The Sun.
London, England, 1846-03-26 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

.1103112 ClRCUlT—Kingston, March 25.
CIVIL SIDE.— (Before Lord Chief Justice DENmAN
and a Common Jury.)
DUNN I'. WESTON AND OTHERS.

This was an action brought by Mr. Henry Dunn, the
Secretary to the British and Foreign School Society,
against the defendants, who are the responsible parties
connected with the parish of St. George, Southwark,
for an alleged illegal distraint upon the premises of the
society in that parish for poor-rates.
Mr. Sergeant Channell anl Mr. Peacock were for the
plaintiff, and Mr. Montagu Chambers and Mr. Bovill
appeared for the defendants.
Mr. Sergeant CHANNELL briefly addressed the jury,
and said that, although in point of form the present
action was brought to recover damages for a trespass,
yet the real question at issue was one purely of law, and
whether the premises of this society—of the usefulness
end value of which, and the important objects it had
in view, the public wore well acquainted—were liable to
be assessed to the poor-rate, or whether they were not,
by reason of their character in connexion with a
charitable institution, exempt from such payments; and
the only object of the present proceeding was to ascer-
tain the legal rights of the respective parties.
Mr. CHAMBERS said it was urtainly a question of
law, and some consultation then took place between the
Learned Counsel engaged in the cause and the Court,
and eventually, the facts having been agreed upon, the
LORD CHIEF JUSTICE directed the jury to return a
verdict for the plaintiff, subject to the opinions of the
Court of Common Pleas, upon the point of law involved
in the question.

CROWN SIDE.
(Before Mr. Baron .ALDEasoN.)
Fiancis Tayler, 31, painter, was indicted for the wil-
ful murder of Frederick Rowland Lynch, at the parish
of Mickleham, by stabbing him with a knife.
Mr. W. Payne conducted the prosecution, and stated the
facts of the case in a most clear and temperate manner.
Mr. Clarkson and Mr. Rallantyne appeared for the pri-
soner.
From the evidence adduced, it appeared that, on the
2d of' September, there was a fair held at Box-hill,' in
this county, and booths were Erected as usual upon such
occasions, and there was a good deal of drinking going
on. The prisoner, who is a painter, and in the service
of lleFsrs. Cubitt. the well-known builders, was, it ap-
peared, with some of his fellow-workmen, engaged on
a job in the neighbourhot.d, and he was at the fair in the
evening. It seems that some dispute had taken place be-
tween the prisoner reed his companions and some of the
country people, and, about eleven o'clock at night, the
prisoner went out of the booth in which he had been
drinking, and was followed by the deceased and soma
other persons; and the prisoner, who at the time was °le
Sei-veci to have something in his hand which glittered
like a knife, was heard to say, that if they followed
him, they should " have that," or words to the
same effect. Shortly after this the deceased went up to
him, and asked if he v'as the men who had challenged
him to fight, and said, that if he were he was his man;
and upon this the prisoner almost immediately stabbed
him, and inflicted such injury that he died very soon
afterwards. This was the principal evidence against
the prisoner, but it appeared in the course of the case
that the prisoner and one of his companions had been
followed by the deceased, and about twenty other
persons, armed with sticks, and that his companion had
been knocked down, and very much ill-treated, so that
I there was very goad reason to suppose that he had com-
mitted the act under the impression that he we . s
danger of personal violence, and to protect himself
ffom it.

Mr. CLARKSON made a very forcible address to the
jury on behalf of the prisoner, commenting with his
usual ability upon every point that could be urged in his
favour, and concluding by producing testimony to the
good character of the prisonar.

Mr. Baron ALDERSON having summed up,
The jury, after deliberating for some time, returned a
verdict finding the prisoner guilty of manslaughter, but
they at the same time strongly recommended him to
mercy on account of the aggravating circumstances un-
der which the offence had been committed.

The Learned JUDGE, in passing sentence, said he quite
concurred in the verdict, and he should give full effect
to the recommendation of the jury. The prisoner Lad
already been in confinement for six months, and the
sentence he should now pass upon him was, that he be
further imprisoned for one week, and then be discharged.
Eli:abaft Winn, 26, was arraigned upon the coro-
ner's inquisition, for the murder of her female bastard
child at the parish of Croydon.
A bill had been preferred before the Grand Jury
against the prisoner, but they ignored it. As the pri-
soner, however, had been committed under the coro-
ner's warrant, it was necessary that the inquisition
should be disposed of.
Mr. KNAPP appeared for the prosecution, and was
about to address the jury, when
Mr. Baron ALDERSON interposed, and said he really
did not see that there was any evidence against the
prisoner. The only facts deposed to appeared to be that
the accused young woman had been delivered of a child,
and that the body or a child was found in sonic part of
the parish where she lived. There was not, however,
the slightest evidence to show that this was her child, or
that there was any connexion between them, and there-
fore he considered it useless to allow the case to go to
the jury.
Mr. KNAPP said he quite concurred in the observa-
tions made by his Lordship. The evidence was certainly
very slight.

1 he inry then, under his Lordship's direction, returned
a verdict of Yot Guilty, and the prisoner, who had been
some weeks in custody, v$ as ordered to be immediately
discharged.
James Llaybittle, 28, and Alfred Hayh:ttle, 21, brothers,
were indicted for feloniously setting fire to a stack of
hay, the property of the Right Hon. Henry Gou!burn.
Mr. Ryland and Mr. Parry conducted the prosecution.
It appeared that the fire in question took place en
Christmas-Jay last year in the stack-yard of the prose-
actor at I3etchworth' near Reigate, and from the circum-
stance of the stack being fired in several different places,
the act was clearly that of an incendiary. The prisoners
were labourers residing in the neighbourhood, and the
only evidence against them consisted of declarations
made by them to different parties upon the subject of the
file, these statements being to the effect, that they were
present when the stack was fired, but that another person
committed the act, and they merely looked on and took
no part in the proceeding. When before the magistrates
they both, however, stated that this story was not true,
and each charged the other with being the guilty party.
Mr. Baron ALDERSON summed up the case with great
care, and told the jury that he was bound to inform
them, that in law a statement made by one prisoner
against another was not evidence against that other ; and
said, that in this case the only evidence to support the
charge was the mere statement of the prisoners—it would
be for the jury to say whether they considered this suffi-
cient to warrant them in convicting the accused parties.
The jury, after deliberating for some time, returned
a verdict of Not Guilty.
John Misplay Clay, 60, was indicted for feloniously
stealing three knives, and other articles, the property of
Henry Hillman.
Mr. Charnock conducted the prosecution.

The prisoner, it appeared, carried on, ostensibly, the
business of a marine store dealer, in Kent-street, but
there was very little doubt, from the evidence, that his
establishment was a regular " fence," or receptacle for
stolen property ; for upon the officers going there, they
found a large quantity of stolen property, which was
made the subject of some separate indictments against
the prisoners.

The jury returned a verdict of Guilty.
The Learned Judge said, that but for the age
of the prisoner, he should mit certainly have
sentenced him to transportation, but takint that into
consideration, he should sentence him to e kept to
hard labou for two years. His Lordship at the same
time ordered that a reward of five pounds should be
given to the constables for their exerttons in bringing
the case home to the prisoner.

ROYAL INSTITUTE OF BRITISH ARCHITECTS.—At
the ordinary meeting, held on Monday evening, W. Tite, Esq.,
F.R.S., president, in the chair, Mr. Poynter read au interesting
description of the Church of St. Chapelle, at Paris, particularly in
regard to its polychromatic developments. When brought to the
rules of the art, they displayed no mean triumph in the allocation of
colours, the effect of the coup d'ctil being heightened by the obscurity
of the detail. The President referred with satisfaction to the pos-
session by this country of the celebrated marbles of Bandrau which
formed part of the frieze of the temple, and did not, as was supposed,
belong to the tomb of Mausolus, and which he attributed to the
influence and interference of the Society. Dr. Burnet next read a
paper ou some moulded brick found in the Church of St. Soissenes,
in Normandy, which led to an interesting discussion on the manu-
facture of bricks.

SEED•POTATOES.—The following hints by Dr. Buck-
land may be used at the present season :—The sets should be planted
early, and if the plants continue healthy until the tubers ripen, there
will be no danger, because all analogy of fungous vegetable parties
shows that their growth follows, and does not precede or cause dis-
ease. Small tubers should be selected and set entire, as cutting the
unripe and dropsical potatoes of last year may endanger their decay
as soon as they are put into the damp ground. I would plant even
large tubers entire, but if cut, the sliced parts should be shaken in a
sieve of quick lime, until a hard skin is formed over the raw surface,
as is often done in Scotland. _

DEATH.—It is our painful duty, this day, to announce
the death of Sir Charles Anderson, Bart., of Leahall, near Gains-
borough. Ile died on Tuesday, after an illness of six weeks.
The deceased was a noble specimen of " the fine old English gentle-
men," and was universally respected by all parties. As a politician
he was a staunch and consistent Whig. At the last general election
he was opposed to his son, the latter voting and giving his influence
to the man of " Ipswich notoriety," and he voting for Lord Horsley.
The poor in this neighbourhood have lost a kind friend, and the
tenantry a good landlord. The deceased was 79 years of age.--From
a Correspondent.
SEPARATE CONFINEMENT.—A correspondent of the
Chronicle calls attention to the evils of separate confinement,
as detailed in the papers on Van Diemen's Land lately laid
before Parliament. The results are far from satiseac.
tory, for on embarking three hundred or four hundred
convicts from Pentonville, the superintending surgeon
describes these men as falling into strong convul-
sions on their first coming on board, and in which
they continued for four days. Infinite care and kindness
did, after that period, restore them, but nevertheless their
seclusion, though not of more than eighteen months at the
maximum, had so impaired their faculties, that, docile and
obedient to the highest degree, they could nor understand
the plainest directions for settling them in their berths !
Every means was resorted to on the voyage to awliiTettilt
dormant intellects; they behaved themselves remarkably
well, and on their arrival at the colony, their fair characters
secured them situations, but they remained greatly depressed,
probably from their peculiar treatment at home, and are
without energy. These facts show the evil of solitary con-
finement—for the prisoner% were evidently imbecile.
THE KORAN.—This work was not written in pur-
suance of the rules of the rhetoricians. A confusion of ideas
produced by too elevated an enthusiasm, and an obscurity
and contradiction, which were the consequences of the tur-
bulent life and diversified designs of the author, destroyed
the unity and even the interest of the volume. The chapters,
moreover, were preposterously distributed, not according to
their date or connexion with one another, but according to
their length, commencing with the longest and finishing with
the shortest; and thus a work, in which the ideas might
well have been less gigantic and extravagant, became often
more unintelligible by its singular arrangement. Notwith-
standing all this, there is scarcely a volume in the Arabic
language which contains passages breathing a more sublime
poetry or more enchanting eloquence.—Sismondi.

__
TRIAL OF THOMAS 4t •
Wednesday having been fixed for the tri Tit tINV:110
petit jury of St. Helier's, of Thomas Ni X dr-t 6
murder of Simon Levy, on the morning of Friday, the
9th of January, 1846, a dense crowd thronged at an
early hour the precincts of the Royal Court. The court
ssas crowded to excess, everything tending to evince the
deep interest with which the proceedings were regarded.
The prisoner was then placed at the bar. He looked
hale and strong, to all appearance having suffered little
or nothing from the three months' confinement he had
already undergone. He maintained the same sullen
and moro.e aspect which had masked his demeanour
throughout his previous examinations. Mr. Hammond,
as his counsel, was seated immediately behind ; while
Mr. Le Breton, the Attorney General, and Mr. Dupre,
the Solicitor General, occupied their usual positions
below.

,

\

The judges on the bench were Sir John De \Tenlle,
; Jurats Bison, \V. Nicolle, Bertram, Picot,
Polguis, Le Gallais, and Arthur.

The following members of the police staff constituted
the jury :—Mr. Le Sueur, constable of St. Helier's ;
Centeniers 1)u Parcel and Sorel, Police-officers Binet,
ithhy, Alexandre, Palle, Picot, Bryne, Le Gallais,
Monamy, Romeril, and Le Cras.
The usual preliminaries having been gone through,
Mr. LE BRETON, the Attorney-General, rose and
stated the case to the jury. The prisoner was charged
with having, between the hours of two and three on the
morning of Friday, the 9th of January, wickedly, and
with deliberate intent to murder, fired into the house
situated in the Royal-square, St. Helier's, Jersey, known
by the name of Seward's Cafe, and kept by a person of
the name of John Seward; and did there and then, by
means of balls fired from the musket which he held in
his hand, occasion the death of Simon Levy, alias
Abrahams, and did also commit grievous injury by the
said balls upon the body of Mary Cook, the housekeeper
of the said John Seward.

Previous to the Attorney-General proceeding with
the depositions,
Dr. Jones, as medical attendant to the prison, gave
evidence with resp:ct to the present health of the pri-
soner. Ile stated that he was at the present moment
labouring under the disease designated scro!'ula,
sometimes caused mental derangement. At the present
time, however, he could not discern any symptoms of in-
sanity.

The Attorney-General then began the depositions, in
the course of which he was relieved by the Solicitor-Ge-
neral. The reading of the evidence occupied the Court
till half-past two, when the judges and jury having par-
taken of refreshment,
Mr. ILtaimoND rose to address the jury on behalf of
the prison. He said he appeared before them in a cave
of a peculiarly distressing nature, and he only wished
that it had been undertaken by an individual snore fitted
to do it justice. Before he proceeded, he would state to
them the line of defence which he meant to adopt. In
the first place, he should contend, that from the evidence
it had not been proved that the prisoner at the bar had
committed the crime laid to his charge ; in the second
place, that even although in the minds of the jury
it should be held that the deed in question had been
perpetrated by the prisoner, such perpetration did
not constitute murder, but homicide, inasmuch
as he had received considerable provocation from
Seward ; in the third place, that even supposing it
should be held as proved, that the deed had been com-
mitted by the prisoner, he (Mr. Hammond) should make
it apparent that the prisoner, at the fatal moment, was
labouring under insanity. The Learned Counsel then
entered upon an elaborate elucidation of the several
points as just stated, and cited various authorities in
their support. Various cases also furnished the Learned
Counsel with abundant materials for comment. The
cases of Watson, who murdered his wife at Exeter,
under circumstances somewhat similar; of Greene in
Ireland, and of Johnstone recently tried at the Central
Criminal Court for murder on board the ship Tory,
were held as corroborative of views of insanity having
been taken by Briti:ih juries similar to that which it was
competent to be taken by the jury whom he then ad-
dressed.

Mr. Hammond having concluded, after a speech of
nearly four hours' duration, the Attorney General rose
and addressed the jury on behalf of the Crown. He en-
tered into a general recapitulation of the details of the
affair, from the first quarrel between Nicolle and Seward
till the final close of the melancholy tragedy. His
speech was characterised by a spirit of strict impar-
tiality, and evinced not a little tact in its general colloca-
tion of facts. He rebutted on various essential points
the arguments of Mr. Hammond, and ridiculed
with considerable shill the attempt at proving the pri-
soner insane. He concluded by a powerful appeal
to the jury to exercise their judgment divested of any
species of prejudice. In his opinion the charge had
been brought home to the prisoner on the clearest cir-
cumstantial evidence. It was seldom that positive proof
could be adduced in such cases. It were dargerous,
indeed, to reject circumstantial evidence so strong as
that before them. The only verdict they could return
would be that of guilty ; but if there did exist a doubt;
in their minds, they must accord the benefit of such
doubt to the prisoner. The Attorney-General having
concluded,

Sir J. DE VEULLE proceeded to sum up. lie went over
the whole evidence with minute detail, commenting upon
tl e pEculinr points which weighed for or against the
prisoner. It would be for the jury to state, whether, in
their opinion, the prisoner was guilty of the crime laid
to his charge, and if so, whether or not at the moment
he committed the fatal deed he laboured under feelings
of insanity. In eitln r case they would return a verdict
according to their consciences. Society lc oked to them
for protection against the recurrence of such crimes.
He would have the case in the hands of the jury, resting
satisfied that a just verdict would be returned.
The jury then retired, and, after an absence of nearly
an hour, the foreman announced to the Court that their
opinions were divided. According to ancient custom in
such cases, the jury individually then delivered his opi-
nion in a whisper to tie bailiff. This ceremony having
been gone through, it was found that ten were of opinion
that the prisoner was guilty of wilful murder, and three
that he was labouring under insanity at the period of the
commission of the fatal act.
Sir JOHN DE VEULLE then announced to the pri-
soner that the jury had rerurned a verdict of Guilty.
The announcement seemed for a moment to startle the
prison( r, and he cast an imploring look towards his
advocate. Ile had evidently expected a different turn to
the proceedings.
Mr. Hammond, on the part of the prisoner, then
claimed the benefit of the grande enquete, or grand
jury, which was fixed to convene on Friday.
The prisoner was then removed from the bar and
conveyed back to prison.—Jersey Times.