00

MURDER.

John Bruice stood capitally indicted for the
murder of James Dcan, a boy shout 16 years of
agt,-;'on the high- scas, in MC harbour of Milford
Haven, on the morning of the 13th of Septem-
ber last, td- which indictment he pleaded Not
Guilty.
Mr. JERvis stated the case on the part of the
prosecution,- which appeared in .detail upon the
evidence as follows :

janies Waters sworn and examined., stated that
he lived at Bullwell, in the county of. Pembroke,
near the Ferry at Milford Haven ; he remembered
the prisoner coming about the middle of Septem-
ber, and asking for a passage across the riyer.—
Witness told him it was then too late, that the boy •
(James 'Dean), was gone to lied, fie then wanted,
a bed, bUt all the beds were engaged, and he lay,
-on the settle :at the kitchen fire, in witness's house.
Next morning WitnesS asked hitn if he wanted,to go
to Milford.; prisoner said no, for there was no ship
there that \\rutted hauls. Witness then gave the
deceased It. Ifis.- to buy half a barrel of ale, and
some change to buy some tobacco at -Milford.—
Prisonersaw him give the money to the deceased,
who then went to the water's side, and witness
put two empty halt-barrels into the boat.. Prisoner
was present all the time, and said he was going to'
angle, and would go over to Milford with the boy;
they then got in,_and witness pushed off the boat.,
It was a thick foggy morning, about six o'clock—
the boy was about 15 of 16 years of age. About
nine o'clock another boat came over from the
other side., with one :John Murray, who asked
witness who went over in his boat ? In .conse-
' qUence of what he told witness, they searched the
river for the body of-the deceased about, five in the
evening, when they found him with his throat
cut ; be searched his pockets, but did not find the
money be had given-him in the morning. In, the
bottom of-the boat, witness- saw a large quantity
of blood, and 'a 1/. note, with the rest of, the
money he had given the boy, Was found there ;
went next day to Haverfordwest, where he recog-
' raised the prisoner in custody.
Upon Vs cross-examination by Mr. REYNOLDS,
he could not say that the prisoner observed what
passed between flint- and the boy in the kitchen.—
The passage across was a river, and land on both
sides ; the tide ebbs and-flows there, but 1.1,e could
not see the sea from where he lived, which was
fivemiles distant.

Upon thi9, Mt. REYN9,LDI took the objection,
that this case did not come within the meaning of
the Statute, the crime not being committed upon
the high seas, within the jurisdiction' of the Ad-
miralty.
Mr. JARVIs, in answer, Observed. that the
Admiralty, by' the statute of Richard 11. had a
concurrent jurisdiction, as appeared in similar
cases.

The objection was over-ruled by the Court.
Thos. Bledsbury worked at a quarry close by
the wafer's edge,
,opposite t 9 -Milford : he had
known the deceased for six years ; was digging
stones in the quarry on a Monday morning in the
middle of September, when at between ,six and
seven O'clock, be heard aloud cry of murder se-
veral times; it was a thick fog, and he could not
discern any thing, but thought it was the voice of
-the deceased, and obServed to a soldier who was
working • with m , ",That's Jem Waters's boy
taking over some'of the dock-men who are licking

the .game cry of murder, and on looking., observed
a small boat witlya tall man standing tip in it, at
the distance of thirty or r,,rty yards from
and a small eart.floating at the stern of O. e-boat
the man had one of the oars'in his hand, as
'was pushing something from the side of-the boat.
Witness then ran oppoite to the boat, along the
top of the and then dinew it to be Jena
Waters's- boat, and :acv a boy in 'he: water, and
beard bis_voice he thou called out t*lie soldier,
that there was somebody. drowning ; the voice
was feeble, and he soon after saw the body sink
close by the boat.; witness then gave tke alarm,
while others %Vent. across the ferry after the man ;
the .bony was dragged for, and fining about five
in the evening, at low water, and witness hrille-
diately'recognied the deceased with his throat
cut, his pocketS were searched, but nothing found
in them. .

Mr. Gregory, a surgeon, on the 15th 'September;
was sent for by the Coroner to inspect the body
of the deceased, and observed a very large wound
on the throit, which attended to the right ear,
and which seemed to have been inflicted by some
rutting instrument, at different times, and he
was of opinion that this was 'the cause. of his
death, He afterwards saw the boat and a quanti-
ty of blood, about four pounds weight, in the
bottom, -sufficient to have caused the death of a
stronger person is _the wound -was so deep he
could not penetrate the bottom of it with his
finger.

• Mr. Stokes, a• Magistrate of Pembroke; receiv-
ed inforMation about nine o'clock in the morning
in question, that a-h Oat had been found with a
quantity of blood in it. . Upon this he made every
necessary inquiry, and took such steps, as he
thought expedient ,to discover the murderer.
WitOss then described the situation Sand
boundaries of Milford •harbour, from which
it appeared that the t 04y was found within
the harbour, and below the body of the ri-
ver. it was :always salt water at that place,
and for soma miles above, and vvitness.alWays had
considered it within the jvrisdicti.on of the. Ad-
miralty,
Here the evidence for the prosecution closed.

The prisoner being called upon for his defer4e,
admitted that the charge against him was true ;
and the Jury found a verdict of—Guilty.

The prisoner being called upon to say why
sentence of death and execution should not be
passed upon him, answered, " Nothing, only as
much time as can be allowed' me, to make my
peace with my God."
The Learned Judge (Sir W. SCOTT) then in
the most solemn and impressive Manner proceeded
to pass sentence, which was, that the prisoner be
taken to the place from whence he was brought,
slid on Saturday next, be taken to the usual place
of execution. (Execution Dock) and then be hang-
ed by.the neck, until dead, and his, body given
to the surgeons for dissection.
The prisoner appeared. to be -a man about fifty
years of age, a tall masculine figure, and hardy
countenance; he was dressed in a sailor's habit,
and
,left the. dock apparently resigned to his
fate. .