The Sun.
London, England, 1835-03-23 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

NORTHERN CIRCUIT.—LA Arcesnm, MARCH 18.
CROWN COURT.

Roger IVhitehead, an attorney, of Liverpool, was indicted
for having, in September 1832, forged and uttered a mortgage
deed, with intent to defraud Joshua Pollard and others.
On the 17th October, 1827, the prisoner purchased same
property at Berkenhead, from a person named Mellor, who
had previously contracted for it with a person named Land,
but no conveyance had been drawn out, and the conveyance to
Whitehead was consequently executed both by Land and Mel-
lor. In 1829 the prisoner mortgaged the same property to a
Mr. Fortune, and in 1832, being in debt to a Mr. Pollard, of
Bradford, to whom he had given bills, &c., which were not
duly taken up, he undertook to execute a mortgage of the
Berkenhead property to him as security for his money. Ac-
cordingly, on the 6th or 7th of September, 1832, he delivered
into the hands of Pollard's solicitor a deed, purporting to be a
mortgage of the property, and it was deposited with Pollard's
bankers. Last year the prisoner was made bankrupt, and it
was then found that he had made two transfers of the same
property, and that the various signatures in the deed delivered
to Pollard's attorney were counterfeit.
He was found Guilty.—Sentence deferred.
ACCIDENT ON THE LIVERPOOL AND MANCHESTER RAIL-
WAY.—John Murphy, aged forty-six, was indicted for the
manslaughter of Relp Thompson, an engineer. The prisoner
is a policeman on the railroad, whose duty it is, among other
things, to see that certain " switches," or moveable rails, by
means of which trains of carriages pass from the St. Helens
line of the railroad into the Liverpool and Manchester, are
properly adjusted, so as to admit the easy and safe passage of
trains across them. On the 20th of February the deceased
was convoying the first class, or train, which travels at the rate
of eighteen miles in the hour, from Liverpool to Manchester,
when, at the Sutton incline, his engine came in contact with a
" switch," which was out of its place ; the engine was thrown
off the one line of road into another, and by the jolt, the en-
gineer was thrown under the train carriages and killed.
Murphy being the policeman on that station the accident was
attributed to his carelessness in not rightly adjusting the
" switch." These facts were clearly proved. But in the de-
fence (by Dr. Brown) it was proved that the prisoner had
other multifarious duties to perform, and that when the acci-
dent occurred he was actually engaged in the discharge of one
of those duties.
His LORDSHIP thought it too hard to indict the prisoner for
neglect of one duty when he was engaged in another equally
important. At the same time it was clearly the duty of the
" policemen" to keep the line clear, whilst the Company were
equally bound to provide a number of men adequate to the
proper discharge of those duties.
Dr. BROWN said he thought the occurrence would serve as a
useful warning to the Company in the latter respect.
CROWN COURT, FRIDAY, MARCH 20.
MURDER OF A CUSTOMS' INSPECTOR AT LIVERPOOL.
The Court was filled this morning with persons anxious to
hear the trial of Norman Welch, formerly a weigher in the
Custom House at Liverpool, charged with the assassination of
his superior, Mr. Southgate, Inspector of warehouses in the
Customs' department. The case has excited great interest
throughout the county. So soon as Mr. Baron Parke took
his seat upon the bench the prisoner was placed at the bar,
and arraigned for the wilful murder of William Southgate,
by shooting him with a pistol. He pleaded not guilty.
The ATTORNEY-GENERAL having briefly stated the case
witnesses were called.

Mr. John Pike, appointer of weighers in the Customs at
Liverpool, said—ln October last the prisoner was a third-class
weigher, having previously been a third-class locker (a higher
appointment). Mr. Southgate was a surveyor of warehouses.
On the morning of the 17th of October I was in the Custom
House yard, "speaking to Mr. Southgate, when the• prisoner
came from under an archway into the yard, and passed close
by the right side. Mr. Southgate was opposite to me. He
appeared to apprehend something. He stepped back, and I
then heard the report of a pistol. The prisoner was about a
yard from me. I looked at the prisoner and saw a pistol in
his right hand. I saw the smoke come from the pistol.
Southgate put his hand to his left breast and said, " I am
shot." The prisoner threw down the pistol and said, " There."
I went to Mr. Southgate. He was reeling, and with the
assistance of James M‘Guffin and Joseph Graham, we took
him to the office. I left and did not see him alive after.
Sometime previous I heard the prisoner say, " I am a robbed
man." He said he would make an example of some one.
There were several persons present.
Fisher—l am a landing waiter. I was coming out of
my office into the yard, and I saw the prisoner coming from
the direction of the street towards the yard. He had his hand
in his right hand coat pocket. He appeared to be attempting
to get something out of it. I saw him pass through the middle
arch into the yard. He had a pistol in his hand. I instantly
heard a report. I could not see the object. There was a wall
between. I then saw Mr. Southgate pass with his hand on
his left breast.

Cross-examined—l have known prisoner ten years. I
have known him well for three or four years. I cannot say
as to his sanity. He was much addicted to drink. I cannot
say that his mind was affected by it. His behaviour has been
strange.
Morrice Matthew George Dowling—l am superintendent
of the dock police. I saw the prisoner on my way to the spot.
He was in custody. I saw Mr. Southgate, and had some dis-
course with him. He died on Sunday the 19th, on the day he
was shot. I observed a wound on the left side, as of a ball.
The day after I went to the town bridewell and saw the
prisoner. I found him perfectly clear. I saw nothing of in-
sanity about him. He said he had six balls, five he had thrown
in the street on his way from the shop to the Custom-house,
for he knew he should want but one. I told him I had sat
up with Mr. Southgate the night before, and that he had said
he had not spoken to the prisoner for six months before. The
prisoner said it was true. I told him I had very little hopes of
his recovery. The prisoner said " I hope he wont die, but if
he does he will go to heaven." He said two years before, Mr.
Southgate had reported him in consequence of thirteen pieces
of calico having been missed, but of which he knew nothing.
That in consequence his family lost 20/. a year. That subse-
quently Mr. Southgate had found him eating his dinner on a
cask, and said that was not the place for a custom-house officer
to eat his dinner. The prisoner asked where he should go,
and Mr. Southgate said, "Up the entry." The prisoner said,
"If I go there, you will report me absent." That at other
times Mr. Southgate had come and said, " Where is that
. _

wretch ? I don't-see him—l suppose he is drunk." The pri-
soner told me he had drank very hard of late, which had kept

up a constant excitement. On the situation in which he had

placed his family being mentioned, he became agitated, and
cried. In answer to questions, he said he had taken leave of
his family in the morning, as he did not expect to return again.
He afterwards said he had got into a row in Ireland ; was
much beaten till he was out of his mind ; and that since then
liquor much affected him. He did not exhibit any signs of
insanity in my presence. The interview lasted about three
quarters of an hour.
Frederick 'Williams—l was searcher. I recollect the 16th,
being in the dock when Mr. Quayle was landing-waiter. I
was there. I heard the prisoner say he had been robbed of
nearly 201. a year ; that Mr. Southgate had robbed him of
nearly 201. a year ; and that they (Mr. Southgate and himself)
had been too long in the service. " We shall both resign to-
gether ; my purpose is fixed, settled, determined." He fol-
lowed in a few steps, and said, " Mr. Southgate and myself
have been too long in the world togethar ; one of us shall go."
I told him not to speak so rashly. He said he hoped they
should both go to heaven together. He was walking up and
down in a very wild manner. His eyes rolled about when he
spoke. I did not think he was of sound mind.
Dr. Jervis—ls a physician. but has ceased to practice for
ten years. Was surgeon of the Lancashire militia in 1.814 and
1815. The regiment was then stationed at Limerick, in Ire-
land. Remembers an affray between the privates and the
Irish, and when privates were carried into th hospital, and the
witness attended them, they had received bruises and cuts
about the head. Remembers distinctly its being stated that
some of the wounds had been produced by bayonets, and he
doubted it. They were chiefly on the crown, and at the back
of the head, and they were severe wounds. All the men were
in a state of insensibility. Could not identify the prisoner as
one of the men, but he firmly believed him to be one. He
could not state generally, but he distinctly remembered that
there was not one of them who was not more or less liable to
ill consequences from the injuries, and if in any individual of
the seven there had existed any predisposition to aberration the
injuries were sufficient to aggravate it.
Cross• examined by the ATTORNEY-GENERAL—This is nearly
twenty-one years ago. I have a distinct remembrance of the
prisoner's features, but cannot swear that ho was one of the

Lawrence Egan, a landing-waiter at the Liverpool Custom
House for many years, narrated an occurrence illustrative of
the violent demeanour of the prisoner on the occasion of the
Coronation of George the Fourth. The men said of him then
that nobody minded him,,for he was mad. The witness con-
siders him much worse now than formerly. It was always said
.that he was half mad, and the least thing excited him.
The Learned JUDGE summed up at great length, when
The Jury consulted about five minutes, and returned a ver-
dict of Guilty.
His LORDSHIP, in an impressive address, sentenced the pri-
soner to be executed on Monday morning, and his body to be
interred within the precincts of the Castle.
The body of the Court was crowded to excess. The case
occupied eleven hours.