The Sun.
London, England, 1848-07-20 00:00:00

VENIN JULY uos atA

sooners for the murder of one Jeukin Evan, at the same
time and ph,..ce.
Mr. R. \V. Grove and Mr. Benson conducted the pro.
secutien ; the prisoners were defended by Mr. Sergeant
Jones.

It appeared from the case stated by Mr. Grove, and
the evidence in support of it, that on the night in goes•
tion a party of labouring people were holding an assem-
blage, called by the natives a " Cwrw-bach," at an un-
occupied cottage on the roadside, between Loughor and
Swansea. The abject of these meetings is to collect
subscriptions among neighbours and friends for a young
couple about to be married, and on this occasion, as is too
frequently the case, the parties assembled had drunk
large quantities of beer, and the whole party, about 20
in number, were more or less intoxicated. It so hap-
pened that on the night in question the two prisoners,
accompanied by three other Irishmen, had been paid ofl
from one of the railway contract works at Loughor, and
were proceeding to Swansea. About midnight they ar-
rived at this cottage, and joined the party there, who
supplied them with beer and kept on good terms with
them for some time, when a dispute arose between a
younger brother of Michael Leary and a Weiiihnian
about the low rate of wages at which the Irishmen con-
sented to work. A general rush took place towards the
door through which the two disputants had staggered
and fallen together over the threshold, and in an instant
the deceased, John Williams, was stabbed to the heart
by one of the Irishmen in the midst of all the party.
The other murdered man, Jenkin Evan, was coming
down the road at the time, and hearing a cry of " Mur-
der," he appears to have seized hold of the younger Leary.
who was the first man that ran out from the court-yard
in front of the cottage into the high-road. Jenkin Evan
was also instantly stabbed to the heart, apparently by the
same hand and weapon as had given the fatal blow to
John Williams. The Irishmen escaped in the darkness
and confusion, and after passing the night in Swansea
they set off the following morning for Cardiff; but owing
to the activity of the county police they were appre-
hended in the course of that day.
The only man who could give any direct evidence as
to the actual perpetrator of this double murder, was the
younger Leary, who swore to having seen Tomas Martin
rush out from the doorway with an open clasp knife in
his left hand; and stab John Williams as be stood on the
left side of the door. This evidence was confirmed by
that of several witnesses, who spoke to threats used by
Thomas Martin, which appear to have satisfied the jury
that he was always prepared, in the event of any dispute
resulting in a personal conflict, to use a knife ; and that
he was actually so prepared on the night in question.
Similar evidence was give❑ as to Michael Leary, but
the only direct evidence against him was that of several
witnesses, who spoke to the fact of his having used a
spade in the conflict, and having struck some of the
party on the head with it.
Mr. Sergeant JONES made a powerful appeal on behalf
of the prisoners; and
The Learned JUDGE summed up the case with great
care and perspicuity.
The jury deliberated for about half an hour, and then
returned a verdict of Guilty against Thomas Martin for
the murder, and against Michael Leary for aiding and
abetting him in it.
MS LORDSHIP immediately proceeded to pass sentence
of death against both the prisoners, holding out to them
no hope of mercy. The silence maintained during the
early' part of his Lordship's very affecting address to the
prisoners was painfully broken towards the conclusion by
the cries of their unfortunate wives and children, who
were waiting outside the court and had received intelli-
gence of the result 01 the trial.
The prisoners, who are intelligent looking men, both
displayed the most astonishing indifference throughout
he whole proceedings.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.
MANSION-HOUSE.
Mr. B. Isaacs, a gentlemen who stated himself to be a
magistrate in Jamaica, applied to the Lord Mayor fur
his Lordship's interference in what he considered to be
a ease of great hardship. He was attended by four
seamen, natives of Jamaica, who had lately arrived in
this country on board the Marian, Captain John
Bradley.
He stated that the crew of the Marian had for some
reason, upon arriving at that destination, abandoned the
ship, and the captain was of course reduced to the al-
ternative of remaining, to his serious loss and incon-
venience, on the island, or employing whatever seamen
he could find to work the vessel home. lie chose the
latter; and he induced the four seamen who were his
Lordship's petitioners on the present occasion to per-
form the duties on the homeward voyage, having en-
dorsed the articles with which they entered with words
to the effect that he engaged to furnish them with ordi-
nary seamen's berths on board some vessel returning to
Jamaica within seven days after their arrival in London,
or to pay them wages until such should be done. Instead,
however, of fulfilling his agreement with the poor
men Captain Bradley thought proper, after having given
them a few shillings to cast them off altogether, and
they were wandering about in a state of destitution,
until they happened to meet a person who was disposed
to appeal to the authorities in their behalf. Captain
Bradley, upon being written to upon the subject, merely
acknowledged the receipt of the letter.
-'rhe LORD MAYOR—Has any complaint been made on
the :subject elsewhere? Mr. Isaacs—Yes. The case
Was represented to Mr. Ballantine at the Thames rolicc-
(Alice, who sent to the captain to represent the hardship
of the case; but the application was met by a negative.
The LORD MAYOR—Have the owners of the vessel
been applied to? Mr. Isaacs—The owner, Mr. Neil
Malcolm, is, I believe, on the continent; but I saw his
clerk, who could not act in the matter, end who referred
me to the captain. The captain, however, declares that
he will do nothing for the men except upon compulsion
by a court of law. Two of tlei men could. I have been
given to understand, have obtained berths in the Calypso
to return to Jamaica if they had been supplied with the
money fairly due to them for the purpose of redeeming
their clothes, without which they could not go upon the
voyage. Mr. Ballantine had regretted that it was not
in his power to do anything for the seamen under all the
circumstances.
'rhe LORD MAYOR—I am very sorry that there is no
Act of Parliament which arms me with the power to do
justice to these men. We can constrain persons who
would act with similar unfairness towards natives of Asia
and Africa; but the authority of interference does not
extend to the natives of our own colonies. I consider
the conduct you describe as exceedingly reprehensible,
and regret that the owner, who I inn convinced would
never tolerate anything of the kind, is out of town. I,
however, think that upon your application at the office
of the Registrar-General of Seamen, who has been
most active in bringing to punishment deserters from
our ships abroad, facilities will be rendered to accom-
plish the benevolent object of sending these poor men
home.
The LORD MAYOR received a letter from the keeper
of the Giltspur-street prison, informing him that a young
man, named R. C. Tweddle, traveller to Mr. D. Lloyd,
wholesale grocer, in Rood-lane, had expired yesterday
morning. The unfortunate man had been on Friday
charged with having received from a customer of the
house the sum of 368/. 18s. without having accounted for
it in due time; he was soon after seized with delirium
which ended in death.
BOIV-STREET.

117iNam Harvey, a letter carrier at the Croydon post-
officeiWasi charged with stealing a money letter and se-
veral of the daily newspapers.
It was proved that, owing to the complaints of some
inhabitants of Croydon that their letters and newspapers
did not always come to hand, Mr. Sculthorpe, a presi-
dent in the Post-office, tested the honesty of the carriers
and sorters in that district by causing a letter, contain-
ing some marked money, to be addressed and posted to
Mr. Fuller, an estate-agent, at Croydon, taking care to
watch its safe transmission from St. Martin's-le-Grand.
On the arrival of the bag at Croydon the letters were
sorted out by the carriers as usual; but, on inquiry be-
ing made for the one addressed to Mr. Fuller, no one
seemed to know anything about it. A search was made
for it, and it was at length found among the prisoner's
letters, although not belonging to his delivery. He de-
clared he did not know how it came there, unless it was
min-sorted. It had not been opened. The prisoner was given
into custody on suspicion of stealing the letter, and at
his house the officers found parts of the newspapers, with
their directions upon them.
Mr. JARDINE comtnitted him for trial, but in conside-
ration of the prisoner's character, which was well spoken
of, and his long connexion with the Post-office (fourteen
years), coupled with some peculiar circumstances in the
case as regarded the letter, his Worship consented to
take bail, which was instantly given.

Class lll.—lloberts, Kershaw, Cato, Sowerby.
Military Class.—Heathorn, M'Grigor.

CIVIL ENGINEERING.

Class I.—Codrington, Ackland, Biv.gers, Davidson.
Class ll.—Kershaw, Cato, Robertson, Roberts.
Class lll.—Riley, Sowerby, Stewart, Hay ton.