The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-29 00:00:00

MX V. SMITII.-SEDUCTION.

This was an action for the alleged seduction o
the plaintiff's daughter,

M. O'Malley, Q.C., and Mr. Keane appeared for
the plaintiff; and Mr. Palmer and Mr. Couch for
the defendant.

Mr. O'Malley, in opening the case, said the plain.
tiff was a baker, residing at Whittlesey, and was
the father of four sons and four daughters, of NN hpm
the subject of the present action, Catherine, was
one. Before the year 1837 the plaintiff was a mem-
ber of a congregation of Reformed Wesleyans, and
his daughter Catherine was a teacher in the Sunday
school conducted in connexion with the chapel. In
1857 the defendant, who is an ironmonger at Whitt-
lesey, also joined the Reformed Wesleyans, and
soon assumed a prominent part in ,the congrega-
tion. He was a married man, with two sons .al-
most grown up, and he first became a teacher, and
subsequently a local preacher. Between the de-
fendant's family and Catherine Nix a close inti-
macy commenced in 1837, when' she was about six-
teen years of age, and as she frequently stopjed
out late at night, her father remonstrated with the
defendant on the subject. He replied that it was
extremely profitable for the girl that she
should come to see him, for they spent
their evenings in singing, reading, and prayer.
The suspicions of the father being thus
quieted, the intimacy proceeded. In February,lBsB,
a person named Vincent lectured at Peterborough,
and the defendant proposed that the plaintiff's
daughter should go to the meeting. The plaintiff
at first objected, but ultimately withdrew his op-
position, and the young woman went to Peter-
borough with the defendant and some other friends.
She walked home with the defendant late in the
evening, and when they were about two miles from
Whittlesey ho lingered on the
_road, so that they
fell behind the other persons who had been with
them. • He then attempted to take liberties With
her, but she resented and repelled them, and for
some time the intimacy between the parties was in-
terrupted. It was afterwards renewed, however,
and the young woman, in April, 1858, went to the
defendant's to stop a weoc at his house. While she
was there the intimacy took place, which led to the
birth of a child and in the present action being
brought.
Evidence in support of the plaintiff's case was
being proceeded with when our report was de-
spatched.

CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Williams.

The calendar contains the names of about 20. pr-
isoners, but none of the cases are of a very special
character. This afternoon the learned judge charged
the grand jury, and proceeded with the business of
the court.

WESTERN CIRCUIT.—DEVIZES, March 28:
THE ASHCOMBE MURDER.
Serafin Manzano, the Spaniard charged with the
murder of Anastatia Trowbridge, at Ashcombe, on
the 3d of November last, was again placed at the
bar this morning.
The case for the prosecution closed late last night.
The prisoner manifested the greatest indifference
during the whole of yesterday, and frequently
smiled at the witnesses and spectators around him.
Mr. H. T. Cole applied to the Court to allow the
prisoner to make a statement preparatory to his
addressing the jury.
Mr. Baron Martin, after consulting Mr. Baron
Channell, said, as there were precedents for it, he
would allow the statement to be made. At the same
time he did so against his own judgment. He re-
garded it as a most dangerous practice.
The prisoner then made a statement to the effect
that he met a man and woman, the former of whom
asked him to exchange clothes. He did so, and
slept with them in a shed, but before he awoke in
the morning they were gone, and he did not know
in what direction they went. The man was dressed
somewhat like himself:- He was a taller man than
himself.
Mr. Col©, in addressing the jury for the prisoner,
complained that everything had been done to ex-
cite prejudice against him. He had been photo-
graphed with a policeman's hand upon his shoulder,
and those photographs had been publicly exhibited
in different places in the county. Even the she-
riff's chaplain had assumed the prisoner's guilt, and
held him up as a warning to his congregation. The
learned counsel then proceeded to contend that the
only fact against the prisoner was the possession of
the prosecutor's clothes. The possession of those
things, however, had been accounted for by the
prisoner, and he asked the jury to believe the state-
ment which the prisoner had made. If the prisoner
had committed the murder he must have been
covered with blood, and he argued that the ab-
sence of blood from the prisoner's clothes com-
pletely established his innocence.
His lordship, in summing up, said he felt hound
to allude to some observations which had fallen
from Air. Cole. He was not aware whether the
learned counsel heard the sermon of the sheriff's
chaplain on Sunday morning. He (the learned
judge), did, and he must say it contained no state-
ment calculated to prejudge the case against the
prisoner. With regard to the photographs which
had been taken of the prisoner and a policeman, be
said it was decidedly wrong, and.he hoped never to
hear of such a thing again. He was bound to tell
them, however, that neither of these facts had the
slightest bearing upon the case. They were bound
to try the prisoner upon the evidence, and he was
sure they would not allow anything which had
taken place out of doors to influence their minds.
His lordship then read through the evidence, and,
with regard to the prisoner's statement, he said if
they believed it, they must also believe, that the
person who really committed the murder must
have allowed hian to take the whole proceeds of the
robbery.
The jury then retired, and in about half an hour
returned with a verdict of guilty.
His Lordship then assumed the black cap, and
sentenced the prisoner to death in the usual form,
and held out no hope that his sentence woultl be
commuted.