The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-26 00:00:00

(OLD COURT.)

(Before the Lord Chief Baron and Mr. Justice Williams.)
The trial of Sarah Jane Wiggins for the wilful murder
of a child at Hackney, by tying it to the bed-post, has,
upon the application of Mr. Poland, been postponed until
next sessions.

MURDER ON THE HIGH SEAS.

Charles Annois, a foreign seaman, was placed at the bar
on an indictment charging him with the murder of Philip
Barker on the high seas. A second count charged him
with wounding John Cumming with intent, &c.
The prisoner pleaded not guilty to both indictments.

Just as the trial was about to commence it was found
that two important witnesses were absent, upon which the
learned judges ordered the other cases to be proceeded with.

STEALING A LETTER.

A respectably-dressed young man, named Hughes, lately
in the employ of the Post. office, was indicted for stealing a
letter containing two half-sovereigns, the property of the
Postmaster-General.

The evidence against the prisoner was to the following
effect .—He was a sorter, employed at the North-Western
District, and on the 15th October, in consequence of certain
suspicions, he was sent to sort some letters, amongst which
one, misdirected, and containing money, had intentionally
been placed. He took up the bag, and instead of taking
the misdirected letter to the inspector, he was observed to
place it up his sleeve, and then go to the water-closet,
where he was seen by Bingham, the constable, to tear
open the letter, take the two half-sovereigns from it, and
after minutely examining them, swallowed them one after
the other. The greater part of the letter he afterwards
chewed and threw down the closet. The pieces were after-
wards recovered, and upon being dried and placed upon
another sheet of paper, were produced in evidence against
him.

Tho jury found the prisoner guilty.
The Lord Chief Baron sentenced him to four years' penal
servitude.

MURDER.

The case of Charles Annois, for the murder of Phillip
Barker, was then proceeded with.
Mr. Sleigh and Mr. Poland prosecuted, and Mr. Metcalf
defended the prisoner.
Richard Faux said--1 was the 'second mate of the brig
Margaret, of Hartlepool, and Phillip Barker was the
master of the vessel. She sailed on the 9th of
July with a cargo of coke, and arrived at Lisbon
on the 28th. While we were there the cook was taken ill
and sent to the hospital, and on the 10th the prisoner joined
the ship in lieu of the sick man as cook and steward. We
left Lisbon on the 11th of August, and the prisoner was the
only foreigner en board. He is a native of Rio do Janeiro.
Up to the 13th of August matters went on quietly, when a
few words passed between the prisoner and the men for-
ward. There were angry words. The captain came out of
his cabin and asked what was the matter, when the men
told him that the prisoner refused to wash their dinner
things, and that ho (prisoner) had called them bad names.
The captain said he would not have such proceedings
on board, neither would he allow the prisoner to be im-
posed upon. He told the crew that if they had any com-
plaint to make, they must come to him. He then told the
prisoner that he must wash the dinner things up every day.
Cumming was one of the men the prisoner quarrelled with.
Everything went on quietly till Sunday, the 21st August.
The captain walked the deck with me on that evening from
8 till half-past 9 o'clock, and then returned to his cabin,
which was on deck on the starboard side. The chief mate's
cabin was on the port-side opposite the captain's, and my
cabin was on deck on the same side as the captain's. The
prisoner slept underneath my cabin under my berth.
The men slept in the fore. part of the ship in a house made
on deck. After the captain retired I remained on deck
till 12, when I went and reported the course of the vessel.
He said it was all right, and that she was to keep the same
course till the morning. I then went to my berth ; the pri-
soner I saw was sleeping in his. I was aroused about half-
past four to relieve Sharpe, who had been on the watch.
When I awoke I saw the prisoner sitting on my box put-
ting on his clothes. I afterwards saw her on deck going
towards the galley. Joseph Cumming was in Sharpe's
watch. In about 10 minutes after I had been on deck,
Sharpe turned, and I afterwards saw the prisoner go into
the cabin. After he had been in the cabin about 10 minutes
he came out and went forward on the starboard side, and
turned round to see if 1 was watching him. When he saw
mo looking after him he came aft and went into the
galley. I still kept walking up and doww the
deck, and in a short time the prisoner made his
appearance on the port side, and finding I was still
watching him ho returned again to the galley. I then
went forward to talk to some of the men, and in a few
minutes after I heard a scream. I jumped upon some spars
at the port side, and saw the prisoner standing with a
five barrel revolver in his hand. He was standing about
three yards from the door of the place where the men slept.
He had a knife in his mouth. Cumming was standing at
the entrance door. The knife and revolver produced
are the same. Cumming was covered with blood ;
he said " The villain's murdering us." I then went to the
state-room to call the captain. After calling twice and re-
ceiving no answer, I went in and discovered the captain's
throat cut. The head was nearly severed from the body. I
rushed up to call the chief, mate, but found his door shut.
I called out " Mr. Sharpe" twice. He answered. I told
him the captain had been !murdered. Sharpe said he
was locked in, and I then burst the door open.

I saw marks of blood near the keyhole. When the
chief mate came on deck the prisoner was standing
midship talking to the men. I and the chief mate went to
the captain's cabin, and when we saw the prisoner coming
we shut the door until we could find something to defend
our lives with. I took a screw driver, and the mate a
sword. We then went forward to secure the prisoner, who
was at this time threatening to shoot any person who ap-
proached. When he saw us he ran into the cabin, and we
shut the door. I watched the prisoner while there. I saw
him break open the captain's drawers and two writing desks.
The chief mate was looking through tie skylight at the top of
the cabin watching the prisoner. Tie mate took the pistol
and threw it at the prisoner, who pointed it and snapped it
twice, but only the caps went off. The mate said, "Oh
you' illain, it's not loaded." He then called to me to look
out as the prisoner was coming towards the door. The
prisoner then came out, and threw ap his arms with his
back to the cabin. He said, "Me kill the captain—me
kill no more people." The prisoner was then secured. He
had a sash tied round his waist. I searched the sash
and found another knife, some pistol balls, and percussion
caps. We mustered the crew and vent into the captain's
cabin, on searching which I found the blue frock (produced).
It belonged to the prisoner. He had it on when I saw him
at four o'clock on the morning of the murder. About half
an hour after we had put prisoner in irons, I showed him
the two knives, and I asked him which he killed the cap-
tain with, when he pointed to the big one. I asked him
what he was going to do with the small one, ho said, "to
stick people suppose they struck him." Both knives belong
to the ship, they have spots upon them, end have beennewly
sharpened on the grindstone. When I showed him the
blue frock, and asked him how it became torn, he said,
"When I go to cut Joe's (Cumming) throat, Joe tear
him." They buried the captain on the tth, and sailed for
Falmouth. The ship during the whole of the time I have
been speaking of, was on the high seas.
Cross-examined by Mr. Metcalfe—They had left Lisbon
eleven days before the affair took place. They were going
to North America. They went to Falmouth because it was
the nearest English port. I don't know what was the
cause of the quarrel between the prisoner and the crew.
The captain was a kind man, he never behaved crossly to
the prisoner. He did not hear the prisoner call out
for the captain to come and assist him after
he knew he was dead. He was placed in the long boat, and
kept there two days. He was not at all excited when I
first saw him. He appeared to be so while he was in the
cabin, as he smashed up everything he could lay his hands
on. I don't know the slightest cause for his conduct towards
the captain. I never saw anything strange about the pri-
soner. He always gave proper answers, and attended to
his duties. I cannot tell whether the prisoner had been
out of his berth on the night of the murder before I saw
him at four o'clock in the morning.
By Mr. Poland—The revolver was not loaded, but it bad
caps on.

By the Judge—The pistol was kept hung up in the after
cabin, which joined the captain's.
A translater was here called and the whole of the evi-
dence was read over to him from the judge's notes.
The Judge then asked whether the prisoner had any
questions to put to the witness.
The prisoner, in broken English said—Me don't know—
me like the captain very much, me not kill him—mo like
chief mate—me no break chronometer, me no break any-
thing.

The court here adjourned for refreshment.
On the judge returning to the bench
Joseph Cumming was called, who said—l am a sea-
man. I was on board the Margaret when Captain '
Barker was killed. I know the prisoner. I had a
few words with him, because he refused to wash the dinner
things, but nothing else. On the morning of the murder '
I had turned in about five minutes after four, when the
prisoner awoke me by touching me on the right side, and
he said ho was looking for some coffee. I asked him if he
had found it, but he made no answer, and I told him the
boy Jack would tell him where it was. I asked him what
time it was, and he said half-past seven, but it must have
been about half-past four. I went to sleep again,
and shortly after I was awoke by some person cutting my
face with a carving knife. It was the prisoner. I jumped
up and seized him, when ho made two stabs at me with the
smaller knife, which he held in the other hand. I should
think the struggle did not last over a minute, when the
prisoner got away and ran on to the main deck. I rushed
after him, calling out that the prisoner was trying to
murder us. He turned round, and, pulling out a revolver,
said—" Me kill the captain, me kill five more men—go
below."

The case was proceeding when we went to press.

In the foreign exchanges, yesterday afternoon,
Hamburg was slightly lower. A considerable rise took
place in the Austrian rates.