The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-03 00:00:00

WA ND SWOR TH.

EXTRAORDINA RV CASE OF POlSONlNG.—Yesterday, as
Mr. Clive was about to vacate the bench, Inspector Busain,
of the V division, brought into the Court, and placed in the
dock, Mary North, a sullen-looking girl, aged eighteen,
housemaid to Mr. Barker, coach proprietor, the charge, as
entered in the police•sheet, against the prisoner being that of
administering a quantity of vitriol to Mary Anne Barker,
aged four months, the intant daughter of Mr. Charles Barker,
Wandsworth, with intent to murder or do some grievous
bodily harm to it_
Mrs. Mary Barker, the wife of Mr. Charles Barker, omnibus
proprietor, living in \arth•strret, Wandsworth, having been
sworn, said—The prisoner was ill my service as a servant of
all work. I have a child, which will be four mouths old the
sth of this month, now lying ill.
Mr. CLIVE—When did you first observe anything mate-
rially the matter with Your child? Mrs Barkev—Last even-
ing, a few minutes to seven o'clock, the child was hronAht to
me by the prisoner foatEiNg at tite mouth. -'he aa> much
altered in appearance. She had been a little cross !,airing the
day, and had tot slept. much. She had been vaccinated re-
cently, and this might account. for it. When the prisoner
came to me, she said, " 0 dear rite, ma'am, wi,at is the matter
with baby ?" I did not make any reply, but immediately
sent her for Dr. Howell. The lilts, tongue, and the whole
of the mouth were quite burnt. On the chin was a brown
spot, as if something had been spilt upon it. I had sent
the prior that caerniPg flu the incedicAta integeryte

make blacking for the harness, and one of those ingredient s
was hut o1111C1•:;, Of oil Of vitrio'. I used about half of the
vitt iol, and gave tile bottle c,ntaining the remainder to the
prisoner to put on the top shelf in the kitchen, because
the children should not get at it. She knew that the liquid
contained iu the bottle was dangerous, because Mr. Leach,
who had served her with it, had, according to her own
statement, told her that he would not have let her have it
had he nut knwn who it was for. The bottle produced by
the inspector, labelled " Vitriol, poison," is the same the
prisoner fetched me. The prisoner can read, not only print-
ing', but writing.
..11r. George Tatham, surgeon, said he was sent for at
seven o'clock the oreetons evening, but not being at bunt)
when the me,sage aerived he did 1,0- s(.e the child until half•
past nine o'c:ock ; was then sittimu or: the prisoner's lap,
with its head loftingup a its right shoulder. On seeing the
`child, he immedi,Atly e.xcianned, " child has had
vitriol." There were then present the mother, the sister, the
senrant, ard Mr. Howell. He looked at the child's
mouth, aPri found pertiohs of it excoriated. and the
gums, root, and tongue were white, and showed marks of
an acrid or corrosive poison. NVitness at once kpew that
vitriol had been admihistered, having had a previous case
of poisoning by vitriol. He asked Mrs. Barker if she bad
any vitriol in the house, and she admitted she had. The
cloth produced by the inspector (a child's napkin) he bad
trot examined until that morning; the light green marks on
it were produced by the child's vomiting; the brown marks
were etch as would be produced by vitriol. They might have
been caused when wiping the child's mouth. It would be
difficult for hirn to say positively that the cloth was stained
by vitriol, but he believed it to be so.
Mrs. Barker sait:; there were se many napkins used when
the child vomited, ant: they were all put away together, that
she could not undertake to say that the one produced was
that with which the prisonek• wiped the infant's mouth.
Mr. Tathamsaid, the child was at present in a very pre-
carious state. It was pt“sible that she might live four or five
days longer, and she [night recovce.
Mr. CLIVE asked the prisoner if the desired to say any-
thing?
The prisoner (in a firm voice) said, I never touched the
vitriol. I never went nigh it. 1 never put my hand on the
shelf, after mistress gave it to me to put there.
Mr. CLIVE remanded the case for a week.

HIGH COURT oF JUSTICIARY•

EDINBURGH.
THE RIOTERS AT FUSHIE BRIDGE.

The Court met on Thursday, for the purpose of pas.s-
ing sentence en Matthew Clark, Patrick Burn:, Feb%
Murray, and Patrick Savage, who en Monday Pleaded
guilty to charges of mobbing and rioting, and assa:dt to
the effusion of blood.
The judges present were the Lord Justice Clerk, Lore
Mackenzie, and Lord Moncrieff.

The plea of the prisoners having been read,_
The LORD JUSTICE CLERK said, the duty of the Court
in this case is in every respect a very painful one. The.
unfortunate men at the bar appear to have boon engage',
in the exercise of their henest calling—in regular and
full employment, and therefore in comfortable circula'
stances—up to the time when the lawless and violent
proceedings took place which have placed them at this,
bar, and which must lead to the infliction of very severe
punishment that may materially, if not entirely, alter
the character and prospects of their future lives. The
case is also extremely painful, because no circumstance'
have been disclosed to enable us to draw any distincticel
between the case of any of the prisoners, or to make,
respect of any difference in their cases, any exceptioo;
in favour of any of them from the sentence which ws,
feel it our duty to award. The case has been nies';
anxiously considered by the whole court, and the sere
fence which I am about to pronounce is the result, °f
the concurring opinion of the whole judges of this court"!
Whether in the exercise of the royal prerogatiff'
of mercy it Miry appear that there are and circunestaueos
in the case which enable those to whom it is ,e
trusted the duty of advising the -- Crowne,?"
any .graund -setistactory to them—to draw any efe
. tin:dole which may bafavourable to any of the priseo
ern, or may lead to recommend any of them tor ,f0:1
vourable consideration in the exercise of the rod 0
prerogative—is of course a mutter for their considerati° 4
W ent'. We must remember that in tie administration
the criminal law ( f the land ee cannot proceed 010.
grounds which can only be taken into consideration4,
the exercise of that prerogative. Our duty is to $
minister the criminal law of the land, and to say the
according it) that law, is the amount of punishment (II
for the commission of this particular crime, and wht,
shall at the same time be adequate to prevent the cod
mission of such crimes in time to come. The °°of
knowledge which the court has of the circumstances, of
this case, is derived from .what appears on the face
the indictment. But it is a case of a serious :(
alarming character, and it is quite plain that l'"7,
punishment that would not produce due effect 013.00
others, might only tend to encourage the repetitioe
of similar outrages, by misleading individuals who 0;4
be engaged in the perpetration of such crimes, as to
Zie
light in which they are regarded by the law: In conso d
.
ing the charges to which the prisoners have piesd?
guilty, we have laid aside entirely the charge of c°,4l
witting a more heinous crime, and have taken care ifA
our minds should not for a moment be influenced el'ol
by the mention in the indictment of the chargelej
murder. His Lordship here read that part of the IAIOO
regarding the attack on the police constables, and of
the temporary police station house, for the purpeess
liberating two of the labourers who had been cone?ol
g,
in it on a charge of stealing two watches from a Pe'"oot
and to the assemblage of a mob for the very purpesor
overpowering the police, and then his Lordship Poe
ceeded. It is no small aggravation of such an offeo
as' this, that it was committed by labourers,whteeti
the purpose of liberating companions who had c'seee
confined, not for some accidental breach of the 4i7eati
acasual i
m a disturb,ttera nicne t hwe hi
eyes
moifghsotmletaolfe ro
ot
hr o sumou
h
comrades; but for the purpose of liberating 00,bicil
had been charged with the base crime of theft, onest
ought not to have excited the sympathy. of the ',lid
and well-disposed portion of the labourers, locite
well that if innocent they would obtain their Jibe 'Lol
due time; if guilty that they would be dealt with se; 01
ing to law. His Lordship again referred to the libel+ .t
read the part of it which related to the assault 00 ' tee
the policeman after the mob had liberated their ri,
comrades. His Lordship then continued—That the So;
soners have aeted under niost judicious advice in p?„;00
in their plea of guilty to the extent which they did'
one can doubt, because, whatever part the prisoners leer
in the violent proceedings of the mob, it is quite °heir
that full details of the evidence must have made iOB
case of even a more serious character by disew-
more fully the numbers, character, and proceediegho
iob
the mob, and the nature of the implements with '07,04
they were armed, and rendered the sentence more s/ to
than even that which the Court feels compene"mise
t
award as the case now stands. It is not easy to coneboo
a case of a more aggravated and serious character I,
the present. We see that proper measures had tee
taken by the authorities for the preservation et
peace in consequence of the assemblage of a ereat
her of railway labourers in this particular 1001 of
Constables were stationed for the purpose of maint ,1:01,
tranquillity, protecting property, and, when neceOwere
carrying the law into execution. These constables wee
assailed, overpowered, deforced, and the P°
station-house broken into, by a body of
:keel'
whom these measures were intended to Ji'
in order. By overcoming the police, they set to Bet
liberty those charged Kith theft. They attempt& uore
themselves above the law, as if none was entitled Wee oas
them with crime, or to be enabled to apprehend
of them when they have committed an offence Ihere
the law. We all know the danger of such case* ;lee
thousands of persons are employed within a feW the
all able-bodied and powerful men, and who, to',„ the
kind of instruments employed in their work, hav'osk
means speedily of arming • themselves with most '°
dable weapons, congregated in a part of the countryta to
where no large detachment of police can be exPeeteeneel
be provided, and where it would be monstrous to e'rtes
thatpubl troopspeae e.When must be
w e patrollingco nsiconsider
ordera iall
t toes
these
ahiinotgasl:l4o4
how easily such a number of parties could be brcteef
together, and the mischief that might be done whet' the
set themselves above the law, and determine to o'the
feudspower
whichthe officers ofe p
therod
ulcaewd—awmhoenng
_.
wtehecornnesuidetrhyetor;
selves, and which the records of this Court show ese
the results of this sight's proceedings ; and when eof
consider that it is impossible to say what the degr
fob
violence and outrage that may be committed by: it is
once set in motion for the purposes here &Weiweed,
plain that a sentence must in this case be proeb'ourere
which shall teach the large body of 111%1:ot
now employed in different parts of the Co" pill
that the slightest disturbance on their part eo,
lead to most summary and exemplary punisbeloro
They must be taught that their numbers SPor
them no protection against the bands of the ,in
minas justice of the country. They must be keP,r"his
restraint; they must be kept in awe of the law. ; of
object can only be attained by making an exan3P r 9,0
those who shall break and violate the law in a mannered
open, so violent, and so alarming, as has been diseloc
in this case, to the extent to which these prisoners Mid
pleaded guilty. His Lordship concluded by sentePS of
each of the prisoners to be transported for the peril,'"
seven years.