The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-03 00:00:00

ASSIZE IN2'BLLIGENCE.

OXFORD CIRCUITLGLOUCESTER, April 2.
CROWN COURT.
(Before Mr. Justice Keating.)
THE ST. BRIAVEL'S MURDER.

Joseph Webb, a :young man, was charged with
the wilful murder ofan old man named John Hughes,
under circumstances of extraordinary brutality, on
the 4th of January last.
Mr. Davis and Mr. Sawyer prosecuted ; Mr.
Cripps for the defence.

The prisoner is a labourer, who had been working
for Mr. William Kear, a timber merchant, cider
dealer, and who also retailed cider at a house called
the Cherry Tree, at the Lower Mynde, in the parish
of St. Briavel's, Gloucestershire. The prisoner,
who is a single man, and who was living with his
parents, was only casually employed by Mr. Kear,
in the place of George Hughes, who had been un-
well for about three months. About six o'clock on
the morning of the 4th of January, prisoner went
to his work as usual, and about nine o'clock George
Hughes came and announced that he was suffi-
ciently recovered to go on with his work. He
went out about three o'clock in the afternoon to
see a calf in an out-house, about 300 yards from
the house, Mr. Kear accompanying him, and pri-
soner remained in the kitchen. What then oc-
curred may be best gathered from the evidence of
Richard Kear, an intelligent boy of 13. He said :
I was sitting on the settle in the kitchen, and
prisoner snatched from me some bread and meat
which I was eating. I said if he was so greedy
as that he might have it. He began teasing me,
pulling my hair, and bumping my head against the
settle. I cried out, and my sister Eliza came and
struck prisoner with a stick. He took the stick
from her, and my grandfather came into the kitchen
and helped my sister to get prisoner from me
Prisoner struck both of them down with his fist
and when my sister Esther came in, he struck ha'
down. John Hughes, the deceased, was sitting on
a chair by the fire, and prisoner went round and
knocked him down. I fetched a spade, and said if
he struck my grandfather again I would strike him
with the spade. He did strike him again as he was
sitting on the settle, and I struck the prisoner on
the head with the spade. I ran out, prisoner fol-
lowed ; I dropped the spade outside the house, and
my grandfather picked it up. He was going to
throw it away, Isut prisoner wrenched it from his
hand, and knocked him down with his fist. John
Hughes came out with his hat on, and was going
away, when prisoner ran after him and struck him
on the head with the spade. He struck him again
with the spade when he was on the ground. Pri-
soner next struck my grandfather down with the
spade, and kicked him. Grandfather's left arm was
broken. My sister Eliza said prisoner had killed
grandfather and he struck her down with his fist.
She got up and ran away, and he followed her nine
or ten yards, then turned back and struck Hughes
with the spade on the head as he was lying on the
ground. There was blood on Hughes's head. He was
quiet, and I thought himinsensible. Grandfather
had got up and was standing by the door, and pri-
soner again knocked him down with the spade in the
doorway. I then ran up to the prisoner, and kicked
him, and he tried to hit me with the spade, but I
avoided the blow. He again went and struck
Hughes. I got grandfather indoors, and locked
the door. I went odt by another door into the or-
chard, which is higher than the house, and saw my
aunt, Mary Williams, who exclaimed, " Oh, Lord,
he will kill father !" Prisoner ran after me, but on
Jane Howell's coming up with a child in her arms
he struck her on the forehead, and caused a great
wound, and the spade handle broke. I saw my
father coming, and threw a stone at the prisoner,
which knocked him down.

Cross-examined—The stick with which prisoner
Was struck was about as big as a man's finger. I

saw no blood on him until the policeman struck
him.

Prisoner took off his upper clothing, and showed
the collar and neck of his shirt much torn. 11. e,
said he was choked before he went out, and did
not know whether he was dead or alive. A large
number of witnesses corroborated the above evi-
dence, and agreed in saying that the prisoner Was
sober at the time. Mr. Kear said the prisoner was
very wild, threatening everybody, but gave up the
pieces of the spade when asked kindly.
George Hughes said prisoner threatened him
before he went to see the calf that was ailing.
When he came back, his father (who was 76 Years,
of age) was insensible, and the old man died that
same night.
Mr. Wotton and Mr. Reed, surgeons, gave evi-
dence as to the state of the deceased, whose skull
was fractured in three places, the bone being
driven into the brain, this being the immediate
cause of death. Prisoner had sustained injuries
on each side of the head. He was calm and quite
sober when the surgeons saw him at midnight.
Police-constable Lord, who apprehended the Pri"
soner, deposed that he refused to be taken into
custody. He struck witness, who struck him heal
blows with a bludgeon on each side of the bee '
accounting for the injuries afterwards found an
both sides of prisoner's head.
Police-constable Turner deposed that prisoner
afterwards told him that he did what was done in
self-defence, that they were all drunk together, and
he would pursue the same course if it had to be
done over again.
Mr. Cripps argued that there was aggravation
in the case, which aroused prisoner's irritation'
and suggested that tobacco had been put into the,
prisoner's cider, which, combined with the effect (I
the blow he received on his head, he was exasperated
beyond measure, and furiously performed acts De
had not the slightest intention to commit. He sub"
mitted that although undoubtedly the prisoue',
would have to undergo very heavy punishment for
what he had done, the jury might, consistentil
with their duty, acquit him of the crime of murder;
which would consign him to the scaffold, and fin'
him guilty merely of manslaughter.
The jury found the prisoner guilty of mall"
slaughter, and he was sentenced to penal servituuu
for life.