The Sun.
London, England, 1856-03-20 00:00:00

ON, THURSDAY EVENING, {ARCH 20, 1856,

ASSIZE' INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT.—KINGSTON, MARCEL 19.
(Before Mr. Justice Coleridge.)
John Beauchamp, 30, deecribed as a publican, was in-
dicted for the wilful murder of his wife, Emma Charlotte
Beauchamp.
The prisoner was charged by a coroner's inquisition
with the offence of manslaughter only.
Mr. Robinson and Mr. Sumner conducted the prose-
cution ; the prisoner was defended by Mr. Ballantine
and Mr. Parry.
From the opening statement of the learned counsel for
the prosecution, it appeared that the prisoner, who is
well known as au expert cricket player, kept a public-
house at Chertsey, called the Coffee-house. He and his
wife had been married about seven years, and they had two
children ; and it would seem that they lived very unhap-
pily on account of the deceased being addicted to habits
of intemperance, and that frequent quarrels took place
between them on that account. On the lst of February
the deceased went to visit her mother at Guildford, tak-
ing with her one child, and she returned home on Sun-
day, the 3d, bringing with her a child that had been
stopping at her mother's, and leaving the one she had
taken with her in its place. It appeared that an arrange-
ment had been made between the prisoner and his wife
to go out to visit a neighbour in the afternoon, and the
prisoner went out some time about three o'clock, and
returned soon afterwards for the purpose of fetching big
wife. At this time there was no one in the house but
the prisoner's child, a little girl, who acted as servant,
named Taylor, and the deceased wife. The latter was
in the bed-room of a lodger, and it appeared that the
prisoner went up to her there, and some little alter-
cation took place between thorn in the presence of the
girl above mentioned, The latter went down stairs,
and almost immediately afterwards she heard a scuffle
in the bed-room, and the deceased exclaimed twice,
" Don't, don't," and then all was quiet. Very soon
after this the deceased was found lying on the bed in an
insensible state, and she continued in that condition unti!
10 o'clock at night on the following Tuesday, when she
died. Upon a post-mottem examination it was found that
the deceased had received a severe blow under the left ear,
and on the opposite side of the heal there was a bruise,
from which it was inferred that she had been knocked
down, and these injuries bad, according to the opinion of
the surgeon, burst a blood-vessel, and occasione t an effu-
sion of blood upon the brain, and this was the cause of
death.

Mary Ann Taylor said—l was in the service of the
prisoner arid his wife. The prisoner kept the Coffee-
house public-house at Cherrsey. On Sunday, the 3d of
February, I was in the bed-room with my mistress, help-
ing her to make the bed, about 3 o'clock in the after-
noon. The prisoner had gone out, and he returned
shortly before 4 o'clock, and canto into the bed-
room where I and the deceased were. The deceased
and I were talking when the prisoner came in, and he
could hear what was said. My mistress was com-
plaining about some woman coming to the house, and
she said she would not have her there, and if she did
Come she would go back to her mother's again. When
the prisoner came into the bed-room, he asked his wife
what she had been doing all that time, and complained
that she was not ready to go out. The deceased replied
that she bad been washing glasses in the bar, and the
prisoner said that could not have taken her so long. I
then left the bed-room and went down stairs, and when .
I get as far as the tap-room, I heard the deceased call
out, " Don't, dont." The taproom is under the bed-
room. I went into the yard and returned to the tap-
room, and then I heard a scuffling noise in the bedroom
where I had left the prisoner and the deceased, Ina few
minutes the prisoner came down stairs, and he asked me,
arid his child also, if we had, either of us, seen the de-
ceased drink any spirits, and we both told him we
bad not. I had not seen the deceased drink any spirits
that day, and she appeared to me to be the same as
usual, and not at all drunk. The prisoner then
told me twice not to go into the room where the de-
ceased was, and I went into my own bed-room, and,
while I was there, I heard a gurgling noise, which ap-
parently was made by the deceased. The prisoner than
went into the bed-room, where the deceased was, and
ho remained there until Mr. and Mrs. Breakepear, two
persons who lodged in the house, came home. I went
to bed in my own room with the prisoner's child, who
usually slept with me, and, about 11 o'cloek at night,
the deceased was carried into my room by the prisoner
and Mrs. Breakspear, and the child was taken away,
and the deceased was laid upon my bed. She was per-
fectly insensible. I was told to watch her during the
night. Mr. Breakspear asked the prisoner to send for
a doctor, but he refund, and said, "Oh no, she will be
better to-morrow." The deceased never spoke, but the
gurgling noise continued in her throat. When I went
down in the morning, the prisoner asked me how his
wife had been during the night, and I told him that
she had been insensible, and about the gurgling in the
throat.

Crose•examined—The noise I heard in the room ap-
peared to me like people fighting. It was not like the
noise of a person falling from the bed. A mug with
some gin in it was found under my bed on the Mon-
day. The mug was one that was used by the de-
ceased The woman the deceased and I were talking
about when 'the prisoner came in found the mug and
the gin.
Mr. Breakspear, the person referred to, gave evidence
of a similar kind with regard to the condition of the de-
ceased when she canoe home.
Mr. Withell, a chemist at Chertsey, proved that about
4 o'clock on Sunday afternoon, the prisoner went to his
shep and asked him to go to see his wife, and he accom-
panied him home for that purpose. Ho found the de-
ceased lying on the bed on her back in a state of perfect
insensibility. Witness ordered hot water bottles to be
applied to her feet, and advised the prisoner to send for
a medical man.
In cross-examination, the witness said that the pri-
soner appeared very much concerned at the state his wife
was in, and was very anxious that he should do what
he could to!relieve her. He had no authority to pre-
scribe for her, as he was only a chemist, and he reeom-
mended him at once to send for a medical man.
Several other witnesses having been examined,
Mr. Ballantine made a most earnest and able address
to the jury on behalf of the prisoner.
Mr. Justice Coleridge having summed up the whole
of the evidence in the most careful and impartial manner,
the jury, after a very short deliberation, found the pri-
soner guilty of manslaughter.
The learned Judge, on passing sentence, said that the
jury bad come to the only conclusion it appeared to bins
they could have arrived at in finding the prisoner guilty
of manslaughter, and he felt it his duty, under all the
circumstances, to order hire to be kept in penal servitude
for four years.
Thomas Tames Quick, 15, and Charles Henry Quick,
12, two notorious young thieves, whose case has been
very recently reported, were found guilty of house-
breaking.
They were sentenced to be imprisoned for a month in
the House of Correction, and to be once fl egged, and
then to be sent to a reformatory school for five years,