The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-23 00:00:00

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

HOME CIRCUIT.—LEES, March 22.
(Before Lord Chief Justice Erie).

THE BRIGHTON MURDER.

John William Leigh, 27, described as a seaman,
was charged with the wilful murder of Harriet
Marton, at Brighton, on the Ist of February last.
The prisoner is a stout, determined-looking young
fellow, wearing a small coal-black moustache. He
was seated during the trial, and he did not exhibit
the slightest emotion during any portion of the evi-
dence, not even when his own mother was ex-
amined. The case appeared to create very great
interest, and the court was crowded during the

proceedings.
Mr. Roupell and Mr. Hurst conducted the prose-
cution ; Mr. Kemp was retained to defend the pri-

soner.
The learned counsel for the prosecution, in open-
ing the case to the jury, gave a brief narrative of
the facts upon which the charge was sought to be
supported, and which lay in a very narrow com-
pass. The prisoner, it appeared, was an illegitimate
child, but he had been well provided for, but dis-
sipated all the means that were given him, and he
then seemed to have served in the Royal Navy, and
was present during the Crimean campaign. He
also served in China, and he seemed to have led a
roving, irregular life in different foreign countries
until about two years ago, when he made his ap-
pearance at Brighton, and he then appeared to have
courted the sister of the unfortunate deceased, and
they were married. The prisoner and his wife after
the marriage appeared to have kept a public-house
at Brentford, but he was unsuccessful in his busi-
ness, and the marriage appeared to have turned
out very unhappily, and his wife left him and re-
turned to the house of her sister at Brighton, whose
husband kept a public-house called the Jolly
Fisherman at that place. The prisoner seemed to
have remained at the house of his mother at Hack-
ney until the end of January, when he went down to
Brighton armed with a six-chamber revolver, and
evidently bent upon carrying out the deadly object
he had in view. He made his appearance at the
Jolly Fisherman about half past ten o'clock at night
on February 1, and he appeared to have walked de-
liberately into the bar parlour, where his sister-in-
law was sitting with two customers, and he dis-
charged two of the chambers of the revolver at her
person, and the bullet from one of them passed
through her body. The other entered at the back
of the unfortunate woman, glanced upwards, and
lodged under her left armpit, from whence it was
subsequently extracted. The injuries, of course,
were almost immediately fatal, and the deceased
expired in a few hours. The prisoner, after having
acted as above described, rushed into the street, and
when Mr. Barnden, police superintendent, with very
great courage, attempted to take him into custody,
he discharged a third barrel at him, and he had al-
most a miraculous escape of losing his life. The
prisoner was secured, and the revolver being ex-
amined it was found that the remaining chambers
were loaded and capped, and a quantity of pistol
bullets were found in his possession.
The following evidence was then adduced :

Mr. Hastings, cabinetmaker, Brighton, deposed
that he saw the prisoner fire the revolver at the de-
ceased twice. She fell, and exclaimed that she was
killed, and he sent for a doctor. On the following
morning witness picked up a bullet in the room
where deceased was shot. When the prisoner fired
the first shot witness felt something strike him on
the temple. He knew the wife of the prisoner. She
was a sister of Mrs. Harton's.

Cross-examined—Witness believed the prisoner
generally carried a pistol about with him. Prisoner
used to drink occasionally. 'Witness was not aware
that the prisoner's wife was a woman of dissipated
habits, or that they lived on bad terms.
Stephen Loveday deposed that he was also at the
Jolly Fisherman on the evening of February 1, and
saw the prisoner come in and shoot at the deceased.
Witness was about a yard and a half from him at
the time he fired. The prisoner walked about a yard
and a half closer to the deceased, and fired a second
time at her. The deceased then came out of the bar-
room and walked towards the steps of the cellar.
Witness followed her, and found her lying on the
steps of the cellar, groaning. He assisted her into
the taproom, and placed her on one of the forms,
and remained with her until the doctor came, which
was about ten minutes after.

Mr. Joseph Stevens deposed that he was a sur-
geon, practising at Brighton, and he remembered
being called in to see the deceased on the night in
question. He found her lying on a couch and ap-
parently very faint and ill, and a woman named
Wingfield was undressing her. She said that she
had been shot. Witness examined her. The bullet
had lodged in the left armpit, and he extracted it
from thence. (The witness produced the bullet.)
The wound he referred to was such as would be
caused by a bullet such as the one he produced.
The deceased died about 16 or 17 hours after she
bad received the injuries.

Isaiah Barndcn, superintendent of the Brighton
police, deposed that he took the prisoner into cus-
tody. He found him leaning against the wall of
Kerrison's Hotel, at the corner of Market-street and
the King's-road, about 30 or 40 yards from the
Jolly Fisherman. Witness went up and said,
"What is all this about ?" The prisoner replied,
" Stand off, or I will shoot you," and at the same
moment he lowered the pistol to a level with his
chest. When the prisoner said he would shoot him
witness rushed at him and grasped the prisoner
with his right hand and touched the pistol with his
left. The pistol was discharged at the same moment,
but he turned a little on one side and the ball went
through his coat and trousers. Witness threw the
prisoner down, and the pistol fell from his hand and
some one called out that he had got the pistol. The
witness then produced a powder flask containing
gunpowder, a box of percussion caps, and a number
of bullets that were given him by the wife of the
prisoner, and also the revolver that was taken from
the prisoner. He said that it was a six-chamber re-
volver, three of which appeared to have been dis-
charged, one had missed fire, and two chambers
were still loaded.

Cross-examined—He had known the prisoner
about Brighton for a twelvemonth or thereabouts,
and he was well known at that place. He had seen
him driving about in a dog-cart. He did not know
anything about the prisoner while he was living at
Brentford.

By the Court—The prisoner left Brighton to go
to Brentford about three or four months ago. He
was not aware that he actually went to Brentford ;
all he knew was that he lost sight of him from
Brighton about the time he had mentioned.
Elizabeth Sharp deposed that on the night of the
1-fit
of February the prisoner and his wife went to
the tap of the Marine Hotel and had a pint of
stout, which they drank together. The prisoner's
wife paid for it
and witnefti . She first put down threepence,
who was the barmaid, told her the
stout Was fottrp
if he had any Lauen". She then asked the prisoner
and he replied, "No, you
know I have not.rnicp
then
drinking.
drank some stout and
went out, leaving
wife A very short
time afterwards witnessheard
the direction of the Jolly Fisherman,"
onuanpistol shots from
about forty yards off. The prisoner was quite sober
at this time.
Mr. Henry
Payne, the landlord of the r;
Hotel, which is nearly opposite the " Jolly Fire
man," deposed that on the night in question he was
in a room adjoining the bar, and on his being in_
formed that something bad happened, he went out
into the road and saw' the prisoner leaning against
the wall on the opposite side. Witness went to-
wards him, and he pointed a pistol at him, and said,
" Stand back," and be retreated a short distanhe
ce
from him, and Mr. Barnden then came up, and t
prisoner was taken into custody. lie afterwards
picked up the revolver that had been produced.
Caroline Winkfield deposed that on the Tuesday
before the act was committed by the prisoner she
was at the Jolly Fisherman, and the prisoner
came in, and the deceased told her that he had fire-
arms, about him, and he should not come into her
souse unless ho was searched. He replied, " It is
nothing to you if I ecoose to have firearaas on me
to protect myself." The deceased then said to him

In cross-examination this witness said that the
prisoner did not act in the manner he had described
for the purpose of bringing custom to his house, for
when people came he used to give his liquors away,
and the police very frequently were called upon to
remove the mob that had assembled.

Mrs. Emma Motley, prisoner's mother, was then
called. She deposed that the prisoner was subject to
fits, and that while he lived with her he always car-
ried a revolver, and was in the habit of firing at the
nobs of the doors and the keyholes in the different
rooms. He went to China, and when he returned,
about two years ago, she observed a very great dif-
ference in his manner. While he was at Brcntford
he would eat green gooseberries and then drink a
glassful of vinegar, for the purpose, as he said, of
washing them down. He used to drink large quan-
tities of raw spirits—rum, gin, and brandy—and
sometimes gin and beer. lie always slept in his
clothes, and never took regular meals, but would
eat a bit of bread or a cold potato when he thought
fit to do so. When he first came home from China
he told her that he had got a stud of horses and six
publichouses, and the first time she visited him at
Brentford he was wearing a shirt died magenta co-
lour. She said that she particularly noticed the pri-
soner's extraordinary conduct in May and June of
last year. After he was sent to prison she visited
him, andfound him iu confinement, and he was quite
i out of his mind, and fancied he was commanding a
ship, and called all the sailors about him. She
went a second time to see him, but was not allowed
to do so on account of the state he was in. She had
seen him drink nearly half a pint of raw spirits two
or three times in the course of half an hour, and all
the time he lived with her he was called " Mad
Motley." While he was in prison she was
informed that he was confined in a padded room,
and his shoes were taken off, and when she saw
him afterwards she observed marks of violence
upon his face where he had injured himself, and a
blister had been applied to his head. When he was
discharged from prison at the expiration of his sen-
tence, the prisoner again went to live with her, and
his conduct was just the same as it had been pre-
viously.

In cross-examination the witness said that the
prisoner was taken from her charge when he was
seven years old, and she did not see much of him
except when he came to visit her when he was at
home for his holidays. She saw more of him after
he returned from China, and she then particularly
noticed his extraordinary conduct, and was induced
to believe that he was not in his right senses. lle
used to complain of being thirsty when he ate the
green gooseberries and drank the vinegar.
In order to rebut this testimony with regard co
the state of mind of the prisoner,
Mr. Richard Turner, the surgeon of Lewes Gaol,
was called by the counsel for the prosecution, and
in answer to questions put to him he said that the
prisoner had been under his charge since the 2d of
February, when he was first remanded by the ma-
gistrates, and he had observed him particularly, and
had never seen the slightest indication of insanity
about him.

In cross-examination Mr. Turner said that he
attributed the extraordinary conduct of the prisoner,
that had been deposed to by his mother and the
other -witness, to no other form of insanity than
delirium tremens, occasioned by his taking so large
a
quantity of ardent spirits. The effect of repeated
attacks of delirium tremens would be to weaken the
tremenS was novtelikehil!yttaipernot&U
brain and calls
ze::intpyo,raaindindsealinriiutym;
but of course
insanity, but
lasted it might be
considered temporary
aulilt e
weakened,sat isfied
fiebut this would pass
off in a week or ten days,
that the prisoner's brain was nwotallatcl
from the fact that the moment he came into prison
be was stopped from obtaining spirits, and this
sudden stoppage of stimulants had no effect upon
him ; but if his brain had been weakened, this pro-
ceeding
tt
was very likely to have produced another
ck.
From all he had seen of the prisoner, the
aa
coconclusionhe
he arrived at respecting him wat3 0291

again, " You shall not come into my house unless I 'was particularly intelligent, "clear-sighted, and all
you are searched. You are a thief, a murderer, ands . his faculties were
Hpeerfehcatd.
Re
no doubt, from the a pirate." The wife of the prisoner was preset,, f.
evi-
and he turned to her and said, " Nobody but yea dente that had been given, that while the prisoner
could have told your - sister that." She denied ; was undergoing his sentence of imprisonment he had
having done so, and the prisoner then went away. I been attacked with delirium tremens, through being
Richard Knight, one of the Brighton constables, !' suddenly deprived of the stimulants to which he had
then gave the following evidence with regard to the been accustomed, and that all the extraordinary
prisoner. He said that when the prisoner was in the:: conduct that had been deposed to was attributable
lobby of the Town-hall in his charge, and he was to that malady.
about to be examined before the magistrates, the Chief Justict Erle then proceeded to sum up the
prisoner folded his arms and said, " I have got into L caee, and he observed that the only question for the
a pretty good mess over this start of mine. Three ,a jury to consider was whether, at the time the act
months ago it first came into my head to do the deed was committed, the prisoner was incapable of dis-
-to kill three. Then I thought again I would not tinguishing between right and wrong, and unless
_then I thought again I would. I came into , this had been clearly established, it would be their
Brighton for the express purpose of doing it. I . duty to convict him. He then referred to the evi-
have had quite enough of her nonsense, and I will j dente that had been adduced on behalf of the pri-
have no more of it. I have only killed one out of I soner, and to the circumstances under which the
the three, and the other two have got to thank them- i crime was committed, and said the jury must form
selves that they were out of the way and that they their own conclusions as to the state of mind of the
are not dead." The prisoner, he said, made this prisoner, and whether he was not perfectly well
statement entirely of his own accord, and without aware that at the time he took the life of this un-
his saying a word to him. happy woman he was committing an act of criminal
This was the case for the prosecution. wrong, for which he was responsible both by the
Mr. Kemp made a very able address to the jury in law of God and the law of his country.
behalf of the prisoner, and after observing that it The jury, without leaving the box, and in less
would be in vain for him to attempt to controvert any than five minutes, found the prisoner guilty.
of the facts with regard to the commission of the He was then asked by Mr. Avory, the clerk of
crime, he said that the only answer he was instructed arraigns, whether he had anything to urge why he
to make to the charge was, that at the time the crime should not be sentenced to die according to law.
was committed the prisoner was not in a state of mind The prisoner, who had got up from his seat when
to be responsible for his actions. He said that the pri- the verdict was pronounced, replied in a loud and
soner had no means to get up his defence properly, indifferent tone of voice, " I have nothing to say to
and all he could do was to call a sergeant of police who justify myself."
knew the prisoner when he was living at Brentford, The learned Judge, who seemed a good deal
and his mother, and they would speak to his extraor- affected, having assumed the black cap, addressed
dinary conduct on a great many occasions, to his the prisoner, and said that he had been convicted by
drinking large quantities of brandy and other spirits, the jury upon the clearest possible evidence of the
and also to his havingbeenlooked upon as a madman. crime of wilful murder, and the interests of society,
This was all he was in a position to do for the priso- and also that a warning should be held out to others
ner, and the jury would say, when they had heardthe not to be guilty of a similar crime, demanded that
evidence he should lay before them, whether they he should undergo the penalty for that offence that
might not reasonably come to the conclusion that was fixed by the law. He did not feel called upon
the mind of the prisoner was affected, and that he to do more than to exhort him to make a good use
was not criminally responsible for the dreadful act of the short time that remained to him in this world,
that had undoubtedly been committed by him. and having done this, he should now proceed to
Mr. Foy, a sergeant of the metropolitan police, pass the sentence of the law for the crime of which
stationed at Brentford, was then examined, and he he had been found guilty. His lordship then passed
stated that he knew the prisoner when he kept the the sentence of death in the usual form.
George and Dragon at Brentford, and his attention ' The prisoner exhibited the most extraordinary in-
was particularly directed to him on account of his difference both at the verdict and the sentence, and
extraordinary conduct. On several occasions he he laughed as he went down the steps leading from
shut up the house at 2 o'clock in the day, and kept the dock.
it so until 10 o'clock at night, and he would then His wife was in court during the whole trial, but
invite all the roughs of the neighbourhood to come she retired just before the sentence was pronounced.
in, and he would give them beer and spirits without
any payment. He would also go to the balcony in
front of the house, and when a mob collected, he
would throw out large quantities of silver among
them, frequently as much as £lO or £l2, and upon
one occasion £4O was thrown away by him, and he
said he saw one person pick up 275., which the pri-
soner had so thrown away. He once went to his
house, and the prisoner offered him half a pint of
brandy to drink, and when he refused it, the prisoner
drunk it off at a draught. He also used one of the
downstair rooms as a stable, and placed a horse in
it, and it remained there more than a week, and his
conduct was so extraordinary that he said the pri-
soner was generally known in the neighbourhood as
" Mad Leigh." He was obliged, it appeared, to
leave the house by the landlords, and he committed
some damage, for which he was indicted at the Mi-
d. dlesex sessions, but when his trial came on he was
L suffering from delirium tremens, and was unable to
plead, and he was sent back and tried at a subse-
quent session and sentenced to three months' hard
labour. This witness likewise preyed that directly
the prisoner took possession of the public-house, he
placed a placard outside, on which was written "The
Cure will imitate the Devonport Brothers this even-
ing ;" and he used to dress himself in the most
extraordinary manner, and perform various antics
by tying and untying himself in a chair. He drank
very hard all the time he was living at Brentford.
The witness likewise proved that upon one occasion
the prisoner charged a man with robbery, and
while the case was under investigation he behaved
in the most extraordinary manner, and called the
magistrates " old boys," and they would not enter-
tain his complaint, and the man was discharged, and
the prisoner then gave him half-a-crown.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE.

ROYAL ARTILLERY STEEPLECHASES—THURSDAY.
The annual military meeting which took place yesterday
at Eltham went off with the usual eclat. The chases were
run over the same ground as last year, and, the weather
being delightfully fine, there was a large attendance on the
course, including a number of the aristocracy and gentry
of the neighbourhood. The various contests were decided
as under:—
The Gold Cup, value 100 soya, added to a sweepstakes of
5 sovs each, 3 ft, for horses the property of and ridden
by officers of the Royal Artillery ; 12st each ; winners
extra About three miles.
Capt. Wortham's Oldcastlo, aged, 12st ...(Mr. Griffiths) 1
Mr Magenis's Vesta, aged, 12st (Owner) 2
Capt. Hunt's Jim Crow, aged, 12st 71b (inc 71b ex.)
(Mr Callow) 3
The following also ran :—Bravo, Alice gelding, Nigger,
Wedding Ring, Rear-Admiral, Casual, and Potheen.
Betting-2 to 1 agst Wedding Ring, and 3to 1 each agst
Jim Crow and Vesta. Won in a canter by 20 lengths ;
Crow a bad third.
Ths United Service Stakes of 5 sovs each, 3 ft, with 60
added, for horses the property of and to be ridden by
officers of the navy, 12st each ; winners extra ; 51b al-
lowed if ridden by officers who have never won a steeple-
chase. Three miles.
Capt. J. G. S. Shaw's (14th Hussars) Merrimac, 13st 71b
(inc. 211 b ex) (Capt. Knox) 1
Lord Charles Kerr's (Scots Fusilier Guaris) Tommy,
6 yrs, 13st 31b (inc. 211 b ox.) (Owner) 2
Meerschaum also ran.
Betting-6 to 4on Merrimac. Won after an exciting
finish by a head; Meerschaum fell and did not pass the
post.
A sweepstakes of 5 soya each, with GO added, for horses the
property of officers in the navy, list ; whalers extra.
Three miles.
Capt. llon. R. Hare's Wizard, 6 yrs, 12st (inc. 141 b ex.)
(Owner) 1
Gondola, Rosa, Paddy, and Old Castle also ran.
Betting—Even on Wizard, and 3 to 1 agst any other.
The Wizard cantered in alone, the others having either re-
fused or met with mishaps.
The Hunt Plate of 30 sovs, added to a sweepstakes of 3
sovs each ; for horses that have been regularly hunted,
12st each.
Capt. Hon. R. Hare's (RA.) Wizard, 6 yrs, 12st
(Capt. Tempest) 1
Mr Magonis's (R.H.A.)Vesta, 12st (Owner) 2
Mr B. Hobart's (R.H.A.) Miss Emily, aged, 12st
(Mr Robinson) 3
Lord Kingston, Royal Marines, Jim Crow, Irish Lass,
Skylark, Bridesmaid, and Wedding Ring also ran.
Betting—Even on Wizard, and 3 to 1 each agst Irish
Lass and Lord Kingston. Won by a distance.
Tho Consolation Stakes did not produce a race.