The Sun.
London, England, 1847-06-17 00:00:00

JUNE 17, 1847.

CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT.
OLD COURT.
(Before Mr. BULLOCK .)
John Haywood, waiter, 23, pleaded "Guilty" to a
charge of stealing a watch and chain, and money and
valuable securities to a very large amount, the property of
General Sir Alexander Mackenzie.

Sir Alexander recommended the prisoner to the mer-
ciful consideration of the Court, on the grounds that he
IA as a young man and had previously borne a very good
character.
Mr. BULLOCK sentenced him to twelve months' im-
prisonment and hard labour.
(Before Mr. Justice PLTTESON.)
_ _

Edward Thomas, 26, was indicted for the Manslaughter
of Joseph Dawson.
Mr. Clarkson defended the prisoner.
It appeared that Thomas was the captain of a canal
boat, which was upon the Grand Junction Canal at
Brenttord at the time the occurrence happened. The de-
cs ased was also a boatman, and it appeared that on the
2d of May he had some quarrel with the prisoner at a
beer-shop, and wanted to fight with him, but the prisoner
refused and left the house. At a later period in the day,
the deceased was found lying upon the bank of the canal
suffering under mortal injury upon his stomach, but the
circumstances under which he met his death were alto-
gether involved in mystery, except that the deceased
stated that he had been kicked by the prisoner. It ap-
peared, however, from the evidence that the deceased,
who was stated to be a much more powerful man than
the prisoner, and who was also described to be a " des-
perate" fighter, had waylaid the prisoner on his return
to his boat, and there was very good groundfor believing
that if he had really inflicted the fatal injury upon the
deceased, it was only done in self-defence from the attack
of a man who was very much his superior in physical
power, and who had waylaid him, and forced the
struggle upon him. _ _

Tlie jury returned a verdict of Not Guilty.
Sarah Cooper, thirty-one, spinster, was indicted for
the wilful murder of her male illegitimate child, by neg-
lecting the usual necessary precautions after she had
been delivered, and by casting the child into a privy,
where it was discovered.

No counsel appeared for the prosecution. The prisoner
was defended by Mr. Parnell, through the humane in-
strumentality of the Sheriffs.
The evidence given in support of this charge was of a
nature to render it quite unfit for publication.
The jury acquitted the prisoner of the murder, but
found her guilty of concealing the birth of her child,
and she was sentenced to be kept to hard labour for
one year.
Thomas Martin, forty-two, :carrier, was indicted for
the manslaughter of Mary Anne Martin, his wife, by
casting her down a staircase, and thereby causing mortal
injuries, of which she died.
Mr. Clarkson defended the prisoner.
In this case a mass of depositions had been returned
by the coroner, and, as no counsel was employed to
conduct the prosecution, it was necessary for his Lord-
ship to read through the whole of them, in order to
ascertain which were the material witnesses; and while
doing so,
The Learned JUDGE remarked, that nearly the whole
of the statements taken down were inadmissible as evi-
dence, and several of the witnesses appeared to have
been called merely to state what they had heard other
people say, which, of course, could not be evidence
against an accused party.
Mr. CLARKSON said the examinations were certainly
more of a medical than a legal character.
The description given of the case by the witnesses was
of rather a confused character, but so well as it could be
gathered from their testimony, it appeared that the
prisoner was a carrier, and lived with the deceased and
his family in some apartments over his stable in a mews
near Dorset-square. On the 7th of May the prisoner
and the deceased were together in one of the rooms, and
a son and daughter, who were in an adjoining room,
heard an altercation between them, and the deceased
suddenly rushed along the landing, followed by the pri-
soner, and immediately afterwards a shriek was heard,
and the deceased was seen to fall down a steep ladder
into the stable, whereby she received such serious injury
as caused her death a few days afterwards. The only
question in the case was whether this fall was accidental,
or whether it was occasioned by any act of violence on
the part of the prisoner by striking or pushing the
deceased down the ladder. The evidence in support
of the latter alternative was certainly of the most
meagre description, and mainly consisted of state-
ments alleged to have been made by the prisoner
immediately after the transaetion, to the effect
that he had knocked her down the ladder. These
statements were alleged to have been uttered in the pre-
sence of Mr. Guy, the surgeon, who was called in to
the deceased, but that gentleman in his evidence de-
clared that no such statements were made to his recol-
lection, and he also said that after the unfortunate oc-
currence the prisoner expressed deep regret at what had
happened, and did all he could to render.assistance to
the deceased. It also appeared that the staircase ladder
in question was very steep and in a most dangerous posi-
tion, and it seemed exceedingly probable that the de-
ceased, in endeavouring to get away from the prisoner,
had fallen down it accidentally.
Mr. CLARKSON having addressed the jury, the Learned
Judge summed up, and they then returned a verdict of
Not Guilty.
THE MARYLEBONE MURDER.—Upon the application
of Ur. Clarkson the trial of Mary Anne Hunt, for the
murder at Marflebone, was postponed until next session.
The ground upon which the trial was postponed was an
affidavit made by Mr. Humphreys, the prisoner's attor-
ney, to the effect that he had reason to believe that he
should be able to establish the fact of the prisoner's
insanity, and that time was required to procure the ne-
cessary witnesses.

FALLING OF THE DEE SUSPEN-