The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-08 00:00:00

jury believed that when the plaintiff represented himself
to be competent be believed that he was not so. Unlees
this plea were made out, there was no doubt that the
plaintiff was entitled to their verdict for a year's salary. •
His Lonnszup having summed up,
The jury, atttr a short absence, tound a verdict for
the tierendatit.

c3ROWN COURT.—(3.fore Mr. Baron PLATT.)
0F THE ak.r. J. $3lllll FOR ..11LNFLATTGUTIM:
Smith !tits indicted for having tat rn
the 'Gib of f...4jril last, killed and slain Arm-
strong._

Temple and Mr. Otter conducted _ tne proseeati.m,
and Mr. James and Mr. Thompaon the defence.
The .acts of this ease are wet/ knowa from their merit
extensive publication.. The prisuricr, who is a cieruy-
man, about .15 years of age,.W4s accompaniori into'
tha deck by his wile. They were accommodated 'with
seats, and the prisoner appeared deeply to feel his
position.
Mr. TEMPLE, in opening the east, fur the prosecution.
said the- deceased, William Armr.trong, was a tamer,
residing e a place callctl SAtrahrities, two Miles ovpr
border, was respectably descended, was married, and had
two children, and was about 38 years of eve, and was iu
his neighbourhood genera fly reseeded. Oa the 1G at April
last, having oceasieu tO go to Bratnptun-tnarket on;ensi-
nets, he dined with some friends there and dratfk freely.
He WI to go home' between 9 and 10 o'clock with a
neighbour named Eilibtt. It was then very moonlight.
They had not proceeded very far when the deceawl,-
who was en horseback, cantered off end was overtaken
by Elliott at Hetherington's public-house; and here they
met another neighbour named Richardson. On their
way
.home, and when not far froth the lane which IE4
to Walton, the deceased rode quickly off, and was not
seen again alive. Next day shale girl. named' Graham
found the body of the deceased lying at the parsonage-
gate, Wheir.e the prisoner lived, and his pony 'standing near.
An alarm-being given "the 'l'4llll.6ra\ assembled, and the
&jasper cal
- - _ _ -

e out of his house Lind looking at the body
deart"-tirrdihen returilvd into hiahlese.
~ne of the villagers told him he hart heard the reports
of pistols during the night, the prisoner answered, " Yee.
tint he had heard a knocking at the does and fired.'.'
Ile then stooped down and looked at a hose made in'the
coat of the deceased, and said, it was he who shot the
man; they came about his house, he theught they were
going to break in upon him, and ho fired. The ques-
tion for the jury would be,
,whether the prisoner had
acted under such circumstances and had taken such
reasonable precautions as would justify him in firing his
pistol as he had done. If he had not; he would be guilty
of manslaughter.
Thomas Richardson; farmer, a neighbour of the do 7.
ceased, was then called and proved leaving Hethering•
ton's public-house on the 16th of April with the de-
ceased, who was rather tipsy. It was a very moonlight
night. When near Walton-lane the deceased cantered
off in the direction of Walton, and they did not see him
again alive.
William Elliott was with the deceased at Brampton,
and went with him to Hetherington's. He corroborated
the last witness. _ _

Mary Ann Graham, a little girl, thirteen years old,
who was in the habit of taking milk to the prisoner's
house every morning, proved that on the morning of
the 17th of April, on going through his gate, at the
entrance to the shrubbery, she saw a teen lying on
his back inside the gate. His hat and stick were lying
by his aide. She was afraid to go through, and went
back and called- a neighbour named Nixon' who went
with her to the, parsonage. She also saw Ann Glen-
dinning, and told her what she had seen, and Mrs:
Nixon and Ann Glendinning went up to the body, and
the prisoner came out and went to them. He was dressed
in his flannel shirt, trousers, and slippers. She asked
asked him if he was dead, and he replied—" &ire enough
he is dead; what shall we do?" She said there must be
somebody fetched. The prisoner then went back into
his house, and she went for William Taylor and Welter
Phillips. When they came back the prisoner was dressed.
The prisoner then said, " I have been the occasion of the
death of this poor man," and they discovered who the
deceased was.

Joseph Foster said that be went a little before eight
o'clock to the prisoner's gates, and saw the prisoner
come to the body of the deceased, and heard him make
the remark stated by the last witness. A man named
Taylor said, " The man has shot himself," and witness
said, "No, Mr. Smith has shot him;" and the prisoner
again repeated the expression, "I've been the death of
the poor man." The prisoner then stated that some
persons came to his house during. the night, and made
such a noise that he got a pistol. He thought they
were going to break in, and be fired out of the door,
and had taken away, the life ef a man: and he would
now give up his own to bring the other back.
Ann Glendinning, a servant to the prisoner in April
last, stated that the prisoner was married, and had tour
children.. She slept, over the study, and went to bed at
eleven o'clock, leaving Mr. and Mrs. Smith in the dining-
room. She was awoke some time after by loud knocks.
She thenilicard the front door bang, and heard some one
go upstairs quickly. She then fell asleep. In the
morning the little girl Graham told her about the body
of a man beieg in the shrubbery, and she went to it. The
witness then corroborated what the other witness had
stated. On cross-examination, she stated that the win-
dows of the study below where she slept made a great
rattle when moved. Mr. Smith had said that he heard
this window.rattle, sad went into the study, and, being
-alarmed, he went and got his pistols and then ran to the
door and fired off his pistols and slammed the door to
again, and then ran upstairs, and that be felt very much
terrified, being the only man in the house.
Sarah Blacklock, nurse in the prisoner's family, gave
similar evidence.
John Foster constable of Walton, on the morning of
the 17th, asked the,prisoner. why he had fired at the
man without speaking, The prisoner said he had suf-
fered much before he fired; hethought they were going
to break intethis house, and he was so unmanned that he
fired, and it was an accident.
• Cross-examined—The prisoner had been incumbent
15 years. The living was a very small one.
Mr. John Graham, a doctor of medicine, had examined
the deceased on the'l7th of April. Ile found a bullet
in his body. Be had been wounded in the right
shoulder and in the breast, and had died from a gunshot
wound. •

It was then proved that the prisoner had putchased
some time before a revolving pistol •at Carlisle.
This was the case for the prosecution.
Mr. JAMES, in an able defence, contended that the
prisoner, under a bona fide impression that his house
was about to be broken in at midnight, was justified in
firing his pistol to alarm those whom he believed to be
attacking his house; and unfortunately, in so doing, he
had accidentally shot the deceased.
Mr. Baron PLATT left it to the jury to say whether
they believed the prisoner had bona fide acted under su
in
chcircumstances of alarm, and whether, being justified
protecting his house, in firing his pistol he had acci-
dentally shot the deceased.
The jury retired, and after an absence of half an hour
found the prisoner Not Guilty.
The prisoner immediately full on his knees and raised
his hands to Heaven. This act seemed to be respected,
and the densely-crowded court was silent.
This case was not over until nearly 11 o'clock at night.
To-morrow Mr. Baron Platt proceeds to Appleby.
Mr. Justice Williams will remain at Carlisle to finish
some very heavy nisi prius causes, which it is said will
occupy the time till the commission-day at Lancaster.

MIDDLESEX SESSIONS, Aug. 7.
(Before Mr. Sergeant ADAMS, Assistant• Judge, and a

Bench of Magistrates.)
Sophia Cressey, aged 23, and Ann Newman, aged 20,
were indicted for having stolen a purse of the value cf
sixpence, containing four or five sovereigns and five or
six half•sovereigns, the property of Walter M'Arthur
Robinson, from his person.
Mr. Birnie appeared for Cressey, and Mr. Metcalfe de.
fended Newman.

It appeared that the prosecutor is a brickmaker in the
employment of a contractor upon the railway near
Oundlo, in Northamptonshire, at whose instigation a
fellow-labourer and himself came up to London to pay a
visit to the Great Exhibition. On their arrival is wen
they engaged lodgings in the vicinity of the Strand, and
on the night of the 20th ult. they were proceeding
homewards along the Strand when they met the two pri-
soners, with one of whom his friend went to a house of
ill-fame, in Newcastle-court. The prosecutor followed
them with the hope of inducing his companion to ac-
company him home and at once leave the woman. Es
had no sooner entered the house than he instantly Lu-
cerne acquainted with its character, and thereupon ho
called upon the prisoner Newman to let him out,
which she at length consented to do, whereon she
and the other prisoner led him into a bedroom, and he
followed them, supposing that through the room might
be a way towards the street-door. As soon as they had
got him into the bedroom they placed themselves the one
on each side of him, and began to push him about,
heenitir
as he
clutches wasone of them endeavourimanagedog to effect
to force her his escapband !!t
e from
ot
his
pocket and draw out his puree. He then called ifer the
ered the cam
police, and one of that body quickly
The policeman proceeded to the bedroll!" wan
. the door
admission, but the prosecutor refused to
opend demanded
until he had been assured by his friend from the outside
that a policeman was there.
As B°-- as be
might
bad let the
officer in that functionary placed biro so as that ho
prevent either of the prisoners from escaping, while he
~ which ho
far the
property,
purse) in the fold of
himself searched the room
eventually found pinned op (in
.0
the valance of the window curtly • The prisoners were
taken into custody.
In his evidence the officer said the brothel in which
this robbery had been committed was known as one of
''Old Mother Davis's."
On behalf of the two prisoners it was contended by
their respective counsel that there was no proof of the
robbery having been committed by either of them.
The Learned JUDGE having stumped ute the eeidence,
The jury found both the prisoners
The Learned JUDGE then desired Inspector Brennan
to communicate to the parish authorities of St. Clement
Danes that ho had received an intimation from a source
which he could not doubt, that two respectable persons
had proffered to indict the keepers of the infamona
houses which were in thia Newcastle-court—a place
where robberies were of almost constant occurrence,
but that the parish had refused to render any assistance.