The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-12 00:00:00

WINTER ASSIZES.

NORTHERN ClRCUlT.—Licerpool, Dec. 10.
(Before Mr. Justice WrcuTAIAN.)
James Hunter was indicted for the wilful murder of
Charles Winslow, at Liverpool, on the 23d of November
last, by stabbing him with a knife.
Mr. Blair conducted the prosecution ; Mr. James ap-
peared fur the defence.
It appeared that on the night on which this occurrence
took place, about half past 12 o'clock, the deceased, with
two persons called Bryan and Marley, all sailors, were
at a public-house at the corner of a lane, called Crooked-
lane, in the neighbourhood of the Liverpool Custom.
house. They were all somewhat in liquor, but were, it
was alleged, sufficiently sober to know what they were
about. On leaving the public-house they walked down
to the corner of Canning-place, lacing the Custom-house,
and proceeded along Canning-place towards South
Castle-street. In so doing they passed the end of a lane
called Litherland-alley, running into Canning place.
At the end of the lane they saw two men standing,
having the appearance of sailors. The deceased was a
little in advance of his companions, and between him and
these two men some angry words took place. Bryan and
Marley asked him to come away, but he made no answer
to them, and went up Litherland•alley with the two
strangers, the dispute still continuing. Bryan then went on
towards Castle-street, and Marley remained some time
at the end of the lane. lie heard a noise of quarrelling
in the direction in which the deceased had none, but
from the darkness be was unable to sea what took

place. At this moment a person of the name of Seymour,
a private watchman, came to the end of the lane, and,
hearing the noise, went up it, knocking with his staff on
the ground to intimate his presence. A number of men
and women, who had been fighting and quarrelling in the
lane, came down, meeting him, and passing him going
into Canning-place. Ile was then nine or ten yards up
the lane. When they passed him he then saw the de-
ceased about the place where the quarrelling and fight.
ing had been going on. He was then proceeding up the
lane, and there was no other person there. The deceased
had gone but a short way further up, when a person,
whom the witness swore was the prisoner, came towards
him from the head of the lane. The prisoner struck the
deceased in the belly, but the witness could not see
whether or no he had anything in his hand. The deceased
immediately cried out, "Oh my God," and turning,
ran back to Canning-place, and on to Castle-
street. He then overtook Marley. The deceased
was then in a stooping position, holding his hand
to his belly. He called out, " Oh, Nick, Nick,
find a doctor's shop ; there's a knife stuck in my belly."
Some police-officers came up and took him into their
care. The witness Seymour, who saw the blow struck,
had followed the deceased for the purpose of ascertain-
ing whether he had sustained any injury. He imme-
diately returned to Litherland-alley with two of the con-
stables, and at the upper part of the alley he found the
prisoner leaning against the rails of an area. lie took
him into custody, and stated to him that he was
charged with stabbing a man. The prisoner said he saw
no man, and knew nothing about it. The officers then
felt outside of his clothes to asc, rtain if he had got a
knife, but did not find one. He said he had left his
knife on board his ship. On searching him, however,
more minutely at the Bridewell a large clasp knife was
found in his jacket pocket.
On the officers taking the prisoner to Castle-street,
where the deceased was, the latter immediately iden-
tified him as the person by whom he had been stabbed.
The deceased was conveyed to the hospital, when it
was found that he had received a wound just below the
navel, from which the bowels protruded. The medical
attendant replaced them, and the deceased, who was
very faint, rallied a little. He again sank, however, and
died on the morning of the following day. On a post
mortem examination it was found that the epigastric
artery had been wounded, and the internal hemorrhage
which resulted had caused his death.

His depositions had been duly taken the morning after
ho received the, injury, slid ho then °tate(' that he had

met two. men at the foot of Litherland•alley, who had.
some words with one of his companions. One of these
men was the prisoner. He, the deceased, walked on up
the alley, when the prisoner followed him, and thrust a
knife into his belly.

It appeared from the statement of Seymour, that
though the lower end of the lane was dark, there was a
gaslight over the door of a public house a few yards bc -
vond the spot where the blow was struck, which gave
him a good view of the prisoner, and enabled him to
swear positively to his identity.
Mr. JAMES addressed the jury for the defence, con-
tending that the evidence of the identity was not such es
the jury could rely upon. The lane was dark, the person
was seen but for a moment, and under the disadvan-
tageous circumstance of the light, such as it was, being
at his back, and throwing his countenance into shade.
The mistakes so frequently made in cases where the
matter in question was the personal identity of the pri-
soner were sufficient to induce the jury to distrust testi-
mony, however positive, founded on such imperfect
means of knowledge. The supposed corroboration of
the deceased was hardly any corroboration at all. He
was in pain, weak, and suffering, and was likely, under
the circumstances, not to have the accuracy of recol-
lection and that clearness of mind which would enable
them to rely on his testimony. By the mode, too, in
which the testimony was taken, the prisoner was de-
prived of the benefit of a cross-examination, which might
possibly have elicited facts which would satisfy the jury
that his evidence was to be distrusted. The Learned
Counsel, after commenting on the other facts of the case
bearing on this point, urged that by whomsoever the
offence had been committed, it would not amount at all
events to more than manslaughter. It was clear there
had been a fight and quarrel, in which the deceased had
been engaged, and the jury might reasonably infer that
blows had been exchanged under the irritation arising
from which the wound had been inflicted upon the person
of the deceased.
His LORDSHIP summed up, and the jury after some
deliberation returned a verdict of Guilty of manslaughter.
His LORDSHIP addressed the prisoner, stating that the
jury had taken a very merciful view of the case, but
that his offence at all events was but a shade below the
offence of murder. It was necessary by severe example
to repress the use of such deadly weapons in the case
of sudden quarrels, a practice now too common in this
country.
To be transported for life.
William Hornby was indicted for killing and slaying
George Lockley.
The prisoner, it appeared, was employed as engineer
in the management of a steam-engine at the railway now
in course of formation at Walton, in the neighbourhood
of Liverpool. This engine is used to draw up the skips
from the shafts which have been sunk to form a tunnel.
In these skips the persons employed ascend and descend.
The engineer, on a signal being given by the person at
the top of the shaft, sets the engine to work. If rubbish
or stones are coming up, the "banksman," as he is
called, waves his hand. If men are ascending he waves
his hat. On this occasion the deceased and four other
men were in the skip, coming up to their dinner. The
banksman waved his hat, and the engine was set to work.
It was about one hundred yards from the mouth of the
pit, and the engineer had an aperture in the engine-
house, from which he ought to have kept a look-out to
see when the skip came to the surtace. There was also
a mark on the rope by which he was able to ascertain
when it was necessary to stop the engine. On this
occasion the engine was not duly stopped ; the skip con-
tinued to ascend until it came in contact with the pulley-
block, and the deceased was thrown out by the concus-
sion. Fortunately the banksman had drawn the " table,"
on which the skips are lowered, over the mouth of the
pit, and the deceased did not fall to the bottom. He
fell, however, a distance of about six yards on the table,
and was seriously injured. His skull was fractured and
his side injured. He lingered for about a month, and
then died.

From the cross-examination of Mr. Atkinson, for the
prisoner, however, there appeared a reasonable ground
for believing that the mischief might have been caused
in some degree by accident. The prisoner had left the
spot where it was his duty to be for the purpose of feed-
ing the boiter, and on resuming his place for the purpose
of putting his foot on the lever which works the break,
his foo slipped, and the e nzine in consequence went on
a little longer than it should have done.
Verdict—Not Guilty.
Nothing of public interest occurred in the other Court

LORD RADNOR ON LABOURERS'

WAGES.
At the Farringdon Agricultural meeting last week,
Lord Radnor said:—
There were some labourers on his estate receiving 10s.
a week, and some less than that: they were paid accord-
ing to their services, and on no other ground whatever.
—(Hear, hear.) That he contended to be the true
principle—it was a principle upon which men acted on
every subject, and it was the only way by which to do
the labourer justice. He maintained that paying men
according to their services was really and truly the only
way to make a labourer perfectly independent.—(Hear.)
In consequence of acting upon the principle of regulating
wages according to the price of corn, the indolent and
idle would be paid more than the f.ctive. industrious and
useful man.—(Cries of "Hear, hear.") Nor was it to be
said that the wages of the labourer should be such as to
meet his wants. He denied that they depended on his
wants : they depended on meritorious labour. If they
depended on his wants, he wished to know who was to
fix his wants ? They must be fixed either by the em-
ployer or the man himself. It his wants were to be fixed
by the man himself, he would say, " I want a piece of
roast beef for my dinner every day ; and un-
less I have this and good clothes I shall not
be satisfied." That, of course, was out of the
question. Of. the other hand, if his wants were to be
fixed by his employer, who was the stronger man of the
two, the probability was that the labourer would be re-
duced to the lowest possible point at which man could keep
body and soul together ; and would become more like
the Irish than the English labourer. That would be the
result of paying not according to services rendered, but
according to the supposed wants of the labourer. It had
been stated that this was a most cruel, harsh, and un-
charitable mode of acting towards the labourer. Charity
was a different thing to the payment of labour. Ile did
not object to charity if it was not given in the shape
of wages ; if a man wish to be charitable let him freely
give it out of his own pocket.—(Cheers.) In the opinion
that the payment of waaes according to supposed wants
was most degrading to the labourer, and would reduce
him to a condition very little better than that of a slave,
he was borne out by the late Rev. Dr. Arnold, to whom
the improvement of the working classes was an
object more precious than any other in the world. Dr.
Arnold, in a letter to the editor of a Sheffield
paper, said, "The principle of making up wages
out of the poor-rates (alluding to the old practice) is,
in fact, under the mask of kindness to the poor, one of
the most degrading systems of oppression. When they
are paid, riot according to their industry and skill, but
according to their wants—when, for the same species of
labour, one man receives only one-half the weekly wages
of another, not because his work is worth less, but be-
cause he is a single man, we are so far advanced towards
a state of slavery. The slave, like one of the domestic
servants, being one of his master's property, receives,
whether the profits of his labour be small or great, as
much, and only as much, as is sufficient to support him
in tolerable condition." Ile wished to impress forcibly
on the minds of the farmers of England, that their prin-
cipal object ought to be to make the labourers indepen-
dent, and they could only make them independent by
giving them wages, not according to the price of corn—
not according to supposed wants—but according to the
work they had done.—(Bear.)—Devizes Gazette.

BANK OF ENGLAND.
(From last Night's Gazette.)
An Account, pursuant to the Act 7th and Bth of Victoria, cap. 32, for
the Week ending on Saturday, the sth day of December, 1846.
ISSUE DEPAILTMENT.
S'otes 155ued........ 28,269,105

Government debt .. 11,015,100
Other securities .... '2,984,900
Gold coin and bullion 11,702,647
Silver bulliox .... • • 2,506,458

X28,2,;9,105