The Sun.
London, England, 1834-08-19 00:00:00

BLAKEMORE V. GLAMORGANSHIRE CANAL COMPANY.

This was an action, in which Sir JAMES SCARLETT came
.....e;co- was commeneM. yesterday at noon. and ended this
Mr. Scrjeant LUDLow, Mr. RICHARDS, and Mr. Jus-
TICE were with Sir JAMES SCARLETT for the plaintiff.; and
Mr. MAULE, Mr. Serjeant TALFOURD, and Mr. E. V.
WILLIAMS, were for the Company.
Mr. Blakemore's complaint against the Company have
been so continually before the public for many years, that
it may be sufficient to state, that having established his
right to the surplus water of the River Taaf, in Glamor-
ganshire, after a certain quantity had been taken by the
Company for their canal in its original state, and having
also established by the decision ultimately of the House of
Lords, that they had no right to diminish that surplus by
any new works or alteration of their canal, the present ac-
tion was brought to recover damages for the injury which
Mr. Blakemore sustained from the continuance of the
Company's works, which diminished the quantity of surplus
water, to which he was thus entitled. The Company, on
the contrary, denied that he had sustained any damage.
The Jury, however, found a verdict for the plaintiff. Da-
mages 5001.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT. —LANCASTER, Aua. 16.
(Before Lord LYNDRURST.)
THE LIVERPOOL RECENT MURDER.
Patrick Brogan, aged 29, was indicted for the wilful mur-
der of Peter Sweeney, at Liverpool, on the Ist August
instant.
Mr. Roscoe prosecuted, and called the following wit-
nesses ; Mr. Venables defended.
Moses Joy son, shipwright, examined : I knew the de-
ceased, and I know the prisoner ; on the Ist of August I
saw them both in King-street-lane, Liverpool ; I came np
with Sweeney ; the prisoner, Brogan, met us ; he began to
talk about a fight which he had with a young man of the
name of Daws ; the deceased said he had nothing to do
with it ; prisoner asked me to go home and sleep with him ;
the deceased said " No," that I had a house of my own ;
Brogan then said, " I have nothing to say to you" (witness) ;
at the same time he said that he would have his revenge of
the deceased ; when Sweeney would not come home with
me, I parted with them ; they went up King-street ; when
they were at about ten yards from me, they stopped talk-
ing ; I immediately saw the prisoner give the deceased a
blow on the left side of the belly.
By Lord LYNDHURST-1 never saw Sweeney (the de-
ceased) provoke the blow.
Sweeney immediately called out, " Moses, I am stuck ;"
as soon as my name was called out the prisoner ran away ;
there was another man a little farther off ; I immediately
took Sweeney (the deceased) to the police-office ; his shirt
was all over blood ; a person of the name of Ferris, a con-
stable, went in pursuit of the prisoner, and returned with
him in custody in ten minutes ; when brought into the pre-
sence of the deceased, he said to him, " You are the man
who stuck me ;" prisoner replied, " I am the man ;" Sweeney
was first taken to a surgeon, and then to his own home ;
I remained with him until near four o'clock in the morning ;
I saw him the next day ; he died on the day after ; the
parties were not drunk ; they had drink ; I never knew
any difference to exist between them ; the prisoner and
another man had a fight about three months before that
time.
Cross-examined—Stockman and Sweeney, the deceased,
were in the House of Correction for seven weeks, upon a
charge of breaking windows and being drunk ; the prisoner
was a witness against us on that occasion ; I have no ma-
lignity against him ; previous to the transaction on the
night in question, Sweeney, the deceased, and I were drink-
ing in Cooper's-rosy, from eight to ten o'clock ; Bryan
camp in ; Sweeney, the deceased, did not challenge him to
fight ; Stockman is no acquaintance of mine ; he, Sweeney,
and I were not talking together when Sweeney, the de-
ceased, said, " Oh, here is Brogan ;" Sweeney never chal-
lenged him to fight ; the prisoner never called for a watch-
man, if he did I did not hear him.
Thomas Ferris—l am a watchman. I was on duty the
Ist of August last. About half-past ten o'clock I received
certain information, in consequence of which I went in
search of the prisoner. I found him in Howard-court. He
was sitting in the kitchen. I asked him what he had been
about. He said that he had been about nothing. I observed
him to drop a knife, it was shut, there was no mark of
blood on it. I took him into custody, and brought him
where the deceased was lying. The last witness was pre-
sent. Sweeney, the deceased, on seeing the prisoner, said,
"You are the man that stuck me." Prisoner made no
reply at that time. When the surgeon, Mr. Leather, had
examined the wound, he said, " Who has done this ?" Pri-
soner made answer, " I did it." On taking him to Bride-
well, I observed some small spots of blood on his trowsers ;
they appeared to be fresh. He was not drunk, he had
some drink.
Cross-examined—When I took up the knife it was closed ;
there was no mark of blood on it.
Mr. Wm. Parlour—l am superintendent of the police at
Liverpool. I saw the •deceased about fourteen hours after
the transaction. At that time he did not appear to be

V * .1)i u rtt
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dying. I saw hi again on'Sunday, about ekteri.o'dock.
Deceased then said, that he believed he was al:writ-to
He was very low then. I told him, as he was,,aboto.o..j
app'..ar before his Maker, and as the communicatiotilAligt);),;_ ti?"
he was about to make would be probably the last, I
plored him to tell the truth. About half-past ten o'clock I
heard from the surgeon, Mr. Leather, that'he was about to
die. I then went to him. •
Mr. Peter William Leather—l am a pupil to Mr.
Marshall, the surgeon, in Liverpool. On the Ist of August
I was called up by a watchman. I went and saw the de-
ceased. He was wounded in the abdomen, the intestines
protruded, some of the small intestines were wounded: I
sewed them up, and reduced it. When I visited the de-
ceased I said, " 'Who did this ?" Prisoner said, " I did it,
I don't deny it." I accompanied the deceased to his house.
I saw him at half-past seven o'clock next morning. Inflam-
mation had set in. I visited him several times on Saturday,
and visited him on Sunday about nine, and at eleven o'clock
with Mr. Parlour. He was then dying. He appeared to
be aware of his situation. He told me he thought he
dying. He was very weak at that time. The knife now
produced would make a similar wound to that which was in
the abdomen of deceased.

Cross-examined—It was his own impression that he was
dying. It was also mine, and I told him so.
Mr. A. Higginson, surgeon—l saw the deceased on the
Wednesday. On Friday noon he was very bad. He was
better on the Saturday. When I saw him on Sunday he
was dying—he thought so himself. I told him so between
nine and ten o'clock in the morning. The wound on the
left side, in the abdomen, was the cause of his death.
Mr. Parlour recalled to state the conversation he had
with the deceased before his death—The deceased toldehini
that, on the Thursday evening, he met the Prisoner Bro-
gan. They had some conversation, neither friendly nor
otherwise. Brogan then said that he would do him some
injury. The deceased, Joyson and Lilly were together.
They met Brogan in King-street. They all went up and
sat down on stone steps. Some conversation took place
between prisoner and deceased. He was angry with bins
(the deceased) respecting a fight prisoner had with a
person of the name of Davis, and said that he would
do him (deceased) some mischief. Brogan the pri-
soner, asked Joyson to go home with him ; deceased said,
" Why should he go home with you, he has got a very good
home of his own ?" Some other conversation took place ;
the deceased and the prisoner went together towards the
house which Lilly went into ; when near it, deceased called
out to Lilly ; upon his calling out, prisoner struck at him
with his fist ; deceased parried the blow ; prisoner drew
back, and put his hand in his pocket ; he drew that hand
out again, and put both his hands together, as if opening a
knife ; deceased was in the act of turning to run away,
when prisoner struck at him in the lower part of the body ;
deceased felt he was stabbed, and called out, " Moses
am stuck ;" witness questioned him, had there been any
previous quarrel ; some time before prisoner gave evidence
against deceased and others ; they were committed to the
House of Correction for want of bail ; deceased said that
they never had any words beyond what he mentioned ;
Davis, the person with whom prisoner fought, was a friend
of his, and that was the reason why Brogan (the prisoner)
entertained an enmity towards him (the deceased) ; he
knew of no other reason.

Cross-examined : It was by my solicitation that deceased
made the, communication to me ; Brogan was obliged to
give evidence against the deceased ; the prisoner behaved
very well upon that occasion ; the deceased and others
committed a gross outrage at that time.
The case having closed for the prosecution, the prisoner
was called on for his defence. He stated from the time he
was compelled to give evidence against the deceased, he
was continually insulted by a gang of persons, and upon the
night in question, the deceased frequently challenged him
to fight, and when he refused, he struck him several times,
as did all the others of the party. He then called the fol-
lowing evidence in support of his statement :
Margaret Emery stated that she saw the deceased and
Joyson in a public-house about ten o'clock ; the prisoner
came in, and was challenged to fight by the deceased ; the
prisoner refused, but left the public-house ; she left it first ;
when in the street she saw prisoner come out ; the deceased
followed the prisoner, and commenced arguing with him at
the corner of Cooper's-row ; she then went away, and saw
Sweeney, the deceased, about twelve o'clock with Joyson
and two others ; at that time she saw Brogan coming down
King-street, when prisoner came up to the deceased and
others ; deceased again challenged him to fight ; prisoner
refused ; deceased took off his jacket and waistcoat, and-
knocked down the prisoner ; he attempted to get up, but
deceased gave him another blow ; prisoner Brogan got up
and shouted watch several times ; she then went to her
lodgings and went to bed, but previous to which she heard
a n•ise in the street ; a short time subsequent she heard of
the prisoner going to Bridewell ; she heard that Sweeney
had been injured ; it was about ten minutes after she went
into the house.
oniiiect to walk the areas for tiefiivenhood ; she krioviti •
the prisoner well ; the conversation between the deceased
and the prisoner was commenced by the deceased, who said
that he would fight the prisoner, who refused to fight, be-
cause, as he said, that he had but one hand, his other being
hurt ; when Sweeney struck the prisoner none of the other
men who were by interfered ; when she got into her house
she heard the prisoner call for the watchman several times.
The case on both sides having closed,
Lord LYNDHURST commenced summing up the evidence,
and told the Jury that if they were of opinion that the fight
was a continuous one, or if any doubt existed in their minds,
they ought to give the prisoner the benefit of it.
The Jury, after an hour's consultation, found him Guilty
of Manslaughter.
Lord LYNDHURST, judging it was a most aggravated case,
sentenced him to transportation for life.

John Hayes, aged 35, a powerful fellow, was convicted
of a rape on his niece, a delicate little girl, who stated her-
self to be upwards of 16 years of age, though from her ap-
pearance, she did not seem to be more than 10 years old ;
but her petite figure and diminutive stature are to be attri-
buted to the tender age she was sent to work in a pin fac-
tory. She possesses a most intelligent countenance, and
gave her evidence in a manner which banished all doubtlas
to the truth of her statement, which, for brutality and vil-
lainy, has never been equalled.
Lord LYNDHURST told the wretched man that he had but
one business in this world, which was to prepare for the next.
The details of the trial are, we need not say, unfit for
publication.
The criminal business terminated this evening ; but Mr.
Baron Gurney will have a fortnight longer. There was an-
other case of rape ; the aunt prosecuted the nephew, but it
totally failed, and the prisoner was acquitted.